Section 30

p. 57 1 Zatan-Eṣṭūnā, a name found also in § 35— p. 67. 2 Jesus is sometimes in the Talmūd referred to simply as 'a certain one' or 'that one.' 3 Enoch. 4 Uthra ( ūtrā ) is a frequently occurring general term in Mandćan, of which the precise meaning has not yet been determined; L. leaves it untranslated. Uthra means literally 'Riches,' 'Wealth'; and may very well then stand for the notion of Treasure. It might even convey the idea of Fulness (Gk. Plērōma ), but this is hazardous. The difficulty with Treasure is that there are also two technical M. terms for Treasure, Treasury or Treasure-house ( sc . of Life, cp. § 57, forewords). Uthra seems sometimes to equate with Angel; but again this has a term for itself ( malaka ). In any case it means a heavenly or spiritual being, excarnate or incarnate, and therefore the phrase signifies the Heavenly or Spiritual Enoch. See L.'s dissertation. ' Uthra und Malaka ,' in Orientalische Studien Theodor Nöldtke zum siebzigsten Geburtstag (12 Marz, 1906) gewidmet (Giesgen, 1906), pp. 537-545. 5 Cp. with the above threat of killing and the removal of the child the 'Slaughter of the Innocents' and the 'Flight into Egypt' motives of the parallel Chriatian stories. The 'little ones' is elsewhere found frequently in Mandćan as a technicnl term for the initiates of the community. The sacred drink, the mambūhā of the M. 'eucharist,' doubtless throws back to the Mazda-yasnian haōma . Parwan is mentioned only in this passage. It may, however, be a clerical error; for occasionally mention is made of a land called the 'pure Tarwan.' Or is it Mt. Karmel? 6 The numbers 99, 88, and 22 seem to belong to some system of mystic psephology, Or gematria as the Kabbalists afterwards called it. Cp. the 888 value of the name of Christ in the second-century system of the Gnostic Markos and the 666 of the Beast in the Apacalypse. I would suggest, though with hesitation, that 10's, l00's and 1000's represent 'powers,' i.e. so-called higher or wider planes of activity or development, and digits certain fundamental characteristics. In this connection it is of interest to note that such numbers as 1111, 2222, occur in classical Pythagorean psephology. p. 58 1 This is a reference to the heavenly cloud or surround; e.g. Enoch dwells in a cloud and from its matter fashions the body in which he appears upon earth or elsewhere in man-form. 2 This spiritual girdle is symbolized by the M. sacred cord of 60 threads; cp. the Parsī cord or kusti , composed of 72 strands and wound three times round the body, and also the Brāhmanical sacred thread.