Knowledge Transmission in the Context of the Watchers’ Sexual Sin with the Women in 1 Enoch 6-11

Henryk Drawnel

Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II. Wydział Teologii. Instytut Nauk Biblijnych. , Poland



Abstract

The first part of this research scrutinizes previous scholarly opinions concerning the belonging of the motif of instruction to the original narrative. While the conclusions of especially Nickelsburg and Hanson are negative, the mainly thematic criterion used by them in the separation of the literary strata indicates that they could not see any thematic connection between the Watchers and the motif of knowledge transmission. The second part of the research shows the interrelationship between the mythological origins of scribal and medical knowledge transmission in cuneiform sources and the response of Jewish priests in Babylonia. The latter group rejected Babylonian cuneiform arts and opted for Aramaic type of knowledge with the creation of a different ideal scribe from before the flood (Enoch), different transcendent channel of knowledge transmission (angels faithful to God), and different channel of knowledge transmission from father to son in patriarchal and Levitical genealogies. The third part of the research explores the metaphorical meaning of especially the “great sin” of “fornication” committed by the Watchers. The sin of fornication with women and successive defilement of the Watchers have to be interpreted in relation to the metaphorical, not literal, meaning of these terms found in the biblical account where they often figuratively express apostasy from the God of Israel and idolatrous relationship with other gods.

Keywords:

1 Enoch, Book of Watchers, fallen angels, sexual sin, knowledge transmission, Mesopotamian background

Download

Published
2015-11-06


Drawnel, H. (2015). Knowledge Transmission in the Context of the Watchers’ Sexual Sin with the Women in 1 Enoch 6-11. The Biblical Annals, 2(1), 123–151. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/ba/article/view/836

Henryk Drawnel  krzysztof.mielcarek@kul.pl
Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II. Wydział Teologii. Instytut Nauk Biblijnych.

Dzieło Łukaszowe,

Historyczność Jezusa i Ewangelii.

Septuaginta




License

  1. Pursuant to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights of February 4, 1994, the Author of the publication grants to the Publisher of the journal „The Biblical Annals” e a non-exclusive and royalty-free license to use the Work submitted for publication, without time and territorial restrictions in the following fields of use:
    a) record the Work and copy it by means of any technique (including printing and electronic recording) on all known data carriers (including IT, electronic and polygraphic), and in all IT systems (in particular those available online);
    b) enter the Work into computer memory, disseminate the Work and its copies, as well as market the Work and its copies;
    c) publicly perform, replay, display and screen the Work, as well as lend, rent and lease the Work and its copies;
    d) make available, market and disseminate the Work and its copies via IT networks, and in particular via the Internet, including the promotion or advertising of the Work, the journal or the Publisher.
  2. The Author shall further grant his/her consent for the Publisher to use and dispose of derivative works.
  3. The Publisher may sublicense the work.
  4. Third parties may use the articles and other materials containing the Works, or developed on the basis of the Works in line with the model Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (also referred to as CC BY 4.0).