Why is Enoch's prophecy quoted in Jude 14? Why was Enoch not included in the Bible?
Question;
I have question about the Book of Enoch. In Jude 1:14, Enoch’s prophecy is quoted from. Why was the book of Enoch not included in the Holy Bible?
Answer:
We do not have a detailed account of the process by which the Jewish scribes chose what books to include or to not include in the canon of the Old Testament. I believe most scholars would agree that the books which became part of the accepted canon of the Hebrew Bible were chosen over a considerable time by general consensus of most Jewish teachers.
Bottom line, we do not have access to the reasons the Jews did not include Enoch in the Hebrew Bible. For this reason, we must speculate. I cannot give you an authoritative reliable answer to your question. But because you ask, I will speculate. Before I do this, it may be helpful to understand that the Jews did not have quite as linear a concept of scripture as we in the West do. To us, a book is either inspired or it is not. We do not think of one book as more inspired than another. We do not think of one book as somehow more scriptural than another. We do not think of one book of the Bible as having a higher level of authority than another.
The Jews saw things somewhat differently. They saw the first five books–the Pentateuch–as more central to scripture. The five books were the heart of Judaism. The Prophets and the Psalms were also from God, but their authority was somewhat less. The Jews, or many of them at least, would have seen a book like Enoch as occupying a still lower rung on the ladder. Enoch was of some value, but of a lesser value than Amos, Isaiah or Proverbs. They had a number of books which were read with some level of authority, but which nevertheless did not make the cut to be part of the officially sanctioned Bible. To a Jew, it is not contradictory to read from Enoch with authority, yet to not include the book in the central canon of Judaism. Obviously, Jude saw Enoch as having some level of authority. Is he ascribing to it a level of inspiration which we think of when we talk about Isaiah or Luke? Probably not, but remember that the Jews did not have such a hard and fast distinction between books like Enoch and Elijah.
If you read early Christian writers, they too used some of the Apocryphal Jewis writings. This was true to a lesser extent in the first and second century, but by the third century, it was quite common for church leaders to quote from Enoch or Macabbees or Ecclesiasticus (all part of the Catholic Apocrypha.
How should we think about this? Is Enoch inspired? Is it partially inspired? Should we read it with the same reverance as Daniel? I cannot give you a clear cut answer. By faith, I believe that God ultimately determined what ended up in both the New and the Old Testament. I believe that those books we have in our authoritative canon are approved by God and inspired by God. Therefore, when Jude quotes from Enoch, he is doing so in a way which is "inspired" and therefore authoritative. This does not mean that we should not read other books, such as Enoch. However, I believe that the safest attitude is to use Apocryphal books such as Enoch with a great deal of caution. There may be some God-given wisdom in these books, but we cannot give these writings full authority. By faith I believe that if God had wanted Enoch in the canon of scripture he would have seen to this happening. I cannot say that these other books are completely without inspiration, but our wisest path is to trust God and take those books in our accepted canon as our complete list of inspired scripture. Like Paul said to Timothy, the accepted scripture is "sufficient for every good work."
Bottom line, I believe that Enoch was not included in the Bible because it is not inspired in the same sense that the Other Old Testament books are. Either that or it is completely inspired by God (I really doubt this!), but God did not feel that its inclusion was required for us to know him. I encourage you to go ahead and read the book of Enoch. You can find it on line if you cannot get hold of a hard copy easily. If you read the book, I believe you will see immediately that this book is not of anywhere near the quality of the books of the Bible. You will find things which contradict science. You will find statments which do not fit well with other Bible teachings. I have found this to be true with Enoch and with the Apocryphal books such as the Wisdom of Sirach or Tobit or Judith. The incredible inspired nature of the canonical books is revealed in striking ways if we simply read books like Enoch and make our own comparison. Is there some truth in Enoch? Perhaps, and maybe this explains Jude’s use of the book, but I do not believe it is inspired by God in the way Genesis or Psalms or Daniel are.
John Oakes
