Читать книгу The End of the Scroll - Herold Weiss - Страница 8

The Dawn of Biblical Apocalypticism

The transition from a prophetic to an apocalyptic perspective did not take place in a short period due to exceptional circumstances. The apocalyptic point of view came about in the course of centuries with no central authority guiding its course. It has been suggested that the fact that First Enoch is a compilation of several documents, that began to be put together toward the end of the second century B.C.E. and ended toward the end of the first century C.E., argues for the existence of an apocalyptic movement during those centuries, and this is a possibility. A convincing delineation of such a movement, however, has not yet been made, and if it were to be recognized it would not, by itself, mean that its influence was extensive. The apocalyptic imagination does not work according to rules and consistent outlines. Most probably, several apocalyptic traditions developed during the last centuries B.C.E. This means that there were different apocalyptic traditions tracing their own trajectories. During the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, apocalyptic perspectives were being held by different Jewish groups, each with its own characteristics. The apocalypticism of the Pharisees was not that of the Covenanters of Qumran, and both were quite different from that of the Zealots. In the New Testament, apocalyptic descriptions also have their own variations; quite often they do not agree with each other. Their differences, most likely, are due to choice of sources used by their authors and the situation with which they were concerned. Needless to say, each author endeavored to give a message that was relevant to the contemporary experience of his audience.

While still clearly within the standard prophetic tradition, Ezekiel and Zechariah, whose ministries took place during the exile and the re-settlement in the land, already begin to deal with themes that became central to the apocalyptic perspective. The same can be said of the non-canonical Book of the Watchers, which has been identified in the first 36 chapters of First Enoch. It is dated to the end of the third century B.C.E., that is, prior to the writing of Daniel. Even though when the Jews settled on the canon of Scripture, in the second century C.E., First Enoch was not included in the canon, it was a very widely read and appreciated book, as its having been translated from Hebrew to Aramaic, Greek and Ethiopic amply testifies. Besides, First Peter, Second Peter, and Jude demonstrate that the early Christians valued First Enoch as an authoritative book written, according to the author of Jude, by a patriarch who lived before the Flood. In this chapter I will explore Ezekiel, Zechariah and “The Book of the Watchers” in First Enoch to show how an apocalyptic perspective was developed from the sixth to the third centuries B.C.E. The period after the exile was a time of significant new developments in the religious experience of the Jews. My aim in this chapter is to discern how important shifts in perspective took place and how, even though these writings are prophetic in nature, they begin to explore themes that were not given attention by the prophets but became very important to the authors of apocalypses. These texts demonstrate the emergence of apocalyptic solutions to the human predicament.

Ezekiel

Among the canonical prophetic books, Ezekiel more than any other dates some of its oracles. In the book the oracles are not arranged chronologically. Three of them are out of order. The inaugural oracle (Ez. 1:2) is dated in 593 B.C.E., and the latest one (Ez. 29:17) in 571 B.C.E. The oracles dated between those two, however, cannot be used to date those undated. The evidence indicates that some of the oracles must have been spoken during Ezekiel’s ministry in Jerusalem prior to the beginning of the Exile in 605 B.C.E., and certainly before the capture and removal to Babylon of King Jehoiachin in 597 B.C.E. The turning point in Ezekiel’s ministry is the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E.

In connection to his initial call, he reports that the Spirit closed his mouth and made him dumb (Ez. 3:25-26). Later he was informed that when a messenger brought the news of the fall of Jerusalem his dumbness would go away (Ez. 24:27). When one who escaped from the city as it was being taken by the Babylonians came to him with the news of its destruction, he reports that he recovered the ability to speak (Ez. 33:21-22). How it was possible for him to communicate the word of the Lord to the people by the river Chebar in Mesopotamia if he had been dumb for several years is not explained.

While the dating of the oracles in reference to dramatic historical events gives significant clues for their interpretation, the evident editorial work done by compilers and editors make their interpretation uncertain at times. Evidence of these activities, among others, is that the Hebrew version of Ezekiel available to us (Massoretic Text, IX C.E.) is longer and more repetitious than the much earlier Greek version (Septuagint, II B.C.E.). The fragments of Ezekiel found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (I B.C.E.) are closer to the Septuagint than to the Massoretic Text, suggesting the existence of variations in the text as it was transcribed through the centuries. It would appear that Ezekiel had a group of followers who collected his oracles and probably added some that took into account later developments among the exiles. These collections were then placed one after the other in the book now in the canon, thus explaining repetitions and inconsistencies.

Characteristic of the ministry of Ezekiel are his many strange prophetic performances. On account of their bizarre nature some commentators consider them to be literary devices. Taking them as live occurrences, other commentators think they show that Ezekiel must have been psychologically imbalanced. Besides the dumbness already referred to, he says that he had to lay down for 390 days on his left side (Ez. 4:5), apparently in public view. Once completed this number of days, he was to lay down on his right side for 40 days (Ez. 4:6). Then, he was told to eat bread cooked with human excrement (Ez. 4:9-12). When he refused because doing it would defile him, he was allowed to cook the bread with cow’s dung (Ez. 4:15). He was also told to cut his hair and his beard and cast a third of the hair to the wind, one third to the fire and one third just scattered about. On another occasion, he was to go out of the city during the day and during the night carrying the luggage of an exile. He was not, however, to go through one of the city gates. He was to make a hole in the wall and go out through it (Ez. 12:4-5). Obviously, this could only take place before his exile, and the task would have taken herculean effort. To cap it all, when his wife died, he was told not to mourn her death (Ez. 24:15-18). Faced by this most inexplicable behavior, the people asked him, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?” (Ez. 24:19). Thus, readers are informed that these were prophetic performances that called for their interpretation.

Besides distinguishing himself by his bizarre prophetic performances, Ezekiel also stands out for his penchant for proverbs (Ez. 12:22; 16:44; 18:2), riddles and allegories (Ez. 17:2; 24:3). Due to this aspect of his ministry, the people had an easy time dismissing his oracles, saying “Is he not a maker of allegories?” (Ez. 20:49). The book provides ample evidence that Ezekiel was endowed with amazing language skills, as his poems unmistakably demonstrate. Ezekiel’s performances, proverbs, riddles and allegories required wisdom for their interpretation. Thus his ministry is not just the communication of a word of the Lord. His mission is also to interpret both his allegories and his performances for the people. This represents a significant first step in the transition from the role of a prophet as one speaking for another to the role of interpreter of imaginative language.

As a prophet in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, Ezekiel is concerned to establish the sovereignty and justice of God. Announcing that the patience of God has been exhausted and the end of Judah’s national life is imminent (Ez. 7:2, 6, 10, 12, 19), Ezekiel advises repentance and the abandonment of their present course of action (Ez. 14:6; 18:30-32; 33:11). He gives long, detailed descriptions of how the people have departed from the statues and the commandments of God (Ez. 8:10-18; 22:6-12). His characterization is of a people in rebellion (3:9, 26; 5:6; 12:2, 9; 20:13, 21). To enable Ezekiel to deal with the rebellious people, God promises to make his “face hard against their faces … like adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead” (Ez. 3:8-9). This hardening would allow him to withstand the predictable animosity of his audience. On account of the prevalent sinfulness of the people, God has been going about trying to find a man but, like Diogenes in Athens, he found none (Ez. 22:30). The commandments, which were intended to give the people life, are not being followed (Ez. 20:11, 13, 21). The people’s rebellion, therefore, justifies the punishment God will inflict, or in fact has inflicted, on them (Ez. 14:23; 18:5). The people must recognize that what is happening to them is due to God’s direct involvement in history. They are the cause of God’s punishments (Ez. 14:23). In this, Ezekiel is in the tradition of the prophets who analyzed the present and announced God’s punishment, hoping that knowledge of the consequences would bring about a change of course, repentance. The difference with his prophesying is that being in exile in Babylon, God’s punishment is already taking place. His message, therefore, does not include the possibility that the expected future may not happen. This is a significant shift toward a deterministic understanding of history. God insists, “I will do it; I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not repent” (Ez. 24:14). What God has determined for the future will take place; he does not change his mind. God’s current punishment of his people was already set in God’s designs. Therefore, rather than to announce possible future punishments, Ezekiel justifies God’s current punishment. A different historical moment calls for a different explanation of what God is doing.

The transition from a corporate, or a tribal identity to an individual one makes it necessary for Ezekiel to give detailed descriptions of how a person is held accountable for his conduct. Contrary to what happened at Ai, where Israel suffered a defeat on account of the greed of Achan, if “a land sins against me,” God tells Ezekiel, “even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness; … they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate” (Ez. 14:14-16). No amount of previous covenant-keeping will save from punishment those who abandon the ways of the Lord. On the other hand, a person who has been in rebellion against God but who turns and follows the way of the Lord will be saved from punishments (Ez. 14:12-20). Like Jeremiah, he quotes the proverb declaring that the sins of the fathers will be visited on their children, only to declare that this proverb no longer applies. Unlike Jeremiah, he goes to some lengths elaborating on how this new situation affects real life (Ez. 18:5-29).

On the basis of the tensions between the former understanding of corporate identity and the new understanding of personal identity, the people are complaining that “the way of the Lord is not just” (Ez. 18:25, 29; 33:17-20). Ezekiel is very much concerned to disprove this accusation. Besides, the Exile of the people of Israel to Babylon is being interpreted by all the neighboring nations as a demonstration of the weakness of their God. Ezekiel, therefore, considers his main responsibility to both prove to the people in exile that their punishment is amply deserved, and to the surrounding nations that the God of Israel is not weak. In his defense of God’s power and justice, Ezekiel gives extreme demonstrations of God’s anger, fury and wrath. God’s sovereignty rules not only over Israel but also over all neighboring nations. Connected to this apologetic interest is a pervasive historical determinism. Everything that happens is the direct result of God’s personal control of events according to his eternal will.

One of the most objectionable demonstrations of the idolatry prevalent among the Jerusalemites was the offerings of their sons and daughters in sacrifices to foreign gods (Ez. 16:20; 20:31; 23:37). This, of course, was one of the obvious reasons why they are being punished by God. Ezekiel knows well, since he is also a priest and very much in favor of cultic rituals, that among the commandments there is one asking for the sacrifice of the first-born to Yahveh (Ex. 22:29; Num. 3:13). Apparently, Ezekiel thinks that the reason why the people were sacrificing sons to Moloch (Lev. 18:21), and women were wailing to Tammuz (Ez. 8:14), was that they were performing these sacrifices in the same way in which they had been doing them to Yahveh. There is no lack of evidence that in Babylon the Jews had adopted syncretistic practices. From this, Ezekiel comes to the conclusion that the law requiring the sacrifice of babies to Yahveh was one of his “bad laws” (Ez. 20:25-26). He then explains the reason for these bad laws. God had given these laws to bring about their misapplications once the people rebelled against him. Thus their sacrifices of the firstborn to foreign gods were also foreordained by God’s total control over history. This shift to a radical determinism running the course of history, which even prevents God from repenting of a previous decision, is certainly a step toward the apocalyptic world view. As an aside, it may be noted that Jeremiah also witnessed the sacrifices of firstborns. His reaction was to deny that God had ever given a law asking for them; such a law had not even ever entered his mind (Jer. 7:31). The evidence, however, supports Ezekiel’s acknowledgment of its existence.

Another move toward the apocalyptic perspective is the way in which in Ezekiel the prophet introduces himself as one under “the hand of the Lord” in the “land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar” (Ez. 1:3). Rather than to receive a “word of the Lord,” the priest Ezekiel sees a stormy wind with great brightness and fire. In its midst he sees “the likeness” of four living creatures with human forms that sparkled like burnished bronze. They had four faces, four wings, straight legs and feet like the sole of a calf’s foot. Under their wings on all four sides they had human hands. They were able to fly in all directions without turning, always straight forward in relation to one of their faces. One face was that of a man, another that of a lion, yet another that of an ox and the last one that of an eagle. From the center of the four creatures, fire and lightning flashed out. Looking further, Ezekiel sees a large wheel in which there were four wheels, each being within a wheel. The spirit of the four living creatures was in the wheels, which allowed them to move in every direction, sideways, backwards and forward, upward and downward (Ez. 1:4-21). Above the living creatures there was “the likeness” of a firmament, and over it “the likeness” of a throne like sapphire, and seated upon the throne “the likeness” of a human being. This being was engulfed upwards and downwards in the brightness of gleaming bronze and fire, much like the rainbow that shines on a rainy day. Such was “the likeness” of the glory of the Lord (Ez. 1:22-28).

This is a fantastic vision of the glory (throne) of God. From the throne, Ezekiel receives his commission to become “a watchman for the house of Israel” (3:17; 33:7), and to produce a scroll containing “lamentation and mourning and woe” (Ez. 2:10). When told to eat the scroll, he discovers that it is sweet as honey (Ez. 3:3-4). Scrolls with descriptions of what is to come shortly became a common feature of apocalyptic texts. Their origin and their content, however, varies in these texts. Later on, in a section that repeats some of the details of the original vision by the river Chebar, readers learn that the Spirit took Ezekiel on a tour of the temple in Jerusalem by lifting him and setting him up in space between heaven and earth (Ez. 8:3). Taking the visionary to the heavenly realm in a tour of either heavenly or earthly realities (Ez. 8:3 -10:22) became a standard feature of apocalyptic literature.

As already said, Ezekiel is concerned to demonstrate that what both the exiles and the neighbors of Israel are saying is not true. Specifically contradicting their charges, Ezekiel insists that the God of Israel is all-powerful and that his ways are just. He supports his contention by giving detailed descriptions of God’s anger, fury, wrath and jealousy in accord with retributive justice (Ez. 5:13-17; 36:5-6). These attributes will be displayed both against the rebellious people who complain that God’s ways are not just, and against the nations who dismiss him as a weak god. As a result of his exhibitions of anger, fury, wrath and jealousy, both his people and the peoples of the surrounding nations “shall know I am the Lord” (Ez. 6:7, 14;12:20; 13:23; 14:23; 16:62; 17:21; 20:12, 16, 38, 42; 21:4; 24:24; 29:21; 32:15; 33:29; 36:23; 37:14). This claim is the leitmotiv of the book. At the moment, the Lord is being dishonored. His name, however, will be vindicated. After the God who has absolute control of history has punished not only Israel, but also Ammon (Ez. 25:2), Edom (Ez. 25:12; 35:2), Philistia (Ez. 25:15), Tyre (Ez. 26:2), Sidon (Ez. 28:22) and Egypt (Ez. 29:3) no one will be accusing the God of Israel of being weak and unjust. Both the broad descriptions of God’s anger and its international reach anticipate apocalyptic expressions of delight with the demonstrations of God’s wrath. Special punishments are to fall upon the Pharaoh of Egypt by the hand of the Babylonians who, God explains, “work for me” (Ez. 29:20). Apparently, God’s special anger toward Egypt is due to Israel’s tendency to doubt God’s ability to provide security, and to rely on Egypt for it. This flames up God’s jealousy; therefore, he will take care that this never happens again (Ez. 29:16). Also to be understood is that God will punish all the surrounding nations not only to avenge their enmity toward Israel, but for his own sake (Ez. 20:9, 14; 36:22, 32). Both in Israel and among the nations, people are saying that God is weak and unjust; he has been dishonored. When the people see the full display of God’s anger, fury and wrath, and understand his jealousy for his good name, then God would have vindicated himself before all peoples (Ez. 36:23; 39:25, 27). The vindication of God’s power and justice is the main agenda item in Ezekiel. Any hope for a future of bliss depends on God’ vindication. Centuries later, in the book of Revelation, this is described as God’s vengeance.

The most intensive display of God’s power takes place in his dealings with Gog of the land of Magog, located to the north and associated with Meshesk and Tubal (Ez. 38:2). It is difficult to identify these names with certainty. They seem to have been taken from the list of nations in Genesis 10. The army of Gog consists of soldiers coming from the four quadrants of the earth: Gomer (north), Put (Ethiopia, south), Cush (Tarshish, west) and Persia (east) (Ez. 38:5-6). This enormous army from “the uttermost parts of the north” will descend “against the land that is restored from war, the land where people who were gathered from many nations upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste,” but where now those living in it “dwell securely” (Ez. 38:8). The description of the exiles living again securely in the mountains of Israel, and the explanation that God is using Gog by putting hooks into his jaws in order to bring him out against the restored people of God, anticipate future apocalyptic scenarios. Gog seems to be an all-encompassing surrogate for the forces of evil, coming from “the north,” that will try to prevent the full vindication of the God of Israel. Subjugating him by putting hooks in his mouth (Ez. 38:4), as well as the references to God gaining control over the surrounding nations by catching them with his net (Ez. 12:13; 17:20; 19:8) reflect the mythological story of Marduk catching Kingu and Tiamat in the Enuma Elish. In Job, God draws out Leviathan from the sea with a fishhook (Job 41:1) This language indicates that Gog is being compared to Leviathan, the dragon of the sea where the forces of evil are gestated (Is. 27:1). The use of mythological language for the descriptions of evil and how God will deal with it became standard in apocalyptic texts. In this also Ezekiel is a forerunner. The mythological scene portrays the future destruction of all evil once Israel is back to its land and is no longer prey to the nations (Ez. 34:28), thus bringing about the total vindication of the God of Israel (Ez. 36:23; 39:27). It is important to note that Gog of the land of Magog is described doing what God is causing him to do. He is neither an independent agent nor the surrogate of a supernatural being who has rebelled against God. Satan is not a protagonist in Ezekiel’s symbolic universe.

Being shown the harsh ways in which God punishes rebellious Israel, Ezekiel asks God in horror, “Ah Lord God! Wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” (Ez. 11:13). The implicit answer is “No.” Throughout the book, God repeatedly announces that he will “restore the fortunes” of Israel. He will gather them from among the peoples and give them back their land (Ez. 11:17; 16:55; 28:25; 36:24; 37:12, 25; 16:53; 39:25). In poetic language God gives a vivid description of how he will make the land flourish again, when all “the cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt.” His people “will soon come home.” God “will do more good to them than ever before” (Ez. 36:8-11).

While restoring their fortunes, God promises to “give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them … that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ez. 11:19-20). The placing of a new spirit and the giving of one heart, which are referred to on three other occasions (Ez. 18:31; 36:26-28; 37:12), are essential to the successful restoration of Israel in her land. The one heart is to be understood in terms of the Hebrew way of expressing doubt or indecision as having two hearts, the heart being the organ of the will. It was in this context also that in one of his beatitudes Jesus spoke of having a pure heart, that is a will not confused by contrary tendencies. This condition will facilitate Israel’s perfect obedience back home in their land.

For Ezekiel, those who live in a restored Jerusalem will not be all those who are now scattered among the nations. There will be a judgment that separates those who will enter the land from those who, although they have been taken out of Babylon, will not enter the land. “I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel” (Ez. 20:38). The notion of individual identity serves to separate individuals from within the body of God’s people. In the vision where Ezekiel is taken on a tour of Jerusalem and shown the many ways in which the people have abandoned their God and carry out abominations, Ezekiel sees one dressed in white linen being instructed to “go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it. And to the others he said in my hearing, ‘Pass through the city after him, and smite; your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity; slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one upon whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary’” (Ez. 9:4-6). This total destruction of not only those who are sinning by robbing, lending with usury, taking bribes, disrespecting their elders, failing to keep the Sabbath, sacrificing children to Moloch, weeping for Tammuz and worshiping the sun (Ez. 8:5-16), but also those who are indifferent to what others are doing, including the priest at the sanctuary, reveals a God who is determined to assert his power and re-establish his reputation by demonstrating that retributive justice works. Ezekiel’s apologetic agenda became the agenda of all biblical apocalypses which double down and describe a God whose justice includes sadistic vengeance.

In connection with the description of the destruction of those who have not been marked on their foreheads because they were not lamenting the abominations done by their neighbors, Ezekiel is told that God gave his people “my [his] Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them” (Ez. 20; 12). As a sign, or a marker of being God’s property, the Sabbath receives singular attention, and its profanation provokes God’s extreme jealousy (Ez. 20:13, 21; 22:8, 26; 23:38). Apparently, Ezekiel already realized that, due to the extent of human rebellion against God, it was impossible for human beings to sanctify any thing. Thus, he gives Sabbath observance a different function. It is not a commandment requiring “to sanctify” the Sabbath in recognition of human creaturehood (Ex. 20:8), or the celebration of the Israelites’ freedom from slavery in Egypt (Deut. 5:12). It is a mark on those who have been sanctified by God. The notion that the elect will be distinguished by a seal, or a mark, became standard with the apocalyptic understanding that not all those who are called are chosen.

The vision of the valley of the dry bones, no doubt, is one of the preeminent features of Ezekiel. It may be related to the complaint of the exiles who say “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off” (Ez. 37:11). It may also have a connection to the story of the Moabite man who was buried in the grave of the prophet Elisha, and “as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet” (2 Kings 13:21). The vision of the valley of the dry bones (Ez. 37) does not serve to announce the resurrection of the dead but the restoration of the exiles to their land. It also makes the point that those who will return to the land are not only the remnant of those exiled in Babylon, but also of those who had been dispersed by the Assyrians when they conquered the northern kingdom with its capital in Samaria. This is an emphasis of the whole of Ezekiel. It was announced by Ezekiel’s laying on his left side for 390 days to represent the 390 years of punishment assigned to the house of Israel, as distinct from the 40 years assigned to the house of Judah (Ez. 4:5-6). Besides the inclusion of the kingdom of Israel, the vision of the valley of the dry bones suggests that Ezekiel is concerned with how God’s justice applies to previous generations.

That both of the kingdoms that resulted from the partition of the kingdom of David after the death of Solomon will experience a restoration of their fortunes is also described by the allegory of the two sisters, Oholah (she who has a tent) and Oholibah (my tent is in her). The reader is told that Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah Jerusalem (Ez. 23:4). Both of them will be restored in their land. That the restoration will include not just the northern kingdom of Israel but also the southern lands that belonged to David’s original kingdom is told by another metaphor involving three sisters. Ezekiel identifies Samaria to the North and Sodom to the South as the sisters of Jerusalem. Their mother was a Hittite and their father an Amorite, and they are the personification of the proverb, “Like mother, like daughter.” Among the daughters, Jerusalem is the one whose harlotry is the worst. Normally men go out looking for a harlot who gets paid. Jerusalem has been going out looking for lovers and paying them (Ez. 16:44-47). The inclusion of Sodom among the daughters extends the land to be restored to the southern borders of the kingdom of David. The restoration of Israel is to be complete; it will include all three daughters of the ancient Hebrew stock (Ez. 16:53-55). God’s promise is, “I will deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant” (Ez. 16:59-60). The everlasting covenant to be established when the fortunes of all Israel are restored, unlike the covenant which the Israelites broke, is also described as a “covenant of peace” (Ez. 34:25; 37:26), because upon their return to their land they will no longer be “a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid” (Ez. 34:28). That the beasts of the land will not devour them anticipates apocalyptic depictions of primordial evil as beasts coming out of the sea.

Such will be the situation after God defeated Gog and sent him down to Sheol to join the prince of Tyre, who has already been condemned to be “no more for ever” (Ez. 28:3, 9, 19). Gog and the other nations he has gathered to come against a restored Israel will suffer a resounding defeat. Then God will invite all “the birds of every sort and all the beasts of the field” to come to the great feast that he has prepared, telling them, “eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, … at the sacrificial feast which I am preparing for you” Ez. 39:18-20). Cleansing the land by burying the dead left from the great demonstration of God’s power and justice will take seven months (Ez. 39:12). If bones are still found in the land after that, they will be properly buried. Restored Israel will dwell in a land that is not only enjoying peace and prosperity but is also ceremonially clean, fully cleansed from all ritual pollution.

This description of Israel as a nation ruled by a descendant of David in a pure land after a horrendous battle that ends with the total triumph of God is the harbinger of the apocalyptic descriptions that later were adopted, with significant modifications, by the author of Revelation. The oracles having to do with the situation of exile conclude with a reaffirmation of the agenda that informs the book. “The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward” (because my ways are just!). “And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them” (not because I am weak!). “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel; I will be jealous for my holy name …when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations” (Ez. 39:23-27). Ezekiel ends naming the city that is now the capital of a restored Israel: “The name of the city henceforth shall be, The Lord is there” (Ez. 48:35). In this way, Ezekiel’s apology for the exile and for the sovereignty and justice of God has been demonstrated. God will be vindicated. Ezekiel proclaims an all-powerful God quite capable to vindicate his good name. Whether his God is also just was, apparently, not thought demonstrated by all his readers.

In Ezekiel the Israelites are suffering at the hand of God as a just punishment for their sins. It is not the case that they are suffering for the sins of their fathers, as it was previously said, nor is it on account of evil forces that persecute them because of their desire to adhere faithfully to the statutes and commandments of the Lord, as will become the case in the future. In this universe, God is in complete control and the course of history is totally determined so that even the abominations that the Israelites have been practicing, on account of which they are being punished, are due to their rebellious nature and the bad laws that God gave them knowing of their coming rebellion against him. The restoration of the Israelites in their land does not involve the termination of history or the destruction of the present creation. Once the forces of Gog have been defeated and the burial of all those killed has been completed, after birds and wild animals feasted on their carcasses, the land will be purified and the river of life will flow from the throne of the temple in Jerusalem and give life to the waters of the Dead Sea (Ez. 47:8-9). The restoration does not bring about a new heaven and a new earth, but a renewed earth. This demonstrates that the two basic doctrines of biblical apocalyptic theodicy are absent in Ezekiel. It ignores the doctrine of The Fall and the doctrine of The Two Ages. The way in which Ezekiel describes the abominable conditions pervading in the world and the vindication of God’s power and justice, however, provided the tools with which the apocalypticists elaborated these two distinctive doctrines. Besides, his detailed descriptions of what God will do to demonstrate his power and justice anticipate the apocalyptic descriptions of how God will bring about shortly a world in which justice and peace are the norm and the sea, the fountain of evil and death, has been eliminated.

In reference to God’s vindication, Ezekiel accuses the people of Israel and the neighboring nations of defaming him by declaring him unjust and weak. His vindication depends on a demonstration of his power and his ability to keep covenant with his people. To accomplish this, Ezekiel looks forward to the restoration of Israel in her land, where she will live securely in an eternal covenant of peace because God will destroy all those who used to prey on her. To explain the absolute sovereignty and justice of God, Ezekiel makes God responsible for the existence of both good and evil in his world. He has given bad laws (Ez. 20:25-26), and in his anger for the abominations being done in Jerusalem, he “will cut off from you both righteous and wicked” (Ez. 21:4).

The flowering of apocalypticism was an effort to solve the problem left unsolved by Ezekiel. God’s vindication as sovereign and just is not quite being achieved while declaring that present evil also comes from God. God cannot be worshiped if he is conceived as the source of both good and evil, as one who punishes equally the righteous and the wicked. The cause of evil in the world must have a source other than God, even if to achieve his purpose God at times uses evil. Apocalypticism’s doctrine of The Fall was the tool with which it attempted to deal with this problem.

Zechariah

The prophet Zechariah gives dates that place his activity between the years 520 and 518 B.C.E., that is after the end of the exile in 537 B.C.E. He was an optimistic prophet who, like Haggai, belonged to the cultic establishment at the time when those who had returned to Jerusalem were involved in reconstituting a viable community of worshipers of Yahveh. Most scholars agree that in its present form the book consists of two separate documents. The first, chapters 1-8, contains Zechariah’s oracles encouraging the people to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem at a time when messianic expectations were high. Chapters 9-14 is a later document with eschatological reinterpretations of messianic themes after the conquests of Alexander the Great made Greece a player in the international horizon of the Fertile Crescent in the second half of the IV B.C.E. (Zech. 9:13). The prophecies of Haggai, Zechariah’s contemporary, see the political upheavals taking place after the death of Cambyses in July of 522 B.C.E. as propitious for the establishment of an independent nation ruled by a descendant of David, Zerubbabel, the current governor of Jerusalem under Persian rule (Hag. 2:6-9, 20, 23). At that time there were revolts in Babylon led by royals who called themselves Nebuchadrezzar III and IV. It was only in his second year that Darius was able to restore order within his domains. Zechariah’s first oracle is dated to the eighth month of Darius’ second year (Zech. 1:1).

The chapters that undoubtedly come from Zechariah deal with the ups and downs of the expectations for a full restoration of the fortunes of Israel with a descendant of David on the throne of Jerusalem. Chapters 1 to 6 contain seven visions, one of them in need of some rearrangement due to the intervention of later hands. The first one (Zech 1:7-17), seems to reflect on the disappointment felt when the revolts of the Babylonians against their Persian rulers did not succeed, thus taking away the possibility of an independent Jerusalem free from Persian control. In a night vision Zechariah sees a man riding a red horse and other riders on four horses of different colors. An angel then provides an interpretation of what is going on. It would seem that this angel is the man sitting on the red horse, but that is not explicit. The riders of the four horses have been patrolling the earth, and they come back to report that “all the earth remains at rest.” Hearing this the angel takes it to be bad news because it means that the Persians have squelched the Babylonian rebellion and that Jeremiah’s prophecy that God’s punishment would last seventy years, or Ezekiel’s prophecy that it would last forty, were not going to be fulfilled. The angel appeals to God, “O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah?” God, who is in control of all political changes, reassures the angel that he has “returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it.” While political independence has become less likely, the assurance that worship of Yahveh at the Jerusalem temple is to be reinstated seems to have satisfied Zechariah. The distinction between political arrangements and worship arrangements became a feature of future apocalyptic discourse; true worship is the basic requirement for the elect, as Revelation would later demonstrate.

The second vision (Zech. 1:18-21) announces that the four “horns” that had scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem will be terrified and cast down by four “smiths” being sent for that purpose. The most likely interpretation is that the Babylonian revolts against the Persians have been defeated, thus the nations that had scattered the Israelites out of Judah and Israel, Assyria and Babylon, are now no longer “raising their heads.” That the forces of evil are not gaining power again and favorable conditions will prevail is essential to the continuation of fidelity to the God of Israel. And fidelity to God under problematic conditions, of course, is the main preoccupation of apocalyptic texts.

The third vision (Zech. 2:1-13) sees a man with a measuring line ready to establish the breadth and the length of Jerusalem. When the angel who has been talking with Zechariah comes forward, another angel intercepts him and tells him to prevent the man from measuring Jerusalem. God’ plan for Jerusalem is that it be inhabited as if it were a village, without walls. “I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within her.” Of course, if the inhabitants were to begin rebuilding the wall, that would have been interpreted by the Persians as an act of rebellion that called for immediate military intervention. Now is not the time for the people of Jerusalem to provoke the Persians by sending the wrong signal. On the other hand, the Jews who are still living in Babylon should get out before the Persians come to Babylon with reprisals for the uprisings of Nebuchadnezzar III and IV. They should come to Jerusalem because God is back in her and many nations “shall join themselves to the Lord.” This vision reaffirms the need to trust God for security in this world. Seeking security by means of alliances or defensive walls is a denial of trust in the power of God to do what he has promised. That would become a most important characteristic of the biblical apocalypses. They do not urge those suffering oppression under foreign powers to rebel with the force of arms.

The fourth vision is somewhat dismembered (Zech. 3, 4, 6:9-15). It announces the coming of the Messiah, The Branch, identified as Zerubbabel. He has laid the foundation of the temple and he will be the one who completes it. The vision also includes a crown made with silver and gold brought from Babylon by recently arrived Jews. The crown, it would seem, was to be placed on the head of Zerubbabel, the Branch. With the passage of time, however, the messianic expectations centered on Zerubbabel faded, and his name disappears from the records. The crown, therefore, is said to be for Joshua, the High Priest. This vision does not begin with a dialogue with an angel. Rather, Zechariah is shown Joshua dressed in filthy garments with an angel by his side. Satan is also standing by to accuse him. Joshua’s filthy garments indicate that he must have had a dubious past in Babylon where syncretistic practices, referred to in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and post-exilic Isaiah, were adopted by the exiles. These, apparently, render Joshua ineligible for the High Priesthood, and Satan is there to point this out. Joshua’s filthy rugs, however, are taken off and he is dressed in rich apparel and a turban. Then he is charged to “rule my house and have charge of my courts.” This arrangement conforms to the Persian predilection for rule through the mediation of priests, rather than civil servants.

Central to this vision, which occupies the core of a series of seven, there is “a lamp stand of gold, with a bowl on its top, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps. Next to it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” When Zechariah asks the angel for the interpretation of the vision, the angel responds with words addressed to Zerubbabel, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6). In other words, the establishment of the descendant of David on the throne would take place by peaceful means, not by an armed uprising against the Persians. Jerusalem is not going to have a protecting wall and a warrior Messiah. As already said, the hopes placed on Zerubbabel did not last, and the vision clearly sets up the lamp stand as a symbol of the temple and the two olive trees as the dual leadership of a religious High Priest and a civil governor, not an independent king. The difficulties in the present text apparently were caused by the need to take Zerubbabel out of the picture when the expectations of his messianic role proved unfounded. Thus, while Zechariah tries to keep alive faith in the power of God to restore the fortunes of Israel, it has to water down the expectations for a messiah. The need to face up to the disappointment with Zerubbabel brought about a revision of the expectations for a military and political messiah. Instead, Jews came to expect a priestly messiah, as later apocalyptic texts from Qumran reveal.

The fifth vision (Zech. 5:1-4) is of a flying scroll with the dimensions of the vestibule of the temple. The scroll contains a curse upon those who steal and those who swear falsely. Their houses will be consumed, “both timber and stone.” Obviously, the curse is upon the ones who stayed in the land of Israel during the exile and took possession of real estate left empty by the exiles. They, apparently, had not only stolen the properties but also perjured themselves claiming ownership after the exile. The prophet has something quite specific to say to them: God will destroy their stolen houses. The punishment imposed gives the clue as to the situation being addressed. This anticipates later apocalyptic descriptions of specific punishments for specific offenders.

The sixth vision (Zech. 5:5-11) has a barrel being carried around. The angel lifts the cover of the barrel and identifies a woman in it as “Wickedness.” Then he puts down the barrel with the cover against the ground, making it impossible for wickedness to get out. Two women with wings like the wings of storks lifted the barrel to the sky. When Zechariah asks the angel where they are taking it, he is told that the barrel is being taken to the land of Shinar, where it will be placed on its base. The vision describes the elimination of the remnants of the worship of the fertility goddess of the Canaanites which was, of course, still quite prevalent in the land after the exile. This wickedness would be done in a foreign land, not any more in Jerusalem. Thus, while in Zechariah we do not read about a new heaven and a new earth free from the pollutions that permeate the fallen creation, like in Ezekiel we do read of the purification of a polluted land of Israel. Cleansing from pollution is a primary concern in a culture centered on a temple, and apocalypticism reinstated an attachment to the Temple, the place where the unity of the universe is displayed. In Revelation the throne is found in the temple. The two are the central symbols of apocalyptic texts.

The final vision (Zech. 6:1-8) is of four chariots driven by four horses of different colors (red, black, white and dappled gray) which come from between two bronze mountains and take off in the direction of the four winds of heaven. They are to “patrol the earth,” like the four riders of the first vision. The vision ends with the angel telling Zechariah, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.” From the perspective of all the prophets, all the enemies of Jerusalem come from the north. Since the north is being carefully patrolled, God is at rest. In this way the seventh vision comes full circle to a land at rest, carefully patrolled by God’s agents. The agenda of all seven visions is to affirm that the world is under God’s total control.

The chapters that come from Zechariah end with the report of a matter that was causing confusion among the people who had returned from the exile. Chapter 7 tells of a delegation from Bethel that came to Jerusalem with a question to the priests at the temple: Were they to observe the fast of the fifth month? The answer given by Zechariah is a word of the Lord which does not refer to the question. It gives a lengthy list of what the Lord expects from his people. It would seem that the answer is that rather than being concerned with fasting they should be concerned with kindness, mercy, non-oppression of others, etc. This answer is in agreement with the prophetic tradition that prioritizes upholding justice and peace rather than cultic performances. In the process, it shifts attention from the past to the future. Actually, since God is going to “be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness,” from now on “the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace” (Zech. 8:19). The future will not consist of fasts but of celebrations. The only explanation for the question having been raised by the delegation from Bethel, it would seem, is that they thought that on account of their syncretistic practices during the exile in Babylon they were now in no condition to observe the fast commemorating the destruction of the temple in 587 B.C.E. The answer, rather than to place attention to the destruction of the temple, calls attention to the restoration of the fortunes of Israel, something which apocalyptic texts will consider essential.

In the tradition of the prophets, Zechariah reviews what is going on at the time and pleads with the people to repent and live according to the ways the Lord expects from them. Yet, significantly, he does what no other prophet had done before. At the very introduction, God instructs Zechariah, “The Lord was very angry with your fathers, . . Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or heed me, says the Lord. ‘Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?’” (Zech. 1:2-6). Zechariah is calling attention to the past as a source of valuable lessons. Their fathers did not follow God’s advice to repent, and the punishments God described to them in advance came to pass. In this way he places himself in the tradition of the “former prophets” (Zech. 7:7, 12), and applies their oracles to his own day. Many of his images are taken from them, suggesting that he sees himself as the interpreter of previous prophetic sayings. He refers to the seventy years of Jeremiah (Zech. 1:12; Jer. 25:11; 29:10), the smiths (Is. 54:16-17), the measuring line (Ez. 42:20), the north country (Jer. 1:13-16; Ez. 38:6), the Branch (Jer. 22:5; 33:15), the wall of fire (Is. 4:5) and probably the horsemen with news of Babylon’s defeat (Is. 21:9). Thus, Zechariah is the forerunner of a characteristic of the authors of apocalypses who saw themselves as the eschatological interpreters of the “former prophets.”

Another innovation found in Zechariah is the way in which angels functions in his oracles. In Micah and in Isaiah one reads of supernatural beings who speak to each other or with the seer. It is only in Zechariah that the angel becomes the interpreter of what the prophet is seeing. This means that the role of the prophet has been changed. Rather than being the one who receives the Word of the Lord, or is inspired to speak for the Lord, the prophet has become the interpreter of previous words of the Lord, or the messenger of the interpretation of visions provided by an angel. One needs to note that the Hebrew word for angel, mal’ak, also means messenger, and in time also came to mean prophet. In Zechariah the angel also functions as intercessor (Zech. 1:12) and the giver of oracles (Zech. 1:14-17; 2:4-5).

As I said at the beginning of this section, chapters 9 to 14 of Zechariah come from a different, later source. They are actually two booklets of a collection of three anonymous announcements that are titled “oracles” (massa’). The third one is now known as the book of Malachi (from mal’ak), that is to say “my messenger,” on account of the expression, “Behold, I send my messenger” (Mal. 3:1). The first two oracles now found in Zechariah (Zech. 9:1-11:17 and 12:1-14:21) are also eschatological oracles of “the messenger” who had been identified before as a prophet. These two are similar to the third massa’ which was published independently as Malachi.

Like Ezekiel, Zechariah envisions the restoration of the land in peace and prosperity to take place in Judah and the surrounding regions, especially toward the South. God’s promise is, “I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.” Like Ezekiel, Zechariah gives to Jerusalem a new name, actually two different ones: “The faithful city,” “The mountain of the Lord of hosts,” or “The holy mountain” (Zech. 8:3), rather than “The Lord is there” (Ez. 48:35). Then the Lord promises that “old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets .… For there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew” (Zech. 8:4-5, 12). Also in agreement with Ezekiel, Zechariah understands that God is the source of both good and evil. God says, “As I purposed to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, so again have I purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not” (Zech. 8:14-15). Unlike the future apocalypticists, Zechariah does not attribute to Satan and his cohorts the power to bring about the suffering experienced by God’s people. As in Job, here Satan is known as the accuser at the heavenly court, not as the one who operates freely in a fallen world. It is clear that Zechariah introduces changes to the prophetic perspective in reference to its view of inspiration and its view of God as the Lord of history. These changes became prominent in apocalyptic texts, but Zechariah is not yet an apocalyptic book. In the tradition of the prophets, Zechariah shows a God who is zealous and punishes discreet sins in specific ways, and he envisions the future of Israel still in nationalistic terms. He does not envision the people’s historical experience as the result of a cosmic Fall, and the future he describes is still a historical one in a purified land.

The Book of the Watchers

The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, also identified as First Enoch, was first brought to the attention of modern biblical scholarship when it was published at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Later, fragments of the book were found in a Greek version, which was the basis for the Ethiopic version. Copies in Aramaic have also become available. Among the discoveries made in the caves near the ruins of Kirbeth Qumran by the Dead Sea, fragments of the book were found in Hebrew. These fragments have been most diligently studied because they are in the book’s original language. The full text of First Enoch in our possession, however, is found only in Ethiopic. After two centuries of intense study by biblical scholars, it is agreed that First Enoch is not one book, but a collection of five independent books, which are themselves editorial compilations of different earlier texts. The five separate compositions have been identified as follows: The Book of the Watchers (chaps. 1-36), The Parables [or Similitudes] (chaps. 37-71), The Book of the Luminaries [or The Astronomical Book] (chaps. 72-82), The Book of Dreams (chaps. 83-90), and The Epistle of Enoch (chaps. 91-108).

The discovery of fragments of First Enoch at Qumran in the 1950s greatly strengthen the dating of its two earliest documents before the Maccabean revolt in 167-164 B.C.E. These are the Book of the Luminaries and the Book of the Watchers. The first is primarily concerned to defend the authority of a 360-day yearly calendar against various others being used by Jews at the time. This was very important because the proper celebration of the festivals and the keeping of the Sabbath depended on following the “correct” calendar. Thus, The Book of the Luminaries serves purposes similar to those of the book of Jubilees, which comes from about the same time. The establishment of the right calendar became necessary after Hellenistic culture and greater travel opportunities gave the Jews access to the lifestyles of other societies with more accurate calendars.

The Book of the Watchers, is of special interest to the theme of my book on account of two reasons. One is that it predates the book of Daniel, which was published at the time of the Maccabean revolt (167-164 B.C.E.). Thus, it contributes to our understanding of the transition from prophetic to apocalyptic literature, even if it did not become part of the Jewish canon of Scripture at the Council of Jamnia in the second century C.E. The second reason is that it was extremely popular and considered authoritative by Jews and early Christians before their respective canons were established. That it was considered Scripture by early Christians is evident by the adoption of some of its peculiar features by the authors of First Peter, Second Peter, Jude and Revelation. The author of Jude specifically identifies Enoch, the seventh from Adam, as the author of the book, thus taking at face value the pseudonym used by the author to establish his authority. Jude says that Enoch prophesied that the false teachers among the early Christians were going to be “wandering stars … for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever” (Jude 14). First Peter says that when Christ was crucified he was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went to preach to the spirits in prison who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark” (1 Pet. 3:18-20). Second Peter exemplifies God’s willingness to punish rebels, among others, by the fact that he “did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell, and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4). Revelation reports that the martyred saints’ clamor for revenge from under the altar, and issues a blessing on those who keep the words of its prophecy (Rev. 6:10; 22:7). That angels who sinned and were cast down from heaven are prisoners kept in gloomy, dark pits waiting for their final judgments, and that the dead clamor for God to hear their plea are prominent features of the Book of the Watchers. The use of the Book of the Watchers by these authors tells us that early Christians recognized it as authoritative.

As demonstrated earlier, it is possible to reconstruct with some confidence the historical circumstances that inform the prophetic oracles. Ezekiel had to deal with fellow Israelites in exile who thought their condition revealed an unjust God, and had to answer charges made by Israel’s neighbors that their God was weak. Zechariah had to deal with people who had to accept the leadership of a High Priest with a dubious reputation once their hopes for the restoration of the Davidic monarchy had become unrealizable. The hopes they had placed on Zerubbabel faded as their hero disappeared from the historical record. Rather than a kingdom ruled by a descendant of David, the people had to build the temple and be led by a High Priest. As will become evident in the next chapter, the editors of the book of Daniel had to deal with people who were tempted to adopt the lifestyle and the worship of a more cosmopolitan Greek culture and encourage those with a firm allegiance to the Law of Moses and their ancestral customs to remain faithful when facing severe punishments and even death. In contrast to these books, the author of The Book of the Watchers does not seem to be addressing a specific historical situation. His message does not seem to be linked to particular circumstances. He is concerned with an intellectual problem: Why do people act in ways that God does not approve? This had been a problem already faced by the prophets. This problem was to become the central concern of the authors of apocalypses. What causes people to rebel against God? Why do righteous people suffer without cause? To the apocalypticists these became big problems due to their belief that all human activity is determined by God. Facing these problems, Ezekiel taught that God is the source of both good and evil. But that solution was not accepted by all. Then, how is the presence of evil in God’s world to be accounted for? If God is not the source of evil, where does evil come from? This is the problem being addressed by the author of The Book of the Watchers. It is a problem especially for those who hold that God is in control of this world. As such, it is a problem that transcends specific circumstances.

To deal with this problem, the author of The Book of the Watchers, the first 36 chapters of First Enoch, resorts to accounts of the beginnings of human life. He is aware of the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. It brought about the opening of their eyes to realize their nakedness, and resulted in their expulsion from the garden of Eden. No canonical book of the Old Testament, besides Genesis, contains a reference to the sin of the first human pair in the garden of Eden. All the prophets consider the worship of the golden calf at Sinai the paradigmatic sin that stamped Israel as a rebellious people. Beside the sin of the first pair in the Garden, the author of The Book of the Watchers also knows that Noah was told ahead of time to prepare for the survival of his family and be saved from the coming destruction, and that Enoch is the father of Methuselah, who is the father of Lamech, who is the father of Noah. More than anything else, he knows that “when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose” (Gen. 6:1-2). The Book of the Watchers is an expansion of this text in Genesis. Thus, the author does not claim to have received a Word of the Lord. Rather, as noticed already in Zechariah, guided by an angel, he delivers an interpretation of a previous word of the Lord. He calls “watchers” the angels who watched the daughters of men and desired them. His reaching back to ancestral pre-historic narratives is a most significant move in the direction later taken by apocalyptic authors.

The book opens with the blessings Enoch has for the elect and righteous who “will be living in the day of tribulation.” His use of Enoch as a pseudonym and the projection of his message to a time of trouble in the future anticipate practices that became common among the apocalypticists. The author, identifying himself as Enoch, is not writing for Enoch’s contemporaries, of course. He is writing “not for this generation, but for a remote one which is to come” (1 En. 1:1-2). In this way the author, while writing for the benefit of his contemporaries, accommodates his appeal to the authority of an antediluvian patriarch who was in heaven. The opening announces that “the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai … and all shall be smitten with fear, and the Watchers shall quake.” God will be coming with “ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all” (1 En. 1:4-9). Without any introductory remarks, divine judgment is the center of attention. Then, the author shifts gears and follows the example of Jeremiah, wondering why while in nature everything acts according to the laws established to be followed by them, human beings do not follow theirs. The luminaries, the seasons, the sea, the rivers, they do not deviate from their appointed roles; among them, “according as God has ordained so it is done, … but you – you have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord” (1 En. 2:1-4). Therefore, at the judgment there shall be a curse for the sinners, but for the righteous “there shall be forgiveness of sins, and every mercy and peace and forbearance: there shall be salvation unto them, a goodly light” (1 En. 3:6). This is the introduction that sets up the agenda: at the judgment the cause of evil shall be revealed and retributive justice will be applied.

The rest of the book explores the way in which evil entered the world, and how God, who still has full control of his creation, has already made arrangements to deal with those who do evil. As a consequence, at the news of a judgment the Watchers trembled. The Watchers are the sons of God, the angels, who lusted after the daughters of men. The entrance of evil into the world, however, is told by two contrasting stories. According to one version, Semjaza, who was the leader of the angels, convinces 200 angels to join him and have children with daughters of men. They are aware, of course, that the plan carries a penalty. Still, they come down to earth and take women for wives, knowing that by doing it they were defiling themselves. To their wives they taught “charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells” (1 En. 7:1-2). The description would indicate the introduction of magical healing arts by plants, roots and charms. The giants, for their part, soon consumed all the resources available and, when they could no longer find food for themselves, they devoured mankind. Not satisfied, they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another, and drink the blood. “Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones” (1 En. 7:3-6). That the earth accuses the wrongs being done on it reflects the story of Abel’s blood calling for justice from the ground on which it fell (Gen. 4:10).

According to the other version of the appearance of evil, Azazel “taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals (of the earth) and the art of working with them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways” (En. 8:1-2). In this account, the problem was the introduction of the tools for making women more beautiful and the tools for the warfare that resulted from men desiring them. One cannot avoid remembering Helen and the Trojan War. In this way, the Book of the Watchers assigns the origin of evil among human beings to angels who defiled themselves with the daughters of men, something alluded to in the story of the flood in Genesis. Now God has to deal with angels who have defiled themselves, and humans who have acquired arts that cause them to sin. The move in this direction sets up a theme that became a major concern of apocalyptic writings.

The last thing one should require of mythical stories is that they be consistent. Thus in the remainder of the The Book of the Watchers one finds inconsistencies, but that should not be surprising. Since the Watchers under the leadership of Semjaza have killed all human beings, Michael, Uriel, Rafael and Gabriel in heaven hear the cry of the souls of the dead saying, “Bring our cause before the Most High” (1 En. 9:3). To bring up the cause of the dead, these good angels address God with a list of titles reminiscent of those used by the Greek successors of Alexander the Great: “Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings (and God of the ages), the throne of thy glory (stands) unto all the generations of the ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages.” This manner of address reveals a new universal, imperial understanding of God. The complaint of the souls of the dead is that Azazel has “revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were striving to learn.” And Semjaza and his associates “have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and have revealed to them all kinds of sins. And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness” (1 En. 9:6-9).

In response to the complaint of the dead, God sends Gabriel to “proceed against the bastards so that the sons of the Watchers will kill each other in battle;” as a result, their hope to have eternal life [five hundred years] will not come to pass. God then sends Uriel to the son of Lamech with a message for Noah that the end is approaching with a deluge that will destroy the earth. He is to hide himself and save himself and his seed for all future generations. God also sends Rafael to bind Azazel and cast him into an opening in the desert and to cover the hole with big rocks. There he will be kept until the judgment, when he will be cast into the fire (this prefigures the fortunes of the dragon in the book of Revelation). Rafael is also told to heal the earth from the corruption brought about by the secrets revealed by Azazel, so that all sins are ascribed to him. Finally, God sends Michael to bind Semjaza and his associates. “Let them see their sons killing themselves. Then take them to the valleys of the earth for seventy generations till the day of their judgment. Then they shall be led off to the abyss of fire, the torment and prison where they shall be for ever. Any others who are condemned shall join them there so that all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers are destroyed.” Michael then is to destroy all wrong from the earth and let righteousness and truth flourish again in it with truth and joy for evermore (1 En. 10 – 11). It became popular in apocalyptic books to follow the lead of First Enoch and have the wicked taken to a place to wait until the time comes for them to be thrown into the fire, and to extend the geography of the earth to mythological locations that are appropriate for the eternal punishment of the wicked.

This section of the book describes the punishment God has already established for the Watchers who brought about sin to earth. This, however, is their first “judgment.” Together with all mankind, they will also have to stand at the final judgment. The time between the two judgments is said to last seventy generations, that is the time between the life of Enoch and the writing of the Book of the Watchers. The seventy years of exile referred to by Jeremiah had caused Zechariah to wonder about its fulfillment. In the post-exilic chapters of Isaiah and in Ezra, about 444 B.C.E., Cyrus, the Persian, is identified as the Lord’s anointed who will finally restore the fortunes of Israel, after the non-establishment of the Davidic dynasty with Zerubbabel. In the Book of the Watchers, the messianic establishment of justice and peace must wait seventy generations, rather than years. It is not quite clear, however, when their counting starts. Evidently, messianic expectations have had many revivals with the passage of time, even to our own days. The ways in which they are related in time to previous events varies according to different agendas. Still, in all of them the judgment or judgments occupy central stage.

Chapters 12 to 16 have Enoch in conversation with the Watchers who ask him to plead their cause to the Most High so that they may return to heaven. Enoch takes up their cause and pleads with God on their behalf, but God rejects their appeals. In the process, one reads that the Giants are now evil spirits (1 En. 15:8) who cause havoc among men and women until the time when the Watchers will face their final judgment (1 En. 16:1). While mediating on their behalf, Enoch is informed that though when they were in heaven the Watchers had learned many secrets, they actually learned only “worthless ones” (1 En. 16:2). Thus, their indiscretions on earth did not cause a major upheaval in heaven. Still, what they taught human beings had been the cause of much wickedness; therefore, they will not have peace until the judgment.

In chapters 17 to 36, Enoch is given a guided tour of the universe. The tour starts in the West where fire receives the sun as it sets down and the mouths of the rivers and the waters of the deep are found. Also there he is shown the foundations and the cornerstone of the earth. Beyond is a place with no firmament and no earth or water beneath. An angel informs Enoch that this is the prison of the stars that disobeyed God and are waiting till their consummation at the judgment after 10,000 years. The spirit of the children born of the cohabitation of Watchers and women are not there. They are defiling mankind in different ways (1 En. 17 – 19; 21:5). At the center of a great mountain range with seven mountains, Enoch sees the highest mountain which, Michael informs him, is the throne of “the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King.” There is found the “fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch till the great judgment.… It shall be given to the righteous and holy. Its fruit shall be for food to the elect: it shall be transplanted to the holy place, to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King” (1 En. 25:3-5). That the tree whose fruit could not be eaten is being kept for future transplantation after the judgment stresses the need for obedience now, and provides a model for John in Revelation. Following East from the middle of the earth, Enoch is shown valleys where the accursed are gathered for judgment in the presence of the righteous (1 En. 27:1). Further East he is shown mountains covered with wonderful aromatic trees: frankincense, myrrh, almond, nard, cinnamon, pepper, etc. Finally he arrives, east of the Persian and Indian oceans, to the garden of righteousness with fragrant trees and the tree of Wisdom. Its height is that of a fir, its leaves those of a carob and its fruit is like the clusters of the fruit of the vine with a strong aroma. Rafael now informs Enoch that this is the tree “of which thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother, who were before thee, have eaten, and they learned wisdom and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they were driven out of the garden” (En. 32:6). By bringing up the expulsion of the first pair from the garden of Eden, and the reference to the tree that was not to be touched, the Book of the Watchers reaches back to the beginning, further back than the rebellion at Sinai, as the time when sin entered the world. Thus, the book reveals the origin of evil in the world, and informs the readers that the preservation of the tree for future transplanting is a sign that the original purpose of creation will be accomplished.

From there, Enoch was taken to the ends of the earth where he saw great beasts and birds, all different from each other. To the East he saw where the heavens rest and the portals of heaven open. Through those portals the stars enter the heavens on their journeys West. Going North from there he saw other portals of heaven. From one of them comes the North Wind with cold, rain and snow. From the other two enter violence and affliction. After the tour of the whole universe, the Book of the Watchers ends with Enoch blessing “the Lord of Glory who has brought great and glorious wonders, to show the greatness of his work to the angels and to spirits and to men, that they might praise his work and all his creation … and bless him for ever” (En. 36:4). The book had began with Enoch’s blessings, and records his blessing of God throughout (1 En. 1:1; 11:1; 12:3; 22:14; 36:4). As demonstrated, the book is concerned to convince the reader that, even though angels who defiled themselves with women and brought into the world giants whose spirits cause men and women to sin, this is still God’s world. He has full control over his creation, and his original purpose for creation will be accomplished. The angels who defiled themselves and taught charms and arts to men are already in prison waiting for the final judgment which will eventually take care of all sinners. Then God will restore the world so that peace and joy will endure in it forever. Thus, while making a more extensive use of mythological descriptions, the Book of the Watchers follows the course established by Ezekiel and Zechariah. Its author gives to his contemporaries an explanation for the origin of evil and provides a vision of God’s dealing with it.

It is to be noticed that, while The Book of the Watchers is aware of the sin of the first couple and of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, it does not see their disobedience as the cosmic Fall of all creation. Still, its reference to the sin of the first couple is a move in the direction that gave place to the concept of the Fall. The entrance of sin in the human world is thought to have been brought about by the angels who defiled themselves with women and introduced warfare and medical charms and potions. They are the ones who brought into the world fornication, defilement and debauchery. Besides, the book marks a significant shift in Hebraic anthropology, one that facilitated the emergence of apocalypticism. As pointed out above, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel brought about a shift from a corporate to an individual identity. The Book of the Watchers introduced a new understanding of the dead as capable of pleading for justice. This opened a new path to eschatological scenarios.

The books of the Old Testament reveal that among the ancient Israelites there were two contrasting conceptions of the dead. On the one hand, there was the view that when a person dies the body that is placed in a grave is still somewhat alive. The nails and the hair are still growing, and the bones remain articulated. In very dry climates, they may stay that way for an indefinite length of time. At the time, the Israelites held a psycho-physical understanding of the person. They did not distinguish between material and ethereal or psychic aspects of an individual. They had no abstract nouns in their vocabulary. This means that they did not conceive the notions of mind, will, idea, etc. They located psychic functions in physical organs. The hand indicates intentions; the arm, strength; the bowels, emotions; the heart, will power. The Hebrew word translated “soul” does not refer to an independent, abstract, essential aspect of a person, but to the whole person as alive, active; in fact it is best translated as “person” or “being.” One of the creation stories says that God breathed into the nostrils of a clay form and it became a “living person, or being” (Gen. 2:7). When a person, or being, dies, for the Hebrews the “soul” dies (Gen. 37:21; Dt. 19:6; Jer. 40:14-15). Moreover, the word for “spirit” which also means “wind,” refers to the moving forces within, the feelings, the ideas, the character of the whole person. Thus, according to one point of view found in the Old Testament, when a person is placed in the grave, it goes into the pit and joins the rephaim, the shades. They are negative replicas of living persons who have the remnants of life still in the body. They are a very weak form of life. In this understanding of human beings, life and death are not opposites. They are related to each other within a continuum of different degrees of vitality. While in the realm of the living, persons experience reductions of vitality when they are sick, suffering or under great distress. These experiences are understood to be drawing the person to the gates of Sheol, the place where the rephaim, the shades, are found. Thus, while living on the face of the earth, persons may be already feeling that Sheol is taking vital power away from them. The basic characteristic of the shades in Sheol is that they are weak.

The other view of the dead in the Old Testament sees death as the opposite of life. The living exist; the dead do not exist. They are extinct. Death brings about the extraction of life from the body. It is the emptying of life, the dissolution of the person. Of the suffering servant it is said that he “poured out his soul [being] to death” (Is. 53:12). Dying in childbirth, Rachel called the newborn Benoni “as her soul [being] was departing” (Gen. 35:18). When a woman of Tekoa is coached by Joab to convince King David that he should admit back Absalom into the family, she gives the iconic metaphor for death according to this view. The woman says to David, “We must all die, we are like water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again” (2 Sam. 14:14). According to this view, the dead are in Abaddon (destruction, Job 28:22; Ps. 15:11; 27:20), Dumah (silence, Ps. 115:17). Pleading with God to relent from the unjust treatment he is inflicting on an innocent man, Job says, “Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort before I go whence I shall not return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is as darkness” (Job 10:20-22). In Job the dead are in total annihilation. Job reminds God, “now I shall die on the earth; Thou will seek me, but I shall not be” (Job 7:21). Under distress, the Psalmist pleads, “Look away from me, that I may know gladness, before I depart and be no more” (Ps. 39:13).

The author of the Book of the Watchers is aware of the biblical language describing the pit as a place of chaos and “darkness with no light in it.” But he is also living in a time when Hellenistic culture has made significant inroads in the Fertile Crescent. Among its many contributions, the Greeks fostered the cross-fertilization of cultural features between Greece and India. Among these was the distinction between the body of the dead and their souls and spirits. Our author describes the Watchers, or the giants, as dead and says that their souls ask Enoch to intercede on their behalf before God. He also sees that the spirits of the dead children of the Watchers are causing women and men to sin. This, of course, reveals the influence of the notions of the soul as an independent, living entity. The language of the defiled angels as spirits in prison, found in First and Second Peter clearly comes from The Book of the Watchers and the Hellenic understanding of life after death. To be noticed also is that those in this prison are not just there, as the rephaim in Sheol are described in Ezekiel and Isaiah. They are suffering punishments while waiting for the judgment that will exterminate them.

The Book of the Watchers provides a topography of the underworld, a place not found within the three levels of the biblical world constituted by the heavens above, the earth beneath and the waters under the earth. In the different places surveyed by Enoch the souls seems to be quite alive. This view of death informs the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the gospel According to Luke. That story says that the rich man died and was buried; “and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.” He then pleaded for Abraham to send Lazarus with some water to mitigate the anguish in which he found himself (Lk. 16:19-24). In Revelation, when the Lamb opens the fifth seal, John the Prophet sees “the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” They cried out to God asking how much longer they are going to have to wait for the judgment that will avenge their blood (Rev. 6:9-10). These scenarios could only be conceived after the notion of an independent living soul entered the apocalyptic imagination in the Book of the Watchers. Besides, Enoch’s tour of the universe in this book provided a proto-apocalyptic model for future descriptions of journeys to the frontiers of the heavens. The tour of the universe serves to prove that God is in complete control of what takes place in the world and that, even if the spirits of the Giants are bringing havoc among women and men at the moment, those who introduced evil in the world are now in prison and all evil doers, together with the Watchers and the Giants, will be annihilated at the final judgment. The righteous are thereby assured that they will be receiving their reward. Certainty that God is in control is what gives hope.

This survey of Ezekiel, Zechariah and the Book of the Watchers in First Enoch reveals how different themes and concepts, both of the nature and identity of human beings and of the origin and agents of evil in God’s world, mark the transition from prophetic to apocalyptic biblical literature. While still working within the prophetic understanding of the God of history, these texts move in different directions as they address different historical circumstances. The widening of the horizon within which the Jews lived and the necessity to keep their faith in the promises of God forced them to seek new means for the expression of their faith. In this way these books provided the colors used by the authors of apocalypses with which to paint a relevant picture of the God of creation. The books here reviewed, however, did not quite reach the apocalyptic worldview of God and his world. They reveal that, as the Jews experienced life in a world full of confusing forces that brought about doubts and sometimes despair, they sought new ways to express their faith in the power and justice of the God they worshiped. In the process, they came up with a new conception of the world in which they lived.