“Like one of the glorious ones”: The transformation of Enoch in 2 Enoch 22

Updated by: 
Shlomo Brand
Research notes: 
SB/not checked/15/05/2024
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Otto, Randall E.
year: 
2024
Full title: 

“Like one of the glorious ones”: The transformation of Enoch in 2 Enoch 22

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
Volume: 
33
Issue / Series Volume: 
3
Abbreviated Series Name: 
JSP
Pages: 
234–254
Work type: 
Essay/Monograph
Abstract: 

The common assertions that Enoch in 2 Enoch is transformed into an angel, if not something more, are shown to lack support from the key bases on which this assertion is made, namely, his standing in the divine presence, the “sounding out” or testing of the angels to his entry into the divine presence, and his change of clothing for priestly service. Moreover, scholarly assertions of Enoch’s “angelic transformation” do not cohere with the clear emphases he later makes to his family of his shared humanity with them. Much of this misreading of the portrayal of Enoch in this book may owe to retrojections of later Hekhalot mysticism back into the book in an effort to discern a “line of development” or trajectory from 1 Enoch to 3 Enoch. Such a trajectory can be warranted only on the basis of a coherent portrayal of Enoch as he is presented in 2 Enoch. There he is clearly depicted as a man who is glorified among the angels but who remains a human being. While Enoch may be “angelomorphic” in having some of the various forms and functions of an angel, even though not explicitly called an “angel” or considered to have the created nature of an angel, this terminology should be used with caution, since it may tend to blur distinctions between the function and ontology of created heavenly and created earthly beings.

Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: 
Composition / Author: 
2 Enoch
URL: 
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09518207231190609
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207231190609
Label: 
27/05/2024
Record number: 
113 114