3 Enoch 15
3 Enoch 15
Section: Metatron Revealed (Enoch Transformed)
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XV
Metatron transformed into ftre
R. Ishmael said : Metatron, the angel, the Prince of the Presence, the ! Glory of all heavens, said to me:
(1) As soon as the Holy One, blessed be He, took me tin (His) service! to attend the Throne of Glory and ? the Wheels (Galgallim) of the Merkaba and the needs? of Shekina, forthwith my flesh was changed into flames, my sinews into flaming fire, my bones into coals of burning juniper, the light of my eye-lids into ‘splendour of? lightnings, my eye-balls into fire-brands, the hair of my head into hot flames, all my limbs into wings of burning fire and the whole of my body into glowing fire.
(2) And on my right were divisions® of fiery flames, on my left fire-brands were burning’, round about me “stormwind and tempest ere blowing® and in front of me and behind me was roaring of thunder with earthquake?. 1?
1-1 so A. D: ‘in joy’ BCL om. 2 C ins. ‘by consequence’ 3 CSYR: ‘arrangements’ 4-4. BCL om. 5-5 B: ‘sparks of? CL om. 6 so B. A: ‘dividers’ (cf. on ch. vi. 2). 7-7 so with (B)CDbEL. A corr. 8-8 so with BDE. A corr. L: ‘were blown, roused’ instead of ‘were blowing’ C om. ‘were blowing’ 9-9 BCDEL: ‘thunder upon thunder’ 10 CL end here. Cf. 16 on ch. xiv and 1 on ch. xvi.
Ch. xv. This chapter in common with ch. ix treats of the metamorphosis through which Metatron-Enoch was made into an angel. His body and substance are wholly changed into fire. For fire as the regular substance of the angels, see Introduction (Angelol., Nature, etc., of the angels). The Tos. (Yeb. 16 b) record the piyyutic statement: “‘Metatron, the Prince, who was made from flesh into fire’’, meaning “Enoch is Metatron ”. See YR. i. 54 b.
(1) my limbs into wings of burning fire. Cf. ch. ix. 2.
(2) on my right were divisions of fiery flames etc. High angel-princes surrounded by fire, thunder, tempest and storm-wind is a frequent representation of the angelological section, chh. xviii-xxvi. Cf. e.g. chh. xviii. 25, xxii. 9, 13, etc., XXXIV, XXXVil.
40 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CH. XVB
CHAPTER XV B Addition occurring in B and L B: L:
(1) R. Ishmael said: Said to me (1) Metatron, he is prince over Metatron, the Prince of the Pre- all the princes—and he stands sence and the prince over all the before princes—and he stands before Him who is greater than all the Elohim. And he goes in under the Throne of Glory. And he has a great tabernacle of} light on high. And he brings forth the fire of deafness and puts (it) into the ears of the Holy Chayyoth, that they may not hear the voice of the Word (Dibbur) *that goes forth from the mouth of the Divine Majesty?.
(2) And when Moses ascended on high, he fasted 12x fasts, till °the
Fragment of an habitations of the chashmal were opened to him®; and he
“Ascension of
Moses ”’ B 3 L: saw the heart within the saw, that it was white as the heart of the Lion heart of the Lion
1 L: ‘above’ 2-2 L om. 3-3 L: ‘they opened to him the habitations of
the chashmal’
Ch. xv B. THIS ADDITIONAL PIECE which is embodied in B and L in a discon- nected style PRESERVES A FRAGMENT OF AN ‘ASCENSION OF MOSES’ (vss. 2 seqq.). This ‘Ascension of Moses’ was connected with the Metatron-tradition, in so far as Metatron plays the rôle of an intermediary between the Deity and Moses (cf. ch. xlviii D 7): vss. 4 and 5. Cf. also the Gedullath Moshe and the quotation from Pirge Hekalot by R. Ishmael in YR. ii. 66a (* Said to me Metatron, the Prince of the Presence: When Moses ascended on high, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave me command and conferred on me from his Shi‘ur Qoma (stature) seventy thousand myriads by seventy thousand myriads of parasangs. ..). (1) Metatron is standing before the Most High: ‘Prince of the Presence’.
(x) he goes in under the Throne of Glory, the place of the treasuries and also of the ‘Tabernacle of the Youth’. he has a great tabernacle on high. The Tabernacle (Sanctuary) of Metatron under the Throne: Sepher Qoma (Bodl. orp. 467, fol. 61 a), ‘‘Metatron goes in under the Throne to say the ‘ Blessed’’’, acc. to Hilkoth Metatron, Add. 27199, fol. 114 a, item ’ to prostrate himself before the Holy One” (commentary on Sepher ha-qQoma, Bodl. oPP. 658, fol. ror a). The Tabernacle of the Youth whose name is Metatron” was completed by the ministering angels simultaneously with the completion of the Tabernacle on earth acc. to Num. R. xii. 15 (with reference to Nu. vii. x). Cf. Zohar, ii. 159 a and Introduction. Metatron is the High Priest on high (Shemoth shel Metatron, Bodl. MICH. 256, fol. 29 a), thus occupying the position elsewhere assigned to Mikael. Cf. Zohar, iii. 50a: two Altars on high. The priest of the inner Altar is NJno and of the outer Mikael, . and he brings forth the fire of deafness etc. Literally the same is said in S. ha-‘gQoma (Bodi. opp. 467, foll. 61 ab) with the addition . “(from the mouth of the Holy One) and the Explicit Name that the Youth Metatron recites (i.e. in the Tabernacle)”.
(2) he fasted 121 fasts, i.e., probably, 121 days. The sudden introduction of
CH. XV B] FRAGMENT OF ‘ ASCENSION OF MOSES’ 41
and he saw the innumerable* companies of the hosts “round about him. And they desired® to burn him. But Moses prayed for mercy, first® for Israel and after that? for himself: and He who sitteth on the Merkaba opened the windows that are above the heads of the Kerubim. And a host of 1800 advocates °—and the Prince of the Presence, Metatron, with them—went forth to meet Moses. And they took *the prayers of Israel? and put them “as a crown” on the head of the Holy One,
blessed be He. (3) And they said (Deut. vt. 4): “Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God
ts one Lord”
4 lit. ‘companies of’ 5-5 Lom. corr. 6 Lom. 7 Lins. ‘he asked mercy’ 8 L ins. ‘of Israel’ 9-9 L: ‘his prayer’ +0 11-11 L om.
the theme of the revelations to Moses is perhaps to be accounted for by the tradi- tional association of the Tabernacle on high with the Tabernacle completed by Moses and by Metatron’s function as revealer of the ‘secrets’ to Moses. Cf. ch. xlviiiD 3,7. the habitations of the chashmal. chashmal, derived from Ezek. i. 4, is interpreted either as an angelic name (chaslimal, chashmallim, cf. note on ch. vii) or as a celestial Matter. In any case the ‘abodes of the chashmal’ here mean the highest or central place in heaven. Acc. to Gikatillas, Sod ha-Chashmal, the prophet (or the seer) after having entered the successive Halls at last arrives at the ‘Hall of the Chashmal’, the Chashmal being the equivalent of the ‘ Chayyoth of fire’ (Arze Lebanon, 40a b. Cf. 41a: “the inner chashmal and the outer chashmal etc.”). the heart of the Lion, the Lion = one of the four Chayyoth, Ezek. 1. 10. they desired to burn him. Cf. the Rev. of Moses, e.g. YR. ii. 66b )“1— Moses—saw the company of the angels of dread who surround the Throne of Glory…and they all desired to burn me”): it is a symbol of guard. Cf. i. 3, 4. opened the windows that are above the heads of the Kerubim. These are the windows through which the prayers of men are let into the Presence of the Godhead. In the Widduy Yaphe the supplicant prays that the Kerubim who are by the side of the Chayyoth and the Throne of Glory may open “the windows that are in the ‘Throne of Glory…in the habitations” and let in his prayer before Him who sitteth on the Kerub, etc. 1800 advocates, i.e. angels who plead in favour of Israel. The kerub is advocate already in TB. Chag. 13b. the prayers of Israel …as a crown. This represents the frequent idea of the prayers wreathed into diadems on the head of the Most High. Usually the angel-prince Sandalfon is assigned the function of receiving the prayers of the righteous and making them into crowns for ‘his Creator’. Here this function is ascribed to the advocating angels under Metatron. (Sandalfon is nowhere mentioned in the present book.) (Cf. Chag. 13 b, Rev. Moses YR. ii. 66 b, Zohar, ii. 58a, i. 167 b.) Acc. to Yalqut Chadash, maľakim, no. 25, ‘‘ Metatron brings the prayers of Israel before the Holy One, blessed be He”. 7b. ib. no. go, “There are three who receive the prayers: ‘ARatriel (cf. vs. 4), Metatron and Sandalfon”, of these three, acc. to ib. ib. no. 38, ’Akatriel receives the prayers of the ‘néshama’ (the spirit, the highest part of man), Metatron those of the rudch (the soul, as it is perhaps best translated), Sandalfon those of the néfesh (the mental or vital part of man). And ?b. ib. no. 95, Metatron receives the prayers and ascends through goo of the 955 heavens (cf. ch. xlviii A 1), handing them over to Akatriel. A class of angels receiving the prayers, as here, is also represented in Masseket Asilut, ch. v (Jellinek, Ginze Chokmath ha-qQabbala), “in the world of ‘Asiyya are the ’Ophannim and (the angels who) receive the prayers and requests…”’ (3) And they said “Hear, O Israel etc.” This seems to indicate that the fragment was connected with a midrashic exposition of the Shéma‘. It is difficult
42 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CH. XVB
B: L: and their face shone and rejoiced and the face of Shekina shone and over Shekina rejoiced
and they said to Metatron: “What are these? And to whom do they give all this honour and glory?” And they answered: ‘To the Glorious Lord of Israel”. And they spake:
B: L:
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord, our God, is one “YHWH the Living Lord. To whom shall be given abundance of and Eternal”. honour and majesty but to Thee YHWH, the
Divine Majesty, the King, living and eternal”.
(4) In that moment spake Akatriel Yah Yehod Sebaoth and said to Metatron, the Prince of the Presence: “Let no prayer that he prayeth before me return (to him) void. Hear thou his prayer and fulfil his desire whether (tt be) great or small=”.
(5) Forthwith Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, said to Moses: “Son of Amram! Fear not, for now God delights zn thee. And ask thou “thy desire” of the Glory and Majesty. For thy face shines from one end of the world to the other”. But Moses answered lim: “(I fear)
12 ins. with L. B om. 13-13 L om. 14-14 L: ‘thy need’
to determine the different subjects of the sentences of the present verse. ‘They’ and ‘their’ probably refer to the advocating angels mentioned in the preceding verse, except in they give all this honour etc. which is equivalent to ‘is given all this honour…’ and in they answered which should be emended ‘he (Metatron) answered’.
(4) In that moment spake Akatriel Yah Yehod Sebaoth. Akatriel Yah Yehod Sebaoth is here in all probability a name of the Most High, not of an angel: cf, ‘prayer that he prayeth before me’ and vs. 5: ‘(Metatron says, probably with reference to the words attributed to Akatriel in this verse,) now God delights in thee’. Akatriel as a name of God occurs in the well-known passage Ber. 7 a. Akatriel (“the crown of God”’, ** God crowned ”) is cabbalistically the name of the Godhead as manifested on the Throne of Glory. He is identical with the Kerub ha-mMeyuchad (Or. 5510, fol. 127 b) and represents the sefira Keter. Akatriel is, however, also a frequent name of an angel, in this case usually without the appendix Yah Yehod Sebaoth; cf. quotations in note on vs. 2 above. It may be apposite here to give the view of Cordovero (Pardes, quoted YR. i. goa): he maintains that Akatriel even in Ber. 7 a refers to an angel, not to God: “said R. Ishmael, I saw Akatriel Yah YHWH Sebaoth etc. ‘This means the angel who receives the prayers, and not the King of the Glory, for if so, he (R. Ishmael) would not have said ‘I saw’—God forbid! As is known, Akatriel is a prince on high and not God. And the ‘ Yah Yah Sebaoth’ means nothing more than that he is like other angels who are called by the name of their Master (cf. on xxix. 1, x. 3, ili. 2)”’.
Hear thou his prayer and fulfil his desire. HENCE METATRON IS CONCEIVED OF AS GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE NOT ONLY TO THE ANGELS BUT ALSO TO MAN. The underlying idea is here probably Metatron’s identification with the ‘angel’ of Ex. xxiii. 20 seqq.
(5) For thy face shines from one end of the world to the other. Cf. Ex. xxxiv. 29. Moses has obtained from the ethereal light or splendour of the Divine
CHH. XVB, XVI] ENOCH-METATRON PIECE 43
lest I bring guiltiness upon myself”. Metatron said to him: “ Receive the letters of the oath, in (by) which there is no breaking the covenant” 1°
(which precludes any breach of the covenant).