One last tradition should
not be left unmentioned. In Jude 9, the author inserts an example from another
apocalyptic writing, probably the lost end of the Assumption of Moses, where
the archangel Michael and the Satan are in a dispute and—importantly—Michael
does not curse the Satan (who is simply another angelic being) but just says:
“The Lord rebuke you!” The example is important for the conflict in the
background, as it shows that not even the archangel Michael dares to slander or
accurse another angelic being, while the opponents do not show that kind of
respect with regard to angelic beings. The phrase “The Lord rebuke you!” is a
verbal quotation from a similar scene in Zech 3:2, where in a heavenly court
scene the High Priest Joshua is accused by Satan, and not Joshua but the Lord
himself silences the accuser with these words. In Jewish and Christian apocalyptic
tradition, there are a number of similar scenes, and the author obviously does
not draw on Zech 3:1–5 but on a later episode, possibly dependent on Zech 3.
Again, a text that did not make it into the Hebrew canon nor into the LXX is
the source for an important, possibly also scriptural, example in Jude. (Jörg
Frey, “Israel’s Scriptures in 1 Peter, Jude, and 2 Peter,” in Israel’s
Scriptures in Early Christian Writings: The Use of the Old Testament in the New,
ed. Matthias Henze and David Lincicum [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023], 535-36)
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