The Gates of the Moon in the Enochic Book of the Luminaries: 1 En. 74 - 4Q209 7

Can the Enochic Book of the Luminaries, together with its fragmentary Aramaic sources discovered at Qumran, enable us to reconstruct the law underlying the positions of moonrises through its gates as preserved in these texts? The present study aims to provide a methodology for finding the function that fits this law, identifying various possible solutions, and comparing them with the results of previous research. The main result of this study — a periodic function of 27.5 days — ultimately allows us to respond appropriately to the data in 1 Enoch 74 and 4Q209 7. This solution comes in a simple Table with two entries, night and day, repeated after 55 days. On this basis, a reconstruction of chapter 74 of the Book of the Luminaries, along with fragment 7 of 4Q209, is discussed. This study shows the coherence of the Law of Moonrises with the Enochic text and argues that it probably preserves the same tradition as that of 4Q208-4Q209.