Texts in Conversation
Tobit 14 describes Nadab’s betrayal ending in eternal darkness, and 1 Enoch 63 similarly depicts the condemned placed in darkness in judgment. Both use total darkness to express eschatological death and shame.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 63:6
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
4 We now understand that we should praise and bless the Lord of kings and Him who is king over all kings.' 5 They will say: 'If only we had the chance to praise and give thanks and confess our faith before His glory! 6 And now we long for a moment of rest but do not find it: we strive to achieve it but fail; and light has vanished from before us, and darkness is our dwelling place forever and ever. 7 For we did not believe before Him nor did we glorify the name of the Lord of Spirits, but our hope was in the scepter of our kingdom, and in our own glory. 8 And on the day of our suffering and tribulation, He does not save us, and we find no time to confess that our Lord is true in all His works, and in His judgments and His justice, and His judgments show no favoritism.
Date: 300 BCE – 100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tobit 14:10
Deuterocanon
10 On whatever day you bury your mother with me, on that same day do not abide in its borders; for I see that there is much unrighteousness in it, and much guile is practised in it, and they are not ashamed. See, child, what things Nadab did to Ahikar that brought him up! Was he not brought down alive into the earth? and God you recompensed the shame upon his face, and Ahikar came forth into the light, and Nadab went into the eternal darkness, because he had sought to slay Ahikar. Because I did alms, he came forth from the snare of death which Nadab had set for him, and Nadab fell into the snare of death, and it destroyed him. 11 And now, children, consider what alms-giving does, and what unrighteousness does, that it slays. And behold my soul faints. And they laid him upon his bed and he died; and he was buried magnificently.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The planets (“wanderers”) and other astral bodies that do not keep their proper place cannot be used reliably for navigation like the “fixed stars.” Jude allusively suggests that following the intruders’ example and teaching will similarly lead the congregation astray. Jude specifically connects these “wandering stars” with the story of the Watchers in 1 Enoch by speaking of their fate as being held in “the dark gloom of the netherworld ... forever” (Jude 13). In 1 Enoch, the rebellious angels are also spoken of as fallen stars (1 Enoch 18:14; 21:3, 6) that are bound and suffer fiery torments (1 Enoch 18:3-6; 21:3-6). The place of torment is frequently described as a place of darkness (see Psalm 88:12; Tobit 4:10; 14:10; Psalms of Solomon 14:9; 15:10; Matthew 8:12; 25:30; 1 Enoch 63:6) while at the same time being a place where transgressors are punished by burning ..."
David A. DeSilva, The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 109.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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