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1 Enoch

About this book
Chapter 40

1 After that I saw thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, a multitude beyond number and reckoning, who stood before the Lord of Spirits.⁠ 2 On the four sides of the Lord of Spirits I saw four presences, different from those that do not sleep, and I learned their names; for the angel who went with me made their names known to me and showed me all the hidden things. 3 I heard the voices of those four presences as they spoke praises before the Lord of glory. 4 The first voice blesses the Lord of Spirits forever and ever. 5 The second voice I heard blessing the Elect One and the elect ones who depend on the Lord of Spirits. 6 The third voice I heard praying and interceding for those who dwell on the earth and making requests in the name of the Lord of Spirits. 7 The fourth voice I heard fending off the Satans, forbidding them to come before the Lord of Spirits to accuse those who dwell on the earth.⁠ 8 After that I asked the angel of peace who went with me,⁠ who showed me everything that is hidden: 'Who are these four presences I have seen, whose words I have heard and written down?' 9 He said to me: 'The first is Michael, the merciful and patient; the second, who is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the children of men, is Raphael; the third, who is set over all the powers,⁠ is Gabriel; and the fourth, who is set over the repentance that leads to hope for those who inherit eternal life,⁠ is named Phanuel.' 10 These are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits, and the four voices I heard in those days.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 40:9 and Ephesians 6:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Ephesians describes conflict as a struggle with unseen spiritual powers rather than human enemies, echoing 1 Enoch where heavenly beings shape events on earth, showing continuity with Jewish apocalyptic traditions of divine order.

Passages

1 Enoch 40:9

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
8 After that I asked the angel of peace who went with me, who showed me everything that is hidden: 'Who are these four presences I have seen, whose words I have heard and written down?' 9 He said to me: 'The first is Michael, the merciful and patient; the second, who is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the children of men, is Raphael; the third, who is set over all the powers, is Gabriel; and the fourth, who is set over the repentance that leads to hope for those who inherit eternal life, is named Phanuel.' 10 These are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits, and the four voices I heard in those days.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Ephesians 6:12

New Testament
10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. 13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ephesians

References

"... Slavoj Žižek offers a translation of Ephesians 6:12 that, not unlike the translation techniques of the Good News Bible or The Message, he renders in “today’s language”: Our struggle is not against actual corrupt individuals, but against those in power in general, against their authority, against the global order and the ideological mystification which sustains it ... the present chapter attempts a Gramscian “preliminary detailed philological work” examining the birth and development of the archangel in ancient Judaism and Christianity, an attempt to demonstrate the conceptual and ideological unity of certain traditions previously considered unconnected. The archangel, one of an elite group of principal angels, only appears on the scene at the end or margins of the Jewish scriptures (in the books of 1 Enoch, Tobit, and Daniel), perhaps then sometime in the third century BCE, give or take some decades. Yet once the archangel entered the Jewish imaginary, he gained a secure place in Jewish and then Christian tradition ..."
Deane Galbraith, “The Origin of Archangels: Ideological Mystification of Nobility,” in Class Struggle in the New Testament, ed. Robert J. Myles (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2019), 209–240.

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 40:9 and Ephesians 6:12

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