VII. Doctrines. — In doctrine the Book of Enoch ex- hibits a great advance of thought w^ithin the limits of revelation in each of the great divisions of knowledge. The teaching on nature is a curious attempt to reduce the scattered images of the 0. T. to a phj^sical system. The view of society and man, of the temporary tri- umph and final discomfiture of the oppressors of God's people, carries out into elaborate detail the pregnant images of Daniel. The figure of the Messiah is in- vested with majestic dignity as "the Son of God" (cv, 2 only), "whose name was named before the sun was made" (xlviii, 3), and who existed "aforetime in the presence of God" (Ixii, G; comp. Laurence, Prel. Diss, li sq.). At the same time, his human attributes as "the son of man," "the son of woman" (Ixii, 5 only), "the elect one," "the righteous one," "the anointed," are brought into consiiicuous notice. The mysteries of the spiritual world, the connection of an- gels and men, the classes and ministries of the hosts of heaven, the power of Satan (xl, 7 ; Ixv, G), and the legions of darkness, the doctrines of resurrection, retri- bution, and eternal punishment (xxii; comp. Dillm. p. xix), are dwelt upon with growing earnestness as the horizon of speculation was extended by intercourse with Greece. But the message of the book is emphat- ically one of "faith and truth" (comp. Dillm. p. 32), and while the writer combines and repeats the thoughts of Scripture, he adds no new element to the teaching of the prophets. His errors spring from an undisci- plined attempt to explain their words, and from a proud exultation in present success. For the gref,t characteristic by which the book is distinguished from the later apocalypse of Ezra [see E.sdras, 2d Book] is the tone of triumphant expectation by wliich it is pervaded. It seems to repeat in every form the great principle that the world, natural, moral, and spiritual, is under the immediate government of God. Hence i it follows that there is a terrible retribution reserved for sinners, and a glorious kingdom prepared for the righteous, and Messiah is regarded as the divine medi- ator of this double issue (xc, xci). Nor is it without a I striking fitness that a patriarch translated from earth, and admitted to look upon the divine niajestj', is cho- 1 sen as " the herald of wisdom, righteousness, and judg- ment to a people who, even in suffering, saw in tlieir I tyrants oidy the victims of a coming vengeance." I As in the canonical prophecies of the 0. T., so here, I the final establishment of the Messianic kingdom is ' preceded by wars and desolations. In the eighth of I the ten w^eeks into which the world's history is divided, ^ the sword executes judgment upon the wicked, at the end of which God's people have built a new temple, in which tliey are gathered together. The tenth week closes with the eternal jud.'ment upon angels (xc, xci). "With respect to the doctrine of a general resurrec- tion, it is certainly implied in the work. But the mode of the resurrection of the wicked and the right- eous is differently presented. The spirits of the for- mer are taken out of Sheol and thrown into the place of torment (xcviii, 3; ciii, 8 ; cviii, 2-5); whereas the spirits of the righteous raised again will be reunited to their bodies, and sliare the blessedness of IMessiah's kingdom on earth (Ixi, 5 ; xci, 10 ; xcii, 3 ; c, 5). The
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reunion of their bodiea with their spirits appears a thing reserved for the righteous.
As various sects in Jerusalem were tolerably devel- oped at the time of some of the writers, it has been a sul)ject of inquiry whetliertlie peculiar doctrines of any appear in the work. According to Jellinek {Zeitschrift dir dcutsch.-morgenland Gesellschaft, vii, 249), the work originated in the sphere of Essenisni. ^^'e learn from Josepluis that the JCsscnes preserved as sacred the names of tlie angels ; and put up certain prayers be- fore sunrise, as if tliey made supplication for that phe- nomenon ( War, ii, 8). Now there is a very developed angel-doctrine in the work before us, and we also find the following passage : ""When I went out from below and saw the heaven, and the sun rise in the east, and the moon go down in the west, a few stars, and every- tliing as he has known it from the beginning, I praised the Lord of judgment and magnified him, because he has made the sun go forth from the windows of tlie east," etc., Ixxxiii, 11). This certainly reminds one of Essenism showing its influence on the mind of the writer. The 108th chapter is more plainly Essenic. The pious, whom God rewards with blessings, are de- scribed as having lived a life of purity, self-denial, and asceticism like to that of the Essenes. Yet Dillmann appears disinclined to find an)- reflection of Essenism in Ixxxiii, 11, or elsewhere {Das Biich Henoch, Allgemeine EinJeltuufj, p. liii). We admit that the other parts of the book are free from it. It is obvious that the writer did not belong to the school of the Pharisees. He was tolerably free from the sects of his people ; rising above tlie narrow confines of their distinctive peculiarities, whicii were not then fully developed.