The City of Enoch - What really happened?


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I have been looking into this topic more as of late. I have tried to find books on the topic and have come up short. There is a great book by Maxwell called The Enoch Lettersor Enoch the Prophetby Nibley.

However, I am a bit less interested in the Prophet or the people, but the city itself.

I have heard that the city was "taken up" or actually removed from the earth and also that the inhabitants were simply "translated". There is little information out there about this great city what was called Zion.

I am looking for a "High Priest Group" discussion here. No thought or theory is too outlandish or odd on this one, ok? Thanks.

Dennis

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I suggest that you look into the covenant of peace given to Noah and the parallel covenants of Enoch and the City of Enoch with Melchizedek and the City of Salem. Note that the Hebrew term Salem means covenant of peace. Also the term Jerusalem literally means “Salem on two mountains”. There are a lot of scriptures that refer to Jerusalem and the “New Jerusalem” as a new covenant that will be established in the “Last Days”. Jesus makes note in a few places of a covenant of peace with his disciples. There is also a promise that the covenant of the City of Enoch and the City of Salem will be returned or reestablished in the “Last Days”.

Have fun in you quest.

The Traveler

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Moses 5:

42 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch, and he also begat many sons and daughters. And he builded a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

From this verse forward in the Book of Moses, until the beginning of chapter 8, there is much information about Enoch, possibly more than what can be found anywhere else (except in the Book of Enoch).

From what I remember, Joseph Smith said that most of the Book of Enoch is true, but it must be understood like John's Revelation.

From Wikipedia (Book of Enoch):

A short section of 1 Enoch (1En1:9) is quoted in the New Testament (Letter of Jude 1:14-15), and there apparently attributed to "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" (1En60:8).

There is a lot of information at Wikipedia about the Book of Enoch and many related links.

It's hard to be certain exactly which Enoch wrote the Book of Enoch. It's apparent there were many Enochs. The first known Enoch was the son of Abel, the son of Adam. Presumably it was a decendant of this first Enoch who was the author of the Book of Enoch. It mentions that Enoch's son was not taken up with the city... so the writings could very well have been by an Enoch who lived after the city was taken up.

The more information you gather the more questions will arise. But, a good way to proceed is to compare what you learn about Enoch to the mentioned chapters in the Pearl of Great Price.

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From Laub's Journal in a discourse from Joseph

"Now I will tell the designs of building the tower of Bable. It was

designed to goe to the city of Enoch, for the veil was not yet so thick that it

hid it from their Sight. So they concluded to goe to the City of Enoch, for

God gave him place above this impure Earth. For he could breath a pure

hair & him and his City was taken, for God provided a better place for him

for they was pure in heart. For it is the pure in heart that causes Zion to be

& the time will come again to meet, that Enoch and his city will come again

to meet our city & his people, our people, & the Air will be pure & the Lord

will be in our midst for Ever."

There are a lot of references and purported sayings from Joseph that the city was taken up from this earth and for a time remained visible to the inhabitants of the earth. Hence the tower of Babel

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I suggest that you look into the covenant of peace given to Noah and the parallel covenants of Enoch and the City of Enoch with Melchizedek and the City of Salem. Note that the Hebrew term Salem means covenant of peace. Also the term Jerusalem literally means “Salem on two mountains”. There are a lot of scriptures that refer to Jerusalem and the “New Jerusalem” as a new covenant that will be established in the “Last Days”. Jesus makes note in a few places of a covenant of peace with his disciples. There is also a promise that the covenant of the City of Enoch and the City of Salem will be returned or reestablished in the “Last Days”.

Have fun in you quest.

The Traveler

Salem does not mean covenant of peace, it means either peace or whole (that is, perfect).

Seeing as the inhabitants were Canaanties, the Salem element probably refered to the god Salem, just like most place names around Jerusalem were originally named for a Canaanite God (Bethel and Beth-Horon are just two examples). The Jeru element possibly meant foundation, or founded by.

So the city of Salem, or the city founded by Salem, but this is speculative.

At any rate, even if the ending was the double one, it would not mean Salem on two mountains. The only thing we would get is the double Yerushal. The em ending is an integral part of the word Salem.

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What made the city of Enoch so special was not the buildings, but the people. THEY became pure, and so the city also became pure. It slowly ascended into the heavens, meaning the ancient Hebrew view of the heavens/cosmos. It didn't necessarily go to the Celestial Kingdom, for example.

According to George Laub's journal, it was still visible after the Flood, in Nimrod's day. Nimrod sought to create the pseudo-City of Zion: Babylon. He created the Tower, which was a giant Ziggurat. Ziggurats were temples that represented the Mountain of the Gods. It was a stepping off point to enter into the heavens. Many cultures held to this belief, including the Greeks (Mt Olympus). Whenever one reads in the scriptures or ancient Hebrew texts about an event on a mountain, it is almost always tied to a great Apocalypse/Revelation. Often it includes a theophany (seeing God on his throne).

According to Laub's journal, Joseph Smith taught that the Tower of Babel was built to overtake the City of Enoch. Nimrod wanted to ascend to the holy city and seize it. For this reason, God determined that the people were organized for evil, and there was nothing they purposed, which they could not do. So he confounded them, and drove them apart.

Nimrod's power, according to some ancient traditions, came from Adam's garment. The garment was passed down to Noah. When Noah was drunk and asleep in his tent, Ham stole it to give to his son, who he knew would not receive the birth right and priesthood blessing, which accompanied the garment. Noah cursed Canaan for this reason: he would not receive a birthright nor the blessings with the garment he possessed. The garment passed down to Nimrod, who became a mighty hunter in the world before/against God (both translations work). Joseph Smith taught that before Nimrod, the world was a paradise, and behind him a wasteland. He used the garment to attract animals to him, as did Adam and Noah; however, he would then slaughter the animals. The tradition states that Esau slew Nimrod and stole the garment. He was pursued by Nimrod's men, when he came to Jacob, asking for food. Jacob knew the garment belonged with the birthright, and so he traded for it. Esau literally traded the garment and his birthright (and priesthood blessing) for a mess of pottage.

Jacob would have patterned Joseph's coat of many colors/pieces after this garment.

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great city what was called Zion

There is actually a lot more about this, the idea, how to obtain it, and really how thats should be our Goal. Again Nibley has a book about it (I have only read parts of it, but it was very good). Again its more about the idea of Zion and what that means (and what it takes).

There are some good study ad in the back of the D&C Institute manual

Enrichment B - Establishing Zion

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If I remember right, Commander Adama was being monitored by and even had some contact with City of Enoch Stratofortress on Galactica's voyage to find the missing tribe of Earth.

Seems like you are describing the earlier version starring Elder N. Loren Green. This work has since been revised. Get with the program.

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Salem does not mean covenant of peace, it means either peace or whole (that is, perfect).

Seeing as the inhabitants were Canaanties, the Salem element probably refered to the god Salem, just like most place names around Jerusalem were originally named for a Canaanite God (Bethel and Beth-Horon are just two examples). The Jeru element possibly meant foundation, or founded by.

So the city of Salem, or the city founded by Salem, but this is speculative.

At any rate, even if the ending was the double one, it would not mean Salem on two mountains. The only thing we would get is the double Yerushal. The em ending is an integral part of the word Salem.

An ancient city was ether named for the covenant by which it was established or the name of the founder. I had a discussion some time ago with a Rabbi concerning Jerusalem for which I include his answer to my incorrect understanding.

If you would be so kind to re send me the

> Jewish tradition of the origin of Jerusalem I would be most grateful.

>

Of course...here it is...

<<

I forgot to mention about Jerusalem. I read your theory on how the name

of the city came to be. If I may, I'd like to explain the Jewish

traditional way the city has received it's name. As you stated, there

was a city called Salem. Of course, this is the English name. In

Hebrew (as it is written in the Torah), it is Sha-lem`(accent on the

second syllable). This was on one of the hills(or mountains, if you

will), which of course is the same spot Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac,

Jacob wrestled with the angel, and of course upon which the temple was

constructed. A second hill was added to Shalem, increasing Shalem. In

Hebrew the word "Yeru" means "increase" or "more of". So the name of

the city would have been YeruShalem, but since it was on two hills, the

name would be slightly different. In Hebrew, anything of which there

are two(as in pairs) has an "ayim" as the ending. For example, the word

"yad" means hand. To say many hands, it's "yadim"(accent on second

syll), but to say two hands, as in a pair that we each have, we say

"ya-DA-yim". So, since Shalem was now on two hills, and not more than

two, instead of Yerushalim, we have Yerushalayim" (Ye-ru-sha-LA-yim).

Of course, as you know, all Hebrew names that began with a yud("Y" in

English) were written as a "J" in Roman(or was it Greek?), and

incorrectly read with the "J" of today, not the Roman J which had the Y

sound. The name would be Jerushalayim, but it was incorrectly

translated, and became Jerusalem. You mention the Jebusites as adding

their name to the city. In Hebrew, they were called the "Yevusie". The

"b" in the English name was a "vet"(2nd letter of the alphabet without a

dot, otherwise it is a "bet" for the "b" sound), which is not found

anywhere in the name. The letter used in it's place is a "rashe", or

"R" sound. This comes from the "Yeru" I mentioned above. What do you

think about this? Have you heard this before?>>

>

> Also do you have any idea what the jewish word for jerusalem means?

>

The meaning of the word is in the explanation above. "Yeru" means "an

increase or more of", and "shalayim", means 2 of Shalem(Salem in

English). I hope this answers your question.

Only 5 more days till I leave for Israel.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sid

The Traveler

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You might like to share the following link with your rabbi friend. Bar-Ilan University Parshat Hashavua Page

It is from the Bar-Ilan University, so hardly a secular source.

In it are essentially the same points I made in my post.

I'm sorry to say that nearly everything that rabbi pointed out is wrong. Cities were not named after their covenants (if they were I would like a concrete example), we don't know if the accent was on the 1st or 2nd sylables, Jerusalem was not on mt. Moriah at that time, yeru does not mean to increase, yadim is not the plural of hands, and according to both biblical and archaeological evidence, the name of the city was Yurushalem or Yurushalim, which in time became an ayim ending.

Another excellent place to look for information on ancient Jerusalem is the works of Zeev Vilnay, who was not only the father of modern historio-geographical studies of Israel, but also an observant Jew.

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Volgadon is correct. The rabbi's interpretation comes from a later development/belief, and does not really consider the true historical lineage of the name:

Jerusalem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also the history portion directly under the etymology of the name. It ties the early city to Shem and Melchizedek (traditionally known as the same person).

At allexperts.com, we read:

The name Jerusalem is derived from the words Ir Shalom which mean "city of peace". In Hebrew the name of the city is Yerushalayim, and in the Bible it is also called Yerushalem. With the German transliterations, where the J makes the Y sound, and the double-s makes the SH sound, the name in English evolved to be Jerusalem.

Melchizedek means: King of Righteousness, and he was the Prince of Peace, or the Prince of Salem. Jerusalem means "city of peace."

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Thanks Rameumptom, but a slight correction. City of peace is an Israelite folk etymology, which is seen in biblical wordplay. The name of the city is Canaanite, shalem was one of their gods. The yeru part can't mean city, there is no ayin. City is 'ir. Ayin-yod-reish.

The Israelite folk etymology (City of Peace) indicates a city name based in covenant. Often a city named after a Suzerain (person or G-d) indicated a tie into covenant (in particular to invoke benediction) through the Suzerain. We also see ties to covenant in Book of Mormon cities like the City of Bountiful – being a direct covenant benediction. Also a name prefixed by “New” would indicate a reestablishment of benediction established by a previous covenant such as a New Jerusalem.

Thanks for the link – It would appear my Rabbi friend was more versed in folk lore than history.

The Traveler

PS. I thought to add one other thing here - often in ancient times as a Suzerain obtained power their name would be changed bacause of a covenant - examples Abraham and Israel. As well as the names of their children were often given names based in covenant.

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I suggest that you look into the covenant of peace given to Noah and the parallel covenants of Enoch and the City of Enoch with Melchizedek and the City of Salem. Note that the Hebrew term Salem means covenant of peace. Also the term Jerusalem literally means “Salem on two mountains”. There are a lot of scriptures that refer to Jerusalem and the “New Jerusalem” as a new covenant that will be established in the “Last Days”. Jesus makes note in a few places of a covenant of peace with his disciples. There is also a promise that the covenant of the City of Enoch and the City of Salem will be returned or reestablished in the “Last Days”.

Have fun in you quest.

The Traveler

The true name of the City was called Shalome and not a common word of its day. There is no Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew definition for it.

Hebrews adopted the word and later through handed down copies, was translated incorrectly from Shalome to Salem.

According to the ddispensationa prophet, Joseph Smith, he stated the following at 27 August 1843 (Sunday Morning). Temple Grove

A.M. at the Grove. Prest. J. preached on Hebrews c 7. After reading a letter from Thos. Carlin to S. Rigdon and making some remarks about it. 47 He shewed that the word "Salem" is a wrong translation it should be "Shalome" signifying peace. 48 He prophecied that "not all the powers of hell or earth combined can ever overthrow this boy" for he had a promise from the eternal God. He spoke concerning the priesthood of Melchisedek shewing that the sectarians never propossed to have it consequently never could save any one and would all be damned together. He showed that the power of the Melchisek P'd was to have the power of an "endless lives." 49 he showed that the everlasting covenants could not be broken, and by the sacrifice required of Abraham the fact that when God offers a blessing or knowledge to a man and he refuses to receive it he will be damned. 50—mentioning the case of the Israelites praying that God would speak to Moses & not to Them—in consequense of which he cursed them with a carnal law. 51 (William Clayton Diary)

Footnotes:

47. See 13 August 1843 (2), note 10. 10

48. See note 4, this discourse. 4

49. D&C 132:19-24. To have the power of "endless lives" is to have secured before the time of resurrection the promise of exaltation in eternity with the accompanying promise of a continuation of the lives or seed—that is to have the power to have children after the resurrection (see History of the Church, 5:391-92).

50. Genesis 22:1-19.

51. Exodus 19, 20:18-21; D&C 84:19-27.

Joseph Smith Commentary to the Bible, it states -

It is understood by many . . . that Melchizedek was king of some country or nation on the earth. But it was not so. In the original it reads "king of Shalom," which signifies king of peace or righteousness, and not of any country or nation.

The word "Salem" is a wrong translation. It should be "Shalom," signifying peace.

"Salem" is designed for a Hebrew term. It should be "Shalom," which signifies righteousness and peace. As it is, it is nothing—neither Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, or any other.

Edited by Hemidakota
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What made the city of Enoch so special was not the buildings, but the people. THEY became pure, and so the city also became pure. It slowly ascended into the heavens, meaning the ancient Hebrew view of the heavens/cosmos. It didn't necessarily go to the Celestial Kingdom, for example.

According to George Laub's journal, it was still visible after the Flood, in Nimrod's day. Nimrod sought to create the pseudo-City of Zion: Babylon. He created the Tower, which was a giant Ziggurat. Ziggurats were temples that represented the Mountain of the Gods. It was a stepping off point to enter into the heavens. Many cultures held to this belief, including the Greeks (Mt Olympus). Whenever one reads in the scriptures or ancient Hebrew texts about an event on a mountain, it is almost always tied to a great Apocalypse/Revelation. Often it includes a theophany (seeing God on his throne).

According to Laub's journal, Joseph Smith taught that the Tower of Babel was built to overtake the City of Enoch. Nimrod wanted to ascend to the holy city and seize it. For this reason, God determined that the people were organized for evil, and there was nothing they purposed, which they could not do. So he confounded them, and drove them apart.

Nimrod's power, according to some ancient traditions, came from Adam's garment. The garment was passed down to Noah. When Noah was drunk and asleep in his tent, Ham stole it to give to his son, who he knew would not receive the birth right and priesthood blessing, which accompanied the garment. Noah cursed Canaan for this reason: he would not receive a birthright nor the blessings with the garment he possessed. The garment passed down to Nimrod, who became a mighty hunter in the world before/against God (both translations work). Joseph Smith taught that before Nimrod, the world was a paradise, and behind him a wasteland. He used the garment to attract animals to him, as did Adam and Noah; however, he would then slaughter the animals. The tradition states that Esau slew Nimrod and stole the garment. He was pursued by Nimrod's men, when he came to Jacob, asking for food. Jacob knew the garment belonged with the birthright, and so he traded for it. Esau literally traded the garment and his birthright (and priesthood blessing) for a mess of pottage.

Jacob would have patterned Joseph's coat of many colors/pieces after this garment.

A quote from George Laub journal -

Cain signifies Posesion.

Able denots sorrow.

Eloheam denots Gods.

Now the history of[Josephs in Speaking of angels came down and took themselves wives of the daughters of men, See Geneses 6 Chapter 1-2, verses. These ware resurrected Bodies, Violated the Celestial laws.

Now in the days of Noah there was a man the name of Nimrod, he being the first one that sant [?] after as of himself. After the flood god commanded the people to Spread over the earth but they would not & stayed & stayed upon the high Land for fear of another delluge. But Nimrod rose up and said he could withstand God. He Said Come let us Build a tower hier than the watter can rise and I will goe up and fight this God. This is the account[Josephs tells us. But God confounded their languag and they ware oblidged to scatter abroad over the land.

Now[bab[y]lon Signifies[Confuion. Joseph Signifies another to come. Moab. Do [ditto] the daughter lay with the fathers or Fathers with Daughters. Ammon Denots one of the kinfokes. Isaac denots Lafter for when the Angel told Abraham they should have a Son Sarah Laughed. Jacob Denots weekness, Isreal the Earth. Again, 5th Chapter of 2nd Corinthians, 1st Verse, a house not made with corruptable hands for there is not any house or thing made without hands as a building.

Now I will tell the designs of building the tower of Bable. It was designed to goe to the city of Enoch, for the veil was not yet so thick that it hid it from their Sight. So they concluded to goe to the City of Enoch, for God gave him place above this impure Earth. For he could breath a pure hair & him and his City was taken, for God provided a better place for him for they was pure in heart. For it is the pure in heart that causes Zion to be & the time will come again to meet, that Enoch and his city will come again to meet our city & his people, our people, & the Air will be pure & the Lord will be in our midst for Ever. (Edited by Eugene England)

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A covenant OF peace, not peace=covenant.

So when Christ spoke of peace - it had nothing to do with covenant? Peace in G-d is by covenant. There are some scholars that feel we would be better served if the Old Testament and New Testament were thought of as Covenant rather than Testament.

The Traveler

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