The Story of the Scapegoat — Part 3

William V. Heldman, Ph.D.

February, 2024

We’re tracing our way through the Bible and some extra-biblical books to find out more about the strange Story of the Scapegoat, as spoken of in Leviticus 16.

The next leg of our journey involves a stop-off to learn more about who Enoch was. He was an extremely interesting character — very close to the Lord God: so much so, in fact, that he did not die. Instead, God took him to heaven. He was said to have been “translated.” There are a couple of Scripture references that we can use to illustrate this point.

“21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he [was] not, for God took him.” — Genesis 5:21–24 NKJV [Emphasis added.]

“5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” — Hebrews 11:5–6 NKJV [Emphasis added.]

The phrase in Genesis “And Enoch walked with God; and he [was] not, for God took him” seems to imply that Enoch did not die — that God “took” him, whatever that means — and the Hebrews scripture backs that up. Did God kill him? That doesn’t seem likely, as whenever God does decide to kill someone, the Bible clearly stipulates it. There are some definitive areas where you can go check this yourself: The flood of Noah’s day; the plagues on Egypt; and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Answering the question of “What happened to Enoch?” is helped by understanding various extra-biblical texts, because the story of Enoch is much more thoroughly relayed in those books. Most theologians will say that Enoch walked to heaven, or was “translated” (and some eschatological fans will say that he was “raptured”), or in some other way made it into heaven as a whole, living, breathing, eating, sleeping man. Enoch did not die a physical death, nor will he die the “second death” that non-believers must go through.

Enoch’s translation is not the only story like that in the Bible. The prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven via a flaming chariot pulled by flaming horses. Elisha, Elijah’s mentor, saw the whole thing take place.

“11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire [appeared] with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw [it], and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.” — 2 Kings 2:11–12 NKJV

Let’s Talk Some More About Enoch

In some of the extra-biblical texts, we are told that Enoch was able to come and go from earth to heaven and vice-versa. He was able to speak with the Watchers, and even enter into the very throne room of God. In fact, the fallen Watchers approached Enoch to go to God to try to talk Him into forgiving them for their horrendous sin of leaving heaven, falling to earth, and committing the kinds of atrocities and evil that they wrought. It was Enoch who asked God about it, and God told Enoch to deliver the fallen Watchers’ final judgement. And it was not a pretty one, at that.

In Dr. Ken Johnson’s sterling book Ancient Book of Enoch, on page 4 we find a really great quote from a 17th-18th century theologian named John Gill (first I will display the quote from Dr. Gill’s actual dissertation, then the quote as Dr. Johnson wrote about it — both of the following quotes are the same:

Gill, J. (1767). A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language: Letters, Vowel-points, and Accents. United Kingdom: G. Keith. Taken from Google Books 3–1–2024.

Johnson, K. (2012), 4. Ancient Book of Enoch. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

The Ante-Nicene Church Fathers Also Spoke of Enoch

First of all, you may be asking, “Who were the ante-Nicene church fathers?” Also known as the “ancient church fathers,” you can think of these men as being influenced by the Apostles who directly knew Jesus Christ. For example, Polycarp was a disciple of John, and, in turn, John directly knew Jesus. The ante-Nicene fathers can be described as “one-off” or “two-off” from the original Apostles. These men wrote prior to the Nicene Creed of 325 A.D.

These early church fathers were verbose writers. Their intact works are available from a variety of sources such as the Logos and e-Sword software applications, and online sites such as the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) — https://ccel.org/fathers, and WikiSource — https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_I and many others.

It’s a bit more complicated to go through the ancient church fathers’ writing, as it is so prolific, some fathers more so than others, but there is some really valuable stuff inside the pages these men wrote.

For example, Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was, in turn, a disciple of John, wrote a series of books called Against Heresies to refute what was then going on with the Gnostics and their corruption of Christian thought. There is some wonderful reading inside these pages, and Irenaeus does indeed talk about Enoch, in Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 16, Verse 2:

2. And that man was not justified by these things, but that they were given as a sign to the people, this fact shows, — that Abraham himself, without circumcision and without observance of Sabbaths, “believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God.” Then, again, Lot, without circumcision, was brought out from Sodom, receiving salvation from God. So also did Noah, pleasing God, although he was uncircumcised, receive the dimensions [of the ark], of the world of the second race [of men]. Enoch, too, pleasing God, without circumcision, discharged the office of God’s legate to the angels although he was a man, and was translated, and is preserved until now as a witness of the just judgment of God, because the angels when they had transgressed fell to the earth for judgment, but the man who pleased [God] was translated for salvation. Moreover, all the rest of the multitude of those righteous men who lived before Abraham, and of those patriarchs who preceded Moses, were justified independently of the things above mentioned, and without the law of Moses. As also Moses himself says to the people in Deuteronomy: “The Lord thy God formed a covenant in Horeb. The Lord formed not this covenant with your fathers, but for you.” [Emphasis added.]

Similarly, Justin Martyr, in his work Dialogue with Trypho, mentions Enoch six times, as a holy one who could be compared with Moses, Jacob, Abraham and Noah.

So too, Clement of Alexandria wrote about Enoch in his book The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter 9, Examples of the Saints:

Chapter IX. — Examples of the saints.

Wherefore, let us yield obedience to His excellent and glorious will; and imploring His mercy and loving-kindness, while we forsake all fruitless labours, and strife, and envy, which leads to death, let us turn and have recourse to His compassions. Let us steadfastly contemplate those who have perfectly ministered to His excellent glory. Let us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him. Noah, being found faithful, preached regeneration to the world through his ministry; and the Lord saved by him the animals which, with one accord, entered into the ark.

The Book of Jasher

Another extra-biblical book called The Book of Jasher provides some tremendously interesting back story regarding the stories we read about in the Bible. The Book of Jasher is referenced in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18. All of Jasher chapter 3 is about Enoch:

1 And Enoch lived sixty-five years and he begat Methuselah; and Enoch walked with God after having begot Methuselah, and he served the Lord, and despised the evil ways of men.

2 And the soul of Enoch was wrapped up in the instruction of the Lord, in knowledge and in understanding; and he wisely retired from the sons of men, and secreted himself from them for many days.

3 And it was at the expiration of many years, whilst he was serving the Lord, and praying before him in his house, that an angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and he said, Here am I.

4 And he said, Rise, go forth from thy house and from the place where thou dost hide thyself, and appear to the sons of men, in order that thou mayest teach them the way in which they should go and the work which they must accomplish to enter in the ways of God.

5 And Enoch rose up according to the word of the Lord, and went forth from his house, from his place and from the chamber in which he was concealed; and he went to the sons of men and taught them the ways of the Lord, and at that time assembled the sons of men and acquainted them with the instruction of the Lord.

6 And he ordered it to be proclaimed in all places where the sons of men dwelt, saying, Where is the man who wishes to know the ways of the Lord and good works? let him come to Enoch.

7 And all the sons of men then assembled to him, for all who desired this thing went to Enoch, and Enoch reigned over the sons of men according to the word of the Lord, and they came and bowed to him and they heard his word.

8 And the spirit of God was upon Enoch, and he taught all his men the wisdom of God and his ways, and the sons of men served the Lord all the days of Enoch, and they came to hear his wisdom.

9 And all the kings of the sons of men, both first and last, together with their princes and judges, came to Enoch when they heard of his wisdom, and they bowed down to him, and they also required of Enoch to reign over them, to which he consented.

10 And they assembled in all, one hundred and thirty kings and princes, and they made Enoch king over them and they were all under his power and command.

11 And Enoch taught them wisdom, knowledge, and the ways of the Lord; and he made peace amongst them, and peace was throughout the earth during the life of Enoch.

12 And Enoch reigned over the sons of men two hundred and forty-three years, and he did justice and righteousness with all his people, and he led them in the ways of the Lord.

13 And these are the generations of Enoch, Methuselah, Elisha, and Elimelech, three sons; and their sisters were Melca and Nahmah, and Methuselah lived eighty-seven years and he begat Lamech.

14 And it was in the fifty-sixth year of the life of Lamech when Adam died; nine hundred and thirty years old was he at his death, and his two sons, with Enoch and Methuselah his son, buried him with great pomp, as at the burial of kings, in the cave which God had told him.

15 And in that place all the sons of men made a great mourning and weeping on account of Adam; it has therefore become a custom among the sons of men to this day.

16 And Adam died because he ate of the tree of knowledge; he and his children after him, as the Lord God had spoken.

17 And it was in the year of Adam’s death which was the two hundred and forty-third year of the reign of Enoch, in that time Enoch resolved to separate himself from the sons of men and to secret himself as at first in order to serve the Lord.

18 And Enoch did so, but did not entirely secret himself from them, but kept away from the sons of men three days and then went to them for one day.

19 And during the three days that he was in his chamber, he prayed to, and praised the Lord his God, and the day on which he went and appeared to his subjects he taught them the ways of the Lord, and all they asked him about the Lord he told them.

20 And he did in this manner for many years, and he afterward concealed himself for six days, and appeared to his people one day in seven; and after that once in a month, and then once in a year, until all the kings, princes and sons of men sought for him, and desired again to see the face of Enoch, and to hear his word; but they could not, as all the sons of men were greatly afraid of Enoch, and they feared to approach him on account of the Godlike awe that was seated upon his countenance; therefore no man could look at him, fearing he might be punished and die.

21 And all the kings and princes resolved to assemble the sons of men, and to come to Enoch, thinking that they might all speak to him at the time when he should come forth amongst them, and they did so.

22 And the day came when Enoch went forth and they all assembled and came to him, and Enoch spoke to them the words of the Lord and he taught them wisdom and knowledge, and they bowed down before him and they said, May the king live! May the king live!

23 And in some time after, when the kings and princes and the sons of men were speaking to Enoch, and Enoch was teaching them the ways of God, behold an angel of the Lord then called unto Enoch from heaven, and wished to bring him up to heaven to make him reign there over the sons of God, as he had reigned over the sons of men upon earth.

24 When at that time Enoch heard this he went and assembled all the inhabitants of the earth, and taught them wisdom and knowledge and gave them divine instructions, and he said to them, I have been required to ascend into heaven, I therefore do not know the day of my going.

25 And now therefore I will teach you wisdom and knowledge and will give you instruction before I leave you, how to act upon earth whereby you may live; and he did so.

26 And he taught them wisdom and knowledge, and gave them instruction, and he reproved them, and he placed before them statutes and judgments to do upon earth, and he made peace amongst them, and he taught them everlasting life, and dwelt with them some time teaching them all these things.

27 And at that time the sons of men were with Enoch, and Enoch was speaking to them, and they lifted up their eyes and the likeness of a great horse descended from heaven, and the horse paced in the air;

28 And they told Enoch what they had seen, and Enoch said to them, On my account does this horse descend upon earth; the time is come when I must go from you and I shall no more be seen by you.

29 And the horse descended at that time and stood before Enoch, and all the sons of men that were with Enoch saw him.

30 And Enoch then again ordered a voice to be proclaimed, saying, Where is the man who delighteth to know the ways of the Lord his God, let him come this day to Enoch before he is taken from us.

31 And all the sons of men assembled and came to Enoch that day; and all the kings of the earth with their princes and counsellors remained with him that day; and Enoch then taught the sons of men wisdom and knowledge, and gave them divine instruction; and he bade them serve the Lord and walk in his ways all the days of their lives, and he continued to make peace amongst them.

32 And it was after this that he rose up and rode upon the horse; and he went forth and all the sons of men went after him, about eight hundred thousand men; and they went with him one day’s journey.

33 And the second day he said to them, Return home to your tents, why will you go? perhaps you may die; and some of them went from him, and those that remained went with him six day’s journey; and Enoch said to them every day, Return to your tents, lest you may die; but they were not willing to return, and they went with him.

34 And on the sixth day some of the men remained and clung to him, and they said to him, We will go with thee to the place where thou goest; as the Lord liveth, death only shall separate us.

35 And they urged so much to go with him, that he ceased speaking to them; and they went after him and would not return;

36 And when the kings returned they caused a census to be taken, in order to know the number of remaining men that went with Enoch; and it was upon the seventh day that Enoch ascended into heaven in a whirlwind, with horses and chariots of fire.

37 And on the eighth day all the kings that had been with Enoch sent to bring back the number of men that were with Enoch, in that place from which he ascended into heaven.

38 And all those kings went to the place and they found the earth there filled with snow, and upon the snow were large stones of snow, and one said to the other, Come, let us break through the snow and see, perhaps the men that remained with Enoch are dead, and are now under the stones of snow, and they searched but could not find him, for he had ascended into heaven.

Enoch Found in The Book of Jubilees

Another popular extra-biblical text is called The Book of Jubilees (also known as the Lesser Genesis, or The Book of Division). Jubilees is an ancient Jewish text, written somewhere around 200 A.D.

Chapters 4 and 5 go into great detail about Enoch. Here is a sample of what the book says about him (NOTE: A.M. is an abbreviation that is used in ancient texts such as this. It is termed **Anno Mundi**, and means “After the day of creation.”):

And in the eleventh jubilee [512–18 A.M.] 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, [522 A.M.] and she bare him a son in the fifth week, in the fourth year of the jubilee, and he called his name Enoch.

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.

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.

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.

And in the twelfth jubilee, [582–88] in the seventh week thereof, he took to himself a wife, and her name was Edna, the daughter of Danel, the daughter of his father’s brother, and in the sixth year in this week [587 A.M.] she bare him a son and he called his name Methuselah.

And he was moreover with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down everything.

And he testified to the Watchers, who had sinned with the daughters of men; for these had begun to unite themselves, so as to be defiled, with the daughters of men, and Enoch testified against (them) all.

And he was taken from amongst the children of men, and we conducted him into the Garden of Eden in majesty and honour, and behold there he writes down the condemnation and judgment of the world, and all the wickedness of the children of men.

And on account of it (God) brought the waters of the flood upon all the land of Eden; for there he was set as a sign and that he should testify against all the children of men, that he should recount all the deeds of the generations until the day of condemnation.

And he burnt the incense of the sanctuary, (even) sweet spices acceptable before the Lord on the Mount.

Josephus — The Antiquities of the Jews

Similarly, a Jewish historian named Josephus writes about Enoch in his book Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 3, Section 1.4:

He lived nine hundred and sixty-two years; and then his son Enoch succeeded him, who was born when his father was one hundred and sixty-two years old. Now he, when he had lived three hundred and sixty-five years, departed and went to God; whence it is that they have not written down his death.

So, there’s a lot of evidence that points to a person named Enoch who was quite holy and reverent, so much so that God allowed the [translated] man to be in His presence, and to judge angels.

This may sound like some pretty fantastic, but I’d like to point out to you that, as a Christian, you too will judge angels! We know this from the New Testament, where Paul writes thus:

“3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” — 1Co 6:3 NKJV

Now that we have a background on who Enoch was, we must now turn to the book about him — 1 Enoch (sometimes dubbed Ethiopian Enoch so as to differentiate it from the Gnostic 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch) — to find out what actually happened during those days leading up to the Great Flood. Theologians call this the Ante-Diluvian period, and it is way scarier, and creepier than you might have originally imagined.

In the next part of this series, we will dive a bit into 1 Enoch and find out more about the Fallen Watchers, and while we will learn the names of many of them, one will jump to the top spot in our mind: Azazel.

A Dall-E rendering of what Azazel might have looked like.