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In 3 Enoch, God leaves earth because people worship idols. Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah has righteous ancestors bring his presence back, making that departure something people can reverse through their actions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
3 Enoch 5:13
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
Now you are on earth and the idols likewise. What have you to do with the inhabitants of the earth who worship idols?" At once the Holy One, blessed be He, lifted up His Shekina from the earth, from their midst. In that moment came the ministering angels, the troops of hosts and the armies of 'Araboth in thousand camps and ten thousand hosts: they fetched trumpets and took the horns in their hands and surrounded the Shekina with all kinds of songs. And He ascended to the high heavens, as it is written (Ps. xlvii. 5): "God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet".
Genesis Rabbah 19:7
Aggadah
Rabbinic
Corresponding to them there arose seven righteous men, and these were: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kehat, Amram, Moses. Abraham arose and brought it down to the sixth level; Isaac arose and brought it down from the sixth to the fifth; Jacob arose and brought it down from the fifth to the fourth; Levi arose and brought it down from the fourth to the third; Kehat arose and brought it down from the third to the second; Amram arose and brought it down from the second to the first; Moses arose and brought it down from above [in the first firmament] to down below [earth].
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... p. The removal of-the Sekinah in 3En appears
to be absolute and final: this would accord with
the emphasis in Merkabah mysticism on the
transcendence of God (see "Theological Impor
tance"). In some rabbinic traditions it is taught
that the Sekinah returned to earth from heaven
at various points in history: see e.g. GenR 19:7;
LamR proem 24; Pesiqta' deRab Kahana 1:1 (ed.
Buber. lb). ...”
Philip S. Alexander
"3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch" in James H. Charlesworth (ed.) The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 1
(p. 261) Doubleday, 1983
* 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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