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Jude
A 1,2.
Benediction.
B 3. Exhortation. Beloved. Earnestly contend for faith.
C 4. Ungodly men 'of old'.
D 5. Remembrance.
The Lord's acts.
E 5 -16. a 5 -8. Three examples, Israel, angels and
Sodom.
b 9,10. Michael the Archangel.
Unrecorded elsewhere.
Reference to Satan.
a 11 -13. Three examples, Cain, Balaam and
Korah.
b 14 -16. The Lord and holy myriads.
Unrecorded elsewhere.
Allusion to Satan.
D 17.
Remembrance.
The Lord's words.
C 18,19.
Ungodly of 'last time'.
B 20 -23.
Exhortation.
Beloved.
Build up on faith.
A 24,25.
Doxology.
A literal rendering of the words of Enoch recorded in Jude 14 must
read: 'Behold, the Lord came'. While the true rendering of the aorist of the
Greek verb is still somewhat of a moot point, the rightness of the above
rendering is confirmed by the general usage and renderings of the A.V. The
interested student may test this by noting the occurrence of elthe (part of
the verb erchomai 'to come'), which is usually translated 'came', see, for
example, John 1:7,11; 3:2; 7:50; 8:42; etc. If Enoch said, 'Behold, the Lord
came', he must have been referring back to some judgment that was past when
he spoke. To what could he refer? The judgment of the flood had not then
taken place, neither had judgment fallen upon Babel. The description given
of the judgment could not refer to Genesis 3 or 4. To what then could it
refer?
The reader will probably have travelled back in mind to Genesis 1:2, to
the katabole kosmou, 'the overthrow of the world'. This connection is more
than countenanced by Peter in his second epistle which we have already found
to be parallel with that of Jude.
The Second Coming and Overthrow (Gen. 1:2)
Enoch referred back to an overthrow that had taken place and said,
'Behold the Lord came', and his reference to angels and Satan removes any
sense of disproportion. Enoch also looked forward, and named his son
Methuselah, 'at his death it (namely the flood) shall be', and in the year of
the flood Methuselah died. Enoch's two prophecies link the two floods
Genesis 1:2 and Genesis 6 together.
'Ten thousands of His saints'.
These words are quoted by Moses in the
blessing of Israel:
'The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined
forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from
His right hand went a fiery law for them' (Deut. 33:2).