The Book of Enoch-pages

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The Book of Enoch-pages

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judgment (with which the eternity is identical, cf. note on 14:1).—12, 13. The second class of sinners are those who although sinners nevertheless suffered in the world. Before eternity, i.e. before the final judgment. But these, having already been partially punished, shall not again be judged like the other class, which statement shows that the final judgment is to inaugurate for those of vs. 10 and 11 agreater punishment than the terrors of Sheol. The killing of the souls here referred to is not annihilation, as many other passages in Enoch show, but is identical with the eternal death in the punishment of hell. Will not be taken from here, i.e. will not rise from the dead. That the just shall rise is clearly stated 81:4; 90:33; 91:10; 92:3; 100:5. Cf. onthe whole matter what is said of the second death of the sinners in Onkelos on Deut. xxxiii. 6; Jonath, on Isa. xxii. 14; Ixv. 15; Jer. li. 39, 57.—14. As is his manner in receivinga revelation (cf. 24:7; 27:5; 36:4; 39:9-12; 81:3; 83:11; chap. 84, 90:40), Enoch blesses the Lord, in which he is imitated in the Ascensio Isaiae, chap. 6 sqq. Lord of glory (25:3, 7; 27:5; 36:4; 40:3; 63:2; 75:3; 81:3; 83:8) and Lord of justice (83:11; 90:40) are proper appellatives of God in this connection, as these two characteristics of his divinity were exemplified in the preceding. Cuap. 23, 1. He leaves the place of departed spirits, but remains in the west.—2-4. This is probably the same fire that he mentioned 17:4. Towards the west, a modifying clause of fire, not of running. CuaP. 24, 1. He fails to state just where that other place is, but as the mountain-chain of fire are the seven hills of 18:6-9, this new place must be in the south.—2. Here these mountains are positively identified with those mentioned in 18, but he enlarges on their aspect. Not one joining the other, i.e. they were parallel_—3. Fragrant trees, a proof that it was a blessed place.—4-6. Of these trees one is especially beautiful, cf. note on 10:19. Michael, as the special angel of Israel, instructs the seer on the special blessing in store for the true Y on Israelite. Cuap. 25, 1. The conversation carried on here and above is very much like the one between Isaiah and the angel in their ascent through the seven heavens in the Ascensio Isaiae. —3. The throne that Enoch saw, 24:3, is not an illusion, but is in reality the throne of God. Although the location would answer, it is more than probable that the author did not mean Mount Sinai of 1:4 here, for God descends on Mount Sinai to judge, but here, as is shown by the context and expressed by the words, to visit the earth with goodness, cf. 77:1. Lord of glory, cf. note on 22:14. Eternal king, cf. vs. 5, 7, a biblical name of God.—4. This tree is here preserved until the time of the judgment. Mortal, literally flesh, cf. note on 14:2, and Gen. iii. 22-24.—5. Now the guide explains that this is the tree of life, Gen. ii. 9; iii. 22; Prov. iii. 18; xi. 30; xiii. 12; xv. 4, a hope found also 4 Ezra viii. 62; Apoc. ii. 7; xxii. 2, 14, 19; Testamentum Levi xviii, and by rabbinical writings, cf. Schéttgen, Horae Talmud. in Apoc. ii. 7. This tree, however, is entirely distinct from the tree of wisdom, 32:6. In the Messianic times this tree is to be transplanted from the south, where it is now kept, to the north, to the New Jerusalem, which is to stand on the site of the old, cf. chap. 26, 27. Such is the power of this tree that simply breathing of it gives long life; cf. Ezek. xxxvii. 9; cf. note on 10:17, and Isa. lxv. 19, 20. Cuap. 26, 1. Having mentioned that the tree of life is to be transplanted to the New Jerusalem, he now visits that place. As the Greeks thought Delphi, the centre of their worship, the middle of the earth, the Jewish seer here regards Jerusalem as such, as it is possibly already done, Ezek. xxxviii. 12; v. 5; Isa. ii. 2, and book of the Jubilees, viii. 2, where Zion is called the navel of the earth, like the term GTR, used of the round stone in the temple at Delphi as the centre of the earth in Pindar P. 4, 131; 6, 3. Early oriental Christians entertained the same views, cf. Tertullian and Jerome on Ezek. v. 5, and the former Contra Marcion II. 196. In En. 90:26 Gehenna is in the middle of the earth, and in the Ethiopic Synaxaria, de Melchisedec (Dill. Chrest. p. 16) Mount Calvary is regarded as such. Fruitfulness is constantly a characteristic of the Messianic times. The tree is Israel; it was cut as a punishment for its sins; the branches are the faithful, who will enjoy the Messianic kingdom.—2. The following is simple: the hill is Zion, the water is the brook of Siloah.—3. The other hill is the Mount of Olives, which is in reality but a few feet higher than Mount Zion. The deep valley is that of Kedron or Jehoshaphat, and the water is the Kedron brook.—4. The Mount of Offence and the valley of Hinnom.—5. The description is trustworthy, cf. Strabo 16, 2, § 36.—6. This is the valley of mT ot Hinnom, or Gehenna.