Enochic Judaism — a Judaism without the Torah and the Temple?people living in the area through his ethnic purity, his Torah observance,
and his cultic responsibilities toward the temple. These characteristics are
the core characteristics in what has been labeled covenantal Judaism.^12
The line of demarcation between the insiders and the outsiders is
sharply drawn and seems absolute. Nevertheless, there is an ambiguity in
this sharp distinction. It is symbolic rather than real. The law in Ezra-
Nehemiah is never exactly defined; it is simply "the law of Moses," which
clearly has an openness toward new interpretations.^13 The reading and rein
terpretation of the Torah is thus a part of what Najman designates as the
Mosaic discourse, starting with Deuteronomy. This discourse has its clear
limits, because it bases its legitimacy on the authority of Moses, but it is flex
ible in the way this authority is carried out in the actual interpretation.^14
Thus such interpretations are alternative; they exist together within the Mo
saic discourse. Stories within this master paradigm can be at tension with
each other, but they derive authority from and lend authority to the Mosaic
Torah.
The Book of the Watchers
The Book of the Watchers is composed of three main parts, which can be ap
proximately dated from the last part of the fourth century to the middle of
the third: the Oracle of Judgment (1 En 1-5), the Watcher Story (6-16), and
the Journeys of Enoch (17-36). The Watcher Story contains two sections: the
Rebellion Story (6-11) and the Enoch Story (12-16).
There is considerable agreement about the growth of the book.^15 The
Rebellion Story (6-11) forms the oldest part. The next step is the inclusion of
this story in the Enoch Story (12-16), creating the Watcher Story (6-16).
Then comes the adding of the Journeys (17-36), and as the final step the Or
acle of Judgment that introduces the whole book (1-5).
The core of the book is accordingly the Rebellion Story. This story tells
how apostasy is bred into this world. There are three codes at play, forbidden
- Cf. the discussion in Newsom, Self as Symbolic Space, 23-36.
- Cf. S. Japhet, "Law and 'the Law' in Ezra-Nehemiah," in Proceedings of the Ninth
World Congress of Jewish Studies, 99-115. - Cf. H. Najman, Seconding Sinai: The Development of Mosaic Discourse in Second
Temple Judaism, JSJSup 77 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 1-19. - Cf. the discussion in G. W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of
Enoch 1—36, 81-106, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 25f.