Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch follows the prophetic commissioning pattern from Isaiah, using the same “go and say” language to place Enoch in the same line of divinely appointed messengers. By following this pattern, the text describes Enoch as both a prophet and a scribe who carries God’s message.
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Isaiah 6:9
Hebrew Bible
8 I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell these people: “‘Listen continually, but don’t understand. Look continually, but don’t perceive.’ 10 Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind. Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
1 Enoch 15:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, you righteous man and scribe of righteousness: come closer and hear my voice. 2 And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent you to intercede for them: "You should be interceding for men, not men for you:" 3 Why have you left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men, taken yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and fathered giants as your sons?
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... here, the title “scribe” is followed by the command to “Go and say.” As we learn from 13:10–14:1, what he says here is the contents of the document he has written. The formula “Go and say” is a typical introductory formula for prophetic commissionings. Compare Isaiah 6:9; Jeremiah 1:7; 2:2; Ezekiel 3:4, 11. The imperative “go” by itself occurs in a multitude of nonprophetic commissionings. Thus, one aspect of Enoch’s scribal function is to play the role of a prophet, which he does in response to a commissioning modeled after biblical prophetic commissionings ..."
Nickelsburg, George W. E.
A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108
(p. 271) Fortress Press, 2001
* 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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