Enoch and the Mosaic Torah- The Evidence of Jubilees

David R. Jackson

cal phenomena governing the calendar and the Watchers who transgressed,

firstly in the names that are given to them (1 En 6), and also in the correla­

tion between their names and the specific secrets they have wrongfully re­

vealed. A similar correlation can be found with the responsibilities accred­

ited to Uriel (20:2) and Reuel, who is given the responsibility for taking

"vengeance upon the world of the luminaries" (20:4). In the understanding

of these texts, observable cosmic phenomena are operated by spiritual be­

ings alternately called "spirits/winds" (1 En 18:1-5) or angels (cf. Jub 2:2-3;

iQHa 9:10-13; cf. also 1 En 69:13-24). We are then introduced to the fact that

the "stars of heaven" "transgressed the command of the Lord" (21:5-6).

This concept appears also in the AB. Throughout the AB we learn that the

astronomical and meteorological phenomena are "led" by spiritual beings hav­

ing a hierarchical chain of command (e.g., 1 En 72:1-3; 74:2; 75:1,3,5; 79:6). Some

of these winds/spirits are winds/spirits of punishment (76:4). In 80:1 "leading"

involves "turning" the sun, moon, and stars, but "many heads of the stars will

stray from the command and will change their ways and actions and will not

appear at the times prescribed for them" (80:6-7). As a result, sinners will err,

because "the entire law of the stars will be closed to the sinners" and so they will

"take them to be gods" and then evil will multiply and punishments will follow.

This reflects what we find in 1 En 18:15, where Enoch hears about "the

stars and the host of heaven ... that transgressed the command of the Lord

in the beginning of their rising, for they did not come out in their appointed

time." Like the cohorts of Shemikhazah and "Aza'el, these are "bound... un­

til the time of the consummation of their sins." These leaders are those who

"keep watch so they enter at their times" (82:10). They are "watchers."

Enoch briefs Methuselah (1 En 82:5) on the subject. The specific error

of the human sinners concerns their failure to observe the four days that di­

vide the year into equal quarters (82:3-4). The problem here is the failure to

conform to the symmetry of the year. The fact that observable reality doesn't

line up with any known calendar at the time is not resolved by more accurate

observations. We are told that as a result of this event, "in the days of the sin­

ners" (80:2) the year is shortened and so the seasons are late. The moon does

not appear at the right time (80:4). This Enochic calendar is not a construct

based on observation. It is a theoretical construct based on an a priori un­

derstanding of the character of God expressed in the paradigm of rigorous

order and regularity.^33 Glessmer comments: "These considerations indicate

33. See James M. Scott, "The Chronologies of the Apocalypse of Weeks and the Book
    of Jubilees," in this volume.