Notes and Comments Vol. 6.
J. N. Darby.
<46014E> 387
Third edition, revised and enlarged, by Richard Laurence, LL.D., Archbishop of Cashel, Oxford, 1838.
NOTE THE FOLLOWING PASSAGES:
Enoch 37:2. "When righteousness shall be manifested in the presence of the righteous themselves, who will be elected for their good works duly weighed by the Lord of spirits; and when the light of the righteous and the elect, who dwell on earth, shall be manifested; where will the habitation of sinners be, and where the place of rest for those who have rejected the Lord of spirits? It would have been better for them, had they been never born." Note this last sentence.
Enoch 47:3. "At that time I beheld the ancient of days, while He sat upon the throne of his glory, while the book of the living was opened in his presence, and while all the powers which were above the heavens stood around and before him."
Enoch 48:3. "And he" (the Son of man) "shall be the light of nations."
- 5. "Therefore the elect and the concealed one existed in his presence, before the world was created."
- 6. "And has revealed to the saints and to the righteous the wisdom of the Lord of spirits."
- 10. "But in the day of their trouble the world shall obtain tranquillity."
Enoch 50:1, "In those days shall the earth deliver up from her womb, and hell deliver up from hers, that which it has received; and destruction shall restore that which it owes."
Enoch 61:4. "The word of his mouth shall destroy all the sinners and all the ungodly, who shall perish at his presence." Query, of "the elect one," or "Lord of spirits."
- 7. "Trouble shall come upon them, as upon a woman in travail." . … - 10 … "For from the beginning the Son of man existed in secret, whom the Most High preserved in the presence of his power, and revealed to the elect."
Enoch 62:15. . … "Before the Son of man from whose presence they shall be expelled."
It is curious in chapter 64:1, it is said: "Noah saw that the earth became inclined," which brought on the deluge.
Enoch 88:102. "Then I grieved extremely on account of the tower, and because the house of the sheep was overthrown."
388 - 103. "Neither was I afterwards able to perceive whether they again entered that house."
Note, this is after having said (v. 92): "I saw, too, that he forsook the house of their fathers, and their tower; giving them all into the power of lions to tear and devour them; into the power of every beast." And then he calls (v. 94) "seventy shepherds" accountable. So that the destruction of verse 103 was under or after the seventy, which itself seems after the Babylonish destruction of the temple.
- 110. "After this, I saw shepherds overlooking for twelve hours." This seems a new vision. He goes back in the same manner (Enoch 89), to the kings, according to Dr. Laurence himself; he says in footnote "The kings of Babylon, etc., during and after the captivity."
Next, as regards the twelve shepherds of chapter 89, I see not how more than twelve are necessarily made out before Christianity. He says: "The first of these was Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabaeus … after him came in succession Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, John Hyrcanus, Aristobulus, Alexander Jannaeus, Alexandra his widow, Aristobulus, Hyrcanus, Antigonus and Herod." Mattathias is doubtful, Alexandra a woman, would not be counted. It would be then connected with Jerusalem, say, Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, John Hyrcanus, Aristobulus, Alexander Jannaeus, Hyrcanus, Antigonus, Herod, Archelaus, and, if we go on to the latter part of Herod, Agrippa when he had Judaea added. We are already, he admits, in fully Christian times. They go up to Herod, under whom Christ was born.
Enoch 92:11. "During its completion also the house of dominion shall be burnt with fire, and all the race of the elect root shall be dispersed." That is in the sixth week, the Babylonish captivity.
- 12. "In the seventh week, a perverse generation." "During its completion, the righteous, selected from the plant of everlasting righteousness shall be rewarded; and to them shall be given sevenfold instruction respecting every part of his creation." Weeks 8, 9, 10 are all in the vague of ignorance. But we have in the 700 years of the 7th the arrival of Christianity. Of this epoch he speaks with a promise, note, of deliverance: "The righteous … shall be rewarded," though a perverse generation had been found in it, the "selected from the plant of righteousness" would be rewarded, i.e., he brings up the hopes of a Jewish deliverance at that time, and then runs off into prophecies which require no attention.
389 On verse 4 of this chapter, "I have been born the seventh in the first week," Dr. Laurence says: "In the mode of reckoning here adopted, it is evident that a day stands for a hundred years; so that consequently a week is made to express a period of seven hundred years." And he adds: "The seventh week closed with the second century of the Christian era."
Note, Dr. Laurence gives, and pretends to give, no proof of a date earlier than Jude, but that Jude quotes it, which is the point in question; he takes this as sufficient and conclusive. Now, I do not admit that it is a quotation from Enoch, as far as we can judge from this translation. These are its words: chapter 2, "Behold he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him." This is rather foist in, I should say. These are the apostle Jude's words from the Authorised Version: "The Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints" (holy myriads) "to execute judgment upon all; and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard (speeches) which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
Now, I should decidedly say that this is not a quotation. The two passages have the appearance of referring to the same prophecy, but the apostle Jude's is far more precise, has far more the character of giving the prophecy as it was. He has far more the stamp of a real and original passage of prophecy. But it cannot be admitted to be a quotation, the differences are far too great. It is not merely citing the sense, for it is far more exactly and elaborately worded. Lucke speaks of it seeming to be the work of a Jewish Christian. He says: "But how much soever the whole makes one disposed to consider die book as the production of a Jewish Christian, I nevertheless hesitate to pronounce any fixed opinion, before the original form of the book is better known, than has been hitherto possible." Laurence says this means interpolation, but he speaks of the character of the author, not of interpolation.
We have seen he brings up his history to the Christian period. Allusions to the Old Testament, particularly Daniel, are constantly found; some, I have noted, seem to me to be such to the New. I should hardly, however, think him a Christian, but a Jew of that period who had known something of what was current among them by hearsay or reading.
390 He ministers greatly to the worship of angels, speaks of Son of man, Son of woman (Enoch 61) and of saints as mediators, intruding into things which he has not seen. Nothing properly Christian is mentioned, nor the law either.
He calls Messiah "the Elect One," as Clement of Rome, and makes Him exist concealed before creation, and Son of man. He would lead the Jews to hopes of deliverance about the time of Christianity.
The fall of the angels is largely gone into by their connection with women. Astronomy, as to sun, moon, and stars, as to which he is very proud, and of course very ignorant. He was, as Laurence observes, in a higher latitude than Jerusalem (his longest day is sixteen hours) and, I think, he speaks in one place of it as "the south." This would lead to suppose he had little knowledge of Christianity, if about the time of its promulgation in Judea. It is impossible to have a greater contrast than between Jude and this stupid book.
He was pretty well acquainted with the Old Testament, many passages being referred to. I judge he would lead to the hope of a Jewish deliverance, but was more concerned to show off the fruit of his imagination. His anxiety to display his notions of astronomy is ludicrous, save the pretension to divinely imparted knowledge.