The book of Enoch : translated from Professor Dillmann's Ethiopic ...

Sect. II.] Chapters LV. \ — L VI. 7. 149
days will the angels return and hurl themselves upon the
East, upon the Parthians and Medes, to stir up the kings
and provoke in them a spirit of unrest, and rouse them from
their thrones, that they may break forth from their resting-
places as lions and as hungry wolves among their flocks.
6. And they will march up to and tread under foot the land
of His elect ones, and the land of His elect ones will be
before them a threshing-floor and a path. 7. But the
Will return. So G £7*lfr, for JE^-Ofr of Din. « Will gather
together.' M supports Din., but is written over an erasion.
Hurl themselves. This translation of hCKtVtWav*, cf. cviii. 10,
seems better than Dln/s ' Hire Haupter . . . richten.' For J^W^:^
G reads JB-CD^-*. 6. His elect ones. So G Rftlh Other
might well be conceived of as assailed
by the Gentile powers. But this is
impossible in the case of a superhuman
Messiah, who, possessing uni-
versal dominion and attended by-
legions of angels, holds universal
assize, and, supported by the actual
presence of the Almighty, destroys
all his enemies with the breath of
his mouth. Besides, (i) this section
forms a harsh break in the context.
(2) The Similitudes deal only in
general terms : no names are men-
tioned as here, nor is any definite
information given as a means of
determining their date or the persons
against whom they are directed. (3)
And finally the seat of the kingdom
on the Advent of the Messiah will
not be Jerusalem merely as is here
implied, but a transformed heaven
and earth. This section though inter-
polated is important as furnishing
a lower limit for the date of the
Similitudes. The description is pro-
phetical, and is merely a reproduction
of the coming strife of Gog and
Magog against Israel. The latter
names are replaced by those of the
Medes and Parthians, who are the
only great world powers from whom
the interpolator believes great danger
may be apprehended. Syria had
ceased to be formidable from 100 B.C.
onward, and Rome was practically
unknown till 64 b. c. The date there-
fore of this section must be earlier
than 64 b. c. Further, we found (pp.
107-8) on independent grounds that
the Similitudes should be referred
either to 94-79 or 70-64. If,
then, this addition was written and
added before 64 b. c, the Similitudes
should probably be referred to 94-79
B. C. We ought to have remarked
above that lvi. 5—lvii. 3 a exhibits no
sign of having been an independent
writing before its appearance in its
present context. 5. In Ezek. xxxviii.
4-7 it is said that God will stir
up the Gentiles ; but here in keeping
with the views of a later time this
business is assigned to the angels:
cf. Dan. x. 13, 20, 21; xii. 1. The
Parthians and Medes. These are
the chief nations in the league against
Israel. 6. The land of His
elect ones, i. e. Palestine. Threshing-floor
: cf. Is. xxi. 10. 7. But
the attack on Jerusalem will fail,