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like this one the David can you describe
who you are and maybe some of your work
sure my name is David Wilber and I'm an
author speaker and Bible teacher I focus
a lot on Christian apologetics how to
defend the Bible in Christianity's truth
claims so David there's a lot of
believers today and you hear about it a
lot they're interested in the Book of
Enoch can you tell us a little bit about
the Book of Enoch and maybe its
significance to early New Testament
believers as well as you know is it
significant to us today yes so the Book
of Enoch is properly referred to as
first Enoch and that's because there are
other much later writings that also bear
the name Enoch so scholars have numbered
these writings to distinguish them from
each other
you have first Enoch second Enoch and
thirty knock so when people talk about
the quote book of Enoch what they're
referring to is first Enoch so this book
is actually a collection of writings
that has been preserved for us only in
late manuscripts written in an ethiop ik
language known as guess parts of it have
also been found in a few Greek
manuscripts as well as Aramaic fragments
that have been found among the Dead Sea
Scrolls and just to give some basic
information about the Book of Enoch that
is first Enoch these writings are known
as pseudepigrapha what's that well to
put it very simply pseudepigrapha are
ancient writings that falsely claimed
authorship by a biblical character this
type of literature was extremely common
in the ancient world especially between
200 BCE to 200 CE II which is around the
time most of these writings that make up
the Book of Enoch are believed to have
been written so in the case of the Book
of Enoch these writings claim Enoch as
their author now no scholar believes
that the patriarch Enoch in the Bible
actually wrote the book of
knock again it's pseudepigrapha we know
Enoch couldn't have written it because
the authors of Enoch make use of later
biblical writings like Isaiah and Daniel
Mount Sinai is even mentioned by name in
first Enoch 1:4 which obviously came way
after Enochs time and I could go on and
on listing more examples like that but
there's really no question that Enoch is
pseudepigrapha it's a collection of
writings written by multiple authors and
pieced together over the last few
centuries BCE
having said that Enoch is very valuable
it it gives us a window into the ancient
world and the different beliefs and
debates among the various Judaism's of
the Second Temple era so in that sense
it's very valuable we also know that
some of the New Testament authors were
aware of these writings and likely
utilized them in their own writings I'll
get to that in a minute
but first what about the question of
divine inspiration and authority
concerning the Book of Enoch because
there's some fringe groups on the
internet that actually advocate that
first Enoch among other pseudepigrapha
ought to be considered inspired
scripture the same as Daniel and
Jeremiah
now obviously the Book of Enoch is not
part of the Bible and there are very
good reasons for that I'll just give a
couple number one the Messiah did not
consider the Book of Enoch to be
inspired Scripture the biblical canon of
Yeshua's day had a three-fold division
known as the Torah Nevi'im and Ketuvim
that is the law the prophets and the
writings and that was and is the shape
of the Old Testament Canon of Scripture
it's known by the acronym to knock and
the contents of this Canon match the Old
Testament Canon in our Protestant Bibles
today this threefold Canon is referenced
not only in the New Testament but also
throughout other Jewish literature
before and after the time of Christ
for instance Ben Sira the author of the
apocryphal book
the wisdom of Sirach he had a grandson
who translated his grandfather's
writings into Greek around 130 BCE this
translator wrote his own prologue to his
translation wherein he makes reference
to this threefold shape of the Old
Testament Canon and remarkably the
translator distinguishes his
grandfather's writings that is the
wisdom of Sirach from the law prophets
and writings so we see that by 130 BCE
the books contained in this threefold
Canon were already widely considered to
be uniquely sacred and distinct from any
additional writings including the
apocryphal writings Josephus in the 90s
seee
he also testifies to this threefold
canon of Scripture in a passage from
against a peon so there's no manuscript
or historical evidence that indicates
that pseudepigrapha such as first Enoch
were ever accepted as part of this
threefold canon of Scripture neither the
Greek Septuagint nor the Hebrew
Masoretic text include first enoch in
their sets so the evidence we have from
primary sources confirms that the
biblical canon during Yeshua's day
excluded first Enoch why is that
important well because Yeshua fully
affirmed the biblical canon of his day
defining it as Scripture he makes direct
reference to this canon in Luke 24:44
therefore the Messiah the eternal son of
God himself he did not consider the Book
of Enoch Scripture the second point I
would make on this is that the teaching
contained in the Book of Enoch is in
direct conflict with Scripture the most
significant example of this is the fact
that the Book of Enoch literally teaches
a false messiah according to the
parables of Enoch which is chapters 37
through 71 Enoch is taken into heaven
where he has shown prophetic visions
concerning a future messianic figure
this messianic figure goes by several
titles such
son of man chosen one and anointed one
and the author writes about how this
messianic figure is going to fulfill all
of these prophecies that we find in
books like Daniel Isaiah Ezekiel and so
forth
for instance chapter 48 of Enoch
describes how this figure will be a
light to the nation's as Isaiah talks
about it goes on to say that all who
dwell on the earth will worship Him and
that the righteous will have salvation
in his name and then at the end of the
parables of Enoch we encounter an
interesting passage in chapter 71 of
Enoch Enoch he's taken into the quote
heaven of heavens where he is greeted by
God and the Archangels and it is here
where we learned the identity of the Son
of man figure that Enoch had been seen
in his visions
we are told clearly who the author of
the parables of Enoch thinks the Messiah
is and it ain't Jesus it's not Yeshua
its Enoch now obviously this puts the
teaching of first Enoch in direct
conflict with the New Testament and the
New Testament Yeshua is the Messianic
son of man who fulfills Biblical
prophecy he's the one who will rule the
world sit on God's throne in the at the
end of the age judge and receive worship
in the world to come so that's a pretty
big conflict and there are many other
conflicts with biblical teaching that
disqualify the Book of Enoch from being
considered Scripture now someone might
point out that Jude quotes Enoch in Jude
14 through 15 therefore they'll say
shouldn't we consider first Enoch
scripture since Jude quotes it however
the fact that Jude quotes the Book of
Enoch doesn't entail that it's inspired
the biblical authors quoted plenty of
material that nobody would consider to
be inspired by God for instance Paul
quotes Greek poems in acts 17:28 surely
he didn't consider these poems that
literally exalt Zeus to be inspired by
the God of Israel the biblical authors
quoted extra biblical material that was
meaning
full to their contemporary audience that
doesn't mean the material itself is
inspired it could be compared for
example to a pastor today quoting a
popular movie like Star Wars a movie
might teach meaningful lessons that
align with biblical values but nobody
today believes movies are inspired
obviously you know is the same with the
Apostles they quoted material that was
relevant and meaningful to their
audience to teach a lesson in their own
writings so in summary the Book of Enoch
tremendously valuable if you are
interested in learning more about the
different beliefs and ideas floating
around the Judaism's of the second tubal
era but definitely not Scripture
definitely not inspired by God thanks
for the question so remember guys stay
fit stay founded in truth don't forget
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chilla
you