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

222 The Book of Enoch [Sect, v
98^' ' 104''. As the former party are designated as the 'children of
heaven', lOli, these are called the ' children of earth ', 100" 102^.
The date of this clearly defined and deyeloped opposition of the
two parties cannot have been pro-Maccabean, nor yet earlier than
the breach between John Hyrcanus and the Pharisees. But a still
later date must be assumed according to the literal interpretation
of lOS^*' i\ where the rulers are said to uphold the Sadducean
oppressors and to share in the murder of the righteous. This charge
is not justified before 95 B.C. As for the later limit, the Herodian
princes cannot be the rulers here mentioned, for the Sadducees were
irreconcilably opposed to these, as aliens and usurpers. It appears,
therefore, that this section should be assigned either to the years
95-79 B.C. or to 70-64 B.C., during which periods the Pharisees
were opx^ressed by both rulers and Sadducees.
If, on the other hand, we might regard the word 'murder' as
merely a strong expression for a severe persecution—and the silence
elsewhere observed as to the rulers would point to this interpretation—
then we should naturally refer this section to the years
107-95 B.C., i.e. after the breach between Hyrcanus and the
Pharisees and before the savage destruction of the Pharisees by
Jannaeus in 95. If the date of the book is subsequent to 95,
the merely passing reference in 103'" to the cruelties of Jannaeus
is hardly intelligible. We should expect rather the fierce indigna-
tion against 'the kings and the mighty', which we actually do
tind in 37-70, and which fittingly expresses the feelings of the
Pharisees towards Jannaeus, 'the slayer of the pious.' We are
inclined therefore to place 91-104 before 95 B.C., and if we may
regard 100^ as an historical reference, these chapters are to be
assigned to the years 104-95 B.C.
The author is thus a Pharisee, ^^riting between the years 104 and
95, or 95-79, or 70-64 b.c.
D. The Problem and its Solution. The author of 1-36
solves the problem of the righteous suffering by their resuscitation
to a temporary blessedness in the Messianic kingdom ;
the
wicked
dead who escaped punuhmeni in life, 22^"'^-', rise also to receive
requital for their sin. What becomes of the righteous after their
second death is not so much as hinted at in that section. Thus in
this respect the solution of the problem here presented has not
advanced a single step beyond that given in Is. 65 and 66.
But this solution of the problem must have failed early to give
satisfaction, in 91-104 we tind another attempt to grapple with