The book of Enoch : translated from Professor Dillmann's Ethiopic ...

128 The Book of Enoch. [Sect. II.
was, and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of
Days ? 3.
' And he answered and said unto me This is the
'one of the angels who went with me.' But, as Volkmar has
already recognised, Enoch has only an Angel to guide him in the
There are some difficulties connected
with this expression in Enoch, as it
has there three different Ethiopic
renderings, =filius hominis, xlvi. 2,
3, 4; xlviii. 2, filius viri, lxix. 29;
lxxi. 14, and filius prolis matris vi-
ventium, lxii. 7, 9, 14 ; lxiii. 11 ; lxix.
26, 27; lxx. 1 ; lxxi. 17; and these
are the greater as the Ethiopic trans-
lator can only have had one and the
same phrase before him, i.e. 6 vlbs
rod avOpouTrov. For the LXX. invari-
ably uses vlbs avOpwirov as a rendering
of DTttrp and BhJK-p, and exact
Greek equivalents of the Ethiopic
expressions are hardly conceivable.
Are we then to suppose that these
variations existed in the Hebrew,
and accordingly postulate on the part
of the Ethiopic translators a direct
acquaintance with an Hebrew MS.
(similarly, as Noldeke, Encyc. Brit.
xxi. 654, in the case of the Ethiopic
Bible, postulates the presence of
Aramaic teachers in order to ex-
plain the fact that certain religious
conceptions are there expressed by
Aramaic words)? These suppositions
are not necessary. There is no strict
uniformity of rendering in the Ethiopic
Bible, vlbs avOpwvov is rendered by
proles matris viventium in Num. xxiii.
19 ; Ps. viii. 4; cxliv. 3 ; cxlvi. 3 (in
the last two instances, two distinct
Hebrew expressions are used) : but
by filius prolis matris viventium in
Ps. lxxx. 17. This latter rendering is
practically the authorised one in the
Ethiopic as it is found throughout
Ezekiel, in Dan. vii. 13, and tmi-.
versally in the N.T. Again *flX rt* =
vir is frequently used where we should
expect lWlA = homo, and vice versa.
Hence filius viri and filius hominis in
the Ethiopic text may be synonymous
and the variation may be due to the
carelessness of the translator. Of such
carelessness there are many instances
in Enoch. In lxxxix. 1 we find U*flA
where we should have *C1aiL as it is
correctly in vv. 9 and 36. Again in
lxxxix. 45 we have twice the render-
ing • sheep ' where according to the
context and the Greek it should be
'lamb.' Accordingly we hold that
these variations were confined to the
Ethiopic version, and this conclusion
is confirmed by the fact that filius
viri, lxix. 29, does not imply one
born of man without the mediation of
a mother as some have supposed ; for
the same phrase is applied to Enoch
in lxxi. 14, and is therefore the equiva-
lent of filius hominis in xlvi. 2, &c.
We have above remarked that the ex-
pression in the Greek version of Enoch
must have been 6 vlbs rov avOpcuirov,
and not vlbs avOpwirov, for in Enoch it
is the distinct designation of the per-
sonal Messiah. In xlviii. 10; lii. 4 he
is styled the ' Messiah.' For the rela-
tion between the title • Son of Man ' in
Enoch and in the N.T., see Appendix
on ' the Son of Man.' 3. The Mes-
siah is conceived in the Similitudes as
(1) the Judge of the world, (2) the Ee-
vealer of all things, (3) the Messianic
Champion and Ruler of the righteous.
(1 ) As judge, he possesses (a) righteous-
ness, (b) wisdom, and (c) power (Pss.