This session will be unique. Since we do not have much explanation in the Bible to help us understand what knowledge the Jewish people had for the Nephilim for example, we are going to look at a source external to scripture to understand a little better what the Jewish people thought. We will look at part of the Book of Enoch. We will also look at what it takes to be canon in scripture and why The Book of Enoch is not considered canon.

• What Are the Apocryphal Books and Do They Belong in the Bible?

  While the Book of Enoch is Apochryphal, it is not part of the Apocrypha. Nonetheless, it is good to understand what constitutes Apochryphal writing and why it is not considered canon. The following web article is short and to the point. It does a good job of identifying why Apocryphal texts are not canon without going into circular logic.

  Link to article

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• The Book of Enoch: Scripture, Heresy, or What? by Brian Godawa

  The following is an academic article that is readable. You won’t need a doctorate to understand it. It does a good job of explaining a good portion of the history of the book but does a very thorough job of showing where The Book of Enoch had what appears to be a strong influence on portions of the New Testament. While all of the arguments are anecdotal, they are well-documented and very convincing.

  Link to article

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• Arguments against The Book of Enoch being canon.

  “Why is ‘The Book of Enoch’ not canon?” One of the best answers to that question that I have found was found on a Q&A site. I have pulled out the appropriate answers (with what attribution is available) and placed them in a PDF on our website. I thought that two of the answers in the thread were exceptionally well written.

  PDF Document

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• The Book of Enoch

  Let’s look at the actual Book of Enoch. Here are links to three free versions of it and a free audio version. There are of course versions that you can access if you are willing to pay for them. You can search for them on your own. We want “I Enoch” and not “2 Enoch” or “3 Enoch”.

  For our discussion this next session, it is not necessary to read the entire Book of Enoch, however, you can if you would like. it is suggested that you read chapters 1 – 11 and 20.

• The first book version found is at a site called book-ofenoch.com. You can read one chapter at a time by clicking on the links for each chapter listed at the bottom of the web page. [NOTE: It is suggested that you skip the lengthy introduction]. You can download a PDF version which appears to be a copy of an actual book printed a few minutes ago (1883) at Book of Enoch PDF. There are also versions formatted as an ebook in EPUB and Kindle formats. This book is believed to be from the original Ethiopian translated text and uses the chapter and verse identifications that most scholars reference.
• The second book version found is a recent translation that is much easier to read, however, the chapter and verse identifications do not follow the convention for some reason. This makes us a little reticent to use it. This version can be found as The Complete Book of Enoch: Standard English Version. [NOTE: Since the chapter numbers are different read chapters 1-4 and 7 … we think]
• The last book version found is interesting because the creator of this website has placed Biblical references within the text in the Book of Enoch. We have not spent any time proving that the listed scripture references bear any correlation or not. As an exercise, we found it compelling. This website is located at The Book of Enoch
• If you would rather listen, there is a free version at Librivox. Chapters 1-11 can be downloaded from this link.
  Chapters 20-25 can be downloaded from this link.

This is a restatement about the four deep issues that need to be understood in this passage from Genesis 6.

1. Who were the sons of God and the daughters of man?
2. What is meant by the number of days being 120 years?
3. Who were the Nephilim?
4. The Lord’s response to the wickedness He witnessed.

After reading the Book of Enoch and understanding more about the Jewish view of things, how does this change your answers about Genesis 6 that we looked at last week.

• What do you think of the differing views of the sons of God between Christianity and Judism?
• Why was Noah considered to be less sinful (or even sinless) compared to others even though he descended from Adam and Eve?
• Why do you think that Christians link the 120 years to the age limit of human life? Is this correct?
• Which of the options for understanding the sons of God do you lean towards and why? Is this understanding crutial to your walk?
• Which of the options for understanding the Nephilim do you lean towards and why? Is this understanding crutial to your walk?
• Have you ever had to destroy something that you created? Why? How did you feel?
• Why do you think that God chose the path that he did for cleansing the Earth? Were there other options?
• Why do you think that God singled Noah and his family out. Don’t answer generically. Be specific. Would you line up?