their dependence on the Vulgate ‘‘ arbores
270
πλανῆται) ois ὁ Lopos τοῦ σκότους εἰς αἰῶνα τετήρηται.
13—
14.
᾿Επροφήτευσεν ” δὲ καὶ τούτοις ἕβδομος ἀπὸ ᾽Αδὰμ ‘Evax λέγων
1 πλανητες οις ἵοφος σκοτους B. }επροφητευσεν B!; επροεφ. B*;
compared the overflowings of ungodli- ness (Ps. xvii. 4), the ῥυπαρία καὶ πε- ptoweia κακίας condemned by James i. 21, where see my note. The libertines foam out their own shames by their swelling words (ver. 16), while they turn the grace of God into a cloak for their licentiousness (ver. 4). We may com- pare Phil. iii. το, ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ συτωγν.
_ ἀστέρες πλανῆται. This is borrowed from Enoch (chapters xliii., xliv.) where it is said that some of the stars become lightnings and cannot part with their new form, ib. 80, ‘‘ In the days of the sinners, many chiefs of the stars will err, and will alter their orbits and tasks, ib. 86, where the fall of the angels is described as the falling of stars, 1b. 88, ‘‘he seized the first star which had fallen from heaven and bound it in an abyss; now that abyss was narrow and deep and horrible and dark. . . and they took all the great stars and bound them hand and toot, and laid them in an abyss,” ib. xc. 24, ‘and judgment was held first upon the stars, and they were judged and found guilty and were cast into an abyss of fire’”’; also xviii. 14 Ε.
It would seem from these passages, which Jude certainly had before him, that πλανῆται cannot here have its usual application, the propriety of which was repudiated by all the ancient astronomers from Plato downwards. Cf. Cic. N. D. ii. 51, ‘‘maxime sunt admirabiles motus earum quinque stellarum quae falso vo- cantur errantes. Nihil enim errat quod in Omni aeternitate conservat motus con- stantes et ratos,” with the passages quoted in my notes on that book.
Some commentators take it as applying to comets; perhaps the quotations from Enoch 44 and 8o fit better with shooting- stars, ἀστέρες διάττοντες (Arist. Meteor. i. 4, 7) which seem to rush from their sphere into darkness; compare Hermes Trismegistus ap. Stob. Ecl. i. 478, κάτω- Sev τῆς σελήνης εἰσὶν ἕτεροι ἀστέρες Φθαρτοὶ ἀργοὶ . . . οὓς καὶ ἡμεῖς ὁρῶμεν διαλυοµένους, τὴν φύσιν ὁμοίαν ἔχοντες τοῖς ἀχρήστοις τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἵῴων, ἐπὶ ἕτερον δὲ οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἢ ἵνα µόνον Φθαρῃ. For the close relationship sup- posed by the Jews to exist between the
προεπροφ. SY; προεφ. ACKL al.
stars and the angels, see my noteon James i. 17, Φώτων. In this passage, however, the subject of the comparison is men, who profess to give light and guidance, as the pole-star does to mariners (ὡς φωστῆρες ἐν κόσµῳ, Phil. ii. 15), but who are only blind leaders of the blind, centres and propagators of πλάνη (νετ. 11), des- tined to be swallowed up in everlasting darkness. Cf. Apoc. vi. 13, viii. το, 12, χιπ ση, Als
οἷς 6 ζόφος τοῦ σκότους εἰς αἰῶνα τετήρηται. See the parallel in 2 Pet. ii. 17, and above ver. 6.
Vv. 14-16.—The Prophecy of Enoch. The ancient prophecy, to which reference has been already made, was intended for these men as well as for the prophet’s own contemporaries, where he says “ The Lord appeared, encompassed by myriads of his holy ones, to execute justice upon all and to convict all the ungodly con- cerning all their ungodly works, and con- cerning all the hard things spoken against Him by ungodly sinners”’. (Like them) these men are murmurers, complaining of their lot, slaves to their own carnal lusts, while they utter presumptuous words against God, and seek to ingratiate themselves with men for the sake of gain.
Ver. 14. ἐπροφήτευσεν δὲ καὶ τούτοις ἕβδομος ἀπὸ ᾿Αδὰμ Ἑνώχ. “It was for these also (as well as for his own con- temporaries) that the prophecy of Enoch was intended, far as he is removed from our time, being actually the sixth (by Hebrew calculation, seventh) descendant from Adam.’’ For Enoch compare the allusions in Sir. xliv. 16, xlix. 14, Heb. xi. 5, Charles, Introduction to Book of Enoch. The prophecy is contained in En.i. 9 (Greek in Charles, App. C. p. 327), ὅτι ἔρχεται σὺν τοῖς (2ταῖς) µυριάσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ ποιῆσαι κρίσιν κατα πάντων, καὶ ἀπολέσει τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἐλέγξει πᾶσαν σάρκα περὶ πάντων «τῶν» ἔργων αὐτῶν ὧν ἠσέβησαν κατ αὐτοῦ ἅμ- αρτωλοὶ ἀσεβεῖς. The phrase ἕβ- δοµος ἀπὸ ᾿Αδάμµ is also found in En. Ix. 8, ‘‘ My grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam,” 2b. xciii. 3, ‘‘ And Enoch began to recount from the books and spake: I was born the seventh in the