The Path of Cain, Balaam, and Korah
In verses 11-16, Jude continues warning his Jewish messianic audience about deceptive, immoral people infiltrating their house churches. He compares them to three characters from the Hebrew Bible—Cain, Balaam, and Korah—who choose rebellion for themselves and lead others astray. Next, he compares the corrupt church members to a series of images from Scripture, including selfish shepherds, rainless clouds, and wandering stars. In this episode, Jon and Tim continue exploring Jude’s dense prose, where he seamlessly weaves together allusions to the Hebrew Bible and Second-Temple period literature into a piercing critique of imposters within a community of disciples.
Episode Chapters
Show Notes
Bibleproject Jude Translation
View our full translation of the Letter of Jude.
Reflection Questions
How does Jude use Cain, Balaam, and Korah as archetypes of rebellion, and what unites their stories?
In what ways do Second-Temple writings mentioned in this episode (specifically Wisdom of Solomon and 1 Enoch) expand on the biblical accounts of these characters? How does Jude engage with these writings?
What do Jude’s six visual metaphors communicate about the danger of these people?
What kinds of impact could the behaviors cited in verse 16 have on the church community?
Chapter 1: Cain, Balaam, And Korah
Speaking of the immoral, misguided intruders of the church community, Jude declares “Woe to them!” and compares them to three figures from the Hebrew Bible: Cain, Balaam, and Korah (Jude 1:11). The common thread among all three stories are people who not only fall into evil and rebellion, but also lead others astray. Interestingly, the Hebrew Bible itself links together the stories of Cain, Balaam, and Korah with repeated words and phrases (see Gen. 4 and also Wisdom of Solomon 10:3-4 for an apocryphal work commenting on Cain; Num. 16:31-32 about Korah; and Num. 22-24, 25:1-2, 31:7-8, 15-16 for references to Balaam).
Jude seamlessly ties together story details from Scripture, Second-Temple literature, and the church’s present crisis. For him and his Jewish messianic community, the Scriptures were God’s active words, as present in their time as they were with Cain, Balaam, and Korah.
Chapter 2: Six Images Of Corrupt Leaders
Jude turns to six word pictures to describe the intruders threatening the church community: hidden sea rocks, selfish shepherds, rainless clouds, fruitless trees, wild waves, and wandering stars (Jude 1:12-13). These images contain hyperlinks to the Hebrew Bible (Ezek. 34:2; Isa. 57:20-21; Prov. 25:14) and also the Second-Temple period book of 1 Enoch. The early Church’s “love meals” most likely developed from the meal when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet (John 13). In 1 Corinthians 11:21-22, Paul also addresses abuses of love meals in other church communities.
Chapter 3: The Prophecy Of Enoch
In Jude 1:14-16, Jude applies a prophecy of judgment to the corrupt church members. This prophecy comes from a well-known Second-Temple period apocryphal text (1 Enoch 1:9) and it describes Yahweh coming with myriads of holy ones to execute justice on irreverent and slanderous people.
Though the Hebrew Bible only briefly mentions Enoch (Gen. 5:18-24), his story is profound, and it inspired lengthy Second-Temple literature told from his perspective. Jude’s specific quotation from 1 Enoch is itself a remix of language from several Hebrew Bible prophets (Deut. 33:2; Isa. 66:15-16; Jer. 25:31; Zech. 14:5-7).
Scripture References
Referenced Resources
- Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus. Josephus retells the story of Cain, portraying him as the originator of violence, greed, cunning, and craftiness. Josephus also imagines a speech that Balaam gave to the elders of Moab and Midian about ensnaring the Israelites in sexual immorality and idolatry.
- 1 Enoch and Wisdom of Solomon. Apocryphal works remix and embellish the Hebrew Bible’s stories of Cain and God’s judgment on rebellious humans.
Interested in learning more? Check out Tim's extensive collection of recommended books here.
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Show Music
- “Gentle Lamb” by Lofi Sunday, Yoni Charis
- “Purple Clouds ft. Marc Vanparla” by Lofi Sunday
- BibleProject theme song by TENTS
Show Credits
Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty writes the show notes. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.