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

3 2 The Book of Enoch.
The teaching of the Similitudes stands throughout in clear
contrast to that of xci-civ. Whilst in the latter there is no
Messiah, in the former the conception of the Messiah plays a
more important role than had ever yet been assigned to him.
In the former, again, there seems to be only a resurrection of
the righteous ; in the latter a resurrection of all Israelites.
In the former the Messianic kingdom was only temporary j
in the latter it was of everlasting continuance. In the former
the final judgment was held at the close of the Messianic
kingdom; in the latter at its beginning. In the former
there was a resurrection of the spirit only, in the latter of the
body also.
Part V.—The Book of Celestial Physics consisting of
lxxii-lxxviii ; lxxxii ; lxxix. There are no materials at hand
for fixing the date of this section. In the Special Intro-
duction to this part we have shown at some length that it is
an independent writing, and distinct originally from all the
other constituents of the book. A close examination of this
section leads manifestly to the excision of lxxx-lxxxi, and to
the restoration of lxxxii to its original position before lxxix.
The object of the writer is a quasi-scientific one. His aim is
to justify the Hebrew calendar against the heathen calendars,
and particularly the Greek, and to insist on the value of the
moon as an infallible divider of time till the new Creation.
The only blessing pronounced by him is for those who sin not
as the sinners in the reckoning of their days (lxxxii. 4).
The
interpolator of lxxx-lxxxi was a man of quite a different
type. His sympathies were wholly moral and religious.
There is an order of nature, it is true, but this order is con-
tinually thrown into disorder by the sin of men, and the
moon thus becomes a misleader of men (lxxx. 4). Accord-
ingly we are not surprised to find that the blessing pronounced
by this writer is on the man against whom there is no
record of unrighteousness (lxxxi. 4).
Part. VI.—The Noachian and other interpolations. These
have been enumerated above (p. 25). So far as we may