The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

En^ I iii SECOND COPY 173
19:1; 21: 5 and 9. He appears again in a similar place, in the accursed valley close to Jerusalem,
27: 2. In the phrase of 20: 2, after €7tI tov Koofjuovy one must of necessity add tcov a)(TTrjpa)v,
following the expression tov Koufxov tcov cftcoaT'qpcov in 20: 4; see En^ i xi 5-6, note. In the
passage of En. 33: 3-4 Ouriel appears as a teacher of astronomy, the role which he will retain
throughout the Astronomical Book of Enoch: 72: i; 74: 2; 75: 3-4; 78: 10; 80: i; 82: 7-8.
The original name of the second archangel as given here in 1. 7 appears twice (a second time
restored) in another Qumran manuscript. In the description of a war formation called 'towers'
one reads: mi] '?[S7] '?[x]5*'a PTP^x^n "ps? nmiid^ 15 M'piian ''21a "PID
[^ISXJB?^ ^XDHI ^K*'n2?, iQM ix 14-16. This Herodian orthography proves definitely the
reading ^arfely Trince of God'; the reading of 4QEn^, belonging to an older manuscript, is
open to doubt: defective spelling of SurVely *Wall of God', being alternatively possible. The
distribution of the four archangels between the four parts of the world in the Manual of War
(iQM) is not quite explicit: Michael is certainly on the south ('right') side of the *tower', and
Gabriel probably on the east side, Sari'el on the north (*left'), and Raphael on the west. Exactly
the same scheme is to be found in medieval cabbalistic treatises, which describe the placing of
the archangels on the four sides of the God's throne: Michael on the south, Uriel (this name
appearing in the Jewish speculation under Christian influence) on the north, Gabriel on the
east, and Raphael on the west side of the throne. A slightly different arrangement is still to be
seen (I have seen it) on a tower built about a.d. 412 in the Byzantine citj'^ of 'Umm 'el-GimM
in Northern Jordan. The name OvpiTjX is engraved on the north side of the castle, and Fa^pi-qX
on the east side; but MixarjX is on the west, and Ta^aiyA on the south. (See E. Littmann,
D. Magie, Jr., and D. R. Stuart, PAES iii A 3 (1913), 143-5, ^^s. 245-8.) For a similar placing
of images of the archangels in four corners of the dome in later churches (especially in Cappadocia)
and in Christian tombs see the paper by P. Perdrizet quoted above, p. 22. In a recently
discovered church at Sel9ikler Koyii in Turkey (ancient Sebaste of Phrygia), dating from the
tenth century, the architrave of the iconostasis has Christ in the middle, with Mary on his
right hand and John the Baptist on his left, and on either side AftxaiyA and OvprjrjX on the right
of Mary, rapprjrjX and 'Pa^aTjX on the left of St. John; see the preliminary report of N. Firath,
Cahters arch, xix (1969), p. 159, figs. 16 and 17, and p. 163. The hierarchical order is: Michael
and Gabriel nearer to the Saviour, Ouriel and Raphael in the right and left outside places.
Exactly the same sequence occurs in an early Christian writing called Epistle of the Apostles,
known in fragmentary Coptic and Latin texts, or Testament of our Lord in Galilee (in the
complete Ethiopic version): *Now the chief captain of the angels (is) Michael, and Gabriel and
Ouriel and Raphael followed me (sc. Christ) unto the fifth firmament.' (M. R. James, The
Apocryphal N, T., p. 489 § 13.) The same order appears in one witness of the Gospel of Bartholomew
(James, p. 175 (iv 28)).
The substitution of Ouriel for Sariel, in the original list of the four archangels, which occurs
in the Greek text of En. 9: i, is due to the function of Ouriel as the Guardian of Tartarus
(En. 20: 2); this role of his is strongly emphasized by the early Christian apocalyptic writers;
see, e.g., the Apocalypse of Peter (James, pp. 512-13) and The Sibylline OracleSy ii, 215 (quoted
above, p. 92).
Another theological influence caused the replacement of Sariel by Is(t)ra^l in En. 10: i.