Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch 14 uses the language of Exodus 19, including thunder, lightning, dark clouds, and quaking ground, to describe a divine encounter. By echoing the imagery of the Sinai theophany, 1 Enoch places itself in continuity with the Hebrew Bible.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 19:16
Hebrew Bible
15 He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not approach your wives for marital relations.” 16 On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.
1 Enoch 14:8
Pseudepigrapha
7 Your petition for them will not be granted, nor will your petition for yourselves, even though you weep and pray and speak all the words contained in the writing I have written. 8 And the vision was shown to me. In the vision, clouds called me and a mist summoned me; the path of the stars and the lightnings sped me on and hurried me, and the winds in the vision gave me wings and carried me upward, lifting me into heaven. 9 I went in until I came near a wall built of crystals and surrounded by tongues of fire, and it began to frighten me. I went through the tongues of fire and came near a large house built of crystals. The walls of the house were like a mosaic floor of crystals, and its foundation was of crystal.
Search:
Notes and References
"... the translation “mist” is based may better be rendered “dark cloud, gloom, gloomy darkness,” which would be consistent with depictions of God’s presence elsewhere (Exodus 20:21; Deuteronomy 4:11; Psalm 18:9; 97:2). Subsequent reference to lightning brings Old Testament storm-cloud theophanic descriptions to mind (Exodus 19:16; 20:18; Ezekiel 1:13–14) ..."
Heiser, Michael S.
A Companion to the Book of Enoch: A Reader’s Commentary, Vol. 1
(p. 145) Defender Publishing, 2019
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.