Andrei A. Orlov Marquette University The Mysteries of Enoch in the Epistle of Enoch and the Book of the Similitudes The Epistle of Enoch In the Astronomical Book and the Book of the Watchers, Enoch not only beholds astronomical, meteorological, and calendrical entities, but meticulously measures, counts, and records knowledge pertaining to them. The “practical” interaction with the cosmological secrets comes to its important symbolic threshold in 1 Enoch 93:11-14, a passage situated in the so-called Epistle of Enoch. Scholars usually trace the composition of the Epistle to the second century B.C.E.1 1 Enoch 93:11-14 presents the following discourse: 93:11. For who is there of all the sons of men who is able to hear the words of the Holy One and not be terrified; and who is able to think his thoughts? And who is there of all men who is able to look at all the works of heaven, 12. Or to see a soul or a spirit and is able to tell? Or to ascend and see all their ends, and to consider them or make (something) like them? 13. Or who is there of all men who is able to know what is the width and length of the earth; and to whom has the size of all them been shown? 14. And who is there of all men who is able to know the length of the heavens, and what is their height and upon what they are founded? And what is the number of the stars, and where all the luminaries rest?2 This passage posits several rhetorical questions, the purpose of which appear to be the affirmation of the incomprehensibility of the works of creation to the human mind and the impossibility of human being counting and measuring God’s creation. The literary form of these formulations is not entirely new, it recalls biblical and extra-biblical 1 2 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 8. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 451. 1 passages3 in which human beings are challenged by God or his angels to measure, count, or weigh various “incomprehensible” astronomical and meteorological marvels.4 Yet, as Argall rightly observes, in the apocalyptic tradition these questions play a different function,5 evoking some details of Enoch’s measuring and calculating routines as reflected in various early Enochic documents. Several other scholars have also noted these allusions. George Nickelsburg points out that “it is generally recognized that the verses allude to the content of some of Enoch’s visions.”6 In another section of his commentary, Nickelsburg elaborates more thoroughly on this connection, suggesting that the allusion to Enoch’s visions is clear. In [1 Enoch] 14:24-16:3 Enoch – who has been quaking at the sight of the enthroned Deity – hears Cod’s voice (see esp. 15:l and cf. 93:11). In his journeys in chaps. 17-19 and 21-32 he sees the extent of the earth, although it is not said that he has learned its measurements (93:13). In chaps. 18, 32, and 72-82 he is taken through the heavens, and in chap. 18 and in 33:2, he sees the foundations of the firmament. According to 33:3-4 he has learned the number of the stars, and in chaps. 72-82 he perceives the movements of the luminaries (93:11, 14). In chap. 22 he views the repository of the souls of the dead (9:12).7 Nickelsburg also discerns parallels between 1 Enoch 93:11-14 and later Enochic texts, including 2 Enoch 33-44, which we will explore as we go further in our study.8 If 1 3 Argall sees parallels in Sirach. He points out that “when treating the hidden aspects of creation, both traditions employ the stylistic combination of onomastica and rhetorical questions, 1 Enoch 93:11-14 may be compared with Sirach 1:3. The rhetorical questions related to cosmology can be answered by Enoch because he alone of all the sons of men journeyed throughout creation (1 Enoch 19:3). Similarly, the question in Sirach 1:3 about who can fathom the dimensions of the cosmos is taken up and answered by personified Wisdom in 24:3-7. Wisdom alone has traversed the creation (24:5).” Argall, 1 Enoch and Sirach, 163. 4 See, for example, Gen 15:5, Job 38:3-5, Isa 40:12, 4 Ezra 4:5-7, and 2 Bar. 48:5. 5 Argall notes that “1 Enoch 93:11-14 combines the literary features of rhetorical questions and a catalogue of the hidden aspects of creation. Wisdom texts, such as Job 38-39 and Proverbs 30:1-4, also combine rhetorical questions and lists of places and things. The combination in Job and Proverbs makes the point that humankind cannot fathom the profound character of God’s works in much of creation. In socalled apocalyptic literature, however, such combinations serve an entirely different purpose. Michael Stone suggests that some primitive formulaic lists were first modified by verbs and then expanded by references to regularity and proportionality. In 1 Enoch 93:11-14, the speculative content of such lists has been further adapted to the interrogative formulation of the wisdom tradition. The rhetorical questions imply that human knowledge of (esoteric) created phenomena is now possible because it was revealed to Enoch and has been imparted to the righteous as an eschatological gift.” Argall, 1 Enoch and Sirach, 125. 6 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 451. 7 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 452. 8 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 452. 2 Enoch 93:11-14 speaks about Enoch’s proficiency, then the scope of his expertise compares neatly to 2 Enoch, wherein the patriarch’s measuring and calculating prowess progresses to an unprecedented level. In this respect, the testimony found in 1 Enoch 93:11-14 is very important for our study since it demonstrates that 2 Enoch’s developments are not merely an invention of its authors but are rooted in other early Enochic materials. We will explore these connections later in our study. Nickelsburg’s insights reflect the broader scholarly consensus.9 Many leading experts of the Enochic traditions firmly uphold the view that 1 Enoch 93:11-14 speaks about Enoch’s achievements.10 Thus, reflecting on the rhetorical questions found in 1 Enoch 93, VanderKam suggests that “once the reader moves beyond the first two questions, the transparent answer to each of them should be ‘Enoch,’ who, on his travels with the angels, had seen all the heavenly bodies, all the earth, had been told the laws governing nature, and had seen the fate of all.”11 VanderKam further notes that despite that “the series of questions is phrased in a way that reminds one of biblical passages such as Job 38,” where “the point is to highlight the vast distance between God and humans.”12 He observes also that “one would think that the passage should be meant to praise the surpassing wisdom and knowledge of Enoch himself, the one who knew and understood all these deep matters.”13 Another leading expert of early Enochic literature, Nickelsburg’s student Argall, following in the footsteps of his teacher, also argues that “1 Enoch 93:11-14 offers a summary of the hidden aspects of creation against the background of the Book of the Watchers. The rhetorical questions point to the uniqueness of Enoch as a revealer of wisdom. The content of his wisdom includes hidden phenomena throughout the cosmos. Enoch’s knowledge of hidden things insures the validity of the Epistle’s eschatological message.” Argall, 1 Enoch and Sirach, 127. 10 Harry Alan Hahne also points out that 1 Enoch 11-14 “primarily highlights the value of the secret knowledge that Enoch has gained about the universe through revelation.” Hahne, The Corruption and Redemption of Creation, 182. 11 VanderKam, Enoch: A Man for All Generations, 92. 12 VanderKam, Enoch: A Man for All Generations, 92. 13 VanderKam, Enoch: A Man for All Generations, 92. 9 3 Loren Stuckenbruck, points out that the declaration found “in 93:11–14 of the unknowability of God’s thoughts and of the vast, created cosmos ... runs counter to the emphasis on the disclosure of special knowledge which is made throughout the early Enochic tradition.”14 He notes that in the Enochic tradition, Enoch functions as the quintessential recipient of divine revelation (e.g. the throne vision of 14:8–23; 19:34). He receives, for instance, knowledge about the extent of heaven and earth, and of the heavenly luminaries in the Astronomical Book (72:1–80:8; 82:7–20). Enoch, moreover, is given in the Book of the Watchers to hear God’s voice in 14:24–16:3 (cf. 15:1 and 93:11) and is taken on journeys during which he is shown the main features and extent of the earth (17:1–19:3; 21:1–32:6; and 33:1–36:4). Finally, Enoch’s special understanding of God’s works in creation is emphasized in the later Similitudes (41:3–7; 43:1–2; 60:11–22), as well as in 2 Enoch (23:1; 24:3; 25:1–30:18; 36:3 [Rec. A]; 40:2–13).15 Stuckenbruck concludes by saying that “in short, the rhetorical questions, placed within the Enochic tradition, make Enoch stand out sharply as the unique revealer of wisdom.”16 Indeed, Enoch’s measuring, weighing, and counting routines points to his special expertise, which is usually assigned to the deity elsewhere in Jewish lore. Reflecting on 1 Enoch 93:14b, in which the rhetorical question about the number of stars presumes Enoch’s expertise, Stuckenbruck reminds us that in some biblical and pseudepigraphical accounts, including Psalm 147:4 and 6 Ezra 16:56, such knowledge is posited as a strict prerogative of God.17 The same attitude is implied “in the rhetorical request in Genesis 15:5 that Abraham count the stars (which he cannot, because they are numbered beyond measure) to learn how many his descendants would be.”18 Stuckenbruck argues that “by contrast, Enoch is brought to the ends of the earth in 1 Enoch 33:1-4, where he is allowed 14 Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108, 237. Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108, 237-238. 16 Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108, 238. 17 Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108, 241. 18 Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108, 242. 15 4 to observe the stars, count the ‘gates’ through which they enter and exit the horizons ‘for each one individually according to their number and their names.’”19 On the whole, 1 Enoch 93:11-14 offers a pivotal witness that testifies that in the early booklets of 1 Enoch the expertise of the seventh antediluvian hero in measuring and counting of astronomical, meteorological, and geographical marvels is placed in the context of biblical traditions. In these traditions such activities are envisioned as the prerogatives of God, closely associated with the deity’s architectural and demiurgical actions. The Book of the Similitudes In its presentation of the cosmological mysteries received by Enoch, the Book of the Similitudes continues to affirm the parallelism between the Watchers’ illicit disclosures and the subjects revealed to the seventh antediluvian hero. Thus, in the Book of the Similitudes, Enoch receives revelations about the stars (1 Enoch 43:1), the sun (1 Enoch 41:5–6, 8), and the moon (1 Enoch 41:7) that correspond to the illicit astrological, solar, and lunar divinations of the fallen Watchers.20 In 1 Enoch 41:1-3, Enoch becomes privy to the secrets of the lightnings, revelations that again evoke the Watchers’ illicit lightning divination mentioned in 1 Enoch 8:3.21 In 1 Enoch 52:1-9, Enoch visits the mountains of metals, which may serve as conceptual counterparts to the Watchers’ revelations of metallurgical crafts.22 The references to using iron in war and to a 19 Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91-108, 241-242. Stone, “Enoch and the Fall of the Angels: Teaching and Status,” 352. 21 Stone, “Enoch and the Fall of the Angels: Teaching and Status,” 352. 22 1 Enoch 52:1-9 reads, “After those days, in that place where I had seen all the visions of what is hidden — for I had been carried off in a whirlwind, and they had taken me to the West. There my eyes saw 20 5 breastplate in this section likely refer back to the iron breastplates mentioned in 1 Enoch 8:1.23 It is not coincidental that the metal and metal objects that play an important role in the process of the humankind’s corruption are named here as revelatory subjects of Enoch’s initiation. As previously discussed, the Book of the Similitudes contains several new traditions about the fallen angels, portraying them as revealers of mysteries related to the divine Name and the divine Presence. One can see similar novel advancements in the treatment of the mysteries revealed to Enoch. Important new developments include the regular usage of “storehouses” and “secrets” in their descriptions. Thus, in 1 Enoch 41:35, when Enoch beholds familiar meteorological omina, he sees not only the lightnings or the thunder but also the “secrets” of these wonders: 41:3 And there my eyes saw the secrets (ኅቡኣተ) of the lightnings and the thunder, and the secrets of the winds, how they are divided to blow upon the earth, and the secrets of the clouds and the dew. And there I saw whence they proceed in that place, and from there they saturate the dust of the earth. 41:4 There I saw closed storehouses (መዛግብተ), and from them the winds are distributed; the storehouse of the hail and the winds, the storehouse of the mist and of the clouds, and its cloud abides over the earth since the beginning of the age. 41:5 And I saw the storehouses of the sun and the moon, from which they emerge and to which they return, and their glorious return, and how the one is more praiseworthy than the other, and their splendid course.24 all the hidden things of heaven that will take place: a mountain of iron, and a mountain of copper, and a mountain of silver, and a mountain of gold, and a mountain of soft metal, and a mountain of lead. And I asked the angel who went with me, ‘What are these things that I have seen in secret?’ And he said to me, ‘All these things that you have seen will be for the authority of his Anointed One, so that he may be powerful and mighty on the earth.’ And that angel of peace answered and said to me, ‘Wait a little while, and all the hidden things that surround the Lord of Spirits will be revealed to you. These mountains that your eyes saw—the mountain of iron, and the mountain of copper, and the mountain of silver, and the mountain of gold, and the mountain of soft metal, and the mountain of lead – All these will be before the Chosen One like wax before the fire, and like the water that comes down from above upon these mountains, and they will be weak before his feet. And in those days, none will save himself either by gold or silver, and none will be able a to flee. And there will not be iron for war, nor a garment for a breastplate; copper will be of no use, and tin a will be reckoned as nothing, and lead will not be desired. All these will be rejected and be destroyed from the face of the earth, when the Chosen One appears before the Lord of Spirits.’” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 187. 23 “Asael taught men to make swords of iron and weapons and shields and breastplates and every instrument of war.” Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 188. 24 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 142; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.120-121. 6 Furthermore, these meteorological marvels emerge from “storehouses” that contain the winds, mist, clouds, and dew. The abundant presence of references to storehouses and secrets, which are either marginal or absent in Enoch’s received revelations in the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book, is an important development that necessitates further investigation. Storehouses of Meteorological and Astronomical Phenomena The concept of heavenly storehouses/treasuries of astronomical and meteorological phenomena has its roots in biblical traditions.25 VanderKam suggests that the imagery of “storehouses” in the Similitudes “could derive from the several scriptural passages that use it in a similar context.”26 The concept can be found in many biblical and extrabiblical accounts, including Deut 28:12,27 Jer 10:13,28 Jer 51:16,29 Ps 135:7,30 Job Nickelsburg points out that “the term ‘storehouses, storerooms, or treasuries’ (mazāgebt = θησαυροί = Aram. ‫ ;אוצרין‬Heb. ‫ )אוצרים‬suggests that heaven is a great palace in whose storage magazines the Creator King keeps the materials that are employed for the operation of his cosmic realm.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 228-229. 26 VanderKam, “The Book of Parables within the Enoch Tradition,” 93. 27 Deut 28:12: “The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse (‫)אוצרו‬, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.” 28 Jer 10:13: “When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses (‫)מאצרתיו‬.” 29 Jer 51:16: “When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses (‫)מאצרתיו‬.” 30 Ps 135:7: “He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses (‫)מאוצרותיו‬.” 25 7 38:22,31 Sir 43:13-14,32 4 Ezra 5:37,33 4 Ezra 6:40,34 2 Enoch 5:2,35 2 Enoch 6:1,36 and 2 Enoch 40:10-1137 and in other documents.38 Various Jewish materials also display familiarity with notions of the heavenly storehouses/treasuries of light,39 souls,40 31 Job 38:22: “Have you entered the storehouses (‫ )ואצרות‬of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail.” 32 Sir 43:13-14: “By his command he sends the driving snow and speeds the lightnings of his judgment. Therefore, the storehouses (θησαυροί) are opened, and the clouds fly out like birds.” 33 4 Ezra 5:37: “open for me the closed treasuries and bring forth for me the winds shut up in them.” M. E. Stone, Fourth Ezra: A Commentary on the Book of Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia; Minneapolis, MI: Fortress, 1990) 133. 34 4 Ezra 6:40: “Then thou didst command that a ray of light be brought forth from thy treasuries, so that thy works might then appear.” Stone, Fourth Ezra, 178. On these traditions, see Stone, Fourth Ezra, 139. 35 2 Enoch 5:2 (L): “And there I perceived the treasuries of the snow and the ice, and the angels who guard their terrible storehouses, and the treasury of the clouds, from which they come out and go in.” Andersen. “2 Enoch,” 1.112. 36 2 Enoch 6:1 (L): “And they [angels] showed me the treasuries of the dew, like olive oil. And the appearance of its image was like every kind of earthly flower, only more numerous; and the angels who storehousing their treasuries, how they are shut and opened.” Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 1.112. 37 2 Enoch 40:10-11 (L): “I wrote down the treasuries of the snow, and the storehouses of the cold, and the frosty winds. And I observed how, depending on the season, their custodians fill up the clouds with them, and their treasuries are not emptied. I wrote down the sleeping chambers of the winds, and I observed, and I saw how their custodians carry scales and measures.” Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 1.166. 38 Scholars also see applications of storehouses/treasuries imagery in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 1QH IX 11-15 reads, “You yourself stretched out the heavens for our glory, and all [ ] you [de]termined according to your will, and powerful spirits according to their laws, before they came to be ho[ly] angels [and] eternal spirits in their dominion: luminaries according their mysteries, stars according to [their] paths, [stor]m [winds] according to their task, shooting stars and lightning according to their service, and storehouses (‫ )ואוצרות‬devised for th[eir] purposes [] according to their mysteries.” 1QHodayot (ed. H. Stegemann et al.; DJD, 40; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2009) 118 and 130. On these traditions, see J. BenDov, “Exegetical Notes on Cosmology in the Parables of Enoch,” in: Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables (ed. G. Boccaccini; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007) 143-150 at 147; G. Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology: Evaluating Parallels in the Ethiopic Parables of Enoch and 2 (Slavonic) Enoch,” JSP 29 (2019) 79-99 at 91. Macaskill points also to b. Hag. 12b: “Makon is that in which there are the stores of snow and stores of hail, and the loft of harmful dews and the loft of raindrops, the chamber of the whirlwind and storm, and the cave of vapour, and their doors are of fire, for it is said: The Lord will open unto thee His good treasure.” For the discussion of this talmudic tradition, see Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 88, 92-93. 39 Jer 10:13 (51:16) LXX: “and he brought out light from his storehouses.” A. Pietersma et al., A New English Translation of the Septuagint (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 891; 4 Ezra 6:40: “Then thou didst command that a ray of light be brought forth from thy treasuries.” Stone, Fourth Ezra, 178. 40 4 Ezra 4:35: “Did not the souls of the righteous in their treasuries ask about these matters.” Stone, Fourth Ezra, 90; 4 Ezra 4:41: “The underworld and the treasuries of the souls are like the womb.” Stone, Fourth Ezra, 90; 4 Ezra 7:80: “such souls shall not enter into treasuries.” Stone, Fourth Ezra, 235; 2 Bar. 21:23: “and let the treasuries of the souls restore those who are enclosed in them.” Klijn, “2 Baruch,” 1.628; LAB 32:13: “... go and tell the fathers in the chambers of their souls.” H. Jacobson, A Commentary on Pseudo-Philo’s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, with Latin Text and English Translation (2 vols.; AGAJU, 31; Leiden: Brill, 1996) 151. 8 blessings,41 books,42 and other phenomena. It is also possible that, in their application of the storehouses/treasuries’ imagery, the Similitudes continues already established conceptual trends found in the earlier Enochic booklets. Nickelsburg points out that the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 17:3,43 1 Enoch 18:144) reflects the concept of the heavenly treasuries/storehouses of meteorological and astronomical marvels, the imagery of which may serve as a prototype for the Similitudes.45 Commenting on 1 Enoch 41:3-5, Nickelsburg argues that “the author is once again following his prototype in the Book of the Watchers.... There, after Enoch had heard the sentence against the watchers (15:216:4), the author states, ‘and they (the interpreting angels) took me and led me to a certain place’ (17:1). Then he sees the place of the luminaries and the treasuries (θησαυρούς) of the stars and of the thunders, and the place of all the lightnings (17:3). In time his journey takes him to the treasuries (θησαυρούς/mazāgebt) of all the winds (18:15).”46 1 Enoch 11:1: “Then I shall open the storehouses of blessing that are in heaven; and make them descend upon the earth, upon the works and the labor of the sons of men.” Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 216. 42 2 Enoch 22:11 (L): “And the Lord said to Vrevoil, ‘Bring out the books from my storehouses.’” Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 1.140. 43 1 Enoch 17:3 speaks about “the treasuries of the stars and of the thunder”: “And I saw the place of the luminaries and the treasuries (θησαυρούς) of the stars and of the thunders, and to the depths of the ether, where the bow of fire and the arrows and their quivers (were) and the sword of fire and all the lightnings.” Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 276; Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 30. See also 1 Enoch 11:1: “Then I shall open the storehouses (ταμεῖα/መዛግብተ) of blessing that are in heaven; and make them descend upon the earth, upon the works and the labor of the sons of men.” Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 216; Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 27; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.40. 44 1 Enoch 18:1: “I saw the treasuries (θησαυρούς /መዛግብተ) of all the winds. I saw how through them he ordered all created things.” Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 276; Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 31; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.66. VanderKam also notes that “the expression ‘the storehouses of the winds’ in 1 Enoch 41:4 echoes 1 Enoch 18:1.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 295-296.On this, see also Coblentz Bautch, A Study of the Geography, 100–101. 45 Thus, Macaskill suggests that “in a limited sense ... the use of storehouse imagery in 17:3 and 18:1 might have contributed to its occurrence in the Parables and in 2 Enoch.” Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 87. 46 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 143. 41 9 Furthermore, the “storehouses” in the Similitudes may be related to the terminology of “gates” found in the Astronomical Book. Nickelsburg points out that “in the Parables, Enoch visits the ‘treasuries’ (mazāgebt) that are the containers of the luminaries and winds, while the Book of the Luminaries uniformly refers to the ‘gates’ (ḫoḫt, pl., ḫāwāḫew) from which they emerge, which are not mentioned in the Parables.”47 A notable feature of the description found in 1 Enoch 41:3-5 is the juxtaposition of “storehouses” and “secrets,” which some scholars suggest are used interchangeably in the Similitudes. Jonathan Ben-Dov argues that in 1 Enoch 41:3-4 “the luminaries and the meteorological phenomena are equally stored in special spaces, which are designated ‘treasuries’ and ‘mysteries, secrets’ interchangeably.”48 One may encounter a similar conceptual framework in 1 Enoch 60:11-12, which refers to the concept of the “hidden secret” in the midst of symbolism of storehouses: And the other angel who went with me and showed me what is hidden told me what is first and last in heaven in the height, and beneath the earth in the abyss, and at the ends of heaven and on the foundation of heaven, and in the storehouses (ወበመዛግብተ) of the winds, how the winds are divided and how they are weighed, and how the springs of the winds are (divided and) numbered, according to the power of the wind, and the power of the light of the moon, and according to the power of righteousness.49 1 Enoch 60:19-21 provides additional details, depicting the angelic servants in charge of the meteorological storehouses: 47 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 57. In another section of the Hermeneia commentary, Nickelsburg points out that “the construal of the heavenly elements with reference to the storehouses in which they are kept rather than the ‘gates’ through which they emerge differentiates the cosmic material in the Parables from their counterparts in the Book of the Luminaries.... The two terms are, of course, complementary; storehouses must have doors through which their contents are brought out, and perhaps one should not make too much of it.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 229. 48 Ben-Dov, “Exegetical Notes,” 145. Responding to Ben-Dov’s suggestion, Macaskill points out that “Ben-Dov is undoubtedly correct that the two concepts have become closely associated, and ... I find his analysis of the texts to be convincing. I am less convinced, however, that the terms have become interchangeable in the way that he suggests.” Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 83. 49 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 224; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.164. 10 60:19 And the wind of the mist is not mingled with them in their storehouses, but has a special storehouse, because its course is glorious, both in light and in darkness, and in winter and in summer and in its storehouse is an angel. 60:20 The wind of the dew, its dwelling (is) at the ends of the heaven, and it is connected with the storehouses of the rain, and its course (is) in winter and in summer, and its clouds and the clouds of the mist are associated, and the one gives to the other. 60:21 And when the wind of the rain moves from its storehouse, the angels come and open the storehouse, and bring it out, and when it is scattered on all the dry land, it is joined with the water that is on the dry land; and whenever it is joined with the water on the dry land...50 This portrayal of the angelic servants in charge of meteorological storehouse recalls a passage in the longer recension of 2 Enoch 6:1 where Enoch sees “the angels who guard their treasuries, and how they are shut and opened.”51 In the Similitudes, the storehouses/treasuries contain both meteorological (hail, winds, hoarfrost, rain, mist, dew, clouds,52 the waters53) and astronomical (the sun, the moon, the stars54) omina.55 Macaskill points out that “the Parables of Enoch and 2 Enoch are distinctive in their development of an extended scheme within which the imagery of the storehouse functions as the governing device within accounts of meteorology. While the imagery is widely found in the biblical material and in 50 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 224. Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 1.112. Macaskill points out that “both the Parables of Enoch and 2 Enoch link the imagery of the storehouses and that of the balance to the activity of angelic figures who are responsible for the oversight and management of the meteorological elements. This sets these works apart from the biblical texts, which represent the management of the elements as something done by God himself.” Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 98. 52 1 Enoch 69:23 describes the storehouses of hail, hoarfrost, rain, and dew: “And there are preserved the voices of the thunder and the light of the lightnings. And there are preserved the storehouses of the hail and the storehouses of the hoarfrost, and the storehouses of the mist and the storehouses of the rain and the dew.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 304. 53 1 Enoch 54:7 speaks about the storehouses of the waters: “he will open all the chambers (መዛግብት) of the waters that are above the heavens.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 198; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.149. 54 1 Enoch 71:4: “And he showed me all the secrets of the ends of heaven and all the treasuries (መዛግብተ) of the stars.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 320; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.210. 55 Knibb, “Enoch and Wisdom,” 268; VanderKam, “The Book of Parables within the Enoch Tradition,” 92; Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 295-296. 51 11 postbiblical texts, these texts are distinctive in developing it in an extended way, with the imagery of the storehouse and/or treasury governing the account.”56 Secrets The Book of the Similitudes utilizes the terminology of “secrets.”57 Scholars have noted that “‘secrets’ or ‘hidden things’ (ḫebuʾāt) are at the heart of the Parables’ worldview, and their revelation is central to the book’s message.”58 The most important elements for our study are the subjects of these secrets. In 1 Enoch 41:3, the terminology of secrets is applied to meteorological events, including lightnings, thunder, winds, clouds, and dew.59 1 Enoch 59:1-3, which has parallels to the content of 1 Enoch 41,60 adds the mysteries of the luminaries to the catalogue of meteorological secrets: 59:1 In those days, my eyes saw the secrets (ኅቡኣተ) of the lightnings and the luminaries and their laws; they flash for a blessing or for a curse, as the Lord of Spirits wills. 59:2 And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and (how) when it crashes in the heights of heaven, its sound is heard <in> the dwelling places of the earth, he showed me the sound of the thunder for peace and blessing, or for a curse according to the word of the Lord of Spirits. 59:3 After that, all the secrets of the luminaries and the lightnings were shown to me, how they flash for blessing and for satisfaction.61 Another thematic cluster of “secrets” in the Similitudes is the mysteries of “righteousness.” The “secrets of righteousness” are mentioned in 1 Enoch 49:2,62 58:5,63 Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 97. For the discussion of the secrets’ subjects in the Similitudes, see L. W. Walck, The Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch and in Matthew (JCTCRS, 9; London: T&T Clark, 2011) 68-69. 58 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 226. 59 “And there my eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings and the thunder, and the secrets of the winds, how they are divided to blow upon the earth, and the secrets of the clouds and the dew. And there I saw whence they proceed in that place, and from there they saturate the dust of the earth.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 142. 60 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 225. 61 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 224; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.158-159. 62 1 Enoch 49:2: “For he is mighty in all the secrets of righteousness (ኅቡኣተ፡ ጽድቅ፡).” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 166; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.137. 63 1 Enoch 58:5: “And after this it will be said to the holy ones, that they should seek in heaven the secrets of righteousness (ኅቡኣተ፡ ጽድቅ፡), the lot of faith.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 217; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.158. 56 57 12 and 71:3-4.64 In 1 Enoch 71:3-4 the “secrets of righteousness” are conflated with the secrets of “the ends of heaven and all the treasuries of the stars, and all the luminaries.”65 A clear connection exists between the two subjects. Walck suggests that “in 1 Enoch, the cosmological and meteorological secrets function as summaries in such a way as to authenticate the message of the seer regarding judgment.”66 He argues that, in the Similitudes, “the revelation of the cosmological and meteorological secrets authenticates Enoch’s revelation of the secrets regarding the judgment of the oppressors and the reversal of fortunes for the righteous.”67 These juxtapositions are noteworthy since the oppressors’ judgment is conflated not with conventional legal precepts but with the “law of the stars.” It is possible that the application of the terminology of “secrets” to cosmological phenomena and to the “righteousness” revealed to Enoch serves in the Similitudes to mirror inversely the Watchers’ illicit pedagogy, which includes both cosmological revelations and instructions that lead to the corruption of “righteousness.” Some scholars 1 Enoch 71:3-4: “And the angel Michael, one of the archangels, took me by my right hand and raised me up, and he brought me out to all the secrets; and he showed me all the secrets of mercy, and he showed me all the secrets of righteousness (ኅቡአተ፡ ጽድቅ፡). And he showed me all the secrets of the ends of heaven and all the treasuries of the stars, and all the luminaries go forth from there before the holy ones.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 320; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.210. In 1 Enoch 41:1, Enoch sees secrets that appear to be also related to the subject of human ethical behavior (“human deeds”): “And after this, I saw all the secrets of heaven, how the kingdom is divided, and how human deeds are weighed in the balance.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 136. 65 Walck points out that “occasionally, the secrets of the cosmological and meteorological working of the universe are noted in conjunction with the secrets of the judgment and future events (41:1–9; 60:11; 71:3–4). While the revelation about judgment and the reversal of fortunes seems to be the major emphasis of Par. En., the claim that the seer also knows the cosmological and meteorological secrets authenticates the major emphasis. The relation between the two areas of secret knowledge seems to be that if the seer knows one area, then surely his knowledge is trustworthy in the other area as well. Thus, while sometimes only the cosmological and meteorological secrets are mentioned, and at other times secrets about the judgment are claimed, actually the two are conjoined with the first area authenticating the second area.” Walck, The Son of Man, 68-69. 66 Walck, The Son of Man, 69. 67 Walck, The Son of Man, 70. Walck’s insights are helpful. Yet, as our study has already demonstrated, the meaning of the cosmological revelations in the Similitudes and other Enochic booklets cannot be reduced to a single theological dimension. 64 13 have entertained the possibility. Thus, reflecting on “all the secrets of wisdom”68 transmitted by the Chosen One, who will be identified with Enoch in the last chapters of the Similitudes, Michael Knibb proffers that “there is a contrast between these ‘secrets of wisdom’ that will be revealed by the Chosen One and ‘the secrets of their wisdom’ that, according to 69:8, were shown to men by Pēnēmue, one of the satans who, in an alternative version of the Watchers tradition, came down from heaven and brought sin into the world (69:4–12).”69 Indeed, 1 Enoch 69:8 has already applied the terminology of “secrets” to the wisdom of the Watchers revealed by Pēnēmue.70 One can find another reference to the Watchers’ secrets in 1 Enoch 65:6: “a command has gone forth from the presence of the Lord against the inhabitants of the earth, that their end is accomplished, for they have learned all the secrets of the angels and all the violence of the satans, and all their powers, the hidden secrets and all the powers of those who practice sorcery, and the powers of (brightly) color(ed garments), and the powers of those who cast molten (images) for all the earth.”71 The tendency to refer to the Watchers’ revelations as “secrets” is not unique to the Similitudes; it exists in the earliest Enochic booklets.72 In 1 Enoch 51:3: “And the Chosen One, in those days, will sit upon my throne, and all the secrets of wisdom will go forth from the counsel of his mouth.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 180. 69 Knibb, “Enoch and Wisdom,” 262. In another section of his article, Knibb adds that “much more frequently, however, the secrets are mentioned in connection with Enoch himself, and it is these references, which are concerned both with the future judgement and with the cosmos .... We are repeatedly told in the Parables either that the angel who accompanies Enoch shows him everything secret or that Enoch sees all the secrets, and a statement in 68:1, which looks as if it originally formed a conclusion, characterizes the Book of Parables as if it were essentially a collection of all the secrets that Enoch saw or was shown.” Knibb, “Enoch and Wisdom,” 265-266. 70 1 Enoch 69:8: “And the name of the fourth is Pēnēmue. This one showed the sons of men the bitter and the sweet and showed them all the secrets of their wisdom.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 297. 71 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 273. 72 Reflecting on the Watchers’ secrets, Walck points out that “another kind of personage connected with the secrets is the fallen angels. In the Book of the Watchers, the fallen watchers have inappropriately revealed secrets to humanity, and so they receive God’s condemnation (16:3) This idea reappears in Par. En., in the Noachic section, where Noah hears from Enoch that a command has gone out from God regarding humanity who have learned from the secrets of the angels and perpetrated inappropriate activities such as sorcery, magical spells, and idolatry (65:6). In the list of angels, in the 68 14 the Book of the Watchers, one finds regular usage of the vocabulary of secrets/mysteries (Gr. τὰ μυστήρια) in the description of the illicit revelations of the Watchers.73 From 1 Enoch 8:3, one learns that the Watchers had revealed “mysteries (τὰ μυστήρια) to their wives and to their children.”74 1 Enoch 9:6 tells that Asael “has revealed the eternal mysteries (τὰ μυστήρια/ኅቡኣተ) that are in heaven.”75 1 Enoch 10:7b speaks about “the mystery (ἐν τῷ μυστηρίῳ) that the Watchers told and taught their sons.”76 Finally, in 1 Enoch 16:3, the fallen Watchers’ secrets are labeled as worthless mysteries:77 “You were in heaven, and no mystery (μυστήριον/ኅቡኣት) was revealed to you; but a stolen mystery (μυστήριον/ምሥጢረ) you learned; and this you made known to the women in your hardness of heart; and through this mystery (τῷ μυστηρίῳ/ምሥጢር) the women and men are multiplying evils on the earth.”78 The Book of the Similitudes, however, maintains a clear distinction between Enoch’s secrets and the Watchers’ mysteries. Knibb notes that in the Similitudes “as in the Book of the Watchers, a contrast is intended between the worthless and incomplete Noachic section, the angels and their wrongdoings are specified. Pēnēmue is accused of having taught humanity the secrets of sophistry (or the ‘secrets of wisdom’) in an inappropriate manner (69:8) and of having taught them to write with pen and ink (69:9–12), which was not fitting and yielded the result of human destruction. Kasbeʾel is also accused of seeking to discover from Michael the hidden Name, so that he might use it in an oath, which would cause his fellow fallen watchers, who had revealed the secrets to humanity, to tremble before him (69:14–16). Thus, sometimes heavenly secrets can be inappropriately revealed, as the fallen watchers had done with detrimental effects for the humans who learned those secrets.” Walck, The Son of Man, 66-67. 73 Knibb suggests that “in the light of the evidence of the Ethiopic and Greek texts of Dan 2 and 4:4 and of other passages in the Hebrew Bible, it seems very likely that zä-ḫəbuʾ and ḫəbuʾat in the Ethiopic version of the Book of Parables will have been based on τὸ μυστήριον/τὰ μυστήρια and/or τὰ κρυπτά or τὰ ἀπόκρυφα in the underlying Greek version, and that the Greek in turn—de pending on whether the Parables were composed in Aramaic or in Hebrew—will have been based on ‫ רזיא‬or ‫ רזים‬and/or ‫ מסתרתא‬or ‫נסתרות‬, and this is only what we would have expected.” Knibb, “Enoch and Wisdom,” 263. 74 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 188. Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 22. 75 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 202. Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 24; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.26. 76 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 215. Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 25. 77 Only in the Ethiopic text. 78 Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 267. Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 30; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.63-64. 15 revelation of heavenly secrets given by the Watchers and the revelation of the secrets that Enoch saw and was shown, the revelation that, according to 68:1, he handed over to Noah in the Book of Parables.”79 The important difference between the two revelations is not only their “completeness” but also their ethical nature. Knowledge of the heavenly “secrets,” which include the “measurements” or “halakhot” of the cosmological marvels, must be accompanied by proper praxis. By transgressing the commandments of God from the “heavenly Torah,”80 the fallen Watchers have turned the cosmological mysteries they reveal into worthless knowledge. Yet, in the hands of the “righteous scribe,” Enoch, these secrets are predestined to perform a soteriological role. Concluding this section of our study, we must suggest that the extensive use of “storehouses” and “secrets” to describe the knowledge Enoch receives in heaven reflects the authors of the Book of the Similitudes attempt to develop Enoch’s epistemological profile further, expanding it in comparison with the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book. The “secrets” and “storehouses” language enhances Enoch’s profile in relation to cosmological knowledge. It shows the greater depth of his knowledge – the adept now beholds not merely cosmological phenomena, but their “secrets” – as well as its breadth – he is now able to contemplate the totality of these cosmological realities gathered in very places of their origin, the heavenly storehouses. Appropriately, the terminology of “secrets” and “storehouses” will play a prominent role in 2 Enoch, in which the exaltation of Enoch’s epistemological status will reach new heights. The importance of the heavenly “storehouses” and “secrets” in fashioning and maintaining Knibb, “Enoch and Wisdom,” 266. Cf. 1 Enoch 106:13: “παρέβησαν τὸν λόγον κυρίου ἀπὸ τῆς διαθήκης τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.” Black, Apocalypsis Henochi Graece, 44. 79 80 16 Enoch’s exalted profile can be also discerned in later Jewish materials. Thus, in 3 Enoch Enoch-Metatron’s access to the storehouses of heavenly marvels will play a major role in the affirmation of his omniscience. The Righteous Balance Another important development of the Book of the Similitudes is speculation about the “righteous balance,”81 which is understood as an entity related to the measurement of cosmological wonders and human deeds.82 The singling out of these two familiar topics for rectification or “balancing” reflects precisely the two dimensions where the Watchers’ rebellion has inflicted the most harm – the angels’ illicit revelation of cosmological secrets and their sexual corruption of women. The symbolism of the “righteous balance” has some parallels in biblical and extra-biblical literature. It is found in Job 31:6: “let me be weighed in a just balance (‫צדק‬-‫)במאזני‬, and let God know my integrity!”, Ezek 45:10: “You shall have righteous balances (‫צדק‬-‫)מאזני‬, an honest ephah, and an honest bath,” and 4Q418 127 6: “For with righteous balances (‫ )במוזני צדק‬He has weighed out all their measurement.” J. Strugnell and D. J. Harrington, Qumran Cave 4.XXIV: Sapiential Texts, Part 2. 4QInstruction (Mûsār lĕ Mēvîn): 4Q415 ff. (DJD, 34; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999) 357-358. On these traditions, see D. Dimant, “4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in the Light of Qumran Literature,” in: Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch: Reconstruction After the Fall in Light of Qumran Literature (ed. M. Henze, G. Boccaccini, and J. M. Zurawski; JSJSS, 164; Leiden: Brill, 2013) 31-62 at 41-42; A. Gayer, Measurements of Wisdom: The Measuring and Weighing Motif in the Wisdom Composition Instruction, and in Second Temple Literature (Ph.D. diss.; University of Haifa, 2021) [Hebrew]; M. J. Goff, 4QInstruction (WLAW, 2; Atlanta. SBL, 2013) 276-277; Kister, “Physical and Metaphysical Measurements,” 167-175; J.-S. Rey, 4QInstruction: sagesse et eschatology (STDJ, 81; Leiden: Brill, 2009) 144-153; N. Shupak, “Weighing in the Scales: How an Egyptian Concept Made Its Way into Biblical and Postbiblical Literature,” in: From Author to Copyist: Composition, Redaction, and Transmission of the Hebrew Bible: Studies in Honor of Zipi Talshir (ed. C. Werman; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015) 249-258 at 255. E. J. C. Tigchelaar, To Increase Learning for the Understanding Ones: Reading and Reconstructing the Fragmentary Early Jewish Sapiential Text 4QInstruction (STDJ, 44; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 242. 82 Himmelfarb notes that “the use of natural phenomena in the Similitudes ... develops one of the themes of the Book of the Watchers, the contrast between nature’s faithfulness and humanity’s faithlessness. It develops the analogy by describing God’s judgment of natural phenomena as well as of humanity; both are weighed in the righteous balance (ch. 43, nature; 61:8, people).” Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven, 82. For the righteous balance as an instrument of judgment, see also Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 250. 81 17 In 1 Enoch 43:1-2, the “righteous balance” is used for measuring “lightnings and stars of heaven”: And I saw other lightnings and stars of heaven; and I saw that he called them by their names, and they listened to him. I saw a righteous balance (መዳልወ፡ ጽድቅ፡), how they are weighed according to their light, according to the breadth of their spaces and the day of their appearing. (I saw how) their revolution produces lightning, and their revolution is according to the number of the angels, and they keep their faith with one another.83 In this passage the astronomical objects are weighed “according to their light, according to the breadth of their spaces and the day of their appearing.” One can see that these measurements include not only spatial (“the breadth of their spaces”) and temporal (“the day of their appearing”) dimensions but also what appears to be the degree of the luminaries’ “energy” (“according to their light”).84 Some experts have noted the application in 1 Enoch 43:1-2 of the “moral laws” to astronomical bodies, now understood as heavenly beings that possess mental and moral qualities. Matthew Black points out that “the stars and heavenly bodies are hypostatized, they are heavenly beings with consciousness and conscience, to be assessed or ‘weighed in a balance,’ like [hu]mankind and to be so judged according to the measure or mass or proportions of light they possess.”85 Stone also suggests that in 1 Enoch 43, we find not only the calling of the stars by name and their harkening ... but also the revelation of their light, their orbits, and the angelic guides who determine these latter, as well as the regularity of the balance and proportion between them.... Two new elements are introduced. One is that the regularity 83 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 142; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.124-125. The imagery of balance is also hinted in 1 Enoch 60:12 where Enoch sees “how the winds are divided and how they are weighed.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 224. 84 Scholars have previously noted these correspondences. Hahne acknowledges these dimensions by suggesting that “each part of the natural world is judged to verify its proper operation: Each star is ‘weighed in a righteous balance’ to determine whether it moves in its assigned path at the assigned time and produces the proper amount of light (43:2; 61:8; cf. Job 31:6). Natural objects are held morally accountable and they are found to ‘keep the faith’ (43:2) ... So nature is not a clockwork that God set in motion, but a collection of individual conscious personalities with the power of choice1’ who obey the Lord perfectly and operate in complete harmony with each other. It is also implied that angels are assigned to each aspect of nature to ensure that it operates properly.” Hahne, The Corruption and Redemption of Creation, 237-238. 85 Black, The Book of Enoch, 203-204. 18 of the movements of the celestial bodies is called “how they keep faith with one another” which implies not only a personification of them, but also the ascribing of an ethical or moral quality to their regularity.86 The features of the astronomical bodies’ behavior found in other passage from 1 Enoch 41:8a also envision them as agents following moral regulations: “For the sun (makes) many revolutions for a blessing and a curse, and the course of the path of the moon is light to the righteous and darkness to the sinners.”87 If the moral laws extend to the heavenly bodies in the Similitudes, then the Enochic booklet’s vision of human deeds as weighed exactly the same way as the deeds of the luminaries is no coincidence.88 These correspondences indicate that the measurements of cosmological and meteorological wonders have legal significance, serving as an archetypal blueprint for human halakha. Karlheinz Müller suggests that “die Halacha wird von Henoch rudimentär aus der Schöpfung abgelesen.”89 The belief that the cosmological phenomena obey moral laws illuminates the value and function of the cosmological revelations to Enoch in the early Enochic booklets. If the heavenly bodies and meteorological events are guided by moral laws, then their proper measurements, which are obtained by the seer from God and the angels, provide archetypes of profound value for the rectification and balancing of the corrupted moral order of humankind. This reading explains why various Enochic materials, Stone, “Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature,” 429. Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 142. 88 Reflecting on these correspondences, de Villiers points out that “perhaps the most striking link is the extraordinary manner in which the stars and sun/moon are said to keep faith with one another in 41:5, and the belief of the righteous which is delineated in 43:4. In these cosmological parts the divine creation and structuring of the world are accentuated. Each heavenly object has its allocated position and reveals a fixed order or law in its movements. At the same time the believers are delineated as those who, like the heavenly objects, direct their lives in accordance with this divine structure. They too submit themselves to God and his will.” de Villiers, “Revealing the Secrets: Wisdom and the World in the Similitudes of Enoch,” 57. 89 Müller, “Die hebräische Sprache der Halacha als Textur der Schöpfung,” 171. 86 87 19 especially 2 Enoch, present the patriarch’s revelations about cosmological measurements as the crucial basis for the ethical teachings that he communicates to his sons and the people of the earth. In 1 Enoch 41:1, the seer beholds the routine of the balancing of human deeds: “And after this, I saw all the secrets of heaven, how the kingdom is divided, and how human deeds are weighed in the balance (በመዳልው፡ ይደለው፡).”90 Scholars often connect this passage with Dan 5:26-28.91 Nickelsburg suggests that “the present verse anticipates that when their deeds are weighed in God’s balance (41:b), the kings and the mighty will be stripped of their kingdom(s), as was the case with Belshazzar according to Daniel 5.”92 The weighing of deeds is emphasized in 1 Enoch 61:8 where the seer beholds the eschatological judge, who will weigh not only actions of human beings but also the deeds of the angels: “And the Lord of Spirits seated the Chosen One upon the throne of glory; and he will judge all the works of the holy ones in the heights of heaven, and in the balance he will weigh their deeds.”93 90 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 136; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.119. On righteous scales see Test. Abr. chs. 12-14, D. C. Allison, Testament of Abraham (CEJL; Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003) 271; Baynes, The Heavenly Book Motif, 100-101. 91 “This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” 92 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 137. Reflecting on Nickelsburg’s hypothesis, Macaskill points out that “the suggestion that Dan 5:26-28 might have distinctively influenced 1 Enoch 41:1, most recently made by Nickelsburg, is not without substance, but neither is it strictly necessary when the imagery was so common in relation to concepts of justice.” Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 90. 93 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 247. 20 The expression “righteous balance” (መዳልወ፡ ጽድቅ፡) that is found in the Book of the Similitudes also occurs in 2 Enoch.94 Reflecting on the importance of this enigmatic measuring devise, Grant Macaskill proposes that the image of the balance has a certain controlling function over the Parables as a whole: Enoch will see how the Lord of Spirits will weigh both the heavenly spirits – the stars and the lightning – and the human ones. This makes sense of the association between the bodies of light and the spirits of righteous humans, which have been divided from the darkness by the Lord of Spirits (41:8-9); it also makes sense of the transition from the description of the stars/lightning and their weight to the naming of the righteous who dwell on earth (43:4).95 Macaskill further suggests that “the imagery of the balance is interwoven, then, with a detailed schema within which the concept of the storehouse/treasury plays a key structuring role and within which the roles of angels in relation to the meteorological phenomena are a matter of interest.”96 The terminology of the righteous balance in the Enochic tradition evokes Enoch’s own designations as a righteous person and the scribe of righteousness.97 It also reaffirm the paramount importance of “righteousness” and related concepts in the sapiential and apocalyptic traditions.98 Macaskill suggests that “the language of the ‘righteous/just balance’ is probably influenced by Job 31:6, where it is used of Job’s hope that he will be judged fairly.” Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 90. 95 Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 85. 96 Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 85. 97 Reflecting on the righteous balance, Nickelsburg points out that “that the balance is ‘righteous’ emphasizes the rightness and order of God’s creation, and it may allude to the connection between the stars and the righteous that will become explicit in 43:4.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 146. Michael Stone also sees a connection between measuring natural phenomena and human righteousness, noting that “as was true too of the stars, no real distinction between the meteorological and other eschatological or religious spheres. In 1 Enoch 61:1-4, the element of measuring is clear and explicit, but the righteous are measured.” Stone, “Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature,” 433. 98 Reflecting on importance of the category of “righteousness” in Jewish wisdom traditions, Leo Perdue points out that “in their social construction of reality, the sages developed a paradigm of order (ṣdq) that integrates three separate spheres: cosmology, society, and human nature. Ṣedeq refers to the ‘righteous order’ of the cosmos that is to permeate social institutions, particular the rule and judicial decisions of kings (Prov 8:15-16, 25:5, 31:9), while ṣedaqa “righteousness” is the behavior of those who both actualize and live in harmony with the righteous order (Prov 10:2, 11:4, 6, 19, 14:34, 21:3).” L. G. Perdue, “Cosmology and the Social Order in the Wisdom Tradition,” in: The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East (eds. J. G. Gammie and L. G. Perdue; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990) 457-78 at 458. 94 21 The weighing of human deeds’ similarity to the weighing of cosmological realities may reflect the view that a person’s actions become embedded in the person’s structure. Scholars previously reflected on this symbolism. Thus, Menahem Kister suggests that similar to the cosmological realities, which can be measured, numbered, or weighed, human beings can be measured according to “the different spiritual ‘measures’ with which people are endowed.”99 Reflecting on the meanings of the verb tikken (“to measure”) and the noun tikkun (“measurement”), Kister proposes that “they a part of a wider notion, namely that God metes out to every human being a measured predestined portion,100 sometimes also called a person’s ‘lot’ (‫)גורל‬, ‘inheritance’ (‫)נחלה‬, ‘place of standing’ (‫)בית מעמדו‬.”101 If human beings, like stars, initially possess an endowed “portion,” then they can be “weighed” and “measured” to see how their current state corresponds to the initial “lot.” The question, however, remains why the Book of the Similitudes chooses to introduce the imagery of the righteous balance, the symbolism of which will later play an important role also in 2 Enoch. The answer for this question can be found in the Similitudes’ increased emphasis on Enoch’s revelations as tools for the mitigation of the “imbalanced” state of God’s creation, which was due to the fallen Watchers’ corrupting deeds and illicit pedagogy. Although scholars have noticed that the righteous balance Kister, “Physical and Metaphysical Measurements,” 153. Kister points out that “‘measurement’ is essential for appropriate human activity in both the mundane and spiritual realms. The divine measurements apply to God’s action in nature and in history, to His laws and to His relation to humanity (especially to His elected group).” Kister, “Physical and Metaphysical Measurements,” 154. 100 As in the Psalms of Solomon 5:4 “man and his portion are before you in the balance; he cannot increase [it], so as to enlarge [it], beyond your judgment, O God.” 101 Kister, “Physical and Metaphysical Measurements,” 154. 99 22 serves in the Similitudes as a tool of judgment, they have often missed its role as an instrument of rectification for the corrupted cosmological order. In the context of the inverse symmetry between the secrets of the Watchers and the mysteries revealed to Enoch, it is possible that the “righteous balance” itself is envisioned as a special revelation of “embodied harmony.” It would be given to one predestined to play an important role in correcting the fallen angels’ corrupting actions. Accordingly, Enoch’s access to this tool of rectification can be envisioned as a crucial step in the process of the mitigation of the Watchers’ misdeeds. The Divine Name We have already learned in a previous chapter of our study that the Similitudes devotes a considerable amount of space to portraying the fallen angels as the recipients of illicit revelations related to the divine Name. It is quite possible that by their possession of the Tetragrammaton, with its known demiurgical powers, the angelic rebels were able to unlock and pervert God’s creation. The sudden influx of onomatological traditions in the Similitudes further explains the imbalance of cosmological order, which became possible through the Watchers’ illicit acquisition of the divine Name – the crucial tool for securing the stability of God’s creation. In the inverse epistemological framework of the Enochic tradition, the positive hero of the story must, therefore, also learn the mysteries of the divine Name for opposed – stabilizing and redemptive – purposes. Enoch’s interaction with the mysteries of the divine Name in the Similitudes has additional complexity because, in this text, Enoch is associated with a heavenly counterpart, the Son of Man. This otherworldly character, also designated in the Similitudes as the Chosen One, the Righteous One, and the Messiah, is depicted as an 23 exalted operator of the divine Name.102 The patriarch eventually reunites with this character, who represents his heavenly alter ego, in the last chapter of the Similitudes.103 In light of these associations, it is possible that the Son of Man’s interaction with the divine Name functions as part of Enoch’s own access to the mysteries of the Tetragrammaton. Another dimension of the seer’s interaction with the mysteries of the divine Name unfolds in the Similitudes when he receives revelations about the great Oath and its various functions in managing various aspects of creation. Thus, in 1 Enoch 41:5 Enoch learns how the luminaries (the sun and the moon) “keep faith with one another according to the oath that they have sworn.”104 Even more extensive revelations pertaining to the great Oath/Name come in 1 Enoch 69:13–25. The visionary learns how the Name regulates various aspects of created order. He discovers that the divine Name allows the sun, the moon, and the stars to complete their courses. In these portrayals, the Oath/Name is envisioned as the ultimate harmonizing tool, which allows the whole creation to function flawlessly. The additional aspect of the revelation given in 1 Enoch 69 is the assumption that knowledge about this powerful regulatory instrument has somehow been compromised and put in the hands of the rebellious angels. This feature presents the fallen angels’ corruption in a new light. Through their possession of the great Oath/Name, the fallen Watchers are able not only to distort the specific cosmological phenomena situated under their guardianship but also to receive access to the instrument 102 On various titles of the Son of Man in the Similitudes, see J. C. VanderKam, “Righteous One, Messiah, Chosen One, and Son of Man in 1 Enoch 37–71,” in: The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity. The First Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins (eds. J. H. Charlesworth et al.; Minneapolis, MI: Fortress, 1992) 169–91. 103 On this, see VanderKam, “Righteous One,” 182–183; Orlov, The Greatest Mirror, 13-16. 104 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 142. 24 that controls all other aspects of creation. Like other instances where the outcomes of the Watchers’ misuse of the divine knowledge is addressed through the revelations given to the seventh antediluvian hero, here too, Enoch’s reception of onomatological secrets has soteriological significance. Furthermore, in the light of the identification of Enoch with the Son of Man, it is possible that, in the Similitudes, Enoch not only receives the knowledge about the divine Name, he himself acts as an operator of this powerful regulatory and harmonizing tool of creation. In the Similitudes, Enoch’s heavenly alter ego is closely associated with the divine Name. In this process, one can discern traces of a conceptual trajectory, which will later crystallize in the Sefer Hekhalot, which presents Enoch-Metatron as the embodied divine Name – the Lesser YHWH.105 Yet, one can see the early roots of this identification in the Book of the Similitudes where Enoch’s heavenly counterpart possesses stunning onomatological credentials. Consequentially, the Son of Man’s associations with the divine Name warrants further analysis. In 1 Enoch 48, the Son of Man is portrayed as a preexistent being that has received a special “name” from the Lord of Spirits in the primal “hour,” before the beginning of creation. 1 Enoch 48:2-3 reads, And in that hour that son of man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, and his name, before the Head of Days. Even before the sun and the constellations were created, before the stars of heaven were made, his name was named before the Lord of Spirits.106 105 On this tradition, see Orlov, Yahoel and Metatron, 152-163. On Enoch’s association with the divine Name in later Jewish and Muslim materials, see Reeves and Reed, Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, 71, 186. 106 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 166. 25 In relation to this passage, Charles Gieschen proposed that the “name” by which the Son of Man “was named” appears to be the divine Name of the Lord of Spirits since there are many references to “the name of the Lord of the Spirits” throughout the Book of the Similitudes.107 Gieschen also draws attention to the verses that follow the aforementioned passage where one can find the following statement: “All who dwell on the earth will fall down and worship before him, and they will glorify and bless and sing hymns to the name of the Lord of Spirits” (1 Enoch 48:5).108 Scrutinizing this obscure language of worship, Gieschen suggests that the crowds “will use the name of the Lord of Spirits in worshiping the Son of Man because both possess the same divine Name.”109 In their development of the Son of Man’s mediatorial profile, the authors of the Similitudes rely heavily on the formative imagery found in Daniel 7, wherein the Ancient of Days appears alongside the Son of Man. Scholars have noticed that the association between these two figures has new significance in the onomatological framework of the Book of the Similitudes, solidifying the Son of Man’s ownership of the divine Name.110 In light of these developments, Gieschen proposes that references to the “name” of the Son of Man in 1 Enoch 37-71 indicate that he shares the divine Name of the Ancient of Days, the Tetragrammaton.111 107 C. Gieschen, “The Name of the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch,” in: Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables (ed. G. Boccaccini; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007) 238-49 at 240. See also S. R. Scott, “The Binitarian Nature of the Book of Similitudes,” JSP 18 (2008) 55-78. 108 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 166. 109 Gieschen, “The Name of the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch,” 240. 110 Gieschen observes that “similar to Daniel 7, the ‘Son of Man’ in 1 Enoch 37-71 is closely identified with ‘the Ancient of Days,’ who is also known as ‘the Lord of the Spirits,’ by sharing the divine throne (51:3; 69:29). Especially crucial for this discussion is the depiction of this Son of Man as a preexistent being (42:7; 62:7) who possessed the ‘hidden name’ (69:14) before creation (48:2) …. There is no doubt that ‘the name’ by which the Son of Man ‘was named’ is the divine Name because there are numerous references to ‘the name of the Lord of the Spirits’ throughout the Similitudes.” C. Gieschen, “The Divine Name in the Ante-Nicene Christology,” VC 57 (2003) 115-58 at 124. 111 Gieschen, “The Name of the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch,” 238. 26 Another important motif is the connection between the Son of Man’s name and the demiurgic Oath that initiates and sustains creation. 1 Enoch 48:3 contains the following statement: “Even before the sun and the constellations were created, before the stars of heaven were made, his [the Son of Man’s] name was named before the Lord of Spirits.” It appears that the preexistent “Name” of the Son of Man is endowed here with demiurgic functions, being connected with the demiurgic Oath that plays a prominent role in the Book of the Similitudes. This connection occurs again in 1 Enoch 69, a chapter which speaks at length about the great oath/name that fashions and sustains the entire creation. It is noteworthy that later in the narrative, in 1 Enoch 69:26, this demiurgic “oath” appears to be connected with the Son of Man’s name: “And they had great joy, and they blessed and glorified and exalted, because the name of that Son of Man had been revealed to them.”112 Reflecting on the correlations which involve the oath that sustains the created order and the Son of Man’s name, Gieschen notes that “the significance of the revealing of the name of the Son of Man becomes readily apparent when one sees the relationship between the divine Name, the oath used in creation, and the name of the Son of Man in 1 Enoch 69.”113 The Son of Man’s association with the divine Name, which is envisioned in the Book of the Similitudes as the instrument that secures the harmony of all aspects of creation, establishes him and his earthly counterpart, Enoch, as the agents responsible for maintaining the concord of creation. Appropriately, the Son of Man is depicted as the operator of the “righteous balance.” In 1 Enoch 61:8 the Son of Man/Chosen One weighs human deeds: “And the Lord of Spirits seated the Chosen One upon the throne of glory; 112 113 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 311. Gieschen, “The Name of the Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch,” 241. 27 and he will judge all the works of the holy ones in the heights of heaven, and in the balance he will weigh their deeds.”114 A Scribal Mirror The inverse mirroring of Enoch’s and the Watchers’ revelatory endeavors reaches an important conceptual apex in the actions of the Similitudes’ most enigmatic angelic revealer – Pēnēmue. Like Kasbeʾel, who serves in the Similitudes as Enoch’s onomatological mirror, Pēnēmue is posited as his scribal counterpart. As we remember, 1 Enoch 69:9 tells that Pēnēmue gave humans knowledge about writing with ink and papyrus, which led them astray.115 This statement has often puzzled readers of the Similitudes since the scribal duties of the seventh antediluvian patriarch occupy an undisputedly positive place in various early pseudepigraphical accounts.116 According to Jub. 4:14, Enoch “was the first of humankind who were born on the earth who learned (the art of) writing.”117 Stone reminds that “in 1 Enoch 13:1, 14:1–7, Enoch even writes a petition for the Watchers. 40:8–9 says that he wrote down the names of the archangels. In 83:2, Enoch in his youth ‘was learning to write’ when he received a vision. None of these passages intimates negative evaluation of writing as such.”118 Yet, the persistent mirroring of the revelatory experiences of Enoch and the Watchers implies that Enoch’s 114 Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 247. Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 297, 116 Thus, reflecting on 1 Enoch 69:9, Nickelsburg points out that “even more obscure and peculiar is the idea expressed in vv. 9-11. At a number of points, the Enochic corpus emphasizes its writtenness (see 82:1-3; 104:12-13) and its author’s role as a scribe (13:4-6; 15:1; 92:1; see also 83:2), although this element is mentioned only once in passing in the Parables (40:8). Nonetheless, in this broader context, which existed when the Parables were composed, it is odd to find writing described as a function of demonic revelation that—like war—has existed over the span of human history.” Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 302. 117 VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 2.25-26. 118 Stone, “Enoch and the Fall of the Watchers,” 355. 115 28 scribal craft would have a negative counterpart in the pedagogical efforts of the fallen angels. As many other strategies for the transmission of celestial knowledge, the art of writing can be used both to corrupt and restore creation and humankind.119 Pēnēmue’s story demonstrates that the inverse parallelism between the epistemological efforts of the Watchers and Enoch encompass not only the subjects of the revealed mysteries but also the modes of their transmission. There are not only illicit mysteries but also illicit manners of their transmission, including scribal praxis. Through the reversal of these harmful modes, which also includes writing, Enoch is able to rectify the harmful effects of the illicit practices by offering their legitimate counterpart. Furthermore, in the context of “unrighteous” scribal endeavors of Pēnēmue, Enoch’s scribal title, the “scribe of righteousness,” receives new significance. Forthcoming in A.A. Orlov, Divine Mysteries in the Enochic Tradition (Ekstasis, 11; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2023). Stone notes that “we can compare the misuse of writing with the misuse of metalworking. Both of them are cases of skills which can be used either wickedly or well.” Stone, “Enoch and the Fall of the Watchers,” 356. 119 29 EKSTASIS 11 Andrei A. Orlov DIVINE MYSTERIES IN THE ENOCHIC TRADITION Andrei A. Orlov DIVINE MYSTERIES IN THE ENOCHIC TRADITION EKSTASIS