Helge S. Kvanvigrelationships between the weeks are, however, complex since they occur on
many levels and in many details. We will here concentrate on those features
we think surface in the way they make up the backbone.
In the relation between the beginning and end of the Apocalypse there
is a proton-eschaton typology. We think this basically parallels the two first
weeks with the tenth. The tenth week introduces weeks without number
filled with righteousness (91:17), just as righteousness endures in the first
week. The tenth week starts with the judgment of the Watchers (91:15),
where the word fp, "end," occurs (iv, 23). This parallels the first end in the
second week (93:/i).^43
From the weeks 3-5 the founding events of the history of Israel are
listed: the election of Abraham, the revelation of the Torah, and the building
of the temple (93:5-7). These are foundations that are made for the future:
the election of the chosen through Abraham "forever and ever" (93:5), the
Torah "for all generations" (93:6), the temple "forever" (93:7). These found
ing events are paralleled in two ways, first negatively in the sixth week (93:8),
then positively in the seventh-to-ninth weeks (93:10-91:14).
The events in the sixth week contradict what is stated about the foun
dational events in the three weeks before. First, all who live in this week will
become blind and stray from wisdom. This contrasts the visions and the rev
elation of the Torah on Sinai.^44 The second contrasting element is that the
temple is burnt. The third is that the whole race of the chosen plant will be
dispersed. These contradictions to the everlasting election of the chosen, the
Torah for all generations, and the temple forever make up the basic plot of
the Apocalypse.
The tension is solved in the three following weeks, starting with the
seventh week of the author and his circle. In this week the chosen will reap
pear (93:10); in the next week the new temple will be built (91:13). The only
thing missing then is the Torah for all generations. In the ninth week
kwennane Hedeq in Ethiopic and Dlttfp fT in Aramaic (iv, 19-20), "righteous
judgment," will be revealed to all the sons of the whole earth (91:14). The
same Ethiopic phrase is used about Abraham in 93:5. We do not know any
places where Abraham executed judgment of any kind. What we know is
- Cf. Kvanvig, "Cosmic Law and Cosmic Imbalance."
- The blindness of the people thus relates to the Sinai events in the same manner as
in the Apocalypse of Animals, 1 En 89:28-35; cf. J. C. VanderKam, "Open and Closed Eyes in
the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85-90)," in The Idea of Biblical Interpretation, 279-92 (here
28off.). The only difference is that the law is missing in the Apocalypse of Animals. The
blindness is related to the vision of God at Sinai; cf. 89:31-33.