Egyptian-Hebrew stream·The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)·Book II — Book of Parables (Similitudes)·Chapter LXIII — The Mighty Plead in Vain
Repentance refused at the last hour
The mighty kings, the exalted, those who hold the earth — they shall fall on their faces, plead for respite that they may worship the Lord of Spirits and confess; but their petition is refused. Darkness shall be their dwelling.
Source context
- Theme
- confession of earthly kings and mighty ones before the Son of Man at eschatological judgment
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Hebrew prophetic tradition (Isaiah, Daniel)The prostration of earthly rulers before a heavenly judge and the futility of accumulated power at the final reckoning shows structural cross-tradition congruence with the Danielic Son of Man scene and Isaianic judgment-of-princes motifs.
- Zoroastrian eschatology (Avestan)The weighing of deeds by a cosmic judge before whom no worldly rank offers mitigation exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the Zoroastrian Chinvat Bridge judgment, where spiritual merit alone determines passage.
- Platonic philosophy (Er myth, Republic X)The theme of souls stripped of earthly honours facing impartial cosmic justice shows cross-tradition congruence with Plato's Myth of Er, where kings and generals are subject to judgment independent of their terrestrial station.
Chapter LXIII
LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty.
CHAPTER LXIII.
1In those days shall the mighty and the kings who possess the earth implore (Him) to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment to whom they were delivered, that they might fall down and worship before the Lord of Spirits, and confess their sins before Him. 2. And they shall bless and glorify the Lord of Spirits, and say:
'Blessed is the Lord of Spirits and the Lord of kings, And the Lord of the mighty and the Lord of the rich, And the Lord of glory and the Lord of wisdom,
3And splendid in every secret thing is Thy power from generation to generation,
And Thy glory for ever and ever: Deep are all Thy secrets and innumerable, And Thy righteousness is beyond reckoning.
4We have now learnt that we should glorify
And bless the Lord of kings and Him who is king over all kings.' p. 84
5And they shall say:
'Would that we had rest to glorify and give thanks And confess our faith before His glory!
6And now we long for a little rest but find it not:
We follow hard upon and obtain (it) not: And light has vanished from before us, And darkness is our dwelling-place for ever and ever:
7For we have not believed before Him
Nor glorified the name of the Lord of Spirits, [nor glorified our Lord] But our hope was in the sceptre of our kingdom, And in our glory.
8And in the day of our suffering and tribulation He saves us not,
And we find no respite for confession That our Lord is true in all His works, and in His judgements and His justice, And His judgements have no respect of persons.
9And we pass away from before His face on account of our works,
And all our sins are reckoned up in righteousness.'
10Now they shall say unto themselves: 'Our souls are full of unrighteous gain, but it does not prevent us from descending from the midst thereof into the †burden† of Sheol.'
11And after that their faces shall be filled with darkness
And shame before that Son of Man, And they shall be driven from his presence, And the sword shall abide before his face in their midst.
12Thus spake the Lord of Spirits: 'This is the ordinance and judgement with respect to the mighty and the kings and the exalted and those who possess the earth before the Lord of Spirits.'
Chapter LXIV
LXIV. Vision of the fallen Angels in the Place of Punishment.
CHAPTER LXIV.
1And other forms I saw hidden in that place. 2. I heard the voice of the angel saying: 'These are the angels who descended to the earth, and revealed what was hidden to the children of men and seduced the children of men into committing sin.'
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