,
the sun and the moon, which occupied the minds of the ancients, comp. Mekilta Bo 1.3a; Tosefta Sukkah 2.6 and Babli 29a; Derek Erez 2; Nispahim 10; see also the references in note 112, and Index s.v. Eclipse. The view that the light of the sun is seven times as intense as that of the moon (Enoch 72.37, 73.2, and 78.4, as well as 2 Enoch 11.2) is based on Is. 30.26. This opinion is also shared by the legend given in the text in accordance with Konen 24–25 concerning the restoration of the light of the moon and the sevenfold increase of the light of the sun in the future. The old midrashic sources (Midrash Tannaim 181; ShR 15.21; Targum, ad loc.), however, conceive the passage of Is., loc. cit., in a different manner, and according to them the relationship between the light of the sun and that of the moon is 1:49 or 1:343. That the sun and the moon had been of equal size, as stated by Enoch 72.37, is not stated explicitly in rabbinic literature, but the legend given in the text implies it. Similar is the view of modern scientists that the moon was originally an independent planet; comp. See, Researches, II. Like all first things created (comp. vol. I, p. 59), the moon was created in a fully developed form, so that there was full moon on the fourth day of creation; Seder ‘Olam 4.
101 PRE 6; Baraita de-Ma'aseh Bereshit 50. The metaphor of the sun as bridegroom is, of course, taken from Ps. 19.6. It is, however, questionable whether the crown and the wreath (in Hebrew these two things are represented by one word) belong to this conception. The wreath of the bridegroom is Jewish (comp. Sotah 9.14) but the wreath of the sun may have been borrowed from the Greeks, as the Jews have often seen the image of the sun-god wreathed. The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch knows of the crown of the sun, as well as of its chariot; so also Enoch 75.8; 2 Enoch 11.2. Many of the rabbinic sources cited above employ the word מרכבה “chariot”, which is, however, rendered “throne”, in order to retain the picture of the bridegroom.
102 MHG I, 41–42; PRE 6; Tehillim 19, 168–170; Baraita deMa‘aseh Bereshit 50; Kohcleth 86; ‘Aseret ha-Dibrot 64; Zohar Hadash on Gen. 4, 19b; 2 Enoch 11.4; Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 6. Comp. also vol. I, p. 132. The song of praise of the heavenly bodies is partly based on Ps. 19, but presupposes also an acquaintance with the Pythagorean doctrine (perhaps of oriental origin) of the music of the spheres. The original text of Enoch 41.7 very likely read והם מודים ומפארים ושבתי אם לא ישבחו: “And they give thanks
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