5th Enoch Letter Of Enoch

The Letter of Enoch is the fifth and final book of the five books that have survived in the Ge'ez language. Fragments of it have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, along with fragments of the Book of the Watchers, Book of Parables, and Dream Visions, proving it has circulated with them since at least the 3rd-century BC. It is very unlikely that the Letter of Enoch predates the 3rd-century BC, as it includes Greek philosophical ideas that unlikely to have been adopted before Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, and Greeks began ruling Judea. One of these ideas is the concept of the 'Word,' the 'first-born of God' who was accepted by Hellenistic Jews as being the 'Angel of the Lord' from the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures. The general message of the Letter is very Zoroastrian in its message of good-versus-bad, light-versus-dark, and righteous-versus-dishonest. The author was clearly an outcast from the power-structure of the time, and constantly attacks against the 'wealthy' and 'powerful,' accusing them of being sinful. Whoever the author was, there are very few of the indicators from the Book of the Watchers and the Book of Parables which point to Canaanite and Babylonian origins for the text, and the little present can be explained as copying from the earlier texts. The identical description of the sky becoming seven times brighter when the end of the world comes is identical to the description found in the Book of Parables, which is otherwise anachronistic in the Book of Parables, as all other indicators point to a Jewish reworking of a Babylonian text, likely during the Babylonian era. This idea that the world would end in light when good/light conquered evil/darkness, is the central theme of Zoroastrianism, the official religion of the Persian Empire that ruled Judea between 525 and 333 BC. The identical description of the end of the world in the Book of Parables and the Letter of Enoch, suggests strongly that the author of the Letter was the same person that added the description of the end-of-the-world to the Book of Parables, likely at the same time that the 'Testament of Noah' was redacted into the surviving Book of Parables.

The Book of Jasher (also, Jashar) or the Book of the Upright or the Book of the Just Man is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The translation "Book of the Just Man" is the traditional Greek and Latin translation, while the transliterated form "Jasher" is found in the King James Bible, 1611.According to the Medieval Jewish scholar Rashi, Sefer HaYashar refers to the Pentateuch, as a fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy regarding Ephraim - "His seed will fill the nations" (Gen. 48:19) - and that this prophecy refers to Joshua's renown after the miracle of the standing of the sun.

The five books of Enoch are a collection of books written in Semitic languages, and often grouped together as the 'Book of Enoch,' or '1st Enoch.' The books were likely written at different points in time and different Semitic languages. The first book was the Book of the Watchers, which is generally considered to be the oldest book in the collection, however, the age of the book is debated. The book is now known to have originated long before Christianity since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, however, was lost for well over a thousand years to Europeans, and assumed to be a Christian-era work when the Europeans rediscovered it in Ethiopia. The five books of Enoch only survive in Ge'ez, the classical language of Ethiopia, however, do not survive intact, and some sections of text do not survive. The Astronomical Book explains a very different version of reality from the one that most people believe in today: a flat world with a physical sky above it. In this other world, the sun, moon, and stars all enter the space under the sky through portals at the east edge of the world and exit through the portals at the western edge of the world. The Astronomical Book attempts to explain the movement of the sun, moon, and winds, and is sometimes referred to as the Enochian Calendar, as it tried to explain the way the days, months, and years pass over time, and how the winds changed through the year. The world described is similar to the ancient Babylonian world view, which many ancient cultures inherited and used until the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes proposed the alternate concept that the world was spherical around 240 BC. The two world-systems were debated until the Imperial Church of Rome officially endorsed the flat Earth, which became the standard European world-view until the time of Copernicus. The Astronomical Book does not have many unique terms or descriptions of events to date it by like the other books of Enoch. There are many unique names found in the Astronomical Book but most cannot be traced back to a specific language or culture, and are therefore not useful for dating the text. The surviving fragments found among the Dead Sea scrolls are accepted as dating back to the 3rd-century BC, however, the book could be significantly older. The names of the sun in chapter 7 could indicate that some of the text originated in the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The names are listed as Orjares and Tomas are possibly based on the Egyptian terms Her-ur and Atum, which were pronounced as herwer and tmw respectively, and were both solar gods. Her-ur was the national god in the first few dynasties of the Old Kingdom, however, had been replaced by the sun-god Ra by the 5th Dynasty. By the Middle Kingdom, Her-ur was replaced by Osiris as the husband of Isis and the father of Horus the younger. If the name Orjares is a corruption of Her-ur, the date of the original text would most-likely date back to before the 5th-Dynasty, and almost certainly before the Middle Kingdom. On the other hand, Atum continued to be worshiped until the New Kingdom, and based on the Letter of Aristeas and the Pithom Stele, was believed to have been Moses' original god by some Jews and Greeks at the time the Septuagint was translated at the Library of Alexandria.

One of numerous texts that were removed from the Bible. This piece was traditionally attributed to Enoch. These Parables are part of the tradition of Apocalyptic Literature, and come to us as the Voice of God.

The Peshitta includes Syriac translations of the four books of the Maccabees found in the Septuagint, along with a 5ᵗʰ book of Maccabees, which is also labeled as The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem. This book is a Syriac translation of the 6ᵗʰ book of Josephus’ The Judean War. General Josephus had started on the Judean side of the rebellion, however, was captured by the Romans, and survived the war. During the fall of Jerusalem, he was part of Caesar Titus’ entourage who tried to negotiate with the Judean rebels in Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus was given some of the surviving archives and wrote Antiquities of the Judeans, as well as The Judean War. These books survive in Greek, however, it is generally agreed that Josephus wrote these books in Aramaic, and then translated them into Greek. The Syrian churches have traditionally claimed that the Peshitta’s 5ᵗʰ Maccabees is a Syriac transliteration of Josephus’ original Aramaic text. The Peshitta’s 5ᵗʰ Maccabees is often confused with the Arabic book of Maccabees in English literature due to a misidentification by the Anglican historian Henry Cotton in 1832. Josphus’ writing is also part of the Ge‘ez language extended canon of the Ethiopian bible, however, the Ge‘ez translations are longer, and it is debated if they were made from the old Aramaic versions or an Arabic translation. 5ᵗʰ Maccabees seems to have been added to the Peshitta in order to create a conclusion to the history of the kingdom of Judea, as it is just the section of The Judean War which covers the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Josephus’ intent was to accurately record the fall of Judea and is generally considered a reliable source. Not all of the 1ˢᵗ century historians agreed with Josephus’ view of what happened.

In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The Letter of Aristeas, also called the Letter to Philocrates, was written by someone who claimed to have been part of the events that created the original translation of the Septuagint. It was treated as an authentic historical document by ancient Jewish historians, such as Aristobulus of Alexandria circa 150 BC, Philo of Alexandria circa 15 AD, and Josephus circa 93 AD. As Aristobulus quoted the Letter around 150 BC, the letter clearly predates Aristobulus by enough time for him to see it as an authentic document, which would imply prior to 200 BC. Since the time of Jerome, circa 400 BC, the Letter's authenticity has been debated. It was generally considered authentic until the 1500s when Jerome's views were repeated by the Spanish humanist Luis Vives. The Letter came under attack throughout the 1600s through the 1800s, and by the 1900s was viewed as a fictional document. Most of the arguments levied against it, were based on a lack of understanding of who Ptolemy II Philadelphus was, and why he would be depicted as worshiping the Jewish god. Latin critics did not understand the references to Plato's Cratylus and translated Δία as Dis (Jupiter), which would force the origin of the Letter to a later date after Rome had risen in power. In the time period this Letter is set, Carthage sill dominated the Western Mediterranean and Romans only ruled Italy. The reference to Δία was, in fact, part of a reference to Ζῆνα and Δία found in Plato's Cratylus, which was a reference to the Greek folktales about Zeus being the creator of life. References to the creator god in the letter were traditionally dismissed as being unlikely, as a Greek king would not have worshiped the Jewish god, however, this argument was based on a lack of understanding of Philadelphus. The Pithom Stele, found in the late 1800s shows that Philadelphus embedded himself in the Egyptian religions, portraying himself as the son of Atum, the creator god of ancient Egypt. The Pithom Stele was discovered at Tell el-Maskhuta, Egypt. It had originally been erected in the Temple of Atum at Pithom (Tell el-Maskhuta), circa 264 BC. The city of Pithom appears to have been moved at least once. Pharaoh Necho II seems to have founded a city of Pithom at the site of El Retaba eight miles west of Tell el-Maskhuta, circa 600 BC, when the Canal of the Pharaohs was dug linking the Nile to the Gulf of Suez. This canal was filled with sand and debris repeatedly and then cleared repeatedly. The Greek historian Herodotus, circa 430 BC claimed it was opened on the orders of the Persian King Darius, circa 490 BC. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, circa 330 BC, claimed the canal was never completed, meaning it was not open during his lifetime. It is generally accepted today that Ptolemy II Philadelphus reopened the canal during his lifetime, and built Heroöpolis, which was called Per-Atum (Pithom), including the Temple of Atum where the Pithom Stele was found.

The Testament of Levi, like the other Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, is considered to be a Jewish work that was added to by Christians in the Christian era. It is unclear when it comes from, however, fragments of the Testaments of Joseph and Levi have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in Aramaic, dating to between 135 and 37 BC, implying the rest of the Twelve were compiled at the same time. The Testament of Levi also refers to the Book of Enoch, an Aramaic Second Temple era work that was not included in the Septuagint, which implies it was written around the same time as the Books of Daniel and Enoch, which would date it to anywhere between 300 and 100 BC. The surviving copies of the Testament of Levi contain multiple layers of prophecy that was once accepted as being authentic pre-Christian predictions of the coming of Jesus Christ. This view shifted in Western Europe during the Protestant reformation, and the text was assumed to be a Christian era work, and generally dismissed as a forgery. This view shifted by the 1900s, as an Semitic layer of text was found within it that indicated it was originally a pre-Christian work that was later Christianized, and it was then assumed to be a Pharisee work that the Christians had added all the prophecies to. Since the discovery of fragments of the testament have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to between 135 and 37 BC, and written in Aramaic, the Pharisee theory has been discredited. The Dead Sea Scrolls fragments have also shown that some of the prophecies were present in the Aramaic texts by 37 BC, meaning that the Christians had simply added to the prophecies to indicate they were about Jesus. The original work appears to be an anti-Levitical text, which dismissed the Levitical priesthood, and pointed to an alternative priesthood. As this was not a Samaritan text, it was likely a text written by the Tobian Jews mentioned in 2nd Maccabees, that lived in Seleucid controlled regions.

The Letter of Jeremiah was included in the Septuagint, generally, after Lamentations, which was likewise traditionally attributed to Jeremiah or Baruch. This letter claims to be the letter that Jeremiah had written for the Judahites that had been taken away as captives when the Babylonians conquered Judah, as described in the Book of Judah, that Baruch took to Babylon. There are several letters included in the Book of Jeremiah that are attributed to Jeremiah, as well as a letter in the Book of Baruch that claims to be Jeremiah’s letter to the Judahites in Babylonia. The authenticity of the Letter of Jeremiah has been debated throughout its existence, for multiple reasons, including the content of the letter itself, which seems to be implying Judahites should not stop worshiping the sun, moon, and stars, to worship the idols of Babylon. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars was banned by King Josiah, the son-in-law of Jeremiah, under what was most likely Jeremiah's spiritual leadership, in order to promote the god Yahweh. This policy was clearly reversed under the reign of King Jehoiakim, and the prophet Jeremiah appears to have spent much of Jehoiakim’s rule in prison. Baruch was sent by the Judahite court to be Jeremiah’s scribe, however, Baruch clearly described his god as being the sun in the Book of Baruch, which he identified as having the sacred name of Amen. In 1st Ezra, the Egyptian King Necho II also identified the Judahite god as being the sun god, meaning the Judahites at the time of Jeremiah and Baruch, were predominantly worshiping the sun like the surrounding kingdoms, nevertheless, Jeremiah urged them to abandon sun-worship, and worship Yahweh. Therefore, the Letter of Jeremiah was almost certainly not written by Jeremiah, although might have been written by Baruch. This is the general Catholic interpretation, and the Letter of Jeremiah is inserted as the final chapter of the Book of Baruch in Catholic Bibles. The history of the Letter and its place in the Christian canon has been debated since the earliest surviving Christian writings on it. Origen of Alexandria, writing in the early-3rd-century AD, considered the Book of Jeremiah, Lamentations, and the Letter of Jeremiah to be one bigger Book of Jeremiah. Epiphanius of Salamis, writing in the late-3rd-century, considered the Book of Jeremiah, Book of Baruch, Lamentations, and the Letter of Jeremiah to be one bigger Book of Jeremiah. This view was repeated by Athanasius I of Alexandria in the mid-4th-century, and Cyril of Jerusalem in the late-4th-century. The view that the Septuagint’s Book of Jeremiah, Book of Baruch, Lamentations, and the Letter of Jeremiah are one large Book of Jeremiah was then canonized by the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD. The idea that the Letter of Jeremiah should not be part of Biblical canon is traced to Jerome, the translator of the original official Latin translation of the Bible, in the late-4th-century. The Masorites, a Jewish sect of scribes, had been copying a Hebrew translation of the scriptures that included books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, but not Baruch or the Letter. Jerome interpreted this as evidence that the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah originated in Greek, and were not originally Judahite or Samaritan works, like the texts the Masorites were copying. As a result, he relegated the two Greek works to the Apocrypha section of his Bible, where they have generally stayed in Catholic and Protestant bibles ever since. Fragments of the Letter of Jeremiah have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls, written in Hebrew, and dated to circa 100 BC, so the letter did not originate in Greek. The Eastern Orthodox Bibles continued to include the Letter of Jeremiah, as did the Ethiopian Tewahedo Bibles, which includes the Letter as part of Paralipomena of Jeremiah, along with 4th Baruch.