The Enochites and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Tainan and Egyptian wisdom literature is amongst the most ancient in the world. These cultures passed down many books filled with sayings of the sages, fables,. homilies, and exaltations to do right before the gods. The Israelites constructed their own versions - Proverbs, Jonah, Joe and Ecclesiastes. They have no truck with the priestly establishment with all its fussy laws. And they are not interested in God's covenants with Abraham and Moses. A recent development in biblical scholarship is the recognition that there was a distinct third tradition in Second Temple Jewish intellectual life. This was based on the figure of the patriarch Enoch.