שבח המאורות בספר המשלים ומקבילותיו מקומראן

The Similitudes of Enoch is the only composition among the five books of Ethiopic Enoch that has been preserved in Ethiopic alone. The other four books of 1 Enoch are attested in Aramaic fragments from Qumran as well as in translations in Greek, Syriac, and Coptic. Despite the fact that the Similitudes were not found at Qumran, scholars have pointed to remarkable correspondences between the Similitudes and certain texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. It has been suggested that these correspondences can illuminate the background of the Similitudes. From this perspective, the current article examines a few remarkable themes in the Similitudes that have striking parallels in Qumran texts. The first section of the paper analyses cosmological passages from the first and third similitudes, with emphasis on two themes: (1) The differences between the sun, the moon, and the stars in the degree of their radiance corresponds to the differences between them in the degree of their glory; and (2) The luminaries continually praise God without ever resting, because their praise is their rest and their nourishment. The second section explores similar themes in the Qumran text, Musar le-Mevin. Two fragments (4Q418 55 and 69) associate the angels with the heavenly bodies. The angels differ from one another in glory according to their level of knowledge. Moreover, the angels continually chase after knowledge without ever becoming tired. The third section compares passages from the Similitudes of Enoch, Musar le Mevin, and a third Qumran text: Serekh ha-Yaḥad. The Similitudes and the Serekh contain very similar phraseology with respect to the weighing and separating of spirits. The Similitudes describes the luminaries’ continuous praise, and Musar le-Mevin describes the angels’ continuous pursuit of knowledge. The formulations in both texts are based on an ancient interpretive tradition of Isa 40:26–31 that is already attested in Ben Sira. The close correspondences between the Similitudes and these Qumran texts in terms of ideas and phraseology suggest that there was some kind of connection between the communities that produced them. It is not likely that the Similitudes were composed by members of the Yaḥad. But neither is it likely that the community behind the Similitudes and the communities behind the Dead Sea Scrolls were entirely separated from one another. It seems rather that there were some points of contact.