The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

THE ASTRONOMICAL BOOK
ii
as it may, it is sufficient for our immediate aim to indicate that the expression
nS7T nix, whether it was found originally in Sir. 44: 16 or in 49: 14, certainly
refers to astronomy, a 'Chaldaean' science par excellence—but does
not refer to it exclusively. For the function of Enoch in his role as 'sign of
knowledge for all generations' was to be formulated by the author of the
Book of Jubilees as follows: 'because he was sent down there [to the earth
after his removal] as the sign that he might witness against all the children of
men and foretell every work of the generations until the day of judgement'
(4: 24). This legendary framework certainly corresponds to the situation
described in En. 81 and in the Book of Watchers, En. 1-36. This suggests
that both the author of Jubilees in the last quarter of the second century and
Ben Sira at the beginning of the same century were thinking as much of
the Book of Watchers as of the Astronomical Book, when they designated the
patriarch 'Sign of science', that is, of natural and apocalyptic knowledge.
The grandson of Ben Sira must have been thinking above all of the contents
of the Book of Watchers when he translated nS?T by /xeravota. A pairing of
Enoch and Noah, similar to that in Ecclesiasticus, is found in Jub. 10: 17:
'(Noah) during his life on earth surpassed the children of men by his perfect
justice, with the exception of Enoch. For the work of Enoch was created as
a testimony for the generations of the world, in which he recounted to all
generations their actions up to the day of judgement.'
The scientific part of the astronomical Enoch, i.e. the calendar which
occupied the major part of the Aramaic document, is mentioned explicitly
in Jub. 4: 17: '(Enoch) was the first among the children of men, born of the
earth, who had learned writing, science, and wisdom, and he described in a
book the signs of heaven according to the order of their months, that the
children of men might know the periods of the year according to the order of
all their particular months.' The first part of the following verse refers no
doubt to En. 80-2, which have an ethical and apocalyptic content: 'He
was also the first to write a testimony, and he gave this testimony to the
children of men from among the generations of the earth.' But the text of
verse 186 goes far beyond the content of our astronomical document: 'he
had given notice of the weeks of years of the jubilees, made known the
reckoning of the years, placed in order the months, and proclaimed the
sabbaths of years, (all) that we [the angels] had taught him.' I see in this
a reference to various astronomical and calendrical texts, calculated on the
cycles of three, six, seven, and forty-nine years, copies of which exist among
the manuscripts of Cave 4 of Qumran (see below, pp. 61-9).