The period between the Maccabean Revolt (167 BCC to 160 BCC) to the final destruction of Jewish national independence in 70 CC, and later in the Bar-Kokhba revolt from 132 CC to 135 CC -- a period of about three centuries -- saw the remarkable development of the Apocalyptic literature, which is largely embodied in extra-canonical forms, such as the Book of Enoch. The oldest elements in the Enochian literature date from a time possibly anterior to the book of Daniel (165 BCC), and this literature culminates in the twin apocalypse of the Syriac Baruch and 4 Ezra (2 Esdras) which may be dated, in their final form, about 120 CC.
The importance of this literature lies, to a large extent, in the fact that it emanated from lay circles, outside the rabbinical schools. The Apocalyptists were not an organized party like the Pharisees but rather seem to represent a distinct tendency within Judaism. It is possible that circles of this kind may have flourished in Galilee during the time of Jesus.
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The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch;[a] Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, Sēfer Ḥănōḵ; Ge'ez: መጽሐፈ ሄኖክ, Maṣḥafa Hēnok) is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the patriarch Enoch who was the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of Noah.[1][2] The Book of Enoch contains unique material on the origins of demons and Nephilim, why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary, and a prophetic exposition of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah. Three books are traditionally attributed to Enoch, including the distinct works 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch. None of the three are considered to be canonical scripture by most Jewish or Christian church bodies.
The older sections of 1 Enoch are estimated to date from about 300–200 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) is probably from around 100 BC.[3] Scholars believe Enoch was originally written in either Aramaic or Hebrew, the languages first used for Jewish texts. Ephraim Isaac suggests that the Book of Enoch, like the Book of Daniel, was composed partially in Aramaic and partially in Hebrew.[4]: 6 No Hebrew version is known to have survived.
Copies of the earlier sections of 1 Enoch were preserved among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Qumran Caves.[2] They were kept by a Judaic splinter group not aligned with the mainstream Jewish sect of Pharisees. The Book of Enoch, alongside numerous other texts discovered in the caves, is recognized for its substantial variance from Rabbinic Judaism.[5]
Authors of the New Testament were also familiar with some content of the book.[6] A short section of 1 Enoch is cited in the New Testament Epistle of Jude, Jude 1:14–15, and attributed there to "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" (1 Enoch 60:8), although this section of 1 Enoch is a midrash on Deuteronomy 33:2, which was written long after the supposed time of Enoch. The full Book of Enoch only survives in its entirety in Ge'ez (Ethiopic) translation. It is part of the biblical canon used by the Ethiopian Jewish community Beta Israel, as well as the Christian Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Other Jewish and Christian groups regard it as non-canonical or non-inspired, but may accept it as having historical or theological interest.
Canonicity
[edit]Judaism
[edit]Based on the number of copies found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Enoch was widely read during the Second Temple period. Today, the Ethiopic Beta Israel community of Haymanot Jews is the only Jewish group that accepts the Book of Enoch as canonical and still preserves it in its liturgical language of Geʽez, where it plays a central role in worship.[7] Apart from this community, the Book of Enoch was excluded from both the formal canon of the Tanakh and the Septuagint and therefore, also from the writings known today as the Deuterocanon.[8][9]
The main reason for Jewish rejection of the book is that it is inconsistent with the teachings of the Torah. From the standpoint of Rabbinic Judaism, the book is considered to be heretical. For example, in 1 Enoch 40:1–10, the angel Phanuel presides over those who repent of sin and are granted eternal life. Some claim that this refers to Jesus Christ, as "Phanuel" translates to "the Face of God".[b]
Another reason for the exclusion of the texts might be the textual nature of several early sections of the book that make use of material from the Torah; for example, 1 En 1 is a midrash of Deuteronomy 33.[10][c] The content, particularly detailed descriptions of fallen angels, would also be a reason for rejection from the Hebrew canon at this period – as illustrated by the comments of Trypho the Jew when debating with Justin Martyr on this subject: "The utterances of God are holy, but your expositions are mere contrivances, as is plain from what has been explained by you; nay, even blasphemies, for you assert that angels sinned and revolted from God."[13]
Christianity
[edit]By the fifth century, the Book of Enoch was mostly excluded from Christian biblical canons, and it is now regarded as scripture only by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.[14][15][16]
References in the New Testament
[edit]"Enoch, the seventh from Adam" is quoted in Jude 1:14–15:
- And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Compare this with Enoch 1:9, translated from the Ethiopic (found also in Qumran scroll 4Q204=4QEnochc ar, col I 16–18):[17][18]
- And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His Saints to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Compare this also with what may be the original source of 1 Enoch 1:9 in Deuteronomy 33:2: In "He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones" the text reproduces the Masoretic of Deuteronomy 33 in reading אָתָא = ἔρκεται, whereas the three Targums, the Syriac and Vulgate read אִתֹּה, = μετ' αὐτοῦ. Here the Septuagint diverges wholly. The reading אתא is recognized as original. The writer of 1–5 therefore used the Hebrew text and presumably wrote in Hebrew.[19][d][e]
Under the heading of canonicity, it is not enough to merely demonstrate that something is quoted. Instead, it is necessary to demonstrate the nature of the quotation.[22]
In the case of the Jude 1:14 quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9, it would be difficult to argue that Jude does not quote Enoch as a historical prophet, since he cites Enoch by name. However, there remains a question as to whether the author of Jude attributed the quotation believing the source to be the historical Enoch before the flood, or as a midrash of Deut 33:2–3.[24][25][26] The Greek text might seem unusual in stating that "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" prophesied "to" (dative case) not "of" (genitive case) the men, however, this Greek grammar might indicate meaning "against them" – the dative τούτοις as a dative of disadvantage (dativus incommodi).[f]
Davids (2006)[28] points to Dead Sea Scrolls evidence but leaves it open as to whether Jude viewed 1 Enoch as canon, deuterocanon, or otherwise: "Did Jude, then, consider this scripture to be like Genesis or Isaiah? Certainly he did consider it authoritative, a true word from God. We cannot tell whether he ranked it alongside other prophetic books such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. What we do know is, first, that other Jewish groups, most notably those living in Qumran near the Dead Sea, also used and valued 1 Enoch, but we do not find it grouped with the scriptural scrolls."[28]
The attribution "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" is apparently itself a section heading taken from 1 Enoch (1 Enoch 60:8, Jude 1:14a) and not from Genesis.[23][full citation needed]
Enoch is referred to directly in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The epistle mentions that Enoch received testimony from God before his translation,(Hebrews 11:5) which may be a reference to 1 Enoch.
It has also been alleged that the First Epistle of Peter (1 Peter 3:19–20) and the Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 2:4–5) make reference to some Enochian material.[29]
Reception
[edit]The Book of Enoch was considered as scripture in the Epistle of Barnabas (4:3)[30] and by some of the early Church Fathers, such as Athenagoras,[31] Clement of Alexandria,[32] and Tertullian,[33] who wrote c. 200 that the Book of Enoch had been rejected by the Jews because it purportedly contained prophecies pertaining to Christ.[34]
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
[edit]The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not consider 1 Enoch to be part of its standard canon, although it believes that a purported "original" Book of Enoch was an inspired book.[35] The Mormon Book of Moses, first published in the 1830s, is part of the standard works of the Church, and has a section which claims to contain extracts from the "original" Book of Enoch. This section has many similarities to 1 Enoch and other Enoch texts, including 2 Enoch, 3 Enoch, and The Book of Giants.[36] The Enoch section of the Book of Moses is believed by the Church to contain extracts from "the ministry, teachings, and visions of Enoch", though it does not contain the entire Book of Enoch itself. The Church considers the portions of the other texts which match its Enoch excerpts to be inspired, while not rejecting but withholding judgment on the remainder.[37][38][39]
Manuscript tradition
[edit]Ethiopic
[edit]The most extensive surviving early manuscripts of the Book of Enoch exist in the Ge'ez language. Robert Henry Charles's critical edition of 1906 subdivides the Ethiopic manuscripts into two families:
Family α: thought to be more ancient and more similar to the earlier Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek versions:
- A – ms. orient. 485 of the British Museum, 16th century, with Jubilees
- B – ms. orient. 491 of the British Museum, 18th century, with other biblical writings
- C – ms. of Berlin orient. Petermann II Nachtrag 29, 16th century
- D – ms. abbadiano 35, 17th century
- E – ms. abbadiano 55, 16th century
- F – ms. 9 of the Lago Lair, 15th century
Family β: more recent, apparently edited texts
- G – ms. 23 of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 18th century
- H – ms. orient. 531 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, 18th century
- I – ms. Brace 74 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, 16th century
- J – ms. orient. 8822 of the British Museum, 18th century
- K – ms. property of E. Ullendorff of London, 18th century
- L – ms. abbadiano 99, 19th century
- M – ms. orient. 492 of the British Museum, 18th century
- N – ms. Ethiopian 30 of Munich, 18th century
- O – ms. orient. 484 of the British Museum, 18th century
- P – ms. Ethiopian 71 of the Vatican, 18th century
- Q – ms. orient. 486 of the British Museum, 18th century, lacking chapters 1–60
Additionally, there are the manuscripts[which?] used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church for preparation of the deuterocanonicals from Ge'ez into the targumic Amharic in the bilingual Haile Selassie Amharic Bible (Mashaf qeddus bage'ezenna ba'amaregna yatasafe 4 vols. c. 1935[when?]).[40]
Aramaic
[edit]Eleven Aramaic-language fragments of the Book of Enoch were found in cave 4 of Qumran in 1948[41] and are in the care of the Israel Antiquities Authority. They were translated for and discussed by Józef Milik and Matthew Black in The Books of Enoch.[42] Another translation has been released by Vermes[43][full citation needed] and Garcia-Martinez.[44] Milik described the documents as being white or cream in color, blackened in areas, and made of leather that was smooth, thick and stiff. It was also partly damaged, with the ink blurred and faint.
- 4Q201 = 4QEnoch a ar, Enoch 2:1–5:6; 6:4–8:1; 8:3–9:3,6–8
- 4Q202 = 4QEnoch b ar, Enoch 5:9–6:4, 6:7–8:1, 8:2–9:4, 10:8–12, 14:4–6
- 4Q204 = 4QEnoch c ar, Enoch 1:9–5:1, 6:7, 10:13–19, 12:3, 13:6–14:16, 30:1–32:1, 35, 36:1–4, 106:13–107:2
- 4Q205 = 4QEnoch d ar; Enoch 89:29–31, 89:43–44
- 4Q206 = 4QEnoch e ar; Enoch 22:3–7, 28:3–29:2, 31:2–32:3, 88:3, 89:1–6, 89:26–30, 89:31–37
- 4Q207 = 4QEnoch f ar
- 4Q208 = 4QEnastr a ar
- 4Q209 = 4QEnastr b ar; Enoch 79:3–5, 78:17, 79:2 and large fragments that do not correspond to any part of the Ethiopian text
- 4Q210 = 4QEnastr c ar; Enoch 76:3–10, 76:13–77:4, 78:6–8
- 4Q211 = 4QEnastr d ar; large fragments that do not correspond to any part of the Ethiopian text
- 4Q212 = 4QEn g ar; Enoch 91:10, 91:18–19, 92:1–2, 93:2–4, 93:9–10, 91:11–17, 93:11–93:1
Greek
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The 8th-century work Chronographia Universalis by the Byzantine historian George Syncellus preserved some passages of the Book of Enoch in Greek (6:1–9:4, 15:8–16:1). Other Greek fragments known are:
- Codex Panopolitanus (Cairo Papyrus 10759), named also Codex Gizeh or Akhmim fragments, consists of fragments of two 6th-century papyri containing portions of chapters 1–32 recovered by a French archeological team at Akhmim in Egypt and published five years later, in 1892.
According to Elena Dugan, this Codex was written by two separate scribes and was previously misunderstood as containing errors. She suggests that the first scribe actually preserves a valuable text that is not erroneous. In fact the text preserves "a thoughtful composition, corresponding to the progression of Enoch's life and culminating in an ascent to heaven". The first scribe may have been working earlier, and was possibly unconnected to the second.[45]
- Vatican Fragments, f. 216v (11th century): including 89:42–49
- Chester Beatty Papyri XII : including 97:6–107:3 (less chapter 105)
- Oxyrhynchus Papyri 2069: including only a few letters, which made the identification uncertain, from 77:7–78:1, 78:1–3, 78:8, 85:10–86:2, 87:1–3
It has been claimed that several small additional fragments in Greek have been found at Qumran (7QEnoch: 7Q4, 7Q8, 7Q10-13), dating about 100 BC, ranging from 98:11? to 103:15[46] and written on papyrus with grid lines, but this identification is highly contested.
Portions of 1 Enoch were incorporated into the chronicle of Panodoros (c. 400) and thence borrowed by his contemporary Annianos.[47]
Coptic
[edit]A sixth- or seventh-century fragmentary manuscript contains a Coptic version of the Apocalypse of Weeks. How extensive the Coptic text originally was cannot be known. It agrees with the Aramaic text against the Ethiopic, but was probably derived from Greek.[48]
Latin
[edit]Of the Latin translation, only 1:9 and 106:1–18 are known. The first passage occurs in the Pseudo-Cyprianic Ad Novatianum and the Pseudo-Vigilian Contra Varimadum;[49] the second was discovered in 1893 by M. R. James in an 8th-century manuscript in the British Museum and published in the same year.[50]
Syriac
[edit]The only surviving example of 1 Enoch in Syriac is found in the 12th century Chronicle of Michael the Great. It is a passage from Book VI and is also known from Syncellus and papyrus. Michael's source appears to have been a Syriac translation of (part of) the chronicle of Annianos.[51]
History
[edit]Origins
[edit]Ephraim Isaac, the editor and translator of 1 Enoch in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, writes that "1 Enoch is clearly composite representing numerous periods and writers". And that the dating of the various sections spans from early pre-Maccabean (i.e. c. 200 BC) to AD 160.[52] George W. E. Nickelsburg writes that "1 Enoch is a collection of Jewish apocalyptic traditions that date from the last three centuries before the common era".[53]
Second Temple period
[edit]Paleographic analysis of the Enochic fragments found in the Qumran caves dates the oldest fragments of the Book of the Watchers to 200–150 BC.[42] Since this work shows evidence of multiple stages of composition, it is probable that this work was already extant in the 3rd century BC.[54] The same can be said about the Astronomical Book.[1]
Because of these findings, it was no longer possible to claim that the core of the Book of Enoch was composed in the wake of the Maccabean Revolt as a reaction to Hellenization.[55]: 93 Scholars thus had to look for the origins of the Qumranic sections of 1 Enoch in the previous historical period, and the comparison with traditional material of such a time showed that these sections do not draw exclusively on categories and ideas prominent in the Hebrew Bible. David Jackson speaks even of an "Enochic Judaism" from which the writers of Qumran scrolls were descended.[56] Margaret Barker argues, "Enoch is the writing of a very conservative group whose roots go right back to the time of the First Temple".[57] The main peculiar aspects of this Enochic Judaism include:
- the idea that evil and impurity on Earth originated as a result of angels that had intercourse with human women and were subsequently expelled from Heaven;[55]: 90
- the absence of references to terms of the Mosaic covenant (such as the observance of Shabbat or the rite of circumcision), as found in the Torah;[58]: 50–51
- the concept of "End of Days" as the time of final judgment that takes the place of promised earthly rewards;[55]: 92
- the rejection of the Second Temple's sacrifices considered impure: according to Enoch 89:73, the Jews, when returned from the exile, "reared up that tower (the temple) and they began again to place a table before the tower, but all the bread on it was polluted and not pure";[citation needed]
- the presentation of heaven in 1 Enoch 1–36, not in terms of the Jerusalem temple and its priests, but modelling God and his angels as a court, with its king and courtiers;[59]
- a solar calendar in opposition to the lunar calendar used in the Second Temple (a very important aspect for the determination of the dates of religious feasts);
- an interest in the angelic world that involves life after death.[60]
Most Qumran fragments are relatively early, with none written from the last period of the Qumranic experience. Thus, it is probable that the Qumran community gradually lost interest in the Book of Enoch.[61]
The relation between 1 Enoch and the Essenes was noted even before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.[62] While there is consensus to consider the sections of the Book of Enoch found in Qumran as texts used by the Essenes, the same is not so clear for the Enochic texts not found in Qumran (mainly the Book of Parables): it was proposed[63] to consider these parts as expression of the mainstream, but not-Qumranic, essenic movement. The main peculiar aspects of the not-Qumranic units of 1 Enoch are the following:
- a Messiah called "Son of Man", with divine attributes, generated before the creation, who will act directly in the final judgment and sit on a throne of glory (1 Enoch 46:1–4, 48:2–7, 69:26–29)[18]: 562–563
- the sinners usually seen as the wealthy ones and the just as the oppressed (a theme we find also in the Psalms of Solomon).
Early influence
[edit]Classical rabbinic literature is characterized by near silence concerning Enoch. It is possible that rabbinic polemics against Enochic texts and traditions might have led to the fall from use of these books in Rabbinic Judaism.[64]
However, the book of Enoch plays an important role in the history of Jewish mysticism: the scholar Gershom Scholem wrote, "The main subjects of the later Merkabah mysticism already occupy a central position in the older esoteric literature, best represented by the Book of Enoch."[65] Particular attention is paid to the detailed description of the throne of God included in chapter 14 of 1 Enoch.[1]
For the quotation from the Book of the Watchers in the New Testament Epistle of Jude:
There is little doubt that 1 Enoch was influential in molding New Testament doctrines about the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demonology, the resurrection, and eschatology.[2][4]: 10 The limits of the influence of 1 Enoch are discussed at length by R.H. Charles,[66] Ephraim Isaac,[4] and G.W. Nickelsburg[67] in their respective translations and commentaries. It is possible that the earlier sections of 1 Enoch had direct textual and content influence on many Biblical apocrypha, such as Jubilees, 2 Baruch, 2 Esdras, Apocalypse of Abraham and 2 Enoch, though even in these cases, the connection is typically more branches of a common trunk than direct development.[68]
The Greek text was known to, and quoted, both positively and negatively, by many Church Fathers: references can be found in Justin Martyr, Minucius Felix, Irenaeus, Origen, Cyprian, Hippolytus, Commodianus, Lactantius and Cassian.[69]: 430 After Cassian and before the modern "rediscovery", some excerpts are given in the Byzantine Empire by the 8th-century monk George Syncellus in his chronography, and in the 9th century, it is listed as an apocryphon of the New Testament by Patriarch Nicephorus.[70]
Rediscovery
[edit]Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World (written in 1616 while imprisoned in the Tower of London), makes the curious assertion that part of the Book of Enoch "which contained the course of the stars, their names and motions" had been discovered in Saba (Sheba) in the first century and was thus available to Origen and Tertullian. He attributes this information to Origen,[g] although no such statement is found anywhere in extant versions of Origen.[72]
Outside of Ethiopia, the text of the Book of Enoch was considered lost until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was confidently asserted that the book was found in an Ethiopic (Ge'ez) language translation there, and Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc bought a book that was claimed to be identical to the one quoted by the Epistle of Jude and the Church Fathers. Hiob Ludolf, the great Ethiopic scholar of the 17th and 18th centuries, soon claimed it to be a forgery produced by Abba Bahaila Michael.[73]
Better success was achieved by the famous Scottish traveller James Bruce, who, in 1773, returned to Europe from six years in Abyssinia with three copies of a Ge'ez version.[74] One is preserved in the Bodleian Library, another was presented to the royal library of France, while the third was kept by Bruce. The copies remained unused until the 19th century; Silvestre de Sacy, in "Notices sur le livre d'Enoch",[75] included extracts of the books with Latin translations (Enoch chapters 1, 2, 5–16, 22, and 32). From this a German translation was made by Rink in 1801.[citation needed]
The first English translation of the Bodleian / Ethiopic manuscript was published in 1821 by Richard Laurence.[76] Revised editions appeared in 1833, 1838, and 1842.
In 1838, Laurence also released the first Ethiopic text of 1 Enoch published in the West, under the title: Libri Enoch Prophetae Versio Aethiopica. The text, divided into 105 chapters, was soon considered unreliable as it was the transcription of a single Ethiopic manuscript.[77]
In 1833, Professor Andreas Gottlieb Hoffmann of the University of Jena released a German translation, based on Laurence's work, called Das Buch Henoch in vollständiger Uebersetzung, mit fortlaufendem Kommentar, ausführlicher Einleitung und erläuternden Excursen. Two other translations came out around the same time: one in 1836 called Enoch Restitutus, or an Attempt (Rev. Edward Murray) and one in 1840 called Prophetae veteres Pseudepigraphi, partim ex Abyssinico vel Hebraico sermonibus Latine bersi (A. F. Gfrörer). However, both are considered to be poor—the 1836 translation most of all—and is discussed in Hoffmann.[78][full citation needed]
The first critical edition, based on five manuscripts, appeared in 1851 as Liber Henoch, Aethiopice, ad quinque codicum fidem editus, cum variis lectionibus, by August Dillmann. It was followed in 1853 by a German translation of the book by the same author with commentary titled Das Buch Henoch, übersetzt und erklärt. It was considered the standard edition of 1 Enoch until the work of Charles.[citation needed]
The generation of Enoch scholarship from 1890 to World War I was dominated by Robert Henry Charles. His 1893 translation and commentary of the Ethiopic text already represented an important advancement, as it was based on ten additional manuscripts. In 1906 R.H. Charles published a new critical edition of the Ethiopic text, using 23 Ethiopic manuscripts and all available sources at his time. The English translation of the reconstructed text appeared in 1912, and the same year in his collection of The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.[2]
The publication, in the early 1950s, of the first Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch among the Dead Sea Scrolls profoundly changed the study of the document, as it provided evidence of its antiquity and original text. The official edition of all Enoch fragments appeared in 1976, by Jozef Milik.[79][2]
The renewed interest in 1 Enoch spawned a number of other translations: in Hebrew (A. Kahana, 1956), Danish (Hammershaimb, 1956), Italian (Fusella, 1981), Spanish (1982), French (Caquot, 1984) and other modern languages. In 1978 a new edition of the Ethiopic text was edited by Michael Knibb, with an English translation, while a new commentary appeared in 1985 by Matthew Black.[citation needed]
In 2001 George W.E. Nickelsburg published the first volume of a comprehensive commentary on 1 Enoch in the Hermeneia series.[58] Since the year 2000, the Enoch seminar has devoted several meetings to the Enoch literature and has become the center of a lively debate concerning the hypothesis that the Enoch literature attests the presence of an autonomous non-Mosaic tradition of dissent in Second Temple Judaism.[citation needed]
Synopsis
[edit]The first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the angel-human hybrids called Nephilim.[1] The remainder of the book describes Enoch's revelations and his visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions, and dreams.[2]
The book consists of five quite distinct major sections (see each section for details):[1]
- The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36)
- The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–71) (also called the Similitudes of Enoch)
- The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) (also called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries)
- The Book of Dream Visions (1 Enoch 83–90) (also called the Book of Dreams)
- The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91–108)
Most scholars believe that these five sections were originally independent works[80] (with different dates of composition), themselves a product of much editorial arrangement, and were only later redacted into what is now called 1 Enoch.[2]
The Book of the Watchers
[edit]This first section of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim (cf. the bene Elohim, Genesis 6:1–4) and narrates the travels of Enoch in the heavens. This section is said to have been composed in the 4th or 3rd century BC according to Western scholars.[81]
Contents
[edit]- 1–5. Parable of Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the Righteous.
- 6–11. The Fall of the Angels: the Demoralization of Mankind: the Intercession of the Angels on behalf of Mankind. The Dooms pronounced by God on the Angels of the Messianic Kingdom.
- 12–16. Dream-Vision of Enoch: his Intercession for Azazel and the fallen angels: and his Announcement of their first and final Doom.
- 17–36. Enoch's Journeys through the Earth and Sheol: Enoch also traveled through a portal shaped as a triangle to heaven[citation needed].
- 17–19. The First Journey.
- 20. Names and Functions of the Seven Archangels.
- 21. Preliminary and final Place of Punishment of the fallen Angels (stars).
- 22. Sheol or the Underworld.
- 23. The fire that deals with the Luminaries of Heaven.
- 24–25. The Seven Mountains in the North-West and the Tree of Life.
- 26. Jerusalem and the Mountains, Ravines, and Streams.
- 27. The Purpose of the Accursed Valley.
- 28–33. Further Journey to the East.
- 34–35. Enoch's Journey to the North.
- 36. The Journey to the South.
Description
[edit]The introduction to the book of Enoch tells us that Enoch is "a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come"[82]
It discusses God coming to Earth on Mount Sinai with His hosts to pass judgment on mankind. It also tells us about the luminaries rising and setting in the order and in their own time and never change:[83]
The book also discusses how all things are ordained by God and take place in his own time. The sinners shall perish and the great and the good shall live on in light, joy and peace.[citation needed]
The first section of the book depicts the interaction of the fallen angels with mankind; Sêmîazâz compels the other 199 fallen angels to take human wives to "beget us children".
The names of the leaders are given as "Samyaza (Shemyazaz), their leader, Araqiel, Râmêêl, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Dânêl, Chazaqiel, Baraqiel, Asael, Armaros, Batariel, Bezaliel, Ananiel, Zaqiel, Shamsiel, Satariel, Turiel, Yomiel, Sariel."
This results in the creation of the Nephilim (Genesis) or Anakim / Anak (giants) as they are described in the book:
It also discusses the teaching of humans by the fallen angels, chiefly Azâzêl:
Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel appeal to God to judge the inhabitants of the world and the fallen angels.[85] Uriel is then sent by God to tell Noah of the coming cataclysm and what he needs to do.[2]
God commands Raphael to imprison Azâzêl:
God gave Gabriel instructions concerning the Nephilim and the imprisonment of the fallen angels:
The Lord commands Michael to bind the fallen angels.
Book of Parables
[edit]Chapters 37–71 of the Book of Enoch are referred to as the 'Book of Parables'. The scholarly debate centers on these chapters. The Book of Parables appears to be based on the Book of the Watchers, but presents a later development of the idea of final judgment and of eschatology, concerned not only with the destiny of the fallen angels but also that of the evil kings of the earth. The Book of Parables uses the expression Son of Man for the eschatological protagonist, who is also called "Righteous One", "Chosen One", and "Messiah", and sits on the throne of glory in the final judgment.[86] The first known use of The Son of Man as a definite title in Jewish writings is in 1 Enoch, and its use may have played a role in the early Christian understanding and use of the title.[1][2][87]
It has been suggested that the Book of Parables, in its entirety, is a later addition. Pointing to similarities with the Sibylline Oracles and other earlier works, in 1976, J.T. Milik dated the Book of Parables to the third century. He believed that the events in the parables were linked to historic events dating from 260–270 AD.[88] According to this theory, these chapters were written in later Christian times by a Jewish Christian, to enhance Christian beliefs with Enoch's authoritative name.[1][2] Knibb[89] followed Milik's[90] reasoning, and suggested that because no fragments of chapters 37–71 were found at Qumran, a later date was likely. Knibb would continue this line of reasoning in later works.[91][92]: 417 In addition to being missing from Qumran, Chapters 37–71 are also missing from the Greek translation.[92]: 417 Currently no firm consensus has been reached among scholars as to the date of the writing of the Book of Parables. Milik's date of as late as 270 AD, however, has been rejected by most scholars. David W. Suter suggests that there is a tendency to date the Book of Parables to between 50 BC – 117 AD.[92]: 415–416
In 1893, R. Charles judged Chapter 71 to be a later addition. He later changed his opinion[93]: 1 and gave an early date for the work between 94–64 BC.[94]: LIV The 1906 article by Emil G. Hirsch in the Jewish Encyclopedia states that Son of Man is found in the Book of Enoch, but never in the original material. It occurs in the "Noachian interpolations" (lx. 10, lxxi. 14), in which it has clearly no other meaning than 'man'.[95] The author of the work mis-uses or corrupts the titles of the angels.[94]: 16 Charles views the title Son of Man, as found in the Book of Parables, as referring to a supernatural person, a Messiah who is not of human descent.[94]: 306–309 In that part of the Book of Enoch known as the Similitudes, it has the technical sense of a supernatural Messiah and judge of the world (xlvi. 2, xlviii. 2, lxx. 27); universal dominion and preexistence are predicated of him (xlviii. 2, lxvii. 6). He sits on God's throne (xlv. 3, li. 3), which is his own throne. Though Charles does not admit it, according to Emil G. Hirsch these passages betray Christian redaction and emendation.[95] Many scholars[citation needed] have suggested that passages in the Book of Parables are Noachian interpolations. These passages seem to interrupt the flow of the narrative. Darrell D. Hannah suggests that these passages are not, in total, novel interpolations, but rather derived from an earlier Noah apocryphon. He believes that some interpolations refer to Herod the Great and should be dated to around 4 BC.[92]: 472–477
In addition to the theory of Noachian interpolations, which perhaps a majority of scholars support, most scholars currently believe that Chapters 70–71 are a later addition in part or in whole.[92]: 76 [92]: 472–473 [96] Chapter 69 ends with, "This is the third parable of Enoch." Like Elijah, Enoch is generally thought to have been brought up to Heaven by God while still alive, but some have suggested that the text refers to Enoch as having died a natural death and ascending to Heaven. The Son of Man is identified with Enoch. The text implies that Enoch had previously been enthroned in heaven.[97] Chapters 70–71 seem to contradict passages earlier in the parable where the Son of Man is a separate entity. The parable also switches from third person singular to first person singular.[96] James H. Charlesworth rejects the theory that chapters 70–71 are later additions. He believes that no additions were made to the Book of Parables.[92]: 450–468 [93]: 1–12 In his earlier work, the implication is that a majority of scholars agreed with him.[98]
Contents
[edit]37. Superscription and Introduction
38–44. The First Parable
[edit]- 38. The Coming Judgment of the Wicked.
- 39. The Abode of the Righteous and the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed.
- 40. The Four Archangels.
- 41.1–2. Anticipation of Judgment
- 41.3–9. Astronomical Secrets.
- 42. The Dwelling-places of Wisdom and of Unrighteousness.
- 43–44. Astronomical Secrets.
45–57. The Second Parable
[edit]- 45. The Lot of the Apostates: the New Heaven and the New Earth.
- 46. The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man.
- 47. The Prayer of the Righteous for Vengeance and their Joy at its coming.
- 48. The Fount of Righteousness: the Son of Man - the Stay of the Righteous: Judgment of the Kings and the Mighty.
- 49. The Power and Wisdom of the Elect One.
- 50. The Glorification and Victory of the Righteous: the Repentance of the Gentiles.
- 51. The Resurrection of the Dead, and the Separation by the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.
- 52. The Six Metal Mountains and the Elect One.
- 53–54.6. The Valley of Judgment: the Angels of Punishment: the Communities of the Elect One.
- 54.7.–55.2. Noachic Fragment on the first World Judgment.
- 55.3.–56.4. Final Judgment of Azazel, the Watchers and their children.
- 56.5–8. Last Struggle of the Heathen Powers against Israel.
- 57. The Return from the Dispersion.
58–69. The Third Parable
[edit]- 58. The Blessedness of the Saints.
- 59. The Lights and the Thunder.
- 60. Quaking of the Heaven: Behemoth and Leviathan: the Elements.
- 61. Angels go off to measure Paradise: the Judgment of the Righteous by the Elect One: the Praise of the Elect One and of God.
- 62. Judgment of the Kings and the Mighty: Blessedness of the Righteous.
- 63. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty.
- 64. Vision of the Fallen Angels in the Place of Punishment.
- 65. Enoch foretells to Noah the Deluge and his own Preservation.
- 66. The Angels of the Waters bidden to hold them in Check.
- 67. God's Promise to Noah: Places of Punishment of the Angels and of the Kings.
- 68. Michael and Raphael astonished at the Severity of the Judgment.
- 69. The Names and Functions of the (fallen Angels and) Satans: the secret Oath.
70–71. Concluding Appendices
[edit]- 70. The Final Translation of Enoch.
- 71. Two earlier Visions of Enoch.
The Astronomical Book
[edit]| Months 1, 4, 7, 10 | Months 2, 5, 8, 11 | Months 3, 6, 9, 12 | |||||||||||||
| Wed | 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | ||
| Thurs | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | ||
| Fri | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | ||
| Sat (Sabbath) | 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | ||
| Sun | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | ||
| Mon | 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | ||
| Tues | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | 31 | ||
Four fragmentary editions of the Astronomical Book were found at Qumran, 4Q208-211.[100] 4Q208 and 4Q209 have been dated to the beginning of the 2nd century BC, providing a terminus ante quem for the Astronomical Book of the 3rd century BC.[101] The fragments found in Qumran also include material not contained in the later versions of the Book of Enoch.[99][101][102]
This book contains descriptions of the movement of heavenly bodies and of the firmament, as a knowledge revealed to Enoch in his trips to Heaven guided by Uriel, and it describes a Solar calendar that was later described also in the Book of Jubilees which was used by the Dead Sea sect. The use of this calendar made it impossible to celebrate the festivals simultaneously with the Temple of Jerusalem.[1]
The year was composed from 364 days, divided in four equal seasons of ninety-one days each. Each season was composed of three equal months of thirty days, plus an extra day at the end of the third month. The whole year was thus composed of exactly fifty-two weeks, and every calendar day occurred always on the same day of the week. Each year and each season started always on Wednesday, which was the fourth day of the creation narrated in Genesis, the day when the lights in the sky, the seasons, the days and the years were created.[99]: 94–95 It is not known how they used to reconcile this calendar with the tropical year of 365.24 days (at least seven suggestions have been made), and it is not even sure if they felt the need to adjust it.[99]: 125–140
Contents
[edit]- 72. The Sun
- 73. The Moon and its Phases
- 74. The Lunar Year
- 76. The Twelve Winds and their Portals
- 77. The Four Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, Seven Great Islands
- 78. The Sun and Moon: the Waxing and Waning of the Moon
- 79–80.1. Recapitulation of several of the Laws
- 80.2–8. Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies due to the Sin of Men
- 81. The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch
- 82. Charge given to Enoch: the four Intercalary days: the Stars which lead the Seasons and the Months
The Dream Visions
[edit]The Book of Dream Visions, containing a vision of a history of Israel all the way down to what the majority have interpreted as the Maccabean Revolt, is dated by most to Maccabean times (about 163–142 BC).
Contents
[edit]- 83–84. First Dream Vision on the Deluge.
- 85–90. Second Dream Vision of Enoch: the History of the World to the Founding of the Messianic Kingdom.
- 86. The Fall of the Angels and the Demoralization of Mankind.
- 87. The Advent of the Seven Archangels.
- 88. The Punishment of the Fallen Angels by the Archangels.
- 89.1–9. The Deluge and the Deliverance of Noah.
- 89.10–27. From the Death of Noah to The Exodus.
- 89.28–40. Israel in the Desert, the Giving of the Law, the Entrance into Canaan.
- 89.41–50. From the Time of the Judges to the Building of the Temple.
- 89.51–67. The Two Kingdoms of Israel and Judah to the Destruction of Jerusalem.
- 89.68–71. First Period of the Angelic Rulers – from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Return from Captivity.
- 89.72–77. Second Period – from the Time of Cyrus to that of Alexander the Great.
- 90.1–5. Third Period – from Alexander the Great to the Graeco-Syrian Domination.
- 90.6–12. Fourth Period Graeco-Syrian Domination to the Maccabean Revolt (debated).
- 90.13–19. The last Assault of the Gentiles on the Jews (where vv. 13–15 and 16–18 are doublets).
- 90.20–27. Judgment of the Fallen Angels, the Shepherds, and the Apostates.
- 90.28–42. The New Jerusalem, the Conversion of the surviving Gentiles, the Resurrection of the Righteous, the Messiah. Enoch awakes and weeps.
Animal Apocalypse
[edit]The second dream vision in this section of the Book of Enoch is an allegorical account of the history of Israel, that uses animals to represent human beings and human beings to represent angels.[1]
One of several hypothetical reconstructions of the meanings in the dream is as follows based on the works of R. H. Charles and G. H. Schodde:
- White color for moral purity; Black color for sin and contamination of the fallen angels; Red color for blood in reference to martyrdom
- White bull is Adam; Female heifer is Eve; Red calf is Abel; Black calf is Cain; White calf is Seth;
- White bull / man is Noah; White bull is Shem; Red bull is Ham, son of Noah; Black bull is Japheth; Lord of the sheep is God; Fallen star is either Samyaza or Azazel; Elephants are Giants; Camels are Nephilim; Asses are Elioud;
- Sheep are the faithful; Rams are leaders; Herds are the tribes of Israel; Wild Asses are Ishmael, and his descendants including the Midianites; Wild Boars are Esau and his descendants, Edom and Amalek; Bears (Hyenas/Wolves in Ethiopic) are the Egyptians; Dogs are Philistines; Lions and Tigers are Assyrians and Babylonians; Hyenas are Assyrians; Ravens (Crows) are Seleucids (Syrians); Kites are Ptolemies; Eagles are possibly Macedonians; Foxes are Ammonites and Moabites;
Description
[edit] | This subsection includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (December 2016) |
There are a great many links between the first book and this one, including the outline of the story and the imprisonment of the leaders and destruction of the Nephilim. The dream includes sections relating to the Book of the Watchers:
86:4, 87:3, 88:2, and 89:6 all describe the types of Nephilim that are created during the times described in The Book of the Watchers, though this doesn't mean that the authors of both books are the same. Similar references exist in Jubilees 7:21–22.
The book describes their release from the Ark along with three bulls – white, red, and black, which are Shem, Ham, and Japheth – in 89:9. It also covers the death of Noah, described as the white bull, and the creation of many nations:
It then describes the story of Moses and Aaron (89:13–15), including the miracle of the river splitting in two for them to pass, and the creation of the stone commandments. Eventually they arrived at a "pleasant and glorious land" (89:40) where they were attacked by dogs (Philistines), foxes (Ammonites, Moabites), and wild boars (Esau).
It describes the creation of Solomon's Temple and also the house which may be the tabernacle: "And that house became great and broad, and it was built for those sheep: (and) a tower lofty and great was built on the house for the Lord of the sheep, and that house was low, but the tower was elevated and lofty, and the Lord of the sheep stood on that tower and they offered a full table before Him". This interpretation is accepted by Dillmann (p. 262), Vernes (p. 89), and Schodde (p. 107). It also describes the escape of Elijah the prophet; in 1 Kings 17:2–24, he is fed by "ravens", so if Kings uses a similar analogy, he may have been fed by the Seleucids. "... saw the Lord of the sheep how He wrought much slaughter amongst them in their herds until those sheep invited that slaughter and betrayed His place." This describes the various tribes of Israel "inviting" in other nations "betraying his place" (i.e., the land promised to their ancestors by God).
This part of the book can be taken to be the kingdom splitting into the northern and southern tribes, that is, Israel and Judah, eventually leading to Israel falling to the Assyrians in 721 BC and Judah falling to the Babylonians a little over a century later 587 BC. "And He gave them over into the hands of the lions and tigers, and wolves and hyenas, and into the hand of the foxes, and to all the wild beasts, and those wild beasts began to tear in pieces those sheep"; God abandons Israel for they have forsaken him.
There is also mention of 59 of 70 shepherds with their own seasons; there seems to be some debate on the meaning of this section, some suggesting that it is a reference to the 70 appointed times in 25:11, 9:2, and 1:12. Another interpretation is the 70 weeks in Daniel 9:24. However, the general interpretation is that these are simply angels. This section of the book and another section near the end describe the appointment by God of the 70 angels to protect the Israelites from enduring too much harm from the "beasts and birds". The later section (110:14) describes how the 70 angels are judged for causing more harm to Israel than he desired, found guilty, and "cast into an abyss, full of fire and flaming, and full of pillars of fire."
"And the lions and tigers eat and devoured the greater part of those sheep, and the wild boars eat along with them; and they burnt that tower and demolished that house"; this represents the sacking of Solomon's temple and the tabernacle in Jerusalem by the Babylonians as they take Judah in 587–586 BC, exiling the remaining Jews. "And forthwith I saw how the shepherds pastured for twelve hours, and behold three of those sheep turned back and came and entered and began to build up all that had fallen down of that house". "Cyrus allowed Sheshbazzar, a prince from the tribe of Judah, to bring the Jews from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Jews were allowed to return with the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had taken. Construction of the Second Temple began"; this represents the history of ancient Israel and Judah; the temple was completed in 515 BC.
The first part of the next section of the book seems, according to Western scholars, to clearly describe the Maccabean revolt of 167 BC against the Seleucids. The following two quotes have been altered from their original form to make the hypothetical meanings of the animal names clear.
According to this theory, the first sentence most likely refers to the death of High Priest Onias III, whose murder is described in 1 Maccabees 3:33–35 (died c. 171 BC). The "great horn" clearly is not Mattathias, the initiator of the rebellion, as he dies a natural death, described in 1 Maccabees 2:49. It is also not Alexander the Great, as the great horn is interpreted as a warrior who has fought the Macedonians, Seleucids, and Ptolemies. Judas Maccabeus (167 BC–160 BC) fought all three of these, with a large number of victories against the Seleucids over a great period of time; "they had no power over it". He is also described as "one great horn among six others on the head of a lamb", possibly referring to Maccabeus's five brothers and Mattathias. If taken in context of the history from Maccabeus's time, Dillman Chrest Aethiop says the explanation of Verse 13 can be found in 1 Maccabees iii 7; vi. 52; v.; 2 Maccabees vi. 8 sqq., 13, 14; 1 Maccabees vii 41, 42; and 2 Maccabees x v, 8 sqq. Maccabeus was eventually killed by the Seleucids at the Battle of Elasa, where he faced "twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry". At one time, it was believed this passage might refer to John Hyrcanus; the only reason for this was that the time between Alexander the Great and John Maccabeus was too short. However, it has been asserted that evidence shows that this section does indeed discuss Maccabeus.
It then describes: "And I saw till a great sword was given to the sheep, and the sheep proceeded against all the beasts of the field to slay them, and all the beasts and the birds of the heaven fled before their face." This might be simply the "power of God": God was with them to avenge the death. It may also be Jonathan Apphus taking over command of the rebels to battle on after the death of Judas. John Hyrcanus (Hyrcanus I, Hasmonean dynasty) may also make an appearance; the passage "And all that had been destroyed and dispersed, and all the beasts of the field, and all the birds of the heaven, assembled in that house, and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced with great joy because they were all good and had returned to His house" may describe John's reign as a time of great peace and prosperity. Certain scholars also claim Alexander Jannaeus of Judaea is alluded to in this book.
The end of the book describes the new Jerusalem, culminating in the birth of a Messiah:
Still another interpretation, which has just as much as credibility, is that the last chapters of this section simply refer to the infamous battle of Armageddon, where all of the nations of the world march against Israel; this interpretation is supported by the War Scroll, which describes what this epic battle may be like, according to the group(s) that existed at Qumran.
The Epistle of Enoch
[edit]This section can be seen as being made up of five subsections,[103] mixed by the final redactor:
- Apocalypse of Weeks (93:1–10, 91:11–17): this subsection, usually dated to the first half of the 2nd century BC, narrates the history of the world using a structure of ten periods (said "weeks"), of which seven regard the past and three regard future events (the final judgment). The climax is in the seventh part of the tenth week where "new heaven shall appear" and "there will be many weeks without number for ever, and all shall be in goodness and righteousness".[1]
- Exhortation (91:1–10, 91:18–19): this short list of exhortations to follow righteousness, said by Enoch to his son Methuselah, looks to be a bridge to next subsection.
- Epistle (92:1–5, 93:11–105:2): the first part of the epistle describes the wisdom of the Lord, the final reward of the just and the punishment of the evil, and the two separate paths of righteousness and unrighteousness. Then there are six oracles against the sinners, the witness of the whole creation against them, and the assurance of the fate after death. According to Boccaccini[63]: 131–138 the epistle is composed of two layers: a "proto-epistle", with a theology near the deterministic doctrine of the Qumran group, and a slightly later part (94:4–104:6) that points out the personal responsibility of the individual, often describing the sinners as the wealthy and the just as the oppressed (a theme found also in the Book of Parables).
- Birth of Noah (106–107): this part appears in Qumran fragments separated from the previous text by a blank line, thus appearing to be an appendix. It tells of the deluge and of Noah, who is born already with the appearance of an angel. This text probably derives, as do other small portions of 1 Enoch, from an originally separate book (see Book of Noah), but was arranged by the redactor as direct speech of Enoch himself.
- Conclusion (108): this second appendix was not found in Qumran and is considered to be the work of the final redactor. It highlights the "generation of light" in opposition to the sinners destined to the darkness.
Contents
[edit]- 92, 91.1–10, 18–19. Enoch's Book of Admonition for his Children.
- 91.1–10, 18–19. Enoch's Admonition to his Children.
- 93, 91.12–17. The Apocalypse of Weeks.
- 91.12–17. The Last Three Weeks.
- 94.1–5. Admonitions to the Righteous.
- 94.6–11. Woes for the Sinners.
- 95. Enoch's Grief: fresh Woes against the Sinners.
- 96. Grounds of Hopefulness for the Righteous: Woes for the Wicked.
- 97. The Evils in Store for Sinners and the Possessors of Unrighteous Wealth.
- 98. Self-indulgence of Sinners: Sin originated by Man: all Sin recorded in Heaven: Woes for the Sinners.
- 99. Woes pronounced on the Godless, the Lawbreakers: evil Plight of Sinners in The Last Days: further Woes.
- 100. The Sinners destroy each other: Judgment of the Fallen Angels: the Safety of the Righteous: further Woes for the Sinners.
- 101. Exhortation to the fear of God: all Nature fears Him but not the Sinners.
- 102. Terrors of the Day of Judgment: the adverse Fortunes of the Righteous on the Earth.
- 103. Different Destinies of the Righteous and the Sinners: fresh Objections of the Sinners.
- 104. Assurances given to the Righteous: Admonitions to Sinners and the Falsifiers of the Words of Uprightness.
- 105. God and the Messiah to dwell with Man.
- 106–107. (first appendix) Birth of Noah.
- 108. (second appendix) Conclusion.
Names of the fallen angels
[edit]Some of the fallen angels that are given in 1 Enoch have other names, such as Rameel ('morning of God'), who becomes Azazel, and is also called Gadriel ('wall of God') in Chapter 68. Another example is that Araqiel ('Earth of God') becomes Aretstikapha ('world of distortion') in Chapter 68.
Azaz, as in Azazel, means strength, so the name Azazel can refer to 'strength of God'. This is also a key point in modern thought that Azazel was one of Lucifer’s chief leaders of the revolt against God [1][2] Also important in this identification is the fact that the original name Rameel, is very similar in meaning to the word Lucifer ('Morning Star') which is a common Latin name of Satan in Christianity.
Nathaniel Schmidt states "the names of the angels apparently refer to their condition and functions before the fall," and lists the likely meanings of the angels' names in the Book of Enoch, noting that "the great majority of them are Aramaic."[104]
The name suffix -el comes from the Hebrew text and the Lord’s name Emmanuel, (see list of names referring to El), and is used in the names of high-ranking angels. The archangels' names all include -el, such as Uriel ('flame of God') and Michael ('who is like God').[105]
Gadreel (Hebrew: גדר האל, romanized: Gader ha-el, lit. 'Wall of God') is listed as one of the chiefs of the fallen Watchers. He is said to have been responsible for deceiving Eve.[106][107] Schmidt lists the name as meaning 'the helper of God.'[104]
Enoch and contemporary theology
[edit]Enochic studies have traditionally been historical, focusing on the meanings of the text for its ancient audiences. 1 Enoch counts as Old Testament scripture in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and has played a significant role in its theology, especially via the andemta tradition of interpretation.[108] In 2015 a group of scholars from Ethiopia and other countries held meetings in Ethiopia and the UK to explore the significance of Enoch for contemporary theology. The initial outcome was a collection of essays published in 2017 on various theological topics, including justice, political theology, the environment, the identity of the Son of Man, suffering and evil.[109]
Editions, translations, commentaries
[edit]- Margaret Barker. The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and its influence on Christianity. (London: SPCK, 1998; Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2005)
- John Baty. The Book of Enoch the Prophet (London: Hatchard, 1839)
- Matthew Black (with James C. VanderKam). The Book of Enoch; or, 1 Enoch (Leiden: Brill, 1985) ISBN 90-04-07100-8
- Robert Henry Charles. The Book of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon, 1893), translated from professor Dillmann's Ethiopic text - The Ethiopic version of the Book of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon, 1906)
- Robert Henry Charles. The Book of Enoch, or 1 Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon, 1912)
- Charlesworth, James H. (1985) [1983]. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament (PDF). CUP Archive. Vol. 1 The Old Testament pseudepigrapha. ISBN 1-56338-257-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2016 – via filbluz.ca.
- Sabino Chialà. Libro delle Parabole di Enoc (Brescia: Paideia, 1997) ISBN 88-394-0739-1
- Dillmann, A. (1851). Liber Henoch aethiopice [Ethiopian Book of Enoch] (in German). Leipzig, DE: Vogel.
- Hoffmann, A. G. (1833–1839). Das Buch Henoch [The Book of Enoch] (in German). Jena, DE: Croecker. — 2 vols
- Isaac, Ephraim (1983–1985). "1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch". In Charlesworth, James H. (ed.). The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-09630-5.
- Michael A. Knibb. The Ethiopic Book Of Enoch., 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978; repr. 1982)
- Michael Langlois. The First Manuscript of the Book of Enoch: An epigraphical and philological study of the Aramaic fragments of 4Q201 from Qumran (Paris: Cerf, 2008) ISBN 978-2-204-08692-9
- Richard Laurence. The Book of Enoch (Oxford: Parker, 1821)
- Richard Laurence. Libri Enoch prophetae versio aethiopica (Oxford: Parker, 1838)
- William Morfill. The Book of the Secrets of Enoch (1896), from mss. Russian Codex Chludovianus, Bulgarian Codex Belgradensi, Codex Belgradensis Serbius.
- Nickelsburg, George W. E. (2001). 1 Enoch: A commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. ISBN 0-8006-6074-9.
- Nickelsburg, George W. E.; van der Kam, James C. (2004). 1 Enoch: A new translation. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. ISBN 0-8006-3694-5.
- Nibley, H. (1986). Enoch the Prophet. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book. ISBN 978-0-87579-047-3. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019 – via publications.mi.byu.edu.
- Olson, Daniel C. (2004). Enoch: A new translation. North Richland Hills, TX: Bibal. ISBN 0-941037-89-4.
- Schodde, G. H. (1882). The Book of Enoch translated from the Ethiopic with introduction and notes. Andover: Draper.
See also
[edit]- Aramaic Enoch Scroll
- El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, a 2011 video game inspired by the Book of Enoch
- Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
Notes
[edit]- ^ The Book of Enoch is called 1 Enoch to distinguish it from the similarly titled books abbreviated 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch.
- ^ Another inconsistency lies in 2 Enoch. After Enoch is taken up to be with the Lord (which is described in the Torah), he is transformed into a celestial being similar to an archangel. According to scripture, people do not become angels, or vice versa, even after death.
- ^ "1 Enoch contains three [geographical] name midrashim [on] Mt. Hermon, Dan, and Abel Beit-Maacah" Esther and Hanan Eshel.[11] Also in Esther and Hanan Eshel.[12]
- ^ "We may note especially that 1:1, 3–4, 9 allude unmistakably to Deuteronomy 33:1–2 (along with other passages in the Hebrew Bible), implying that the author, like some other Jewish writers, read Deuteronomy 33–34, the last words of Moses in the Torah, as prophecy of the future history of Israel, and 33:2 as referring to the eschatological theophany of God as judge".[20]
- ^ "The introduction ... picks up various biblical passages and re-interprets them, applying them to Enoch. Two passages are central to it The first is Deuteronomy 33:1 ... the second is Numbers 24:3–4."[21]
- ^ ... '14. of these: lit., 'to these'; Jude has some odd use of the dative'. Also see Wallace, D. Greek Grammar beyond the Basics. The unique use of the dative toutois in the Greek text (προεφήτευσεν δὲ καὶ τούτοις) is a departure from normal NT use where the prophet prophesies "to" the audience "concerning" (genitive peri auton) false teachers etc.[27][improper synthesis?]
- ^ "[I]t is questionless that the use of letters was found out in the very infancy of the world, proved by those prophecies written on pillars of stone and brick by Enoch, of which Josephus affirmeth that one of them remained even in his time ... But of these prophecies of Enoch, Saint Jude testifieth; and some part of his books (which contained the course of the stars, their names, and motions) were afterward found in Arabia fœlix, in the Dominion of the Queene of Saba (saith Origen) of which Tertullian affirmeth that he had seen and read some whole pages."[71]
- ^ The Ethiopian text says 300 cubits (135 m), which is probably a corruption of 30 cubits (13.5 m).
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barker (2005).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barker, Margaret. (2005) [1998]. The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and Its Influence on Christianity. London: SPCK; Sheffield Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-905048-18-2
- ^ Fahlbusch, E.; Bromiley, G.W. The Encyclopedia of Christianity: P–Sh page 411, ISBN 0-8028-2416-1 (2004)
- ^ a b c Ephraim Isaac, 1 Enoch: A New Translation and Introduction in James Charlesworth (ed.) The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, vol. 1, pp. 5-89 (New York, Doubleday, 1983, ISBN 0-385-09630-5)
- ^ Zich, Robert; Ellis, Kathryn (29 April 1993). "Scrolls from the Dead Sea The Qumran Community". Library of Congress.
- ^ Cheyne and Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica (1899), "Apocalyptic Literature" (column 220). "The Book of Enoch as translated into Ethiopic belongs to the last two centuries BC. All of the writers of the NT were familiar with it and were more or less influenced by it in thought"
- ^ "A review of Zodiac Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls and their Reception by Helen Jacobus". Secret knowledge of Dead Sea zodiacs. The Jewish Chronicle (thejc.com) (book review). 2015.
- ^ Tov, Emanuel; Evans, Craig (2008). Exploring the Origins of the Bible: Canon formation in historical, literary, and theological perspective (PDF). Acadia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2016.
- ^ Davies, Philip R. (1998). Scribes and Schools: The canonization of the Hebrew scriptures. London, UK: SPCK.
- ^ Ephraim Isaac, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. Charlesworth, Doubleday, 1983
- ^ George W.E. Nickelsburg in Perspective: An ongoing dialogue of learning. p. 459.
- ^ "Toponymic Midrash in 1 Enoch and in other Second Temple Jewish literature". The Origins of Enochic Judaism. Historical and Philological Studies on Judaism. Vol. 24. 2002. pp. 115–130.
- ^ Martyr, Justin. "Dialogue 79". Dialogue with Trypho.
- ^ Lee, Ralph (1 March 2014). "The Ethiopic 'Andəmta' Commentary on Ethiopic Enoch 2 (1 Enoch 6–9)". Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. 23 (3): 179–200. doi:10.1177/0951820714528628. ISSN 0951-8207. S2CID 162871589.
- ^ "The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church". www.ethiopianorthodox.org. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
- ^ Asale, Bruk A. (14 September 2016). "The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church canon of the scriptures: Neither open nor closed". The Bible Translator. 67 (2): 202–222. doi:10.1177/2051677016651486. S2CID 164154859.
- ^ "1 Enoch 1:9, Jude 1:14". intertextual.bible.
- ^ a b Clontz, T.E.; Clontz, J., eds. (2008). The Comprehensive New Testament. Cornerstone. p. 711. ISBN 978-0-9778737-1-5.
with complete textual variant mapping and references for the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, Nag Hammadi Library, Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, Plato, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Talmud, Old Testament, Patristic Writings, Dhammapada, Tacitus, Epic of Gilgamesh
- ^ Charles, R.H. (1912). The Book of Enoch. London, UK. p. lviii – via Internet Archive (archive.org).
- ^ Bauckham, Richard (1999). The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected essays. p. 276.
- ^ Stone, Michael E. (n.d.). Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha. Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 9. p. 422.
with special reference to the Armenian tradition
- ^ Barton, John (2007). The Old Testament: Canon, literature, and theology. Society for Old Testament Study.
- ^ a b Nickelsburg (2001). 1 Enoch. Fortress.
- ^ See "Jude" in index of Nickelsburg (2001).[23]
- ^ Bauckham, R. (1983). 2 Peter, Jude. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 50.
- ^ Neyrey, Jerome H. (1994). 2 Peter, Jude. The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries.
- ^ Sidebottom, E.M. (1967). James, Jude, and 2 Peter. London, UK: Nelson. p. 90.
- ^ a b Davids, Peter H. (2006). The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. p. 76.
- ^ Williams, Martin (2011). The Doctrine of Salvation in the First Letter of Peter. Cambridge University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-107-00328-6.
- ^ "Apocalyptic literature". Encyclopaedia Biblica.
- ^ Athenagoras of Athens. Embassy for the Christians. 24.
- ^ Clement of Alexandria. Eclogae Prophetice. II.
- ^ Tertullian. De cultu foeminarum. I.3.
- and
- ^ Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James (eds.). "§I.3: Concerning the genuineness of The Prophecy of Enoch". De cultu foeminarum [On the Apparel of Women]. The Ante-Nicene Fathers (in Latin). Vol. 4.[full citation needed]
- ^ Doctrine and Covenants 107:57
- ^ Nibley, Hugh (1986). Enoch the Prophet. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book. ISBN 978-0-87579-047-3. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Pearl of Great Price Student Manual. LDS Church. 2000. pp. 3–27.
- ^ Nibley, Hugh (October 1975). "A strange thing in the land: The return of the Book of Enoch, Part 1". Ensign. ISSN 0013-8606.
- ^ The History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. pp. 132–133.[full citation needed]
- ^ Boccaccini, Gabriele (2007). Enoch and the Messiah, Son of Man: Revisiting the book of parables. p. 367.
... Ethiopian scholars who produced the targumic Amharic version of 1 Enoch printed in the great bilingual Bible of Emperor Haile Selassi.
- ^ "1 Enoch". The online critical pseudepigrapha (ocp.acadiau.ca). Archived from the original on 2007-12-31.
- ^ a b Milik, Josef T.; Black, Matthew (1976). The Books of Enoch: Aramaic fragments of Qumran cave 4. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
- ^ Vermes 513–515
- ^ Garcia-Martinez (1992), pp. 246–259
- ^ Dugan, Elena (2021). "Enochic Biography and the Manuscript History of 1 Enoch: The Codex Panopolitanus Book of the Watchers". Journal of Biblical Literature. 140 (1). Society of Biblical Literature/SBL Press: 113. doi:10.15699/jbl.1401.2021.6. ISSN 0021-9231. S2CID 234202185.
- ^ P. Flint The Greek fragments of Enoch from Qumran cave 7 in ed.Boccaccini Enoch and Qumran Origins 2005 ISBN 0-8028-2878-7, pp. 224–233.
- ^ Brock (1968), pp. 627–628.
- ^ George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108 (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 15.
- ^ see Beer, Kautzsch, Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen, l.c. p. 237
- ^ M.R. James, Apocrypha Anecdota T&S 2.3 Cambridge 1893 pp. 146–150.
- ^ Brock (1968), p. 630 has an edition of the text.
- ^ Charlesworth The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Vol.1 Doubleday 1983 p.6
- ^ Nickelsburg 1 Enoch 1 - Hermeneia Commentary Augsburg 2001 xxiii
- ^ Collins (1998), p. 44.
- ^ a b c Gabriele Boccaccini, Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual History, from Ezekiel to Daniel, (2002) ISBN 0-8028-4361-1
- ^ John W. Rogerson, Judith Lieu, The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies Oxford University Press: 2006 ISBN 0-19-925425-7, page 106
- ^ Margaret Barker, The Lost Prophet: The Book of Enoch and Its Influence on Christianity 1998 reprint 2005, ISBN 978-1-905048-18-2, page 19
- ^ a b George W. E. Nickelsburg 1 Enoch: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Fortress: 2001 ISBN 0-8006-6074-9
- ^ Esler (2017).
- ^ John J. Collins in ed. Boccaccini Enoch and Qumran Origins: New Light on a Forgotten Connection 2005 ISBN 0-8028-2878-7, page 346
- ^ James C. VanderKam, Peter Flint, Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls 2005 ISBN 0-567-08468-X, page 196
- ^ see the page "Essenes" in the 1906 JewishEncyclopedia
- ^ a b Boccaccini (1998).
- ^ Reed (2005), p. 234.
- ^ Gershom Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1995) ISBN 0-8052-1042-3, pag 43
- ^ RH Charles, 1 Enoch SPCK London 1916
- ^ Nickelsburg 1 Enoch, Fortress, 2001
- ^ see Nickelsburg, op.cit.
- ^ P. Sacchi, Apocrifi dell'Antico Testamento 1, ISBN 978-88-02-07606-5
- ^ Cf. Nicephorus (ed. Dindorf), I. 787
- ^ Raleigh, Walter, Sir (1614). History of the World. London, UK: Walter Burre. volume 1, chapter 5, section 6 – via Google books.
- ^ For example, consult Origen's Homilies on Numbers. Translated by Scheck, Thomas P. InterVarsity Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-8308-2905-7 – via Google books.
- ^ Ludolf, Commentarius in Hist. Aethip., p. 347
- ^ Bruce, Travels, vol 2, page 422
- ^ Silvestre de Sacy in Notices sur le livre d'Enoch in the Magazine Encyclopédique, an vi. tome I, p. 382
- ^ Laurence, R., ed. (1821). The Book of Enoch, the prophet. Oxford, UK.
an apocryphal production, supposed to have been lost for ages; but discovered at the close of the last century in Abyssinia; now first translated from an Ethiopic manuscript in the Bodleian Library.
- ^ see the critique of Laurence by Dillmann (1853), p. lvii.
- ^ Hoffmann, Zweiter Excurs, pages 917–965
- ^ J. T. Milik The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 Archived 2019-03-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vanderkam, JC. (2004). 1 Enoch: A New Translation. Minneapolis: Fortress. pp. 1ff (ie. preface summary).; Nickelsburg, GW. (2004). 1 Enoch: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress. pp. 7–8.
- ^ The Origins of Enochic Judaism (ed. Gabriele Boccaccini; Turin: Zamorani, 2002)
- ^ "The Book of Enoch, Section I". ccel.org. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
- ^ "The Book of Enoch, Section I". ccel.org. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
- ^ "Book of Enoch: Book 1". www.ancienttexts.org. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
- ^ Bartlett, Sarah (2011). A Brief History of Angels and Demons. Hachette Book Group.
- ^ Nickelsburg, George W.E.; Neusner, Jacob; Avery-Peck, Alan Jeffery, eds. (2003). Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables. Brill. pp. 71–74. ISBN 90-04-12985-5. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ Charles, R.H. (2004). The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Vol. Two: Pseudepigrapha. Apocryphile Press. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-9747623-7-1.
- ^ Milik, J.T.; Black, Matthew, eds. (1976). The Books of Enoch: Aramaic fragments of Qumran cave 4. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. pp. 95–96. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Knibb (1979)
- ^ Milik (1976)
- ^ Knibb, M.A. (1979). "The date of the parables of Enoch: A critical review". New Testament Studies. 25 (3). Cambridge University Press: 358–359. doi:10.1017/S0028688500004963. S2CID 162661253. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g Boccaccini, Gabriele, ed. (2007). Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables. Wm.B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-0377-1. Retrieved 24 February 2014 – via Google books.
- ^ a b James H.Charlesworth; Darrell L. Bock, eds. (2013). "To be published in a book: Parables of Enoch: A paradigm shift" (PDF). Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ a b c R. H. Charles (1912). The book of Enoch, or, 1 Enoch. Clarendon Press. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ a b "SON OF MAN". Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ a b Pierce, Chad T. (2011). Spirits and the Proclamation of Christ: 1 Peter 3:18-22 in light of sin and punishment traditions in early Jewish and Christian literature. Mohr Siebeck. p. 70. ISBN 978-3-16-150858-5. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ Michael Anthony Knibb (2009). Essays on the Book of Enoch and Other Early Jewish Texts and Traditions. Brill. pp. 139–142. ISBN 978-90-04-16725-4. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ Charlesworth, James H. (1985). The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament: Prolegomena for the Study of Christian Origins. CUP Archive. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-521-30190-9. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- ^ a b c d Beckwith, Roger T. (1996). Calendar and chronology, Jewish and Christian. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-10586-7.
- ^ Martinez, Florentino Garcia; Tigchelaar, Eibert J.C., eds. (1997). The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition. Brill/Eerdmans. pp. 430–443. ISBN 0-8028-4493-6.
- ^ a b Nickelsburg, George W. (2005). Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah, 2 ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-8006-3779-8.
- ^ Jackson, David R. (2004). Enochic Judaism: three defining paradigm exemplars. Continuum. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-567-08165-0.
- ^ Loren T. Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91–108 (2008) ISBN 3-11-019119-9
- ^ a b Nathaniel Schmidt, "Original Language of the Parables of Enoch," pp. 343–345, in William Rainey Harper, Old Testament and Semitic studies in memory of William Rainey Harper, Volume 2, The University of Chicago Press, 1908
- ^ Barker, Margaret (2004). An Extraordinary Gathering of Angels. London: MQ Publications Ltd.
- ^ Davidson, Gustav (1967). A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels. New York: Free Press. p. 120.
- ^ The Book of Enoch. Translated by Charles, R. H. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1912. p. 137.
- ^ Ralph Lee, 'The Contemporary Influence of Ethiopian Andemta Traditional Commentary: Examples from the Commentary on 1 Enoch and other Texts', in Philip F. Esler, The Blessing of Enoch: 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology. Eugene, OR: Cascade: 2017, 44-60
- ^ Philip F. Esler (ed) (2017), The Blessing of Enoch: 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology (Eugene, OR: Cascade).
Works cited
[edit]- Barker, Margaret (2005) [1987]. "The Book of Enoch". The Older Testament: The survival of themes from the ancient royal cult in sectarian Judaism and early Christianity. Sheffield Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-905048-19-9.
- Boccaccini, Gabriele (1998). Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of the Ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-4360-3.
- Brock, Sebastian P. (1968). "A fragment of Enoch in Syriac". The Journal of Theological Studies. 19 (2): 626–633. doi:10.1093/jts/XIX.2.626. JSTOR 23958598.
- Collins, John J. (1998). The Apocalyptic Imagination (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids: Eermans. ISBN 0-8028-4371-9.
- Dillmann, A. (1853). Das Buch Henoch [The Book of Enoch] (in German). Leipzig, DE: Vogel.
- Esler, Philip F. (2017). God's Court and Courtiers in the Book of the Watchers: Re-interpreting heaven in 1 Enoch 1-36. Eugene, OR: Cascade. ISBN 978-1-62564-908-9.
- Garcia-Martinez, Florentino (1992). Qumran & Apocalyptic: Studies on the Aramaic texts from Qumran. Leiden, NL: Brill. ISBN 90-04-09586-1.
- Milik, Josef T., ed. (1976). The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4 (PDF). With the collaboration of Matthew Black. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-826161-2.
- Reed, Annette Yoshiko (2005). Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The reception of Enochic literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85378-8.
Further reading
[edit]- Boccaccini, Gabriele; Collins, John J., eds. (2007). The Early Enoch Literature. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16154-2.
- Dugan, Elena (2023). The Apocalypse of the Birds: 1 Enoch and the Jewish revolt against Rome. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-3995-0865-0.
- Garcia-Martinez, Florentino; Tigchelaar (1999). The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (PDF). Brill. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2016.
- Kvanvig, Helge S. (1988). Roots of Apocalyptic: The Mesopotamian background of the Enoch figure and of the Son of Man. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener. ISBN 3-7887-1248-1.
- Hernández Valencia, Juan S. (2024). "Influence of the Enochic tradition on Qumran: reception and adaptation of the Watchers and Giants as a case study". Perseitas. 12: 34–71. doi:10.21501/23461780.4671.
- Orlov, Andrei A. (2005). The Enoch-Metatron Tradition. Tuebingen: Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 3-16-148544-0.
- Sacchi, Paolo; Short, William J. (1996). Jewish Apocalyptic and its History. Sheffield, UK: Academic. ISBN 1-85075-585-X.
- Van der Kam, James C. (1984). Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition. Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America. ISBN 0-915170-15-9.
- Van der Kam, James C. (1995). Enoch: A man for all generations. Columbia: University of South Carolina. ISBN 1-57003-060-X.
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The Book of Baruch is a deuterocanonical book of the Bible, used in many Christian traditions, such as Catholic and Orthodox churches. In Judaism and Protestant Christianity, it is considered not to be part of the canon, with the Protestant Bibles categorizing it as part of the Biblical apocrypha.[1] The book is named after Baruch ben Neriah, the prophet Jeremiah's scribe who is mentioned at Baruch 1:1, and has been presumed to be the author of the whole work.[2] The book is a reflection of a late Jewish writer on the circumstances of Jewish exiles from Babylon, with meditations on the theology and history of Israel, discussions of wisdom, and a direct address to residents of Jerusalem and the Diaspora. Some scholars propose that it was written during or shortly after the period of the Maccabees.[3]
The Book of Baruch is sometimes referred to as 1 Baruch[4] to distinguish it from 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch and 4 Baruch.
Although the earliest known manuscripts of Baruch are in Greek, linguistic features of the first parts of Baruch (1:1–3:8) have been proposed as indicating a translation from a Semitic language.[5]
Although not in the Hebrew Bible, it is found in the Septuagint, and also in Theodotion's Greek version.[6] It is considered to be a canonical book of the Old Testament by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. In 80-book Protestant Bibles, the Book of Baruch is a part of the Biblical apocrypha.[1] Jerome, despite his misgivings about the deuterocanonical books, included Baruch into his Vulgate translation. In the Vulgate it is grouped with the books of the prophets alongside Jeremiah and Lamentations. In the Vulgate, the King James Bible Apocrypha, and many other versions, the Letter of Jeremiah is appended to the Book of Baruch as a sixth chapter; in the Septuagint and Orthodox Bibles chapter 6 is usually counted as a separate book, called the Letter or Epistle of Jeremiah.
Basic structure
[edit]The basic outline of the book of Baruch:
- 1:1–14 Introduction: "And these are the words...which Baruch...wrote in Babylonia.... And when they heard it they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord."
- 1:15–2:10 Confession of sins: "[T]he Lord hath watched over us for evil, and hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is just in all his works.... And we have not hearkened to his voice"....
- 2:11–3:8 Prayer for mercy: "[F]or the dead that are in hell, whose spirit is taken away from their bowels, shall not give glory and justice to the Lord..." (cf. Psalms 6:6/5)
- 3:9–4:14 A paean for Wisdom: "Where are the princes of the nations,... that hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust? ... They are cut off, and are gone down to hell,..."
- 4:5–5:9 Baruch's Poem of Consolation:[7] messages for those in captivity, for the "neighbours of Zion", and for Jerusalem: "You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked God to wrath.... [F]or the sins of my children, he [the Eternal] hath brought a nation upon them from afar...who have neither reverenced the ancient, nor pitied children..." "Let no one gloat over me [Jerusalem], a widow, bereft of many, for the sins of my children I am left desolate, for they turned from the law of God". "Look toward the east, O Jerusalem, and see the joy that is coming to you from God".[8]
- Chapter 6: see Letter of Jeremiah
Early evidence of use
[edit]No reference to the Book of Baruch is found in Rabbinic literature, nor is its text cited.[5][9] A fragment of the Letter of Jeremiah in Greek has been excavated amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, but no counterpart fragments survive of the Book of Baruch.[10] It is generally argued that there are no references to, quotations from, or allusions to the Book of Baruch in the New Testament,[5][11] although Adams proposes a general similarity between themes in the later parts of the book and some in the Pauline Epistles, particularly Galatians and 1 Corinthians.[12] The earliest evidence for the text of the Book of Baruch is in quotations in the works of early Christian Church Fathers; the earliest citation being in the Legatio pro Christianis: 9 of Athenagoras of Athens, dated 177.[5] Much the most extensive use of the Book of Baruch in patristic literature is in the Adversus Haereses: 5.35.1 (c. 180) of Irenaeus of Lyons; which draws extensively on Baruch 4:36 to 5:9.[12] Both Athenagorus and Irenaeus cite these readings as being from the Book of Jeremiah. A brief quotation appears also in the Paedagogus by Clement of Alexandria.[13] Increasingly from the 4th century onwards, however, Greek Fathers tend to cite such readings as from a 'Book of Baruch', although Latin Fathers consistently maintain the former practice of citing these texts as from Jeremiah, and where they do refer to a 'Book of Baruch' are to be understood as denoting the apocalyptic work, 2 Baruch.[14]
Manuscripts
[edit]Both the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah are separate books in the great pandect Greek Bibles, Codex Vaticanus (4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (5th century), where they are found in the order Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations, Letter of Jeremiah.[15] In the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) Lamentations follows directly after Jeremiah and Baruch is not found; but a lacuna after Lamentations prevents a definitive assessment of whether Baruch may have been included elsewhere in this manuscript. Neither of the two surviving early Latin pandect Bibles (Codex Amiatinus (7th century) and Leon palimpsest (7th century) includes either the Book of Baruch or the Letter of Jeremiah;[14] the earliest Latin witnesses to the text being the Codex Cavensis (9th century) and the Theodulfian Bibles (9th century). Baruch is also witnessed in some early Coptic (Bohairic and Sahidic) and Syriac manuscripts, but is not found in Coptic or Syriac lectionaries.[16]
Authorship and date
[edit]Baruch 1:1–14 gives a narrative account of an occasion when Baruch ben Neriah reads the book of 'these words' before the Israelites in Babylon, and then sends that book (together with collected funds) to be read in Jerusalem. Where the Book of Baruch is considered to be a distinct work of scripture, it is commonly identified as the book that Baruch reads; and hence Baruch himself has traditionally been credited as the author of the whole work. However, the syntactical form of Baruch chapter 1 has been held rather to imply that 'these words' correspond to a preceding text – which might then be identified with Lamentations or with the Book of Jeremiah; in which case comparison may be made with a corresponding notice of Baruch writing down reading the prophecies of Jeremiah, recorded at Jeremiah chapter 36.[14] These considerations underlie an alternative tradition (found for instance in Augustine) in which all four works (Book of Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations, Letter of Jeremiah) are credited to Jeremiah himself as author.
Critical scholarship is, however, united in rejecting either Baruch or Jeremiah as author of the Book of Baruch, or in dating the work in the period of its purported context; the Babylonian Exile. Rather they have seen clear thematic and linguistic parallels with later works; the Book of Daniel and the Book of Sirach. Many scholars have noted that the restoration of worship in the Jerusalem Temple following its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes could provide a counterpart historical context in which the narrative of Baruch may equally be considered to apply; and consequently a date in the period 200–100 BCE has been proposed.[5]
Language
[edit]The Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Arabic, Bohairic and Ethiopic versions of Baruch are all translated directly from the Greek;[5] the text of which survives in Vaticanus and Alexandrinus, and is highly consistent.[17] Jerome (5th century) states that no Hebrew text was in existence,[18] and Origen (3rd century) appears to know of no Hebrew text in the preparation of the text of Baruch in the Hexapla Old Testament. Nevertheless, there are a number of readings in the earlier sections of Baruch (1:1 to 3:8) where an anomalous reading in the Greek appears to imply a mistranslation of a Hebrew or Aramaic source; as at chapter 3:4, where 'hear now the prayers of the dead of Israel' (מֵתֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל) is assumed to be a mistranslation of, 'hear now the prayers of the men of Israel'[5] (מְתֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, from the plural word מְתִים 'men' as in biblical expressions like מְתֵי אָהֳלִי 'men of my tent',[19] מְתֵי שָׁוְא 'men of vanity'[20] or מְתֵי מִסְפָּר 'men of few [numbers]'[21]). Since the 19th century, critical scholars have assumed a Semitic original for these earlier parts of the book, and a number of studies, such as that of Tov,[22][23] have sought to retrovert from the Greek to a plausible Hebrew source text. Whereas in the Revised Standard Version (1957) of Bible, the English text of Baruch consistently follows the Greek in these readings; in the New Revised Standard Version (1989) these readings are adjusted to conform with a conjectural reconstruction of a supposed Hebrew original.
Nevertheless, some more recent studies of Baruch, such as those by Adams and Bogaert, take the Greek text to be the original.[24][14] Adams maintains that most of the text of Baruch depends on that of other books of the Bible; and indeed it has been characterised by Tov as a "mosaic of Biblical passages" especially in these early sections.[23] Consequently, variations from the literal Hebrew text could have found their way directly into a dependent Greek version, without having to presume a Semitic intermediary stage. Moreover, Adams takes issue with the presupposition behind conjectural retroversions to conform to a supposed Hebrew text; that the author of Baruch understood the principle of literal translation, and aspired to follow that principle; and yet lamentably failed to do so.[25]
Canonicity
[edit]In the Greek East, Athanasius (367 AD),[26] Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 350 AD),[27] and Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 385 AD)[28] listed the Book of Baruch as canonical. Athanasius states "Jeremiah with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle"; the other Fathers offer similar formulations.
Baruch is mentioned by the Synod of Laodicea (c. 364); where a list of canonical books is variously appended to canon 59, in which Jeremiah, and Baruch, the Lamentations, and the Epistle are stated as canonical.[29] This list is found in compendiums of the decrees of Laodicea circulating in the Ethiopic church, and in all later Greek compendiums; but is absent from counterpart compendiums of Laodicea circulating in the Latin, Coptic and Syriac churches; as too from some earlier Greek compendiums. In the decrees of the Council of Florence (1442)[30] and the Council of Trent (1546),[31] "Jeremias with Baruch" is stated as canonical.
Pope Innocent I (405 AD),[32] the Council of Rome (382 AD),[33] the Synod of Hippo (in 393),[34] followed by the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Carthage (419)[35] mention Jeremiah as a canonical book without mentioning Baruch, but it is commonly accepted that the absence of specific mention of Baruch in canon lists circulating in the West cannot be interpreted as an assertion that the Book of Baruch was non-canonical only that it is being assumed within Jeremiah. Most of the Church Fathers considered Jeremiah as a single book, along with Baruch, Lamentations and the Epistle.
Augustine of Hippo (c. 397 AD) in his work The City of God 18:33 he discusses the text of Baruch 3: 36–38, noting that this is variously cited to Baruch and to Jeremiah; his preference being for the latter.[36] Jerome did not consider the Book of Baruch as a canonical book, but he included it in his Vulgate.[5]
There was also an extensive body of pseudopigraphal Baruch apocalyptic literature ( 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch, 4 Baruch), which are frequently classed in Latin lists as apocryphal.
Book of Baruch and Book of Jeremiah
[edit]The evident variation among early Christian divines as to whether a particular reading is to be cited from 'Baruch' or 'Jeremiah' is generally regarded as relating to the very different texts of the Book of Jeremiah that are found respectively in manuscripts of the Greek and Hebrew Bibles.[5] The version of Jeremiah in the Greek Septuagint texts (Vaticanus, Alexandrinus) is a seventh shorter than that in the Hebrew Masoretic Text or the Latin Vulgate; and the ordering of the chapters is very different, with sections from the middle of the book in the Septuagint version (the Oracles against the Nations) found at the end of the book in the Masoretic text and Vulgate. As Hebrew fragments have been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls corresponding to both the Septuagint and Masoretic orders, it is commonly accepted that the two versions derive from two distinct Hebrew traditions, and that the Septuagint form of the text is likely the older.[5] Benedictine scholar Pierre-Maurice Bogaert suggests that, if the Book of Baruch is appended to the Septuagint version of Jeremiah, it follows on as a plausible continuation of the Septuagint narrative (Chapter 51: 31–35 in the Septuagint, corresponding to the truncated Chapter 45 in the Masoretic text).[14] A similar conclusion is proposed by Emanuel Tov, who notes characteristics of a consistent redactional revision of the Septuagint text of Jeremiah from Chapter 29 onwards (correcting readings towards the Hebrew), a revision that is then carried over into the Greek text of Baruch 1:1 to 3:8, suggesting that these once formed a continuous text.[37] Bogaert consequently proposes that the gathering of sections from the end of Septuagint Jeremiah into a distinct book of 'Baruch' was an innovation of Christian biblical practice in the Greek church from around the 3rd century onwards; but that the version of Jeremiah in the Old Latin Bible preceded this practice, and hence did not designate the Book of Baruch as a distinct work of scripture, but included its text within the Book of Jeremiah.[14] The text of Old Latin Jeremiah nowhere survives in sufficient form for this speculation to be confirmed, but Bogaert proposes that its characteristics may be recognised in the texts of Baruch in the early Theodulfian Vulgate Bibles; noting that Baruch in these manuscripts is continuous with Jeremiah, and that the end at Chapter 5:9 is marked by an explicit in Old Latin form, stating "Explicit hieremiae prophetae".[14]
Liturgical use
[edit]Western
[edit]Catholic usage
[edit]In the Catholic Church, Baruch 3:9–38 is used in the liturgy of Holy Saturday during Passiontide in the traditional lectionary of scripture readings at Mass. A similar selection occurs during the revised liturgy for the Easter Vigil.[38]
Baruch 1:14 – 2:5; 3:1–8 is a liturgical reading within the revised Roman Catholic Breviary[39] for the 29th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday Office of Readings. The subject is the prayer and confession of sin of a penitent people:
Augustine of Hippo reflection, which is paired with this reading, on this occasion speaks of prayer: "[S]ince this [that we pray for] is that peace that surpasses all understanding, even when we ask for it in prayer we do not know how to pray for what is right..."; from there he explains what it means that the Holy Spirit pleads for the saints.
Baruch 3:9–15, 24–4:4 is a liturgical reading for the Saturday of the same week. The theme is that the salvation of Israel is founded on wisdom: "Learn where prudence is, ... that you may know also where are length of days, and life, where light of the eyes, and peace. Who has found the place of wisdom, who has entered into her treasuries? ... She is the book of the precepts of God, ... All who cling to her will live... Turn, O Jacob, and receive her: ... Give not your glory to another, your privileges to an alien race." Paired with this on the same day is a reading from Peter Chrysologus,[40] died AD 450, who quotes Paul the Apostle: "let us also wear the likeness of the man of heaven".[41]
Anglican usage
[edit]Baruch is listed in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England.[42] In the Daily Office Lectionary for Christmas Eve, Baruch 4:21–29 is read; on Christmas day, Baruch 4:30–5:9; both of these are considered Messianic Prophecies in the Anglican tradition.[43]
In the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the Daily Office lectionary includes the Book of Baruch for the First Lesson on several occasions: Baruch 4:21–30 on the Second Sunday after Easter; Baruch 3:14–15, 29–37 for the 21st Sunday after Trinity; and Baruch 5 for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity.[44] In the American Book of Common Prayer (1979) Baruch 5:1–9 is the Old Testament reading for Advent II (Year C); and in the Daily Office (Year 2) Baruch 4:21–29 is prescribed for Advent IV, and Baruch 4:36–5:9 for Dec. 24.[45]
Eastern
[edit]In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, a selection from Baruch (which is considered an extension of the Book of Jeremiah, and is announced in the services as "Jeremiah") is read as one of the eight Paroemia (Old Testament readings) during the Vesperal Divine Liturgy on Christmas Eve.
Use by theologians, Church Fathers, the Second Vatican Council
[edit]In Summa Theologiae III 4 4, Doctor of the Church Thomas Aquinas quotes Baruch 3:37 (3:38 in Vulgate) to affirm that "the Son of God assumed human nature in order to show Himself in men's sight, according to Baruch 3:38: Afterwards He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men. This statement, more properly rendered as Afterward he appeared on earth and lived with humankind. is part of his discussion of "the mode of union on the part of the human nature" III 4. He quotes the same passage of Baruch in III 40 1 to help answer "whether Christ should have associated with men, or led a solitary life" III 40. By switching the gender of the pronoun, this reading, which properly is discussing Divine Wisdom was widely re-interpreted in Christian discourse as a prophecy of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Church Father Clement of Alexandria,[46] d. AD 217, quoted Baruch 3:16–19, referring to the passage thus: "Divine Scripture, addressing itself to those who love themselves and to the boastful, somewhere says most excellently: 'Where are the princes of the nations...'" (see "Paean for Wisdom" example infra) (Jurgens §410a).
Hilary of Poitiers,[47] d. AD 368, also a Church Father, quoted the same passage as Thomas, supra, (3:36–38), citing "Jeremias", about which Jurgens states: "Baruch was secretary to Jeremias, and is cited by the Fathers mostly under the name of Jeremias" (§864n). Hilary states: "Besides Moses and Isaias, listen now a third time, and to Jeremias, who teaches the same thing, when He says:..." (Jurgens §864).
Baruch 3:38(37) is referenced in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation of the Second Vatican Council.[48]
Use in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church
[edit]Baruch 6 is quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church[49] as part of an exposition against idolatry. During the Diaspora the Jews lamented their lapse into idolatry, and their repentance is captured in the Book of Baruch.
In popular culture
[edit]The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin is a sequence of 270 poems by the English poet Geoffrey Hill, published posthumously by Oxford University Press in 2019.[50]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Apocrypha-KJV-Reader's. Hendrickson Publishers. 2009. ISBN 978-1-59856-464-8.
- ^ Cp. Jeremiah 36:9–10 and Baruch 1:1–5.
- ^ Reginald C. Fuller, ed. (1975) [1953]. A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Thomas Nelson., §504h. Also, "late Babylonian"; "alluded to, seemingly, in 2 Mac 2:1–3" in The Jerusalem Bible, 1966, p. 1128.
- ^ Bible Society, Baruch, Bible Book Club, accessed 22 July 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j John Barton; John Muddiman (25 January 2007). The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. p. 699. ISBN 978-0-19-927718-6.
- ^ "Baruch" by P. P. Saydon, revised by T. Hanlon, in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Reginald C. Fuller, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers, 1953, 1975, §504j. The same source states that "[t]here is also evidence that Baruch was read in Jewish synagogues on certain festivals during the early centuries of the Christian era (Thackeray, 107-11)", i.e. Henry St. John Thackeray, The Septuagint and Jewish Worship, 1923.
- ^ New American Bible (Revised Edition), sub-heading at Baruch 4:5
- ^ Quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 18.
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 19.
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 16.
- ^ a b Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 17.
- ^ Paedagogus, Book II, Ch. 3
- ^ a b c d e f g Bogaert, Pierre-Maurice (2005). "Le livre de Baruch dans les manuscrits de la Bible latine. Disparition et réintégration". Revue Bénédictine. 115 (2): 286–342. doi:10.1484/J.RB.5.100598.
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 1.
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 3.
- ^ Adams, Sean.A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 12.
- ^ Adams, Sean.A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 2.
- ^ Job 31:31
- ^ Job 11:11 or Psalms 26:4
- ^ Genesis 34:30 or Deuteronomy 4:27
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 2.
- ^ a b Tov, Emmanuel (1975). The Book of Baruch also Called I Baruch (Greek and Hebrew). Scholars Press.
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 4.
- ^ Adams, Sean A. (2014). Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah. Brill. p. 8.
- ^ of Alexandria, Athanasius. CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 39 (Athanasius). newadvent. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ of Jerusalem, Cyril. Catechetical Lecture 4 Chapter 35. newadvent. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ Williams, translated by Frank (1987). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis 8:6:1-3 (2. impression. ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 9004079262. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
- ^ of Laodicea, Synod. Synod of Laodicea Canon 60. newadvent. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel Session 11—4 February 1442. ewtn. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
- ^ Session IV Celebrated on the eighth day of April, 1546 under Pope Paul III
- ^ Westcott, Brooke Foss (2005). A general survey of the history of the canon of the New Testament Page 570 (6th ed.). Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock. ISBN 1597522392.
- ^ Decretum Gelasianum
- ^ "Canon XXIV. (Greek xxvii.)", The Canons of the 217 Blessed Fathers who assembled at Carthage, Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- ^ Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) Canon 24
- ^ of Hippo, Augustine. On Christian Doctrine Book II Chapter 8:2. newadvent. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ Tov, Emmanuel (1976). The Septuagint Translation of Jeremiah and Baruch: A Discussion of an Early Revision of Jeremiah 29–52 and Baruch 1:1–3:8. Scholars Press.
- ^ Catholic Calendar Archived 7 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine web page
- ^ Laudis canticum — Latin text — Paul VI, 1 November 1970
- ^ Crossroads Initiative, Adam and Christ – Peter Chrysologus, accessed 25 July 2019
- ^ 1 Corinthians 15:49
- ^ "The Thirty-Nine Articles". Anglicans Online. 15 April 2007. Archived from the original on 23 May 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "Lectionary for Anglican Church at". Bcponline.org. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "Psalms and Lessons for the Christian Year, Book of Common Prayer, 1928 pg. xxii–xxxviii" (PDF). Oxford University Press, New York, USA. 1952. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ Prayer Book and Hymnal, Containing The Book of Common Prayer and The Hymnal 1982, According to the use of The Episcopal Church, The Church Hymnal Corporation New York, 1986.
- ^ [1] Archived 6 June 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [2] Archived 6 April 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation – Dei verbum". Vatican.va. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "§2112". Vatican.va. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin". global.oup.com. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
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2 Esdras, also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra, is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible.[a][b][2] Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the fifth century BC, whom the book identifies with the sixth-century figure Shealtiel.[3]: 37
2 Esdras forms a part of the canon of Scripture in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (an Oriental Orthodoxy body), though it is reckoned among the apocrypha by Roman Catholics and Protestants.[4] Within Eastern Orthodoxy it forms a part of the canon[5] although its usage varies by different traditions. 2 Esdras was excluded by Jerome from his Vulgate version of the Old Testament, but from the 9th century onward, the Latin text is sporadically found as an appendix to the Vulgate, inclusion becoming more general after the 13th century.
Naming conventions
[edit]As with 1 Esdras, some confusion exists about the numbering of this book. The Vulgate of Jerome includes only a single book of Ezra, but in the Clementine Vulgate, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Esdras are separate books. Protestant writers, after the Geneva Bible, called 1 and 2 Esdras of the Vulgate, Ezra and Nehemiah respectively; and called 3 and 4 Esdras of the Vulgate, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras respectively. These then became the common names for these books in English Bibles.[6]
Medieval Latin manuscripts denoted it 4 Esdras, which to this day is the name used for chapters 3–14 in modern critical editions,[7][8] which are typically in Latin, the language of its most complete exemplars.[9]
It appears in the Appendix to the Old Testament in the Slavonic Bible, where it is called 3 Esdras, and the Georgian Orthodox Bible numbers it 3 Ezra. This text is sometimes also known as Apocalypse of Ezra — chapters 3–14 known as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra or 4 Ezra; in modern critical editions, chapters 1–2 are named as 5 Ezra, and chapters 15–16 as 6 Ezra.
Bogaert speculates that the "fourth book of Ezra" referred to by Jerome most likely corresponds to modern 5 Ezra and 6 Ezra combined, and notes a number of Latin manuscripts where these chapters are together in an appendix.[10]
Contents
[edit]5 Ezra
[edit]The first two chapters of 2 Esdras are found only in the Latin version of the book, and are called 5 Ezra by scholars.[11] They are considered by most scholars to be Christian in origin; they assert God's rejection of the Jews and describe a vision of the Son of God. These are generally considered to be late additions (possibly third century) to the work.
4 Ezra
[edit]Chapters 3–14, or the great bulk of 2 Esdras, is a Jewish apocalypse, also sometimes known as 4 Ezra[11] or the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra.[12] The latter name should not be confused with a later work called the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra.
The Ethiopian Church considers 4 Ezra to be canonical, written during the Babylonian captivity, and calls it Izra Sutuel (ዕዝራ ሱቱኤል). It was also often cited by the Fathers of the Church. In the Eastern Armenian tradition, it is called 3 Ezra. It was written in the late first century CE following the destruction of the Second Temple.[12]
Among Greek Fathers of the Church, 4 Ezra is generally cited as Προφήτης Ἔσδρας Prophetes Esdras ("The Prophet Ezra") or Ἀποκάλυψις Ἔσδρα Apokalupsis Esdra ("Apocalypse of Ezra"). Most scholars agree that 4 Ezra was composed in Hebrew,[13] which was translated into Greek, and then to Latin, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Georgian, but the Hebrew and Greek editions have been lost.
Slightly differing Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Georgian, and Armenian translations have survived in their entirety; the Greek version can be reconstructed, though without absolute certainty, from these different translations, while the Hebrew text remains more elusive. The modern Slavonic version is translated from the Latin.
4 Ezra consists of seven visions of Ezra the scribe. The first vision takes place as Ezra is still in Babylon. He asks God how Israel can be kept in misery if God is just. The archangel Uriel is sent to answer the question, responding that God's ways cannot be understood by the human mind. Soon, however, the end would come, and God's justice would be made manifest. Similarly, in the second vision, Ezra asks why Israel was delivered up to the Babylonians, and is again told that man cannot understand this and that the end is near. In the third vision, Ezra asks why Israel does not possess the world. Uriel responds that the current state is a period of transition. Here follows a description of the fate of evil-doers and the righteous. Ezra asks whether the righteous may intercede for the unrighteous on Judgment Day, but is told that "Judgment Day is final".[14]
The next three visions are more symbolic in nature. The fourth is of a woman mourning for her only son. She is transformed into a city when she hears of the desolation of Zion. Uriel says that the woman is a symbol of Zion. The fifth vision concerns an eagle with three heads and 20 wings (12 large wings and eight smaller wings "over against them"). The eagle is rebuked by a lion and then burned. The explanation of this vision is that the eagle refers to the fourth kingdom of the vision of Daniel, with the wings and heads as rulers. The final scene is the triumph of the Messiah over the empire. The sixth vision is of a man, representing the Messiah, who breathes fire on a crowd that is attacking him. This man then turns to another peaceful multitude, which accepts him.
Finally, a vision of the restoration of scripture is related. God appears to Ezra in a bush and commands him to restore the Law. Ezra gathers five scribes and begins to dictate. After 40 days, he has produced 204 books, including 70 works to be published last. 2 Esdras 14:44–48 KJV:
The "seventy" might refer to the Septuagint, most of the apocrypha, or the lost books that are described in the Bible. But it is more probable that the number is just symbolic.[15]
Almost all Latin editions of the text have a large lacuna[16] of 70 verses between 7:35 and 7:36 that is missing because they trace their common origin to one early manuscript, Codex Sangermanensis I, from which an entire page had been cut out very early in its history. In 1875 Robert Lubbock Bensly published the lost verses[17] and in 1895 M.R. James oversaw a critical edition from Bensly's notes[18] restoring the lost verses from the complete text found in the Codex Colbertinus; this edition is used in the Stuttgart edition of the Vulgate. The restored verses are numbered 7:35 to 7:105, with the former verses 7:36–7:70 renumbered to 7:106–7:140.[19] For more information, see the article Codex Sangermanensis I.
Second Esdras turns around a radical spiritual conversion of Ezra in a vision, where he stops to comfort a sobbing woman who turns instantly into a great city (2 Esd. 10:25–27). On this pivotal event, one scholar writes that Ezra:
The following verses (10:28–59) reveal that Ezra had a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, the true city of Zion, which the angel of the Lord invites him to explore. As the angel tells Ezra at the end of Chapter 10 in the Authorised Version:
6 Ezra
[edit]The last two chapters, also called 6 Ezra by scholars,[11] and found in the Latin, but not in the Eastern texts, predict wars and rebuke sinners. Many assume that they probably date from a much later period (perhaps late third century) and may be Christian in origin; though not certain, they possibly were added at the same time as the first two chapters of the Latin version. They likely are Jewish in origin, however; 15:57–59 have been found in Greek, which most scholars agree was translated from a Hebrew original.
Author and criticism
[edit]The main body of the book appears to be written for consolation in a period of great distress (one scholarly hypothesis is that it dates to Titus' destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE).[20] The author seeks answers, similar to Job's quest for understanding the meaning of suffering, but the author does not like or desire only the answer that was given to Job.
Critics question whether even the main body of the book, not counting the chapters that exist only in the Latin version and in Greek fragments, has a single author. Kalisch, De Faye, and Charles hold that no fewer than five people worked on the text. However, Gunkel points to the unity in character and holds that the book is written by a single author; the author of 2 Esdras has also been suggested to have written the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch.[20] In any case, the two texts may date from about the same time, and one almost certainly depends on the other.[20]
Critics[who?] have widely debated the origin of the book. Hidden under two layers of translation, determining whether the author was Roman, Alexandrian, or Judean is impossible.
The scholarly interpretation of the eagle being the Roman Empire (the eagle in the fifth vision, whose heads might be Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian if such is the case) and the destruction of the temple would indicate that the probable date of composition lies toward the end of the first century, perhaps 90–96, though some suggest a date as late as 218.[20]
Usage
[edit]The book is found in the Orthodox Slavonic Bible (Ostrog Bible, Elizabeth Bible, and later consequently Russian Synodal Bible).[21] 2 Esdras is in the Apocrypha of the King James Version, and Pope Clement VIII placed it in an appendix to the Vulgate along with 3 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh "lest they perish entirely".[22] The chapters corresponding to 4 Ezra, i.e. 2 Esdras 3–14, make up the Book of II Izra, aka Izra Sutuel, canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; it was also widely cited by early Fathers of the Church, particularly Ambrose of Milan, as the 'third book of Esdras'. Jerome states that it is apocryphal.[23] It may also be found in many larger English Bibles included as part of the Biblical apocrypha, as they exist in the King James Version, the Revised Version, the Revised Standard Version, and the earliest editions of the Catholic Douay–Rheims Bible, among others.[a]
The introitus of the traditional Requiem Mass of the Extraordinary Form of the 1962 Missal in the Catholic Church is loosely based on 2:34–35: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them." Several other liturgical prayers are taken from the book. The same chapter, verses 36 and 37, is cited in the Introit of Pentecost Tuesday, "Accipite jucunditatem gloriae vestrae, alleluia: gratias agentes Deo, alleluia: qui vos ad caelestia regna vocavit, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. 77 Attendite, popule meus, legem meam: inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei. Gloria Patri. Accipite. – Receive the delight of your glory, alleluia, giving thanks to God, alleluia, Who hath called ye to the heavenly kingdoms, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Psalm 77 Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Glory be. Receive.”[24] The Alleluia verse Crastina die for the Vigil Mass of Christmas in the Roman Missal is taken from chapter 16, verse 52.
Christopher Columbus quoted verse 6:42, which describes the Earth as being created with six parts land and one part water, in his appeal to the Catholic Monarchs for financial support for his first voyage of exploration.[25]
The book is appointed as a scripture reading in the Ordinariate’s Evensong service for All Hallows' Eve.[26]
See also
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
[edit]- ^ ISBN 978-0-385-09630-0.
- ^ NETBible, Apocalyptic Esdras Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Stone, Michael Edward (1990). Fourth Ezra: A Commentary on the Book of Fourth Ezra. Hermeneia. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-6026-0.
- ^ For example, it is listed with the apocrypha in the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.
- ^ Coogan, Michael. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: An Ecumenical Study Bible (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1839, 1841. ISBN 978-0-19-027605-8.
- ^ "Esdras." Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ Bensley, R. The Fourth Book of Ezra, the Latin Edition edited form the MSS Cambridge 1895
- ^ Metzger, B. M. "The Fourth Book of Ezra". In J. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. vol 1, p. 517ss.
- ^ See for example Souvay, C. (1909). Esdras. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 10, 2020 from New Advent.
- ^ Bogaert, Pierre-Maurice (2000). "Les livres d'Esdras et leur numérotation dans l'histoire du canon de la Bible latin". Revue Bénédictine. 110 (1–2): 5–26. doi:10.1484/J.RB.5.100750.
- ^ a b c See for example B. M. Metzger, "The Fourth Book of Ezra", in Charlesworth, James H. (ed.) The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol 1 (1983). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. p. 517. ISBN 978-0-385-09630-0
- ^ a b Theodore A. Bergren (2010). Michael D. Coogan (ed.). The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 317–318. ISBN 9780195289619.
- ^ Wong, A. C. K.; Penner, K. M.; Miller, D. M. (2010). "4 Ezra". The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha. Atlanta: The Society of Biblical Literature. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
- ^ 2 Esd 7:102–104, GNB
- ^ Ossandón Widow, Juan Carlos (2018). The Origins of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible: An Analysis of Josephus and 4 Ezra. Brill. pp. 170–176. ISBN 9789004381612.
- ^ Article from Early Jewish Writings
- ^ The Missing Fragment of the Latin Translation of the Fourth Book of Ezra (Cambridge UP, 1875)
- ^ The Fourth Book of Ezra (Texts & Studies 3.2, ed by J.A. Robinson, Cambridge UP, 1895)
- ^ Biblia Sacra Vulgata, 4th edition, 1994, ISBN 3-438-05303-9.
- ^ a b c d Jewish Encyclopedia article
- ^ Monk, Anonymous (1986). These Truths We Hold - The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings. Pennsylvania: Saint Tikhons Seminary Press.
- ^ Clementine Vulgate, Note to the Appendix
- ^ "St. Jerome, The Prologue on the Book of Ezra: English translation".
- ^ Actual Apocrypha in the Liturgy.
- ^ Longenecker, Bruce W. (1995). Two Esdras. A&C Black. p. 112. ISBN 9781850757269.
- ^ Ordinariates Established by Anglicanorum Coetibus (11 April 2022). "CTS Divine Worship Daily Office". Isuu. Catholic Truth Society. p. 66. Archived from the original on 24 February 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
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