1 Enoch

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Chapter 42

1 Wisdom found no place where she might dwell; then a dwelling-place was assigned to her in the heavens.⁠ 2 Wisdom went forth to make her dwelling among the children of men, and found no dwelling-place:⁠ Wisdom returned to her place, and took her seat among the angels.⁠ 3 And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers: whom she did not seek, she found, and dwelt with them,⁠ like rain in a desert and dew on a thirsty land.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 42:2 and John 1:10

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Summary

John echoes 1 Enoch 42 by showing divine wisdom entering the world and being rejected. In both, wisdom seeks to live with people but is not received. John identifies this wisdom as Jesus who stays in the world, unlike 1 Enoch where it returns to heaven.

Passages

1 Enoch 42:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

1 Wisdom found no place where she might dwell; then a dwelling-place was assigned to her in the heavens. 2 Wisdom went forth to make her dwelling among the children of men, and found no dwelling-place: Wisdom returned to her place, and took her seat among the angels. 3 And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers: whom she did not seek, she found, and dwelt with them, like rain in a desert and dew on a thirsty land.

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

John 1:10

New Testament

6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children—

90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

References

"... The prologue of John’s Gospel is best understood as a midrash on Genesis 1, a midrash that links the idea of a preexistent creative divine logos to the motif of divine Wisdom seeking a home in the world (e.g., Sirach 24:3-8). In contrast, however, to those earlier Jewish traditions that identify the earthly presence of Wisdom among the people Israel or in Israel’s law (Sirach 24:23; Baruch 3:35–4:4), John insists that Logos/Wisdom found only rejection in the world, even among God’s own people ... This appears very similar to the rather gloomy account offered in 1 Enoch ... But the Gospel of John offers a radically different ending to such a tragic tale. Rather than taking up permanent residence among the angels, the divine Word/Wisdom acted to overcome Israel’s resistance by becoming flesh in the person of Jesus ..."

Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), 310.

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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Comments

This is a pretty cool cross reference almost to direct cross reference. Jesus is not merely the personification of Wisdom but he is the incarnation of wisdom. His experience through the course of his life on earth mirrors exactly the experience accredited to wisdom and Enoch 42!

RI Burns, May 15, 2023

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 42:2 and John 1:10

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 42:2

John 1:10

References

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