3 Enoch 8
3 Enoch 8
Section: Metatron Revealed (Enoch Transformed)
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER VIII
The gates (of the treasurtes of heaven) opened to Metatron
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:
(1) Before He appointed me to attend the Throne of Glory, the Holy One, blessed be He, opened to me ‘three hundred thousand gates of Understanding three hundred thousand gates of Subtlety three hundred thousand gates of Life
1-1 Following is the order of the attributes in the other readings:
B (10): wisdom… understanding. . .life. . .subtlety… grace and loving-kindness . .love…Tora. . .maintenance. . .meekness. . .fear of sin
C (12): loving-kindness… understanding… life. ..subtlety…Shekina… power
(chash) and sometimes speak (allel): they are silent when the Word emanates .from the Holy One, blessed be He, they speak when He has ceased speaking.”
to attend the Throne of Glory day after day. This is a traditional function of Metatron, the Prince of the Presence. Cf. ch. xlviiic 4. Hek. R. xi: ‘when the angel of the Presence enters to exalt and magnify the Throne of Glory and to prepare the seat for the Mighty One in Jacob”. Hek. Zot. (Bodl. micu. ọ fol. 67 b): “ Meta- tron is the president of the Divine Thrones of Glory (of Dan. vii. 9)”. ger Metatron has also a Throne of his own: chh. x. 1-3, xvi. 1, 2, xlvili c 8.
Ch. viii. (1) The Holy One, blessed be He, opened to me three hundred thousand gates of Understanding etc. The gates are the gates of the treasuries of the heavens (‘Araboth). Metatron is appointed over the stores of ‘Araboth acc. to ch. x. 6, xlviii c 3. The treasuries are the treasuries of wisdom, understanding etc. i.e. the attributes by which the world is sustained. The abstract qualities here enumerated are to a large extent identical with those named as the agencies by which God created the world in, e.g. TB. Chag. 12 a (“‘wisdom, understanding, knowledge, strength, might etc.”), Ab. R. Nathan, xxvii, xliii. Cf.ch.xli.3: “wisdom, understanding, knowledge etc. by which the world is sustained”; and Alph. R. < Aqiba, BH. iii. 20: “ God supplies the world day by day with gifts, without which the world could not subsist for a single day: spirit and soul, knowledge and wisdom and subtlety, counsel and might, and the different senses’. The idea is, that the abstract qualities on which the world is founded and by which it is sustained emanate from God. Yet we are here in no way nearer the conception of the ‘ Ten Sefirot’ than in the passages cited from TB. Chag. 12a etc. For wisdom and under- standing treasured in heaven cf. 4 Ez. v. 9g, “then shall intelligence hide itself and wisdom withdraw to its chamber”, where the essential idea of the present repre- sentation is already extant: wisdom and intelligence as at work in the world have their home in ‘chambers’ (i.e. in heaven) from where they have emanated and whither they return. Cf. also ch. xlviii D 2, and for the ‘opening of the gates of the treasures’ Alph. R. ‘Agiba, letter Aleph: ‘‘ 5000 gates of wisdom were opened to Moses on Sinai corresponding to the five books of the Law, and 8000 gates of understanding, corresponding to the eight prophets and 11,000 gates of KNOWLEDGE corresponding to the eleven writings”. three hundred thousand gates of Life. The ‘treasuries of life’ in heaven are frequently referred to. Cf. e.g. Chag. 12 b: ‘‘in ‘Araboth Raqia‘ are. ..the treasuries of life. ..’’; ch. x. 6 here.
24 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CH. VIII
,
three hundred thousand gates of ‘grace and loving-kindness
three hundred thousand gates of love
three hundred thousand gates of Tora
three hundred thousand gates of meekness
three hundred thousand gates of. maintenance
three hundred thousand gates of mercy
three hundred thousand gates of fear of heaven}.
(2) In that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, added in me wisdom unto wisdom, understanding unto understanding, subtlety unto subtlety, knowledge unto knowledge, mercy unto mercy, instruction unto instruction, love unto love, loving-kindness unto loving-kindness,
and might…grace and loving-kindness. ..love. ..instruction (Tora). . „main- tenance. . .fear of sin. . .meekness
E (12): wisdom. . .understanding. . .subtlety. . .life. . .peace… Shekina. . .power and might. . .strength. . .grace and loving-kindness. . .love. . .meekness … fear of sin
YR. i. 54 b (12): wisdom. ..understanding. . .life. . .subtlety…Shekina. . .power and might…grace and loving-kindness…love…‘l’ora. .. maintenance… meek- ness…fear of sin
L (12): wisdom… understanding… life. . .subtlety… Shekina… might... grace and loving-kindness. . .love.. . Tora. . .maintenance. . .meekness. . .fear of sin
D (15): wisdom. . .understanding . . .life. . .subtlety. . .peace… Shekina… power and might…strength…grace and loving-kindness… .love…Tora…mainten- ance. . .mercy. . .meekness.. .fear of heaven «
three hundred thousand gates of Tora. Cf. Alph. R.‘Agiba, BH. iii. 43, 44: ‘The Holy One, blessed be He, appointed Moses over all Israel, and over all the treasuries of Tora, and over all treasuries of wisdom, and over all treasuries of understanding”. It is interesting to note, that acc. to this conception there is a special treasury of Tora (= the Celestial Tora?) besides the treasuries of wisdom and of understanding. Acc. to another conception the Tora is itself formed of the elements of wisdom and understanding, the ‘secrets of the treasuries’; cf. on ch. xlviii D 2, 3.
gates of maintenance (Parnasa). Even the maintenance and sustenance of the needs of the world has its source in heaven. Cf. Alph. R. ‘Agiba, letter Zain: ** Zain, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, for he feeds and maintains (mepharnes) all his creatures, day after day, as it is said (Ps. civ. 28): ‘thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good’”. From the ‘maintenance’ Parnasa, stored in heaven, the seventy princes of kingdoms take and “throw down to the nations of the world their maintenance” acc. to the Lesser YR., sub voce Nedibim et freq. ‘‘ Metatron distributes Parnasa among all the companies of angels” (YR. i. 56, quoting Pardes).
The opening the treasuries or gates to Metatron presumably connotates not only the bestowal upon him of their contents (as in vs. 2) but also that they are put in his charge and to his distribution. As Prince over the Princes he has to distribute their contents among the angels, and perhaps also as functional Prince of the World to the earth and nations.
added in me wisdom unto wisdom etc. The attributes here enumerated are on the whole identical with those of vs. r. Hence the idea probably is that the contents of the opened treasuries were conferred upon Metatron. more than all the children of heaven. The unique position of Metatron is here emphasized.
CHH. VIII, IX] ENOCH-METATRON PIECE 25
goodness unto goodness, meekness unto meekness, power unto power, strength unto strength, might unto might, brilliance unto brilliance, beauty unto beauty, splendour unto splendour, ? and I was honoured and adorned with all these good and praiseworthy things more than all the children of heaven.