CHAPTER 58
And I began to speak the third Parable concerning the just and concerning the chosen.
2. Blessed are ye, the just and chosen, for your portion is glorious!
3. And the just will be in the light of the sun, and the chosen in the light of everlasting life; and there will be no end to the days of their life, and the days of the holy will be without number.
4. And they will seek the light and will find justice with the Lord of the spirits; there will be peace to the just with the Lord of the world.
5. And after that it will be said to the holy, that they should seek in heaven the secrets of justice, the portion of faith [fidelity], for it has risen like the sun on the earth, and darkness has disappeared.
6. And there will be an unceasing light, and in the number of days they will not enter, because darkness will be destroyed first, and the light will be mighty before the Lord of the spirits, and the light of rectitude will be strong in eternity before the Lord of the spirits.
CHAPTER 58
And in those days my eyes saw the secrets of the lightning, and the masses of light, and their judgments; and they flashed for a blessing and for a curse, as the Lord of the spirits desired.
2. And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resounds above in the heavens its sound is heard; and they showed me the dwelling-places of the earth, and the thunder, either for peace or a blessing or for a curse, according to the word of the Lord of the spirits.
3. And after that all the secrets of the luminaries and of the lightning were shown to me, as they flash for a blessing and for satisfaction.
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CHAP. 58. 1. As the author states himself, this chapter commences the third Parable. This extends to chap. 71, with the exception of 60 and 65:1-69:25, which are Noachic interpolations; cf. Introd. The Parable is to treat, at least mainly, of the blessedness of the chosen and the just. Intimately connected with this is the description of the judgment with its consequences for the wicked, and therefore he treats these topics also. I began to speak, as in 37:2.—2. In contradistinction from the curse pronounced on the wicked, the just will have a blessed portion.—3. Light, cf. note on 38:4. Everlasting life, cf. note on 37:4. Without number, i.e. numberless.—4. But light is their element, therefore they seek it, 50:1. They will also seek justice, as the Messiah is personified justice; cf. 48:1; 46:3. Lord of the world, cf. note on 1:3.—5. The secrets of justice in heaven, 49:2; 51:3, i.e. the glorious lot stored up in heaven by the just judge, and realized only in the Messianic times, but before that hidden to the world; cf. note on 49:2. Faith, cf. 39:6; 46:8; 61:4. As denying, 41:2, is the cardinal sin of the wicked, its opposite—belief, faith, or trust in God’s promises during the period of the sinners’ rule—is the most shining virtue of the just. We need not go to the New Testament for the origin and use of this word. It has risen, in general terms, like it has become light. —6. As this state is permanent, and not transitory, no one will attempt to number the days.
CHAP. 59. 1. As he has repeatedly done before, the author has interwoven here brief remarks on the secrets of the physical world. His statements rest on Job xxxvi. 30-37; v. 13; xxxviii. 24-27. Their judgment, not in the sense that they are to be judged, but rather that they are instruments in the hands of God to effect judgment when they flash for a curse or a blessing. His object is, then, to give here the moral object of these phenomena of whose origin he has spoken above, chap. 41.—2. Cf. Job xxxvii. 1-5. Enoch, being in heaven, is now allowed to see the dwellings of men, as these are affected by what he sees in heaven; cf. Job xxxvii. 13. This is all further explained in the Noachic fragment, 60:13-15.—3. Cf. 41:8; Job xxxviii. 24-27.
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