3 Enoch

Odeberg1928 source English page 367

CH. XLVIII(A)] METATRON SHOWS R. ISHMAEL SECRETS 159 will bring them up to Jerusalem with great joy. And not only that but fi: i; they will eat and drink for they will Israel will come from the glorify the Kingdom of Messiah, of four quarters of the world the house of David, in the four quarters and eat with Messiah. But of the world. And the nations of the the nations of the world world will not prevail against them, | shall not eat with them, Messiah of the house of David; his role is to lead the dispersed Israelites up to Jerusalem. No Messianic wars bringing about the victory of Israel and the Kingdom are mentioned (contrast ch. xlv 7b.)—on the contrary the actual consummation is to be effected by God Himself, through the aid of His Arm. Hence Messiah’s role here is essentially passive: “he will appear, be revealed to them’. Cf. - xx. 37, 38, Ixii. 6, 7, 4 Ez. vii. 28 (“my Son, the Messiah shall be revealed, together with those who are with him’”’), 2b. xiii. 32 (“then shall my Son be revealed’’), 2 Bar. xxix. 3 (“‘it shall come to pass...that the Messiah shall begin to be revealed”’), Mysteries R. Shimeon B. Yochai, BH. iii. 80 (‘after that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will reveal to them Messiah, the son of David... Messiah will spring forth”), TB. Sukka, 52 b. Inch. xlv. 5 and 2 Bar. xl, on the other hand, the role of Messiah is decidedly active. they will eat and drink (4)—Israel will come. ..and eat with Messiah (£). The Kingdom of Heaven as a feast is a well-known picture in the Gospels and Rev.: ורוו וו‎ taxxvi20, Luke) xiv.,15—24, xxti..16, 15, 307 36071. 7,111: 20, xix. 9. For the banquet prepared for the righteous (with Messiah in the time to come) cf. 1 En. |xii. 14 (“‘ And with that Son of man shall they [the elect] eat and lie down and rise up for ever and ever’’), 2 Fn. xli. 5 (“‘ At the last coming they will lead forth Adam with our forefathers, and conduct them there that they may rejoice as a man calls those whom he loves to feast with him’’), 2 Bar. xxix. 3, 4 ) Messiah shall then begin to be revealed....And Behemoth and Leviathan shall be for food for all that are left”’), Purge Aboth, iii. 20 (“‘ Everything is prepared for the banquet’’), Pestkta, 118 b (‘‘ Behemoth and Leviathan are reserved for the feast of the righteous in the time to come’’), Purge Mashiach, BH. i. 76 (“'Then [in the Messianic time] will the Holy One, blessed be He, make a feast for the righteous on Behemoth, " Leviathan and the wild beasts of the field [Ps. i. 11, Ixxx. 13]”’), Mysteries R. Shimeon ben Yocha, BH. iti. 80 (‘‘ And Jerusalem will come down built and completed from heaven and Israel will dwell therein in safety for thousand years and will [sit and] eat Behemoth and Leviathan and...the wild beasts of the field [ziz-ha-sSade, cf. above, perhaps treated as a technical term]”’). Cf. Bousset, Rel. des Fudentums, and ed., .כ‎ 327, BOX, Ezra-Apocalypse, p. 208. | To this conception is correlated that of the righteous in the future enjoying the (fruits of) the Tree of Life and spices of the Garden of Eden. Cf. ch. xxiii. 18, 1 En. xxv. 5, 2 En. ix, Test. Levi, 18, Sibyll. 11. 318, iii. 46, Num. R. xiii. 3. (£) But the nations of the world shall not eat with them. Cf. and contrast St Matthew viii. 11, 12: “‘many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness’’. Cf. and contrast also Rev. xxi. 8 and especially xxi. 24, 27: ‘“‘and the nations of the world shall walk in the light of it (the glory of God in Jerusalem) and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it...and there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth...’’. Ferusalem is here obviously the earthly City: the nations of the world are outside its precincts, even desiring to conquer it: (A) ‘the nations of the world will not