And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
See 'Introduction,' on the source whence Jude derived this prophecy. The Holy Spirit, by Jude, sealed the truth of this much of the matter in the book of Enoch, though probably that book, as well as Jude, derived it from tradition (cf. note, Jude 1:9). So facts unrecorded in the Old Testament are referred to by Paul, 2 Timothy 3:8; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 11:24. There are reasons for thinking the book of Enoch, in the form now extant, copied from Jude, rather than vice versa. From the first, prophecy hastened toward its consummation. The earliest prophecies of the Redeemer dwell on His second coming in glory, rather than His first coming in lowliness (cf. Genesis 3:15, with Romans 16:20). Enoch, in his translation without death, illustrated that which he all his life preached to the unbelieving world-the Lord's certain coming, and the resurrection of the dead-as the antidote to their sceptical, self-wise confidence in nature's permanence.
And, х de (G1161) kai (G2532)] - 'Moreover, also Enoch,' etc.
Seventh from Adam. Jude intimates the earliness of the prophecy. In Enoch, freedom from death and the sacred number are combined; for every seventh object is most valued. Note, "of old," Jude 1:4. There were only five fathers between Enoch and Adam. The seventh from Adam prophesied the things which shall close the seventh age of the world (Bengel).
Of these - in relation to these. His reference was not to the antediluvians alone, but to all the ungodly (Jude
15). His prophecy applied primarily to the flood, ultimately to the final judgment.
Cometh, х eelthen (G2064)] - 'came.' Prophecy regards the future as certain as if past. Many harmonize with this the distinct statement that the Lord shall come, and His elect be caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17), by supposing that His coming in the air to take (Zephaniah 2:3) them out of the last tribulation shall precede by some interval His coming with them to Mount Olivet (Zechariah 14:4-5; Revelation 19:14) to save the elect Jews. Compare Isaiah 26:20; Isaiah 61:3; John 14:3; Revelation 3:10. Still, the saints must be for a time in the little horn's hands (Daniel 7:25-27); but the little horn may be Rome; not the last Antichrist. Matthew 24:22-24; Matthew 24:31, refers to the elect Jews (the looking for "Christ" only can apply to the Jews, not to the Gentiles, Jeremiah 30:7). The Jews, like Noah in the deluge, shall be in the tribulation, but saved out of it (Isaiah 55:9). The elect Church, like Enoch, shall be caught up and transfigured before the tribulation (2 Corinthians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; especially Luke 21:28; Luke 21:35-36). The warning to all on the face of the whole earth to watch, for the day is coming "as a snare," would be hardly appropriate, if the Jews' reception of Antichrist were to precede the coming; for then the coming day would be announced by the precursory Antichrist.
Saints - holy angels (cf. Deuteronomy 32:2; Daniel 7:10; Zechariah 14:5; Matthew 25:31).