PAUL AND THE JEWISH LAW; HALAKHA IN THE LE’ITERS OF THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES. Early Christianity as the Bearer of the Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition 5 Scope and Method of the Present Study 7. The Jewish Apocalypses and the Question of their Authority 19 The Self-Validating Claims of the Jewish Apocalypses 19.
The introduction surveys ancient perceptions of the apocalypses as well as their function, authority, and survival in the early Church. In some ways, the use of the Greek term &~ox&hv~y is unexpected. In his study of the word, Oepke took note of this point with some surprise.
The use of secrecy to validate the work’s genuineness is further illustrated by the description of the book’s discovery. Other sectarian communities used the esoteric tradition of the Jewish/Chris- tian apocalypses in much the same way.
27 pact on the study of the Jewish apocalypses, especially as it involves the recov-
This is the date indicated in the title of the translation of it in OTP 1. where the word yiyea3c- Tal refers to the contents of the heavenly Tablets..’ The passage to which he alludes occurs in Enoch’s response to Methuselah regarding the meaning of Noah’s remarkable nature already at the moment of birth. For I know the mysteries of the holy ones, for that Lord showed (them) to me and made (them) known to me, and I read (them) in the tablets of heaven.
For it is written [ygygasczak y&g], “And it shall come to pass when the week is ended that a temple of God shall be built gloriously in the name of the Lord.”. The verses in Barnabas and 1 Enoch share the mention of a week, of the ‘weekend,’ and a temple built gloriously for the Lord. In this citation, Athenagoras indicates his familiarity with the myth of the angels who descended and mated with women.
In fact, he notes in connec- tion with the first instance of the word prophet (above): ‘The prophets were held to include Moses as their chief (Deut. In fact one might more convincingly argue that he considered the contents of the book a truthful supplement to Moses and the prophets in that he.
Already earlier Enoch had prophesied @rue&ens) that the demons and spirits, that is the apostate angels, would employ all elements, everything belonging to the
There is some disagreement about the unity of the work that goes under the name De cultu feminarum. Reference to the angel story’26 raises in Tertullian’s mind the status of the Book of Enoch from which the account comes. Barnes’% dates the treatise On the Resurrection of the Flesh to 206-207, still before Tertullian became a Montanist.
While his arguments articulate only his views, they also reflect the fact that use of the book in the sorts of contexts in which he employ- ed it required defending. The context in which Origen uses these verses from the Book of the Watch- ers and the way in which he refers to Enoch document the fact that he consid- ered the book inspired and authoritative. Scripture: ‘Names are not to be neglected, since indications may be gathered from them which help in the interpretation of the passages where they occur’.‘6’.
He follows with an allegorical interpretation of both the descent and the waters of the Jordan. In this composition Origen mentions the Book of Enoch several times and shows the degree to which his opinion of the book had shifted in a negative direction.174.
Origen quotes Celsus as saying:175
Azazel, one of the angelic leaders, taught humans the making of armaments, ornaments and cosmetics. All of the evil that resulted from the angelic invasion provoked a human cry to heaven. Evil spirits they will be on the earth, and spirits of the evil ones will they be called.
Is5 For use of the word ‘demon’ for the spirits that issue from the giants’ bodies, see 1 Enoch 19:3;. Since some of the passages are the same as those cited and analyzed in the first part, they can be handled more briefly in this section. Three New Testament writings make explicit use of the angel story: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude.
Whatever decision one reaches on the issue, the book is almost certainly a product of the period 60-100 CE. For an analysis and refutation of the suggestion, see Selwyn, The First Epistle of St.
Jlide 6. The author cites the story of the angels - particularly the judgment
- the women are not blamed for enticing the angels as in some forms of the myth.233 The explanation seems to be that the ‘daughters of men’ in this text are
The explicit references which Origen made to the Book of Enoch were treated in the first part of the chapter. Augustine in the sequel discusses the readings of the LXX and Aquila (‘sons of gods’). In other words, the two witnesses are located very near to the end of the world.
In the sequel he delves into the torments of the last times and the period when they will take place. Fourth- century Coptic mss of The Ascension of Isaiah (see below 186 n250) suggest its importation by the end of the third century from Asia Minor (according to provenance discussed above 134f, 138). Was it in the body that he was carried away, was it out of the body.
It is at the end of the third of four lurid torture accounts that ‘the heart of Apa.
Weeks of Years in Jewish Chronography of the Second Temple Period
One example of this appears in a notoriously cryptic section of the Greek Testament of Levi. It is regrettable that the Qumran Aramaic fragments do not include this portion of the testament. Then the descendants of the son of Asamonaios, entrusted with the rulership of the nation.
What is equally notable is Josephus’ presentation of the ‘ancient saying’ in the terms of the Greek oracle. The same tendencies mark Josephus’ treatment of Daniel’s vision in the sixth book of the Jewish War. Josephus was willing to acknowledge that the destruction of the temple and the city were clear and objectifiable vindications of Daniel’s prophetic insight.
A good illustration of this appears in the historical writing of the Christian polymath Julius Africanus. Any explanation of Daniel’s 70-weeks chronology must, therefore, presuppose the unmistakable messianic thrust of the verses. The words pacnhetis ‘IovGaiwv are ungrammatical and missing in the Theodotionic text of the prophecy.
Eusebius’ explanation of the ‘abomination of the desolation’ of v27 is guided by the same perspective. Josephus states that the building of the temple extended from the second year to its rededication in the ninth year of Darius. The formulation of this third theory proceeds from a detailed and ingenious analysis of the wording of Daniel’s prophecy.
Around this time’, Augustus the Roman emperor acquired ‘the kingdom of Egypt and the rest of the world’. But the vestiges of the tradition are still clearly evident, especially in the interpretation of Dan 9:25. By far the most detailed forms of the tradition are found in Eusebius of Caesarea.
JQR JRS JSJ
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Christian and Jewish Self-Definition in Light of the Christian Additions to the Apocryphal Writings’, in Sanders, Self-Definition 2, 27-55. Apocalyptic Literature’, in Kraft-Nickelsburg, Early Judaism, 345-70 - The Apocalyptic Vision of the Book of Daniel (HSM 16) Missoula 1977. New York 1983 - ‘The Genre Apocalypse in Hellenistic Judaism’, in Hellholm, Apocalypticism, 53 l-48 - ‘Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre’, in id, Apocalypse: Morphology, 1- 19 - ‘The Jewish Apocalypses’, in id, Apocalypse: Morphology, 2 l-49.
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