1 Enoch 85

1 Enoch 85

The beginning of Enoch’s second vision tells the story of some bulls

A white bull and a heifer… then a black bull and a red one.  The black one gores the red one until it is no longer found.  The black bull left with the heifer.  The cow laments and searches for the red one, but doesn’t find him.  Then the white bull begets another white bull that resembles him.

The story of these bulls seems to resemble the story of the first human beings.

I was confused about what these first bulls represented because in chapter 89 there are also four bulls that dwelled in the vessel that floated over the waters that covered the earth: a red one, a black one, and a white one… and another white one who became a man.  This white one that became a man is referred to as the same white bull from this chapter.  But the four bulls from the vessel seem to represent Noah and his sons while these first four bulls seem to represent Adam and his sons.

Verse 3

I came to this conclusion as I reread in verse 3, “… and behold a bull came forth from the earth, and that bull was white…” and wondered what it meant that it came forth “from the earth”.  I know that in prophetic visions, it is important to take note of where beasts comes from as this can represent different things.  But then I thought simpler and noticed that the first white bull came from the earth and was not born from another bull like all the other ones.  I concluded that this must be Adam, since Adam was also created from the earth.

Verse 5

I do not remember why, but I have always assumed that the necessary incest for the population of the earth right after creation happened between Eve and a son; and not, as many assume, between brothers and sisters.

Verse 5 says that the heifer that came right after the first white bull that rose from the earth (Adam), went with the black bull, after it had grown, and “many oxen proceeded from him which resembled him and followed him.”  If we assume that the heifer is Eve, then this text is saying that the generations of Cain came from Eve and not from a sister.  And thus Eve can rightfully reclaim her name as the “mother of all who live” (Genesis 3:20)

1 Enoch 85:3 Methuselah’s mother is named Edna.

June 2, 2012