Egyptian-Hebrew stream·The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)·Book II — Book of Parables (Similitudes)·Chapter XXXIX — The Dwellings of the Righteous
Enoch translated to the dwellings of the elect
Enoch is taken up to the heavenly dwellings of the holy and the elect; he sees their resting-place and the Elect One of Righteousness on the throne of glory.
Source context
- Theme
- vision of the dwellings of the righteous and elect, and the transformation of heaven at the end of days
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Jewish apocalyptic literature (Second Temple)Chapter XXXIX participates in the broader Second Temple pattern of heavenly ascent and vision of prepared eschatological dwelling-places for the righteous, a structural motif shared with texts such as the Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) and 4 Ezra.
- Islamic mysticism (Sufi cosmology)The motif of pre-existent paradisiacal abodes reserved for the elect shows cross-tradition congruence with Sufi descriptions of the maqamat (stations) and the heavenly realm prepared for the purified soul in thinkers such as Ibn Arabi.
- Platonic / Neoplatonic traditionThe vision of an ordered celestial realm inhabited by luminous souls shows cross-tradition congruence with Platonic accounts of the soul's return to its astral homeland, as elaborated in the Phaedrus myth and in Plotinus Enneads IV.
Chapter XXXIX
XXXIX. The Abode of the Righteous and of the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
1[And it †shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children †will descend from the high heaven, and their seed †will become one with the children of men. 2. And in those days Enoch received books of zeal and wrath, and books of disquiet and expulsion.]
And mercy shall not be accorded to them, saith the Lord of Spirits.
3And in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth,
And set me down at the end of the heavens. p. 58
4And there I saw another vision, the dwelling-places of the holy,
And the resting-places of the righteous.
5Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels,
And their resting-places with the holy. And they petitioned and interceded and prayed for the children of men, And righteousness flowed before them as water, And mercy like dew upon the earth: Thus it is amongst them for ever and ever. 6*a*. And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, 7*a*. And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits. 6*b*. And righteousness shall prevail in his days, And the righteous and elect shall be without number before Him for ever and ever. 7*b*. And all the righteous and elect before Him shall be †strong† as fiery lights, And their mouth shall be full of blessing, And their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits, And righteousness before Him shall never fail, [And uprightness shall never fail before Him.]
8There I wished to dwell,
And my spirit longed for that dwelling-place: And there heretofore hath been my portion, For so has it been established concerning me before the Lord of Spirits.
9In those days I praised and extolled the name of the Lord of Spirits with blessings and praises, because He hath destined me for blessing and glory according to the good pleasure of the Lord of Spirits. 10. For a long time my eyes regarded that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: 'Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and
for evermore. 11. And before Him there is no ceasing. He knows before the world was created what is for ever and what will be from generation unto generation. 12. Those who sleep not bless Thee: they stand before Thy glory and bless, praise, and extol, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Spirits: He filleth the earth with spirits."' 13. And here my eyes saw all those who sleep not: they stand before Him and bless and say: 'Blessed be Thou, and blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever.' 14. And my face was changed; for I could no longer behold.
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