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End of the World (The)

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According to rabbinical mythology, the world is to last six thousand years. The reasons assigned are (1) because the name Jehova contains six letters; (2) because the Hebrew letter m occurs six times in the book of Genesis; (3) because the patriarch Enoch, who was taken to heaven without dying, was the sixth generation from Adam (Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch); (4) because God created the world in six days; (5) because six contains three binaries—the first 2000 years were for the law of nature, the next 2000 years the written law, and the last 2000 the law of grace.

Seven would suit this fancy quite as well: there are seven days in a week; Jehovah contains seven letters; and Enoch was the seventh generation of the race of man; and the first two binaries were not equal periods.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Encelados
Enchanted Castles
Enchanter
Encomium
Encore (French)
Encratites
Encroach
End
End-irons
End Paper
End of the World (The)
Ends
Endemic
Endorse
Endymion
Enemy
Enfant Terrible (An) [lit., a terrible child]
Enfield Rifle
Enfilade (French)
England
England Expects that Every Man will do his Duty