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Cuap. 14, 1. As the following is to be a minute description of the vision, it is very properly preceded by its own superscription. The angels are from eternity, in the sense of the biblical HTR, i.e. not eternity absolutely and metaphysically, but only subjectively, froma time hidden (HTR) to the author; cf. Orelli, Heb. Synonyma . Zeit und Ewigkeit, p. 69 sqq. and note on 10:4, 10 and 15:3, 4, 6, 7, 10; 12:4; 15:3.—2. Tongue of flesh, to emphasize his privilege as a human being, who is of flesh, to rebuke the angels who are spiritual. The contrast is strengthened by the fact that the author here evidently, as in 15, especially verse 8, and as it is probably done Gen. vi. 3, and Ps. lxxviii. 39, and certainly in the New Testament (cf. Wendt, Fleisch und Geist, p. 42, sqq.), attaches to the idea of flesh the ethical idea of moral weakness; cf. also 84:1; cf. the similar idea in Isa. viii. 1 —4. The judgment has been passed, i.e. decided upon by the unchangeable God, 65:10, like the biblical HTR.—5. Cf. note on 13:4, 5.—6. note on 10:9.—7. Cf. note on 10:10. Speak, probably from falsely reading GTR for GTR, and should be: ye will not receive. The writing is of course Enoch’s petition. To this and the following Irenaeus refers in adv. Haer. iv. 30, when he says: Sed et Enoch sine circumcisione placens Deo, cumesset homo, legatione ad angelos fungebatur et translatus est et conservatur usque nunc testis judicii Dei, quoniam angeli quidam transgressi deciderunt in terram in judicium, homo autem placens translatus est in salutem.—8. The picture here is evidently taken from passages like Isa. xix. 1 and the places where God is said to descend on a cloud, Ex. xix. 9; xxxiv. 4; Lev. xvi. 2; Num. xi. 25; xii. 5. In the Ascensio Isaiae, chap. vii., viii., in which Isaiah ascends up to the seventh through the other six heavens, the manner of the ascent is not stated, except that the angels caused it. The statements here are certainly connected with Isa. vi.; Ezek. I. and x.; Dan. vii. 9, 10.—9. These holy places are surrounded by walls of the purest substances. In Zech. ii. 5 the Lord is himself a wall of fire, and fire is the symbol of purity, Prov. xxv. 22; Jer. xxiii. 29; Mal. iii. 2.—10. The picture is taken from the shape of an earthly temple; behind the wall is the HTR or GTR.—11. Water, because transparent.—13. is an expression of his awful feelings in seeing these astounding phenomena.—14. Cf. Ezek. I. 28; Dan. viii. 17, 18; x. 9; Ascensio Isaiae, ix. 1,215. Now he sees the holy of holies, whose doors are open, which is to explain how in the following he can narrate what was within, although he did not enter; cf. the similar description in Pirke Elieser, c. 4. His not entering is explained by Ex. xxxiii. 20; Judg. vi. 22 sq.; xiii. 22; 1 Sam. vi. 19 sq.—l6. You, i.e. the readers.—17. Cf. verse 11.—18. Hoar-frost, to express the intensity of the whiteness; cf. Dan. vii. 9. Throne, the prophet Isaiah in his ascent finds a throne in each one of the seven heavens; cf. Ascensio Isaiae vii. 14 sqq. and Isa. vi. 1 sqq.—19. Cf. Dan. vii. 10.—20. Ascensio Isaiae ix. 27. Et vidi quendam stantem, cujus gloria superabat omnin, et gloria ejus magna erat et mirabilis —21. Cf. note on verse 2. That God’s residence cannot be entered by man is stated also 3 Macc. ii. 14 sqq.; cf. Ascensio Isaiae iii. 8 sqq.—22. The angels are servants, not advisers of God, hence they are not required in his GTR; cf. note on I. 9.—24. Word, not the GTR, but probably the GTR or command of God personified. Dillmann says it is equal to: Come here to hear my holy word; cf. Langen, p. 268, and the personification of the word of God in Ps. exlvii. 15; Isa. lv. 11—25. To the door, according to verse 21. Cuap. 15, 1, 2. Scribe of justice; cf. 12:3. Angels interceding for men is biblical; cf. Job v. 1; xxxiii. 23; Zech. I. 12 sqq. (Tob. xii. 12-15; 2 Macc. iii. 25 sqq.; Philo, De Gig. § 4.); Apoc. viii. 3, and in En. 9:3; 40:6, 7; 47:2; 89:76; 104:1—3. Cf. 12:4; Jude 6.—4. The contrast lies here between spiritual and eternal on the one hand, and flesh and mortality on the other. The angels, being eternal, did not require propagation as a means of the preservation of their kind, and thus their lust had caused them to step out of their sphere. Their guilt was increased by the result of this unnatural union, the wicked giants.—5. Man, being mortal, did not sin by propagating his kind; cf. Test. Naphtali, 3—6. That the angels are spiritual is not definitely stated in the Old Testament, but repeatedly in the New; cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 12, 32; Heb. I. 14; Apoc. xxii. 6; Acts viii. 26, 29, 39.—8, 9. Giants were the product of this lustful connection, and being the children of spiritual fathers, but begotten in sin, they are evil spirits. Syncellus has also 15: 8-16:1, and gives a good text. Justin Martyr (Apol. brev. ii. 5) remarks: GTR, but in his Apol. pro Christ. ad Anton. Pium he calls these angels themselves GTR. Tertul. Apol. 22 adopts the first view: Quomodo de angelis quibusdam sua sponte coruptis corruptio gens daemonum evaserit, etc.; as also do the Pseudo-Clement., 8, 18—10 is omitted in the Gr., but was