1. Prepare Genesis 5:18-24 in Hebrew, and enough of the surrounding context to understand what makes this section stand out.
- What needs explaining here? What specific phrases need to be interpreted?
- Before looking at any commentary, jot down some of your own ideas about what this passage could mean.
- Consult Genesis 6:9 and 2 Kings 2:1-12 for some possible interpretations from elsewhere in the Bible.
2. Prepare Rashi on Genesis 5:24.
- What does Rashi think ultimately happened to Enoch?
- On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you say Rashi feels about Enoch?
(א) "ויתהלך חנוך" - (ב"ר) צדיק היה וקל (ס"א וקבל) בדעתו לשוב להרשיע לפיכך מיהר הקב"ה וסילקו והמיתו קודם זמנו וזהו ששינה הכתוב במיתתו לכתוב ואיננו בעולם למלאות שנותיו (ב) "כי לקח אותו" - לפני זמנו כמו (יחזקאל כד:טז) הנני לוקח ממך את מחמד עיניך
3. Prepare Bereshit Rabbah 25:1.
- What kinds of "folk beliefs" about Enoch are hinted at here?
- What do the rabbis quoted here think ultimately happened to Enoch?
- On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you say the Rabbis feel about Enoch?
(א) ויתהלך חנוך את האלהים ואיננו כי לקח אותו אלהים - אמר ר' חמא בר הושעיא: אינו נכתב בתוך טימוסן של צדיקים, אלא בתוך טימוסן של רשעים. אמר רבי איבו: חנוך חנף היה, פעמים צדיק פעמים רשע, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: עד שהוא בצדקו אסלקנו. אמר רבי איבו: בראש השנה דנו, בשעה שהוא דן כל באי עולם. אפיקורסים שאלו לרבי אבהו אמרו לו: אין אנו מוצאין מיתה לחנוך. אמר להם: למה? אמרו לו: נאמרה כאן "לקיחה", ונאמרה להלן (מלכים ב ב:ג): "כי היום ה' לוקח את אדונך מעל ראשך". אמר להם: אם ללקיחה אתם דורשים, נאמר כאן לקיחה, ונאמר להלן (יחזקאל כד:טז) "הנני לוקח ממך את מחמד עיניך". אמר רבי תנחומא: יפה השיבן רבי אבהו. מטרונה שאלה את ר' יוסי אמרה לו: אין אנו מוצאין מיתה בחנוך. אמר לה: אילו נאמר (בראשית ה:כד): "ויתהלך חנוך את האלהים", ושתק, הייתי אומר כדבריך, כשהוא אומר "ואיננו כי לקח אותו אלהים", ואיננו בעולם הזה, כי לקח אותו אלהים:
4. Now that we've got an idea of what the major commentaries think about Enoch, let's check out what the pseudoepigraphic Book of Enoch has to say about him. Read these passages and try to make as much sense of them as you can. If any of the content strikes you as familiar, make a note of what it reminds you of.
1 Enoch 1:1-2
1 The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be
2 living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And he took up his parable and said -Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come.
1 Enoch 6:1-6
1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.
2 And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men
3 and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not
4 indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations
5 not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves
6 by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon.
1 Enoch 14:8-9
8 And the vision was shown to me thus: Behold, in the vision clouds invited me and a mist summoned me, and the course of the stars and the lightnings sped and hastened me, and the winds in
9 the vision caused me to fly and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven. And I went in till I drew nigh to a wall which is built of crystals and surrounded by tongues of fire: and it began to affright me.
1 Enoch 37:1-2
1 The second vision which he saw, the vision of wisdom -which Enoch the son of Jared, the son
2 of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw. And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom which I lifted up my voice to speak and say to those which dwell on earth: Hear, ye men of old time, and see, ye that come after, the words of the Holy
5. No need to prepare these extra passages. I put them on here so that you can have access to them when/if I refer to them in class.
1 Enoch 72:1-2
1 The book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin, and according to their months, which Uriel, the holy angel, who was with me, who is their guide, showed me; and he showed me all their laws exactly as they are, and how it is with regard to all the years of the world
2 and unto eternity, till the new creation is accomplished which dureth till eternity. And this is the first law of the luminaries: the luminary the Sun has its rising in the eastern portals of the heaven,
Jubilees 4:16-19
16 And in the eleventh jubilee Jared took to himself a wife, and her name was Baraka, the daughter of Râsûjâl, a daughter of his father's brother, in the fourth week of this jubilee, and she bare him a son in the fifth week, in the fourth year of the jubilee, and he called his name Enoch.
17 And he was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in a book, that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of their separate months.
18 And he was the first to write a testimony and he testified to the sons of men among the generations of the earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known to them the days of the years, and set in order the months and recounted the Sabbaths of the years as we made (them), known to him.
19 And what was and what will be he saw in a vision of his sleep, as it will happen to the children of men throughout their generations until the day of judgment; he saw and understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on earth for all the children of men and for their generations.
Jude 1:14-15
14 It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones,
15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
Hebrews 11:5
5 By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and "he was not found, because God had taken him." For it was attested before he was taken away that "he had pleased God."
Moses 7:67-69
67 And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fullness of a joy;
68 And all the days of a Zion, in the days of Enoch, were three hundred and sixty-five years.
69 And Enoch and all his people a walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled.