Texts in Conversation
Jeremiah uses the predictable order of sun, moon, and stars to describe the guarantee of Israel’s survival, unbreakable as long as the nation stands. 1 Enoch 79 repeats that language of the stars as knowledge Uriel reveals to Enoch.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jeremiah 31:36
Hebrew Bible
35 The Lord has made a promise to Israel. He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day and the moon and stars to give light by night. He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 36 The Lord affirms, “The descendants of Israel will not cease forever to be a nation in my sight. That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights were to cease to operate before me.” 37 The Lord says, “I will not reject all the descendants of Israel because of all that they have done. That could only happen if the heavens above could be measured or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored,” says the Lord.
1 Enoch 79:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 Now, my son, I have shown you everything, and the law governing all the stars of heaven is complete. 2 Uriel showed me all the laws of these stars for each day, for every ruling season, for every year, and for their appearances, including the specific order for each month and every week. 3 He explained the waning of the moon that occurs in the sixth portal: here, the moon's illumination is completed, and then the waning begins.
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Notes and References
... The theme of an unchanging natural order could be put to homiletic use, as in Jeremiah 31:35-36: Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name: If this fixed order were ever to cease from my presence, says the Lord, then also the offspring of Israel would cease to be a nation before me forever. ...
Nickelsburg, George W. E.; VanderKam, James C.
1 Enoch 2: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 37-82
(pp. 385-386) Fortress Press, 2012
* 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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