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

Sect. Y Chapter CIJL 3-9 257
8. And into darkness and chains and a burning flame where
there is grievous judgement shall your spirits enter
And the great judgement shall be for all the generations of
the world.
Woe to you, for ye shall have no peace.
9. Say not in regard to the righteous and good who are in life :
"In our troubled days we have toiled laboriously and
experienced every trouble.
And met with much evil and been consumed,
And have become few and our spirit small.
In Jubilees Sheol is not yet associ-
ated with fire and burning, but this
stage is reached in our text. It has
assumed thus one of the charac-
teristics of Gehenna ; and become a
place of flaming fire. See ver. 8". Cf.
the different significations it has in
102". ". 8. Of the world (o). $
'unto eternity'- Have no peace : see
5* (note) 94^ (note). 9-15. These verses
are in the mouth of the wicked an ironical
description of the lot of the righteous.
For the time being they speak in the
person of the righteous. From this verse
to the end of this chapter ^g stands alone
frequently, exhibiting nearly sixty varia-
tions, but these are mainly between the
1st and 3rd plurals in the verbs and the
corresponding suffixes, verbal and sub-
stantival, ig favours throughout the
8i'd pi., whereas g in the main agrees
with the rest of the MSS. in giving the
1st plural. The question arises on
which person, the Ist or 3rd, are we
to decide. The evidence of the MSS.
goes to prove that the 1st person tnas
the original. For, whereas ^g gives the
3rd person in all, except seven instances,
confined to vv. 14 and 15, all other
MSS., with few exceptions, give the 1st
person. The exclusive use of the 3rd per-
son would make the sense of the text
clearer. But the evidence of the MSS.
is irresistible. The wicked assume the
role of the righteous and speak in their
person. 103'-!'' are pronounced de-
risively by the sinners of the righteous.
For in 102^"*, when the sinners declare
that the righteous live in trouble and
darkness and have no advantage over
the wicked beyond the grave, the author
(102^") in reply points to the nature of
their death and the purity of their life.
To this the sinners rejoin (102^^), 'de-
spite all that they go down to Sheol in
woe as we.' The author now addresses
himself first to the righteous (103^~*)
and then to the sinners. In the case of
the latter he gives their glorification of
their own life (103""^) and their deprecia-
tion of the life of the righteous (103«-").
In these verses the wicked describe the
wretchedness and helplessness of the
present life of the righteous, just as in
102^>'' they had described the wretchedness
of the future of the righteous. At
the close of these words the author
addresses his reply (104'~°) not directly
to the sinners who have just spoken but
to the righteous, just as in the opening
of 103, and returns to the sinners in
vv. 7-9. 9. Our troubled days
(1?P). ffqfiti 'their troubled days',
i3 ' the days of their life with their
troublous toil'. We have toiled, ^g
' they have toiled ', and so on in the 3rd
person except in vv. 14-15. I will not
record these variations so far as they
;