Egyptian-Hebrew stream·The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)·Book II — Book of Parables (Similitudes)·Chapter LXXI — Enoch's Final Vision

Source context

Theme

Enoch's ascent to the Son of Man and identification with the heavenly figure

Soul-faculty

Consciousness Soul

Steiner

not engaged in the GA corpus

Cross-tradition

• Jewish merkabah mysticismThe ascent and enthronement motif in Chapter LXXI — the seer translated into the heavenly realm and identified with the Son of Man — exhibits cross-tradition congruence with merkabah literature's hekhalot ascents, in which the mystic approaches and is transformed by the divine throne-chariot.
• Zoroastrian / Iranian apocalypticThe presentation of Enoch before the angelic host and the heavenly Head of Days exhibits cross-tradition congruence with Iranian fravashi-elevation motifs, in which the righteous soul is conducted to stand before the celestial tribunal at the end of days.
• Egyptian Book of the DeadThe identification of the ascending seer with a pre-existent celestial being exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the Egyptian rite of assimilation to Osiris, in which the deceased is declared to be the divine figure rather than merely to encounter it.

Chapter LXXI

LXXI. Two earlier visions of Enoch.

CHAPTER LXXI.

1And it came to pass after this that my spirit was translated
And it ascended into the heavens: And I saw the **holy sons of God**. They were stepping on flames of fire: Their garments were white [and their raiment], And their faces shone like snow.

2And I saw two streams of fire,
And the light of that fire shone like hyacinth, And I fell on my face before the Lord of Spirits.

3And the angel Michael [one of the archangels] seized me by my right hand,
And lifted me up and led me forth into all the secrets, And he showed me all the secrets of righteousness.

4And he showed me all the secrets of the ends of the heaven,
And all the chambers of all the stars, and all the luminaries, Whence they proceed before the face of the holy ones.

5And he translated my spirit into the heaven of heavens,
And I saw there as it were a structure built of crystals, And between those crystals tongues of living fire.

6And my spirit saw the girdle which girt that house of fire,
And on its four sides were streams full of living fire, And they girt that house.p. 94

7And round about were Seraphin, Cherubic, and Ophannin:
And these are they who sleep not And guard the throne of His glory.

8And I saw angels who could not be counted,
A thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, Encircling that house. And Michael, and Raphael, and Gabriel, and Phanuel, And the holy angels who are above the heavens, Go in and out of that house.

9And they came forth from that house,
And Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, And many holy angels without number.

10And with them the Head of Days,
His head white and pure as wool, And His raiment indescribable.

11And I fell on my face,
And my whole body became relaxed, And my spirit was transfigured; And I cried with a loud voice, . . .with the spirit of power, And blessed and glorified and extolled.

12And these blessings which went forth out of my mouth were well pleasing before that Head of Days. 13. And that Head of Days came with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, thousands and ten thousands of angels without number.
[Lost passage wherein the Son of Man was described as accompanying the Head of Days, and Enoch asked one of the angels (as in 46 3 ) concerning the Son of Man as to who he was.]

14And he (*i.e.* the angel) came to me and greeted me with His voice, and said unto me:
'**This is** the Son of Man who is born unto righteousness;p. 95 And righteousness abides over him, And the righteousness of the Head of Days forsakes him not.'

15And he said unto me:
'He proclaims unto thee peace in the name of the world to come; For from hence has proceeded peace since the creation of the world, And so shall it be unto thee for ever and for ever and ever.

16And all shall walk in **his** ways since righteousness never forsaketh **him**:
With **him** will be their dwelling-places, and with **him** their heritage, And they shall not be separated from him for ever and ever and ever.

17And so there shall be length of days with that Son of Man,
And the righteous shall have peace and an upright way In the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.'

Chapter LXXI

LXXXI. The Heavenly Tablets and the Mission of Enoch.

CHAPTER LXXXI.

1And he said unto me:
'Observe, Enoch, these heavenly tablets, And read what is written thereon, And mark every individual fact.'

2And I observed the heavenly tablets, and read everything which was written (thereon) and understood everything, and read the book of all the deeds of mankind, and of all the children of flesh that shall be upon the earth to the remotest generations. 3. And forthwith I blessed the great Lord the King of glory for ever, in that He has made all the works of the world,
And I extolled the Lord because of His patience, And blessed Him because of the children of men.

4And after that I said:
'Blessed is the man who dies in righteousness and goodness, Concerning whom there is no book of unrighteousness written, And against whom no day of judgement shall be found.'

5And those seven holy ones brought me and placed me on the earth before the door of my house, and said to me: 'Declare everything to thy son Methuselah, and show to all thy children that no flesh is righteous in the sight of the Lord, for He is their Creator. 6. One year we will leave thee with thy son, till thou givest thy (last) commands, that thou mayest teach thy children and record (it) for them, and testify to all thy children; and in the second year they shall take thee from their midst.

7Let thy heart be strong,
For the good shall announce righteousness to the good; The righteous with the righteous shall rejoice, And shall offer congratulation to one another.

8But the sinners shall die with the sinners,
And the apostate go down with the apostate.

9And those who practice righteousness shall die on account of the deeds of men,
And be taken away on account of the doings of the godless.'

10And in those days they ceased to speak to me, and I came to my people, blessing the Lord of the world.

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