Jude 1:14

And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,

And to these ... "These" are the false teachers, the evil men about whom God has already given a number of prophetic messages, in such events as his punishing the Israelites, destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the punishments like those which befell Cain, Balaam and Korah; and, in addition to all that, "also" Enoch made a prophecy.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam ... Well, here at last we have "Enoch." This is the first and only reference to him in this letter, and this verse is the only thing in Jude that may fairly be connected with him. Jude's use of Enoch's prophecy stamps that prophecy as the gospel truth, but it does absolutely nothing for the apocryphal "Book of Enoch," rightfully rejected as having no canonical value, and being quite ridiculous, fanciful, and false. As the footnote in the Catholic Bible says, "The Book of Enoch is apocryphal. St. Jude does not here approve the entire book, but only this prophecy."[40] The false book of Enoch was widely known in apostolic times, and it was quite natural that Jude would have referred to the famous prophecy allegedly made by Enoch. It could be that Jude, by singling out this prophecy as true, meant that the Biblical character Enoch indeed uttered it, which for all anyone knows may be the truth; but that meaning is not at all mandatory. It was likely merely the manner of identifying the prophecy, which Jude attributed to its alleged source, instead of reference to a book of so many errors. Another New Testament parallel of exactly this procedure by Paul himself is that of his quoting the prophet Epimenides the pagan writer, calling him "one of your own prophets," and recalling his line that, "Cretans are always liars" (Titus 1:12). Should it be inferred, then, that Paul "borrowed" the book of Titus from the pagan prophet? It is exactly that kind of logic that ascribes two thirds of Jude to the apocryphal book of Enoch. Paul also quoted heathen poets and an inscription from a heathen monument in his famed address in the city of Athens (Acts 17), approving of neither by so doing.

Before leaving the question of Enoch's having been a true prophet of God (we are not referring to the book of Enoch), it might be well to recall that Enoch "walked with God" in a very intimate fashion, that he was translated, not even tasting of death, and that he named his son Methuselah, bearing the prophetic meaning of "he dieth, and the flood cometh."[41] Therefore, we may surely believe Jude's account of God's using Enoch to utter a prophecy of the destruction of evil men. Indeed, the name of his son is exactly such a prophecy. Beyond all these considerations, there is also the possibility that Jude's information concerning Enoch's prophecy did not depend in any manner upon the book of Enoch; either some other prior source, or his own divine inspiration, or both, may have been behind this quotation.

Behold the Lord came with ten thousand of his holy ones ... This clause, along with all of Jude 1:1:15, is the prophecy of Enoch. Caton summarized it thus:

"Here is what Enoch, inspired of God, told the people of his day. He warned them of a general judgment, when the Lord would come. He assured them that the Lord would come, accompanied by ten thousands of his saints; or, as the Syriac has it, `with myriads of his saints.'"[42]

Behold the Lord came ... The past tense in such passages is actually the prophetic tense, a frequently observed phenomenon in the Bible. God's prophecies are so certain of fulfillment that the prophet speaks of them in the past tense. The first word of this prophecy (Behold the Lord came) is Maran atha (not Marana tha), a reference in the past tense (used prophetically for the future).[43] As Macknight observed, the first word of this prophecy was widely known and used by the apostles and the early church, Paul doing so in 1 Corinthians 16:22. This is very significant with regard to apostolic use of this expression, indicating that "Maran atha" probably has the meaning of "The Lord has come" in his incarnation, instead of being an invocation looking to the Second Advent. See further notes on this in my Commentary on 1Corinthians, pp. 284,285.

[40] New Catholic Bible, op. cit., New Testament, p. 323.

[41] James MacKnight, op. cit., p. 206.

[42] N. T. Caton, op. cit., p. 209.

[43] James MacKnight, op. cit., p. 208.