The Order of Creation

Chapter 2

1 Observe everything that occurs in heaven,⁠ how the celestial bodies do not alter their paths, and the lights in the sky, how they all rise and set in order, each in its own season, without deviating from their assigned courses.⁠ 2 Look at the earth, and pay attention to the things that unfold from beginning to end, how consistent they are, how nothing on earth changes, how all of God’s works appear to you. 3 Observe the summer and winter, how the entire earth is filled with water, and how clouds, dew, and rain cover it.

Continue to 2 Enoch

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 2:1 and Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 16:26

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Deuterocanon

Summary

1 Enoch and Sirach similarly describe creation as steady and well ordered. They point to the stars and seasons to show how the world follows set patterns, and their shared language reflects a view that the heavens reveal a fixed design shaped by God.

Passages

1 Enoch 2:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Ethiopic Book of Enoch

1 Observe everything that occurs in heaven, how the celestial bodies do not alter their paths, and the lights in the sky, how they all rise and set in order, each in its own season, without deviating from their assigned courses. 2 Look at the earth, and pay attention to the things that unfold from beginning to end, how consistent they are, how nothing on earth changes, how all of God’s works appear to you. 3 Observe the summer and winter, how the entire earth is filled with water, and how clouds, dew, and rain cover it.

325 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 16:26

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

26 The Lord’s works have been under his judgment from the beginning.
From the time he made them he determined their boundaries. 27 He arranged his works for all time,
and their beginnings for their generations.
They aren’t hungry or weary,
and they don’t stop their works. 28 No one pushes aside his neighbor.
They will never disobey his word. 29 After this also the Lord looked at the earth
and filled it with his blessings. 30 Every kind of living things covered its surface,
and they return to it.

195–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach

References

"... Although some details in the verse are uncertain, due to textual variation, the major point in 1 Enoch 2:1 is clear. Heavenly bodies move with a regularity that accords with the divinely ordained structures of creation. God has set their paths through the heavens and has fixed the tuning of their movement along these paths: as obedient creatures, they do not change God's order and thus transgress God's commands. This assertion is demonstrated at great length in the astronomical and calendrical treatise(s) now summarized in chapters 72-82. The specific wording of this passage, moreover, is paralleled in the Enochic tradition in the later Book of Parables (41:5; 43:2; 69:20). The point is also made, in similar language in Sirach 16:26-28; Psalms of Solomon 18:10-12; 1Q34 - evidence that the present text reflects tradition ..."

George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 155–156.

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

The Order of Creation

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 2:1 and Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 16:26

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 2:1

Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 16:26

References

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