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orion relevance of Enoch?





To Stephen Goranson & The Group

My thanks to Stephen Goranson for supporting the continuance of  this
thread which does (I feel) have Qumran relevance
and I (for one) would like to continue the discussion ref: How are we to
understand Ethiopic I Henoch 108?

>in my opinion, what we can learn from Qumran about 1 Enoch, including 108,
seems to me on topic. With due care on aptness, civility, and length, could
this thread continue?

Apologies for getting sidetracked... I do have some other evidence of the
"patchwork" I described at work in chapter 108 which is also evident from
other earlier chapters from Ethiopic I Henoch (e.g. chapter 1) which bear
some similarities to I Henoch 108 (in "patchwork" procedure at least)  and
show that in the earlier sections of the  Ethiopic a similar "patching"
technique was used with smaller "units" joined together by linking ideas
and "catchwords" . I will send examples of abrupt changes of person or
tense in these earlier chapters under a separate posting (in an effort to
try & keep the length of these postings under control).
We can see a  "composite" structure of Henoch generally even beginning with
chapter 1(which I agree has come to the Ethiopic most likely from the
Greek---I did not mean to imply that what ws an Original Aramaic source for
most of the material in the book was transported to Ethiopia without an
intervening transport language or languages; I only meant that he original
source----ultimately-----was probably Aramaic)

Superscription: (I Henoch 1:1); CATCHWORD LINKS TO WHAT FOLLOWS:
BLESSINGS-BLESSED/BLESSED and also RIGHTEOUS ONES/RIGHTEOUS

"The BLESSINGS of Henoch with which he BLESSED the Elect and the RIGHTEOUS
ONES who would be present at the Day of Tribulation at the Removal of the
Ungodly."

INTRODUCTORY PATCHES (I Henoch 1:2)

Patch #1 "And Henoch, the BLESSED and RIGHTEOUS man of the Lord [took up
his parable] and beheld whilst his eyes were open and said: "

What follows (Patch #2)  appears to resemble the very beginning of a book:

Patch #2 (CATCHWORD: THE HEAVENS/HEAVEN) This is a holy vision from THE
HEAVENS which the angels shewed me, and I heard from them everything and I
understood. I [speak/look] not for this generation, but for a future
generation that is to come.

(then there occurs what looks like an "clarification insertion" =
marginalia): "I speak about the Elect Ones and concerning them..."

And I took up [with a parable] saying, the God of the Universe, the Holy
Great One, shall come into his camp emerging from THE HEAVENS with mighty
power...
And every one shall become afraid, and the Watchers shall tremble, and
great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth. The
Mountains and high places shall be [levelled] and [shall shake] and the
high hills shall be made low. They shall melt like the honeycomb before the
flame; and the earth shall be rent asunder and all that are upon the earth
shall perish.

Stray Patch #3 (I Henoch 1:8) CATCHWORD LINKS:  RIGHTEOUS and JUDGEMENT

And there shall be JUDGEMENT upon all, [even upon] the RIGHTEOUS:  (absent
from the Qumran MSS 4Q201 and 4Q204)

Patch #4 :
1 Henoch 1:9  (And to all the RIGHTEOUS  he shall grant peace; He shall
preserve the Elect and Mercy shall be shewn unto them. They shall all
belong to God, and shall prosper and be Blessed and the Light of God shall
shine upon them;) Behold, he shall arrive with millions of his Holy Ones in
order to execute JUDGEMENT upon all. He shall destroy the Wicked Ones, and
censure all flesh on account of everything they have done, that which the
sinners and the wicked ones have committed against him.."

The words in parentheses are missing from 4Q201 and 4Q204 in the Aramaic:
which suggests the words in parentheses were added as a "patch" ---an
observation made even more convincing by the poor logic of the final result
: a more logical fit for this "pious marginalia" would be as follows:

"Behold, he shall arrive with Millions of his Holy Ones to execute
Judgement upon all. He shall destroy the Wicked Ones and censure all flesh
on account of the sinful and wicked deeds committed against him. (But to
the Righteous, he shall grant Peace; he shall preserve the Elect and Mercy
shall be shewn unto them; They shall all [belong to God] and shall prosper
and be Blessed and the Light of God shall shine upon them)"

The poor placement of these parenthetical sentences reveals itself as an
("patch") addition to the flow of the Aramaic Qumran tradition.

These examples are enough to show that even in chapter one, we see the
process of patchwork by link catchwords at work. I can give many more
examples in other posting (if you wish) of this procedure at work in the
book as we presently have it in the Ethiopic..

Still not convinced, Stephen? I welcome any suggestions from the group on
this whole subject of "patch formation" & "insertions" throughout Ethiopic
I Henoch.

Donald Goodell
Pleasanton, CA
Donald.Goodell@ascend.com


For private reply, e-mail to Donald.Goodell@ascend.com
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