Texts in Conversation
The Psalms of Solomon and Jude use the sky to describe order and disorder. In the Psalms, the sun and moon keep their paths and show faithfulness. Jude contrasts this with “wandering stars,” from 1 Enoch, based on the planets that move erratically.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalms of Solomon 18:10
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
8 so that he may guide (every) man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God, so that he may strengthen them all in the Lord’s presence, 9 A good generation (living) in the fear of God in the days of mercy. Selah. 10 Our God is great and glorious, living in the highest heavens. (It is He) who has placed the lights (of heaven) in (their) courses for determining seasons from year to year, and they have not turned aside from the way which He appointed for them. 11 In the fear of God (they pursue) their path every day, From the day God created them and forevermore. 12 And they have not strayed since the day He created them. Since ancient generations they have not withdrawn from their path, unless God commanded them (so to do) by the command of His servants.
Date: 65–30 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jude 1:13
New Testament
11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved. 14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, even prophesied of them, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict every person of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds that they have committed, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Date: 60–80 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 1 Enoch draws a parallel between the stars and the angels. Just as there are obedient and disobedient angels, there are also obedient and disobedient stars. 1 Enoch 18:15 describes the place of punishment for stars who did not arrive punctually for their duties in the sky and 1 Enoch 21 speaks of seven stars who are bound for their sin for ten million years. Nickelsburg identifies a long-standing tradition in the ancient Near East and Hellenistic world in which the stars are personified, and in 1 Enoch the disobedient stars are an allusion to the disobedient angels. The Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 83–90) adds another condemnation of the fallen angels in that the fallen stars have sex with cows (1 Enoch 83), are punished (then the great flood follows immediately) (1 Enoch 88), and are judged and thrown into a fiery abyss (1 Enoch 90:21). Testament of Naphtali 3.2–5 illustrates the obedience of the sun, moon, and stars in contrast to the disobedience of others, including the sinful angels. Jude’s focus on the failure of the angels to keep their proper place also fits well with Jude 13, where he speaks of his opponents as wandering stars. In comparing his opponents to wandering stars, he makes an analogy between his opponents and the fallen angels who were represented as stars in 1 Enoch 17–21 ..."
Jenny Devivo, “2 Peter 2:4–16: The Redaction of the Biblical and Intertestamental References Dependent on Jude 5–11 and Their Overall Significance for the Document” (diss., Loyola University Chicago, 2014), 42.
* 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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