《《The book of Enoch》（以诺书）》狱蛇

43、Annotation for Section XVII

　　CHAP. 85.
　　The second vision, which reaches to chapter 90, gives a history of the world from the beginning to the completion in the Messianic times. As in Daniel, the men of Israel and of other neighbors are given under the symbolism of animals. The representatives of the “plant of righteousness” are pictured as tame animals, the patriarchs are bullocks, and in later times the faithful are sheep; names suggested by the gradual decrease of faith and fidelity in Israel. Those not of the people of God and the enemies of Israel are symbolized as wild beasts and vultures. Single persons are individuals of the species to which they belong, the nations are herds. The account itself is based chieflyon the Old Testamentrecord.

　　—1. Another, cf. 83: 2.

　　—2. Cf. Prov. v. 1.

　　—3. Edna, cf. note on 83: 2. This bullock is Adam. White is the color of the theocratic line of descent, 85: 3; 87: 2; 90: 6, 21, 31-37, symbolizing moral purity; cf. Isa. i. 18; Ps. li. 10; Dan. vii. 9; Cant. iv.2. A female etc., designating Eve as a virgin; after verse 6 she is called a cow. Cain is black, the emblematic color of sin; Able is red, a color in token of this martyrdom; cf. 22: 7 and Num. xix.

　　—4. Death of Abel.

　　—5. A cow is Cain’s wife, according to Jewish tradition, his sister.

　　—6. Eve seeking Abel. The Book of the Jubilees, chap. 4, relates that Adam and Eve lamented over Abel “four times seven years.”

　　—8. White bull, i.e. Seth. The cows are called black to explain how afterwards the daughters of men were so easily enticed by the fallen angels. Dillmann thinks black should stand before bullocks; cf. Gen. v. 4.
　　—9. Origin of the Sethites, opposed to the Cainites.

　　CHAP. 86.
　　As 88: 1 shows, this fallen star is Azazel. Bullocks, both Sethites and Cainites.

　　—2. The result was tumult and confusion among mankind. The large are probably the Sethites, the black certainly the Cainites.

　　—3. Fall of the rest of the angels. The three kind of giants; cf. note on 7: 2.

　　—6. Children of the earth; the angels being children of heaven; cf. 6: 2.

　　CHAP. 87.
　　The contest between the bullocks and the giants; the former horn the latter, the latter devour the former; cf. 7: 4.

　　—2. Like white men, i.e. angels. Throughout the whole tableau angels are always dignified as men. The are white because holy and pure; cf. 85: 3. The four are probably Michael and three other archangels; cf. note on 81: 5.

　　—3, 4. This removal of Enoch is explained by the prominent part he takes in the punishment of the angels; cf. chap. 12 sqq. On this tower he remains also till the Messianic judgment, 89: 52; 90: 31. Where that tower was is uncertain.

　　CHAP. 88. Rufael binds Azazel, 10: 4-8.

　　—2. The work of Gabriel described in chap. 10: 9, 10.
　　—3.Michael, according to 10: 11-14.

　　CHAP. 89.

　　These four, i.e. the four archangels. Mentioning Noah as that white bullock, as if he had been spoken of before, is surprising. The author knew he would be immediately recognized by the context. But as a bullock cannot build a vessel, i.e. an ark, Noah becomes a man. The three that lived with him are his sons. Covered, cf. Gen. vii. 16 and En. 67: 2.

　　—2. As men are symbolized as animals, the earth is consistently called a yard, and the heavens above, a high roof. Seven, cf. 77: 4.

　　—4. The deluge.

　　—6. And all the animals, i.e. all the real animals.

　　—7. Other abysses were opened, to receive the mass of water, as verse 8 shows.

　　—8. Darkness, cf. verse 4.

　　—9. The white bullock is, as is interpolated in one MS. Shem, the patriarch of the Israelites as a link in the theocratic chain. The red one is Japheth, the black one Ham. The white bullock went away, i.e. Shem became isolated as the bearer of the theocratic idea.

　　—10. The origin of the different anti-theocratic nations from the three sons of Noah. The white bullock that was born is Abraham.

　　—11. The first clause is unintelligible, but may refer to Gen. xiv. 1 sqq. The wild ass is Ishmael, the white bullock, Isaac. In the following verses, 13 and 16, the Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael, are called wild asses; cf. Gen. xvi. 12.

　　—12. The black wild boar is Esau, the white sheep is Jacob.—The name sheep for Jacob can scarcely indicate a decrease in faith towards Jehovah, but was probably suggested by his profession.

　　—13. One of them,
　　i.e. Joseph. Asses, i.e. the Midianites, one of the tribes of Arabia. Wolves is the constant name for the Egyptians.

　　—15. The oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

　　—16. Moses.

　　—18. Another sheep, i.e. Aaron.

　　—20. Beat refers to the plagues.

　　—22. His face was shining refers to the cloud of fire.

　　—28. Commenced to see must, according to the usus loquendi in this and the next chapter, be interpreted according to Ex. xiv. 31; Hos. ii. 15; Jer. ii. 2.

　　—29. Sinai, cf. Ex. xix.

　　—30. Powerful is about iaxup6♀.

　　—31. With reference to Ex. xx. 18 sqq.; Deut. v. 19 sqq. That sheep is Moses, the other sheep is Aaron.

　　—32. Ex. xxiv. 12 sqq. and xxxii. sqq. and Book of the Jubilees, chap. i.

　　—34. It, i.e. Moses.

　　—35. Cf. Ex. xxxii. 26-29.

　　—36. This sheep, i.e. Moses, becomes a man for the same reason that Noah did, vs. 1 and 9, for he here builds the tabernacle, which became the centre of Israel’s worship.

　　—37. The death of Aaron (the phase form verse 18) and of the older generations in the desert. The stream of water is the Jordan.

　　—38. Cf. Deut. xxxiv.

　　—39. Crossing the Jordan, and the rule of the judges.

　　—40. Palestine; cf. also 26: 1. Satisfied, cf. Deut. xxxii. 14, 15.

　　—41. Their religious condition during the period of the judges to the time of Samuel.

　　—42. The dogs are the Philistines (cf. vs. 46 and 47), the wild boars are the Edomites (cf. vs. 12), the foxes, probably the Amalekites. The lately discovered Greek fragment of verses 42-49 has 42a as two clauses as follows: (闪族语). The Ethiopian translator, by uniting the subjects, makes the sentence smoother and avoids the unnecessary repetition of Kατεa8fεlv, and, besides that, is moredefinite in its harnja hakel, i.e. wild boars, than the Greek with its indefinite (闪族语). According to most MSS. 42b would read: till another sheep was raised to the Lord of the sheep. This senseless statement is fully cleared up by the better Greek text, which reads: expl o己 i,yεlpεv o Kuplo♀ τWv rcpop&τwv Kpov evα,

　　—43. Wars of Saul against his enemies. The Ethiopic is somewhat abbreviated, but it is questionable whether the many of the Greek is, in view of verse 49, and that the Hebrew frequently uses all for many, e.g. Gen. xli. 57, a better reading than the all of the Ethiopic.

　　—44. There is no reason to think that the Greek reading which says that the eyes of the sheep were opened, and not the eyes of Samuel, is better than the Ethiopic. Although the expression is generally used of a return to God and his covenant, it is manifestly used here in the modified sense of learning the true character of Saul. Samuel, too, had been deceived in Saul, hence his eyes were opened. And, besides, we have no evidence whatever that Israel became more faithful and theocratic after discovering Saul’s wickedness. In fact, Samuel suits better as subject, as it is to furnish a motive for his mission described in the following.

　　—45. Samuel anoints David. In this and the two next verses the Greek and Ethiopic are virtually the same.

　　—48, 49. Small sheep, i.e. Solomon. The account in vs. 49 is, beyond all doubt, a description of the reign of David, and not of Solomon. Hoffmann therefore proposes to change the place of this verse. The Greek solves the enigma, as there vs. 49 is immediately joined to 48a.

　　—50. The tower is, beyond all doubt, the temple; but what is the house It might seem from vs. 36 and 40 that it is the tabernacle, but if we notice that in vs. 66 sq. and 72 sq. this house is mentioned as still existing, even after the Exile, when there was neither temple nor tabernacle, and that vs. 72 speaks of the rebuilding of the house, there can scarcely be any doubt but that Jerusalem, as the central point of Israel’s worship, is intended to be understood. And thus, too, from a religious point of view the house was by no means as important as the tower, for God dwells in his temple. This interpretation proposed by Dillmann, p. 262, and accepted by Vernes, p. 89, is certainly correct. With this cf. Test. Levi. X. （闪族语） Table, i.e. offerings.

　　—51. The religious fall of the Israelites and the fate of the prophets.

　　—52. The escape and translation of Elijah. That Enoch should especially note this is natural, since he and Elijah were the only persons who escaped death; cf. 93: 8.

　　—53, 54. The fruitless labors of the prophets to the time of the Exile. In each one of their herds, i.e. in each tribe of Israel. Till, etc. refers to the calling in of foreign heathen nations to their support, thereby hastening their own destruction. By allowing strange nations to influence the fate of Israel they virtually betrayed “his place.”

　　—Verses 55-58, evidently refer to unfortunate wars of the Israelites immediately before and at the Exile; but just what nations are symbolized by the animals here mentioned can scarcely be determined with any degree of confidence. Devoured, vs. 57; cf. Jer xii. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 5, 8; Isa. lvi. 9. Vs. 56 is almost literally quoted in Barnabae Epist. xvi. 5.

　　—59. Seventy shepherds, a first class crux interpretum. It almost seems as if the different interpreters vied with each other in misunderstanding the object and character of these shepherds. Accepting as self-evident that shepherds must mean men, and in this connection rulers, the commentators have sought high and low, in Israel and out of Israel, in Egypt, Chaldea, Babylonia, Greece, and other countries for seventy shepherds who superintended the oppression of the chosen people. Others, again, have thought of seventy periods of time or periods of government, and, based on their respective suggestions, have placed the origin of the book at all times from the period of Judas Maccabi to the revolution of Bar-chochbas. It is impossible to mention all the various theories circulating on these seventy shepherds, for that would require too much space; it is also unnecessary to do so and to refute them, for this has been done to the satisfaction of all candid seekers of truth by Gebhardt in Merx’s Archiv, II. 2, p. 163-246, who has made these seventy shepherds a special topic of inquiry, and has conclusively shown the utter impossibility of accepting any of the explanations that make them leaders or rulers of heathen nations. We therefore turn immediately to the only true, legitimate, and satisfactory explanation. This was first mentioned by Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, I. p. 422), accepted and strengthened by Schürer, p. 531, and lately adopted by Drummond, p. 40. According to themthese shepherds are not men, not rulers of heathen nations, but they are angels. There can be no doubt whatever of the truth of this interpretation, for the following reasons: 1. Throughout all this symbolism men are always represented as animals, and the heathen nations as wild beasts or birds of prey. That Noah and Moses are pictured as men in 89: 1, 9, 36 finds its explanation in the peculiar object in which they are engaged. Besides, it is expressly stated that they became men; cf. notes. Now, in contradistinction from men symbolized by animals, angels are symbolized by men, as 87: 2; 90: 14 clearly demonstrate. Angels alone are dignified as men; and what possible reason could there be for calling the leaders of the wild beasts and of the birds men, and thus giving them a name even more dignified than the names given to the Israelites 2. Before they go out to pasture they all appear contemporaneously beforethe Lord, 89: 59, and how could that suit successive rulers Schürer ironically asks if these rulers were to be regarded as pre-existing 3. In the last judgment they are associated with the fallen angels, 90: 20 sqq. 4. The angel who keeps the record of the deeds of the shepherds is simply called another, 89: 61, thus signifying their oneness of being with him. 5. The shepherds are appointed, according to 89: 75, to protect the sheep from the wild animals, i.e. from the heathen nations. Interpreting the shepherds as heathen rulers would give the senseless sentence that the heathen rulers were to protect the Israelites from themselves, i.e. from these rulers! The author’s idea is simple and plain. During the time that Israel, by the will of God, was to be oppressed and overcome by the nations around her, he had placed them in the hands of seventy shepherds, as guardians, who should watch that Israel should not suffer and endure more than was God’s will. This the shepherds neglect to do, and deliver to the wild beasts and birds of prey more than they should have done; hence these shepherds shall be punished, and be cast with the fallen angels, who had also proved faithless, into the fiery abyss. The idea that Israel suffered more than her sins deserved is not strange or unexpected. It is the author’s exegesis of passages like Isa. xl. 2b (according to the true interpretation of the Targumim, Luther, Authorized Version, Delitzsch, and others), Isa. lxi. 7 and Jer. xvi. 18, where it is stated that Israel has received double for all her sins. The choice of the mystical and sacred number seventy can be no surprise to the student of the Old Testament. Although all these shepherds appear contemporane- ously before the Lord when they receive the commission, they shall not pasture together, but one after the other. That God speaks here directly to the shepherds, and not through the medium of angels, as we should expect from the analogy of the rest of the book and from the example of the Old Testament if they were men, and especiallyheathen rulers, shows conclusively thatthe shepherds were beings enjoying intimate communi- cation with God, in other words, were angels. An author who but once (14: 24 permits even the sacred person of Enoch to go into the presence of God, could under no circumstances have imagined heathen rulers, the oppressors of God’s children, as standing before him, and receiving their orders from his own mouth.

　　—60. According to number, i.e. a certain number. These shepherds were not to act independently, but, like the angels in the Old Testament and in Enoch, were simply executors of God’s will and command. These are functions that a Jew, writing not in the time of the return from the Exile when the heathen Cyrus had appeared as the instrument in God’s hand for the benefit of his people, but in a time when experience had exhibited the surrounding heathen nations as the most bitter haters and revilers of Israel’s God and persecutors and tormentors of the people, in the time when the cruel scenes inaugurated by Antiochus Epiphanes were still vivid before the author—these are functions, we say, that a Jew at that time could never have ascribed to Gentile rulers.—61. God calls another shepherd, i.e. angel, to keep record of the deeds of these seventy shepherds. The “other one” is clearly and evidently an angel, as is seen from 90: 22 and 14, probably the archangel Michael, the patron angel of Israel; cf. Dan. x. 4 sqq.

　　—62. Superabundance, （闪族语）, Uebermass, the number slain above those intended by God. These shall be written down that the shepherds may be judged accordingly.

　　—63. Give them over, i.e. to punishment.

　　—64. These shepherds knowing God’s will that only a certain number should be destroyed are not to be disturbed or advised in their labor. But how could we suppose that, e.g. Antiochus Epiphanes should have a knowledge of the fact that he was to be an instrument to punish Israel, and should also be able to determine how far the divine will would allow him to go For this knowledge, presupposed here as the basis of the just judgment of God over the shepherds for the transgression of God’s law, is clearly in possession of these shepherds, according to vs. 59 and 60.

　　—65. Shows that the killing of the sheep consisted in giving them over into the hands of the wild beasts, as also that the shepherds were beings entirely different from the lions. Did the ridiculous incongruity of calling princes and leaders of wild beasts “shepherds” never strike the advocates of the heathen potentate theory As the lions are in all probability the Assyrians, the author evidently places the beginning of the reign of the shepherds in the time of the struggle of the northern kingdom with Assyria.

　　—66. The fall of the two kingdoms is summed up in the attack of the lions and the tigers, the latter being the Chaldeans. The wild boars are the Edomites (cf. vs. 12), who also took part in the destruction of Jerusalem; cf. Obad. 10-12; Lam. iv. 21; Ezek. xxv. 12 sqq.;xxxv. 12 sqq.; Isa. xxxiv. 35; lxiii. 1-4; Ps. cxxxvii. 7.

　　—67, 68. Could no longer see, i.e. the Israelites were led into captivity. This being a break in the history of Israel, he remarks that the sins of the shepherds in this first period of Israel’s humiliation and the partly undeserved sufferings are recorded by the other angel; cf. vs. 61. Cf. also Jer. xii. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 5, 8; Isa. lvi. 9.—71. With the sealing of the book the first scene is closed. How many shepherds pastured, and how long each one pastured, in the period just closed is notmentioned.

　　—72. Embraces the whole period of the captivity, which is stated in round numbers to have been twelve hours. That these twelve hours are to designate the time of the captivity alone is as clear as daylight from the after that, i.e. after the events to the destruction of Jerusalem, just mentioned, had transpired, then a certain number of shepherds pastured till the time when three sheep returned. How Dillmann can say that these hours embrace the time from Jojaqim to Cyrus is incomprehensible. Cyrus is certainly the terminus ad quem, but that Jojaqim is not the terminus a quo is equally certain. Three returned; Dillmann thinks this a corruption for two, i.e. Zerubable and Joshua. If the word three is a change made by the Ethiopic translator, he probably means by this third one not Nehemiah or Ezra, but Jeremiah. The Ethiopic church has in many of her biblical codices a unique Book of Baruch, that claims inspiration and was extensively used in Ethiopia; in which book it is expressly stated that Jeremiah returned to Jerusalem, and a record is made of his labors and death there. (Cf. Dillmann Chrest. Aethiop., pp. 1-15, or my translation of it in Lutheran Quarterly, July 1878, pp. 333-352.) The rebuilding of Jerusalem and the interruption as recorded Ezra iv-vi.

　　—73. The building of the temple. Table and bread, i.e. offerings; cf. vs. 50. The contempt here expressed for the second temple is no indication that the author was an Essene, as Tideman asserts, as others could have felt the same contempt. The expression here is not any stronger than we find in Mal. i. and ii.; nay, the very words here seem to be taken from Mal. i. 7.

　　—74. The reason why this second temple was unclean was because even after the captivity the Israelites were still blinded, i.e. had not returned to God. Passing over the efforts of Ezra for the strengthening of the law shows that our author was certainly no Pharisee. It is the author’s view of the religious condition and fate of Israel in the Persian period.

　　—75. In addition to internal sinfulness, Israel forgot that it was the people of God, and sinned by mixing themselves with the wild beasts of the field, i.e. with the nations of the world. The author here refers to the beginning of the diaspora. With this another period closes.

　　CHAP. 90.
　　Critics are unanimous that the thirty-six, or as some MSS. have it thirty-seven, is an error for thirty-five. That this correction is not only legitimate, but is demanded by the account that follows will be seen presently. The seer sums up his vision in the words that so far thirty-five shepherds, including those that had ruled twelve hours, 89: 72, had governed. Like the first; as those governing twelve hours completed their times, thus did also the rest of the thirty-five.

　　—2. Introduces a new period and new enemies. They are pictured as birds of prey to show that they are distinct from the previously mentioned enemies, from an altogether different stock or family. It is the period of the invasion of the Greeks and their allies. The eagles leading the rest are naturally the Greeks, or, more specifically, the Macedonians. The crows, according to vs. 8, 9, and 12, are the Syrians. Who the vultures and buzzards are does not appear; most probably these are general terms to designate the other nations allied with the Greeks, so that the author did not intend to designate any particular nations with these names. Pick out the eyes and devour their flesh, because they were birds. The statements of the author are so broad that it is impossible to fix them to any particular historical events, except in general that the fate of the people under Alexander the Great and his successors are portrayed.

　　—4. Who the dogs are cannot be determined; but cf. Tideman, p. 281. Above, 89: 46, 47, they were the Philistines, who cannot, even with Sir. l. 26 on hand, be meant here. He mentions the dogs, a domestic animal, hence belonging to a class of enemies of the period preceding the Grecian, since the period of the birds of prey and the eagles designate the enemies of the period just under consideration, to show that at the end of the Greek period Israel had to suffer from both their former and their present enemies, an idea well suiting the struggles between the various successors of Alexander the Great in the East and in the West; cf. Mic. iii. 2, 3.

　　—5. This Greek period was superintended by twenty-three shepherds, and thus all from the beginning, the thirty-five of vs. 1 and the twenty-three here, had completed fifty-eight times. Here we see the necessity of correcting the thirty-six or thirty-seven of vs. 1 into thirty-five. Thus, then, each shepherd completes one time, and in 89: 72, then, there must have been twelve shepherds for the twelve hours. With this another period closes. It is interesting to see what martyrdom history must suffer to furnish the advocates of the heathen rulers theory with kings enough to satisfy the demands of this verse.

　　—6. The last period of heathen rule. This epoch is marked by the birth of small lambs, or, more literally, small male lambs, who began to open their eyes, i.e. began to return to the God of Israel. He designates by this name those in Israel who, about this time, especially in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, when the leaders of the people and the sheep themselves began to adopt Greek ideas and manners (cf. 1 Macc. i. 11-15), took a firm position for the religion and law of their fathers. In short, they are the well-known （闪族语）, 1 Macc. vii. 13; 2 Macc. xiv. 6, the pious. They are called small on account of their small number, and lambs because they were the generation of the future, destined to grow and increase. They cried to the sheep. i.e. to the renegade Israelites; warned them, and appealed to them for help.

　　—7. But this cry was in vain, the Greek party would not depart from its erring ways or assist the faithful.

　　—8. The crows, i.e. the Syrians, attack these lambs and kill one. Who this one is will be seen in verse 9. But they alone are not the sufferers, the sheep too, the other unfaithful Israelites, are “broken.” In this verse he pictures the beginning of the struggle of the faithful under Mattathias and his sons.

　　—9. The preceding has brought us to the beginning of the struggle between the Chasidim and the Greek party. Naturally we should then expect that the great horn would be no one else but the great Judas Maccabi. To this, however, Ewald, Dillmann, and nearly all other investigators object, and find this horn in John Hyrcanus. The only reason for doing so is acknowledged to be the fact that the time from Antiochus Epiphanes, with whom this last period commences, to Judas is too short a period for either twelve foreign, heathen kings, or for the rule of twelve angel shepherds (Schürer). This objection is, however, not valid, for it should be especially noted—what has been so far overlooked entirely—that the writer does not consider the period of the last twelve shepherds closed with the coming of the great horn, but only by the inauguration of the Messianic kingdom. The great horn, and with it the writer, is in the middle and midst of this last epoch, the rule of the last shepherds. Just how many of these had governed before the rise of the horn, and how many were to arise yet until the new kingdom was established, is nowhere stated. The horn itself is historically not the terminus ad quem for this rule, but only an important factor in the events of this rule. We are, then, not even allowed to seek twelve periods from Antiochus Epiphanes to the great horn, but must place the horn rather early in this last period, as great struggles are still expected before the ungodly rule of the shepherds will end. The period will be short, for only twelve shall rule, and the character of this period is reflected in the words “that these last shepherds had slain more than the rest,” and thus certainly points to the eventful days of Judas Maccabi, and not to the comparatively peaceful days of John Hyrcanus. Then the specific number twelve, further than indicating a short period, should have little weight in determining who the great horn was, as this twelve is simply the completion of the author’s arbitrary and unhistorical system of the rule of the shepherds in Israel, enigmatically dividing them into four periods of 12+23+23+12 shepherds. Other reasons, too, point to Judas, and not to John Hyrcanus. 1. It is impossible that an author like ours, reciting the weal and woe of the faithful, should have passed over in silence, or in insignificant words, the events of the Maccabean period, which was so important just for him, the establishment of religious and political freedom, purification of the temple, the power of the Chasidim in the days of John Hyrcanus. 2. If the one slain in the previous verse is Jonathan (Dillmann), how can it be said that after that period horns grew for the lambs Did political enthusiasm and success not take place until after the death of Jonathan Besides it was only a lamb, i.e. a man of lesser importance who was slain,—in all probability the High Priest Onias III., one of the faithful, murdered 171 B.C.; cf. 2 Macc. iv. 33-35. 3. The spirit of the book points to the tumultuous days of Judas, and not to the quiet times of Hyrcanus; cf. Special Introd. § 4.

　　—10. Appeal of Judas to the Jews. All, not in an absolute sense, but rather many, a fact proved by the victories of Judas.

　　—11-15. Struggle between the horn and its enemies. This appears here as a struggle for the very existence of that horn, and hence cannot find an explanation in the rather insignificant two wars of John Hyrcanusagainst the Antiochus Sidetes and Antiochus Cyzicenus, especially as the latter was an aggressive measure of John Hyrcanus in which he was not even present,—something that is demanded by the context. The words can be properly understood and appreciated only by referring them to the ever-memorable events in the times of Judas Maccabi, and regarding them as a reflex of those bloody, but glorious days. Dillmann himself admits that in this manner vs. 13 could aptly find its explanation in 1 Macc. iii. 7; vi. 53; v.; then 2 Macc. vi. 8 sqq., 13, 14; 1 Macc. vii. 41, 42; and in 2 Macc. xv. 8 sqq. In this struggle against so many foes Judas is represented as being assisted by the man, i.e. angel, who wrote the names of the unfaithful shepherds.

　　—15. In the midst of this contest the Lord himself comes to take part in the struggle. With this the author goes from an historical basis into a prophetic vision of the future, and what follows cannot be regarded as historical, but only as showing how the writer thought, from the present state of affairs, the future would shape itself. We see, then, the author stands in the midst of the Maccabean struggle. The horn Judas has already conquered in battle; his enemies are preparing to crush him. So far the author’s knowledge goes. Of the death of Judas he knows nothing. The expected assistance from God himself, together with what follows, is the prophetic picture he draws of the future fate of this great horn.

　　—16. The last attack of the enemies, a feature frequently found in Messianic portions of apocryphal writers. And in this contest the sheep of the desert, i.e. the renegades in Israel, shall side with the open enemies of the faithful. The attack is still against that horn, showing that this horn existed even after the author had to leave the past and go to the future.

　　—17. During this time, from vs. 6, twelve shepherds had ruled. The terrible sufferings of Israel during that short period find expression in the words, that in spite of so short a period of time more had been destroyed than ever before. These twelve added to the fifty-eight of vs. 5 give us the whole sum of seventy shepherds. Now their times are completed, they can be judged and the Messianic kingdom inaugurated.

　　—18. The Lord himself destroys these last enemies of Israel. The picture is taken from the destruction of Korah and his adherents, Num. xvi. 31 sqq.

　　—19. With this the Messianic times commence. The first thing is the subjection of the old enemies by the sheep, mentioned also 91: 12. Temporally the hopes expected here are certainly to be fulfilled before those of the previous verse.

　　—20. Then follows the judgment, according to the books that were sealed (cf. Dan. vii. 10) at different periods, and deposited with God. This judgment takes place in a pleasant land, in Palestine, 89: 40. This involves no contradiction with 1: 4, as it is not stated there that God will judge from Mount Sinai. Unlike the Parables the Messiah has nothing to do here with the judgment.

　　—21. Six white ones are archangels, in vs. 31 those three white ones. Whether we are to read six or seven here cannot be determined from the MSS. Were chap. 20 an authentic part of the book, six would be preferred, but from Tob. xii. 15 seven is to be preferred. But if, as Dillmann supposes, reference is here made to Ezek. ix. 2 sqq., then six is the number. Star, cf. chap. 86-88.

　　—22. Before these are judged the seventy shepherds are associated with them, thus showing that they were beings of the same kind.

　　—23. Cf. 53: 5; 54: 1, 2.—24. Cf. 55: 4. Abyss of fire, cf. 18: 11; 19: 1-3; 21: 7-10.

　　—25. The shepherds are cast into the same place of punishment. According to chap. 18 and 21, the angels have also their own place of punishment, different from the account in the Parables, 54: 1, 2.

　　—26. Now follows the punishment of the renegades in Israel, but in a different place, in the midst of the earth (cf. 26: 1), i.e. in the valley of Hinnom; cf. chap.

　　—27. To the right of the house, i.e. south of Jerusalem, 89: 50. The judgment here is partial and not universal; cf. chap. 51.

　　—28,29. Removal of the old and building of the new Jerusalem; cf. 61: 1 sqq.; Ezek. xl.-xlviii.; Isa. liv. 11 sqq.; lx.; Hag. ii. 7-9; Zech. ii. 6-17; xiv. 6-9; and passages like Isa. iv. 5, 6; Zech. ix. 8. Planks, Dillmann in his translation has Balken, but in Lex. col. 565 gives the meaning as paxillus, （闪语）, i.e. a small stake or post. A new Jerusalem belongs to apocryphal visions of the Messianic times; cf. 4 Ezra ix. 23-x. 55; cf. Drummond,p. 337 sqq.

　　—30. But the animals themselves that did the wicked deeds shall not be judged, but will take part in the Messianic kingdom; cf. (Mic. vii. 16, 17); Isa. xiv. 2 (xlix. 22, 23; lv. 5; lx. 4-16; lxii. 5 sqq.); lxi. 12, 19-21; Zech. viii. 20-28.

　　—31. That buck is probably Elijah, 89: 52. Those three in white, cf. 81: 5. They brought him to Palestine, where the judgment takes place. To explain how he knew of this judgment just mentioned he says that this transportation took place before the judgment, i.e. the statement here temporally precedes the facts recorded in the verses from vs. 16 on.

　　—32. Those who are to enjoy the Messianic kingdom are white, i.e. are pure and holy; cf. 85: 3. Cf. Isa. i. 26; iv. 3; xi. 9; lx. 18, 21, etc. Their wool is large, i.e. their deeds of righteousness and their virtues are many.

　　—33. Those destroyed, i.e. those that had been slain in the persecutions, shall rise again; cf. notes on 22: 12, 13; and those in the diaspora shall again be assembled; cf. Mic. iv. 6, 7. The seat of this new government shall be in the new Jerusalem. Then the Lord will rejoice; cf. vs. 38; Zeph. iii. 17; Isa. lxii. 3-5; lxv. 19; and also 10: 21.

　　—34. End of the period of the sword, vs. 19. This sword being no longer required is sealed up. The Messianic kingdom will not be disturbed in its tranquillity. The number of the saints is so large that Jerusalem cannot contain them; cf. Isa. xlix. 19-21; liv. 2, 3; Zech.ii. 8 sqq.

　　—35. This multitude has not one that does not see, that is spiritually blind.

　　—37. The appearance of the Messiah. In the Parables the Messiah appears before the judgment and conducts it; in chap. 1-37 and 72-105, God conducts the judgment, and the Messiah does not appear until the Messianic kingdom has been established in all its glory. He is here a product of the kingdom, while in the Parables the kingdom proceeds from him. He is born as a bullock to show his superiority over the sheep and the lambs, and this puts him on an equal footing with the patriarchs; cf. above. His horns were large, an indication of his power.

　　—38. In its perfection the members of the congregation become, like the Messiah, white bullocks. But the Messiah, too, increases, and becomes a certain large animal with large, black horns, i.e. with increased power; cf. Zech. xii.8. The words in brackets cause some difficulty. They are not a Christian interpolation with reference to the Logos, as the classical term for （闪族语） is not nager, which we have here, but ql, while nagar is （闪族语）, although it sometimes translates （闪族语）. Most probably the text read（闪族语）, the name of the mysterious animal in the Old Testament, usually, after the LXX, rendered unicorn. The Greek translator, knowing no word equivalent to （闪族语）, simply transcribed it （闪族语）, which the Ethiopian took for （闪族语）= word. The original then read: “and the first of these was a （闪族语）, and this,” etc.; cf. Hommel, Physiologus, p. xx. and chap. 22. Over them, i.e. over the sheep that had become bullocks.

　　—39. During his sleep he had been among these saints, and awakening he finds himself in their midst.

　　—40. In a sleep; cf. 85: 1.

　　—41, 42. The threatenings of God had not been in vain, and the present condition of the author’s contemporaries causes tears to flow for their fate.