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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 Exodus 34:30 and 1 Enoch 106:5

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

1 Enoch 106 alludes to Exodus 34 by describing Noah’s radiant appearance in language that echoes Moses’ shining face after encountering the divine. In both, the extraordinary brightness causes fear and hesitation in those who witness it.

Passages

Exodus 34:30

Hebrew Bible
29 Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand—when he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to approach him. 31 But Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32 After this all the Israelites approached, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

1 Enoch 106:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
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.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Radiance beyond that of the sun is also ascribed to Moses and Elijah, who appear in a modified account of the Transfiguration (Apocalypse of Peter 15:6-7). Moreover, the Greek Apocalypse of Peter presents the two as having bodies whiter than any snow and redder than any rose with hair curled and charmingly coiffed. We recall that an almost exact description is given to Noah, whose unusual appearance arouses among the patriarch suspicions of angelic paternity (1 Enoch 106:12, for example). In 1 Enoch 106:5, the infant’s countenance is brighter than the sun, his body whiter than snow, and redder than a rose; his hair is thick and like wool (1 Enoch 106:2-3; 10) Though the narrative contexts differ, the description of the heroes assuming features of angelic and divine beings is striking and deserves further examination ..."
Kelley Coblentz Bautch, “Peter and the Patriarch: A Confluence of Traditions?” in With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism, ed. Daphna V. Arbel and Andrei A. Orlov, Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages 2 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2011), 13–27.

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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Exodus 34:30 and 1 Enoch 106:5

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