Texts in Conversation
Jude speaks of wandering stars destined for judgment, echoing 1 Enoch where the stars leave their set paths and face punishment. Both follow a tradition that views the stars and planets as heavenly beings who rebel by straying from their course.
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1 Enoch 80:6
Pseudepigrapha
5 In those days, the sun will be seen, and it will travel in the evening on the extremity of the great chariot in the west and will shine more brightly than is typical for the order of light. 6 Many leaders of the stars will deviate from their established order. They will change their orbits and duties and not appear at their designated seasons. 7 The entire order of the stars will be hidden from the sinners, and the thoughts of those on the earth will be mistaken about them, leading them to go astray and even regard them as gods. 8 Evil will be multiplied upon them, and punishment will come upon them to destroy all.'
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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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.
Date: 90-100 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries, a section of 1 Enoch which presents itself as Enoch’s journey through the heavens, includes a description of “the leaders of the chiefs of the thousands, which are appointed over the whole creation and upon all the stars ...” Of these leaders it is said that by their error the stars sometimes travel on the wrong path, which is elsewhere described in 1 Enoch as a crime that the stars are punished for Here, heavenly beings currently in control may do wrong and later be punished by God ..."
Wright, Frederick Christian
Astral And Angelic Powers In Romans 8:38-39
(pp. 12-13) Harding School of Theology, 2020
* 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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