Editing Enoch (section)

==Books of Enoch (Apocryphal)==
[[File:William Blake Enoch Lithograph 1807.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Enoch, [[lithograph]] by [[William Blake]], 1807.]]
Three extensive [[Apocrypha]] are attributed to Enoch:
*[[Book of Enoch|The Book of Enoch]] (aka 1 Enoch), composed in [[Hebrew]] or [[Aramaic]] and preserved in [[Ge'ez]], first brought to Europe by [[James Bruce]] from Ethiopia and translated into English by August Dillmann and Reverent Schoode<ref>{{cite book|last=Schodde|first=George H|title=The Book of Enoch| year=1882|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/6rbnsqkbyux8z0b/SCHODDE_The-Book-of-Enoch.pdf?dl=0}}</ref> – recognized by the [[Orthodox Tewahedo]] churches and usually dated between the third century BC and the first century AD. 
*[[Second Book of Enoch|2 Enoch]] (aka Book of the Secrets of Enoch), preserved in [[Old Church Slavonic]], and first translated in English by William Morfill<ref>{{cite web|title=MORFILL – The Book of the Secrets of Enoch (1896)|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/xect6zyuyhw137z/MORFILL_2Enoch_Book.of.Enoch.Secrets.pdf?dl=0}}</ref> – usually dated to the first century AD.
*[[3 Enoch]], a Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated to the fifth century AD.
These recount how Enoch was taken up to [[Heaven]] and was appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of the [[archangel]]s, and the immediate attendant on the [[Throne of God]]. He was subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfills of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees. Some esoteric literature, such as 3 Enoch, identifies Enoch as [[Metatron]], the angel which communicates God's word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature and the Rabbinic [[kabbalah]] of Jewish mysticism, as the one who communicated God's revelation to Moses, and, in particular, as the dictator of the [[Book of Jubilees]].

===In Book of Giants===
[[The Book of Giants]] is a Jewish [[pseudepigrapha]]l work from the third century BC and resembles the Book of Enoch. Fragments from at least six and as many as eleven copies were found among the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] collections.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eisenman|first1=Robert|last2=Wise|first2=Michael|title=The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered|date=1992|publisher=Element Books, Inc.|location=Shaftesbury, Dorset|isbn=1852303689|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781852303686/page/95 95]|edition=6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781852303686/page/95}}</ref>

===Septuagint===
The third-century BC translators who produced the [[Septuagint]] in [[Koine Greek]] rendered the phrase "God took him" with the Greek verb ''metatithemi'' ({{lang|grc|μετατίθημι}})<ref>5:24 καὶ εὐηρέστησεν Ενωχ τῷ θεῷ καὶ οὐχ ηὑρίσκετο ὅτι μετέθηκεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεός</ref> meaning moving from one place to another.<ref>[[LSJ]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=%CE%BC%CE%B5%CF%84%E1%BD%B3%CE%B8%CE%B7%CE%BA%CE%B5%CE%BD&la=greek#lexicon metatithemi]</ref> [[Sirach]] 44:16, from about the same period, states that "Enoch pleased God and was translated into [[paradise]] that he may give repentance to the nations." The Greek word used here for [[paradise]], ''paradeisos'' ({{lang|grc|παράδεισος}}), was derived from an ancient Persian word meaning "enclosed garden", and was used in the Septuagint to describe the garden of Eden. Later, however, the term became synonymous for heaven, as is the case here.<ref>[http://studybible.info/strongs/G3857 G3857 παράδεισος] Strong's Greek Lexicon. Retrieved 2015-08-01 <br/>[http://biblehub.com/greek/3857.htm Strong's Greek 3857_ παράδεισος (paradeisos) – a park, a garden, a paradise] Retrieved 2015-08-01</ref>

===In Classical Rabbinism===
In classical Rabbinical literature, there are various views of Enoch. One view regarding Enoch that was found in the [[Targum Pseudo-Jonathan]], which thought of Enoch as a pious man, taken to Heaven, and receiving the title of ''Safra rabba'' (''Great scribe''). After Christianity was completely separated from Judaism, this view became the prevailing rabbinical idea of Enoch's character and exaltation.<ref name=je>{{cite web|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=383&letter=E |title=Jewish Encyclopedia ''Enoch'' |publisher=Jewishencyclopedia.com |access-date=2014-03-26}}</ref>

According to [[Rashi]]<ref>Rashi's Commentary on {{Bibleref2|Genesis|5:24|9}}. See also Commentary of [[Abraham ibn Ezra|Ibn Ezra]].</ref> [from [[Genesis Rabbah]]<ref>25:1</ref>], "Enoch was a righteous man, but he could easily be swayed to return to do evil. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, hastened and took him away and caused him to die before his time. For this reason, Scripture changed [the wording] in [the account of] his demise and wrote, 'and he was no longer' in the world to complete his years."

Among the minor [[Midrash]]im, esoteric attributes of Enoch are expanded upon. In the ''Sefer Hekalot'', Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited the [[Seven Heavens|Seventh Heaven]], where he met Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, and [[Azazel]], and so Enoch was taken to Heaven to prove that God was not cruel.<ref name=je/> Similar traditions are recorded in Sirach. Later elaborations of this interpretation treated Enoch as having been a pious ascetic, who, called to mix with others, preached repentance, and gathered (despite the small number of people on Earth) a vast collection of disciples, to the extent that he was proclaimed king. Under his wisdom, peace is said to have reigned on earth, to the extent that he is summoned to Heaven to rule over the ''sons of God''.