Book of Moses Evidence: Enoch the Lad

Perhaps one of the most unexpected—and therefore memorable—details found in the Book of Moses is the description of Enoch as a “lad.” While other prophets, such as Nephi and Samuel, are presented as youths in scripture (1 Nephi 2:16; 1 Samuel 3:8), there is a notable difference when it comes to Enoch. Unlike these other prophets, he actually wasn’t a youth, at least not in the traditional sense of the term. Instead, he is introduced in the Book of Moses as being “sixty-five years” old and as having already “begat Methuselah” (Moses 6:25).

Only six verses later, in the context of his prophetic call, Enoch declared to the Lord, “Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?” (Moses 6:31).1 More than a few Latter-day Saints have been surprised, and even somewhat amused, by this description of a sixty-five-year-old “lad.” In his pioneering work on the Enoch material in the Book of Moses, Hugh Nibley asked, “How is that strange anomaly to be explained? … Where did [Joseph Smith] get the idea?”2

The description of Enoch as a “lad” or “youth” is found in various ancient texts that very likely weren’t accessible to Joseph Smith.3 Most notably, the distinctive title shows up in both 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch, two lengthy Enoch-focused works that were discovered and translated into English well after the Book of Moses was published.4 According to Andrei Orlov, this title being applied to Enoch is also “widely disseminated in the rabbinic and Hekhalot materials” (Jewish biblical commentaries and other mystical writings).5

In addition to the fact that this peculiar title is specifically given to Enoch in other ancient texts, the context of usage can sometimes be quite similar to that found in the Book of Moses. The sections below highlight a number of these context-relevant parallels.

Enoch’s Age

In both 2 Enoch and the Book of Moses, Enoch’s age is provided shortly before a description of him as a “lad” or “youth.” Note that some manuscript variants of 2 Enoch directly replace Enoch’s name with the title “Youth,” which is signaled in the chart below by “Youth” being placed in brackets:6

To be sure, the age assigned to Enoch is different in each passage (65 years vs. 165 years).7 The significance, therefore, isn’t in the specifics of the age-related information but in its fairly close proximity to Enoch being labeled as a “lad” or “youth” in each text. This data also helps establish that in neither account was Enoch an actual youth. Instead, he was at least in his sixties (if not one-hundred-sixties) and had one or more children of his own.

A Place Prepared for the Wicked 

In the Book of Moses, just a few verses before Enoch designates himself as a “lad,” the Lord describes the wickedness that had been taking place on the earth. The Lord’s statements include (1) the fact that the people denied their Creator, (2) that they had carried out sins and abominations, including murder, (3) a description of the wicked acting “in the dark,” and (4) that the Lord had “prepared” a hell for them. As shown in the chart below, a similar cluster of ideas shows up surrounding Enoch’s title of “Youth” in 2 Enoch.8 In each setting, divine beings are explaining or showing things to Enoch.  

While most of these elements are conceptually similar, there are some differences. For instance, the darkness in Moses 6:28 has to do with wicked people taking counsel in the dark, whereas the darkness in 2 Enoch 10:1–3 is about the dark nature of hell itself.9 Nevertheless, these parallels are not insignificant, especially since they are concentrated in just a few verses in each account.10

Some of these parallels also turn up in 3 Enoch surrounding the title of “Youth” given to Metatron, who is identified as Enoch in his glorified angelic state:11

Bowing Down

Before identifying himself as a “lad” in the Book of Moses, Enoch bowed down before the Lord. The element of obeisance in conjunction with Enoch’s youth can also be found in 2 Enoch, where Enoch bows to angels and also to the Lord himself:12

This same element turns up in a Mandaean account of Enosh (who is sometimes conflated with Enoch in ancient traditions).13 In this text, the prophet is referred to as “Little Enosh”—a description that seems to echo his status as a “lad” or “youth” in other accounts:14

An additional parallel between these accounts involves the Spirit of the Lord (i.e., “Angel of Life”) descending upon Enoch/Enosh while he is apparently on a journey.15

Divine Favor

In both the Book of Moses and 3 Enoch, the matter of Enoch’s chosen or favored status is closely linked to his peculiar description as a “lad”:16

A few verses later in the 3 Enoch account, when the angels in heaven question whether Metatron/Enoch has a right to be in heaven, his preferential status is emphasized once again. In this case, the translator directly uses the term “favored” when the angels describe Enoch:17

Concerning Metatron’s status compared to the other angels, Gary Anderson explains, “Not only is he greater and higher than them … but he is also more beloved—this use of election terminology clearly alludes to a specific act of Divine preference for Metatron over the angelic competitors.”18

Enoch’s description of himself as a “lad” in Moses 6:31 also coincides with his prophetic calling.19 Since the text gives what appears to be an abbreviated account of Enoch’s prophetic call, and since other prophetic call narratives often feature some type of heavenly ascent, it is possible that Enoch’s self-description as a “lad” in the Book of Moses holds a heavenly rather than an earthly context, just as in 3 Enoch.20

On the other hand, it is possible that the beings who disparaged Enoch as a “lad” in 3 Enoch were originally portrayed as mortals, but that over time the tradition got garbled so that they came to be viewed as angels instead. In part, this possibility arises from the already present confusion over the “sons of god,” which are viewed as mortals in the Book of Moses but as angelic beings in other Enochic traditions.21

Whatever the case may be, and despite any differences in context between the Book of Moses and 3 Enoch, it is remarkable that Enoch’s description as a lad is directly connected with a question about his divine favor in both texts. It is almost as if Rabbi Ishmael (the individual who is questioning Metatron in 3 Enoch) shares the same consternation that Enoch himself does in the Book of Moses about his status as a favored lad.

Servant

In Moses 6:31, Enoch’s description as a lad is immediately followed by the mention of him being the Lord’s servant: “Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?”

While this may seem like an unremarkable description, it may hold unexpected significance. One of the common titles for Metatron/Enoch is that of the Lord’s “servant” or “beloved servant” or “servant of the face,” due to his attending on the Lord.22 In fact, this is one of the first titles given to Metatron in 3 Enoch: “At once the Holy One, blessed be he, summoned to my aid his servant, the angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence” (3 Enoch 1:4).23 The title is used again in several other passages throughout 3 Enoch, as well as in other Enochic texts, sometimes in connection to Enoch’s/Metatron’s elevated status or divine favor:24

• “I have appointed Meṭaṭron my servant as a prince and a ruler over all the denizens of the heights” (3 Enoch 10:2)
• “Then Meṭaṭron, the servant of YHWH, called me and said to me: ‘Take the books and read their wicked deeds” (3 Enoch 44:9)
• “The Holy One, blessed be he, said: I made him strong, I took him, I appointed him, namely Meṭaṭron my servant, who is unique among all the denizens of the heights” (3 Enoch 48:1)
• “And they made a great festival, rejoicing and making merriment for three days, praising God who had given them such a sign through Enoch, his own favored servant” (2 Enoch 68:7)
• “Abide in peace, O Enoch, righteous servant of God! Intercede for us with your Lord!”25
• “I appointed him to be Metatron, my servant, who is the most distinguished of all beings inhabiting the supernal heights.”26

As explained by Philip Alexander,

One of Meṭaṭron’s most distinctive titles is Na‘ar. Originally this was used in the sense of “servant” and it referred to Meṭaṭron’s role as the high priest of the heavenly sanctuary; its equivalent in one Aramaic text is šammāšā reḥimā = “the beloved servant.” (Cf. Meṭaṭron’s common title ‘ebed = “servant”.) In 3 Enoch 4, however, Na‘ar is taken in the sense of “Youth” and linked with the notion that Meṭaṭron is translated Enoch: as the youngest of the angel-princes he is known among them as “Youth” (4:10).27

Interestingly, because na‘ar can be translated as both “servant” and “youth,” there has been some confusion and disagreement over the matter. As summarized by Andrei Orlov,

Gershom Scholem and other scholars reject this etymology of the “Youth” as a secondary development, arguing that na‘ar must be properly translated as “servant” in view of Metatron’s function as servant in the celestial tabernacle and his designation as shammasha rehima, the “beloved servant,” in an Aramaic text. David Halperin, however, suggests that the rejection of the interpretation of na‘ar as “youth” is not “wholly satisfying.” He draws attention to the fact that if “the people who coined this term [na’ar] wanted to convey that Metatron was a servant, why did they not pick one of the familiar Hebrew words (like ‘ebed or mesharet) that would say this unambiguously? Why did they use na‘ar, which, though it can indeed mean ‘servant,’ is so much more commonly used for ‘youth’ that it could hardly avoid conveying this meaning to anyone who heard it?”28

Whatever the development was of these related titles, it is interesting that they are separately well attested and yet show up together in both the Book of Moses and 3 Enoch. A similar correspondence in separate Jewish texts has caught the eye of Orlov:29

Concerning the passages above and their connection to the angel Metatron, Orlov writes, “It is intriguing that these two texts which describe the office of the sar happanim link the servant(s) of the Face with the title ‘Youth’ (Heb. נער), which some scholars suggest can be rendered in some contexts as a ‘servant.’”30 By this same rationale, it seems no less intriguing for Enoch’s self-description as a “lad” to turn up in such close proximity to the question “am I thy servant” in Moses 6:31.  

If there were any remaining doubt about the use of “servant” as a common title for Enoch, one could also turn to Islamic accounts, where Enoch is identified with the prophet Idris:

• “According to the Torah, Enoch was the most excellent servant of God, and so God raised him up to Him.”31
• My servant Idris asked me to relieve you of its burden and its heat”32
• “Carry My servant and My prophet Idris on one of your wings until you come to one of the gates of Paradise”33
• “By My Might and Greatness, my servant Idris will never see anything as terrible as that grin of yours!”34
• “I know what my servant Idris wants.”35
• “My servant Idris has defeated you in the argument”36

Words of Power and Protection

In the verse following Enoch’s self-identification as a “lad,” we get a promise of protection from the Lord that is mirrored in the previously mentioned Mandaean account of Enosh/Enoch:37

Two verses later in the Book of Moses account, the Lord further declares that “all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course” (Moses 6:34). In the following chapter, the Lord’s promise is fulfilled, as Enoch is indeed able to protect himself and his people through the power of his words: “And all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him” (Moses 7:13).

In another portion of Joseph Smith’s inspired translation of the Bible, the power of Enoch’s language is specifically connected with the oath and covenant of the priesthood:

For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course; To put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers. (JST Genesis 14:30–31)

This compares well with the priesthood power described in the Doctrine and Covenants, which is once again specifically connected with Enoch:

They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory; And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son. Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God—Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. And they shall overcome all things. (Doctrine and Covenants 76:57–60)

Remarkably, a similar type of superlative and all-encompassing protective power attends Enoch in a Jewish rabbinical text. Much like the sacredness surrounding priesthood concepts and certain key-words in Latter-day Saint temples, this text emphasizes that Enoch once recorded a name-related secret that is not to be shared with the uninitiated. It is said to be a powerful secret that can deliver an individual from all sorts of harm and oppression. The secret also seems to be connected with language or words, since at the end of the text the initiate is to ask a blessing upon his “mouth” and “tongue,” presumably to make his speech powerful enough to overcome his enemies. As in Moses 6:31–32, this Jewish texts also draws attention to Enoch’s relative youth, despite being in his “seventieth year”:

Do not communicate this most awesome of secrets to the uninitiated, nor should it be recited publicly, [but] an initiate may transmit it to another initiate. I, Enoch b. Yared, wrote it down in the seventieth year of youth. … It is the most awesome of secrets. This secret of the secrets is for delivering the weak from the grasp of the strong, the lowly from the grasp of the powerful, and the poor from the grasp of the wealthy. When I have invoked it, I, so-and-so, the son of so-and-so, can be rescued, delivered, and saved by it from the power of kings and rulers, and from the power of enemies and adversaries, and from every mortal need, and from the jurisdiction of Gehenna, and from all harsh decrees, and from every kind of retribution, and from any of the progeny of Adam and Eve who rise up against me to cause harm to me. May my mouth be made like the mouth of a lion; (may) my tongue be (made) like the tongue of a heifer; and may I put on a radiance like (that of) fiery horses.38

Thus, elements from several of Joseph Smith’s revelations, when viewed in context of one another, have a fascinating conglomerate parallel with a single Jewish text.

Conclusion

For those skeptical of Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling, one might rightly wonder where he ever came up with the notion of a 65-year-old man like Enoch being called a “lad” (Moses 6:31). No other adult figure is identified or described in this manner in scripture, whether before the Flood or afterward.39 Moreover, as noted by Jeffrey Bradshaw and David Larsen, this happens to be “the only instance of the term lad in the teachings and revelations of Joseph Smith.”40

Since many ancient Enochic traditions are preserved in the book of 1 Enoch, and since that text was published before 1830, one might suppose it to be the source.41 Yet one will search in vain for any reference to the adult Enoch as a “youth” or “lad” in that work.42 At the same time, the Enochic texts that do describe Enoch in this manner (2 Enoch, 3 Enoch, Jewish rabbinical and mystical writings, and the Mandaean account) were either not known to modern scholars or were obscure and not translated into English before 1830. As concluded by Bradshaw, “Joseph Smith could not have encountered these books.”43

One might still wonder, though, whether Smith could have given Enoch this “lad” designation by intuition or accident, not knowing it would one day be amply corroborated by ancient documents. This possibility—which, of course, can’t be disproven—appears to be the explanation preferred by Douglas Salmon. Concerning Enoch’s description as a “lad” in Moses 6:31, Salmon argues that “there is nothing at all anomalous in that language. It is quite likely that Enoch (whose father Jared was then 227) would have looked at father Adam (then in his 687^th year) and naturally have felt that he was ‘but a lad’ at the tender age of sixty-five. In fact, as far as we are told, no one in the Adamic family had yet die of natural causes!”44

Yet Salmon seems to be making an unwarranted logical leap here. The mere ability to come up with a post-hoc explanation for this title (i.e., that Enoch was relatively young for his time period) doesn’t take away from the fact that designating someone of Enoch’s age as a “lad” is indeed unique and unprecedented in scripture, not to mention rather unintuitive for a modern thinker like Joseph Smith. One still has to ask what the chances are that Smith would independently come up with this peculiar designation and give it solely and specifically to Enoch, and that this same unique description or title would then turn up abundantly in ancient traditions about this very same biblical figure. While it is impossible to determine the precise probability of this outcome, the chances of this being a mere coincidence seem far less likely than Salmon’s comment would suggest.

It is also interesting that the Book of Moses doesn’t even try to explain this title. Like many obscure details in other genuine ancient documents, it is just slipped into the narrative without further comment, as if the reader is supposed to understand the cultural context or narrative background behind its usage. It is somewhat telling that most Latter-day Saints and others who come across this description of Enoch in the Book of Moses find it to be quite peculiar.

The same is also true among biblical scholars. Upon encountering Enoch being labeled as a “youth” or “lad” in separate Enochic documents outside the Book of Moses, the natural inclination among scholars hasn’t been to ascribe it to independent invention, as if it were a perfectly natural or expected detail that might easily arise by chance. Instead, it has been seen as rather curious or mysterious.

This is partly because the clearest explanation given for the title in an ancient source doesn’t align with what Salmon assumed. In 3 Enoch 4, the emphasis on Enoch’s youth doesn’t pertain to his age compared to other mortals living at the time. Instead, it is about his status among the angels in heaven. Gary Anderson writes,

The acclamation of Enoch as “lad” is curious. It certainly recalls the question that began the story: “Why are you called ‘lad’ by [those] in the heights of heaven?” It is worth noting that of all the names given Enoch, the title “lad” is singled out as being particularly apt and fitting by the heavenly host. Evidently the seventy names were of a more general order of knowledge than the specific title “lad.” … In any event, the reason our text supplies for this title is deceptively simple and straightforward: “And because I was the youngest among them and a “lad” amongst them with respect to days, months and years, therefore they called me “lad.”45

However, Anderson has noted that “most scholars have not been satisfied with the simple and somewhat naïve answer the text supplies.”46 Other proposed explanations involve Enoch’s status as a servant of the throne of God or that his transformation into an angelic being preserved his youth forever.47 Apparently recognizing this ambiguity, one rabbinic text specifically labels Enoch/Metatron as “the old man who is a youth.”48

Whatever the truth may be, it is clear that this title has caused no small amount of puzzlement among scholars. As concluded by Anderson, “One must recognize that, in spite of the abundance of the information about the Youth [i.e., Enoch] in Merkabah literature, the title itself remains in many respects somewhat of a theological mystery.”49

Be that as it may, there is one thing scholars seem to agree on: the presence of this peculiar title in these separate works doesn’t appear to be an accident. Even though texts like 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch have numerous and substantial differences, and even though the title of “youth” or “lad” is employed differently and shows up in different contexts in each text, the parallel has hardly been dismissed as trivial.

For instance, upon identifying the repeated instances of “Youth” in manuscript variants of 2 Enoch, Francis Anderson concluded “that there was a tradition in which Enoch was addressed in this way” and that “it cannot be a coincidence that this title is identical with that of Enoch (= Metatron) in 3 Enoch.”50 By the same logic, one could argue that it cannot be a coincidence that this title is identical with the description of Enoch in the Book of Moses and that its presence there might also derive from a shared textual tradition.

The case for the Book of Moses, however, is especially compelling. Any naturalistic theory for its production should not only explain why this peculiar designation of “lad” turns up in so many other genuinely ancient Enochic texts, but also why it contextually matches so many of their attending details, as highlighted throughout this article. These contextual resemblances include (1) a description of Enoch’s age, (2) a cluster of ideas involving God preparing a place for the wicked, (3) Enoch bowing down before divine beings, (4) a question about Enoch’s favored status (5) a description of Enoch as God’s special “servant,” and (6) a promise of God’s protective speech-related power.

As the parallels compound, the probability of Joseph Smith randomly coming up with this particular description of Enoch and placing it in this particular context significantly diminishes. These additional parallels also make it difficult to ascribe the derivation of “lad” to any singular known source. Even under the unlikely scenario where Joseph Smith had access to an English translation of an Enochic text containing this title before 1830, such a source, on its own, would only be able to account for a portion of the identified parallels.

Ultimately, the discussion of Enoch as a “lad” in the Book of Moses appears to be part and parcel of a common set of traditions preserved in a variety of genuinely ancient Enochic texts that were almost certainly inaccessible to Joseph Smith. Without a plausible naturalistic explanation for the presence of this unusual detail in its specific context, it goes a long way towards confirming Joseph Smith’s prophetic claims.