The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as the Eritrean Orthodox Church and the Beta Israel Jewish community, includes the Book of Enoch 1 in their Bible.
According to scholars, this is due to Ethiopia’s isolated geographical location.
Most scholars believe that Judaism arrived in Ethiopia with Jewish trade merchants from networks connecting the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Kingdom of Aksum. (Ethiopia) Judaism in Ethiopia formed locally between the 1st and 6th centuries CE.
Over time, local indigenous Cushitic and Agaw populations intermarried with and adopted Jewish practices and Torah law.
This Jewish community developed without later Rabbinic laws and Talmudic commentaries that developed in Babylon and Europe.
Around the 4th century AD, Christianity was established in the Kingdom of Aksum, or modern-day Ethiopia, through early Syrian missionaries
These missionaries brought ancient Jewish and Christian writings, including early Greek and Ge’ez North Ethiopian translations.
Isolated from mainstream Judaism and the Roman church councils, the Ethiopian church kept the pseudepigraphical apocalyptic books and copied them for preservation during the Islamic invasions.
Following the conversion of the Aksumite Empire to Christianity in the 4th century CE, a large amount of Christian and Jewish literature was brought into Ethiopia.
This included the pseudepigraphical apocalyptic writings.
The Ethiopian church developed separately from the Roman and Byzantine church councils that separated Biblically sound text from pseudepigraphical apocalyptic writings.
The Book of Enoch 1 is one of the Pseudepigrapha books written during the second or first century before Jesus Christ.
Between the 4th and 6th centuries CE, scholars and scribes in Ethiopia translated the Book of Enoch from Greek into Ge’ez.
Besides being isolated and not informed of the church council’s determination of canon, the Book of Enoch versions in the Ethiopian Bible reference 450-foot angels taking human wives and cohabiting with them to produce giant hybrids.
This is obviously anatomically impossible, but it gets even weirder. Some versions of the text state that the Nephilim giants were 4,500 feet tall. Some attribute this obvious exaggeration to copying errors. However, some fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls (the Book of Giants) record these giants as being up to thousands of feet tall.
Not only that, but the Book of Enoch adds to scripture by giving names to these angels and demons not found elsewhere in canonical scripture.
Again, this contradicts canonical scripture. The only mention of fallen angels is Satan, Apollyon, and Lucifer or hêlēl, which are titles. Adversary, Destroyer, and Shining one. (false light)
And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold,I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:18-20
Scripture also gives no names for angels except Michael and Gabriel. (Daniel 10:13, Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:7, Daniel 8:16, Luke 1:19, Luke 1:26).
The names of other gods are referenced, but in a negative light. There is no mention of these gods as being Nephilim.
Scriptures refer to idols as demons. ( Deuteronomy 32:17, Leviticus 17:7, Psalm 106:36–37 ,1 Corinthians 10:20, Revelation 9:20)
And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth. Exodus 23:13
Scripture also describes principalities as high-ranking angels created by God. They are mentioned as ruling demonic forces that have rebelled against God. These evil beings influence world systems, cultures, and territories. (Daniel 10, Ephesians 6)
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has around 81 books in its Bible compared to the 66-book Protestant canon or the 73–78 books of the Catholic church. The fact that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church includes pseudepigraphical apocalyptic texts does not make these texts Canonical.
The criteria used by early church councils like the Council of Rome, Hippo, and Carthage to determine which writings belonged in the New Testament were based on the following:
1. Authors were apostles or direct associates, in order to eliminate heresy such as Gnosticism or contradictions.
2. The text had to trace its origin back to the apostolic period. (the 1st century AD)
This excluded any possible forgery.
3. The Book had to be widely used and accepted in the centers of Christian worship such as Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, or Jerusalem. This revealed that the Spirit of God had already borne witness to the text’s authority across the body of Christ.
Besides the Ethiopian Church Book of Enoch, there is also a Slavonic Apocalypse, which is called Enoch 2, that was written late in the first century A.D., and a third book of Enoch 3, which is thought to have been written in the fifth to sixth century A.D.
These pseudepigraphical apocalyptic writings were originally composed in Greek or Hebrew around the 1st century CE.
Historians believe that the Book of Enoch was written by anonymous Jewish authors and mystics across several centuries who attributed their work to the Biblical patriarch Enoch to give it authority. None of the three books were actually written by Enoch himself, nor were they written by a single person. These authors were likely living in the Jewish diaspora in Egypt, and in particular Alexandria.
The Book of Enoch was included in the Ethiopian Bible because Jewish traders and Christian missionaries brought it to Ethiopia. Due to the isolation of the Ethiopian Jews and Christians, they included it in their Bible.
Accounts of Giants being 450 ft tall in the Book of Enoch 1 in the Ethiopian Bible AND the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal that the pseudepigraphical apocalyptic narrative traveled to Ethiopia.
Not being privy to what was considered canonical by the Christian church councils, the Ethiopian church considered the Book of Enoch divinely inspired.
If we compare scripture to scripture, we can see that the Book of Enoch contradicts the canonical scripture we have today. Just because the Ethiopian church includes the Book of Enoch in their Bible does not make it canon.
The Book of Enoch is a pseudepigraphical apocalyptic text written centuries after the Enoch recorded in the Book of Genesis.
Stay tuned for more about the Book of Enoch in my next blog.
To follow this argument, refer to my prior blog.
Biblical canon – Wikipedia https://share.google/bhqS350md3HAQm94p
Christianity in Ethiopia – Wikipedia https://share.google/QClInzVdqHK5TbE3N
Book of Giants. Wikipedia https://share.google/8bP7OPSkO4fXRab3M
Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon – Wikipedia https://share.google/9Rcqfm08CliE2o2sA
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