📖 From the Book of Enoch to Circumcision: How One Question Can Lead You Down the Most Unexpected Roads

✨ Have you ever looked up one little thing — maybe on a podcast, in a book, or from something your kids mention — and suddenly found yourself learning about something completely different? That’s what happened to me the other day when Joe Rogan brought up the Book of Enoch. Before I knew it, I was deep into angels, giants, circumcision, and even Abraham at age ninety-nine. Sometimes curiosity takes us places we never expected. 😂

The Mysterious Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch isn’t in most Bibles, but it’s one of those ancient Jewish texts that almost feels like a “lost book.” Written between the 3rd century BCE and 1st century CE, it expands on the brief mention of Enoch, who was Noah’s great-grandfather.

Enoch’s story in Genesis is short but remarkable: “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him” (Genesis 5:24). That mystery inspired generations of writers to expand his story into visions, parables, and heavenly journeys.

• The Watchers (fallen angels) descend to earth, take human wives, and produce the Nephilim (giants).

• Enoch is taken on tours of heaven, shown the throne of God, and taught the cosmic order of stars and seasons.

• The book even includes Messianic prophecies that sound strikingly like the New Testament.

• And the New Testament’s Book of Jude actually quotes Enoch directly.

Some churches, like the Ethiopian Orthodox, still keep it in their Bible. Others left it out — perhaps too mystical, too strange, or simply too much. Either way, it makes you wonder: What stories shaped ancient faith that we’ve lost sight of today?

A Detour into Jewish Tradition

Reading about Enoch’s visions pulled me into another thread: circumcision. In America, circumcision is so common we hardly think about it. Most parents see it as a health choice, preventing infection, phimosis, or reducing certain risks later in life.

But in Judaism, it’s about so much more than health. It’s about covenant.

• The practice began with Abraham, who was 99 years old when God commanded him to circumcise himself and every male in his household as a sign of their eternal covenant. Can you imagine? Ninety-nine! That kind of obedience takes my breath away.

• From then on, Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day of life, in a ritual called brit milah.

• It’s not just medical. It’s layered with prayer, blessing, and family celebration — a physical sign of belonging to God’s people.

Today, families approach it differently: Orthodox Jews insist on the eighth-day ritual with a mohel, while Reform Jews may be comfortable with a hospital circumcision followed by a naming ceremony. Either way, the symbolism remains: covenant, identity, faith.

Christianity’s Different Take

The early Christians had a big debate about circumcision. Paul came down strongly on the side that it was no longer required. Instead, he wrote about a “circumcision of the heart” — meaning faith and devotion, not flesh and ritual.

That’s why today, circumcision isn’t part of Christian religious practice. Baptism became the outward sign of belonging instead.

Why It Fascinates Me

I started out chasing angels and giants in the Book of Enoch, and ended up marveling at Abraham’s obedience at 99, and the covenantal power of a ritual we often take for granted in America. That’s the joy of curiosity: one question leads to another, and suddenly you’re connecting dots across thousands of years of faith, history, and even medicine.

We don’t usually stop to question the “normal” things around us — a routine hospital procedure, a forgotten book, a tradition we see but don’t understand. But when we do, we uncover a richness that makes life feel fuller and more connected.

🍯 Honey Note:

If there’s one lesson here, it’s this — let your questions wander. Let them surprise you. You might start with Enoch, stumble into Abraham, and end with circumcision… and laugh at the unexpected road you traveled. Because the road of curiosity? It always leads to wonder.

With wonder as my compass,

and curiosity as my guide,

I keep asking, keep learning, keep becoming —

— Honey 🐝