In Roman times a Christian writer who knew Jesus (possible his biological brother) wrote of the ancient prophet called Enoch as being a true prophet, seventh in line from Adam, in real history. This disciple, Jude, among the first disciples of the Jesus Christ, has been so respected by Christians that his epistle (The Epistle of Jude) has been considered sacred to the extent it has been included in the Bible these past two thousand years. Yet is it at all feasible that his statements about Enoch were truthfully written? Does the concept of sacred scripture being actually true really stack up in this case? Archaeology might help answer this question. Archaeology of civilisation origins is illuminated by the success of translating Sumerian cuneiform writings from 3400 to 2400 BC although this has been tough and slow and some success has only happened recently. Several very important texts written around 2200 BC being translated from original cuneiform texts (extant texts as they are called because they are the actual physical texts written in those ancient times) are called Sumerian King Lists. Some of these record kings from the time of Enoch and the cities they made their capitals. One such king, the seventh in this dawn of history period, is a man described in other texts as having ascended to heaven with the angels and learned from them. Surely this is Enoch. His name in the texts is sometimes written En-men-dur-ana and sometimes Enmenduranki (this could have been shortened to Enoch over time). His capital was Sippar. The king that followed was Ubara-Tutu who another even more ancient text called the Instruction of Sharappak says was grandfather to the man who took some survivors into an ark when the world flooded who Sumerians named Ziusudra who was of course Noah. Ubura-Tutu must have been Methuselah son of Enoch. He had the city called Sharappak as his capital, according to the Sumerian King Lists. The Sumerian King Lists give large numbers for the periods those kings who were kings before a great flood (Noah’s flood as we call it) ruled, which traditions say were numbers of years which make ridiculously long reign lengths so these numbers might mean days. The archaeology shows these kings must have ruled prior to around 2900 or 2500 BC, the last of the kings (most lists say Ubara-Tutu) ruling up until that time. So the end of the period of these pre-flood kings is somewhere between 2900 and 2500 BC but there is less agreement about the beginning of these king’s period. The first two kings in the lists are associated with the city of Eridu, a city well known to archaeology. The first listed king (Alulim, who was possibly later known as Adapa who today is known as Adam) had a reign which started when Eridu was quite a major city around 3600 BC. So it really is feasible that Jude wrote truthfully about Enoch and Adam being historical real people and Enoch being a prophet “seventh from Adam”. Jude may indeed have been exercising good judgment and true, holy inspiration in writing confidently asserting such things. The reputation of sacred scipture is in this case intact as is the judgment of Christians these past two thousand years in regarding Jude’s epistle as sacred scripture worthy of sitting in the Bible. Furthermore, the fact that Jude quoted a prophecy of Enoch found only in the Book of Enoch known and highly regarded as scripture too in Jude’s time supports the belief of more and more people today that the Book of Enoch is genuine truly ancient holy writ. Refs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak
