Looking at the key parts of the passage:Michael BG wrote:While reading the Parables of Enoch: A Paradigm Shift I have come across another reason why the Similitudes of Enoch could be dated to the third century CE. This is seeing the Parthians and Medes in 56:5-57:2 as referring to the invasion under Shapur and the Palmyreme kingdom (empire) under Odaenathus (c. 252-67). A problem with this is that in 226 the Parthian Empire had been replaced by the Persian Empire under the Sassanids.
56:5 And in those days the angels shall return And hurl themselves to the east upon the Parthians and Medes: They shall stir up the kings, so that a spirit of unrest shall come upon them, And they shall rouse them from their thrones, That they may break forth as lions from their lairs, And as hungry wolves among their flocks. 6 And they shall go up and tread under foot the land of His elect ones, [[And the land of His elect ones shall be before them a threshing-floor and a highway:]] 7a But the city of my righteous shall be a hindrance to their horses.
"Parthians & Medes" could have been meant figuratively, just as "Babylon" stood for "Rome" in the Apocalypse. While it could also be a description of a Sassanid Persian invasion using Parthian & Median units of the army, that would be 100% pure speculation on my part. It seems more likely, to me, to refer here to Roman armies (Parthians = Roman cavalry units) and troops sent by Herodian client princes controlling Trachonitis, Batanea and those parts (Medes = Assyrians = Old Syria) sent against them in the Judean rebellion of 66-73 CE.
The focus seems to shift a bit at 56:7b:
This section, IMO, seems to be a commentary on the strife that prevailed in Judaea when the rebels of 66 CE attacked the Greeks who dominated Caesarea and the coastal towns, and the Gentiles returned the attacks, each side, it seems, attempting to "ethnically cleanse" the regions they set out to control.56:7b And they shall begin to fight among themselves, And their right hand shall be strong against themselves, And a man shall not know his brother, Nor a son his father or his mother, Till there be no number of the corpses through their slaughter, And their punishment be not in vain. 8 In those days Sheol shall open its jaws, And they shall be swallowed up therein, And their destruction shall be at an end; Sheol shall devour the sinners in the presence of the elect.'
There is that story of the Judean man who lived in a Greek majority city, and who had fought against the Judean rebels to protect it. He, along with the other Judeans of the city were evacuated to the city's stadium ("as a security measure" I'm sure). In the night, the more extreme factions among the gentiles attacked them there and began to slaughter the men and take families as booty. When this man saw it, he was ashamed of himself for having picked the less noble side in rebellion, and instead of trying to fight them, which he knew would be fruitless, he successively grabbed his wife, parents and children and ran them through with his sword rather than let the gentiles kill or enslave them, then he committed suicide.
Then there was the inter-Judean rivalries that played their part inside Jerusalem that was continuous from the collapse of the Galilean front to the time the Romans advanced to the city walls, encircled it, and finally breached the walls and sacked it and its temple. Aristocrats and power brokers were betraying one another rather routinely.
That phrase "And their punishment be not in vain," tells me that this passage was added after the Romans captured and destroyed the city and enslaved all caught within it, which was their "punishment." This "armchair quarterbacking" (as we call it here) by the commentator is meant to justify, in his mind, what he felt must have been the cause of their "punishment." 57:1-3 is generally thought to represent a return of Judeans from exile in other lands, because "they shall all fall down and worship the Lord of Spirits."
The problem with this is 56:5-7a & 7b-8 seem to intrude into a story that went from 54:1-56:4, which is widely believed to have originally been a Noah apocalypse of some kind:
54:1 And I looked and turned to another part of the earth, and saw there a deep valley with burning fire. 2 And they brought the kings and the mighty, and began to cast them into this deep valley. 3 And there mine eyes saw how they made these their instruments, iron chains of immeasurable weight.
4 And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: 'For whom are these chains being prepared?' 5 And he said unto me: 'These are being prepared for the hosts of Azazel, so that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation, and they shall cover their jaws with rough stones as the Lord of Spirits commanded.
54:6 And Michael, and Gabriel, and Raphael, and Phanuel shall take hold of them [the fallen Watchers] on that great day, and cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming subject to Satan and leading astray those who dwell on the earth.'
54:7 And in those days shall punishment come from the Lord of Spirits, and He will open all the chambers of waters which are above the heavens, and of the fountains which are beneath the earth. 8 And all the waters shall be joined with the waters: that which is above the heavens is the masculine, and the water which is beneath the earth is the feminine. 9 And they shall destroy all who dwell on the earth and those who dwell under the ends of the heaven. 10 And when they have recognized their unrighteousness which they have wrought on the earth, then by these shall they perish.'
55:1 And after that the Head of Days repented and said: 'In vain have I destroyed all who dwell on the earth.' 2 And He sware by His great name: 'Henceforth I will not do so to all who dwell on the earth, and I will set a sign in the heaven: and this shall be a pledge of good faith between Me and them for ever, so long as heaven is above the earth. And this is in accordance with My command. 3 When I have desired to take hold of them by the hand of the angels on the day of tribulation and pain because of this, I will cause My chastisement and My wrath to abide upon them, saith God, the Lord of Spirits.
55:4 Ye mighty kings who dwell on the earth, ye shall have to behold Mine Elect One , how he [Enoch] sits on the throne of glory and judges Azazel, and all his associates, and all his hosts in the name of the Lord of Spirits.'
56:1 And I saw there the hosts of the angels of punishment going, and they held scourges and chains of iron and bronze. 2 And I asked the angel of peace who went with me, saying: 'To whom are these who hold the scourges going?' 3 And he said unto me: 'To their elect and beloved ones [the giants who were born of the liaisons between fallen Watchers and human females], that they may be cast into the chasm of the abyss of the valley [reserved for them above]. 4 And then that valley shall be filled with their elect and beloved, And the days of their lives shall be at an end, And the days of their leading astray shall not thenceforward be reckoned.
My recollection from my earlier studies of Ethiopic Enoch was that many of the accounts in the Parables roughly corresponded with stories in the Book of Watchers, including the random insertion of "Noachic" fragments like this.
This is all very very confused.
DCH