An Examination of the Punitive Blindness of Asael in Light of the Triadic Relationship between Sight, Light, and Knowledge

The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36; = BW) features Asael as the culprit who illicitly distributed forbidden knowledge to the mortals. In retaliation, God rendered multiple punishments, one of which was the targeting of Asael’s sight (10:5). However, the text itself does not explain why God chose...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Lee, Sanghwan (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publié: 2022
Dans: Journal of ancient Judaism
Année: 2022, Volume: 13, Numéro: 2, Pages: 151-185
Sujets non-standardisés:B Light
B 1 Enoch 1–36
B lex talionis
B Blindness
B Crime and Punishment
B Book of the Watchers
B Knowledge
B Sight
B Asael
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Résumé:The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36; = BW) features Asael as the culprit who illicitly distributed forbidden knowledge to the mortals. In retaliation, God rendered multiple punishments, one of which was the targeting of Asael’s sight (10:5). However, the text itself does not explain why God chose to inflict this form of penalty. This article aims to fill in this literary lacuna in light of the triadic association between sight, light, and knowledge – an association that was widely known in antiquity. This undertaking suggests that the particular offense of the Watchers, including Asael, described in 16:3 (i.e., misusing sight and light in knowledge acquisition) is critical to understanding Asael’s optical sentence. Ultimately, BW demonstrates a talionic correspondence between Asael’s sin and sentence.
ISSN:2196-7954
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal of ancient Judaism
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.30965/21967954-bja10023