earliest segments of the tradition (Sacchi 1997). The generative question was
the origin of evil, and the answer was that it was brought to earth by fallen
angels. Sacchi tended to identify apocalypticism with the Enochic tradition,
in contrast even to the book of Daniel. His student, Gabriele Boccaccini, has
proceeded to argue, in Neusnerian fashion, that1 Enochtestifies to “Enochic
Judaism,” which he further identifies with the Essenes, whom he regards as
the parent movement of the Qumran sect (Boccaccini 1998).
Even if one were to grant that theBook of the Watchersis the earliest
Jewish apocalypse, the whole phenomenon cannot be defined only on the
basis of its earliest exemplar. The differences between Daniel and Enoch
show only that there was some diversity within apocalypticism, and that it
should not be restricted to a single social movement. Again, while the
books of Enoch were preserved at Qumran (except for theSimilitudes),
they were not the only, or even the primary source of sectarian ideology,
and there is no evidence whatever that would warrant identifying them
with the Essenes. Nonetheless, the early Enoch books attest to a kind of Ju-
daism that is significantly different from the covenantal nomism of “com-
mon Judaism.” As George Nickelsburg has argued, “the general category of
covenant was not important for these authors” (Nickelsburg 1998: 125).
Enoch rather than Moses is the mediator of revelation. Unlike the book of
Jubilees,which is closely related to Enoch in some respects, there is no at-
tempt to read back Mosaic legislation into the primeval period. Even the
Animal Apocalypse,which touches on the exodus and the ascent of Mt. Si-
nai in the course of a “prophecy” of the history of Israel, conspicuously
fails to mention either the making of a covenant or the giving of the Law.
In all of this there is no polemic against the Mosaic Torah, but the Torah is
not the explicit frame of reference. Moreover, the Enoch literature attests
to a soli-lunar calendar different from the lunar calendar that was ob-
served in the Jerusalem Temple (at least in later times), but similar to the
one found inJubileesand the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The idea of a movement within Judaism that is not centered on the
Mosaic Torah may seem anomalous in the context of the Hellenistic age,
but it was not without precedent. The biblical wisdom literature is distin-
guished precisely by its lack of explicit reference to either the Mosaic Torah
or the history of Israel, and it retains this character as late as the book of
Qoheleth, which may be roughly contemporary with the early Enoch liter-
ature. Charles, then, was not correct when he claimed that “apocalyptic Ju-
daism” “started with the unreserved recognition of the supremacy of the
Law.” At least in the case of the early Enoch literature, this was not the case.14john j. collinsEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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