Part II., consisting of 83-90, was written between b.o. 160-161 by a ^asld In support of the Moccab. movement, and nminly from the same standpoint as Daniel. On a variety of ground's we are obliged to discriminate this section from the preceding. It will be enough to mention that, whereas there is a Messiah In the latter, there is none in the former ; in the latter the
life of the righteous is apparently unending, in the former it is finite ; in the latter the scene of the kingdom is the New Jerus. set up by God Himself, in the former it is Jerus. and the entire earth unchanged though purified. Finally, the pic- ture in 83-90 is developed and spiritual, while that in 1-30 ia naive, primitive, and sensuous.
The date assigned above is not difficult to fix. The Haaidim, symbolized by the lambs that are born to the white sheep (9u''), are already an organized party in the Maccab. revolt. The lambs that become horned are the Maccab. family, and the great horn who is still warring while the author of the section 18 writing, is Judas the Maccabee (90^), who died B.C. 161. Chs. 83-yO recount two visions, 83-84 deal with the first world- JudLinent, 85-90 with the entire history of tlie world till the final judgment. In the second vision the interest centres mainly in the calamities that befall Isr. from the exile onwanls. Why has Isr. become a by-word among the nations, and the servont of one Gentile power after anotherV Is there no recom- pense for the righteous nation and the righteous individual? Isr. has indeed sinned, but the punishment inuueasurubly tran- scends the guilt. But these undue severities, according to the author, liave not come upon Isr. from God's hand, but from the seventy shepherds into whose care God conmiitted Isr. (895'*)- These shepherds or angels have proved faithless to their trust, but not with impunity. An account has been taken of all their deeds and of all whom they have wickedly destroyed (ygfli-W). Moreover, when the outlook is darkest, a righteous league will be established in Isr. (906), and from a family be- longing to it will come forth the deliverer, i.e. Judas Maccabaous (9U»-I6). Every effort of the Gentiles to destroy him will prove vain, and God's intervention personally will be the signal for their destruction (901"). The wicked shepherds and fallen watchers will be cast into the abyss of fire (Tartarus), and the apostates into Gehenna (ito'^^^S), Tnen Go<i Himself will set up the New Jerus. (902^ 2H)^ the dispersion will be brought i>ack to Jems., the righteous dead raised to take part in the kingdom, and the surviving Gentiles will be converted and serve Isr. (90^''). Finally, the Messiah will appear amongst them (90^), and His Itingdom will endure for ever. It shouUl be observed that we have here the earliest appearance of the Messiah in non-canonical literature.
Part III., consisting of 91-104, was written between b.o. 134-95. The clearly defined opposition between the riglitt'ous and their 8adducean opponents which appears so frciiuently in this section cannot have been earlier than the breach between John Ilyrcanus and the Pharisees, hence not earlier than B.o. 134, onti not subsequent to B.C. 95 ; for it is not reasonable to suppose that the savage cruelties that won for Jannajus the title 'slayer of the pious' could have been referred to only once, and that incidentally, in the general terms of 103'^. On the derangements which this section bos sustained at the hands of the final editor we have already touched above.
The internal difference that subsists between this section and Part II. is very remarkable. As we pass from 83-90 to 91-104 we feel we are entering into a world of new conceptions. In all previous apocalj-ptic writings the resur. and tne final judg- ment have been' the prelude to an everlasting Mesa, kingdom, and not till then, in fact, do the righteous enter on their reward. Rut the Mess, kingdom to which this writer looks forward is only of temporary duration (911"'*-!''). In this kingdom no place is found for a Messiah ; the righteous, with God's lielp, vindicate iheir Just cause and destroy their oppressors. On the close of this kingdom follow the final Judgment and the risen spiritual life of blessedness in a new heaven (91'^ 92^). From such a view of the future it is obvious that, for the writer, the centre of interest has passed from the material world to the spiritual, and the Mess, kingdom is no longer the goal of the hopes of the righteous. Their faith finds its satisfat^tion only in a blessed immortality in heaven itself. The righteous, it is true, who are living on the advent of the Mess, kingdom will Indeed be recompensed with all good things, but the de- parted righteous will not rise thereto, but to the everlasting sjiiritual life which will follow the final Judgment. This blessed immortality after the final judgment is an immortality of the soul nrily (in.'l.'i ■*), a view that is inii>lied also in the later books, the Ps-Sol and the Book of Jubilees. As for the wicked, they shall descend into the 8heol of darkness and flame, and abide there evt-rlantingly (1)83 10 1047- **). In this sectitjn Shool appears as hell, iiossibly for the first time in Iit<-rature (103'X
Part iV. The Similitudes, consisting of 37-70, were written between B.C. 94-79 or B.C. 70-04. With some of the character- istics which distinguish these chapters from the rest of the book we have already dealt above. We are here concerned mainly with the detenninatlon of the date. 'The kings and the niighty,' so often denounced in the Similitudes, are the latrr Maccab. princes and their Sadduccon supporters; for the blood of the righteous was not shed, as the writer complainH, before D.c. 96 :— the later Maccab. i>r)ncc8 and not the Heroils ; for the Sadducces were not allies of the latter, a'jd Rome was not as yet known to the writer as one of the great world- powers. This last fact necessitates an earlier iXWa. than b.o. 04, when Rome interposed authoritatively in the al^a^rs of Judwa. If the reader will turn to the list of Noa/-b[c i.it^Tpolations ho will find that many of them are to be found In this section. These have, as a rule, been drawn from an u'.ready existing Apoc. of Noah and a<lapt«d by their editor to their" adjoining contexts in Enoch. This ho docs by borrowing characteristio tenns, such as ' l/ord of S)>irit8,' ' Head of Days.' ' Son of Man, to which, either through ignorance or of set intentfoQi he gonon ally gives a new connotation.