CHAPTER 37
The second vision of wisdom which Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, saw.
2. And this is the beginning of the words of wisdom, which I commenced to speak and to relate to those who dwell on the earth: hear, ancestors, and see, descendants, the holy words which I will speak before the Lord of the spirits!
3. It is proper to name the former first, but from the descendants too we will not keep back the beginning of wisdom.
4. And up to the present time there was not given from before the Lord of the spirits the wisdom which I have received according to my knowledge, according to the pleasure of the Lord of the spirits, by whom the portion of life everlasting was given to me.
5. Three Parables were given to me; and I commenced to relate them to those who dwell on the earth.
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CHAP. 37. The reasons for assigning 37-71 to a different author and time will be found in the Special Introduction. 1. The second, or other, vision of wisdom distinguishes it in plain terms from the first part, and like the heading 1:1 sqq. gives the object of the following. By wisdom, 82:1; 92:1, the writer understands the knowledge and appreciation of God’s revelation (cf. vs. 4) concerning the true state of affairs in the time of the Messiah, in whom dwells the spirit of wisdom, 49:3, and it will be given by him to the just, 49:1. This wisdom could be obtained only by revelation, as wisdom resides in heaven, chap. 42.
The genealogy here given certainly points to an entirely new element in the book.—2. After the heading in the preceding, Enoch addresses his readers directly; they are all mankind in all generations, The words are holy, cf. 1:2. As proof that they are true he speaks to them as if he were in the very presence of the Lord of the spirits. This name for God is peculiar to the three Parables, being found 38:2, 6; 39: 7-9, 12; 40:1, 2, 4-7; 41:2, 6, 7; 43:4; 46:3, 6-8; 47:1, 2; 48:2, 3, 5, 7, 10; 49:2, 4; 50:2, 3, 5; 51:3; 52:5, 9; 53:6; 54:5-7; 55:3, 4; 57:3; 58:4-6; 59:1, 2; [60:6, 8, 25;] 61:3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13; 62:10, 12, 14, 16; 63:1, 2, 12, [65:9, 11; 66:2; 67:8, 9; 68:4; 69:24;] 29; 71:2, 17; and is in the closest harmony with the contents of this portion of the book, cf. 39:12 sqq.; 41:8.—3. The reason for speaking to the ancestors first is, probably, not the reverence paid to old age, a virtue so characteristic of the true Jew to the present day, but rather, as the second clause indicates, their moral superiority over the later generations, which did not deserve such revelations. The beginning of wisdom in verse 2 and here, is in conformity with the whole object of the book as an instructor in true wisdom, used as in Ps. cxi. 10; Prov. I. 7; ix. 10.—4. Although it is stated in the first part that the just shall rise from the dead (cf. note on 22:12, 13), and that the Messianic reign shall endure forever (cf. 91:17; 92:4; 105:2), the distinctly expressed hope of eternal life is found only in the Parables; cf. also 39:8, 9; 40:9; 58:3; 71:14-17.—5. The author divides his tract into three parts. Parables; the word used in the original corresponds to the Heb. HTR, GTR (cf. Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 828); Dillmann, following the proposal of Hoffmann, Einleit., p. 13, translates Bilderreden; Maurice Vernes, Histoire des Idées Messianiques, has Paraboles, or Similitudes; Ascensio Isaiae iv. 21 it is used in quoting David’s Psalms; Drummond uses Similitudes.
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