1 Enoch

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Chapter 96

1 Be hopeful, you righteous; for suddenly the sinners will perish before you,⁠ and you will have dominion over them according to your desires. 2 And on the day of the tribulation of the sinners, your children shall rise and soar as eagles, and higher than the vultures will be your nest. You shall ascend and enter the crevices of the earth and the clefts of the rock forever, like coneys before the unrighteous, while the sirens will mourn because of you and weep. 3 Therefore, do not fear, you who have suffered; for healing shall be your portion, and a bright light shall illuminate you, and you shall hear the voice of rest from heaven. 4 Woe to you, sinners, for your riches make you appear like the righteous, but your hearts convict you of being sinners. This fact shall serve as a testimony against you as a memorial of your evil deeds.⁠ 5 Woe to you who consume the finest of the wheat and drink wine from large bowls, and trample the lowly with your might.⁠ 6 Woe to you who drink water from every fountain, for suddenly you shall be consumed and wither away, because you have forsaken the fountain of life. 7 Woe to you who practice unrighteousness, deceit, and blasphemy: it shall be a memorial against you for evil. 8 Woe to you, mighty ones, who oppress the righteous with your might; for the day of your destruction is coming. In those days, many and good days shall come to the righteous—in the day of your judgment.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 96:5 and Philippians 3:19

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Summary

1 Enoch describes the wealthy who exploit others coming to destruction and shame at judgment. Philippians similarly describes those who desire excess as the enemies of the cross whose end is destruction, and whose honor becomes shame.

Passages

1 Enoch 96:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

4 Woe to you, sinners, for your riches make you appear like the righteous, but your hearts convict you of being sinners. This fact shall serve as a testimony against you as a memorial of your evil deeds. 5 Woe to you who consume the finest of the wheat and drink wine from large bowls, and trample the lowly with your might. 6 Woe to you who drink water from every fountain, for suddenly you shall be consumed and wither away, because you have forsaken the fountain of life. 7 Woe to you who practice unrighteousness, deceit, and blasphemy: it shall be a memorial against you for evil. 8 Woe to you, mighty ones, who oppress the righteous with your might; for the day of your destruction is coming. In those days, many and good days shall come to the righteous—in the day of your judgment.

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

Philippians 3:19

New Testament

17 Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. 18 For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

56–63 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Philippians

References

"... The characterization of the “enemies of the cross” draws on a collection of common insults: “their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame” (3:19). In biblical tradition, shame is the result and experience of divine justice. The apocalyptic seer announces humiliation for the unrighteous as compensation for the injustice done to the righteous in the here and now. For instance, Enoch laments [in 1 Enoch 96] ... The heavenly seer curses the godless people for accumulation of unjust money, for their ignorance, and even more for suppressing and humiliating the righteous one. Their supposed honor in this world will turn to shame in the next. They will be thoroughly shamed on the day of resurrection and judgment, or even already in a kind of purgatory. Their limited “earthly” view on reality will prove itself as wrong. Seen from the heavenly perspective of the seer, the fate of the godless is actual destruction, whereas the “friends of God” can hope for salvation. This hope, already present in wisdom literature, blossoms in apocalypticism where the seer observes the punishment of sinners on his journey to heaven, reports of them and warns future generations of them. The punishment entails that, in the end, sinners will have to recognize the limitation of their “earthly” position when they see the destiny of the righteous (Wisdom of Solomon 5:1–16) ..."

Angela Standhartinger, “Apocalyptic Thought in Philippians,” in The Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the Shaping of New Testament Thought, ed. Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), 233–244.

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

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 96:5 and Philippians 3:19

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 96:5

Philippians 3:19

References

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