The Watchers in Jewish and Christian Traditions:

4 The Enochic Watchers Traditions and Deuterocanonical Literature

4 The Enochic Watchers Traditions and Deuterocanonical Literature Jeremy Corley This chapter explores echoes of some Enochic Watchers traditions occurring in the apocryphal/deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament. While the closest connections are with the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), there are passing mentions of the primeval Giants—offspring of the Watchers in some traditions— within three other Septuagintal books: Baruch, 3 Maccabees, and the Wisdom of Solomon. Later in this chapter, we shall see that these Septuagintal books all have reminiscences of some traditions found in the Book of the Watchers. But first of all, my quest to relate the Enochic Watchers texts with Ben Sira will present the argument that in some respects we are dealing here with two competing theologies.1 In general, Enochic groups and Ben Sira differ significantly over the importance of Moses, even if the non-Mosaic character of many Enochic traditions does not necessarily make them anti-Mosaic.2 While the Enoch circles claim to possess secret knowledge granted to the patriarch (1 En. 1:2-3; 1. In this chapter all quotations from 1 Enoch are taken from George W.E. Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012), while the translations of other Qumran texts are from Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1997, 1998). All translations from biblical and deuterocanonical books are mine. My thanks are due to Bradley Gregory, Eric Mason, Patricia McDonald, and the editors of the volume for commenting on a draft of this article. 2. George W.E. Nickelsburg, “Enochic Wisdom and Its Relationship to the Mosaic Torah,” in The Early Enoch Literature, JSJSup 121, ed. Gabriele Boccaccini and John J. Collins (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 81–94, esp. 93–94; Anathea Portier-Young, Apocalypse Against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 294–307, esp. 304. Although the Book of the Watchers briefly mentions Sinai as the place of God’s appearing (1 En. 1:4), the “marginalizing of the Mosaic Torah in 1 51 19:3; 82:1-2), Ben Sira focuses on what has been revealed in the Mosaic Torah (Sir. 3:21-24; cf. Deut. 29:28 [NRSV 29:29]).3 Indeed, Ben Sira acknowledges Moses as the revealer of the Law necessary for life (Sir. 24:23; 45:1-5), while mentioning Enoch only briefly in the Praise of the Ancestors (Sir. 44:16; 49:14).4 In addition, in contrast to the narrative emphasis on Enoch’s entry into the divine presence within the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 14:18-25), Ben Sira focuses attention on Moses’ encounter with God (Sir. 45:3). While the Book of the Watchers reports Enoch’s testimony to his meeting with God: “I heard his voice” (1 En. 15:1), Ben Sira celebrates Moses’ encounter with God: “He let him hear his voice” (Sir. 45:5). The fragmentary Hebrew manuscript B of Sir. 45:2 says of Moses (rather than Enoch) that the Lord “honored him like God,” an allusion to Exod. 4:16 and 7:1 (cf. 4Q374 2ii6).5 Author and Audience Whereas most of the traditions in the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) and the Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) were probably fairly well developed before the end of the third century bce, the date of Ben Sira’s Hebrew work can be fixed between 195–175 bce. The poem praising the high priest Simeon II (Sir. 50:1-24) employs such phrases as “in his days” (50:3), so it was probably composed after Simeon’s death around 196 bce. On the other hand, Ben Sira gives no direct hint of the religious upheaval (1 Macc. 1:10-64) that followed the accession of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 bce), and hence 175 bce is likely the latest possible date for the book.6 Thus, Ben Sira probably postdates most of the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book. Enoch” is recognized by George W.E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 61. 3. Benjamin G. Wright, “‘Fear the Lord and Honor the Priest’: Ben Sira as Defender of the Jerusalem Priesthood,” in The Book of Ben Sira in Modern Research, ed. Pancratius C. Beentjes, BZAW 255 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1997), 189–222, esp. 208–12. Cf. Jeremy Corley, “Wisdom Versus Apocalyptic and...