Enoch’s Book of Scriptures

John 7:38 ‘Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”’
Jesus quoting Book of Enoch and calling it “Scripture”? Wikipedia says so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-canonical_books_referenced_in_the_Bible
Anyone know where this saying is found in the Book of Enoch? If so it means Jesus taught that the Book of Enoch is Scripture.

Enoch 48:1 In that place I beheld a fountain of righteousness, which never failed, encircled by many springs of wisdom. Of these all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect, and the holy.” John 7:38 is probably Jesus quoting not just Enoch 48:1 but all of Enoch 49 too

Book of Enoch 49

l. For wisdom is poured out like water,

And glory faileth not before him for evermore.

2. 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. p. 68

3. 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.

4. 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.

Dingir

Why did God appear to the Israelites in Moses’ time as a very bright light in the sky? The Sumerians (of whom Enoch was a prominent leader around 3000 BC) had a word for God which is written as a star (asterisk) symbol, pronounced either as AN or as DINGIR. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingir This last way of saying “God” - Dingir - has persisted throughout subsequent history even up until modern times in the form Tingir in the oriental parts of the world. The translation of these people of this word for God into English is Eternal Sky and associated with they phrase regarding God, The Eternal Blue Sky. The Sumerian symbol of the star asterisk Dingir was very much associated with the sky, the high heavens. So the appearance of God as a bright light in the daytime sky must have evoked the most widely understood concept of the supreme, most high God, in the ancient world.

Thousands of years later another great light in the sky was seen when the hater of Christians Saul of Tarsus was struck with blindness on the road to Damascus from Jerusalem by the light of the Messiah. The appearance of Jesus to Saul (who became Apostle Paul) associated this Messiah, this Christ Jesus, with the sky too and so the awareness started of the sky being associated with both Almighty God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ the Son and this would continue and spread worldwide even to this present day.

Why is the Son of Man called the Son of Man?

Why in the Book of Enoch and the Book of Daniel is the Son of Man called the Son of Man? In Daniel 7 to 11 there are several heavenly beings called “a man” but they are not human beings but angels; archangels. In chapter 7 there is just one who is called a Son of Man; because He is not an angel looking like a man but looks like He actually is a real man. So this is the Messiah’s meaning when He calls Himself the Son of Man; He means He is this Son of Man who Daniel and Enoch saw.

Original Written Words for God

THE MOST ANCIENT WORDS FOR GOD

Aside from heiroglyphics the closest extant (actual cuneiform tablets) writings we have to the time of Enoch are the Temple Hymn of Kesh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_temple_hymn and the Instructions of Sharappak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak. These texts are both religious in nature, like scripture, and one uses the word or name EN.LIL for God (the supreme heavenly being) and the other uses the word or name UTU. The uses of these names in literature show clear similarities with references to God in the Book of Enoch and other scriptures so it is plausible that they are references to the same supreme heavenly being. The Temple Hymn of Kesh praises God using the name or title EN.LIL whose meaning is like the translation we have in English of the title in the Book of Enoch “Lord of Spirits”. It could mean Supreme Spirit. The content of these praises is consistent with it being about the same God in other religious writings and scriptures such as those in the Bible. Likewise the Utu mentioned in the Instructions of Sharappak seems to be referring to God.

Anunna, Anunnaki and An

“Anunna” is the Sumerian and Akkadian original word for the many angels, sons of An, God. “An” meant heavenly being generally but there was one heavenly being whose name was Heavenly Being (An). So they called God “An” and angels “Anunna” (sons of God). Now the top angels, especially the top seven who were with God in the Underworld places where God only allowed some to go, were called “Anunnaki”. It is apparent how this word might eventually have become “arch-angels” - Anunna-ki. Yet the “ki” (𒆠) means earth. So originally these were the sons of God on earth perhaps. They preside over all matters concerning the earth and are those allowed to stand before the Heavenly Being Himself.

What is Sin?

WHAT IS SIN?

In John 8 is one of the last public sermons of the Messiah before His crucifixion and so it figures He would focus it on the most important aspects of His message. His emphasis about what is sin is on lying and murderous hating. He says these are characteristics of Satan. Then His last message in Revelation after He rose and ascended is in chapter 22 on the main sins that will keep people constantly committing them out of the holy city of God. The words of the Messiah there mirror the words of God the Father in chapter 21:8. The sinfulness of lying appears again with a qualification in 21:8 that “all kinds of liars” are implicated. Murder appears too. Now there are additional sinful ways of life mentioned - looking up the meanings of the Greek terms is interesting. Sorcery means plant uses for drugs and potions and not just incantations and spells. So drug pushing and possibly even medicinally is part of what this means. Then what is translated as idolatry is a matter of renting out your worship-life for wages - paid worship. There is cowardice and doubt - the equivalent of what used to be called FUD “fear, uncertainty, doubt”. There is sexual immorality which is included by the word we translate as porn but the original word means a male prostitute or gigolo. We might sum a lot of this up as vice. Lowlife living. Sleaziness. Ethically unsound behaviour. In a modern world people sanitise it in corporations and hide it from the Law but God sees it for what it is and will destroy one day all who practice it. John 8 says how to be free forever from it in our lives - the Son setting us free if we believe Him and hold to His teachings.

The Seven Archangels

Book of Tobit 12:15 ‘“I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.”’ 

Gospel of Luke 1:18-20 ‘Zechariah said to the angel, “What proof is there for this? I’m an old man, and my wife is beyond her childbearing years.” The angel answered him, “I’m Gabriel! I stand in God’s presence. God sent me to tell you this good news. But because you didn’t believe what I said, you will be unable to talk until the day this happens. Everything will come true at the right time.”’

Of all the angels it is the seven foremost archangels who have the honour of ministering in the very throne chamber of Almighty God, hence what Gabriel told Zechariah the father of John the Baptist and what Raphael told Tobit. So you don’t want to be ignoring or disrespecting or disbelieving one of these archangels. Surely that applies to writings of their words too, such as in scriptures some have the boldness to call ‘apocryphal’ as if to rashly say such scriptures can be safely ignored.

It was among some of these seven archangels that the Son of Man was revealed in the visions seen by the prophet Daniel. This Son of Man was among these who could enter into the throne chamber of God.

Sons of God (Part 2)

Regarding the chief angels it was written “All of you are sons of the Most High” Psalm 82:6

Constantinian Christians stripped out the supernatural meaning of Psalm 82 verse 6 and substituted their prefered Trinitarianism philosophical ideas which fitted with Greek and Roman philosophies and theologies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_82  But the roots of Genesis and Job reveal the ancient worldview that was taught by Noah. The Book of Enoch being translated into English has helped improve the original understanding of the archangels as sons of God and what it means to be a son of God. Sumerian texts from Noah’s time have highlighted how ancient the “sons of God” reference is in Genesis 6 and how Genesis’ flood narrative ties so tightly to ancient texts influenced by Noah himself such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. These are a foundation to the proper meaning of the Messiah when He spoke about being a son of God like other sons of God, deities.

Sons of God

The term “sons of God” has many meanings. Archangels are called sons of God and have been throughout human history. Archangels have throughout history been considered deities. So sons of God almost equates to deities. There is more to sons of God - there is ranking and relative eminence. There has always been a hierarchy. Four archangels are at the corners of the throne of God’s glory and this gives them eminence over other archangels. There are then seven wellknown archangels considered an inner circle of topmost angels. Then there are watchers including these seven but extended to other angels and archangels. There are many many watchers. This is how scriptures and other sacred texts and revelations have explained sons of God since the times of Noah till today. Then on top of this for the Son of Man to say that believers in Himself have power to become sons of God paints a glorious picture. The question then is how these new sons of God fit in with the others; with their hierarchy. One consideration is pre-eminence; the pre-eminence of those who were sons of God earlier. Angelic sons of God were there earlier than humans. Yet the firstborn of the sons of God, the Son of Man, was there first; the first son of God. The other consideration is about association and unity with this firstborn. Sons of God made so by faith in the Firstborn are the latest additions to the family but are not least because they are united with the first son of God. Over aeons in the future the distinction of pre-eminence might look less and less significant but the truth will ever remain of the connection between these human, soon to be resurrected, sons of God and their firstborn elder brother, all, like the Son of Man, their head, unique in having been firstborn twice - by the work of God the Father and by the resurrection to immortality from the dead.

NT and OT: Messiah and Torah

“... a righteousness apart from Law ...” (Apostle Paul, Epistle to the Romans)

The Messiah taught Torah (Old Testament Law and teachings) keeping as a way to survive and live “Do this and you will live” He said. Then He taught selling all and following Him as a way to be made perfect. So maybe the righteousness Paul had in mind is not to simply live but to become perfect. This is not merely through Torah keeping but through faith and following the Messiah. He even taught that the focus is not so much on Torah as on faith and obedience coming from faith. He even taught it is available even to those who are not under the Torah - who are not bound to keeping it. So for a Jew to live there is Torah but for both Jew and Gentile to be made perfect there is a Messiah in whom to believe and then follow forsaking this world’s trappings.

The nature of this perfection is all there in the gospels: perfect elimination of fornication entails permamently ceasing to look lustfully at women; perfect elimination of satanic ways entails permanently ceasing from lying and from murdering and that ceasing from murdering entails ceasing from hateful thoughts that aren’t deserved. Perfect kindness entails kindness to not only friends but also extending to enemies who do you harm. So it is more perfect in degree beyond what Torah requires but also in permanence beyond what Torah requires - permanence after death eternally as well as before in this life. In Revelation there is more: ceasing from lying means all kinds of lying. The Epistles expand on it and start to introduce the means of this perfection which is becoming part of a mutually loving body all united in spirit and purpose and rebuking each other to perfect each other and washed from pollutng thoughts and attitudes by anointing of the Holy Spirit.

The disobedience gets knocked out of those who believe in Messiah to lead them into perfect righteousness. Eventually they obey perfectly. Those who are Jews who do not believe in this Messiah do well to obey Torah. Then they will live. But they will likely die in the sins they cannot help continually committing without Messiah to set them free.

The Usual Challenge to the Book of Enoch

Every now and then readers of the Book of Enoch get a challenge by people who use one of the sayings of Jesus Christ which they construe to mean Jesus might have denied Enoch’s ascension into heaven. I do not like to publicise this use of the verse but just to point out that there is another way to understand Jesus’ saying in the Gospel of John. Jesus frequently, as John recorded, emphasised the importance of His words as coming from someone well acquainted with God the Father since nobody else on earth at the time had come from Heaven. Once it is recorded that He used a phrase to say He alone had ascended into Heaven. The usual saying recorded is that He alone had come from Heaven. He usually spoke in the context of His immediate hearers and how things were to them. They would never hear Enoch speak on earth because Enoch was in Heaven. The only person they would hear testify who had both come from Heaven and at some time or times ascended into Heaven too was Jesus. Jesus was not denying the ascension of Enoch nor of Elijah. Colloquially He was speaking of those present on earth as He spoke and in that context only He out of all those present on Earth at that time had ascended into Heaven and come from Heaven. Daniel had written of Him being brought into the presence of God the Ancient of Days. Enoch had written about such occassions too. Both Daniel and Jesus alluded to the writings of Enoch and Jesus also alluded to the writings of Daniel. Be cautious how you understand the words of Jesus and how you regard the understandings others have of His words.