Sefer ‘Uzza wa-‘Aza(z)el: Exploring Early Jewish Mythologies of Evil

“And they attribute a book to Adam … [and the book] Raza Rabba on the topic of the seven heavens, and angels, parukhim, devs, demons, and yarorim beyond counting; and amulets; and the book of ‘Uzza and ‘Azael (regarding) when they descended from heaven with their deception(s).” (Ms. Firkowicz 2, Hebrew-Arabic Collection 2273).

A Descriptive Synopsis and Introduction

The proposed monographic project, tentatively labeled Sefer ‘Uzza wa-‘Aza(z)el: Exploring Early Jewish Mythologies of Evil, represents the first-fruits of a much larger ongoing research agenda focused upon the systematic collection and study of the use of apocryphal ‘books of Enoch’ traditions within Near Eastern religious communities during the first fifteen hundred years of the Common Era. While the larger project embraces and ponders the existence and employment of a variety of Enochic materials (and will not be ready for publication for several more years), the present work deals with only one facet of these traditions; namely, the origin, conceptual development, and eventual refinement in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam of at least four distinct mythological scenarios for the manifestation of evil in the created order. A number of previous contributions have studied some elements of these (or rival) schemes in isolation, but little comparative work has been done to date, particularly across linguistic and religious boundaries. Sefer ‘Uzza wa-‘Aza(z)el aims to fill this gap in scholarship by (1) gathering together into one convenient location the most important texts which pertain to early Jewish constructions of the emergence of evil, and (2) demonstrating how and why subsequent religious communities (Christian, gnostic, and Muslim) altered, adapted, and reshaped this traditional lore.

After some preliminary remarks pertaining to terminology and the delineation of the textual sources used in the study, the initial substantive chapter introduces what is arguably one of the earliest forms of the myth, a scheme which I label the ‘Enochic template.’ According to this version, evil first enters the created world through the voluntary descent and subsequent corruption of a group of angels known as the Watchers. Their sexual contact with human women renders them odious to God and their former angelic colleagues in heaven; moreover, they also betray certain divine secrets to their lovers and families. The offspring of the Watchers and mortal women, an illegitimately conceived race of bloodthirsty ‘giants,’ wreak havoc on earth and force God to intervene forcefully with the universal Flood. The corrupt angels are captured and imprisoned, their monstrous children are slain, and humanity is renewed through the family of Noah. Noticeably absent from this particular scheme are references to Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden, or the serpent—characters and motifs which belong to a separate scheme which I label the ‘Adamic template.’

A separate chapter will be devoted to the different forms of this ‘Adamic template.’ Briefly stated, the scheme proceeds as follows: (1) God resolves to create the first human being, Adam; (2) after Adam’s creation, all the angels in heaven are bidden to worship him; (3) a small group of angels led by Satan refuse to do so; (4) as a result, this group is forcibly expelled from heaven to earth; and (5) in order to exact revenge, these angels plot to lead Adam and subsequent generations of humans astray. As in the Enochic template, their activities involve sexual awakening and the impartation or acquisition of a type of ‘forbidden’ knowledge. Once again God must intervene with a universal Flood in order to begin repairing the damage caused by this breach between Himself and a portion of His heavenly hosts.

Bridging the gulf between the Enochic and Adamic templates is a ‘transitional template’ featuring two developmental ‘streams,’ the Jubilean and the Zoharic. Each of these streams contains the main features of the Enochic scheme, but each stream also exhibits motifs (objecting to God’s creative plans; instructional mission) linking them to the Adamic type. I will argue that both the Jubilean and Zoharic streams represent subtle modifications of the Enochic template, modifications conditioned in part by the gradual canonization of the Genesis narrative during the Roman period of Jewish history. Moreover, I shall also seek to show that texts including a ‘fall of Satan’ episode are invariably of Christian or Muslim origin.

Subsequent chapters will focus on a small number of interesting motifs found in most or all of the narrative templates sketched above. One chapter will treat the rabbinic testimonia to the infamous ‘generation of the Flood’ whose deeds were so vile that they were pronounced unfit for new life in the World To Come (m. Sanh. 10.3). This generation corresponds to the semi-divine ‘giants’ of Enochic lore, and a comparative study of these two groups should shed much illuminative light upon the historical development of these now separate traditions. Another chapter or two shall be devoted to the explication of one curious female character who receives contrastive treatment (depending on the source used) in the evolving templates: the sister of Seth/the wife of Noah, who is sometimes presented as the virtuous maiden ‘Azura/’Asterah, and who sometimes figures as the wicked maiden Na‘amah/Norea. I also plan a chapter that explores the various punishments handed out to the fallen angels and their allies, wherein traditions regarding the possible postdiluvian survival of angels and giants will be thoroughly explored. A final chapter will gather up the various remnants of ‘fallen angel’ lore found in medieval Jewish and Islamicate literatures which have not received separate treatment in the preceding chapters.

The proposed book possesses significance for several interrelated fields of humanistic inquiry. A comparative study of the different early Jewish ‘mythologies of evil’ has yet to be accomplished, at least along the lines which I have sketched. New light should be shed on the scribal circles responsible for producing these templates, as well as on the ideological background of the final redaction of the early chapters of the biblical book of Genesis, especially with regard to this redaction’s relationship to extant rival or alternative forms of constructing images of and narratives about the creating deity, the realms of angels and demons, and humanity. We should attain a better understanding of how certain interpretative currents in early Judaism were received, adjusted, and manipulated by later biblically-based religious groups in the Near East such as Christianity, gnosticism, and Islam. We may also take some steps toward a plausible reconstruction of what may have been more primitive versions of the cosmological and ‘historical’ myths now found in Genesis 1-9.

Typologies for Early Jewish Mythologies of Evil

Note that in the Enochic and Jubilean transitional template the angels voluntarily leave Heaven and mix freely with humans without any initial inimical intent. By contrast, the Zoharic transitional and Adamic templates have the angels involuntarily expelled from Heaven and they become/are a hostile enemy to humanity.

Was the pedagogic mission of the angels originally unique to the Jubilean transitional template? Which then contaminated the Enochic template? Why the conflation of sexual and instructional transgression? Does this mirror the sex/knowledge dyad (‘nude/shrewd syndrome’) in Genesis 3?

Note that ‘woman’ plays a similar crucial role as ‘temptress’ in the Enochic template as she does in the J narrative of Adam and Eve in the garden; the notion of a ‘sexual awakening’ is explicitly present in the Enochic stream, implicitly so in Genesis 3.

Tentative Analytic Table of Contents

1. Introductory remarks

• Wherein terminology is defined and the literary corpora to be studied are introduced & classified
• Recent discoveries necessitate a new model for scripturalization & canonization of Bible
• Import of these discoveries for the mythical narratives behind Genesis 1-9
• Some discussion of the sources used in Genesis 1-9 and their modification by the final redactor
• Highlighting ideological and philological connections between these sources & nonbiblical collections of traditions found in apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, rabbinic and medieval Jewish testimonies, Syriac exegetical and chronographic works, and Muslim works
• Justification and defense of this broad diachronic and cross-cultural scope

2. The Enochic stream of tradition, which soon is entangled in …

• Featuring Shemhazai/‘Aza(z)el, sexual corruption
• Isolation & close analysis of its textual expressions
• Hypotheses about the socio-cultural location of its authors/tradents

3. A transitional complex of development, that eventually generates …

• Featuring ‘Uzza/‘Aza(z)el, resistance to God’s plans, teaching of forbidden knowledge
• Isolation & close analysis of its textual expressions, subdivided among Jubilean & Zoharic streams, and justification of this interpretive fissure
• Comparative study with Enochic expressions: reasons for modifications
• Hypotheses about the socio-cultural location of authors/tradents

4. The Adamic stream of tradition

• Featuring Satan/Iblis and rebellion against God, legends surrounding the protoplasts
• Isolation & close analysis of its textual expressions
• Comparative study with earlier templates: reasons for modifications
• Hypotheses about the socio-cultural location of authors/tradents

Specific Motifs

5. Tales of the Flood generation

• Featuring the escapades of the giants, sexual immorality, violence and bloodshed, arrogance
• Gradual focus on bloodshed as the trigger mechanism for onset of Deluge

6. ‘Azura/’Asterah: the virtuous maiden

7. Na‘amah/Norea: the wicked maiden

8. The role of ‘knowledge’ in the various templates

• ‘Knowledge’ as ‘sexual awareness’
• ‘Knowledge’ as ‘occult sciences’
• ‘Knowledge’ as ‘social domination’

9. Punishment and rehabilitation

• Traditions about the fate of the Watchers and their ringleaders
• Traditions about the fate of the giants
• Traditions about the punishment of human collaborators
• Traditions about the Flood-hero

10. Miscellaneous reflexes in later sources

Harut wa-Marut; Solomonic connection; legends about Iblis; ‘Azazil in Umm al-Kitab, etc.

11. A synthetic summary & concluding remarks