The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

366 ENOCH AND THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
in the Sefer ha-Yashar.” 13 The Enochic corpus contains a series of revelations
that Enoch received and transmitted to his son Methuselah for the benefit
of the righteous who will live in the end times. Its major subject matter
is twofold: the nature and implications of the created structure of the
cosmos; and the origin, nature, consequences, and final judgment of evil
and sin.
The figure of Enoch must be understood in the context of the corpus
of merkabah texts of which the Enochic corpus forms a part. 14 As for the
New Testament’s portrayal of Enoch, he is presented there as an individual
who possessed faith and pleased God, so that he did not die (Heb
11:5–6), and he is quoted as an authoritative prophet in Jude 14–15 (cf.
1 En. 1:9). According to Ethiopic tergwame literature, Enoch hid at the foot
of the Garden of Eden for 6 years and dwelt among the archangels.
During his lifetime he did not taste earthly food and his body was transformed
into a new eternal body, a resurrected body. 15 Hence he is
depicted as a prototype of Jesus and all those who rise up from the dead.
Enoch is one of those that passed directly into Gan Eden (Tg. Ps.-J. Gen
5:24; Yal. Gen 5:24).
In the Qur’an, Enoch is called Idris “the Instructor” and described as
a prophet of truth and a model of patience whom Allah raised to a lofty
place (Sura 19.57; 21.85). According to Muslim scholars like Baidawi,
Idris, also named Uhnukh, was the inventor of writing and of the sciences
of astronomy and mathematics, as well as a preacher of repentance
to the corrupt descendants of Cain. Idris was often compelled to defend
his life with the sword against the depraved children of earth. He invented
the balance to weigh justly. He was the first scribe and the first tailor.
He longs to enter paradise. God sends Death disguised as a beautiful
13. JE 5:178. Of the midrashim, Hirsch lists the following: Hekalot Rabbati, Sefer
Hanok, Sefer Hekalot, and Hayye Hanok; Hekalot Rabbati, in which Enoch appears as
Metatron, Sar ha-Panim and reveals celestial secrets to the learned and the wise (see
Adolph Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash [6 vols.; Leipzig: Fridrikh Nies, 1853], 3:83–108; see
also Ludwig Blau, “Amulet” in JE 1:549b; cf. also Norbert Peters, Die jüngst wiederaufgefundene
hebärische Text des Buches Ecclesiasticus [Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1902],
230); and in Sir 49:14 his destiny is glorified. See also Sir 44:16; 49:14: 16; Wis 4:10;
Jub. 4:16, 22; 7:38, 39; 10:17; 19:24; 27; 21:10; Book: T. Sim. 5:4; T. Levi 10:52; 16:1;
T. Jud. 18:1; T. Dan 5:6; T. Naph. 4:1; T. Benj. 9:1; 10:6). According to Ecclesiasticus,
the “taking away” of Enoch is related to his being “an example for the conversion of
all generations.”
14. The parallels between 3 Enoch and the other merkabah tracts will not be pursued
here; they are amply covered elsewhere, in the introduction and in the notes to the
translation. Some of the texts still remain in manuscript, or have been published only
in part, or in very faulty editions.
15. hthlk implies, as the Ethiopic biblical version does, that he “served God.”