There are parts of the Bible where the words leap off the page across two or three thousand years to today like we were listening to a Sunday sermon. I experience a good deal of Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Philippians in this way. There are other parts of the Bible where the distance between our world and Bible times is so thick that I'm not sure anyone really understands what was going on. 1 Corinthians 11:10 strikes me this way, where Paul says a woman should have authority on her head because of the angels... what does that mean?
Much of Jude, as we have seen, jumps straight off the page, like the fact that God can keep us from stumbling and make sure we appear before him with great joy (Jude 24). But there are also some verses in Jude where I'm not sure anyone really knows what was going on, and we feel the distance between our world and the world in which Jude lived. It's at times like these that we remember that God revealed the Bible first to the audiences of the Bible, and he did so first in their categories with language and imagery that was part of their world.
So Jude mentions a story straight out of apocalyptic Jewish literature that isn't in the Old Testament and the writing it seems to come from hasn't even survived. As we will see with the book of Revelation, "apocalyptic" literature refers to Jewish literature that dealt especially with revelations about what was going on in the heavenly realm. We'll give a more detailed definition in the next chapter.
The "Assumption of Moses" is a work that some ancient Christians mentioned as they were interpreting Jude's statement that the archangel Michael argued with the Devil over the body of Moses (9). By chance, only one partial copy of this document has survived from the ancient world, and the part of the book that had this story in it hasn't survived. Perhaps it will yet be dug up in some ruin or found in some cave.
This Jewish writing was perhaps from around the same time as Jesus was born. As with many Jewish apocalypses, it talks about current events through the voice of some authority figure from the past, in this case Moses. But you can tell when it was written by where Moses stops predicting the future. So in the Assumption of Moses, the author talks about events up to about the time Herod the Great died. [1]
Apparently, in the lost part of this writing, the archangel Michael and the Devil argued in some way over the body of Moses. [2] Jude's point is that the immoral people he is talking about think they can completely disrespect angelic beings--even evil ones--when even archangels don't do that. Even Michael asked the Lord to rebuke Satan. He didn't do it himself...
... continues to talk about the quote of 1 Enoch in Jude 14-15
[1] This writing is also sometimes called the "Ascension of Moses" and the "Testament of Moses."
[2] An archangel is a chief angel, of higher rank than other angels. Michael is mentioned as a chief angel in Daniel (e.g., 12:1) and in Revelation (e.g., 12:7). In the prophet Zechariah (3:1-2), it is the angel of the Lord who speaks to Satan and has the Lord rebuke him. No doubt the Assumption of Moses was merging together some of these traditions together.
Showing posts with label Jude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jude. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2014
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Explanatory Notes: Jude 14-16
I know I'm getting way ahead of myself in the General Epistles, but we are in 1 Enoch in Intertestamental Literature, so I thought I would go ahead and blog on Jude 14-16.
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14-15 And the seventh from Adam, Enoch, also prophesied about these, saying, "Behold, the Lord has come with his ten thousand holy ones to effect judgment against all and to convict every soul in relation to all their works of ungodliness which they commit in godlessness and in relation to all the terrible things that ungodly sinners speak against him."
Up to this point Jude's interaction with apocalyptic and Enochic traditions has been very general. But now Jude explicitly quotes the pre-Christian Jewish book 1 Enoch (1.9). 1 Enoch is a library of five distinct units, the first of which is called the "Book of the Watchers" (chaps. 1-36), in which this quote appears. Although the Book of the Watchers probably itself is made up of parts written at different times, something close to its final form probably dates to around 200BC.
We have no evidence to suggest that Jude is quoting some independent tradition that 1 Enoch also quotes. Nothing from any part of 1 Enoch is known in the Old Testament and the Book of the Watchers was apparently composed originally in Aramaic. Even this particular part of the Book of the Watchers was probably added as a kind of introduction as the various materials of these chapters were collected and put together.
The presence of the Enochic books among the Dead Sea Scrolls, along with their similar apocalyptic outlook, may suggest that they were particularly valued by the Essenes, perhaps even that the Essenes considered them Scripture. Jude does not give us enough evidence to know whether he considered 1 Enoch to be Scripture, although he does seem to take the attribution of the quote to Enoch literally. Here is a warning that the way the New Testament authors referenced the Old Testament and other Jewish writings may simply reflect the way people at the time referenced such books and understood authorship, the point being not the attribution but the content of what is referenced.
One wonders whether there might have been some significant intersection between the Essenes and the earliest Christians. John the Baptist seems to bear at least a superficial resemblance to them. The Essenes may also have been the most apocalyptic of the known Jewish groups--and thus more similar to the earliest Christians than either the Pharisees or the Sadducees. The heavy intersection of Jude with possibly Essene literature--including the possible allusion to the Testament of Moses in Jude 9, also makes us wonder. At the same time, Jesus' emphasis on inclusion and reclamation of sinners probably would not have sat well with most Essenes.
Although it is unclear in Jude 9 whether the Lord God or the Lord Jesus Christ is in view, Jude 17, 21, and 25 all clearly refer to Jesus as Lord. We should probably therefore understand the Lord of this verse as the Lord Jesus Christ, who will come in judgment with ten thousands of angels. This fits with what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 where Jesus descends with the voice of the archangel, probably to commence the judgment of men (1 Cor. 6:2) and angels (6:3).
16 These are grumblers, complainers, going according to their own desires, and their mouth speaks boastful things, showing favoritism for the benefit [to themselves].
The material that Jude shares in common with 2 Peter 2 now continues (2 Pet. 2:18). If we continue with the assumption that 2 Peter is drawing on Jude, it is fascinating that 2 Peter has omitted the references to 1 Enoch. As we saw with the omission of the Testament of Moses material, some have suggested that 2 Peter is already demonstrating a movement toward a New Testament canon--one that does not include the Enochic literature.
The list is, as the earlier lists, more generic than specific. Jude is railing against individuals within the Christian community who do not belong there, and these are thus characteristics that should not apply to Christians. They should not be grumblers and complainers. They should follow God's will rather than satisfying their own desires. They should not boast but trust in God's grace, power, and glory. They should not show favoritism--especially not for their own benefit since Christians are to put others above their own interests.
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14-15 And the seventh from Adam, Enoch, also prophesied about these, saying, "Behold, the Lord has come with his ten thousand holy ones to effect judgment against all and to convict every soul in relation to all their works of ungodliness which they commit in godlessness and in relation to all the terrible things that ungodly sinners speak against him."
Up to this point Jude's interaction with apocalyptic and Enochic traditions has been very general. But now Jude explicitly quotes the pre-Christian Jewish book 1 Enoch (1.9). 1 Enoch is a library of five distinct units, the first of which is called the "Book of the Watchers" (chaps. 1-36), in which this quote appears. Although the Book of the Watchers probably itself is made up of parts written at different times, something close to its final form probably dates to around 200BC.
We have no evidence to suggest that Jude is quoting some independent tradition that 1 Enoch also quotes. Nothing from any part of 1 Enoch is known in the Old Testament and the Book of the Watchers was apparently composed originally in Aramaic. Even this particular part of the Book of the Watchers was probably added as a kind of introduction as the various materials of these chapters were collected and put together.
The presence of the Enochic books among the Dead Sea Scrolls, along with their similar apocalyptic outlook, may suggest that they were particularly valued by the Essenes, perhaps even that the Essenes considered them Scripture. Jude does not give us enough evidence to know whether he considered 1 Enoch to be Scripture, although he does seem to take the attribution of the quote to Enoch literally. Here is a warning that the way the New Testament authors referenced the Old Testament and other Jewish writings may simply reflect the way people at the time referenced such books and understood authorship, the point being not the attribution but the content of what is referenced.
One wonders whether there might have been some significant intersection between the Essenes and the earliest Christians. John the Baptist seems to bear at least a superficial resemblance to them. The Essenes may also have been the most apocalyptic of the known Jewish groups--and thus more similar to the earliest Christians than either the Pharisees or the Sadducees. The heavy intersection of Jude with possibly Essene literature--including the possible allusion to the Testament of Moses in Jude 9, also makes us wonder. At the same time, Jesus' emphasis on inclusion and reclamation of sinners probably would not have sat well with most Essenes.
Although it is unclear in Jude 9 whether the Lord God or the Lord Jesus Christ is in view, Jude 17, 21, and 25 all clearly refer to Jesus as Lord. We should probably therefore understand the Lord of this verse as the Lord Jesus Christ, who will come in judgment with ten thousands of angels. This fits with what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 where Jesus descends with the voice of the archangel, probably to commence the judgment of men (1 Cor. 6:2) and angels (6:3).
16 These are grumblers, complainers, going according to their own desires, and their mouth speaks boastful things, showing favoritism for the benefit [to themselves].
The material that Jude shares in common with 2 Peter 2 now continues (2 Pet. 2:18). If we continue with the assumption that 2 Peter is drawing on Jude, it is fascinating that 2 Peter has omitted the references to 1 Enoch. As we saw with the omission of the Testament of Moses material, some have suggested that 2 Peter is already demonstrating a movement toward a New Testament canon--one that does not include the Enochic literature.
The list is, as the earlier lists, more generic than specific. Jude is railing against individuals within the Christian community who do not belong there, and these are thus characteristics that should not apply to Christians. They should not be grumblers and complainers. They should follow God's will rather than satisfying their own desires. They should not boast but trust in God's grace, power, and glory. They should not show favoritism--especially not for their own benefit since Christians are to put others above their own interests.
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