The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

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ENOCHIC WRITINGS AND ESSENE
FROM
QUMRAN
TEXTS
This is not the place to make a detailed study in which one would gather
together systematically everything that the Qumran manuscripts, undeniably
of Essene origin, owe to the literary and ideological influence of the books of
Enoch, particularly in calendrical and eschatological matters. The annotated
translations of such texts as the Rule of the Community {serek ha-yahad),
the Damascus Document, the Manual of War {serek ha-milhamah), and the
Psalms of Thanksgiving {Hodaydt), together with the articles devoted to
these texts and to the fragments of other manuscripts, contain numerous
references to Enochic literature.^ For the book of Jubilees and its close
connection with the texts of Enoch, one can consult the previous editions of
the Ethiopic Enoch (Charles, 1912, pp. Ixx-lxxv, Martin, pp. cvii-cix) and
indeed this edition itself, passim. Here I wish to deal with three problems:
(i) the possible existence of Hebrew translations of the Aramaic works
attributed to the patriarch; (2) the possible existence of other pseudo-
Enochic writings besides those which have just been discussed; and (3)
the connection between the astronomical and calendrical texts of Qumran
and the Astronomical Book of Enoch.
I. In the Essene scriptorium of Hirbet Qumran texts originally composed
in Aramaic were occasionally translated into the Hebrew language. Two
striking examples are the books of Tobias and Job. A tiny fragment of 4Q
(to be given the number 4Q232 in DJD) seems to provide us with a specimen
of the Hebrew version of the Aramaic work edited under the title
Description of the New Jerusalem.^ Some Hebrew fragments of iQlQ^ are
approximately equivalent to some passages of the Ethiopic Enoch:
1QI9 I: cf. Gen. 6: 12 (for line 3); En. 8: 4 and En. 9: 3 (for line 4);
but the context is perhaps that of En. 7: 4-6.
2: cf. En. 9: 1-4 (4QEn* i iv 6-11 and En^ i iii 7-16).
3: cf. En. 106 ;4 for line 5 cf. 4QEn^ 5 i 29-30.
13-14: prayer addressed to God.
' Such references would be more valuable, iii, pp. 84-9 (2Q24); B. Jongeling, Journal for
however, if more precise information were given Study of Judaism, i (1970), 58-64 and 185-6
in each case as to whether we are dealing with an (a fragment of iiQ); several important fragimplicit
quotation, an allusion, a reminiscence, ments of 4Q, unpublished,
or a vague similarity in style or content. ^ Published by me in DJD i, pp. 84-6 and 152.
* Milik, DJD i, pp. 134-5 (iQ32) and * On this fragment see Milik, Biblica, 32
DJD iii, pp. 184-93 (5QI5); M. Baillet, DJD (1950, 393~400-