Henok

Henok, the antediluvian patriarch, holds a central place in Beta Israel scripture, for the Beta Israel are the only Jewish community to retain the Book of Enoch (Maṣḥafa Hēnok) as canonical, preserved in Geez and read in worship. Called the scribe of righteousness, Enoch is taken up alive from among men, conducted through the heavens by the archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Fanuel, and shown the movements of the luminaries, the storehouses of the winds, the prison of the fallen Watchers, and the places of reward and punishment. He records these visions for later generations and pronounces the judgement upon the rebel angels Azazel and Semyaza.

Domains

• revelation teaching
• scribal wisdom

Powers

• ascends and tours the heavens

Epithets

• Hēnok ṣäḥafä ṣədq — Enoch the scribe of righteousnessR. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, Oxford, 1912, chs. 12, 15. (secondary)

Relations

• companion: Mika'elMichael and the archangels conduct Enoch through the heavens.R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, Oxford, 1912, chs. 20–24, 71. (secondary)

Sources

• Beta Israel are the only Jewish community that preserves the Book of Enoch as canonical scripture in Geez, in which Enoch ascends alive and is shown the heavens by the archangels.: Steven Kaplan, The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia, New York University Press, 1992; Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, Oxford University Press, 1968. (secondary)