3 Enoch 20
3 Enoch 20
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XX CHAYYLIEL, the prince of the Chayyoth
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:
(1) Above these there is one great and mighty prince. His name is CHAYYLIEL AH’, a noble and revered prince, a ‘glorious and’ mighty prince, a great and revered prince, a prince before whom all the children of heaven do tremble, a prince who is able to swallow up the whole earth in one moment (at a mouthful).
(2) And why is he called cHarrLreL H’? Because he is appointed over the Holy Chayyoth *and smites the Chayyoth? with lashes of
1—1I ins. with D (for the sake of symmetry). 2—2 ins. bom D. A om.
(7) one wheel makes a sound to be heard to the other. After the pattern of Is. vi. 3: “and one cried unto another, and said etc.” A parallel to the present verse occurs Mass. Hek. vii: “and one Bath Ql by the side of one wheel (referring to the ‘wheels of the Merkaba’) and another Bath Qól by the side of another wheel ; in that moment one wheel causes (its voice) to be heard to another wheel with thunder and earthquake. ..(saying) ‘Extol to him that rideth in ‘Avaboth, by his name Jah, and rejoice before him’”’. The psalm here cited is the one specifically used in mystical interpretations. There are several cabbalistic commentaries on this psalm. The special attention of the mystics was drawn to this psalm already in the tannaitic period if not earlier. From the vs. referred to here, the name of the highest of the heavens, ‘Araboih, was deduced (cf. Chag. 12 b). Other passages of this psalm to which special interest was devoted are vss. 17 and 18.
Elsewhere the Galgallim of the Merkaba are stated to partake in the celestial Qédushsha, e.g. in the quotation, YR. v. 5 b: “the wheels of the Merkaba say: ‘Blessed be the Glory of H’ from his place etc.’”’
Ch. xx. (1) Above these sci/. RIKBIEL and the Galgallim of the Merkaba, described in the aforegoing chapter.
Chayyliel. The name of the Prince is chosen to correspond to the word ‘ Chay- yoth’. It is, however, derived from Chayil ( =‘army’) rather than from Chayyd. In accordance with this derivation ‘CHAYYLIEL’ was probably originally the name of the prince over the Chaylim (= ‘the armies of angels’, cf. ch. xix. 6). A remnant of a tradition to this intent is perhaps the passage, occurring in Hilkoth ha Mal’akim La, fol. 123 a, according to which he has the function of punishing the ministering angels, when they do not say the Song in the right time. The ‘armies’ sometimes are equivalent with the ‘ministering angels’. In the same passage CHAYYLIEL is also the prince, appointed over the Chayyoth.
(2) smites the Chayyoth with lashes of fire. Here, where the expression ‘smites the Chayyoth’ stands in juxtaposition to ‘glorifies them, when they give praise’,
CHH. XX, XXI] ANGELOLOGICAL SECTION (AI) 71
fire: and glorifies them, when they give praise and glory and re- joicing and he causes them to make haste to say ? ’* Holy ” and *’ Blessed be the Glory of H’ from his place!” (i.e. the Qédushsha).