Texts in Conversation
The opening of 1 Enoch echoes Judith and other texts from the Hebrew Bible that describe mountains melting when God appears. These follow older Near Eastern traditions that used volcanic imagery to describe dramatic divine encounters.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 1:6
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
5 Everyone will be struck with fear and the Watchers will tremble, and great fear and trembling will grip them to the ends of the earth. 6 The high mountains will shake, the hills will be leveled, and they will melt like wax before the fire 7 The earth will be completely torn apart, and everything on it will perish, and there will be judgment upon all people.
Date: 300 BCE – 100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Judith 16:15
Deuterocanon
14 Let all your creation serve you; for you spoke, and they were made. You sent out your spirit, and it built them. There is no one who can resist your voice. 15 For the mountains will be moved from their foundations with the waters, and the rocks will melt as wax at your presence: But you are yet merciful to those who fear you. 16 For all sacrifice is little for a sweet savor, and all the fat is very little for a whole burnt offering to you; but he who fears the Lord is great continually.
Date: 100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 1 Enoch 1:6-7 ... These verses depict the total distortion and disintegration of the earth in the presence of the divine Judge. Verse 6 reflects a traditional element in the descriptions of the events associated with a theophany: the mountains quake, fall, and break apart. The picture is enhanced by the simile of the mountains melting like wax before the fire. This image, which suggests an erupting volcano, probably derives from Micah 1:3-4, whose motifs were temporarily abandoned after verse 4. The image appears also in Psalm 97:5; Isaiah 64:1 LXX; Judith 16:15; compare Nahum 1:5. The text describes the mightiest structures on earth - the everlasting mountains and hills - disintegrating helplessly before the presence of 'the Great Holy One' ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 146.
* 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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