Page 3 (part 4)

Works of an Apocalyptic character, continued to be written for about three centuries; the Second (Fourth) Book of Esdras, one of the most remarkable Apocalypses, belongs to the end of the first Christian century, approximately. There are Apocalypses of later date, some of subordinate interest are of much later date; but the real period of the Apocalyptic Literature is from about 200 B.C. to about A.D. 100; its beginnings date, therefore, from a time prior to that great landmark in Jewish history, the Maccabæan Era. THE BOOK OF ENOCH: ITS COMPONENT PARTS AND THEIR DATES The Book of Enoch is now usually designated 1 Enoch, to distinguish it from the later Apocalypse, The Secrets of Enoch , known as 2 Enoch. The former is also called the Ethiopic Enoch, the latter the Slavonic Enoch, after the languages of the earliest versions extant of each respectively. No manuscript of the original language of either is known to be in existence. According to Canon Charles, the various elements of which our book in its present form is made up belong to different dates. The following table will show the dates of the different parts of the book. Canon Charles believes that these are approximately p. xiv correct, without committing himself to the certainty of this in each case: CHAPTERS xii.-xxxvi. xclii. xci. 12-17 "The Apocalypse of Weeks." The oldest pre-Maccabæan portions. vi.-xi. liv. 7-lv. 2 lx. lxv.-lxix. 25 cvi., cvii. Fragments of "The Book of Noah." Pre-Maccabæan at the latest. lxxxiii.-xc. "The Dream-Visions," 165-161 B.C. lxxii.-lxxxii. "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries." Before 110 B.C. xxxvii.-lxxi. xci. 1-11, 18, 19-civ. "The Parables," or "Similitudes." circa 105-64 B.C. i.-v. The latest portion, but pre-Christian. [paragraph continues] Chapter cv, which consists of only two verses, cannot be dated; while cviii. is in the nature of an appendix, probably added subsequently, to the whole work. While these dates may be regarded as approximately correct, it should be pointed out that differences of opinion exist among scholars on the subject. Schürer holds, for example, that, with the exception of chapters xxxvii.-lxxi. (the "Parables," or "Similitudes"), the entire book belongs to the period 130-100 B.C.; the "Parables" he assigns to a time not earlier than Herod the Great. Beer thinks that the "Dream-Visions" (chapters lxxxiii.-xc.) belong to the time of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.C.), and he includes under the pre-Maccabæan portions only xci. 12-17, xcii. xciii. 1-14; and holds that the rest of the book was written before 64 B.C. Dalman maintains that it cannot be proved that the important section xxxvii.-lxxi. (the "Similitudes") is "the product of the pre-Christian period," though he fully p. xv recognizes its Jewish character. Burkitt regards the writer as "almost contemporary" with the philosopher Posidonius (135-51 B.C.). There is thus some diversity of opinion as to the date of the book among leading authorities. That it is, as a whole, pre-Christian, may be regarded as definitely established.