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About this book

1 Enoch

About this book

A Final Book by Enoch

Chapter 108

1 Another book which Enoch wrote for his son Methuselah and for those who will come after him, and keep the law in the last days. 2 You who have done good will wait for those days until an end is made of those who do evil and the power of the wrongdoers comes to an end. 3 You, however, wait until sin passes away; for their names will be erased from the book of life and from the books of the holy ones,⁠ and their offspring will be destroyed forever, and their spirits will be slain, and they will cry and lament in a place that is a chaotic wilderness, and they will burn in the fire; for there is no earth there.⁠ 4 I saw there something like an invisible cloud; because of its depth I could not look over it, and I saw a flame of fire blazing brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and sweeping to and fro. 5 I asked one of the holy angels who was with me and said to him: 'What is this shining thing? For it is not a heaven but only the flame of a blazing fire, and the voice of weeping, crying, and strong pain.'⁠ 6 He said to me: 'This place which you see is where the spirits of sinners and blasphemers are cast, and of those who do wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord has spoken through the mouth of the prophets, the things that will be. 7 For some of these things are written and inscribed above in heaven, so that the angels may read them and know what will happen to the sinners, and to the spirits of the humble, and of those who have afflicted their bodies and been rewarded by God, and of those who have been put to shame by wicked men. 8 They loved God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things in the world,⁠ but gave over their bodies to torture.⁠ 9 Since they came into being, they did not long after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly,⁠ and the Lord tested them greatly, and their spirits were found pure, so that they should bless His name.⁠ 10 All the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And He has assigned them their reward, because they were found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world,⁠ and though they were trampled underfoot by wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me. 11 And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light, and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not rewarded with the honor their faithfulness deserved. 12 I will bring out in shining light those who have loved My holy name, and I will seat each one on the throne of his honor.⁠ 13 They will shine for times without number, for righteousness is the judgment of God; for to the faithful He will give faithfulness in the dwelling of upright paths. 14 They will see those who were born in darkness led into darkness,⁠ while the righteous will shine brightly. 15 The sinners will cry aloud and see them shining, and they will indeed go where days and seasons are prescribed for them.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 108:12 and Daniel 12:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Daniel 12 and 1 Enoch 108 describe the righteous shining like stars, following ancient Near Eastern traditions that connect the stars with divine beings. This detail resembles the idea of “melammu,” the shining associated with gods and kings.

Passages

1 Enoch 108:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
11 And now I will summon the spirits of the good who belong to the generation of light, and I will transform those who were born in darkness, who in the flesh were not rewarded with the honor their faithfulness deserved. 12 I will bring out in shining light those who have loved My holy name, and I will seat each one on the throne of his honor. 13 They will shine for times without number, for righteousness is the judgment of God; for to the faithful He will give faithfulness in the dwelling of upright paths. 14 They will see those who were born in darkness led into darkness, while the righteous will shine brightly.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Daniel 12:3

Hebrew Bible
1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. 3 But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever. 4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.”
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

References

"... Two common and closely related images show the righteous raised into heavenly glory. According to one, which has biblical precedent in Daniel 12:3, they will shine like the stars (1 Enoch 104:2; 4 Ezra 7:78, 125; 2 Baruch 51:10; Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 33:5; 4 Maccabees 17:4-6). Because the sky and the heavenly bodies are bright and shining, Jewish tradition always imagined heavenly beings, such as God and the angels, as luminous and shining ... We have alluded to the importance of light in the image of the resurrected righteous as shining like the stars. Reference to eternal light is frequent in references to the destiny of the righteous (1 Enoch 58:3; 92:4; 108:12-13; Psalms of Solomon 3:12; 2 Enoch 65:8; 1QS 4:8). When they are said to wear garments of glory (1 Enoch 62:15-16) and to sit on thrones of glory (1 Enoch 108:12), it should be remembered that this glory is both the visible splendour of shining light and the honour which God will give them, by contrast with the dishonour they have suffered in this life. The light in which the righteous will dwell contrasts with the darkness that is the fate of the wicked (e.g. 1 Enoch 108:14) ..."
Richard Bauckham, The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected Essays I (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 254–255.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 108:12 and Daniel 12:3

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