The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

134 INTRODUCTION
especially for administrative and military terminology, entered the spoken
and written Greek languages en bloc.
2. At the same period, but even more so in early Arab times, hermetic
doctrines flourished.
3. The role of Metatron in the magical Jewish texts dating from the
seventh to eighth centuries is more important than his role in the Talmudic
and Midrashic passages (where the discussions of the rabbis who wished to
minimize the functions of Metatron are also related), but it is less important
than his role in cabbalistic theories, '3 Enoch' included.
4. The magical texts identify Metatron with Hermes, but are unaware
of the equation Metatron-Enoch.
5. As the equation Hermes-'Uhnuh (Tdris) is current in Muslim mystical
literature of the eighth to tenth centuries, it is from there, in all probability,
that the identification Metatron-Enoch of the Targum of Jonathan, Gen.
5, 24, and of the mystical Jewish writings of the Middle Ages must come.
Quite obviously there was no place there for hermetic doctrines.
6. Cabbalistic theories, including the figure of Metatron-Enoch in his
role as lieutenant of God, do not appear in Western Europe until the twelfth
century.
Besides MS. Bodl. 0pp. 556, Enochic pseudepigrapha occur sometimes
in Jewish medieval literature. Thus MS. Brit. Mus. Add. 15299, ff. 45
and following, contains a 'Book of Enoch' that deals with the preparations
which make possible communion with the great angel-princes, in particular
with Yeho'el (which is simply one of the numerous names of Metatron).
This magic writing is followed by Sefer ha-Ydsar, at the beginning of which
we find that Sefer ha-Yasar and a second book were given to Adam by the
angel Gallisur; the two books were transmitted to Seth and then to Enoch.
The same tradition is found in Sefer Razfel ha-maVak. According to Zohar
i 556 and 586 one of these two books is 'the book of Enoch'. The compilers
of the magic materials of the Sefer ha-Yasar thus claimed Enochic authority
for their own work which they allowed to be accepted as the Second Book of
Enoch.
In the vast cabbalistic compilation known under the name of Zohar we
find frequent references to the Book of Enoch, ^13m XHDO. Certain of
these quotations and allusions are encountered in the 'Hebrew Enoch';