Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)
2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Jaap Dekker: A Szolga és a szolgák Ézsaiás próféta könyvében
Later Jewisli literature fully accepted the angels-interpretation anew, as is clear from Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer;31 chapter 22, were the fall of the angels is described in a way comparable with the Enochic tradition.32 The cabalistic literature of the thirteenth century also represents this view.33 Thus, the dissenting exegesis of Simeon bar Yohai appears to be the voice of a minority in the literature of the Second Temple period and thereafter, while the angels-interpretation remained dominant in Jewish literature and initially also entered Christian theological reflection.34 3. Gnostic Influence? If the ‘sons of God’ in Gen 6:1—4 were generally understood as angels, and later on also as mighty persons or judges, then, from where arrived the Sethites-interpretation? When one begins the quest for the provenance of the Sethites-interpretation, one immediately discovers that in gnostic literature there is a lot of speculation about the Sethites and Cainites, in which Cain serves as a symbol for matter and in which Seth represents the spiritual realm.35 The church fathers mention gnostic sects, called Sethites or Cainites.36 Yet, it is not likely that these gnostic teachings were the source for the patristic Sethites-interpretation of Gen 6:1-4, because Gnosticism was seen as heresy. Perhaps gnostics draw upon general exegetical material of their time. 4. Sethites at Qumran? When the gnostic connection turns out to be a dead-end track, there is one reference among the Dead Sea Scrolls that deserves a closer look. The expression rvffl '33 occurs in 4Q417.37 However, the referent of the expression n’ffl '33 is unclear. It is explained by some with the help of Num 24:17c: nr '33 -3 ■£"! 3Nte Tt® ]tc% , “he shall crush the temples (forehead) of Moab, and in Ashtaroth and in Edrei”). 31 Aggadic work of the eighth century, cf. Fred Skolnik, ed., Encyclopaedia Judaica 16:182— 183. 32 Translation: Gerald Friedlander, Pirk é de Rabbi Eliezer (New-York: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1981), 160-163. 33 E.g. Zohar I:25a-b, where also the names of Uzza and Azael occur. Translation: Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon, The Zohar. Volume I (London: Soncino, 1978), 99. Nevertheless, Zohar I:37a sees the ‘sons of God’ also as the descendants of Cain! 34 Cf. Gene L. Green, Jude and 2 Peter (BECNT; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008), 67. 35 See Hansjörg Bräumer, Das erste Buch Mose: 1. Teil: Kapitel 1 bis 11 (WSB; Wuppertal: Brockhaus, 1983), 149—150; H. M. Ohmann, “Zonen Gods en dochteren der mensen in Gen. 6:1—4: Een oude kwestie III,” Reffs8 no. 2 (1992): 21-22. 36 Philip Schaff, Ante-Nicene Christianity: History of the Christian Church (vol. 2; 5th ed., 1889; reprint; Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 2004), 370. The designation ‘Sethites’ or ‘Sethians’ may have been coined by the church fathers, there is no evidence that they called themselves in this way, cf. John D. Turner, Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition (BCNH 6; Leuven: Peeters, 2001), 55 37 4Q417 frag. 2, col. 1:15. The same expression is reconstructed in 4Q418 frags. 43.44.45 col. 1:12, cf. Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, To Increase Learning for the Understanding Ones: Reading and Reconstructing the Fragmentary Early Jewish Sapiential Text 4QJnstruction (Leiden: Brill, 2001). TI .Ili INDECENT DESCENT OF THE SETH UTS S ÁROSPATAKI Fl I
