18/12/2011|AS|Reader checked|22/12/2011 SE
1 Enoch 90.37-38 feature a messianic white bull and a nagar. Following a discussion of interpretational cruces, this article concludes that the latter represents the aurochs. A comparison is made with Deut. 33.17 in which the same two oxen represent an anticipated Joseph-Joshua deliverer, who is on the one hand servile and destined to sacrificial death and on the other regnant and free. The coincidence of imagery in the two passages suggests that 1 En. 90.37-38 is dependent on Deut. 33.17, leading to the conclusion that the oxen of 1 En. 90.37.38 depict a Joseph-Joshua Messiah destined to sacrificial death then resurgence in power. This has implications for the dating of beliefs about the Josephite Messiah, for the integrity of other second-century BCE texts, and for Christian origins.