Introduction
Chapter 71 of The Book of Enoch is controversial. There may or may not be a claim that Enoch was supposed to be the Son of Man. And that claim may or may not have been added later on by some transcriber.
Background
I recorded an interview with Greg Dizzia, here is the link. He wrote The Book of Enoch: An Antediluvian Account. I asked him a question about the narrator Enoch referring to himself as the "Son of Man" in his narrative. This baffled Greg, and I didn't have the text available. We skipped the question and moved on. Now, I'm looking back over the text.
The Book of Enoch is closely tied to The Book of Genesis. It tells a story of Fallen Angels and the years leading up to the flood story of Noah. The Book of Enoch has been mostly forgotten. It was likely written in Aramaic and or Hebrew. The the most complete surviving copies are in the Geʽez language. The Books were mostly likely written in the Second Temple Period although the story is possibly a lot older. Listen to the interview with Greg to hear his take
The Controversy
No surprise to me, there is a controversy and conspiracy that involves a section of the text that relates to Jesus.
The Book of Enoch is written in first person. The narrator claims to be Enoch. In Chapter 71, and only in Chapter 71, Enoch (narrator) states that the Head of Days (God) calls Enoch the "Son of Man." The "Son of Man" is mentioned many other times and not identified directly as Enoch.
But! Some translation do not translate this passage, line 14 specifically, he same.
Others claim Chapter 71 verse 14 is an interpolation.
Well, I have next to nothing to say about the interpolation. But what should it say?
Translations
Here is a link to the original Geez. It appears to me that there might be multiple Ge'ez versions of Enoch too. This would make sense if it was translated from another language. The below translation on the right is from Google Translate.
Here is parallel translation of three English texts.
I'm sure there are several other translation we could cross reference too. For my purposes this is enough.
Conclusion
It's odd that the Son of Man is referenced so many times and only directly link to Enoch once. This makes an interpolation likely to me. Considering that the Dead Sea Scrolls didn't have that section of Enoch makes it more likely too.
If the text belongs, it sounds like Enoch is who God is calling the "Son of Man." Even in the far right translation in the parallel image, it is unclear who the son of man is. A Christian would assume it's Jesus for obvious reasons, but anyone else could very easily assume it was God announcing Enoch to the thousands of angels.
I doubt people will come to any consensus on this topic.
