Jude Series: Jude 12-Jude Employs Three Metaphors to Describe Jewish Zealots

Jude 12 These are dangerous reefs at your love feasts. Those who for their own selfish interests regularly feast together with all of you without reverence. Those who care only for themselves. These are waterless clouds, which are carried away by winds. These are autumnal trees, which are without fruit, which have died twice, which have been uprooted. (Lecturer’s translation)

Like Jude 4, 8, 10 and 11, Jude 12 is describing the unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age in the first century A.D. who were rebelling against Rome in order to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.

The demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “these” refers to these unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age who were rebelling against the Roman Empire which occupied Judaea in the first century A.D.

As we noted in our studies of Jude 4, 8 and 10 and in our introduction to this study of the epistle of Jude, most scholars believe that Jude was very concerned about false teachers and their heterodox teaching.

However, as we noted, nowhere does Jude tell the recipients of this letter to reject false teachers and their heterodox teaching. In fact, nowhere in the letter does he describe the nature of this false teaching.

If you recall, in Romans and Galatians, Paul describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching of the Judaizers.

He also describes in great detail the nature of the false teaching which the Colossian Christian community was being exposed to at the time this epistle was written.

In our study of Colossians, we noted they were dealing with the Essene branch of Judaism with a tinge of an incipient form of Gnosticism that was found in Essene Judaism (cf. Col. 2).

Lastly, the apostle John describes in 1, 2 and 3 John in great detail the nature of the false teaching that the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia was being exposed to at the end of the first century A.D., which was docetic Gnosticism.

In stark contrast to these letters, Jude does not describe the nature of any false teaching that the Christian community in Judaea was being exposed to.

I am in agreement with Herbert Bateman IV who asserts that the individuals who Jude condemns in this epistle are the Zealots or Sicarii who revolted against the Roman Empire and were attempting to persuade the Christian community to join in this revolt.

Thus, in this letter, Jude wants the Jewish Christian community in Judaea to obey the governmental authorities and reject this rebellion against Rome led by these Zealots since it would not be justified civil disobedience.

In other words, to rebel against Rome would be to reject God’s will for their lives.

Interestingly, notice that the nominative masculine plural form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos(οὗτος), “these” appears not only in Jude 12 but also has appeared in Jude 8 and 10.

In each instance, its referent are these unregenerate Jewish Zealots.

The repetition of this word in this manner indicates that the writer is employing the figure of “anaphora,” which is so-called because it is the repeating of the same word at the beginning of successive clauses: thus adding weight and emphasis to statements and arguments by calling special attention to them.[1]

Therefore, this figure of anaphora is emphasizing the descriptions of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots in Jude 8, 10 and now Jude 12.

Jude 12 contains the seventh triad, which we have come across in our study of the epistle of Jude.

The first two appear in Jude 1-2.

The third appears in Jude 5-7 and the fourth appears in Jude 8, which contains a three-fold description of the Jewish Zealots in Jude’s day and age.

The fifth triad appears in Jude 10, which presents another three-fold description of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots.

The sixth appears in Jude 11.

This seventh triad is composed of three metaphors, which describe these unregenerate Jewish Zealots.

The first describes these individuals as “dangerous reefs” and the second describes these Jewish Zealots as “waterless clouds,” and the third and final metaphor describes these individuals as “autumnal trees.”

Now, Jude 12 contains five assertions, which contain nine more descriptions of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots and as we noted, three metaphors which describe them.

The first assertion states that these individuals were dangerous reefs who attended the love feasts of the Christian community in Judaea.

The second states that they for their own selfish interests regularly feasted together with the Christian community in Judaea and without reverence for the sanctity of these love feasts.

The third assertion states that they cared only for themselves.

The fourth describes these individuals as waterless clouds, which are carried away by winds.

The fifth and final assertion describes them as autumnal trees, which are without fruit, which have died twice, which have been uprooted.

The first of these nine descriptions, which as we noted presents the first of three metaphors asserts that these unregenerate Jewish Zealots were like dangerous reefs who attend the love feasts of the Christian community in Judaea.

The second develops the first metaphor and describes these individuals as those who for their own selfish interests were feasting together with members of the Christian community in Judaea without reverence for the sanctity of their love feasts.

The third description of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots further develops the first metaphor and describes them as caring only for themselves.

The fourth description presents the second metaphor and describes these individuals as waterless clouds.

The fifth further develops the fourth and describes them as being carried away by winds.

The sixth description presents the third and final metaphor and describes these unregenerate Jewish Zealots as being like autumnal trees.

The seventh description develops the sixth and describes them as being without fruit.

The eighth description develops the third metaphor further and describes these Jewish Zealots as having died twice.

The ninth and final description further develops the third metaphor and describes these individuals as having been uprooted.

Each of these three metaphors and nine descriptions of these unregenerate Jewish Zealots serve as a solemn warning to the Christian community in Judaea regarding these people.

Specifically, each is a solemn warning to the Christian community in Judaea to avoid these individuals who were attempting to persuade them into joining their revolt, which is against the will of God.

Their rebellion against Rome was against the will of the Father because by rebelling against Satan’s authority over human governmental authority, they were rebelling against the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord temporarily delegated authority to the devil and his angels to rule over unregenerate humanity with the exception of Israel until He establishes His sovereign authority over all the nations of the earth at His Second Advent.

Furthermore, their rebellion was against the will of the Father because they were attempting to establish the kingdom of God on earth apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Also, they were bringing judgment upon themselves because both the Old and New Testament teaches that the nation of Israel is to be subjugated to Gentile nations until the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

[1] Bullinger, E. W. (1898). Figures of speech used in the Bible(p. 199). Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co.