Texts in Conversation
Daniel 7 and 1 Enoch 14 both describe God's fiery throne-chariot surrounded by countless heavenly beings, with details like wheels of flame and a river of fire. The shared language points to a common tradition of throne visions, likely derived from early apocalyptic texts such as Ezekiel.
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Daniel 7:9
Hebrew Bible
8 “As I was contemplating the horns, another horn—a small one—came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things. 9 “While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, and its wheels were all aflame. 10 A river of fire was streaming forth and proceeding from his presence. Many thousands were ministering to him; many tens of thousands stood ready to serve him. The court convened, and the books were opened.
Date: 2nd Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
1 Enoch 14:19
Pseudepigrapha
17 And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. 18 And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look upon it. 19 And the Great Glory sat on it, and His garment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. 20 None of the angels could enter and could behold His face because of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him. 21 The flaming fire was all around Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and no one around could draw near Him: ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, yet He needed no counselor.
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... as it has already been established regarding Ez 1:15, 19-21 and Ezra 10:16, 19 that the ophanim and living beings / cherubim together form one unit of angelic activity, I understand the ophanim and the holy angels to be set in parallel in line 9b, i.e, they are one and the same. What is being described here is the essence of angelic activity - moving out from the central throne of God, and returning. Newsom recognises that the paired verbs of line 9b are drawn from a form of Ezra 1:14 like that underlying the LXX and suggests that the author may have known both textual traditions ... Newsom does not recognise the “streams of fire” as part of the imagery of Ezra 1:27, yet the upper part of the body of the form like a man on the throne, had the appearance of fire, and the movement of the fiery beings out from God’s throne would indeed, by implication, form “streams of fire”. Newsom notes that “streams of fire” are indeed part of the imagery of the divine throne in 1 Enoch 14:19, and interestingly, at Daniel 7:9b-10, the wheels (called galgali there) of the divine throne are associated with streams of fire ..."
Evans, Annette Henrietta Margaretha
The Development of Jewish Ideas of Angels: Egyptian and Hellenistic Connections
(pp. 91-92) University of Stellenbosch, 2007
* 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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