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1 Enoch

About this book

The Birth of Noah

Chapter 106

1 After some days my son Methuselah found a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. 2 His body was white like snow and red like a blooming rose. The hair on his head and his long curls were white like wool, and his eyes were beautiful. When he opened his eyes, he lit the whole house like the sun, and the house shone brightly.⁠ 3 Then he rose up in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and spoke with the Lord of righteousness. 4 His father Lamech was afraid of him and ran away, coming to his father Methuselah. 5 He said to him: “I have fathered a strange son, different from any human, resembling the sons of the God of heaven. His nature is different, and he is not like us. His eyes are like rays of the sun, and his face is glorious.⁠ 6 It seems to me that he was not born from me but from the angels, and I fear that in his days something extraordinary may happen on the earth. 7 Now, my father, I am asking you to go to Enoch, our father, and learn the truth from him, for he lives among the angels.” 8 When Methuselah heard his son’s words, he came to me at the ends of the earth,⁠ for he had heard I was there. He cried out, and I heard his voice and came to him. And I said to him: “Here I am, my son. Why have you come to me?” 9 He said: “I have come to you because of great anxiety, and because a troubling vision has driven me here. 10 Now, my father, listen to me. To Lamech my son a child has been born, unmatched by any other, and his nature is not like that of humans. The color of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose. The hair of his head is whiter than wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun. When he opened them, he lit the whole house. 11 He rose in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and blessed the Lord of heaven. 12 His father Lamech became afraid and fled to me, convinced that this child was not his, but one in the likeness of the angels of heaven. And now I have come to you so that you may tell me the truth.” 13 I, Enoch, answered and said to him: “The Lord will bring something new upon the earth, and I have already seen it in a vision. I tell you that in the generation of my father Jared, some of the angels of heaven broke the word of the Lord. 14 They sinned and broke the command, joining themselves to women and committing sin with them. They married some of them and had children by them. 15 A great destruction will come upon the whole earth. There will be a flood and a great devastation for one year. 16 This son who has been born to you will remain on the earth, and his three children will be saved with him. When all other people on the earth die, he and his sons will survive. 17 They will bring forth on the earth giants born not from the spirit but from the flesh. A great punishment will come upon the earth, and the earth will be cleansed from all impurity. 18 Now tell your son Lamech that the child who has been born is truly his son, and name him Noah. He will remain with you, and he and his sons will be saved from the destruction that will come upon the earth because of all the sin and all the wrongdoing that will reach its full measure in his days. 19 And after that, even more wrongdoing will arise than what first appeared on the earth.⁠ For I know the mysteries of the holy ones, for the Lord has shown them to me and informed me, and I have read them on the heavenly tablets.”

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 106:2 and 2 Enoch 39:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch 106 and 2 Enoch 39 describe figures whose eyes shine like the sun, imagery based on the extramission theory of vision that was common in the ancient world, which thought that the eyes produce their own light in order to see.

Passages

1 Enoch 106:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 After some days my son Methuselah found a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. 2 His body was white like snow and red like a blooming rose. The hair on his head and his long curls were white like wool, and his eyes were beautiful. When he opened his eyes, he lit the whole house like the sun, and the house shone brightly. 3 Then he rose up in the hands of the midwife, opened his mouth, and spoke with the Lord of righteousness. 4 His father Lamech was afraid of him and ran away, coming to his father Methuselah. 5 He said to him: “I have fathered a strange son, different from any human, resembling the sons of the God of heaven. His nature is different, and he is not like us. His eyes are like rays of the sun, and his face is glorious. 6 It seems to me that he was not born from me but from the angels, and I fear that in his days something extraordinary may happen on the earth. 7 Now, my father, I am asking you to go to Enoch, our father, and learn the truth from him, for he lives among the angels.” 8 When Methuselah heard his son’s words, he came to me at the ends of the earth, for he had heard I was there. He cried out, and I heard his voice and came to him. And I said to him: “Here I am, my son. Why have you come to me?”
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

2 Enoch 39:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch
3 For the Lord has let me come to you, so hear the words of my lips, of a man made big for you, but I am one who has seen the Lord's face, like iron made to glow from fire it sends out sparks and burns. 4 You now look at my eyes, the eyes of a man big with meaning for you, but I have seen the Lord's eyes, shining like the sun's rays and filling the eyes of man with awe. 5 You see now, my children, the right hand of a man that helps you, but I have seen the Lord's right hand filling heaven as he helped me. 6 You see the scope of my work like your own, but I have seen the Lord's limitless and perfect scope, which has no end.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

References

"... At first blush Jesus appears to be making a physiological claim about the role of the eye, but the saying is sandwiched between two sayings that set pursuit of money and pursuit of God in opposition to each other. Moreover, the word ἁπλοῦς was rarely used in physiological descriptions, but it was frequently used in an ethical sense. Thus it would appear that, as in 5:25-26, the humdrum imagery of the saying conceals a deeper theological claim. Much has been written about this saying and its Lukan parallel (11:34-36). There are two key exegetical questions. The first is the meaning of ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός. Allison notes that modern exegetes have incorrectly assumed that this refers to the eye acting as a window that allows light into the body. Ancient Jews, however, thought that the eye contained its own light, hence the metaphor of a lamp, which is a source, not a channel, of light. (Examples include 2 Samuel 12:11; Sirach 23:19; Daniel 10:6; Testament of Job 18:3) Allison goes on to read the conditionals in 6:22b-23 so that the apodosis entails the realization of the protasis, rather than the reverse as is usually the case ..."
Nathan Paul Eubank, “Wages of Righteousness: The Economy of Heaven in the Gospel According to Matthew” (PhD diss., Duke University, 2012), 90–91.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 106:2 and 2 Enoch 39:4

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