Forgive my questions. I am a babe since God saved my life and just learning these things of God. I’m trying to understand and seek knowledge and making sure that it makes sense.<\/p>\n
Your question is covered in part III of the lesson, but let’s look at it again.<\/p>\n
“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him<\/em>” (Jude 14-15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nOften when a written source is quoted, the writer or speaker says, “It is written.” (e.g. “As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame”<\/em>” (Romans 9:33). However, notice that Jude doesn’t say he is quoting a written source. He only states that Enoch, prior to the flood, had made a particular prophecy. Since multiple Enochs are mentioned in the Bible, he clarifies which one he is quoting by saying the one who was seven generations from Adam.<\/p>\nSo how could Jude know what Enoch said 4,000 years later? We must keep in mind that Jude is inspired, so therefore the obvious answer is that God told him (I Corinthians 2:12-13). It is the same reason why Moses, who is credited with writing Genesis, was able to write words of people who lived hundreds and thousands of years before him.<\/p>\n
But there is a book floating around called the Book of Enoch that was found in Ethiopia in the 1700s and it has this line in it: “And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Enoch 1:9). People get all excited by this line. Jude must be quoting the Book of Enoch!<\/p>\n
First, compare the two quotes. They are not a literal reproduction. Even if we allow some freedom because of translations into different languages, the two don’t carry the same message. Jude says God will judge\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0and convict the\u00a0ungodly<\/em>\u00a0among them. The Book of Enoch says God is judging\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0and will convict\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0of their ungodliness. Not quite the same; in fact, it is severely different.<\/p>\nIs the Ethiopian copy a bad translation? Some claim it is so. Then how can we trust the rest of that book?<\/p>\n
Do we say Jude is bad at quoting? Then Jude would not be an inspired book. If Jude is the uninspired work of a man, then what happens to the support for the Book of Enoch? The reason people get excited is that it supposedly was mentioned in Jude.<\/p>\n
Another claim is that the Book of Enoch recorded Jewish oral tradition and Jude supplied the correct quote. If it was from oral tradition, then it is amazing that the Israelites managed to preserve the statement that near to accurate for so long and without a written copy.<\/p>\n
The only whole copy of the Book of Enoch is the Ethiopian translation. Among the Dead Sea scrolls are fragments of what has been identified as the Book of Enoch written in Aramaic and Greek. Interestingly, none of the fragments, Aramaic or Greek, contain Enoch 1:9. The only version that has a verse similar to the one in Jude are the Ethiopian copies. What it means is we can’t verify whether the Ethiopian translation was bad or whether the verse was even in the older copies. It would not be the first time that manuscripts were tampered with and a line is added to give a false book an appearance of authority. There is insufficient evidence whether the phrase is in the original Book of Enoch or whether a person knowledgeable of Christianity and Jude “enhanced” an older version by inserting something from Jude.<\/p>\n
What I hope you see is that what is claimed as support for the Book of Enoch doesn’t technically exist.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: This is really well put\u00a0together\u00a0as to why\u00a0Enoch was written by man, but I am a bit confused. When I go read a study on Jude, Enoch is mentioned as if it’s an\u00a0authoritative\u00a0book. If it\u00a0contradicts\u00a0God’s Word and came from man, then how can Jude be right? Forgive my questions. I am a babe since God…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[568,661,130,892],"class_list":["post-27215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-book-of-enoch","tag-canon","tag-jude"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-jude-contain-quotes-not-found-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":27215,"position":0},"title":"Why does Jude contain quotes not found in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When we study the book of Jude in our Bible study group, I found that in verse 9 and verse 14, Jude quoted \"The Lord rebuke thee\" and \"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,\" but they were not in the Old Testament. A brother told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7249,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-enoch\/","url_meta":{"origin":27215,"position":1},"title":"The Book of Enoch","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I John 4:1-3 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I received a letter that objected to a lesson in one of the workbooks posted on our website. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was an explanation of Genesis 6:4 that this person found objectionable. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSons of God\u201d can refer to angels (Job 1:6) or to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3673,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-you-use-the-book-of-enoch\/","url_meta":{"origin":27215,"position":2},"title":"Why don’t you use the Book of Enoch?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I really love your site. I thought your understanding of Scripture was awesome and that you guys are doing a great job. However,\u00a0your interpretation of Genesis 6 is completely off, and I pray that because of this the sheep are not lead astray. I say this because if your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1767,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-special-about-a-man-named-enoch\/","url_meta":{"origin":27215,"position":3},"title":"What was special about a man named Enoch?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was special about a man named Enoch? Answer: More than one man held the name \"Enoch,\" but the one we recall as being special is mentioned in\u00a0Genesis 5:22-24, \"After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-possible-that-early-christians-added-to-the-book-of-enoch\/","url_meta":{"origin":27215,"position":4},"title":"Is it possible that early Christians added to the book of Enoch?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it possible that early Christians added to the book of Enoch? or was it a work relying heavily upon the book of Daniel where the physical description of the throne and the Messiah are strikingly similar. i.e. \"Hair on his head was like pure wool\" (Daniel 7:9). I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18117,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-you-to-decide-which-books-belong-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":27215,"position":5},"title":"Who are you to decide which books belong in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your article on the internet and I think you need to re-read genisis concerning the giants and the fallen angels,\u00a0sir. Angels were able to trnasform themselves into human beings just read the story\u00a0 of the two men( who were angels of God) who spoke to Lot and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}