Dear David, Thank you for your response.
First off, you ask me about my comment to Jeffrey. You write: "I think that you'reunfair to Jeffrey to demand that he support you rather than "BLOCK" you." Perhaps you have not had the pleasure of reading Jeffrey's posts to ANY of my lines of inquiry on the few listservers in which we share membership. I gave up on trying to discuss issues with Jeffrey when I noticed that I could never get him to answer questions of mine. He would lecture me on semantics, and etiology, and the differences between a lexicon and a dictionary and so on..... and of course he enthusiastically emphasized my lack of academic training with the implication that I shouldn't even be attempting to discuss the topics at hand. So please let me clarify something you said that is not correct. I did **not** ask Jeffrey to SUPPORT me. I merely asked him to stop trying to block my every inquiry.... and to provide some information that would be useful to everyone... such as: how would HE characterize the Enochian community that would contribute to our knowledge by comparing/contrasting the Enochian community with either the Essenes or the Rechabites. Not surprisingly, Jeffrey, in 2 separate posts, chose not to respond to my question. And so I will choose not to respond to the points that he raises (especially since they seem to be a bit forced, and not really on-point). I do agree with you about something important. You write: "I ...suggest actually reading Boccaccini's book on Roots of Rabbinic Judaism (my comments on this book elicited your response) to see what he thinks about conflict within the priesthood prior to the Maccabean period." I have been re-reading your posts on this book.... and I definitely need to read his work. Your summary of his views suggests that there was some factionalism between the Enochian community and the Zadokite community.... and I think that would fit very well my thoughts that Ezekiel's writings (or those of his students) were opposed to the Rechabim. You write: "As far as the Book of Enoch goes, both the Book of the Watchers and > the Similitudes are fascinated by metalworking, but from a negative > slant. The Watchers teach the art to their wives, causing war and violence inthe Book of the Watchers. If the Kenites and Rechabites were smiths (whose primary function in the ancient world was to manufacture weapons), then the Enoch literature is on the other side." This is a thought that I've pondered. The story of Cain and Abel has always struck me as a 2-layered story.... one layer describing Cain as the first child of Adam and Eve... and the source of all the arts of civilization..... and the 2nd layer being a "co-opting" of the story of Cain, as an attempt to discredit the Kenite lineage.... where Cain becomes a murderer, and Seth becomes the NOBLE lineage.... with having many of the same names in the family tree of Seth that Cain has (until Cain's lineage disappears... and no effort is made to explain how the Cain lineage in metal and music is shared with the Seth-ite clans). This 2-layered aspect *might* also be applicable to the Book of Watchers... but I will have to read that work again.... now that I have this "thesis" to test. Or perhaps Zadok, who some have presumed to be a non- Hebrew ethnic name, is more closely aligned with the Rechabim?... rather than Ezekiel? I've not really examined that idea.... but I will have to examine that idea just to be as rigorous as possible. David, your comments on the the Book of Watchers and the Similitudes is exactly the kind of discussion that I'm looking for. We could have become mired down in semantics (in an attempt to stop a useful exchange of views)... or we can talk about the issue at a higher level.... with an EXCHANGE of ideas. Your suggestions are very helpful. Thanks. George Brooks Tampa, FL For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: "unsubscribe Orion." Archives are on the Orion Web site, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il. (PLEASE REMOVE THIS TRAILOR BEFORE REPLYING TO THE MESSAGE)
