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

Sect. V] Cha2)ter C. 1-6 249
And the Most High will arise on that day of judgement
To execute great judgement amongst sinners.
5. And over all the righteous and holy He will appoint
guardians from amongst the holy angels
To guard them as the apple of an eye,
Until He makes an end of all wickedness and all sin,
And though the righteous sleep a long sleep, they have
nought to fear.
6. And (then) the children of the earth shall see the wise in
security.
in this verse can only be to the fallen
angels who are here described as having
' brought down sin ', These fallen
angels were temporarily buried in
abysses of the earth, i. e. ' the secret
places ' See note on 98*. Day of
judgement (a-tii). tu, P ' day
Amongst {igmqii). y ' and amongst ',
/, /3
' on all the'. 5. This verse
has always been interpreted of the
righteous on earth, but wrongly. The
righteous here spoken of are not the
living, but are righteous souls in the
place of the departed. This place
was afterwards called the chambers or
promptuaries, as in 4 Ezra 7'' ' \i-
dentes aliorum habitacula ab angelis
conservari cum sileutio magno ' ; and
again in 7°° the souls in their promp-
tuaries ' reqniescent cum silentio multo
ab angelis conservati ' ; of. also 4 Ezra
4" 7'" 2 Bar. SO^. All ">. > ^git. The
apple of an eye : cf. Deut. 32'" Ps. 17*.
He makes an end of all (f/igmii^).
qMu, $ 'all — has been made an
end of. The righteous sleep
a, long sleep. The writer of 91-
104 did not expect the resurrection
at the beginning of the temporaiy
Messianic kingdom. The words 'sleep
a long sleep ' could not be said with
reference to this kingdom ; for the
writer living at the close of the seventh
'
week expects its advent immediately at
the beginning of the eighth week. The
' long sleep ' extends from his t'me till
the close cf the tenth week, when the
righteous rise. Again, from vv. 4, .5
we see that the righteous do not rise
till God has judged sinners and an end
is made of all sin. Thus the resurrec-
tion of the righteous in 91-104 follows
the final judgement at the close of the
Messianic kingdom. 6. And.
(then) the children of the earth,
&e. I liave here transposed the words
' the children of the earth ' from the
second line to the first, and with ^gq
taken * the wise ' in the ace. and not in
the nom. as in ymf, 0. Further, for
the phrase * in security ' we find *6m1ina
(in f,0) = -niaT6v or ireiroiOoTa Tcf, Prov.
10°), 'emanl {in gjgm) corrupt, 'Smtaa
could mean also to maroy, and accord-
ingly all translators in the past have
followed the reading of i/mt, 0, and
taken
' the righteous' in the iiom.
Thus they rendered :
—
' And the wise shall see what is to
be believed,
And the children of earth shall
understand,' &c.
But there is no question here as to
the wise seeing in ihe fu'itre what is
to be believed. The judgement has