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the moon is light to the just, and darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord who created a separation between light and darkness, and divided the spirits of men, and strengthened the spirits of the just, in the name of his own justice. 9 For neither does an angel hinder, nor is any power able to hinder, for the Judge sees them all, and judges them all before him. Cuap. 42.—Wisdom did not find a place where she might live, and a dwelling-place was given to herin the heavens. 2. Wisdom came to dwell among the children of men, and found no dwelling-place; wisdom returned to her place and took her seat among the angels. 3. And injustice came forth from its repository; whom it did not seek, them it found, and dwelt with them, like the rain in the desert, and like dew in the thirsty land. CHAP. 43.—And again I saw lightning, and the stars of heaven, and I saw how he called them all by their names, and they heard him. 2. And I saw that they were weighed on the scales of justice, according to their light, according to the width of their places, and the day of their appearance, and their course; one flash of lightning produces another, and their course according to the number of angels, and their fidelity they preserved among themselves. 3. And I asked the angel, who went with me, who showed me what was secret: “What are these?” 4. And he said to me: “The Lord of the spirits has showed thee a picture of them: these are the names of the just, who dwell on the earth and believe on the name of the Lord of the spirits to all eternity.” CHAP. 44.—Also other things I saw in reference to the flashes of lightning; how they arise from the stars, and become lightning, and can leave nothing behind with them. Cuap. 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, ie. 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 HTR in Pirke Aboth, Perek HTR, and in Kiddushim, Perek HTR, and the classical writers have any amount of similar expressions; cf. Spiess, |. c. pp. 38, 39, and Delitzsch in Zeitschrift fiir 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.