Enoch and the Mosaic Torah- The Evidence of Jubilees

The Aramaic Levi Document, the Genesis Apocryphon, and Jubilees

A third reference is found in Tobit's instructions to Tobias: "On every oc­
casion praise God and beg Him that your ways may be made straight and
all your paths [G^1 + and plans] may lead to prosperity" (4:19). While the
motif of the two ways in Tobit and ALD is related to its biblical imagery,
both works share a new context for this motif — in a prayer to God. But
they differ in their relationship to Torah. Whereas ALD does not explicitly
refer to the observance of God's commandments, only to "what is pleasing
to you [namely, God]" (3:7), Tobit explicates his path with reference to his
observance of God's commandments, which he contrasts with the sinful
behavior of the Northern Kingdom (1:4-9). This emphasis on fulfillment
of the divine commandments is absent from the other works considered
here. Finally, as Nickelsburg notes, "the author narrativizes the idea of
walking on the path in his account of Tobias's journey from Nineveh to
Ecbatan (cf. 5:2i-22)."^36 Thus, while there are points of contact between
ALD's use of the two-ways motif and that of Tobit, particularly the prayer
context, Tobit places emphasis on and links the paths to the observance of
the divine commandments.

A third ancient description of the two ways appears in the Genesis
Apocryphon, column VI, as part of Noah's story, which starts with his birth,
as told by his father Lamech (col. II), and continues with Noah's biography, a
first-person account preceded by the title " [a copy of] the book of the words
of Noah" (V:29).^37 After five missing lines, the biography starts with the fol­
lowing words:

[.. .] And in the furnace of my gestation I flourished to truth; and when

I left my mother's womb, I was rooted in truth and I conducted myself

in truth all my days, and I walked in the paths of eternal truth, and with

me was the Holy [One] on the path of the way of truth, and to warn me

away from the path of falsehood which leads to everlasting darkness

[.. .] I girded my loins in a vision of truth and wisdom when there en­

tered [.. .] all the paths of violence. (VL1-5)

36. Nickelsburg, "Seeking the Origins," 99.


37. Some argue that this part of the Genesis Apocryphon originated as an independ­
    ent composition, probably from the Book of Noah. See R. C. Steiner, "The Heading of the
    Book of the Words of Noah on a Fragment of the Genesis Apocryphon: New Light on a 'Lost'
    Work," DSD 2 (1995): 66-71. For a discussion of the possible existence of a lost book (or
    books) of Noah, see Stone's recent study, "Book(s) Attributed to Noah," 5-9, where he also
    relates to earlier studies. See Fitzmyer, "Genesis Apocryphon," 302-3.