Texts in Conversation
1 Enoch sorts the dead into separate chambers and describes the place of the righteous with a bright spring of water. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah follows this tradition, describing the righteous in a realm of unending light apart from those punished.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 22:9
Pseudepigrapha
8 Then I asked about it, and about all the hollow places: 'Why is one separated from the other?' 9 And he answered me and said: 'These three have been made so that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been made for the spirits of the righteous, which includes the bright spring of 10 water. And one has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their
Apocalypse of Zephaniah 2:7
Pseudepigrapha
6 I said to the angel of the Lord. “Then doesn’t darkness or night exist in this place?” 7 He said to me, “No, because darkness doesn’t exist in that place where the righteous and the saints are, but rather they always exist in the light.” 8 And I saw all the souls of men as they existed in punishment. 9 And I cried out to the Lord Almighty, “O God, if You remain with the saints, You certainly have compassion on behalf of the world and the souls which are in this punishment.”
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Notes and References
... Zephaniah asks the angel, Is there no darkness here at night? The angel replies that this is the place of the righteous and the holy ones, so that there is never darkness there, but always light (2, lines 6-8). In 1 Enoch 22:2, Enoch is taken to see the hollows in which the souls of the dead are stored. ‘And there were four hollow places in it, deep and very smooth; three of them were dark and one bright and there was a fountain (πηγή) of water in its midst’ (Charles). The angel Raphael explains the sight: the ‘bright spring (πηγή) of water’ indicates the abode of the righteous (22:9). ...
Himmelfarb, Martha
Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature
(p. 152) University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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