Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch’s description of the earth built on foundations and pillars is similar to Isaiah’s language of the world’s foundations and the heavens stretched out like a tent. Both describe creation as a structured building, using language found in descriptions of ancient Near Eastern cosmology.
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Isaiah 40:21
Hebrew Bible
20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make an idol that will not fall over. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you since the very beginning? Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made? 22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, and spreads it out like a pitched tent. 23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing; he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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1 Enoch 18:2
Pseudepigrapha
1 I saw the treasuries of all the winds: I saw how He had equipped them for the whole creation and the firm foundations of the earth. 2 And I saw the cornerstone of the earth: I saw the four winds that support the earth and the firmament of heaven. 3 And I saw how the winds stretch out the vaults of heaven and have their station between heaven and earth; these are the pillars of heaven. 4 I saw the winds of heaven which turn and guide the course of the sun and all the stars to their setting.
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 1 Enoch 18:2-3 ... the cosmos is depicted as a building. The earth rests on a foundation with a cornerstone. The firmament is set on the ends of the earth, and its height is supported by the winds, which function as pillars. The “foundations of the earth” are part of the well-known trappings of biblical cosmology (Psalm 18:16; 82:5; Proverbs 8:29; Isaiah 24:18; 40:21; Jeremiah 31:37; Micah 6:2) ..."
Nickelsburg, George W. E.
A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108
(p. 284) 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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