Peter Gentry on Enoch in Jude

 

My comments:
First, Jude appears to be referring to 1 Enoch in other places besides 14-15, specifically Jude 6 to 1 Enoch 10:12-13, and the list of natural elements in Jude 12-13 to 1 Enoch 80:3, 4, 6, 7. Thus, with three textual matches, the earliest representation of which being the texts of 1 Enoch, a common source explanation appears less likely. Additionally, what about portions of 1 Enoch that are reflected outside of Jude in the rest of the NT, including Peter and Revelation?

Second, while 1 Enoch lists names of demons, can it really be said that this is a genealogy? Hebrew genealogies list ancestry, whereas the lists of demons in 1 Enoch are just that, a long list of names.

Third, the Greek of Jude 14-15 does not need to match the Greek of 1 Enoch 1:9, especially if it was likely recited from memory.

Lastly, even though 1 Enoch is not canonical and has misinterpretations,^[1] as it is an amalgamation, parts of it are more appropriate for reading than others. It was evidently an important text as reflected in its presence in Qumran Cave 4.

Anyway, I really like Peter Gentry, and am grateful to Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy for introducing me to him.

To repeat and emphasize:

The whole reason behind the “common source” is to protect Jude from quoting a non-canonical book at 14-15. But as 1 Enoch is an amalgamation, parts of it are safer to refer to than others, like Enoch’s pronouncement at 1 Enoch 1:9. The likelihood that Jude’s audience was familiar with this is enough reason to quote it.

Also, where is the “common source”? Currently the earliest source is 1 Enoch as witnessed in the DSS. Lastly, it is more than just Jude 1:14-15 that refers to 1 Enoch, that only does so by direct citation and quotation.

Footnotes:
^[1] See: Were the sons of God in Genesis 6 fallen angels? Who were the Nephilim? by Peter Gentry.

Why Tongues of Fire?

By Dr. Nicholas J. Schaser

On the first Pentecost (or Shavuot [שׁבעות], the Feast of Weeks) after Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit visits the Jesus-followers in Jerusalem: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound of a mighty rushing wind… and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them” (Acts 2:1-3). Of all the ways that God could have shown divine power on Pentecost, why “tongues” of fire? The most obvious reason is that these tongues lead to the disciples speaking in “other tongues” (Acts 2:4), but the imagery has precedent prior to this Pentecost. The Hebrew Bible refers to God’s consuming fire as “tongues,” and other Jewish literature before the New Testament describes tongues of fire in the heavenly realm. Therefore, it is fitting for these fiery tongues to appear on Pentecost as a manifestation of God’s holiness on earth.

The notion of heavenly tongues of fire appears first in Israel’s Scriptures. In response to the peoples’ waywardness, the prophet Isaiah declares, “As a tongue of fire (לשׁון אשׁ; lishon eish) devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so [Israel’s] root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the Law of the Lord of hosts” (Isa 5:24). This prophetic poetry suggests that just as a tongue of fire would lick at the dry ground to start a conflagration, so will God visit the people of Israel as a purging fire.

Isaiah’s reference to a single tongue of fire reappears as multiplied fiery entities in the Second Temple text of 1 Enoch (c. 300-200 BCE). Insofar as Genesis notes that Enoch “was no more for God took him” (Gen 5:24), later Jewish readers assumed that the Lord had taken Enoch to heaven, and they compiled various narratives about the biblical figure’s apocalyptic visions. Speaking of his heavenly tour, Enoch explains, “I approached a wall which was built of white marble and surrounded by tongues of fire… and I came into the tongues of fire and drew near to a great house…. And behold there was an opening before me: a second house which is greater than the firmer and everything was built with tongues of fire” (1 En 14:9-10, 15). This apocalyptic passage describes God’s heavenly Temples consisting of tongues of fire. Equipped with this background, the reader of Acts can see that the “tongues as of fire” (γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρός; glossai hosei puros) that arrive on Pentecost are the building blocks of God’s Temple in heaven—the divine structure on which the earthly Temples in Jerusalem were patterned. These tongues of fire are pieces of God’s dwelling place. God dwells in the Temple (both on earth and in heaven) and the fiery arrival of the Holy Spirit underscores the Lord’s continued dwelling among the followers of Jesus.

Why Tongues of Fire? - Israel Bible Weekly (israelbiblecenter.com)