Saturday, December 21, 2019

Timo Eskola on the Enthronement of Enoch in 2 Enoch and Clothing Imagery Denoting Transformation, not Imputation


Commenting on the enthronement of Enoch in 2 Enoch, Finnish New Testament scholar Timo Eskola wrote:

In 2 Enoch we can also find the enthronement theme, and here we also have a rather rare description of an angelic enthronement. In chapter 24 the Lord tells Enoch, “Enoch, sit to the left of me with Gabriel” (J 24:1). In the A-text this is specified – “closer than Gabriel.” Gabriel appears to be seated in an honorary place beside God, even though he must make room for Enoch. On the other hand, the fact that Gabriel is required to move may indicate that his seating is temporary. Therefore the angel may in fact be merely escorting Enoch to the throne. His position is not permanent and therefore this passage reveals much about the relation of the angels to heavenly thrones.

Because of the problems involved in the dating of the work it is not possible to decide in what context such an angelology belongs. It may be a rather late feature, and in this case its “uniqueness” is no argument for an early date. Therefore the evidence of 2 Enoch is not sufficient to reach strong conclusions as regards the interpretation of the angels.

In chapter 22 there is, however, a reference to some kind of transformation. Here, too, we find a description of a heavenly consecration. Enoch is anointed and clothed in glorious garments. After this he declares, “And I looked at myself, and I had become like one of his glorious ones, and there was no observable difference” (J 22:10). It is not clear, however, whether an actual ontological transformation is meant here. (Timo Eskola, Messiah and the Throne: Jewish Merkabah Mysticism and Early Christian Exaltation Discourse [Studies in Jewish and Christian Literature; Dallas: Fontes Press, 2019], 104, emphasis added)

A note for the above reads thusly:

Himmelfarb thinks, however, that there is a transformation and that this is linked to the act of clothing. “The combination of clothing and anointing suggests that the process by which Enoch becomes an angel is a heavenly version of priestly investiture.” M. Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 40. (Ibid., 104 n. 123, emphasis added)

What is significant is that this supports the thesis that clothing imagery is not supportive of imputation but is an outward sign of an inward reality (and change [transformation]), something I have written about, including:







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