1:1.  ‘Revelation’

In the Book of Enoch it is recorded that Enoch was shown the ‘Head of Days’ and the ‘Son of Man’.  “2. And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning the Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of Days?  3. And he answered and said unto me: This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, With whom dwelleth righteousness, And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden,….” (Enoch XLVI.2-3a, pp. 63-4).

 

Enoch saw the glorious ‘Son of Man’ who was created before the sun, the signs and the stars, but had previously been hidden.  “And for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before Him, Before the creation of the world and for evermore.  And the wisdom of the Lord of Spirits hath revealed Him to the holy and righteous; for he hath preserved the lot of the righteous.”  (Enoch XLVIII.6-7. pp. xvi. and 66). 

 

The ‘secret things’ were revealed in this ‘Son of Man’ and He was the embodiment of Wisdom: “For wisdom is poured out like water, and Glory faileth not before him for evermore.  For he is mighty in all the secrets of righteousness, And unrighteousness shall disappear as a shadow, And have no continuance; Because the Elect One standeth before the Lord of Spirits,  And his glory is for ever and ever, And his might unto all generations.  And in him dwells the spirit of wisdom, And the spirit which gives insight, And the spirit of understanding and of might, And the spirit of those who have fallen asleep in righteousness. 

 

                “And he shall judge the secret things, And none shall be able to utter a lying word before him;  For he is the Elect One before the Lord of Spirits according to His good pleasure.”  (pp. 67-8).

 

                “LI.3. And the Elect One shall in those days sit on My throne, And his mouth shall pour forth all the secrets of wisdom and counsel: For the Lord of Spirits hath given (them) to him and hath glorified him.” (p. 69).  

 

                The ‘Son of Man’ as envisioned by Enoch had been hidden but was to be revealed to the elect:  “LXII.6. And the kings and the mighty and all who possess the earth shall bless and glorify and extol him who rules over all, who was hidden. 7. For from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, And revealed him to the elect.” (p. 82.)

 

1:1. ‘Signified’

“Mental visions are not always easily expressed in words…when he [the seer] describes his vision the picture he presents is, in the nature of the case, more fantastic to the ear of the hearer than to the eye of him who saw it.”  (p. ix)

 

1:3. ‘Time’

The Book of Enoch is permeated with the concept of time as being ordained and determined by God.  Oesterley says: “Thus ‘the times and periods of the course of the world’s history have been predetermined by God.  The number of the years have been exactly fixed.  This was a fundamental postulate of the Apocalyptists ….”  The secrets of the knowledge of times and seasons was thought to be revealed to the ‘Apocalyptists’ or ‘revealers,’ especially the knowledge of the end of the world. (p. xi).

 

Some believe the Book of Enoch was written by Sadducees in order to reform calendar reckoning from  the lunar year to the solar year.  Quoting Leszynsky, Oesterley says: “…’The Sadducaean character of the original work…is seen most clearly in the discussion regarding the calendar; chapters lxxii.-lxxxii, are rightly called the Book of Astronomy: ‘the book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin, and according to their months…with regard to all the years of the world and unto eternity, till the new creation is accomplished which endureth till all eternity’ (lxxii.I)….Herein one can discern quite clearly the tendency of the writer.  He desires the adoption of the solar year, while his contemporaries wrongly followed a different reckoning, and therefore celebrated the feasts at the wrong time.  The ‘sinners who sin in the reckoning of the year’ are the Pharisees; and the righteous ones who are blessed, the Zaddikim ….”  (See the discussion, pp. xvii, xviii). (p. xvi-xvii).

 

Enoch Chapter XLI.3-9. concerns the revelation of the secrets of the motions of the sun and moon, lightning, thunder, wind, hail and dew.  Enoch expresses the belief that the sun and moon “keep faith with each other” and “give thanks and praise and rest not” and are judged of God: “…He appoints a judge for them all and he judges them all before Him.”  (pp. 60-61).

 

Enoch XLIII.-XLIV. concerns the stars, their order and “their parabolic meaning and how they represent the holy ones who dwell on earth.” [Thus the connection between the concepts of stars, angels and ministers as being identical.]  (p. 62). 

 

Enoch LXXII-LXXXII is called the “Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries” and is about the motions of the sun, moon and stars that are used for time telling.  (pp. 95-111). Regarding this section of the Book, the following is quoted from Oesterley’s Introduction, pp. xxiii-xxiv:

 

“The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries (chapters lxxii. -lxxxii.).  In lxxiv.12 it says: ‘And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days.’  This gives the keynote of this book, viz. that time is to be reckoned by the sun, not by the moon….  Until we come to chapter lxxx. this book is uninteresting in the extreme; it purports to tell in detail of the laws by which the sun, moon, stars and the winds are governed; they are described by Uriel, ‘the holy angel,’ to the Apocalyptist.  The four quarters of the world, the seven mountains and the seven rivers are also dealt with. ‘The author has no other interest save a scientific one coloured by Jewish conceptions and beliefs.’ (Reference to Charles, The Book of Enoch, p. 147 (1912))  It is however, different when we come to chapter lxxx.2-8; the whole tone alters in these verses, in which it is said that owing to the sin of men the moon and the sun will mislead them.  An ethical thought is thus brought in which is wholly lacking in the previous chapters of this book; this is also true of chapter lxxxi; it is probable that neither of these chapters stood here originally.

 

“Regarding the point of the 364 days to the year which the writer of this book makes, Charles says that ‘he did this only through sheer incapacity for appreciating anything better; for he must have been acquainted with the solar year of 365 1/4 days.  His acquaintance with the Greek cycles shows this…  The author’s reckoning of the year at 364 days may be partly due to his opposition to heathen systems, and partly to the fact that 364 is divisible by seven, and amounts to fifty-two weeks exactly.’ (op. cit., p.150.)  In any case, he is opposed to the lunar year, the Pharisaic way of reckoning time; and this is an important point in favour of Sadducaean authorship.  It will be noted that this book was written in post-Maccabaean times; it was after the Maccabaean struggle that the Sadducees and Pharisees appeared as parties definitely opposed to one another.”  (p. xxiii-xxiv).

 

Enoch XCII. 2: “Let not your spirit be troubled on account of the times; For the Holy and Great One has appointed days for all things.”  (p. 129).

 

1:10. “In the Spirit” 

“…the Apocalyptists were at one, in principle with Pharisaism; but their conception of what constituted loyal observance of the Law differed from that of the Pharisees, for, unlike these, the Apocalyptists laid all stress on the spirit of its observance rather than upon the letter…. the Pharisaic interpretation of the Law and its requirements is alien to the spirit of the Apocalyptists.” (p. xii)

 

1:10. “The Lord’s Day” (= “Day of the Lord”)

Enoch LX.4-6: “4. And Michael sent another angel from among the holy ones and he raised them up, and when he had raised me up my spirit returned; 13:1 for I had not been able to endure the look of this host, and the commotion and quaking of the heaven.  5. And Michael said unto me: ‘Why art thou disquieted with such a vision?  Until this day lasted the day of His mercy; and He hath been merciful and longsuffering towards those who dwell on the earth.  6. And when the day, and the power, and the punishment, and the judgement come, which the Lord of Spirits hath prepared for those who worship not the righteous law, and for those who deny the righteous judgement, and for those who take His name in vain–that day is prepared; for the elect a covenant, but for sinners an inquisition.”  (p. 76).

 

1:12-20. ‘Universalism’  (Christ at the Center of the Universe):

  “…the Apocalyptic Literature presents an universalistic attitude very different from the nationalistic narrowness of the Pharisees.” (p. xii)

 

1:14-16. “Head… was white like wool, etc.”

Enoch XLVI.1: “And there I saw One, who had a head of days, And His head was white like wool, And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels.”  ( p. 63).

 

Enoch LXXI.10, 13: “10. And with them the Head of Days, His head white and pure as wool, And His raiment indescribable…. 13. And that Head of Days came with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, thousands and ten thousands of angels without number.”  (p. 94).  Verses 14 and following describe the person and work of the Son of Man.