Texts in Conversation
In 1 Enoch 10, a rebellious angel is bound and thrown into darkness. In Matthew 22, Jesus uses similar language for an unworthy wedding guest, bringing imagery of punishment from Jewish apocalyptic tradition into the parable.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 10:4
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Then the Most High, the Holy and Great One spoke, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, saying to him: 2 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name to hide himself and reveal to him that the end is near: the entire earth will be destroyed, a deluge is about to cover the whole earth and will wipe out everything on it. 3 And now instruct him so that he may escape and his descendants may be preserved for all future generations.' 4 And the Lord also said to Raphael: 'Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: make a hole in the desert in Dûdâêl, and throw him in. 5 Place upon him rough and jagged rocks, cover him with darkness, and let him remain there forever, and cover his face so he may not see light.
Date: 300 BCE – 100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 22:13
New Testament
9 So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. 13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... taking into account the singular character of 10:4 and the fact that there is evidence of glosses in 10:3–4 and similar passages, there may be also some reason to be suspicious about the authenticity of the phrase ποσὶν καὶ χερσίν, καὶ βάλε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ σκότος ('with feet and hands, and throw him into the darkness'). As for its origin, one possible source might be 1 Enoch 88:1, 3, where E and A (for 88:3) offer a closely similar phrase, except that instead of “the darkness,” the victims (not Asael but the stars, as in 21:3–6) are thrown into “an abyss” (88:1 E; compare 9:4+ Gs; 17:7, 8; 21:7) and into “the pits of the earth” (88:3 E; compare χαός 'chaos' in 10:13; 20:5). Alternatively, Matthew 22:13 offers an even closer, indeed formally identical, parallel. 1 Enoch 10:4 would then be proof of the influence of Matthew’s gospel on the textual tradition of 1 Enoch as it was transmitted and preserved in a Christian milieu ..."
Joseph Verhyden, "Evidence of 1 Enoch 10:4 in Matthew 22:13?" in Hilhorst, A., et al. Flores Florentino: Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino Garcia Martinez (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 449–466.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,