The Book of Enoch and the New Testament

Elijah walked with the Angels. (Genesis 5:24) The Book of Enoch is a controversial book that almost made it in the Bible, but just narrowly missed the cut. Jude quoted directly from Enoch, Peter and Jude both referred to its contents, and Jesus may have borrowed from Enoch when he talked about angels never needing to marry - Enoch explains that the angels don't need to marry and have children because they never die. Opinions are divided over whether or not Enoch is good, bad, or whatever. Conspiracy theorists and sellers of magazines and TV programs want to turn the book into another "proof" the Church is hiding something and Fundamentalists demonize the book. I am not going to say one way or another. You can figure that one out on your own. Rather I am only going to point out how Enoch is clearly behind some of the thinking of New Testament writers - especially Peter and Jude. Because we have such limited information from the world in which Bible writers lived, we cannot piece together the entire ancient world and their ways of thinking. That limits us to only what we do have and what we know from the books and fragments we have. For those readers who are not familiar with the Book of Enoch, the book itself claims to be written by Enoch (the 7th from Adam - who was born before Noah) but in fact was written by several scribes at different times - long after Enoch lived. Writing under a famous person's name and on behalf of that person was very popular during the centuries before and after Jesus' day. In this writing I am focusing only on those parts of Enoch that were written before Jesus was born. We do know that the first 36 chapters or so were written long before the New Testament (possibly 250 years or so before), so the similarities found in the New Testament with the Book of Enoch came from the Book of Enoch and not the other way around. However, the source of any similarity Enoch has with the Old Testament came from the Old Testament itself, for it was written first. SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS 1-10 Section One Enoch prophesied that a big change was on its way. Wickedness was going to disappear while godliness was going to rise. A time of prosperity and blessing was going to come on the earth. Jude, who was the brother of Jesus, quoted from and gave credit to the Book of Enoch: 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. 1 Enoch 1:9
Section Two
After informing us that a new day was coming, Enoch recounts how his world became filled with violence and chaos within the spiritual and natural realms. He explains that there is order in the created world with such things as stars, the universe, the trees, and the like; nevertheless the people and the angels of his time were not following God's decrees. They were unnatural and doing things they were not designed to do. This reminds me of Isaiah 1, where God tells his people that the ox knows its master, but His people do not know theirs. God will punish those who do not follow His commandments - they will die young. On the other hand, godly people will live long. This concept of long life for the righteous vs. life cut short for the ungodly is found in the early chapters of Proverbs.
Section Three Sex with Angels 19 angels - each over 10 other angels (190 in total) - submit themselves to Semjaza in an agreement to take wives from among humans. They do this because they lust after good looking women.
Genesis 6:2 – the Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
1 Corinthians 11:10 – For this cause ought the woman to have power (authority or covering) on her head because of the angels. Secrets Tools of Seduction As the serpent promised Eve knowledge that only God and the angels knew, the angels in Enoch's book shared heaven's secrets with the people before Noah's day. They taught men how to war and how to make weapons. They also told women how to make themselves attractive with make-up and how to use mirrors, sorcery, astrology, charms, enchantments, cutting roots, and knowledge of plants. 1 Peter 3:1-6 tells wives not to wear make-up, but rather focus on inward beauty, submitting to their husbands and calling them "lord." Due to the fact that Peter refers to the fallen angels of Enoch in verses following, this section about make-up could be influenced by a belief (perhaps common in some circles of Israel) that make-up was one of several tools fallen angels taught women in order to seduce men. In the early chapters of Proverbs, the writer describes a seduction that gives us insight into the ancient mind. The story is about a man and a woman having an adulterous affair. In the story, the man is seduced by a woman who has no morals. Although he could escape the affair, the power of seduction is strong and the man gives into it. Seduction was the power women had to entrap men and seduction was augmented by the gifts and tools the angels gave women. If tools for seduction, such as make-up, were considered forbidden secrets from the fallen angels, then make-up was probably considered taboo in many Hebrew circles. Is it possible that Peter felt the same? Giants The offspring of these angels and human women in Enoch turned out to be giants that ravished the land.                         Genesis 6:4 – There were giants (Nephalim) on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Eventually these giants consumed more than the earth could provide. They killed animals and people. Violence and death increased and the cries of the earth reached heaven itself.   The Good Angels  Meanwhile, in heaven Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Suryal, and Uriel heard and cries of the earth and talked to God about it wondering why God was so silent. God gave one of them a message to pass on to Noah that things are going to get wet. He gave another message for the angels that sinned - their children were going to die. It turns out that their spirits roam the earth as unclean spirits that were so commonly spoken of in the New Testament. The good angels also bound up all the bad ones and sent them into the fires under the earth (after all the earth is flat in the Book of Enoch) for 70 generations. Luke 3 records that from Enoch to Jesus there were 70 generations. Is this just coincidence or did Luke intend his readers to see that Jesus was the one who would take care of those who were bound at the end of 70 generations? It is possible 1 Peter 3:19-20 also refers to the importance of Jesus in the 70th generation: "And being made alive, he went and made proclamation to he imprisoned spirits - to those who were disobedient long age when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built."   According to the Book of Enoch, the bad angels were to be cast into fire for eternity after 70 generations from Enoch himself. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment,... (2 Peter 2:4, see also Jude 1:6).