Enochic Traditions Research Articles

JUBILEES —BETWEEN ENOCH AND MOSES. A NARRATIVE READING

AbstractThere is no doubt that the biblical story in Genesis and Exodus, extending from creation to Sinai, forms the backbone of the narrative in Jubilees. Often analyses of Jubilees concentrate on this aspect, without paying sufficient attention to the narrative design in Jubilees itself. In this article some common tools in narratology are applied to focus on Jubilees as a whole. In the narrative structures it appears that the Enochic traditions are formative. Moses is placed in the front of the narrative as a witness not to the torah of the Pentateuch, but to a narrative shaped to give room for the Enochic traditions. Thus Jubilees mediates between the Mosaic and Enochic traditions, using Moses to emphasise the importance of Enoch. The two figures represent two different attitudes toward revelation, the unique concentration on Sinai as the centre of history and the common mythical world-view that the foundational events took place in primeval time.

ON THE POLEMICAL NATURE OF 2 (SLAVONIC) ENOCH: A REPLY TO C. BÖTTRICH

AbstractAdam's story occupies a prominent place in 2 Slavonic (Apocalypse of) Enoch. The traditions pertaining to the first human can be found in all the sections of the book. In these materials Adam is depicted as a glorious angelic being, predestined by God to be the ruler of the earth, but falling short of God's expectations. The article argues that the extensive presence of Adamic materials in 2 Enoch has a polemical nature since it is related to the long-lasting competition between Adamic and Enochic traditions. The analysis shows that the polemics taking place in 2 Enoch involve a rewriting of "original" Adamic motifs and themes when the details of Adam's "story" are transferred to a new "hero," the seventh antediluvian patriarch. The features of Adam's story, his roles and offices, are used in 2 Enoch as the building blocks for creating the new, celestial identity of the elevated Enoch. In the course of these polemical appropriations, the elevated angelic status of the prelapsarian Adam, his luminosity, his wisdom, and his special roles as the king of the earth and the steward of all earthly creatures are transferred to the new occupant of the celestial realm, the patriarch Enoch, who, near the Lord's throne, is transformed into one of the glorious ones initiated into the highest mysteries by the Lord, becomes the "manager of the arrangements on the earth," and writes down "everything that nourished" on it. The investigation of Adamic polemics in 2 Enoch demonstrates that a number of important passages associated with early Jewish mysticism, such as the motif of the Divine Face in chapters 22 and 39, the future prominent role of Enoch-Metatron as the governing power on the earth, and his title "Youth," belong to the primary text, since they play a decisive role in Adamic polemics of the Slavonic apocalypse.

Die makrososiale ruimte van die Boek van die Wagte (1 Henog 1-36)

The macro social space of the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36)An analysis of the material of the Book of the Watchers ( 1 Enoch 1-36) indicates a preference for the spatial aspect in these revelation narratives. In an attempt to understand this preference, an investigation is launched into the macro social world of the narratives. Themes in Enoch from literature in the Bible, the Syro-Phoenician world, Pseudo Epolemus, Zenon Papyri, Persia and Greece, are identified. Ptolemean Palestine is also investigated as the context within which an Enochic tradition was formed. Amongst other traditions an opposing Mosaic Judaism and Enochic Judaism are identified. Both take up the challenges of the third century with its Hellenistic onslaught and explosion of knowledge. The Book of the Watchers represents an Enoch tradition, which forms an early trajectory of apocalyptic thinking, and which is being influenced by various traditions such as wisdom literature in its mantic form, cosmological schemes of the world, and mythic traditions.

Wisdom: the Queen of Heaven

The female deity of ancient Israel should be studied using the same methods as for the male. Priority should be given to written evidence, there should be recognition of a variety of names and titles for the one figure in both singular and plural forms, and it must be admitted that as conceptions of the male deity moved away from anthropomorphism, it is unlikely that the female deity would have had an exactly opposite fate. Evidence from the Hebrew scriptures, the Enochic writings, archaeology and early Christian tradition all suggest that Wisdom was the name by which the pre-Josianic female deity was best known.