Jude's quotation from the Book of Enoch

In his epistle general, Jude used some very strong words against certain "church members" in the assembly. He called them ungodly, dreamers, and brute beasts.

Jude also described them"spots in your love feasts", "clouds without water", "late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots" and "raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame" etc.

If Jude had done this in any discussion group on the Internet today, he would have certainly been kicked out and blocked.

Who were these people , and why was Jude so harsh against them?
---------------------------
Jude 14-15 KJV
"Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

Jude 14 - 15 NKJV
"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Jude 14-15 is a quotation from two separate parts of the book of Enoch

Enoch II - 1.
"Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against him"

(Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep02.htm#an_II Accessed: 31-Dec13)

Enoch XXVI - 2.
" Then Uriel, one of the holy angels who were with me, replied, This valley is the accursed of the accursed for ever. Here shall be collected all who utter with their mouths unbecoming language against God, and speak harsh things of His glory. Here shall they be collected. Here shall be their territory."

(Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep03.htm#an_XXVI Accessed: 31Dec13)

Why did Jude quote this scripture? (I shall call it scripture here although it is not among the Canonical Books, not even among the Apocrypha).

Jude quoted it as part of his warning to the disciples against "certain men" (v.4) who have crept in unnoticed among their assembly. The apostle Jude called these people "ungodly" (v.4), "dreamers" (v.8), "like brute beasts" (v.10). In particular, Jude describes them in v.12 and 13 as follows:

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Further on in v.16, Jude calls them "grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage". And in v.18, they are called "mockers" who walk in their own ungodly lusts.

Yes, according to the prophecy recorded in the ancient book of Enoch, God will be coming with tens of thousands of his angels to execute judgment on such ungodly people.

Brothers and sisters, let us heed the words of these ancient prophets and apostles. Let us repent.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel in the Wilderness.

First posted on 2013.12.31
UPDATED on Thu 2021.07.08

I drew these sketches while reading the book of Numbers 2:1-34, 3:14-39, and 10:1-28 last year, on Sunday 27May2012.

(1) The position of each tribe at camp, with the four clans of Levi around the Tabernacle of the LORD, including the number of males in each tribe.

On the EAST side, The Camp of Judah: Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. These are the sons of Leah, the first wife of Jacob.

On the SOUTH side, The Camp of Reuben: Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. Reuben and Simeon are sons of Leah, while Gad is the eldest son of Leah's maidservant Zilpah.

In the middle, surrounding the Tabernacle: the tribe of Levi who bear the parts of the Tabernacle. Levi is also a son of Leah.

On the WEST side, The Camp of Ephraim: Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. Ephraim and Manasseh are sons of Joseph who together with his younger brother Benjamin are sons of Rachel, the second wife of Jacob.

And on the NORTH side, The Camp of Dan: Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. Dan and Naphtali are sons of Rachel's maidservant Bilhah, while Asher is the youngest son of Leah's maidservant Zilpah.

(2) The Order of Movement for each tribe when breaking camp, until they set camp at their destination. The roman numerals reference key are as shown in the previous photo. (Numbers 2:9, 16,17,24,31; Num 10:1 - 28)

First to set forth: The Camp of Judah: Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, EAST (Num 2:9)

Second to set forth: The Camp of Reuben: Reuben, Simeon, Gad SOUTH (Num 2:16)

Next to set forth,in the middle: the Levites who bear the parts of the Tabernacle (Num 2:17)

Third to set forth: The Camp of Ephraim: Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin WEST (Num 2:24)

Last to set forth: The Camp of Dan: Dan, Asher, Naphtali NORTH (Num 2: 31)

However a slight variation in the order of breaking camp is given in the account in Numbers chapter 10, where the Levites did not set forth together as one group after the tribes on the EAST and SOUTH have moved.

Instead, only the sons of Gershon and Merari (bearing the equipment from the west and the north of the Tabernacle) set forth after the EAST tribesof Judah, Issachar and Zebulun have moved. (Num 10:17)

It was only after the SOUTH tribes of Reuben, Simeon and Gad have moved that the sons of Kohath would set forth, bearing the Sanctuary. (Num 10:21)

Finally, it was only after the tribes on the WEST and the NORTH have moved that the families of Moses, and presumably those of Aaron and his sons, would set forth last. (Num 10: 29)

A Lesson from the Wrong Chapter

These notes were written in my shorthand notepad more than a year ago, but it's only tonight that I have found time to post it here in my blog.

Sunday, 03Jun2012, at Ipoh Airport.

I thought I'd read a passage from the book of Proverbs while waiting for a family member to board a Firefly flight to Singapore. The TEV (GNT) Bible's Outline of contents show that the Proverbs of Solomon are recorded in the section from Proverbs 10:1 to 29:27.

So I turned to chapter 10 and began reading.

What I thought was Proverbs 10 turned out to be Ecclesiastes 10, the book after Proverbs! I realised it only after almost reaching the end of chapter 11 where it says in 11:8 that we should be grateful for every year of our lives because no matter how long we live, our days of death will be much longer than our days of life.

Wow, that's astounding.

Well, since nothing happens without the good purpose of our Creator, I think the Lord YHWH our God has allowed me to read from the wrong chapter for his own purpose: that I might learn something from Him this morning.

Here are some observations from Ecclesiastes chapter 10:

• A little stupidity is like a little fly - it makes an entire bottle of perfume smelly.
• By nature (or instinct?), the wise does right while the foolish does wrong.
• An injustice is caused by rulers when stupid people are given high positions, where slaves ride on horseback while noblemen have to go on foot.
• If you dig a pit, you fall in. If you break through a wall, a snake bites you.
• A wise man's words bring him honour. A foolish man's words bring him destruction.
• He who starts silly talk ends up mad. A fool talks on and on.
• A country is in trouble when its king is a youth and its leaders feast all night long.

And last, but not least, 

Ecclesiastes 11: 1 is rendered by the TEV in modern day equivalent terms as

Invest your money in foreign trade and one of these days you will make a profit.

Shall we go on sinning because we are under the grace of God?

Romans 6:14 NIV
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:14 appears to be a conclusive assertion in answer to a pointed question that was posed in 6:1,

"Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?"

The long chain of reasoning in the first fourteen verses of Romans 6 can be listed and paraphrased as follows:

- we have died to sin, we cannot live in sin anymore,
- we were baptized into the death of the Messiah Yeshua (Iesous), being buried with the Messiah in death so that we may live a new life just as the Messiah was raised from death by the glory of God the Father.
- if we have been united with the Messiah in a death like his death, we will certainly (one day) be united with Him in a resurrection like his resurrection.
- our old self was crucified with Him so that our sinful body might be done away with, so that we should be slaves to sin no more.
- anyone who has died (with the Messiah) has been freed from sin
- if we have died with the Messiah, we will also live with him, since the Messiah was raised by God, he cannot die again.
- the Messiah died to sin once for all. The life he now lives, he lives to God.
- in the same way, we should COUNT OURSELVES dead to sin, alive to God in union with the Messiah Yeshua.
- As such, we shall not allow sin to reign in our body, making us obey its evil desire.
- We shall not offer any of our members to sin, as instruments of wickedness. Instead, we shall offer ourselves to God, as instrument of righteousness, as people who have been raised from death to life.

Conclusion in Rom 6:14-
Sin shall no longer be our master, because we are not under the law (by every written letter of code), but under grace (by the spirit of God).

This assertion is reiterated in Rom. 7:6 NIV
"But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit (kainoteti pneumatos), and not in the old way of the written code (palaioteti grammatos)".

Early warnings from Hebrews 12

A survey of Hebrews chapter 12: showing an example of how the early disciples cited and quoted Scripture as the basis for their instruction, warnings and teachings.

(1) Proverbs 3:11, 12 NIV

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.

Proverbs 3:11, 12 LXX (Brenton)

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord;
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
for whom the Lord loves, he rebukes,
and scourges every son whom he receives.

Hebrews 12: 5, 6 NIV

My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son

This scripture is used in Hebrews 12: 3-11 to teach that:
- Discipline is hardship. It is painful, not pleasant.
- Discipline is needed in our struggle against sin.
- It is for our own good. God treats us as children when He disciplines us.
- Let us submit to discipline by the Father of our spirits and live.

(2) Proverbs 4:26 NIV

Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.

Proverbs 4:26 LXX Brenton

Make straight paths for thy feet,
and order thy ways aright.

Hebrews 12:13 NIV

“Make level paths for your feet,”
so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

This scripture is used in Hebrews 12: 12,13, to remind the disciples to strengthen their weary arms and weak knees, so that the lame may be healed and not become disabled.

(3) "Esau sold his inheritance for a single meal" (from  Exodus 25: 29-34)

This account of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob is cited in Hebrews 12:14-17 to warn the disciples not to miss the grace of God by being immoral or godless in their behaviour. It points out that Esau could not recover from his sin although he sought to regain the birthright that he had despised earlier, with tears!

(4) Exodus 19:12, 13 NIV

Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

Exodus 19:12, 13 LXX Brenton

And thou shalt separate the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mountain, nor touch any part of it: every one that touches the mountain shall surely die. 13 A hand shall not touch it, for every one that touches shall be stoned with stones or shot through with a dart, whether beast or whether man, it shall not live: when the voices and trumpets and cloud depart from off the mountain, they shall come up on the mountain.

Hebrews 12: 20 NIV

“If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”

Deuteronomy 9:19 NIV

I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord,
for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.
But again the Lord listened to me.

Deuteronomy 9:19 LXX Brenton

And I was greatly terrified because of the wrath and anger,
because the Lord was provoked with you utterly to destroy you;
yet the Lord hearkened to me at this time also.

Hebrews 12: 21 NIV

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

These scripture passages are used in Hebrews 12: 18-24 to teach Israel the following:
- You have not come to a tangible, fearsome and intimidating mountain,
- where even an animal which touches it will be stoned to death,
- where Moses trembled with fear
- Instead, you have come to Mount Zion,
- you have come to the heavenly Jerusalem,
- the city of the living God,
- you have come to the joyful assembly of hosts of angels,
- you have come to the ecclesia of the firstborn,
- whose names are written in heaven,
- You have come:
==> to God, the Judge of all men,
==> to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,

==> to Yeshua, the mediator

==> to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (an allusion of the blood of Abel, slain by his brother Cain, which "cried out " to God from the ground).

(5) Haggai 2:6,7 NIV

“This is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens
and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come,
and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.

Aggaeus 2:7,8 LXX Brenton

For thus saith the Lord Almighty;
Yet once I will shake the heaven, and the earth,
and the sea, and the dry land;
8 and I will shake all nations, and the choice portions of all the nations shall come:
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord Almighty.

Hebrews 12:26 NIV

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised,
“Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

This scripture passage is used in Hebrews 12: 25-27 to teach the disciples that while, at Mt Sinai, God's voice shook the earth, there will come a day when He will shake both heavens and earth. The words, "Yet once more" in this passage means the removal of all things that can be shaken. Only that which cannot be shaken will remain. Do not turn away from Him who warns us from heaven!

(6) Deuteronomy 4:24 NIV

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24 LXX Brenton

For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Hebrews 12:29 NIV

for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Finally, this one short verse is used in Hebrews 12: 28,29 to teach us that we must worship God alone, with reverence and awe.

Conclusion: We are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Israel's Three "Not Because Of"

Read passages from Deuteronomy chapters 7, 8 and 9, last Sunday 8.12.13: TEV

In these chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses reminded the people of Israel three "non-reasons" why the Lord YHWH chose them, prospered them and promised to give a good land to them.

(1) Not because of your numbers

Deuteronomy 7:7
YHWH did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. (see also verse 8, which says it was because YHWH loved Israel and wanted to keep the promise that He had made to their ancestors.)

(2) Not because of your power

Deuteronomy 8:17
So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength. (see earlier verses 11 to 16 where Moses reminded Israel of the providence of YHWH throughout their wandering in the wilderness, protecting them from venomous serpents and scorpions, giving them water out of solid rock and manna which they had never eaten before. Also verse 18 which says it was YHWH their God who gives Israel the power to prosper, because He remains faithful to the covenant He made with their ancestors.)

(3) Not because of your goodness

Deuteronomy 9:5a
It is not because you are good and do what is right that YHWH is letting you take their land.

Deuteronomy 9:6b
No, you are a stubborn people.

Son of the Most High and Prophet of the Most High.

Son of the Most High

-------------------------

The words of the angel Gabriel concerning the birth of the Master Yeshua the Messiah, recorded in

Luke 1: 32, tells us that:

(1) Yeshua will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God (El Elyon). 

This title reminds of the account in Genesis 14: 18-20 where Melchizedek, called Priest of the Most High God, blessed Abram in the Name of the Most High God. This mysterious Priest is described in Hebrews 7: 3 as "without father, without mother, without geneology, neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.". The book of Hebrews explains in 7: 17 that Yeshua has come in fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 110: 4, that he is the promised everlasting priest, not of the Levitical order, but is instead of the order of Melchizedek,

Psalm 110: 4 NKJV

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

(2) Yeshua will be made a King, like his ancestor David, by YHWH Elohim.

Luke 1: 32 goes on to tell us that he will be King over the descendants of Jacob. However, he will be no ordinary king. Instead he will be king forever. His kingdom will never end!

Prophet of the Most High

----------------------------

The words of Zechariah concerning his son, John the Baptist, in Luke 1: 67 - 69 GNT.

(3)  verses 68-75 tells us that the ancient promise of Most High God is being fulfilled starting that day.