3 Enoch 12 - The Name YHWH on Metatron’s Crown

3 Enoch 12
Section: Metatron Revealed (Enoch Transformed)
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)

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CHAPTER XII

God clothes Metatron in a garment of glory, puts a royal crown on his head and calls him “‘ the Lesser YHWH”

; R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:

(1) By reason of the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He,

. loved me more than all the children of heaven, He made me a garment

of glory* on which were fixed? all kinds of ? lights, and He clad me tin it^. (2) *And He made me a robe of honour on which were fixed

all kinds of beauty, splendour, brilliance and majesty °°. (3) And he

made me a royal crown in which were fixed forty-nine costly stones

1 so BCL. lit. ‘highness’ 4 corr. 2so C. ABDEL om. 3 B ins. ‘beauty, splendour and majesty and’ 4-4 supplied from C. ’ 5-5 DE om. 6CL add: “and wrapped me (in it)’

Ch. xii. Continued description of Enoch’s exaltation, ending with the climax: ENOCH-METATRON CALLED THE LESSER YHWH. A very close parallel to this chapter is found in 2 En. xxi. 5-11, xxii. 5. Vide Introduction, section 7 (b). (1) The Holy One…made me a garment of glory. Cf. 2,4”. xxii. 8 (lvi. 2): God bids Michael clothe Enoch with ‘the raiment of dor; [s early traditions the ‘garment of glory’ (‘raiment of honour’, etc.) represents the light-substance in which the inhabitants of the high heavens appear; the ‘glory’ is light, splendour, probably conceived of as a reflection, outflow of the Divine Glory, the Splendour of Shekina. The putting on ‘the raiment of glory’ is a necessary condition of entering the highest heavens, God’s abode of light. Hence it is also a mark of the holy, celestial nature of its bearér{ Cf. how acc. to Asc. Js. ix. 2-11 (vii. 25) Isaiah can only ascend to the highest heaven after having received the garment of glory. ‘Garments of glory’ are designed for the righteous and elect: 1 Em. lxii. 15, 16. Similarly Esdras ii. 39 (those which are departed from the shadow of the world and have received glorious garments of the Lord”), explained 2b. iv. 45 (“they that have put off the mortal clothing and put on the immortal”), 1 En. cviii. 12 (vide CHARLES’ notes ad loca cit.), 2 Cor. v. 3 seq., Rev. iii. 5, iv. 4, vi. 11, vii. 9, 13, 14, Alph. R. * Aqiba, BH. iii. 28 and 34 (the righteous will be sitting on thrones before the. Glory in royal garments and royal crowns).

The garment of glory and robe of honour is here assigned to Metatron as dis- tinguished from the other angels: ‘by reason of the love with which [He] loved me more than all the children of heaven’. The writer has Metatron’s rulership, his vice-regency in view. THE GARMENT AND ROBE ASSIGNED TO HIM ARE TO BE UNDER- STOOD AS SYMBOLS OF HIS DERIVED KINGSHIP. his is apparent from the following context: Metatron crowned with_a crown of kingship and especially by his pro- nouncement as the Lesser YHWH,| Acc. to Alpha Beta de Metatron (Add. 15299, fol. 81 b) Metatron ‘‘is clad in eight garments, made out of the splendour of Shekina (b. 81 a: when the righteous parts from this world the Prince of the Presence con- ducts him to the Garden of Eden and there he clothes him in eight garments from the splendour of Shekina)”. THE GARMENT(S) OF GLORY ARE A DISTINCTION ASSIGNED ALSO TO MESSIAH acc. to Pirge Mashiach, BH. iii. 73 (“God will clethe Messiah in splendour and majesty…and garments of glory”’).

(3) And he made me a royal crown. ‘Crowns’ often termed ‘Crowns of Glory’ are frequently, one might say regularly, ascribed to angel-princes. Cf. in

whe e t e az ER

CH. XII] ENOCH-METATRON PIECE , 33

“like unto? the light of the globe of the sun. (4) For its splendour went forth ?in the four quarters of the ‘Araboth Raqia’, and in (through) the seven heavens, and in the four quarters of the world®. And ?he put it? on my head.

(5) And He called me!? THE LESSER YHWH in the presence of all

His? heavenly household; as it is written (Ex. xxiii. 21): “For my f

name is in him”

7-7 B: ‘shining as’ 8-8 B: ‘from one end of the world to the other, and in |

the seven heavens and in the four quarters of the world’ 9-9 lit. ‘he wreathed it? C: ‘they put that crown’ 10-10 BC: ‘they called me (by the name of)’ rı BCL: ‘the’

the present book chh. xvi. 1, 2 (princes of kingdoms), xvii. 8 (item), xviii. 1-22 (all the angels and princes); in the angelological section, the Merkaba-angels and the princes set over them: chh. xxi. 4, xxii. 5, 11, xxv. 6, xxvi. 7, 8, further xxxix. 2, xl. 2, xlviii c 4. The Divine Names, ch. xlviii B 1. Cf. Rev. iv. 4. T’he righteous are to receive crowns in the world to come or in the after-life, e.g. 2 Esdras ii. 45. Alph. R. * Aqiba, BH. iii. 34, and 7b. 36, God is represented as crowning the letters on the Merkaba with a crown of kingship and a crown of glory. In the present book ‘the crown of kingship’ is the special emblem of Metatron and of the seventy- two princes of kingdoms (whose ruler he is): ch. xvii. 8 (cf. xvi. 1, 2); in ch. xviii all the angel-princes are depicted with ‘crowns of glory’ except the ‘seventy-two princes of kingdoms’ who have ‘crowns of kingship’. They are the celestial rulers over the nations of the world. The royal crown here is apparently meant to dis- tinguish Metatron as representative ruler. The following chapter makes it clear that METATRON’S CROWN WAS CONCEIVED OF AS A COUNTERPART OF ‘KETHER NORA’ _OF THE HOLY ONE AS KING OF THE WORLD (cf. ch. xxix. 1). its splendour went forth etc. Cf. ch. xxv. 6. |

(s) And He called me the Lesser YHWH…“ For my name is in him.” The tradition that Metatron bears the name of his Master is attested in TB. Sanh. 38 b, with the same scriptural support as here, viz. Ex. xxiii. 21. The passage is frequently referred to Metatron. The reference has been interpreted from the equal numerical value of Metatron and Shaddai (the name of God Almighty). The original meaning was, however, as here, that METATRON ACTUALLY WAS CALLED BY THE DIVINE NAME OR NAMES. Such seems to be the import even of TB. Sanh. 38 b, since there Ex. xxiv. 1 is referred to Metatron: “ And He said unto Moses, Come up unto YHWH”; ‘Come up unto YHWH’ is to be understood: ‘Come up unto Metatron’. A very important parallel is found in Apocalypse of Abraham (ed. BOX), ch. ro: “I am called Jaoel by Him who moveth that which existeth with me on the seventh expanse upon the firmament, a power in virtue of the ineffable Name that is dwelling in me”. Faoel is made up of the Divine Names, and therefore

• God’s Name is in Him’. For Metatron called ‘the Lesser yawe’ cf. BH. ii. 61, 114, 117, and also 3 En. xlviii c 7, xlviii D 1 (no. 102: ‘the Lesser yHwu, after the name of his Master, “for my name is in him (Ex. xxiii. 21)’; ib. no. 14, YHWH is included as one of the names of Metatron). Sepher ha-Qoma (‘Inyané Merkaba), Bodl. oPP. 467, fol. 61 b (where the variant reading, however, differs): “The Explicit Name, which is Metatron, the Youth” (var. “the explicit name which Metatron announces”). In the commentary.on_Sepher ha-Qama (Bod. OPP. 658, fol. 101 a): “for Metatron’s name is YHwH the Lesser”. Add. 27142 quotes from Hekaloth (et al. ‎ And he (Metatron) is the crown of the attributes of the Holy One, and his nante is as the name of His Master: THE LESSER YHWH ” Add. 15299, fol. 134a (Widdüy Yaphe): [ue princes that are standing beneath the Lesser

YHWH”.. Cf. Zohar, i. 21 a.[‘Lhe ascribi atron. o YHW.

OHB 3

34 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH | [CH. XIII