2 Enoch 53
2 Enoch 53
Section: Instructions to Sons
Translated by W.R. Morfill, ed. R.H. Charles (1896)
Let us not say that our Father is with God, and will plead
Jor us at the Day of Judgement,
For I know that a Father
cannot help his Son, nor a Son a Father.] LITT. 1. And now, my children, do not say ; Our father
1 Sok. adds all. to raise up the fallen, A. 5 B adds and ordinances. peace, B. peace abides with him, B. heart to all, A. 9 A
2 Looks to the work of his own hands, B. Thooks
3 A adds and is eager to. § Goes to seek peace and leads others to 7 Love their neighbours, A.
£ B om.
8 Speaks peace, for
Speaks with a humble tongue and adds a sword.
B OMITS ENTIRE VERSE.
0 B adds Therefore, my brethren, preserve your hearts from every- thing unjust that you may inherit an habitation of light for ever.
XExix. 14 ebAoyqaaTe KUpov éni TaOL rois Epyos avrov. 7. Cf. Eph. iv. 28. S. Seems to be derived from Ecclus. XXxi. 26 povedwy rév wAnolov 6 adat- podpevos cupBiwotv, nat éxyéwv aipa 6 dnoorepov picbov picBiov. Cf. Orac. Sibyll. ii. 56-57: pe) wAouTeiy adixws, GAA’ éf déciwv Biorevecv, dpkeiofa: mapeovor xai ddAdoTpiov dnéxeobar. 10. Cf. Eth. En. xcix. 2, 14; Ecclus. Kvii. tr. 11, Cf. Mt.v.9. 12. This is derived from Ecclus. xxviii. 9 dvip
dpapTwAds tapage: pidous kal dvd péaov cipyvevévtwy éxBadrAa SiaBorAnv. CF. also Ecclus. xxviii, 13. 14. Cf. Ps. xxvill, 3; Iv. 213 Ixii. 43 Orac. Sibyl. ii. 120, 122,
LIII. 1. This idea that departed saints interceded on behalf of the living has been attributed by some acholars to Is. ]xili. 16 (see Ewald, History of Israel, i. 296; Cheyne, Prophecies of Isaiah, ii.107-108; 299- 300). If, however, the doctrine of a blessed immortality or of the re- gurrection was a late development
7O The Book of the Secrets of Enoch.
stands before God, and prays for us (to be released) from sin!;° for there is no person there to help any man who has sinned *. 2. You see how I have written down all the works of every man * before his creation *, * which is ® * done
in the case of all men for ever’?. say or unsay* what I have written with my hand.
- And no man * can For
God sees all things, *even the thoughts of wicked men’,
- which lie in the storeplaces of the heart”.
LIII. } Concerning our sins, A. what things are, Sok.; B om.
- And now,
2 Bom. 3 And I shall write
- Destroy, B; contradict, Sok.
5 The thoughts of man that they are vain, A; B om.
among the Jews, this idea must neces- sarily have been later still, and accordingly unless we are prepared to bring down considerahly the date of Is. lxii, we shall have some diffi- culty in justifying such an interpreta- tion. It seems indeed that this idea among the Jews was comparatively late in origin. The first indubitable evidence in its favour is to be found in the Eth. En. xxii. 12; xevii. 3, 5; xcix. 16; and thus we find that it was an accepted Pharisaic be- lief early in the second century B.c. The next mention of this belief is to be met with in 2 Macc. xv. 14 where Jeremiah, who appears in a vision to Judas Maccabaeus, is described as follows: 6 giAdbeAdos obrés éorw 6 ROAAG Tpocevyopevos Trep! TOD Aaod Kal THs dyias mdAews ‘lepepias 6 Tov Geot mpopnrns. ‘This was also the teaching of Philo, de Eaxsecrat. 9: tpiot xpnsd- Hevot TapakAyras THY mpds TOY TaTéEpa. Karadrayav … Sevrépp 88 rH trav dpxnyeTa@v rov edvovs dacdryti, 6rt Tais dgepevais cupdrov yuyais d&tAactov Kai yupviy émbexvupéevais mpds Tov dpxovra Oepanciay ras brép vidy Kai Ouyarépwy ixereias obx dreAeis eiwOact roveioba, yépas abrois mapéxovros Tov narpos 76 énpxooy éy evyais. The
same view was obviously held by Joseph. Anfé. i, 13. 3, where he describes Abraham as saying to Isaac when on the point of sacrificing him : pet’ ebx av 5é kai iepoupyias Exeivov TH puxiy Thy ov mpocsefopéevov kai map aire xabétovros éon poi eis nndeudva Kai ynpoxdpov. And also in Orac. Sibyll. ii. 330-333: Tois Kat 6 Tavroxpatwp Beds &pOiTos ahAo wapeget eboeBeeco’, onér’ dv Oedv ddMirov aiTioovrat’ éx padepota mupds re Kal dxaparov dnd Bpvypoy avOpwmovs owaat Swoe’ kal TovTo TOLOEL. Finally this doctrine is recognized and apparently accepted in certain parts of the N.T.: Matt. xxvii. 47, 49; Luke xvi. 24-31; John viii. 56 (?); Heb. xiij.1?5 Rev. vi. 9-11. For the pre- valence of this beliefin later J udaism, see Hisenmenger, ii. 357-9; 361. The idea of intercession may be derived from ancestor-worship, and not from the doctrine of a future life as I have implied above; cf. Cheyne’s Introd, to the Book of Isaiah, 352, 3. 2. Enoch is the universal scribe. 3. Cf. Ps. xciv. 11; Ecclus. xvii. 15. 20,
Chaprers 1411-37 -o1. 71
my children, pay attention to all the words * of your father which I say to you!: *that ye may not grieve afterwards and say: Our father for some cause or other, never told them to ns, iu the time of this folly *.
[ Enoch admonishes his Sons that they should gire the Books