Bible Review

F.I. Andersen, “Enoch, Second Book of,” ABD, vol. 2, pp. 516–522; Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1981), pp. 185–192.

This dating is the usual scholarly dating. See, e.g., Nickelsburg, “Enoch, First Book of,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary (ABD) (New York: Doubleday, 1992), vol. 1, pp. 508–516.

Quotations from 1 Enoch here are taken from the translation prepared by George W.E. Nickelsburg for his commentary on 1 Enoch. I am indebted to Professor Nickelsburg for allowing me to use his translation, which is an “eclectic” translation based on the Ethiopic, Greek and Aramaic versions.

The standard English translation is the two-volume collection, OTP, edited by Charlesworth.

On Enoch, see Philip S. Alexander, “From Son of Adam to Second God: Transformations of the Biblical Enoch,” in Biblical Figures Outside the Bible, ed. by Michael E. Stone and Theodore A. Bergren (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998), pp. 87–122.

All Hebrew Bible quotations are based on the New Jewish Publication Society translation.

The only other figure in the Hebrew Bible to be taken up by God is Elijah, who ascends to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). See sidebar to this article.

The passage is part of what is known as a secondary conclusion to Mark—Mark 16:9–20—which many consider a later addition to the Gospel of Mark. See Michael W. Holmes, “To Be Continued … The Many Endings of the Gospel of Mark,” BR 17:04.

Note also the pairing of ‘arov, “swarms of insects,” and kinnim, “lice,” in Psalm 105:31—a poetic rehearsal of the plagues. However, one should be careful not to push this evidence too far, since in another poetic account, Psalm 78:45, ‘arov is paired with “frogs.”