Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch calls the righteous guides to the people of earth, given the task of carrying wisdom across the world. Paul in Romans uses the same image of guiding the blind when discussing those who boast of teaching others yet break the Torah themselves.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 105:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 In those days, the Lord commanded them to summon and testify to the children of earth concerning their wisdom: Show it to them; for you are their guides, and a recompense over the whole earth. 2 For I and My son will be united with them forever in the paths of uprightness in their lives; and you shall have peace: rejoice, you children of uprightness. Amen.
Romans 2:19
New Testament
18 and know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth—
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Notes and References
"... 2:19 A: A guide for the blind. 1 Enoch 105:1: “ ‘In those days (of the end time),’ says the Lord, ‘they (the righteous and wise Israelites) will call the children of earth (= humanity) and testify concerning the wisdom of the same (namely the apocalyptic cryptographs). Show them to them, for you are their guides.’ ” ‖ Sibylline Oracles 3:194 following: “Then the people of the great God will be strong again, who will be the guides of life biou kathodegoi for all mortals.” ‖ Sibylline Oracles 3:582 following: “They (the Israelites) will themselves be prophets, raised up by the immortal one, bringing great joy to all people.” — The Israelites are presented as prophets and priests of humanity also in Philo; see § Romans 2:19 following, #1, n. h. ‖ Josephus, Against Apion 2.41: The Jews are the eisegetai of the non-Jews; see § Romans 2:19 following, #1, n. b. ..."
Strack, Hermann L., and Paul Billerbeck
A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, Volume 3: Romans through Revelation
(p. 253) Lexham Press, 2023
* 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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