Texts in Conversation
The Wisdom of Solomon and 1 Enoch say the unrighteous misunderstand the death of the righteous as tragic or empty. Wisdom states this directly, and 1 Enoch turns it into a spoken lament by the unrighteous showing how they miss the hope of the righteous.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 102:6
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
5 And do not grieve if your soul has descended into Sheol in grief, and that in your life your body did not fare according to your goodness, but wait for the day of the judgment of sinners and for the day of cursing and punishment. 6 And when you die, the sinners will say about you: 'Just as we have died, so also the righteous have died; and what gain did they have from their works?' 7 Look, just as we do, they also die in grief and darkness, and what advantage do they have over us? From now on we are equal.
Date: 300 BCE – 100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Wisdom of Solomon 3:2
Deuterocanon
1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will touch them. 2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died. Their departure was considered a disaster, 3 and their travel away from us ruin, but they are in peace. 4 For even if in the sight of men they are punished, their hope is full of immortality.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the eyes of the foolish. The author of 1 Enoch puts these words into the mouth of the sinners: 'As we die, so die the righteous, and what benefit do they reap for their deeds? Behold, even as we, so do they die in grief and darkness, and what have they more than we?' (1 Enoch 102:6-7) ..."
David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), 126.
* 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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