The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) · 113 of 141 · tr. R.H. Charles
Chapter LXXXIX (part 2)
And a sheep which had been saved from the wolves fled and escaped to the wild asses; and I saw the sheep how they lamented and cried, and besought their Lord with all their might, till that Lord of the sheep descended at the voice of the sheep from a lofty abode, and came to them and pastured them.
17.
And He called that p.
118 sheep which had escaped the wolves, and spake with it concerning the wolves that it should admonish them not to touch the sheep.
18.
And the sheep went to the wolves according to the word of the Lord, and another sheep met it and went with it, and the two went and entered together into the assembly of those wolves, and spake with them and admonished them not to touch the sheep from henceforth.
19.
And thereupon I saw the wolves, and how they oppressed the sheep exceedingly with all their power; and the sheep cried aloud.
20.
And the Lord came to the sheep and they began to smite those wolves: and the wolves began to make lamentation; but the sheep became quiet and forthwith ceased to cry out.
21.
And I saw the sheep till they departed from amongst the wolves; but the eyes of the wolves were blinded, and those wolves departed in pursuit of the sheep with all their power.
22.
And the Lord of the sheep went with them, as their leader, and all His sheep followed Him: and his face was dazzling and glorious and terrible to behold.
23.
But the wolves began to pursue those sheep till they reached a sea of water.
24.
And that sea was divided, and the water stood on this side and on that before their face, and their Lord led them and placed Himself between them and the wolves.
25.
And as those wolves did not yet see the sheep, they proceeded into the midst of that sea, and the wolves followed the sheep, and [ those wolves ] ran after them into that sea.
26.
And when they saw the Lord of the sheep, they turned to flee before His face, but that sea gathered itself together, and became as it had been created, and the water swelled and rose till it covered those wolves.
27.
And I saw till all the wolves who pursued those sheep perished and were drowned.
LXXXIX.
28-40.
Israel in the Desert, the Giving of the Law, the Entrance into Palestine .
28.
But the sheep escaped from that water and went forth into a wilderness, where there was no p.
119 water and no grass; and they began to open their eyes and to see; and I saw the Lord of the sheep pasturing them and giving them water and grass, and that sheep going and leading them.
29.
And that sheep ascended to the summit of that lofty rock, and the Lord of the sheep sent it to them.
30.
And after that I saw the Lord of the sheep who stood before them, and His appearance was great and terrible and majestic, and all those sheep saw Him and were afraid before His face.
31.
And they all feared and trembled because of Him, and they cried to that sheep with them [ which was amongst them ] : "We are not able to stand before our Lord or to behold Him." 32.
And that sheep which led them again ascended to the summit of that rock, but the sheep began to be blinded and to wander from the way which he had showed them, but that sheep wot not thereof.
33.
And the Lord of the sheep was wrathful exceedingly against them, and that sheep discovered it, and went down from the summit of the rock, and came to the sheep, and found the greatest part of them blinded and fallen away.
34.
And when they saw it they feared and trembled at its presence, and desired to return to their folds.
35.
Themes
◆Divine Hiddennesstheology
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The Lord descends from a lofty abode, implying a prior state of concealment or transcendence before appearing.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The sheep become blinded and wander from the way shown to them, representing a state of spiritual exile or error.
A binding agreement or relationship between the divine and a people or individual, establishing mutual obligations.
[auto] The relationship between the Lord and the sheep involves pasturing, law-giving (noted in header), and mutual obligations typical of a divine covenant.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
[auto] The narrative illustrates the divine actively ordering history, protecting the elect, and judging enemies toward a specific end.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
[auto] The passage depicts a definitive judgment scene where the wolves (enemies) are drowned and perish while the sheep are saved.