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

Sect. IV] Chapter XO. 8-13 209
this those eagles and vultures and ravens and kites still kept
tearing the sheep and swooping down upon them and devouring
them :
still the sheep remained silent, but the rams lamented
and cried out. 12. And those ravens fought and battled with
it and sought to lay low its horn, but they had no power over it.
XC. 13-19. IVte last Assault of the Gentiles on the Jews
(where vv. 13-15 and 16-18 are doublets).
13. And I saw till the 16. All the eagles and vul-
rendered ' ram '
in 89'"'-" is quite
a different one, and has a technioal
meaning not found in this word.
11, 12, Eagles and vultures and
kites. In the Syrian armies mer-
cenaries were enrolled from the Greek
and other nations ; of. 1 Mace. 5'' ei"'.
Syria uses every effort against Judas,
but in vain. 12. With it. g,elh
read ' with them '. Its horn. ^
reads ' their horn '. 13, It would
seem that the use of some of the
symbols is not steady. The ' vultures
and the ' kites ' in ver. 2 must mean
tlie Graeco-Eg'yptians ; but in this
verse and in verse 11 it is doubtful
who are to be understood by these.
We have already observed that the
writer uses the same brute symbol for
different nations, i. e. the wild boars
represent the Edomites in 89*'', but the
Samaritans six verses later; see also
ver. 16 (note). There may be a fresh
change of symbols here, and the vultures
and kites may stand for Amnion
and Edom ; cf. 1 Jlaco. 5. The
struggle here depicted is a life and
death one, and neither of Hyrcanus's
wars against Antiochus Sidetes and
Antiochus Cyzioenus can fairly be
described as such. The latter, more-
over, was conducted by Hyrcanus's
suns while Hyrcanus himself was
quietly discharging his priestly duties
in Jerusalem ;
while the former ocour-
1370 p
'
ring during the first year of Hyrcanus
could not be referred to in vv. 12, 13,
as ver. 11 deals with the first attacks
of the heathen on the ' great horn '.
13-19, The criticism and reconstruc-
tion of this passage. These verses as
they stand in the text are unintelligi-
ble. In my edition of 1893 I observed
in my notes that ver. 19 should be read
before ver. 16, since the destruction of
the Gentiles had already been accom-
plished in ver. 18. Next I bracketed
ver. 15 aa a doublet of ver. 18, as both
deal with the coming of God for the
help of Israel, and only the second
coming was effectual. This criticism
and reconstruction of the text are
accepted by Martin, but he suggests that
vv. 13-15 and vv. 16-18 are doublets.
This suggestion is in the right direc-
tion, but it needs to be developed. It
is true that vv. 13-15 correspond
respectively to vv. 16-18, but it is
further true that ver. 19 should be read
immediately after ver. 13 (== ver. 16).
In my translation I have rearranged the
text as it stood at a very early date.
By this reconstruction we are enabled
to emend certain corruptions in the
text. First of all in ver. 13 it is quite
iri'egular if not impossible for ' the
shepherds' to join in the fray. They
are angels. If we compare ver. 16 we
see no mention of them. This addition
to the text has possibly arisen through