Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch describes itself using the same language Sirach uses for the Torah, similarly presenting its own wisdom as life-giving instruction preserved in a book for future generations.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 82:2
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And now, my son Methuselah, I am recounting and writing down all these things for you, and I have revealed everything to you, and given you books about all these: so keep, my son Methuselah, the books from your father’s hand, and make sure that you pass them on to future generations. 2 I have given you and your children Wisdom, so that you and they can pass it on to their children through the generations, this Wisdom that surpasses their understanding. 3 And those who comprehend it will not rest, but will listen attentively to learn this Wisdom, and it will please them more than the finest food.
Date: 300 BCE – 100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Sirach 24:33
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
31 I said, “I will water my garden, and will drench my garden bed.” Behold, my stream became a river, and my river became a sea. 32 I will yet bring instruction to light as the morning, and will make these things clear from far away. 33 I will continue to pour out teaching like prophecy, and leave it to all generations. 34 See that I have not labored for myself only, but for all those who diligently seek wisdom.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... A comparison of this text with Sirach 24 indicates that both posit functionally identical views of wisdom. According to ben Sira, wisdom is a heavenly entity, which has been embodied in a book, viz., the Mosaic Torah (verse 23), and whose function is to give life to those who listen and obey. The sage develops the idea by describing his exposition of the Torah as a natural and necessary extension of the life-giving function of the Torah (verses 23–34). Moreover, in verse 33 he characterizes his book as a deposit left for the benefit of “the generations of eternity”. Enoch refers to his books in a similar way. They are authoritative instruction that is the deposit of heavenly wisdom, which gives life like food, and they are the product of a “scribe” (12:4), who has left his books for “the generations of eternity” ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 343.
* 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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