《《The book of Enoch》（以诺书）》狱蛇

23、Annotation for Section VII

　　CHAP. 38,
　　—1. The writer, who shows himself as much more systematic in everything than the author of the first book, states that what now follows is the first parable; and this continues to chap. 44. He immediately enters in medias res, showing both how important he considers his revelation and making it certain that at the author’s time the hope for the Messianic times must have been especially prominent, else he would certainly have needed some explanatory words as introduction. Congregation of the just is explained in verse 3, 39: 6; 53: 6; 62: 8, and is an expression entirely peculiar to the Parables; shall appear, i.e. when the Messianic rule shall be inaugurated. Expelled: the Parables teach that the sinners shall be destroyed, 53: 5, in some unknown valley, 56: 3, 4, for it is neither in heaven nor on earth, 45: 2, 5, 6; 53: 2, but the first book teaches emphatically that the place of eternal punishment is in the valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, cf. notes on chap. 27.

　　—2. Contemporaneous with this is the appearance of the Messiah, the Just one, a name applied to him because he is a just judge, and is found also 53: 6. Just and chosen, one of the many names for the inhabitants of the Messianic kingdom; others are simply just, or chosen, or chosen just, holy and chosen, just and holy, just and good, children of God, children of heaven. It has been claimed that the expression it were better had they not been born was based on Matt. xxvi. 24, and that the Parables consequently were written after that Gospel, but this is without any foundation whatever, as the Old Testament presents sufficient premises for this statement in Job iii. 3; Jer. xx. 14; Psalt. Salom. iii. 11; cf. the :J 丁7il in Pirke Aboth, Perek il, and in Kiddushim, Perek N., and the classical writers have any amount of similar expressions; cf. Spiess, l. c. pp. 38, 39, and Delitzsch in Zeitschrift für Luth. Theol., 1876, p. 405, Hermae Pastor iv. 2, 6.

　　—3. The secrets of the just,i.e. the Messiah and his kingdom, for even in the days of the sinners he had been revealed to the just, 48: 7; 62: 7.

　　—4. The important role that the mighty of the earth play in the Parables will soon appear. Light, in a moral and physical sense, cf. Num. vi. 25; Ps. civ. 2; cxxxix. 11, 12; Isa. ix. 1, 2; lx.; Zech. xiv. 6 sqq.; Dan.xii. 3 and often in Enoch.

　　—5. Mighty kings are the object of the writer’s threats, instead of the sinners in general, as is the case in the first part, cf. 46: 4-8; 48: 8-10; 53: 5; 62: 1-12, 63, while they are only casually mentioned as one kind of sinners 96: 8; 104: 3.

　　—6. The judgment is irrevocable.

　　CHAP. 39.
　　1. The contrast with the children of men compels us to believe the children of heaven to be the angels; cf. note on 6: 1. Although the angels are not called chosen by the Old Testament or by Enoch elsewhere, but first by 1 Tim. v. 21, the name could easily be applied to them, partly from the oi i:KλεKτof of Tob. viii. 15, partly from the fact that it is the general appellation of those with whom their fate is to be united. A parallel statement is that even the Messiah shall dwell with men during his reign, 45: 4; 62: 14, and thus “heaven shall be on earth,” cf. Jonath, ad Zach. iii. 7. Their seed will be one, of course not in the sinful manner of the fallen angels and the women, but rather as in 62: 14.

　　—2. The sudden change of subjects is somewhat surprising, but as the writer has announced in general terms the wonderful changes introduced by the Messiah he mist explain how these are to be effected, viz. by a judgment. Books, i.e. books containing an account of the judgment, but to specify further as to what books he refers is impossible. It is even possible that the word books is chosen simply on account of Enoch’s literary character, but cf. 93: 1-3.

　　—3. Cf. note on 14: 8.

　　—4. The sudden change again to the subject of the first verse almost forces the belief that something is wrong with verse 2, unless it is an adverbial clause specifying the time of his vision concerning the home of the just.

　　—5. The vision is entirely prophetic, for the writer has as little to say concerning the happiness of saints in heaven as the Old Testament has; the Messianic kingdom is, as it were, now yet in heaven. In view of this, that it is not yet determined who shall belong to that kingdom, the angels petition (cf. note on 15: 1,2) for mankind, and in view of chap. 50; 90: 29-38; 91: 14 (cf. notes) that many may take part. With these angels are justice and mercy, with the side idea that these shall be brought down with them when they descend, vs. 1. Water and dew are symbols of plenty, cf. Isa. xi. 9; Micah v. 6.

　　—6. Faith (cf. note on 58: 5), certainly not in a Christian sense; the word haimanoth means also fidelity, i.e. to God. Then it is very easily possible that the Christian translator uses a word here that may not exactly express the original, cf. HerzogR. E. xii. p. 310 (ed. 1).

　　—7. Under the wings, a symbol of protection, Ex. xix. 4; Deut. xxxii. 11, 12; xxxiii. 12; Matt. xxiii. 37; cf. note on 38: 2.

　　—8. Cf. 71: 14-17; 90: 31.

　　—9. Cf. 37: 4.

　　—11. The eternity and foreknowledge of God is extolled because they have been exemplified in vs. 8.

　　—12, 13. Who do not sleep, cf. note on 12: 2. The change of the Trisagion (Isa. vi. 3) in this passage is according to the contents of the Parables, and especially because God is here the Lord of the spirits.

　　—14. Could not see, i.e. was blinded by the glory he saw; cf. 14: 24, 25; Ascensio Isaiae ix. 38.

　　CHAP. 40.
　　Cf. note on 1: 9. The transition from the description of the Messianic kingdom to the glories of heaven is easily explained by the connection between the two as laid down in the previous chapter.

　　—2. Distinct from the multitude before the Lord are the four special angels, whose special name being （闪族语）, a name taken from Isa. lxiii. 9, are here accordingly represented as faces. The same distinction is observed 71: 1, and rigidly by rabbinical writers, cf. Buxtorf, Lex.(ed. Fischer), p. 27, and Herzog R. E. iv. p. 20 sqq.(ed. 1). This verse is used in Pirke Elieser c. 4. The angel who came with me is the angel of peace in verse 8; cf. 52: 5; 53: 4; 54: 4; 56: 2, where he receives this name, and 43: 3; 46: 2; 52: 3, 4; 61: 2, 3; 64: 2. Whohe is, is not mentioned, but Hoffmann’s conjecture of Uriel is not improbable, especially as the Parables, unlike the almostunanimous verdict of later Judaism (cf. Buxtorf, l. c.), do not make him one of the four chief angels, but put Fanuel in his place; cf. vs. 9 and 71: 8. His name is taken from his functions as the opposite of the satans, or possibly as the well known angel of death, cf. Jonath. on Hab. iii. 5.

　　—4. The first one praises the Lord, an idea probably taken from Isa. vi. 3, and according to verse 9 this is Michael. His name is take from his work, for his cry is （闪族语）(cf. Buxtorf, l. c.). He is here already, like in later works (cf. Herzog, R. E., l. c. p. 27), the （闪族语）, or the Metatron, and as such he has attributes which are generally assigned to God alone.

　　—5. The second praises the Chosen One, i.e. the Messiah, the most frequent name for him, found also 45: 3-5; 49: 2; 51: 3, 5; 52: 6-9; 53: 6; 55: 4; 61: 5, 8; 62: 1. He is so called because he has been chosen by the Lord of the spirits, 46: 3. The name taken from Isa. xlii. 1 is peculiar to the Parables, and is found in no other apocryphal book. The estimate put on the Messiah here in making him the object of praise by one of the highest angels is seriously diminished by having the chosen ones put into the same category, and further by the fact that nothing more is meant here than that they are both objects of the special concern of this angel; and as 61: 10 the Chosen One is included in the host of those that praise the Lord, the idea of a Christian origin cannot be entertained for a second. This angel is, vs. 9, Rufael; cf. notes on 10: 7; 20: 3, and the healing by Rafael in Tob. iii. 17.

　　—6. The third is Gabriel, over all the powers, his name being from 1:J) and 7N..

　　—7. The fourth wards off the satans. These beings, altogether unknown to the writer of the first part, and entirely distinct from the fallen angels or their children, are conceived by the writer of the Parables as the powers of an anti-divine kingdom under the leadership of a prince, who is Satan, （闪族语）, 53: 3. These satans existed before the fall of the angels, for these sinned by becoming subjects of Satan, 54: 6, and they, unlike the watchers, 13: 5; 14: 5, have access to heaven, on the basis of Job ii. 1; Zech. iii. To this kingdom of Satan belong also the angels of punishment, cf. notes on 53: 3. Satans are mentioned in the Noachic additions, 65: 6; cf. Ascensio Isaiae ii. 2. The fourth angel is Fanuel, and as he keeps off the satans he thereby protects those who inherit everlasting life, cf. note on 37: 4.

　　— 8. Angel of peace, cf. vs. 2.

　　CHAP. 41,
　　—1. As the writer of the first part was initiated into the secrets of the physical world as well as the spiritual, the author here also gives a treatise on natural philosophy, but not without first again having spoken of his favorite topic, of the dwellings of the just. The kingdom is scarcely the Messianic (Dillmann), but rather the kingdom of this world, which is to be divided, i.e. the faithful separated from the sinners, when the deeds of all are weighed in the final judgment. Interpreting thus it is easily seen why he mentions the fate of both the just and the sinners in the next verse. Weighed, cf. 61: 8; Prov. xvi. 2; xxi. 2; xxiv. 12; Job xxxi. 6; Ps. lxii. 9; Dan. v. 27; 4 Ezra i. 35 (ed. Laurence), and Homer, Il. 8, 69 sqq.; 22, 209 sqq.

　　—2. Expulsion of the sinners, cf. note ch. 27. Deny, a sin often mentioned in the Parables, cf. 38: 2; 45: 1, 2; 46: 7; 48: 10,(denying the just judgment, 60: 6, or the heavenly sphere, 45: 1, or the Messiah, 48: 10, or the spirit of God, 67: 10). It is pictured as the chief and principal sin.

　　—3. The introducing clause is different from the one employed in the first part, where the writer always says: “And I went and saw.” How they are divided, cf. Job
　　xxxviii. 24, 25, 35.

　　—4. The repositories of the wind are closed as the winds are allowed to escape only at certain times; cf. Job xxxviii. 22, 25-28, 34, 37, 38; xxxvii. 11, 12. His cloud; Dillmann thinks of the Shechinah, Langen, p. 293, of “the spirit hovering over the deep,” but the statement is so vague that no conclusion can be attempted.

　　—5. These repositories must, then, be near the portals of 33: 3 sqq.; cf. Ps. xix. 6. Glorious return, i.e. their secret return from west to east. More glorious, i.e. the sun than the moon; cf. chap. 72 sqq. Oath; the luminaries have taken oaths among themselves to be true to each other, 43: 2, a figure probably taken from the marriage vow; cf. 69: 20, 25.

　　—6. Strong, for even the mighty sun obeys him; cf. Ps. lxxiv. 16; civ. 19; Eccles. i. 5.

　　—7. Hidden course of the moon, the time when she is not seen in the heavens; cf. chap. 73 and 74. Praise, cf. Ps. xix. 2 sqq.; cxlviii. 3 sqq.; Job xxxviii. 3.

　　— 8. The writer plays on the biblical expression, children of light and of darkness; cf. Job xxiv. 13-17; xxxviii. 15; En. 59.

　　CHAP. 42,
　　—1. Drummond (p. 62) is certainly right in calling this “a detached fragment,” for it apparently interrupts the sense. The only possible connection it could have would be that wisdom was in the hands of God his means of strengthening the just, 41: 8, or that wisdom and injustice have repositories like the powers of nature of which he is here speaking; cf. vs. 3. Wisdom found no place to dwell, i.e. on earth, and returns to heaven; cf. Job xxviii. 12-14, 20-24; Baruch iii. 31. Wisdom is here personified as in Prov. viii. and ix.

　　—2. Cf. Prov. i. 20 sqq.; viii. 1 sqq.; ix. 1 sqq.; Son of Sirach xxiv. 7. In the Messianic times, however, she will return, 48: 1 sqq.; 49: 1 sqq.; 91: 10.

　　—3. As wisdom in the author’s mind is the biblical wisdom, its opposite here is injustice; cf. Zech. v. 8. The contrast here is a success. Although the expression here sounds somewhat like John’s prologue to his Gospel, the connection goes no further, and does not betray a Christian source; cf. Langen, p. 44 sq. Dew and rain are symbols of plenty, cf. on 39: 5; Job xxxviii. 26, 27; Isa. xxxv. 6; xli. 18; xliii. 20.

　　CHAP. 43.
　　—1, 2. He continues the topic of chapter 41 with the stars. Called, cf. Isa. xl. 26; Ps. cxlvii. 4; Baruch iii. 34. Weighed, as the context shows, means simply that their mass, course, etc. is assigned to them in a manner pleasing to a higher power. They are guided by angels. Neither here nor above is any personality or moral accountability attributed to them, although their conduct is to be an example for men, cf. in general Dan. viii. 10 with En. 46: 7, and Dan. xii. 3 with En. 104: 2, and thus the stars can represent the names of the just. With this we can understand the strange answer of the angel in verse 4. Believe, the opposite of denying, cf. note on 41: 2, believing being the great characteristic of the faithful; cf. 58: 5. Name, for the being or person it represents, as often in the Parables.

　　CHAP. 44. Here he certainly means nothing but the shooting stars.