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

General Introduction. 33
trust to internal evidence, it would appear that nearly all
these interpolations were added by the editor who put the
different books together, and sought by means of his additions
from an existing Apocalypse of Noah, and possibly from
elsewhere, to give a complete account* of the different great
world judgments. When this editing took place we cannot
determine definitely, but we may with safety conclude that
it was before the beginning of the Christian era. The con-
tents of these interpolations—which deal with a vast variety
of subjects, such as the books of Noah, the deluge, the evil
wrought by the Satans and the fallen angels, the secrets of
celestial phenomena, and other cabbalistic lore—do not admit
of being shortly summarised.
§ XI. The Influence of Enoch on Jewish and Patristic
Literature and on the New Testament in Phraseo-
logy, Ideas, and Doctrine.
The book of Enoch exercised a very important influence on
the Christian and Jewish literature of the first three centuries
a. d. The first notice of a book of Enoch appears to be due
to a Jewish or Samaritan Hellenist (so Schurer). This notice,
which has come down to us successively through Alexander
Polyhistor and Eusebius, asserts that Enoch was the founder of
Astrology : cf . Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix. 17.8 (Gaisford) tovtov
€Vpi]K^vai Trp&Tov tt]v ao-Tpokoyiav.
The Influence of Enoch on Jewish Literature.
Excluding for the present the consideration of the New
Testament and of Christian testimonies generally, the book
of Enoch was probably used by the author of the Assumption
of Moses written about the Christian Era. Cp. iv. 8—Tristes
et gementes quia non poterint referre immolationes Domino
patrum suorum with En. lxxxix. 73 : and x. 3,
4^Exiet de
habitatione sancta sua with Enoch i. 4, ' will come forth from
D