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Although the firth portion of Enoch stands second in sequence in the book, you need to know that it was certainly the latest portion of the book ever written, probably written about 75 B.C.E.
This is the culmination of the Essene religious synthesis!
We are dealing with chapters 37-71, and these happen to be the longest and most elaborate. Furthermore, this particular religious evolution in beliefs reflects a distinct development which brings Essene doctrine very close to the New Testament. God is here called the Lord of Spirits, and the expression occurs more than a hundred times; he is also described as the Lord of Glory and the Eternal Lord; three or four times he is named the Most High and eleven times the Head of Days; twice we read that his head is white as wool, as in Daniel.
We find right away an elaborate Zoroastrian-Pythagorean synthesis. The Lord of the Spirits commissions the Son of Man, who now appears under the time for the first time in Enoch, chosen before the world was created, to judge sinners and righteous. The Messiah is portrayed as a distinctly separate agency called the Son of Man, as in Daniel. So now the title "Son of Man" carries Messianic connotations according to the Essenes.
The Elect are those who have a congenital compulsion toward righteousness, which causes them to abhor the things of this world, and to love God and their fellowmen, thus, they achieve sainthood and will be called to everlasting glory.
The Essene Angel-Messiah is a Godman. But there is one problem!
This deity is conspicuously NOT the Yahweh of the Pentateuch, the tribal God of the Jews, who is alternately wrathful or repentant, and who commands his Chosen People to commit acts of aggression and moral turpitude. The Essene God is instead the Zoroastrian God of Light relieved, however, of serious cosmic opposition in the form of Pythagorean metaphysics: he is a universal monotheistic power. The marks of Essene authorship are indubitable; any assumption of Pharisaic or Christian origin is implausible.
The theological departure consists chiefly in the separation of the Messianic agency from the Supreme God; this new power, named the Righteous One:
Here, as in the New Testament, the Son of Man constitutes the agency which will conduct the last judgment, rule over the kingdom of heaven on earth, and establish his "elect ones" in this community of saints.
This Enochian Messiah, this Angel-Messiah, described as not human but pre-existent, hearkens back to Zoroastrianism and the Greek philosopher Zeno and foreshadows the Christology of Paul and the Fourth Gospel.
The Essene-preexistent-Messiah is now, like the Soshans, a spiritual and pre-existing power, to be seated on the throne of his glory at the inauguration of his kingdom. The coming of this Son of Man is to be a sudden transformation, at which time "Mine Elect One shall sit on his throne of glory...And I will transform the heaven...And I will transform the earth and make it a blessing: And I will cause Mine Elect Ones to dwell upon it: But the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot theron...I shall destroy them from the face of the earth" (Enoch, xlv).
The Essenes lived in happy anticipation of the Last Judgment, when they would behold their enemies burning "as straw in the fire...The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed" (Enoch, xlviii). Obviously this is Ahuramazda, and not Yahweh!
The Essenes here call themselves "the Holy Ones" or "the righteous and elect" eleven times and simply "Mine elect ones" or "the elect ones" eighteen.
Chapters 37-59 consists of visions in which sinners are judged by "The Righteous One...." (Enoch, xxxviii). According to the Essene literature it seems that between the writing of the fourth and fifth portions of Enoch, the Essene Community had revived its feverish expectations of an almost immediate kingdom to be inaugurated on earth by the all-powerful Anointed One. Like that of the Synoptics (Matt. 24:34), this would supervene in Palestine, and very soon. The elect saints were therefore living daily in the shadow of that overwhelming catastrophe when the Messiah would appear on the clouds of heaven surrounded by myriads of angels to conduct the Last Judgment, consign the rich and powerful into everlasting fire, and convey their lands, houses, and other property to the elect saints (Enoch, xxxviii).
"Here mine eyes saw their dwelling places with His righteous angels....And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One.... And all the righteous and elect before Him.... And their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits" (Ibid., xxxix).
The seven Zoroastrian archangels, which appear in Enoch as Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraquel (or Phanuel), Gabriel, and Remiel (Ibid., xx), stand ready to execute the commands of the Lord of Spirits: "And I saw there the mansions of the elect and the mansions of the holy, and mine eyes saw all the sinners.... being dragged off...." (Ibid., xli).
"I will transform the earth and make it a blessing; And I will cause Mine elect ones to dwell upon it: But the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon" (Ibid., xlv).
"And there I saw One who had a head of days....And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, Ad his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. . .This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness. . . And who revealeth the treasures of all that is hidden, Because the Lord of Spirits bath chosen him...... And this Son of Man whom thou hast seen..... .... shall put down the kings from their thrones and kingdoms,,, " (Ibid., xlvi).
Here is the "exact concept of the Son of Man presented in the Synoptics" who will proclaim divine truth in the world, hurl the mighty from their seats (Luke 1:46-53), sit on the throne of his glory, and, at last, judge all mankind. The all-powerful, preexisting Son will rule in the new dispensation:
"And at that hour that Son of Man was named. . .His name was named before the Lord of Spirits. He shall be a staff to the righteous.... And he shall be the light of the Gentiles.... And for this reason bath he been chosen and hidden before Him, Before the creation of the world and forevermore. . . For he bath preserved the lot of the righteous.... For in his name are they saved.... " (Enoch, xlviii).
"And the sinners," we read, "shall be banished" by the Lord of Spirits "from off the face of the earth" (Ibid., liii). And "I will give them over into the hands of Mine elect: As straw in the fire so shall they burn before the face of the holy.....The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed" (Ibid., xlviii).
No one, we learn, "shall be able to utter a lying word before the Elect One" (Ibid., xlix) at the Great Judgment; He will then set his saints apart and establish them in His kingdom: "And the earth shall rejoice, And the righteous shall dwell upon it, And the elect shall walk thereon" (Ibid., li).
"His Anointed," then, will be "potent and mighty on the earth," and "there shall be no iron for war" (Ibid., lii). As for the "kings and the mighty.... Michael and Gabriel, and Raphael and Phanuel shall take hold of them on that great day, and cast them.... into the burning furnace" located in a "part of the earth" where there is "a deep valley with burning fire" (Ibid., liv). "Ye mighty kings who dwell on the earth . . . shall have to behold Mine Elect One, how he sits on the throne of his glory.... " (Ibid., iv) just as the New Testament Son of Man is to do in Matthew 25:31. And then, declares Enoch, the Lord of Spirits will establish "the elect in the light of eternal life.... " (Ibid., lviii).
The prophet assures the elect that the righteous who have died will rise into eternal glory whether they "have been destroyed by the desert ... devoured by the beasts ...." or swallowed "by the fish of the sea...." (Ibid., lxi).
Again it is emphasized that the Messiah is a pre-existing, separate, divine agency:
".... from the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, And the Most High preserved him in the presence of His might, And revealed Him to the elect. And the congregation of the elect and holy shall be sown" (Ibid., lxii).
Since the apocalyptic judgment is imminent, only a brief period remains for the proclamation of the gospel and the building of the holy congregation; those who avail themselves of this final opportunity will shine in glory when they are established in their exclusive kingdom; but when "the exalted and those who rule the earth" are delivered "to the angels of punishment," then the elect ".... shall rejoice over them, Because the wrath of the Lord of Spirits resteth upon them, And his sword is drunk with their blood" (Ibid.).
The wicked weep and implore, but they "find no respite for confession"; they discover too late that "His judgments have no respect to persons" (Ibid., lxiii). Bewailing their fate, they cry: " 'Our souls are full of unrighteous gain…'" (Ibid.). Their doom is irreversible.
The third parable closes with a peroration describing once more the final judgment and the advent of the apocalyptic kingdom (Ibid., lxix). Read Matthew 25:31-46, and then listen once more to Enoch:
Matt 24:31-46 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. (KJV)
"With chains shall they be bound, And in the assemblage-place of destruction shall they be imprisoned, And all their works shall vanish from the face of the earth. And from thenceforth there shall be nothing corruptible; For that Son of Man has appeared, And has seated himself on the throne of his glory, And all evil shall pass away from before his face…" (Ibid.).
This is obviously a description of the Last Judgment envisioned in Matthew.
In the final passage of Enoch, the prophet describes his entrance into heaven:
"And I fell on my face before the Lord of Spirits...."And I saw angels who could not be counted, A thousand thousand, and ten times ten thousand. Encircling that house...."And with them the Head of Days, His head white and pure as wool, And His raiment was indescribable" (Ibid., lxxi).
IN CONCLUSION
If you have diligent to read the materials researched for your benefit available on this website then you now see the "big picture." You now see how the Davidic Messiah of Moses and the Prophets has been blended with religious concepts stemming from Gentile religions; beginning with Egypt and Osiris, later grafting religious tenants from Adonis, Dionysus, Demeter, Persephone, Orpheus, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Pythagoreanism, Mithraism, Serapis, and not least, Zoroastrianism upon the Davidic Messiah by the Essenes in their almost total repudiation of Biblical Judaism since they were a spurned Priesthood and had been for almost two hundred years.
If you have again been diligent to study the materials on this website, and I know it is extensive, but to trace the evolution and personification of sun-worship and how it became the very fiber of the Jesus of the Christian church cannot be done simply for it involves a religious synthesis for over 6000 years; since the beginning of time.
It is our hope at Bet Emet Ministries that the readership will take these things to heart and begin their own study to see "if these things be so." A good place to start is with good books on the Essenes like capable scholars like M. Burrows, Lawrence Schiffman, and Martin Larson. Most of Larson's books are out of print but can be located on the Internet at http://bibliofind.com as you surf the world and used book stores.
It is again our hope that this information will help you discern the difference between the worship of Yahweh in Spirit and it Truth and the implicit idolatry that accompanies the current theologies regarding Jesus as taught by Christendom.
Shalom.