CHAPTER XXXIV.
XXXIV. And at that time there came up a certain Aod 1 of the priests of Madian, and he was a wizard, and he spake unto Israel, saying: Wherefore give ye ear to your law? Come and I
1 For when they were judged, then the power was not committed unto the rest: and by these signs (or powers) do they work who minister unto men in sorceries, until the unmeasurable age shall come. 4. And at that time Aod by art magic shewed unto the people the sun by night. And the people were astonished and said: Behold, what great things can the gods of the Madianites do, and we knew it not! 5. And God, willing to try Israel whether they were yet in iniquity, suffered the angels, and their work had good success, and the people of Israel were deceived and began to serve the gods of the Madianites. And God said: I will deliver them into the hands of the Madianites, inasmuch as by them are they
Footnotes
180:1 XXXIV. Aod reminds us of the traditional Antichrist, one of whose great feats will be to make the sun appear at night: Ascension of Isaiah (4:5): "and at his word the sun will shine at night."
181:1 3. The sentences about the angels who preside over sorceries are somewhat obscure. They depend upon the story, told at such length in Enoch, of the fallen angels who made known secret arts to mankind. The powers possessed by these were not conferred upon those who replaced them.