Jude 1:14

And Enoch also. Jude’s reference to Enoch and his quotation of that patriarch’s prophecy has occasioned much comment. Commentators are in general agreement that the pseudepigraphical book called 1 Enoch was in circulation among the Jews by the middle of the 1st century B.C. (see Vol. V, pp. 87, 88). Chapter 1:9 of this noncanonical work reads as follows: “And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Vol. 2, p. 189).

It is commonly believed that Jude quoted from this noncanonical work, though some hold the reverse to have been the case. If Jude quoted from 1 Enoch it was because the Holy Spirit led him to do so.

The seventh from Adam. In 1 Enoch 60:8 the patriarch is also referred to as being the seventh generation from Adam. The genealogy is given in Gen. 5:4–20, where the following descent is traced: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, and Enoch. This makes Enoch the seventh in line, including Adam, according to a well-established ancient method called “inclusive reckoning” (see Vol. II, pp. 136, 137). In modern terminology he would be called the sixth from Adam.

The Lord cometh. Literally, “came [the] Lord,” the past tense being used because of the certainty of the fulfillment of the prophecy. After Peter describes the false teachers and foretells their fate he devotes the greater part of his 3d chapter (2 Peter 3) to a discussion of the Lord’s return. Jude contents himself with a brief reference that consists entirely of a quotation from Enoch’s prophecy (Jude 14, 15), possibly because he wished to keep his letter (cf. on v. 3) within brief bounds. Both Peter and Jude view the Lord’s coming in relation to the ungodly teachers, with Jude placing the greater emphasis on the judgment of the deceivers.

Ten thousands of his. Literally, “in his holy myriads, that is, in the midst of His holy myriads. The word translated “ten thousands” (muriades) is the source of our word “myriads” (see on Luke 12:1).

Saints. Literally, “holy [ones].” Whether Jude here refers to the vast host of holy angels who will accompany Christ when He returns to earth (cf. on Dan. 7:10; Matt. 25:31; 1 Thess. 3:13) or to the redeemed at the close of the 1000 years (see on Rev. 20:4–9) is not certain.