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1. In 1 Enoch 41:3–5, when Enoch beholds familiar meteorological omina, he sees not only the lightnings or the thunder but also the “secrets” of these wonder (Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 142; Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 1.120–121). Furthermore, these meteorological marvels emerge from “storehouses” that contain the winds, mist, clouds, and dew. The abundant presence of references to storehouses and secrets, which are either marginal or absent in Enoch’s received revelations in the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book, is an important development that necessitates further investigation.
2. Storehouses of Meteorological and Astronomical Phenomena
3. The concept of heavenly storehouses/treasuries of astronomical and meteorological phenomena has its roots in biblical traditions. Nickelsburg points out that “the term ‘storehouses, storerooms, or treasuries’ (mazāgebt = θησαυροί = Aram. ןירצוא ; Heb. םירצוא ( suggests that heaven is a great palace in whose storage magazines the Creator King keeps the materials that are employed for the operation of his cosmic realm” (Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 228–229). VanderKam suggests that the imagery of “storehouses” in the Similitudes “could derive from the several scriptural passages that use it in a similar context” (VanderKam, “The Book of Parables within the Enoch Tradition,” 93). The concept can be found in many biblical and extrabiblical accounts, including Deut 28:12, Jer 10:13, Jer 51:16, Ps 135:7, Job 38:22, Sir 43:13–14, 4 Ezra 5:37, 4 Ezra 6:40, 2 Enoch 5:2, 2 Enoch 6:1, and 2 Enoch 40:10–11 and in other documents. Scholars also see applications of storehouses/treasuries imagery in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QH IX 11–15, 1QHodayot 118/130). On these traditions, see (J. Ben-Dov, “Exegetical Notes on Cosmology in the Parables of Enoch,” in: Enoch and the Messiah Son of Man: Revisiting the Book of Parables (ed. G. Boccaccini; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007) 143–150 at 147; G. Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology: Evaluating Parallels in the Ethiopic Parables of Enoch and 2 (Slavonic) Enoch,” JSP 29 (2019) 79–99 at 91), see Macaskill, “Meteorology and Metrology,” 88, 92–93).

Various Jewish materials also display familiarity with notions of the heavenly storehouses/treasuries of light (Jer 10:13; 51:16, 4 Ezra 4:41; 7:80, 2 Baruch 21:23), souls (4 Ezra 4:35, 4 Ezra 4:41, 4 Ezra 7:80, 2 Bar. 21:23), blessings (1 Enoch 11:1), books (2 Enoch 22:11), and other phenomena. It is also possible that, in their application of the storehouses/ treasuries’ imagery, the Similitudes continues already established conceptual trends found in the earlier Enochic booklets. Nickelsburg points out that the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 17:3, 1 Enoch 18:1) reflects the concept of the heavenly treasuries/storehouses of meteorological and astronomical marvels, the imagery of which may serve as a prototype for the Similitudes.

Furthermore, the “storehouses” in the Similitudes may be related to the terminology of “gates” found in the Astronomical Book. Nickelsburg points out that “in the Parables, Enoch visits the ‘treasuries’ (mazāgebt) that are the containers of the luminaries and winds, while the Book of the Luminaries uniformly refers to the ‘gates’ (ḫoḫt, pl., ḫāwāḫew) from which they emerge, which are not mentioned in the Parables” (Nickelsburg and VanderKam, 1 Enoch 2, 57). A notable feature of the description found in 1 Enoch 41:3–5 is the juxtaposition of “storehouses” and “secrets,” which some scholars suggest are used interchangeably in the Similitudes. Jonathan Ben-Dov argues that in 1 Enoch 41:3–4 “the luminaries and the meteorological phenomena are equally stored in special spaces, which are designated ‘treasuries’ and ‘mysteries, secrets’ interchangeably (Ben-Dov, “Exegetical Notes,” 145). One may encounter a similar conceptual framework in 1 Enoch 60:11–12, which refers to the concept of the “hidden secret” in the midst of symbolism of storehouses. 1 Enoch 60:19–21 provides additional details, depicting the angelic servants in charge of the meteorological storehouses.

1. Heavenly Storehouses
2. Importantly, the heavenly books used in Enoch’s initiation come from “storehouses.” Besides the reference to the storehouses for heavenly books, the terminology is used several times in 2 Enoch, as in the Book of the Watchers and the Book of the Similitudes, to designate the warehouses (хранилниць) of the treasuries (сокровищ) of meteorological incidents: snow, ice, dew, and clouds. We encounter this designation first in the longer recension of 2 Enoch 5:2,603 in which the seer offers a report about the angels that guard their “terrible storehouses”: 604 “And there I perceived the treasuries (сокровища) of the snow and the ice (голотна),605 and the angels who guard their terrible storehouses (хранилница), and the treasury of the clouds, from which they come out and go in.” Finally, the storehouses’ imagery appears during the initiation of Enoch by Vereveil/Vrevoil when the deity orders this angelic servant to bring the books from his (God’s) heavenly storehouses.
3. The concept of heavenly storehouses abides in later Enochic texts. In 3 Enoch 48D:10, Enoch-Metatron carries the heavenly Torah from God’s heavenly storehouses in order to transfer it to Moses: “Metatron brought it out from my storehouses and committed it to Moses and Moses to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, the Prophets to the Men of the Great Synagogue, the Men of the Great Synagogue to Ezra the Scribe” (Alexander, “3 Enoch,” 1.315). The terminology of the storehouses also appears in the revelations Enoch grants to his children in the later chapters of 2 Enoch. In the longer recension of 2 Enoch 40:10–11, the patriarch tells his children about the warehouses of heavenly marvels and their guardians: “I wrote down (написах) the treasuries (скровища) of the snow, and the storehouses (хранилища) of the cold, and the frosty winds. And I observed how, depending on the season, their custodians (literally “keyholders” – Slav. ключедръжци) fill up the clouds with them, and their treasuries are not emptied. I wrote down the sleeping chambers (ложници) of the winds, and I observed and I saw how their custodians carry scales and measures” (Andersen, “2 Enoch,” 1.166; Macaskill, The Slavonic Texts of 2 Enoch, 152).