jan 4, 162 BC - Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85-90)

Description:

The final form of the apocalpyse crystallized during the campaigns of Judah the Maccabee, between 164 BCE (Beth-zur) and 160 BCE (Judah's death). Its earlier form(s) could date back only a few years before, or as far back as the beginning of the second cent. BCE.

The animal apocalypse (An. Apoc.) recounts the history of Israel, and especially of Israel's relationship with gentile peoples and nations, in allegorical form. Humans are cast as animals, sinful angels as stars, and seven archangels as humans. The text (1) issues from an eschatological community whose claim to revelatory authority is through Enoch; (2) has a negative view of the institution of the Second Temple; and (3) promotes the military activity of the Maccabees against the Seleucids, unlike the passive resistance espoused in Daniel and T. Moses.

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