Review of the Paraphrase of the New Testament, Jude
On the general EPISTLE of JUDE:
Verſ. 14.
[Prophecyed *To theſe.of theſe.]
]That prophecy of Enoch againſt wicked men, thoſe of the old world, whoſe exciſion he foretold, is appliable to theſe.
foreign.IBid. Note f. Of the notion of foreign, for bare trees that have loſt their leaves and verdure, Adde, So in foreign.Cinnamus, after foreign, which is the diſſolving of the word foreign, and deſcription of this ſeaſon, by the decaying of the beauty of trees, &c. It preſently followes, foreign, the leaves, or ſhade (foreign, ſaith Heſychius) had now left the trees.
foreignIbid. Note g. Of the words of Enochs prophecy, Adde, That Enoch thus prophecyed in his time of theſe Gnoſtickes under Chriſt, we are not told, but that he prophecyed to them, i. e. that his Prophecy concerning the exciſion of the old world for ſuch ſins as theſe are now guilty of, is very pertinent to them, and fit to be conſidered by them. Thus we ſee S. Peter Ep. 2. ch. 2. applyes to them all the judgements, that had ever befallen ſinners, particularly that in Noahs time, of which that Enoch prophecyed, there is no queſtion, and we have theſe remains of it. Firſt the name of his Methuſelah. foreign Sela in Hebrew ſignifies miſſion, ſending or powring out waters on the earth, Job. 5.10. foreign, he ſends out waters on the fields, to which, ſaith Bochart, Arphaxad related when he called his firſt-born Sela, in memory of the deluge, two years after which, Arphaxad was born, Gen. 11.6. And ſo in like manner Enoch that prophecyed of this deſtruction, and foreſaw by the Spirit, that it would ſoon follow the death of this his ſonne, he called his name foreign, his death, emiſſion. To this it is conſiderable, what we find in *foreignStephanus Byzant. in the word foreign, where mentioning Enoch, or Hannoch, he ſaith of him, that he lived 300. years and above, and that the inhabitants asked the Oracle, how long he ſhould live, foreign, and the Oracle anſwered, that when he was dead, all men ſhould be deſtroyed (or as the word will bear, corrupted, in that ſenſe, in which we find Gen. 6.2. ſoon after Enochs death, the earth was corrupt before God, which how it belongs to filthy luſts, hath oft been ſhewed) which he applyes to Deucalions flood, and the univerſal deſtruction there, and addes, that the newes of this Oracle was ſo ſadly received by the inhabitants, that foreign (perhaps it ſhould be foreign, for ſo he hath it before in the Genitive caſe) foreign, to waile for Enoch, is proverbially uſed, foreign, for thoſe that mourn exceſſively. Here 'tis poſſible, that the confounding the two ſtoryes of Enoch, and Methuſelah, made up this relation; For as to the latter part of the flood following his death, that may beſt belong to the ſonne Methuſelah, whoſe name was thus prophetical; But for the years of his life thoſe ſeem to belong to Enoch, for he lived 365 years; Suidas lightly miſtaking his name, calls him Nannac, who, ſaith he, is reported to be a King before the flood, and foreſeeing the approach thereof, he aſſembled all men to the Temple, and with teares foreign prayed to avert it, and Eraſmus out of Hermogenes makes the ſame relation, *…hil. 2. Cent. 8. Adag. 19.and cites the Proverb, foreign out of Herodes the Jambick writer, rendring it Cannacae more plorem, as if it referred to his teares for averting the deluge, when it more probably refers to the peoples lamenting, forecited from Stephanus. See Eupolemus in Euſebius Praepar. l. 9. who ſpeaking of Methuſelah, Enochs ſonne, ſaith, that he knew all by the Angels of God, and (Enoch being all one with Atlas) by theſe all Aſtrologie came to the Greeks.