Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries

Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries, from 1 Enoch.

INDEX:

Chapter LXXII (72)....... The Sun.

Chapter LXXIII (73)....... The Sun.

Chapter LXXIV (74)....... The Sun.

Chapter LXXV (75)....... The Sun.

Chapter LXXVI (76)....... The Twelve Windows and their Portals.

Chapter LXXVII (77)....... The Four Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, &c.

Chapter LXXVIII (78)....... The Sun and Moon: the Waxing and Waning of the Moon.

Chapter LXXIX (79)....... 1. Recapitulation of several of the Laws.

Chapter LXXX (80)....... 2-8. Perversion of Nature and the heavenly Bodies owning to the Sin of Men.

Chapter LXXXI (81)....... The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch.

Chapter LXXXII (82)....... Charge given to Enoch: the four Intercalary Days: the Stars which lead the Seasons and the Months.

GENERAL CONTENTS:

The Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries: In lxxiv. 12 it says: "And the sun and the stars bring in all the years exactly, so that they do not advance or delay their position by a single day unto eternity; but complete the years with perfect justice in 364 days." 1 This gives the key-note of this book, viz. that time is to be reckoned by the sun, not by the moon (see further on this the section on Authorship, above). Until we come to chapter lxxx. this book is uninteresting in the extreme; it purports to tell in detail of the laws by which the sun, moon, stars and the winds are governed; they are described by Uriel, "the holy angel," to the Apocalyptist. The four quarters of the world, the seven mountains and the seven rivers are also dealt with. "The author has no other interest save a scientific one coloured by Jewish conceptions and beliefs." 2 It is, however, different when we come to chapter lxxx. 2-8; the whole tone alters in these verses, in which it is said that owing to the sin of men the moon and the sun will mislead them. An ethical thought is thus brought in which is wholly lacking in the previous chapters of this book; this is also true of chapter lxxxi.; it is probable that neither of these chapters stood here originally.

Regarding the point of the 364 days to the year which the writer of this book makes, Charles says that "he did this only through sheer incapacity for appreciating an thing better; for he must have been acquainted with the solar year of 365¼ days. His acquaintance with the Greek cycles shows this. . . . The author's reckoning of the year at 364 days may be partly due to his opposition to heathen systems, and partly to the fact that 364 is divisible by seven, and amounts to fifty-two weeks exactly." In any case, he is opposed to the lunar year, the Pharisaic way of reckoning time; and this is an important point in favour of Sadducæan authorship. It will be noted that this book was written in post-Maccabæan times; it was after the Maccabæan struggle that the Sadducees and Pharisees appeared as parties definitely opposed to one another.