JUDE 9

The previous verse introduced the charge against the false teachers that they blasphemed against the holy ones, probably referring to the angels. In this verse Jude presents the contrasting example of Michael the archangel, who when opposed by Satan regarding Moses' body for burial, just said, “The Lord rebuke you” instead of rebuking Satan himself.

Carson says, “The idea seems to be that when Moses dies, Satan wants to claim or destroy the body of Moses rather than bury him, perhaps on the grounds that Moses was a failure (just as Satan wants to claim Joshua [the high priest], in some sense, in Zech. 3:2).”

Similarly, Swarthley cites Jude 9 as quoting from Zechariah 3:2 – “And the LORD said to Satan, 'The LORD rebuke you, O Satan!'” The contexts of the two verses are very close to each other in that in both cases, a godly human being is being accused of being a sinner by Satan.

However, note that this OT passage says nothing specific regarding a conflict over the body of Moses. So where did Jude get that idea? We must turn to the apocryphal OT writings for an answer. And here we are somewhat in the dark regarding the origin of the story since the key manuscripts themselves have been lost to antiquity. Therefore we need to rely on later writers who alluded to what was in those stories:

Webb explains: “Jude is the only New Testament book to cite explicitly an extra-canonical Jewish source. This is clearly the case in Jude 14-15 which quotes I Enoch 1:9 and probably also in Jude 9 which may quote from the now lost ending of the Testament of Moses.”

Charlesworth disagrees, saying that “the amount of traditions and documents written with Moses in mind, or attributed to Moses, leaves me unconvinced that Jude quoted from the lost ending of the Testament of Moses.” Instead, he quotes Origen as attributing it to a lost document titled “The Ascension of Moses.”

Then there is the opinion of Charles, who thinks that the above two books “may have been joined together the first century A.D.”

Finally, there is another work called Visions of Aniran, produced no later than the middle of the second century B.C. Falk feels it may have been the source behind Jude in v. 9.

Whatever the answer, it brings up a problem in many Christians' minds as to why a biblical author would quote from one of these sources in the first place. Carson explains, “It has been suggested that Jude does not himself actually believe the story to be true but cites it to illustrate the moral point that the story makes (in much the same way that someone might cite a Harry Potter book or the film West Side Story to illustrate a point). That may or may not be so, but it is wonderfully difficult to demonstrate.” Others feel that the event must have actually taken place, but even this stance certainly does not justify thinking that we need to accept everything written in these apocryphal sources as factual.

As to the underlying application of this thought, Seifrid states, “To assume such authority [as judging another person] is to trespass upon the divine role itself, an act of hubris that even the angels of God do not dare (Jas 4:11-12; 2 Pet 2:11; Jude 9).”

The second controversial point contained in Jude 9 is in regard to Michael's words to Satan at the end of this verse. Exactly who is “the Lord” who is to do the rebuking? Is it God or Christ?

    Newman feels that “Lord” refers to God in verses 5,9, and 14 while Witherington feels that Jude 9 is the only probable place in the letter where “Lord” applies to God.

    But Hurtado says regarding Jude 5-16, “It seems likely that Christ is the 'Lord' in this whole passage.” However, he admits that it is hard to tell whether God or Christ is being referred to. He points to textual variants in verses 5 and 9 in which the key word appears as either 'Jesus,' 'God,' or 'Christ,' indicating “that ancient readers and scribes shared our difficulty.”

    Finally, Kreitzer states that “the Lord's rebuke (at the end of Jude 9) could be associated with the judgment that comes at Christ's Parousia.”

Perhaps it is a moot point as to whether at the Last Judgment, it will be the Father or the Son of the divine Godhead who pronounces the final doom on Satan. We know it will happen.

                                             Jude 9 (1984)