The Power of Apocalypse: The Social Dynamics of Judgment in the Parables of Enoch and the Animal Apocalypse

Joshua Scott

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Chapter 6 The Power of Apocalypse: The Social Dynamics of Judgment in the Parables of Enoch and the Animal Apocalypse

In: Understanding Power in Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Volume 1

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Joshua Scott

Joshua Scott
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 153–171

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004712485_008

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Abstract

How is social and political power expressed in the ancient world? This article builds upon recent trends that suggest ancient Jewish apocalypticism validates and replicates forms of violence enacted in ancient imperialism. The Assyrian imperial cache of Ashurnasirpal II records the brutal acts of judgment used to quell revolt and maintain control of the empire. As written records, these inscriptions likely served as a rhetorical warning against disobedience. A literary comparison shows that these brutal acts are in some sense replicated in the judgment scenes of 1 Enoch 60–62 and 1 Enoch 89–90. Within these texts, an individual’s body is the locale of judgment, in which punishment functions as a rhetorical tool to warn against the breaking of communal values or identity. This comparison affirms that the motif of judgment was employed in ancient Jewish apocalyptic texts to construct identity of the idealized community and not solely as an outward response to imperialism. These texts suggest that actors in the ancient world used the body, in a real or metaphorical sense, as a means to express social and political power.

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Understanding Power in Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Volume 1

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Series: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, Volume: 140

Cover Understanding Power in Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Volume 1

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004712485

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 06 Nov 2024

Subjects
- Ancient Near East and Egypt
  - History

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Chapter 6 The Power of Apocalypse: The Social Dynamics of Judgment in the Parables of Enoch and the Animal Apocalypse

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Understanding Power in Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Volume 1

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