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

Iidroducfion Iv
which he springs. So far as he is a man only, he may be
regarded as the prophetic Messiah as opposed to the Apocalyptic
Messiah of the Parables : and
yet he is not truly the prophetic
Messiah ; for he has absolutely no function to pel-form^ and he
does not appear till the world's history is finally closed. Accord-
ingly his presence here must be accounted for purely through
literary reminiscence^ and the hope of the Messiah must be
regarded as practically dead at this period. The writer felt no
need of such a personality so long as the nation had such a chief
as Judas Maccabaeus. It was very different fifty years or more
later, when the fondest enthusiasts could no longer look to the
Asmonaeans for any help or stay in the time of their distress.
Accordingly the writer of 91-104 refers only once to the recreant
chiefs of the nation as secret upholders of the enemies of the
righteous, and directs the thoughts of his readers no longer to a
religious monarchy but to a religious commonwealth or restored
theocracy established by the righteous themselves, and owning
no head but God alone. This Messianic kingdom, further,
which was without a Messiah, was to have only a temporary
continuance, and heaven was to be the true and final abode of
the righteous. Once more, as we turn to a somewhat later book,
we find in the Parables that the irremediable degradation and
open hostility of the Maccabees have caused the hopes and aspira-
tions of religious thinkers to take various directions. Of these
some returned to a fresh study of the Old Testament, and revived,
as in the Psalms of Solomon, the expectation of a prophetic
Messiah, sprung from the house and lineage of David. Others
followed the bold and original thinker of this period, who, starting
from a suggestive phrase in Daniel, conceived the Messiah as the
supernatural Son of Man, who, possessing divine prerogatives,
should destroy the wicked, and justify the righteous, and vindi-
cate a transformed heaven and earth as their habitation for
everlasting. For some account of the Messiah of the Parables
we must refer the reader to the notes on 46^ and 38^.
The teaching of the Parables stands throughout in clear
contrast to that of 91-104. Whilst in the latter there is no