Andrei A. Orlov

http://www.andreiorlov.com

 Enoch as the Expert in Secrets

[an excerpt from A. Orlov, The Enoch-Metatron Tradition (TSAJ, 107; Tuebingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2005), pp. xii+383. ISBN 3-16-148544-0.]

…. Helge Kvanvig observes that the seventh patriarch’s role as a sage cannot be separated from his expertise in celestial mysteries since “in Jewish tradition Enoch is primarily portrayed as a primeval sage, the ultimate revealer of divine secrets.”[1]

The patriarch’s prowess in the heavenly secrets is deeply embedded in the fabric of the Enochic myth and is set against the expertise in the celestial knowledge that the fallen Watchers once possessed.[2]  John Collins observes that “most significantly, Enoch is implicitly cast as a revealer of mysteries. The Watchers are angels who descend to reveal a worthless mystery.[3] Enoch is a human being who ascends to get true revelation.”[4]

The traditions about the patriarch’s expertise in esoteric knowledge are attested in a variety of Enochic materials. In the Astronomical Book the possession and revelation of cosmological and astronomical secrets becomes a major function of the elevated Enoch. The origin of this role in Enochic traditions can be traced to 1 Enoch 72:1, 74:2, and 80:1, which depict the patriarch as a recipient of angelic revelations, including the celestial knowledge of astronomical, meteorological, and calendarical lore. He remains in this capacity in the majority of the materials associated with the early Enochic circle. In 1 Enoch 41:1 Enoch is portrayed as the one who “saw all secrets of heaven.” [5]

Jub 4:17 also attests to this peculiar role of the seventh patriarch. A large portion of 2 Enoch is devoted to Enoch’s initiation into the treasures of meteorological, calendarical, and astronomical lore during his celestial tour. The Slavonic apocalypse differs from the earlier materials in that it places special emphasis on the secrecy of cosmological revelations, thus demonstrating intriguing similarities with the later rabbinic developments with their stress on the secrecy of ty#)rb h#(m. Later Merkabah developments also underscore the role of Enoch as the “Knower of Secrets.”  Thus, according to Synopse §14 (3 Enoch 11:2), Enoch-Metatron is able to behold “deep secrets and wonderful mysteries.”[6] Martin Cohen, in his analysis of the Shi(ur Qomah materials, observes that this tradition depicts Metatron as “the revealer of the most recondite secrets about Godhead.”[7]

Several remarks should be made about the sources of Enoch’s knowledge. J. Collins’s research points to the passage in the Apocalypse of Weeks (1 Enoch 93:2) that succinctly summarizes the possible means by which the patriarch acquires the esoteric information.[8] In this text Enoch informs us that he received it according to that which appeared to him in the heavenly vision, and which he knew from the words of the holy angels and understood from the tablets of heaven.[9] The mention of these three sources underscores the fact that the revelations to the patriarch were given on various levels and through various means of mystical perception: seeing (a vision), hearing (oral instructions of angelus interpres) and reading (the heavenly tablets).

It is curious that the terminology pertaining to secrets began to play an increasingly significant role in the later stages of the development of the Enochic tradition. While in the earliest Enochic booklets, such as the Astronomical Book and the Book of the Watchers, the terminology pertaining to secrets and mysteries is barely discernible, it looms large in the later Enochic materials such as the Book of the Similitudes,[10] 2 Enoch and finally the Merkabah developments. This growing importance of terminology pertaining to secrets can be illustrated by 2 Enoch. While various manuscripts of 2 Enoch are known under different titles, most of them include the word “secrets.”[11] In some of these titles the term is connected with Enoch’s books – “The Secret Books of Enoch.” In other titles, “secrets” are linked either to God (“The Book[s] [called] the Secrets of God, a revelation to Enoch”) or to Enoch himself (“The Book of the Secrets of Enoch”). This consistency in the use of the term “secrets,” in spite of its varied attribution to different subjects, indicates that the authors or the transmitters of the text viewed the motif of secrets as a central theme of the apocalypse.  The Enochic notion of the secrets and its significance in 2 Enoch and Hekhalot writings will be the subject of particular investigation in a following chapter.

Finally, one must note that Enoch’s role as one who was initiated into the highest secrets of the universe might be implicitly reflected in his name. While several etymologies for the patriarch’s name have been proposed, many scholars suggest that the patriarch’s name might be related to the Hebrew root h9nk, in the sense “to train up,” “to dedicate,” or “to initiate” (Deut 20:5; 1 Kings 8:63; 2 Chron 7:5)….[12]