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

General Introduction. 23
dividual. The Old Testament prophets had concerned them-
selves chiefly with the former and pointed in the main to the
restoration of Israel as a nation and to Israel's ultimate
possession of the earth as a reward of their righteousness.
But later with the growing claims of the individual, and the
acknowledgment of these in the religious and intellectual life,
the latter problem pressed itself irresistibly on the notice of
religious thinkers, and made it impossible for any conception
of the divine rule and righteousness to gain acceptance, which
did not render adequate satisfaction to the claims of the
righteous individual. It was to this difficulty in particular
that Apocalyptic addressed itself, though it did not ignore
the former. It strove to show that alike in respect of the
nation and of the individual the righteousness of God would
be fully vindicated. In order to justify their contention
Apocalyptic writers sketched in outline the history of the
world and of mankind, the origin of evil and its course, and
the final consummation of all things, and thus in fact
presented a Semitic philosophy of religion. The righteous
as a nation should yet possess the earth :
even in this world
the faithful community should attain to all its rights either
in an eternal or in a temporary Messianic kingdom. So Apoca-
lyptic taught universally and thus enforced the teaching of
prophecy. As for the destiny of the individual, and here lay
the chief interest and service of Apocalyptic, this was finally
to be determined according to his works. For though the
righteous individual might perish amid the disorders of the
world, his death could not fall out without God's knowledge,
and though cut off here apparently as a sinner, he would not
fail to attain through the resurrection the recompense that
was his due in the Messianic kingdom or in heaven itself.
The conceptions as to this risen life, its duration and character,
vary with each writer.
With this short introduction we will now proceed to con-
sider the different writings in this book, their respective
characteristics and dates, and the various accounts they offer