Texts in Conversation
In Proverbs, a north wind bringing rain illustrates the effect of harmful speech. In 3 Enoch, the same wind has a place in heaven, giving an observation about earthly weather a heavenly source.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Proverbs 25:23
Hebrew Bible
19 Like a bad tooth or a foot out of joint, so is confidence in an unfaithful person at the time of trouble. 20 Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day or like vinegar poured on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. 21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, 22 for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you. 23 The north wind brings forth rain, and a gossiping tongue brings forth an angry look.
3 Enoch 23:10
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
There blows the "Evil Wind" as it is written (1 Sam. xvi. 23): "and the evil wind departed from him". There blow the "Wind of Wisdom" and the "Wind of Understanding" and the "Wind of Knowledge" and the "Wind of the Fear of H'" as it is written (Is. xi. 2): "And the wind of H' shall rest upon him; the wind of wisdom and understanding, the wind of counsel and might, the wind of knowledge and of the fear of H'". There blows the "Wind of Rain", as it is written (Prov. xxv. 23): "the north wind brings forth rain".
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Notes and References
“... Interestingly, too, the lengthy passage that describes the winds (3 Enoch
23, §35)59 does not make use of the metrological imagery that I noted to be sig-
nificant in the Parables; rather, it brings together an array of biblical texts that
speak of the winds and combines their imagery. In fact, there is only one point
in 3 Enoch where scales/balance imagery is used, in 18:20 (§27):
Why is his name called Šoqedḥozi? Because he weighs men’s merits in
scales in the presence of the Holy One, blessed be he.60
So, while there appears to be more entanglement with the content of Parables
of Enoch and 2 Enoch than is seen in the biblical material or even in b.Ḥagigah, ...”
Macaskill, Grant
The Entangled Enoch: 2 Enoch and the Cultures of Late Antiquity
(p. 138) Brill, 2024
* 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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