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The Book of Enoch was the "principal" Essene Document.
The Book of Enoch is unique, since its various portions represent every formative period of the cult; since it was its principal independent scripture; and since it contains most of its novel doctrines.
The Book of Enoch consists of a series of revelations produced one after another between 180 and about 95-70 B.C.E. In the older portions, we find a commingling of Zoroastrianism with Judaism, somewhat as in the last six chapters of Daniel. The later sections, however, reflect a fundamental development; and this was inevitable, since they were composed after the Essenes became Pythagoreans and express, therefore, a communist and celibate philosophy.
It is pertinent to note that in Enoch we find what will be become first precise formulation of Christian eschatology, according to which all souls are immortal individuals who, at death, pass either into eternal bliss or everlasting torture. This immortality of the soul and the concept of the Parousia, according to which the god-man prophet is both the sacrificial deity and the Messiah who rises from the grave later to return for the purpose of conducting the Last Judgment and establishing on earth the kingdom of the saints, were the specific, original contributions of the Essenes to world-religion.
An Ethiopic MS. of the book was first discovered by Bryce in Abyssinia in 1773. Since then, others have been found. Although The Book of Enoch is quoted directly in Jude 14-15 and was widely known and used in the early Church, it gradually fell into disuse and no copy of it was known in Europe for more than twelve hundred years.
As the nine parts into which the book is formally divided do not coincide with its real divisions, and as their sequence does not conform with the chronological order of composition, the following analysis might help us come to the truth we need.
Chapters 1-36
What is important for us to note right in the beginning is that there is no Messiah or Son of Man, but a God, known as the Holy Great One, who conducts the last judgment, condems the Watchers to the abyss of fire, and establishes the Messianic Kingdom.
Chapters 88-90
[notice the way the book is put together today that this portion is the 4th part of Enoch as written in sequence]
In this apocalypse, Judas Maccabaeus inaugurates the Messianic Kingdom, which the Messiah later takes over, and from which he is to rule over all nations in Jerusalem. This portion of Enoch is a completely nationalistic Jewish conception, probably written by a Chasid, and it reflects the ideology of the Maccabean War. One should take note of the historical refrences and the time period to which this writing was addressing.
Chapters 77-87
[notice the way the book is put together today that this portion is the 3rd part of Enoch as written in sequence]
Here we find a treatise on Astronomy, explaining in detail the 364-day year and its division into four seasons, as also established in the Book of Jubiless (in the rejection of Judaism we find these conventeers create their own unique calendar).
Chapters 91-105
This is a highly developed apocalypse, composed after the Essenes became Pythagoreans, in which the desire for riches and power is condemned as the proof of unrighteousness, and in which sainthood appears as union with God and his Son, evidenced by love for mankind and the renunciation of all things worldly.
Chapters 37-59, 60-71
An elaborate Zoroastrian-Pythagorean synthesis. The Lord of Spirits commissions the Son of Man, who now appears under that title for the first time in Enoch, chosen before the world was created, to judge sinners and righteous. The Elect are those who have a congenital compulsion toward righteousness, which causes them to abhor the things of this world, and to love God and their fellowmen; thus, they achieve sainthood and will be called to everlasting glory.
Now that we have the overview of the Book, let us dig a little deeper as we examine each section of the book to trace the evolution of Essene religious through. Shalom.