the-book-of-enoch-r-h-charles - Fallen Angels

.Sect. IV] Introdmtion 181
As the fourth period began about 200 B.C., the author of 83-90,
writing in the lifetime of Judas Maccabeus, must have expected
its close between 140 and 130 B.C.; for, on the analogy of the
third period, each shepherd would rule between five and six
years. This expectation in connexion with Judas Maccabeus
was not unnatural, as his eldest brother, Simon, did not die till
135 B.C.
D. The Problem and its Solution. This Section forms in
short compass a philosophy of religion from the Jewish standpoint.
It is divided into two visions, the former of which deals with the
first world-judgement of the deluge, and the latter with the entire
history of the world till the final judgement. The writer does not
attempt to account for the sin that showed itself in the first
generation. In his view, it was not the sin of man, but the sin
of the angels who fell (in the days of Jared), that corrupted the
earth, 84* 86-87, and brought upon it the first world-judgement.
In the second vision the interest centres mainly on the calamities
that befall Israel from the exile onwards. "Why has Israel become
a byword among the nations, and the servant of one gentile power
after another? Is there no recompense for the righteous nation
and the righteous individual? That Israel, indeed, has sinned
grievously and deserves to be punished, the author amply acknow-
ledges, but not a punishment so immeasurably transcending its
guilt. But these undue severities have not come upon Israel from
God's hand : they are the doing of the seventy shepherds into whose
care God committed Israel, 89^'. These shepherds or angels have
proved faithless to their trust, and treacherously destroyed those
whom God willed not to destroy ; but they have not therein done
so with impunity. An account has been taken of all their deeds
and of all whom they have wickedly destroyed, 89^i"**, and for all
their victims there is laid up a recompense of reward, 90^^. More-
over, when the outlook is darkest, and the oppression at its worst,
a righteous league will be established in Israel, 90^ ;
and in it there
will be a family from which will come forth the deliverer of Israel,
i.e. Judas Maccabeus, 90^""- The Syrians and other enemies of
Israel will put forth every effort to destroy him, but in vain ; for
a great sword will be given to him wherewith to destroy his
enemies, 90"- Then all the hostile Gentiles will assemble for then-
final struggle against Israel, still led by Judas Maccabeus, 90^^' ^^
but this, their crowning act of wickedness, will also be the final act
in their history and serve as the signal for their immediate judge-