JBL 100/2 (1981) 193-212 MASAL IN THE SIMILITUDES OF ENOCH DAVID WINSTON SUTER PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY, TACOMA WA 98447 IMILITUDES of Enoch” is the conventional title modern scholar- ship applies to 1 Enoch 37-71, based on mashaf za-mesalé, “book of the mé4lim,” in 68:1. The introductory formulas in 37:5; 38:1; 45:1; 57:3; 58:1; and 69:29 suggest that the three sections of the work (chaps. 38-44, 45-57, and 58-69) are, in some way, three m2alim and thereby reinforce this designation, although ra’ya tebab, “vision of wisdom,” in 37:1 has at least an equal claim as title.! The choice between these two possible titles need not concern us further, since each has a substantial claim. The prominence of the designation maésa/ in the writing, how- ever, raises a question that requires a discussion of the nature of the Similitudes: in what way is the term appropriate to this particular apocalypse? In traditional usage, the term m4sal identified a number of distinct forms—proverb, riddle, parable, similitude, allegory, taunt-song?—but none appears to be an adequate designation for the three sections of the Similitudes of Enoch. If a similitude is a simile that has been expanded 'J. T. Milik (The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrin Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1976] 89) supports “Second Vision of Enoch” (cf. 1 Enoch 37:1) as the correct title. His position, however, assumes that the Similitudes of Enoch was written specifically for inclusion in this place in / Enoch in order to maintain an Enochic “Pentateuch” after the rejection of the Book of the Giants from the same position. Milik’s conception of an Enochic Pentateuch is too rigid, however. It is better to see the Enochic literature as a more fluid collection—or collections—of writings. In its present position, the Similitudes disturbs the organic connection between the Book of the Watchers (/ Enoch 1-3 chaps. 72-82, and it is more likely that “Second Vision” in / Enoch 37:1 is a redactional heading designed to associate the Similitudes, which has a strong cosmological component, with the cosmological revelations promised in 33:4 and delivered in chaps. 72-82 (see my Tradition and Composition in the Parables of Enoch [SBLDS 47; Missoula: Scholars, 1979] 76). Note also that Milik’s choice of manuscript E® to translate 68:1 (Books of Enoch, 90) assumes rather than supports his understanding of the composition of the Similitudes, and that, while Milik treats this section of 7 Enoch as a late third century ce. Christian writing (Books of Enoch, 89-107), | argue for composition by a Jewish author in the first century .£. (Tradition and Composition, 11-33). ?See A. R. Johnson, “"w2,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East (ed. M. Noth and D. Winton Thomas, VTSup 3; Leiden: Brill, 1969) 162-69; and Joachim Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus (rev. ed.; New York: Scribner's, 1963) 20,194 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE into a picture,> the term is not appropriate for a work that describes the heavenly world and the last judgment in as direct a fashion as possible, given the subject matter. The Similitudes of Enoch does not attempt to assert that the kingdom of heaven is like something from ordinary experience, the growth of a grain of mustard seed, for example. It is, rather, a visionary account of “realities” that can only be experienced in an extraordinary way. At the same time, “parable,” the other conven- tional translation,’ is also inadequate. The Similitudes of Enoch is not a fictional story that serves as a metaphor. Other possibilities for translat- ing ma3al in the Similitudes are equally unsatisfactory. The work appears to be totally different from a proverb, riddle, allegory, or taunt- song—literary types traditionally associated with the m4sa/l. Why, then, is it termed the mashaf za-mesdlé, the méalim of Enoch? In the past, the problem has received relatively little attention. Charles refers to Num 23:7,18 and Job 27:1 in a note to J Enoch 37:5 and claims that the term “means merely an elaborate discourse, whether in the form of a vision, prophecy, or poem.” In commenting on I Enoch 60:1, he indicates that “a Parable in Enoch’s sense is an account of a vision.”® Jeremias relates m43al, in one sense, to hid, which he translates as “riddle” or “dark saying,” and argues that in 1 Enoch, ma34l “has the meaning of an apocalyptic secret.”’ Elsewhere, in discussing the parable of the last judgment in Matt 25:31-46, he comments that “the whole pericope is a ma3al, ‘an apocalyptic revela- tion’ (like the me%alim...of the Eth. Enoch, erroneously called ‘Similitudes’).”® Mowry has a more extensive discussion of the prob- lem. She claims that in J Enoch 37-71 “the parable is no longer a truism of common human experience but a vision of future things revealed to one chosen by God to receive knowledge of divine mysteries.” The eschatological orientation of the Similitudes sets them apart from other examples. At first glance such parables appear to have no association with the earlier Hebraic tradition. Their link with the tradition of wisdom and of prophecy, though tenuous, may fie in the parallel references to parable and riddle (or dark saying) in Proverbs 3Cf. Robert H. Stein, The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978) 36-37. 4See R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch or I Enoch (rev. ed., Oxford: Clarendon, 1912) 64; Milik, Books of Enoch, 89, and my own Tradition and Composition. | have sirice abandoned “Parables of Enoch” in favor of “Similitudes,” at the suggestion of John J. Collins, to decrease the possibility of confusion with the current discussion of “parable” in the teaching of Jesus. SBook of Enoch or 1 Enoch, 70. Cf. Milik (Books of Enoch, 89), who interprets “parables” in the Similitudes as “‘sapiential ‘discourses’ or ‘sayings."” Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch, 113. 7 Parables of Jesus, 16. 8Ibid., 206. 9M. Lucetta Mowry, “Parable,” /DB 3.651.SUTER: Masa! IN ENOCH 195 (cf. Prov. 1:6), in the exordial significance given to the word “parable” in Job's discourses on the problem of evil (Job 27:1; 29:1; cf. Ps. 49:4-20), and in its oracular significance (cf. Num. 23:7).!° Jeremias assumes a link between the traditional ma@sal and the Si- militudes through the agency of the parallel with hidd, “riddle”; how- ever, while intuitively significant, the movement from riddle to “apoca- lyptic revelation” is in need of further explanation. Is every “apocalyptic revelation” a md8al, or is there some more specific continuity between the Similitudes and other méalim? Charles and Mowry both assume a gap between traditional usage and the Similitudes. Charles appears to be saying that the masal has been extended to include any wisdom speech or discourse. His refer- ences to Numbers 23 and Job 27 suggest that this process is already underway in the Hebrew Scriptures. Mowry is quite explicit in describing the discontinuity between previous usage and the Similitudes. She seeks to relate the two by suggesting three links, which she describes as tenuous. The first of these is the same as the connection between masal and riddle made by Jeremias. Mowry’s description of the way in which the Similitudes “‘bridge[s] the gap between the earthly and the heavenly and between the present and the future”! is exceptionally perceptive, although she perceives these cosmological and eschatological features as novel to the masal, I will maintain below, however, that continuity with the traditional forms of the ma3a/ is present in precisely these elements. The Similitudes of Enoch is by genre an apocalypse.!? The visionary element and the revelation of heavenly secrets are among the literary conventions of that genre. The work is not a ma3al because these elements are present, but because, within the confines of an apocalypse, some of them are arranged in the shape of a masal or reflect topics traditional to mésalim. I. The Ma&al Family The problem of the definition of ma3a/l in the Similitudes arises originally not between the biblical tradition and the pseudepigraphical author but rather within the biblical tradition itself. In the Hebrew ‘Ibid. "Ibid. '2For a discussion of “apocalyptic” or “apocalypse” as a genre, see Klaus Koch, The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic (SBT 2/22; London: SCM, 1972) 18-35, John G. Gammie, “The Classification, Stages of Growth, and Changing Intentions in the Book of Daniel,” JBL 95 (1976) 191-204, esp. pp. 191-94, and John J. Collins, “Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre,” Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre (ed. John J. Collins; Semeia 14, Missoula: Scholars, 1979) 1-19. In Tradition and Composition, 146-51, 1 argued that the Similitudes was a maa! by genre. I have abandoned that position for reasons that will become obvious below.196 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, Scriptures, the term is applied to a variety of distinct literary types— proverb, allegory, and riddle as well as the more diverse compositions represented by Balaam’s oracles in Numbers 23-24, Job’s peroration in Job 27-31, and the taunt-songs in Isa 14:4-21, Mic 2:4-5; and Hab 2:6-17. In the NT, the related Greek term, 7apafody, designates the parables and similitudes of Jesus, while in Heb 9:9 and 11:19 it means “symbol.” Obviously, any attempt to define ma3a/—even within the Hebrew Scriptures—must take seriously its application to a variety of forms. The biblical writers recognize all of these forms as belonging to a family and do not develop a terminology that distinguishes between them. English, however, has no single equivalent for maial,!° so that the term must be translated in each case by identifying—according to a modern system of classification —the particular genre to which it is being applied. Jeremias has grasped the problem in his rejection of form-critical efforts to classify the parables of Jesus according to the categories of classical rhetoric: A distinction was drawn between metaphor, simile, parable, similitude, allegory, illustration, and so forth—a fruitless labour in the end, since the Hebrew masa! and Aramaic mathla embraced all these categories and many more without distinction.'* His solution, to define ma3a/ as “figurative forms of speech of every kind,” !5 is overly colored by the variety of figures of speech in rabbinic usages cited and fails to account for the fact that, at least in earlier usage, the term usually identifies a speech form of some sort rather than a figure of speech or the presence of figurative language.'® George M. Landes attempts to resolve the same problem by arguing that “it was therefore not the oral or written form (in prose or poetry), its length, or the type of saying that determined whether or not it was called a m43al, but rather its content and function.”!’ He recognizes that the ma3al embraces a plurality of genres, but then, beginning with VICE, George M. Landes, “Jonah: A Maal?” Israelite Wisdom (ed. John G. Gammie et al; Missoula: Scholars, 1978) 139, '4Parables of Jesus, 20. ‘Ibid. 'SJeremias obviously means to include figures of speech and figurative languay “forms of speech,” while by “speech form” I mean to identify an independent unit of language, like a proverb, which, while only one sentence long, is complete in itself. Jeremias’ approach is appropriate to rabbinic usage and may illuminate the parables of Jesus. It is, however, too broad to do justice to earlier usage, where the predominant use of maga! to identify independent units of speech raises the need to deal with form as well as function and content. It is, of course, true that masa! can designate a figure of speech in the Hebrew Scriptures—masal as “byword” for example. This feature is an added complexity in the problem of definition, but it does not negate the necessity of a consid- eration of form. Jonah: A Masai?” 139.SUTER: Masa! IN ENOCH 197 the earliest, the popular proverb, he attempts to find a basic meaning that embraces all examples: ...@ comparison or analogy expressed either quite explicitly or by implication, for the purpose of conveying a model, exemplar, or paradigm. This could be rendered simply as an insightful or perceptive observation, or in a more elaborate expression, usually to serve as a guide to prudential thinking and action.'* While Landes’s approach is designed to deal with a composition, like Jonah or the Similitudes, that appears to be different in form from traditional méalim, he fails to clarify sufficiently the role of form in the maSal. At times, he speaks of the m3al as “a speech form ... [that] may manifest itself in any of a variety of literary types,” !9 and, when he seeks to test his basic meaning, he does so by reviewing the principal genres of the maa! in the Hebrew Scriptures.2? And yet, as we have observed, from the outset he has eliminated form and type from the definition of masal, limiting himself to function and content. While it might be necessary to question whether, even with the elimination of form and type, his basic meaning is successful as a definition of ma3al,?! a more fundamental question takes precedence —whether it is possible— or desirable—to define the term by bracketing the question of form. The following solution attempts to take seriously the role of form in the masal while respecting the variety of forms identified by the term. It attempts to achieve this goal by identifying resemblances between various examples” rather than by seeking an essential or basic meaning 'SIbid., 140. 'Ibid., 139. Ipid., 139-46, 2IThe masal exhibits diversity not only in form but also in function and content. “Model,” “exemplar,” and “paradigm” are probably too narrow since they suggest a normative function, while a comparison at times may serve a noetic function (cf. Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashville: Abingdon, 1972] 120). 2The present approach to definition of the md3al was suggested by Gammie’s definition of the genre apocalyptic in “The Classification, Stages of Growth, and Changing Intentions in the Book of Daniel,” 191-94, and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s family resemblance theory of definition (see Philosophical Investigations [New York: Macmillan, 1953] 31-36). If family Tesemblance were to be applied more strictly to masal, it would be necessary to catalog the variety of formal features, functions, and contents in the available examples and trace the criss-crossing network of similarities and differences that emerge. A masa! may be a short saying of one or two lines, a prose story, or a long poem. It may characterize a particular situation by holding it up to a time-honored image, or create new insight by comparing two seemingly incomparable things. It may illustrate and clarify or obscure and mystify (cf. Mark 4:11~12). It may repeat a commonplace assumption or subvert the mythic world of the hearer, It may state a riddle of human existence (Psalm 49 or Job 27-31) or a prophetic likeness of potential reality (Isaiah 14). Its subject matter may be nature and ‘society, righteousness and wickedness, wisdom and folly, or a number of other topics. The Similitudes of Enoch may vary markedly from all other mé3élim and yet, because of various perceived resemblances to this or that feature of other examples, be characterized by its writer as a collection of méSalim. The masai has not consequently lost its focus. It is rather an open category that may take various forms and be realized in new ways.198 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE that unites them all—thereby providing for both continuity and change in the mdsal. A mé3al, according to its root meaning, is a “comparison” or “fikeness.”?> It would not be correct, however, to conclude from this observation that a comparison is the lowest common denominator in all examples of malim. Rather, in a number of cases, the md3al/com- parison/likeness is integral to the particular genre. The proverb, parable, or allegory is always a mail, even though the way in which each is a ma8al is different. A popular proverb is a ma3al/exemplar that can be used to typify an individual or situation: “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh” (Gen 10:9)*4 or “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jer 31:29). In the wisdom tradition, the masal/proverb takes ferent forms. In some cases the proverb is an aphoristic couplet involving either synonymous or synthet- ic parallelism: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Prov 18:21). In a large number of cases, however, the art proverb of the wisdom tradition is a ma3al/comparison, not because of the representational value of graphic language as in the popular proverb, but because within the two lines of the couplet a comparison, contrast, or simile is made explicit:25 “Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man” (Prov 27:20). The ma84l as an explicit statement of a comparison or contrast will become important below for understanding md3a/ in the Similitudes. Other forms of the m43al draw upon the representational value of a story rather than a graphic saying. A parable is a story that functions as a masal/metaphor,”° although it is noteworthy that some of the parables 23See Johnson, “¥8,” 162, and William McKane, Proverbs: A New Approach (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970) 22-33. The latter suggests the specific connotation “model,” “examplar,” and “paradigm” for the etymology “to be like” (p. 26) and rejects attempts to derive masa! from msl, “to rule,” along with associated attempts at explana- tion by reference to the world of magic (pp. 24-26). Trans. RSV, with appropriate change in treatment of the divine name. In this article, all translations from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Apocrypha have been derived from the RSV. 2Spart of the problem in defining the wisdom proverb is determining which of the speech forms in the book of Proverbs are in fact mé3alim. I follow McKane (Proverbs, 22) in distinguishing between the Instruction genre, which is imperative and generally states in subordinate clauses reasons for obedience to its commands, and the other speech forms in Proverbs. Johnson (“we,” 164-65), however, makes no such distinction and uses this element of Proverbs as the bridge between the popular proverb and didactic poems, like Psalm 49, which have been labeled mé%alim. Undoubtedly, the meaning of md8a! even- tually becomes broad enough to include the entire content of Proverbs under the title méSalim. 1 find the bridge to the later poems, however, in the ability of wisdom proverbs to state comparisons and contrasts between the righteous and wicked (see below). 26The discussion of “parable” has become quite complex in recent years, and it is pointless to attempt to do complete justice to it here. For a summary of the discussion, see Norman Perrin, Jesus and the Language of the Kingdom: Symbol and Metaphor in NewSUTER: Ma3al IN ENOCH 199 of Jesus, like the parable of the prodigal son and his older brother, involve an internal comparison as well. An allegory is a ma3al/likeness in which a story is told for the sake of a series of images or likenesses.”” On the other hand, there are a number of cases in which the méal/likeness/comparison is not integral to the genre itself but rather serves as an organizing principle for a particular unit—a rhetorical function. These cases include the various discourses, songs, and oracles labeled as méalim,?® since a discourse, song, or oracle does not necessarily involve a comparison or likeness. At times, thus, to identify something as a masal means that as a speech form it is a likeness, comparison, exemplar, model, or paradigm. At other times, it means that the particular unit involves a likeness or comparison as one among various possible ways of achieving its purpose and/or that it involves topics or motifs traditionally associated with m23alin. The Similitudes of Enoch as an apocalypse belongs to the second of these two categories. There are a certain number of topics that tend to reappear in méalim, and, although a survey of these topics is beyond the scope of this article, two that reappear in the Similitudes of Enoch must receive some attention. A number of longer discourses that describe the future reward of the righteous and/or the punishment of the wicked are identified as m2alim. In some cases, the mdsal is a comparison between the fate of the righteous and wicked. Ps 49:13~15 contrasts the fate of Testament Interpretation (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976) 89-193. “Metaphor” does more justice to the current discussion of “parable” than it may seem at first, since there is more to metaphor than an implied comparison. Philip Wheelwright (Metaphor and Reality [Bloomington: Indiana University, 1962] 70-91) distinguishes between two ways of metaphor —epiphor, “the outreach and extension of meaning through comparison,” and diaphor, “the creation of new meaning by juxtaposition and synthesis” (p. 72)—which are present in every metaphor in varying proportions. The power of metaphor comes from its ability to juxtapose two seemingly dissimilar things, that is, from diaphor. When John Dominic Crossan (The Dark Interval: Towards a Theology of Story (Niles, IL: Argus, 1975] 54-62) argues that the parables of Jesus subvert the world of the hearer by contradicting the basic cultural myths of the society, he seems to be pointing to this function of meta- phor. Such a parable stands in a diaphorical relationship to myth. For further discussion of parable and metaphor, see Crossan, Jn Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus (New York: Harper and Row, 1973) 14. 27 Allegory is understood in a variety of ways. According to Northrup Fry, “we have actual allegory when a poet explicitly indicates the relationship of his images to examples and precepts, and so tries to indicate how a commentary on him should proceed. A writer is being allegorical whenever it is clear that he is saying ‘by this 1 also (allos) mean that.” If this seems to be done continuously, we may say, cautiously, that what he is writing ‘is’ an allegory” (Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton: Princeton Uni , 1987] 90.) Paul Ricoeur, on the other hand, treats allegory as a mode of hermeneutics in which a new meaning is assigned to a traditional story (The Symbolism of Evil (Boston: Beacon, 1969] 16). For a discussion of allegories in apocalypses, see John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Vision of the Book of Daniel (HSM 16; Missoula: Scholars, 1977) 110-115. 28For example, the oracles of Balaam in Numbers 23-24, Psalms 49 and 78, Job's peroration in Job 27-31, and the taunt-songs in Isaiah 14, Micah 2, and Habakkuk 2.200 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE the wicked and the psalmist, while a similar contrast between Ephraim and Judah appears in Ps 78:67-72. A NT example is the parable of the last judgment in Matt 25:31-46. There are parallels to this type of contrast in the art proverbs:?? “He who is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die” (Prov 11:19). In other cases, the comparison is between the present and future states of the wicked (see Isa 14:3-4; Mic 2:4; and Hab 2:6). This possibility suggests a projection of the idea of “byword” upon the future? In two examples, the comparisons become more complex. The oracles of Balaam establish various contrasts between present and future blessing and cursing of the righteous (Israel) and the wicked (Moab).}! Job’s peroration in Job 27-31 contains a double contrast: 27:13-23 implies that the present prosperity of the wicked man is only to make his future punishment all the more dramatic, while chaps. 29-30 contrast the past prosperity of the righteous man, Job, to his present inappropriate fate. The riddle of the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked is clearly a recurrent topic in the ma3al, and, while it occurs with some frequency in the art proverb, it is the predominant topic in longer compositions that are labeled méalim. Natural lore is an important topic in the wisdom tradition, and it is utilized in the art proverbs of Proverbs in a way that will illuminate the role of cosmological lore in the Similitudes of Enoch. In Proverbs, this form of wisdom is not reproduced for its own sake, but rather, through juxtaposition with human activity, it serves to provide insight into the 2°The presence of this type of comparison in both the wisdom proverbs and these longer compositions is central to my case. Note that, while Landes (“Jonah: A Masal?” 142-49) explains these longer compositions as mésalim by reference to the basic meaning of model ‘or exemplar rather than to the element of comparison within them, he is aware of the presence of the latter. Likewise, when he explains Jonah as maial, he shows how the structure of the story points to a set of comparisons and contrasts between Jonah and the other characters. Internal comparison is a recurrent feature of méSalim from the wisdom proverbs to the parables of Jesus, although it may not be the only feature that marks a particular speech form as a masal. 30The masal/byword is not simply a proverbial negative example. It seems to involve someone who has fallen from a high estate to a low one. The element of comparison or contrast is thus central. 3IThe oracles of Balaam are closer thematically to Psalm 49 than it might appear at first. Note that, when describing the future blessed state of Israel, the seer exclaims, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his” (Num 23:10), while the curse of Amalek sounds the theme of the fall of the prosperous: “Amalek was the first of the nations, but in the end he shall come to destruction” (Num 24:20). Landes is correct (Jonah: A Magal?” 143) in pointing to the role of metaphor and simile in Balaam’s blessing as a mark of the mdsal. A poem this complex could have a variety of resemblances to other m2&alim. It seems artificial, however, to attempt to explain the oracle as a magal by treating it as a guide to conduct (ibid.)—another indication that the definition of masal as model, exemplar, and paradigm is excessively limiting (see above, n. 21).SUTER: Masai IN ENOCH 201 way the human order is related to the order of the whole of nature: “The north wind brings forth rain; and a backbiting tongue, angry looks” (Prov 25:23). Another more elaborate example is found in Prov 30:29-31: Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any; the strutting cock, the he-goat, and a king striding before his people. From a time closer to the composition of the Similitudes of Enoch, the parables of Jesus occasionally turn to the world of nature to make their point about the kingdom of God,?? and 4 Ezra 4:1-11, 47-50 and 8:2-3 give several short parables (similitudines) that use analogies from the natural realm to talk about the limits of human reason or the secrets of history. The examples in 4:1-11 are of particular interest for under- standing the Similitudes of Enoch: (4:1) Then the angel that had been sent to me, whose name was Uriel, answered (2) and said to me, “Your understanding has utterly failed regarding this world, and do you think you can comprehend the way of the Most High?” (3) Then I said, “Yes, my lord.” And he replied to me, “I have been sent to show you three ways, and to put before you three problems [similitudines]. (4) If you can solve one of them for me, I also will show you the way you desire to see, and will teach you why the (5) I said, “Speak on, my lord.” And he said to me, “Go, weigh for me the weight of fire, or measure for me a measure of wind, or call back for me the day that is past.” (6) 1 answered and said, “Who of those that have been born can do this, that you ask me concerning these things?” (7) And he said to me, “If I had asked you, ‘How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea, or how many streams are at the source of the deep, or how many streams are above the firmament, or which are the exits of hell, or which are the entrances of paradise?” (8) perhaps you would have said to me, ‘I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into hell, neither did I ever ascend into heaven.’ (9) But now I have asked you only about fire and wind and the day, things through which you have passed and without which you cannot exist, and you have given me no answer about them!” (10) And he said to me, “You cannot understand the things with which you have grown up; (11) how then can your mind comprehend the way of the Most High? ...” Ezra cannot comprehend the secrets of nature, whether these involve matters of “daily experience” or “the ways above” (4 Ezra 4:23); how can he hope to comprehend the solution to the problem of evil? According to the Similitudes, however, Enoch has ascended to heaven 3See von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, 119-21. While most of the proverbs deal with the familiar world of nature, a few are more cosmic in their perspective (ef. Prov 15:11; 25:3; 27:20; and 30:15-16). 33See Matt 13:24-30,33; Mark 4:26-32; 13:28; and Luke 13:6-9.202 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE and is capable of providing the answers to these same riddles or similitudines. As in the art proverbs, natural lore—now the secrets of the cosmos—is not produced for its own sake but because in some way or the other it provides the key to the riddle of human nature—“why the heart is evil” (4 Ezra 4:4)—or human existence~—“why we pass from the world like locusts, and our life is like a mist” (4:24). TI. MaSal and the Similitudes of Enoch The introduction to the Similitudes, J Enoch 37, is part of a tradition that associates Enoch with the masal. The earliest version is found in 1:2-3, but the Aramaic médl (Hebrew, masa!) also appears in 4QEn# | iii 18,23 (cf. 1 Enoch 93:1,3), and the use of ma3al in the Similitudes is more closely related to the second of these two passages. 1 Enoch 1:1-3 relates Enoch’s discourse to Balaam’s oracles in Numbers 23-2434 1 Enoch 37, however, following chaps. 92-93,35 treats Enoch as the wisest of mankind and therefore a rival to Solomon (cf. 1 Kgs 4:29-31), suggesting that the Similitudes of Enoch is in some way an allusion to Proverbs, the mé3alim of Solomon (even though the two works may not use ma3al in the same sense). A tradition that connects Enoch with the masal, however, is not sufficient in and of itself to explain the use of m434l in the Similitudes. The term is not limited to the idiom “to take up one’s parable” reflected in 1 Enoch 37:5. It is used throughout the work as a designation of each of its three sections (chaps. 38~44, 45-57, and 58-69). The claim of these sections to be méSalim deserves, therefore, to be examined. *4Balaam’s méXalim in Num 24:3-9,15-24 are designed to bless Israel and curse Moab. / Enoch 1:1 indicates that what follows is concerned with the blessing of the elect and righteous. In J Enoch 1:2, Enoch’s eyes are described as “uncovered by God,” za’emhaba “egzi'abehér ["enza) ‘a'yentihu kesutar (Milik [Books of Enoch, 143) reconstructs this phrase on the basis of the Greek version, which has dpacus, “vision,” where the Ethiopic version reads ’a‘yent, “eyes,” while I follow Charles [The Ethiopic Version of the Book of Enoch (Anecdota Oxoniensia; Oxford: Clarendon, 1906) 2-3) in assuming that the Ethiopic here and in the next phrase correctly preserves an allusion to Num 24:4), to see a vision of the Holy One in heaven, while in Num 24:3-4,15-16 Balaam’s eyes are variously described as closed or uncovered for a vision of the Almighty. Charles (Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch, 4) also suggests a parallel to the blessing of Moses in Deut 33:1. 354QEné I ii 23 (cf. 1 Enoch 92:1) clearly describes Enoch as hakkim *&nd3a’, “the wisest of men.” 36Cf, the “beginning of knowledge” in Prov 1:7 with the “beginning of wisdom” in Prov 9:10 and 1 Enoch 37:2-3. The contrast between Enoch and Solomon is interesting in light of the Wisdom of Solomon, which contains various snippets of the Enochic tradition without, however, mentioning Enoch by name. In particular in Wis 4:10-15 the righteous man who is taken up seems to be a reference to Enoch (see George W. E. Nickelsburg, Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism [HTS 26: Cambridge: Harvard University, 1972] 70-74). Cf. also the role of wisdom in Wis 9:10 with I Enoch 42: Solomon brings wisdom down to earth from heaven, while in the Similitudes wisdom resides in heaven and is available to those who, like Enoch, can ascend there.SUTER: Ma3a/ IN ENOCH 203 The reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. The parallel that Jeremias draws between the Similitudes and the parable of the last judgment in Matt 25:31-46 is valid, although as we concluded above, an “apocalyptic revelation” is not the common element that makes each a mal. The latter is a ma3al of the type found in the Hebrew Scriptures—a longer discourse involving a comparison between the fate of the righteous and the wicked—while, as Erik Sjoberg has noted, the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked are the central themes of the Similitudes.>’ The introductions to the three sections of the Similitudes, J Enoch 38, 45, and 58, are exclusive- ly concerned with a comparison between the lot of the righteous and the sinners on the day of judgment. There may in fact be a literary or traditional relationship between the Similitudes and the parable of the last judgment,?* and, if so, the presence of the latter alongside parables of a different type in the NT is of significance for the designation of the Similitudes as m234lim. The Similitudes may be termed m23alim because they have at their center a contrast between the lot of the righteous and the wicked. There are, however, limitations to this line of argument. While the themes of judgment and reward are central to the Similitudes, they do not account for all that is included in the work. The writing is more complex than the simple comparison between the lot of the righteous and the wicked in the parable of the last judgment. According to the introduction of the entire work, the writing claims to be the “beginning of wisdom” (1 Enoch 37:3), and the presence of astronomical and cosmological material suggests that its scope is more encyclopedic in design than the themes of reward and punishment suggest. As a matter of fact, in the Similitudes there is an intersection between cosmology and eschatology that can be examined through a discussion of the role of ma34l in the work.>? 37Der Menschensohn im dthiopischen Henochbuch (Lund: Gleerup, 1946) 33. 38See Tradition and Composition, 25 and 28-29; and H. E. Tédt, The Son of Man in the Synoptic Tradition (NTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1965) 92. 3°The role of cosmological material in apocalyptic literature is in need of further examination. John G. Gammie (‘Spatial and Ethical Dualism in Jewish Wisdom and Apocalyptic Literature,” JBL 93 [1974] 356-85) deals with what I have termed cosmology and eschatology under the rubrics of spatial and temporal dualism. He has concluded that dualisms involving heaven and carth (spatial) and the righteous and wicked (ethical) are distinct and important categories in apocalyptic literature and that both are derived in a large measure from the wisdom tradition. He also notes how the foci of ethical dualism and temporal dualism (this age/the age to come) occasionally mesh in both apocalyptic and wisdom. Thus he observes a particularly close connection between the concern of 1 Enoch with the eschatological reward or punishment of the righteous and ungodly and the sapiential concern with the future fate of these two groups (ibid., 378). The present argument is that the Similitudes plays with the implications of spatial dualism (the relation between the heavenly and earthly orders) in order to solve problems raised by the204 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE Cosmology and eschatology in the structure of the Similitudes. We have noted above a whole class of proverbs that create insight by establishing comparisons between the natural and human realms. In these prov- erbs—and, as I hope to show, in the Similitudes—it is not man that is the measure of all things, according to the Protagorean maxim, but nature or the cosmos that is the measure of man, and the notion of masal, or comparison, is essential in establishing this “measure” be- tween the various levels of reality. The movement from “nature” in the proverbs to “cosmos” in the Similitudes is only an expansion of essentially the same category —an expansion reflected by 4 Ezra 4:1-11, which has been quoted above. In this passage, matters of daily experi- ence (nature) and the ways above (cosmos) are linked with “why the heart is evil” (human nature) as three categories of “the way of the Most High.” What these three levels of reality have in common is their impenetrability to the human intellect. An observation from a slightly later time comes somewhat closer to the measure that the Similitudes attempts to establish between levels of reality: “As it is above, so is it also on the earth, for the likeness [Ethiopic, ’amsal] of that which is in the firmament is also on the earth” (Asc. Isa. 7:10).! The Similitudes establishes a similar likeness or mé3al between heaven and earth*? in 1 Enoch 43:1-44:1: (43:1) And I saw other lightnings and stars of heaven, and I saw how he [God] would call them all by their names and (how) they would answer him. (2) And I saw a righteous balance, how they [the lightnings and stars] are weighed according to their light, and (I saw) the size of their places, and the day of their rising, and (how) their revolution produces lightning, and their revolution according to the number of angels, and (how) they keep faith among themselves. (3) And I asked the angel who accompanied me, who revealed to me what was hidden, “What are these?” (4) And he said to me, “The Lord of Spirits has revealed their likeness [Ethiopic, mes!] to you; these are the names of the holy who dwell upon the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.” (44:1) And I saw something else concerning lightning, how some of the stars arise and become lightning and are not able to leave their form. presence of disorder in society (ethical dualism) and that this pattern of reasoning is in part derived from yet another polarity present in the wisdom tradition —a polarity between man (or society) and nature. Michael E. Stone (“Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature,” Magnalia Dei: The Mighty Acts of God {ed. Frank Moore Cross, Werner E. Lemke, and Patrick D. Miller; Garden City: Doubleday, 1976] 414-52) raises the question of the role of cosmological lore in the apocalypses but stops short of proposing an answer. I have attempted below to answer the question in terms of theodicy and eschatology; however, given the way in which Stone frames the question in terms of the religio-historical func- tion of cosmological lore in earlier wisdom and the later Hekhaloth writings (see ibid., 443), the inquiry should not end here. 40See Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrh. H. I. 216. 4ITrans. Edgar Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha (ed. Wilhelm Schneemelcher and R. McL. Wilson; 2 vols.; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963-65) 2.653. 42Cf. Stone, “Lists of Revealed Things,” 428-31. Stone also gives a list of passages in which the righteous are compared to stars.SUTER: Masa! 1N ENOCH 205 This passage suggests that there is a meaningful relationship in the Similitudes between the cosmic and human orders, a relationship that can only be discerned through divine revelation. This linkage between cosmic and human explains the association between cosmological and eschatological passages in the Similitudes. The extent of the relationship between these two types of passages can be examined in greater detail through observation of a pattern that runs through parts of the first and third sections of the work.‘ The core of this pattern is to be found in / Enoch 41:1-2, which contains a list of things that Enoch sees on a cosmic journey: (1) And afterward, I saw all the secrets of the heavens, and the kingdom, how it will be divided, and the deeds of mankind, how they will be weighed with a balance. (2) And there I saw the dwellings of the elect, and the dwellings of the holy, and my eyes saw all the sinners, who deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, being driven from there, and they will be dragged [away], and they will have no persistence, on account of the punishment that will come forth from the Lord of Spirits. This list is preceded by a vision of the heavenly court, which appears to be a part of the pattern. Taken together, the vision of the heavenly court and the list yield the following pattern of topics and formulae: the vision of the heavenly court the secrets of the heavens the kingdom, how it is divided the deeds of mankind, how they are weighed in a balance the dwellings of the righteous the lot of the sinners 7MOOW> This pattern is repeated once in the first section and twice in the third section of the Similitudes. It can be reconstructed by following the recurrence of key formulaic expressions. (E) 39:4-14 the dwellings of the holy and righteous (A 40:1-10 the vision of the heavenly court (the multitude standing before the Lord of Spirits) B 41:1 the secrets of the heavens Cc 4ht the kingdom, how it is divided D 41:1 the deeds of mankind, how they are weighed in a balance E 41:2 the dwellings of the elect and holy 431 first described this pattern in Tradition and Composition, 139-45, but have since discovered it to be more extensive than I formerly thought. The present analysis deliberately leaves out of account the messianic element of the Similitudes, which provides an additional linear structure running throughout the book (see ibid., 143-44). For discussions of the messianic concepts of the Similitudes, see Johannes Theisohn, Der auserwahite Richter: Untersuchungen zum traditionsgeschichtlichen Ort der Menschensohngestalt der Bilderreden des Athiopischen Henoch (SUNT 12; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ru- precht, 1975) and John J. Collins, “The Son of Man Who Has Righteousness,” SBLSP (ed. Paul J. Achtemeier, Missoula: Scholars, 1979) 2.1-13.206 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE F 41:2 the lot of the sinners (they are being driven from the presence of the Lord of Spirits because they deny his name) (2) B 41:3 the secrets of the lightnings, thunders, winds, clouds, and dew Cc 414-8 the division of the winds (41:4) and the spirits of men (41:8) D 43:2 the lightnings and stars are weighed in a balance E 43:4 the holy who dwell on earth are likened to the stars and lightnings F 45:1-6 the lot of the sinners (they are denied access to heaven and earth because they have denied the name of the Lord of Spirits) (E) 45:4-6 the elect dwell on the earth or before the Lord of Spirits (B) 59:1-3 the secrets of the lightning and thunder 3) the vision of the heavenly court (the multitude standing before the Head of Days) (F) 60:6 the lot of the sinners (E) 60:8 the dwelling of the righteous (serves to locate the dwelling of Behemoth near the garden of the righteous) B 60:10-11 the revelation of that which is secret C 60:12-13 how the wind, stars, thunder, and lightning are divided D 60:12 how the winds are weighed E 60:14-22 the chambers of the various spirits 60:20 the dwelling of the spirit of the dew 60:23 the garden of the righteous (cf. 60:8; 61:12) (©) 60:22 a measure for the rain (see below) F 60:25 the lot of the sinners (4) C 61:1-5 the measures of the righteous (cf. 70:3; the motifs of division and measuring are connected through Ezekiel 40-48 [see below], which depicts a heavenly being measuring the temple [Ezekiel 40-42] and dividing the holy land [Ezek 45:18; 47:1-48:35, see especially 47:13-14] in preparation for the restoration of the proper order of the holy nation) D 618-9 ‘the deeds of the holy in heaven judged and weighed in a balance E 61:12 the elect dwell in the garden of life F 62-63 the lot of the sinners The pattern is used with a certain degree of flexibility, and clearly it is not the only organizing principle in the Similitudes: a complete analysis must ultimately reckon with the development of messianic themes throughout the book. However, the triple recurrence in J Enoch 41:3- 45:6 and 60:10-63:12 of the topics of 41:1-2—in essentially the same order—indicates that the pattern exists and serves a purpose in the organization of the writing. That purpose can be discerned by observing the way in which the pattern organizes a complex variety of material.SUTER: Masai IN ENOCH 207 The primary function of the pattern is to connect the cosmological and eschatological elements of the writing. It achieves this goal in several ways. First, the pattern itself combines topics that have either a cosmological or eschatological reference. The secrets of the heavens is basically a cosmological topic, although the material dealing with Levia- than and Behemoth in J Enoch 60:7-9,24 has an eschatological refer- ence: the two monsters will become the food for the eschatological banquet of the righteous.# On the other hand, the dwelling of the righteous and the lot of the sinners are basically eschatological topics, although in J Enoch 60:14-22 the former seems to have a cosmological significance. Second, some of the topics alternate between an eschatological and a cosmological significance. The division of the kingdom (and the associ- ated motif of measuring) has an obvious eschatological significance derived from Ezekiel 40-48 and Zech 2:1-5 (MT, 2:5-9).45 At the same time, in I Enoch 41:4-8 and 60:1-13,22, the topic deals with the division of the cosmic order, in which the various elements are given their places and tasks. A md3a/l or comparison is thus established between the proper order of the cosmos at present and of the righteous in the new age. The theme of weighing functions in the same manner. In 1 Enoch 41:1, the deeds of mankind are weighed; in 43:2, the lightning and stars are weighed; in 60:12, the winds are weighed; and in 61:8-9, the deeds of the holy in heaven, probably the angels, are weighed. The parallels indicate that the Lord of Spirits and the messiah exercise a judgmental function in maintaining the proper order of the cosmos and the heavenly beings as well as of mankind (cf. 41:9). Third, a number of passages in which the pattern does not actually appear are tied to it in one of two ways. Eschatological and messianic motifs from the second section of the Similitudes (1 Enoch 45-57) reappear in the final cycle of the pattern in 1 Enoch 61-63. The topic of measuring (or the division of the kingdom) in 61:1-5, which in Ezekiel 40-48 and Zechariah 2 is connected with the return from the exile, seems to reflect J Enoch 51:1, a description of the resurrection of 4Parallels are found in 4 Ezra 6:49-52 and 2 Bar. 29:4. 49See Charles, Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch, 119. “These themes are frequently tied to allusions to various fundamental passages of scripture (see Tradition and Composition, 107-20, and Lars Hartman, Prophecy Interpreted: The Formation of Some Jewish Apocalyptic Texts and of the Eschatological Discourse Mark 13 Par. {ConBNT 1; Lund: Gleerup, 1966] 62-70 and 118-26). While it might be difficult to defend on historical grounds all of the cross-references to scripture that Hartman and I have indicated, literary allusion being a very elusive matter more susceptable to literary analysis than historical proof, 1 am convinced that the Similitudes does employ an allusive style with fairly clear references to major passages of scripture. These include Isa 14 in 1 Enoch 46:4-8, Dan 7:9-14 in 1 Enoch 46:13, Isa 49:1-8 in 1 Enoch 48:1-7; and Exod 14-15 in I Enoch 62-63. In addition, Nickelsburg (Resurrection, 70-78) has an excellent analysis of the role of Isaiah 14 and 52-53 in I Enoch 46 and 62-63.208 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE the dead, and 57:1-3, a description of the return of the Jews of the diaspora. What these motifs have in common is the theme of restora- tion. J Enoch 61:8-9, in which the Elect one weighs the deeds of the holy ones in heaven in a balance, reflects 47:3, where the Head of Days is seated on the throne of glory for judgment; 49:4, where the Elect one judges the secret things; and 55:4, where the Elect one judges Azazel and his associates. And 1 Enoch 62-63, which deals with the lot of the sinners, reflects material from a number of passages in the second section: the enthronement of the Elect one as judge in 45:3; 49:4; and 55:4, the revelation and naming of “that Son of Man” in 46:1-3 and 48:2-7; the judgment of the kings and mighty in 46:4-8; and their punishment in 48:8-10. A major portion of the material in the second section, in which the pattern does not appear, is thus integrated into its final recurrence.‘” In addition, in the second section, the material dealing with the fallen angels (see 1 Enoch 54:1-56:4) appears as an embellishment of the punishment of the kings and mighty in chap. 53, while in the third section (J Enoch 58-69) the fallen-angel material in 64:1-69:12 is similarly related to the punishment of the kings and mighty in chaps. 62-63: note that in each case the kings and mighty attempt to repent and that in each case the places of punishment of the kings and angels are coordinated.‘® The eschatological theme of the lot of the sinners in 1 Enoch 62-63 thus has its cosmic counterpart (or masa/) in the punish- ment of the fallen angels. The pattern proves to be the common thread that runs through the cosmological and eschatological elements of the work, coordinating and uniting them. The ultimate justice of God is defended by establishing a comparison, a masal, between his ordering of the cosmos and the inevitability of the ordering of society that will take place at the last judgment. The result is similar to an allegory in that comparison occurs at a number of points within the work. The righteous and the kings and mighty of the earth both have their counterparts”? in the heavenly world—the stars, the angels, and the Elect one on one hand, and the fallen angels on the other—and the action of God, depicted through the metaphors of weighing and measuring, is applied to both cosmos and society. 470n recurrence or recapitulation in apocalypses see Tradition and Composition, 120 and 139-45; Adela Yarbro Collins, The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation (HDR 9, Missoula: Scholars, 1976) 36-44; and John J. Collins, Apocalyptic Vision of Daniel, 116-18. 48See Tradition and Composition, 120. “On the role of celestial or angelic archetypes in apocalypses, see Stone, “Lists of Revealed Things,” 430-31; Collins, Apocalyptic Vision of Daniel, 115~47;, and Suter, “Fallen Angel, Fallen Priest: The Problem of Family Purity in 1 Enoch 6-16," HUCA 50 (1979) 115-35.SUTER: Masa! IN ENOCH 209 Ill. The Significance of the Similitudes as a Ma5al The Similitudes of Enoch proves to have a double comparison, between the lots of the righteous and the wicked on the one hand, and on the other between cosmology and eschatology, and the intersection of these two comparisons is central to the message of the work. The first of these is the same as the masd/ involved in Psalm 49. In the psalm, the fate of those “who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches” (v 6) and who are the persecutors of the writer is contrasted to that of the psalmist. While both die (vv 7-10), the grave will be the dwelling of the rich and powerful forever (v 11), but for the psalmist, “God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me [k? yigqahéni]” (v 15). In vv 12 and 20, the pomp of the wealthy is contrasted to the common fate of man and beast. Psalm 73 is similar in many respects, although it is not explicitly termed a m43al, and in v 24 the psalmist expresses the hope that at death God will “take” him (w®’ahar kabéd tiqqahéni). The language in Pss 49:15 and 73:24 is similar to that used to describe the “translation” of Enoch in Gen 5:24 (ki-laqah ’6t6 ’élohim), and lagah, “take,” may, in fact, represent a technical term for translation.*° The Similitudes contrasts the fate of the kings and mighty of the earth—who are persecutors of the righteous (J Enoch 46:8 and 53:7), whose power depends upon wealth (46:7; cf. 63:10 and 94:8), and who trust or hope in their idols (46:7) or the scepter of their kingdom and their glory (63:7)—to that of the righteous. The dwelling of the kings and mighty will be in darkness forever (J Enoch 63:6, cf. Ps 49:11), while the righteous will be restored from Sheol (J Enoch 51:1; cf. 61:3-5) to dwell on the earth (51:5) in the presence of the Lord of Spirits (39:7). The concept of dwelling or dwelling place, one of the topics of the pattern outlined above, is central to the comparison in the Similitudes between the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. In J Enoch 41:2 and 61:2, the dwellings of the righteous are mentioned. In 41:4; 45:4, 51:5; 61:12; and 70:4, these dwellings are on earth. In 39:5, they are with the angels (cf. Ps 73:24). In / Enoch 39:6; 45:4; 49:3; 62:8,14; and 71:16 (cf. 39:8), the righteous dwell in the presence of the messiah (the Elect one or that Son of Man). Several times the notion of dwelling is associated with the praise of God (see 39:4-14; 47:2; 48:5; 51:4-5; and 61:12). While the concept is used with a certain degree of ambiguity, it is clear that, in the Similitudes of Enoch, to dwell in the presence of God represents the essence of salvation. S0See von Rad, Old Testament Theology (2 vols., New York: Harper and Row, 1962-65) 1.405-6. Jay Wilcoxen called my attention to this association between Psalms 49 and 73 and the Enoch tradition210 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE The fate of the sinners or kings and mighty of the earth is contrasted to this notion of salvation. They are to be excluded from heaven (1 Enoch 45:2) and driven from the face of the earth (38:1; 45:2,5-6; 53:3-5, 54:1-2; 56:8, and 69:27), from the presence of the righteous (38:3; 41:2; 56:8; and 62:13), and from the presence of the messiah (62:11; 63:9,11). Either they have no dwelling (38:2 and 69:27), or they will descend into Sheol (63:10) where their dwelling will be darkness forever (63:6). While the righteous praise the Lord of Spirits in their dwelling, the sinners are excluded from heaven and driven from the earth because they do not praise him (46:5; cf. 63:4—5,7) or because they deny his name (41:2; 45:2; 46:7; and 48:10) and do not acknowl- edge him as the true source of their power (46:5 and 63:7). If the essence of salvation is dwelling in the presence of God, the essence of damnation is exclusion from that presence. Where Psalm 49 is content to assert that God will ransom the psalmist from the power of Sheol, the Similitudes of Enoch goes a step or two further by adding a common resurrection and judgment beyond the grave for both the sinners and the righteous (7 Enoch 51:1-2) and by utilizing the cosmological material to establish the justice of God in his ultimate treatment of the human race. The comparison —established by the pattern—between the cosmological and eschatological levels in the Similitudes thus serves to justify the comparison that the Similitudes and Psalms 49 and 73 share between the lot of the righteous and the wicked. Just as God and his messiah order and judge the cosmos, and just as the fallen angels, who deviated from that order, have been punished, so the kings and mighty will be punished in the last times. The irony of J Enoch 67:4~13 is appropriate to the intersection of the two comparisons: the thermal springs where the wealthy and the rulers of Palestine enjoy themselves are heated by the fires that punish the fallen angels, and on the day of judgment these waters will become the agent of punishment for those who use them for pleasure. Rhetorically, the Similitudes moves from the juxtaposition of the apparent inequality of rewards between the wicked and righteous to the use of a cosmolog- ical likeness or m434l to transfer the notion of divine governance from the cosmos to society. The comparison established in the Similitudes between cosmology and eschatology is a variant of the patterned relationship, familiar from other apocalypses, between the symbolism of creation and eschaton in which Urzeit is related to Endzeit®! As a matter of fact, the topical pattern that runs through the first and third sections of the Similitudes employs some of the metaphors for creation found in the Hebrew Scriptures and is thus a representation of the creation myth. While the S'See Herman Gunkel, Schdpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit (Gottingen: Vanden- hoeck und Ruprecht, 1895)SUTER: Masa! IN ENOCH 2 division of the kingdom in the Similitudes is an eschatological motif derived from the last chapters of Ezekiel, the use of the motif of division in relation to natural phenomena in J Enoch 41:4 and 60:12-13 bears overtones of the separation of the light from the darkness and the waters above from the waters below in Genesis 1. Isa 40:12 associates the notions of weighing and measuring as metaphors for the divine creative activity, while Job 38:19 asks the way to the place where the light dwells. The function of the cosmological material in the Similitudes is mythological in character: the creative activity of the deity in defeating the powers of chaos and establishing order is transferred from cosmos to society through a masal. IV. Conclusion There are several ways in which the Similitudes of Enoch reflects the magal tradition, without, at the same time, being cast in the traditional literary forms that the md3al has taken. The work establishes a comparison between the fate of the righteous and the wicked that is typical both of the art proverbs of Proverbs and of the various extended discourses found elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures. Since the justice of God is under question, however, it is not possible to conclude—as traditional wisdom does—that the righteous and wicked will receive their just rewards by assuming that there is in operation in the world a force designed to achieve a moral equilibrium.5? Like Job, the Simili- tudes turns to cosmological lore in order to defend the justice of God, although the rhetorical purpose of the cosmology is somewhat different in the two works. Job argues from the sage’s ignorance about cosmolog- ical matters to the incomprehensibility of the justice of God—a theme reflected by 4 Ezra 4:1-11—while the Similitudes argues from the knowledge of the orderly divine regulation of the cosmos to the assertion that God must likewise in the end regulate human affairs. The Similitudes is thus an apocalypse composed of three component dis- courses that can be labeled méalim because of the complex set of comparisons and likenesses that they contain—comparisons and like- nesses that reflect topics traditionally associated with the masal. While there is no essential relationship between apocalypse and ma3al, the presence of a ma3al in an apocalypse may not be as unusual as it seems initially. Apocalypses are noted for their use of figurative language and allegory, which are species of the mésal. Daniel, for example, contains various allegorical representations of the course of history, and the concern for the time of deliverance—“a time, two times, and half a time” (see Dan 7:25)—takes on the character of a tiddle, which the last part of the book repeatedly attempts to solve with Cf. von Rad, Old Testament Theology, 1.421-22 and 428.212 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE its reviews of history. The Apocalypse of the Animals in 1 Enoch 85-90 represents another allegory. The use of allegory requiring interpretation in apocalypses may well owe something to Ezekiel, the “maker of allegories” (Ezek 20:49 IMT, 21:5]), whose rich imagery has had an obvious impact on the later writings. On the other hand, it would be more accurate to term the Simili- tudes allegorical than an allegory. The work deals with the fate of the righteous and the wicked through a patterned set of likenesses between cosmology and eschatology. The terms of these comparisons are internal to the work and have not been left to be supplied by the imagination of the reader or interpreter. The patterned set of likenesses may, in fact, be used to explain the conventional translation, “Similitudes,” if the word is not taken in its strict sense as a simile expanded into a picture but rather in the sense of the Latin similitudo, “likeness,” as the Ethiopic equivalent, mes/, is used in I Enoch 43:4 to speak of the likeness of things above existing on the earth. To understand the work itself, however, we must revert to the Hebrew, masal.Copyright © 2002 EBSCO Publishing