CHAPTER X.

Jude 1 (NIV)

¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for^[a] Jesus Christ:

² Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

³ Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. ⁴ For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about^[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.⁵ Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord^[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. ⁷ In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

⁸ In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. ⁹ But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”^[d]10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

¹¹ Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

¹² These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴ Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones ¹⁵ to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”^[e]16These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.^[f]

Doxology

²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Footnotes:

1. Jude 1:1 Or by; or in
2. Jude 1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation
3. Jude 1:5 Some early manuscripts Jesus
4. Jude 1:9 Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century A.D.).
5. Jude 1:15 From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century B.C.)
6. Jude 1:23 The Greek manuscripts of these verses vary at several points.

The quote for today is the entire book of Jude, copied entirely from biblegateway.com with footnotes.  Jude is the shortest book of the bible by number of verses (3 John has 4 fewer words in the KJV).

Verse 9 assumes you are familiar with the story of the archangel Michael battling with the Devil over the body of Moses. Obviously you read that in Exodus somewhere, right?  Well, if you read it, then you must have read the apocryphal Testament of Moses (or the Ascension of Moses). (see http://www.textexcavation.com/testamentmoses.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_of_Moses).  We can not include this book in the bible today because we only have an incomplete 6th-century Latin translation discovered in 1861.  The document is mentioned by many early Christian fathers, and it was obviously translated into Latin. Since so little of it remains, it seems to me like the church wanted to remove all copies of it. That last part is speculation, but that is what happened to many other early Christian books later deemed heretical.

Verse 15 quotes the First Book of Enoch, written approximately 1st century BC. You can find the book online herehttp://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/ and http://www.heaven.net.nz/writings/thebookofenoch.htm.  The quote from Jude, part of the Christian New Testament, is from chapter 1 verse 9 of the First Book Of Enoch. So why is the First Book Of Enoch not included in the Bible?  Since Christians believe that Jude is the inerrant word of God and it quotes the First Book of Enoch, should not that book also be included?

Well, Enoch gets interesting in verse 6. It starts discussing the first part of Genesis 6, where the “sons of God” impregnate women of earth, creating a race of giants.  The sons of god are called Watchers, and the race of giants are called Nephilim. Here is the text from Chapter 7:

1. And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. 2. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: 3. Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, 4. the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. 5. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. 6. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.

Wow, that is much more interesting than anything else I read in Sunday School!  I wonder how they sinned against birds?  Anyway, it gets really bizarre.  Angels intercede on behalf of the earth (Ch 9 below).

1. And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth. 2. And they said one to another: ‘The earth made †without inhabitant cries the voice of their crying† up to the gates of heaven. 3 ⌈⌈And now to you, the holy ones of heaven⌉⌉, the souls of men make their suit, saying, “Bring our cause before the Most High.”.’ 4. And they said to the Lord of the ages: ‘Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, 〈and God of the ages〉, the throne of Thy glory (standeth) unto all the generations of the ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages! 5. Thou hast made all things, and power over all things hast Thou: and all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee. 6. Thou seest what Azâzêl hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were striving to learn: 7. And Semjâzâ, to whom Thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates. 8. And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. 9. And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness. 10. And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven, and their lamentations have ascended: and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth. 11. And Thou knowest all things before they come to pass, and Thou seest these things and Thou dost suffer them, and Thou dost not say to us what we are to do to them in regard to these.’

God responds by warning Noah of the flood and having the Archangels take action against the Watchers.

1. Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 2. ‘〈Go to Noah〉 and tell him in my name “Hide thyself!” and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. 3. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.’ 4. And again the Lord said to Raphael: ‘Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein. 5. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. 6. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers havedisclosed and have taught their sons. 8. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azâzêl: to him ascribe all sin.’ 9. And to Gabriel said the Lord: ‘Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have. 10. And no request that they (i.e.their fathers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.’…

The stories of the Watchers and Nephilim is entertaining, but I wanted to point out Chapter 20, which explains the function of the Seven Archangels:

XX. Name and Functions of the Seven Archangels.

CHAPTER XX.

1. And these are the names of the holy angels who watch. 2. Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world and over Tartarus. 3. Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is over the spirits of men. 4. Raguel, one of the holy angels who †takes vengeance on† the world of the luminaries. 5. Michael, one of the holy angels, to wit, he that is set over the best part of mankind ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ over chaos. 6. Saraqâêl, one of the holy angels, who is set over the spirits, who sin in the spirit. 7. Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the Cherubim. 8. Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God set over those who rise.

Once again, we have a reference to Tartarus, a specific place in Greek mythology below Hades where the Titans are bound. This is in a book that is quoted by the New Testament, which is supposedly the literal word of a perfect God. There is a definite link between ancient mythologies and modern Christianity.  Any Christian who claims the quote from Enoch in Jude is the literal word of God but that the other sections of Enoch are mere writings from mankind is being inconsistent.

My Sunday school teachers made it sound like the Peter and Paul were carrying around the 66 book King James Version in the year 34 AD.  Nothing could be further from the truth (yes, I am joking about the KJV, but not about the impression from the teachers).  There were hundreds of books that were considered Christian and Jewish texts in early Christianity. Most of these books would be considered heretical by orthodox Christians today. There was proto-orthodox editing of scripture until 325 AD, there was Catholic editing from 325 – 367 AD (and beyond). Protestant editing started with Martin Luther putting 14 books into the apocrypha (doubtful) section of his bible in 1534, a tradition that was followed in the KJV 1611. Luther wanted to exclude Maccabees, so he excluded all books in the Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Masoretic text. Luther also wanted to remove Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation, but was not permitted to do so by his followers, but he did move them to the very end of his bible. The King James Version of the bible did not officially remove the 14 apocrypha books until 1885.

But the Jews were editing the texts long before the Christians. That will be my topic next time.

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