3 Enoch 23
3 Enoch 23
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XXIII The winds blowing ‘under the wings of the Kerubim’
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:
(1) There are numerous winds blowing under the wings of the Kerubim. |
There blows “‘the Brooding Wind”, as it is written (Gen. 1. 2): “and the wind of God was brooding upon the face of the waters “.
(2) There blows “the Strong Wind’”, as it is said (Ex. xiv. 21): “and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night”. I Ins. with BDE. Aom. Econtinues here. DE put at the beginning of this chapter as heading, ‘Order of the winds’.
CHIH. XXIII, XXIV. Merkaba. The MM and MIIM.
Chh. xxiii and xxiv stand out by themselves from the rest of the book. lhey are nearest akin to the chapters describing the heavens from their quasi- physical aspects, and can therefore conveniently be reckoned as belonging to section 6. (See the survey of the contents of the present book.) The different ‘winds’ and ‘chariots’ are enumerated. Their names are deduced from passages of the O.T. where the words ‘rtidch’ resp. ‘merkaba’, ! rékeb! or similar occur in different connections or with different attributes.
An almost literal parallel to ch. xxiii, although in a shorter form (the winds are reduced to eight), is found, YR. i. 9 a, quoted from Sddé Raza: “There are eight winds. The first is ‘the wind of Jealousy’, as it is written (Gen. vi. 3), ‘My wind shall not always strive with man’, the second is ‘the Wind blowing in the world’, as it is written (Gen. i. 2): ‘the wind of God was brooding upon the face of the waters’; the third is ‘the angel-wind’ as it is written (1 Kings xix. 11): “but the Lord was not in the wind’, etc.” As the word for ‘wind’ is also that for ‘spirit’, in all passages referred to here, where the English version has ‘spirit’, this word has been replaced by ‘wind’ in accordance with the significance ‘ riidch’ has assumed throughout the chapter.
Parallels for the present method of deriving ‘names’ of different heavenly objects from O.T. passages and enumerating them are found in Mass. Hek. i and in Alph. R. ‘Aqiba, letter Zain.
In Mass. Hek. i it is the Thrones of the Holy One, blessed be He, which are dealt with according to this principle. The wording is almost literally the same as that of the present chapters. ‘‘ Numerous thrones has the Holy One, blessed be He. He has ‘the Established Throne’ as it is written…He has ‘the Throne of Justice and Righteous-ness’…He has the Throne of Loving-kindness…He has the Throne of Yah, as it is written (Ex. xvii. 16): ‘ Because a hand is lifted up upon the throne of Yah’. (Cf. ch. xxiv. 20 here), etc.”
In Alph. R. ‘Agiba, ib. the ‘keys of the Holy one’ are the objects. The ‘winds’, ‘chariots’, ‘thrones’ and ‘keys’ of the said passages are to be understood in their
literal sense. Ch. xxiii. (1) blowing under the wings of the Kerubim. This trait forms
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82 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH _[CH. XXII!
(3) There blows “the East Wind!” as it is written (Ex. x. 13): “the east wind brought the locusts ”
(4) There blows ”the Wind of Quails?” as it is written (Num. xi. 31): ” And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails”
(5) There blows “the Wind of Jealousy” as it is written (Num. v. 14): “And the wind of jealousy came upon him”’
(6) There blows the “ Wind of Earthquake ” as it is written (1 Kings. xix. 11): ‘‘and after that the wind of the earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake ”
(7) ‘There blows the “Wind of FH” ?as it is written (Ex. xxxvii. 1): “and he carried me out by the wind of H and set me down ” |
(8) There blows the *’ Evil Wind ”? as it is written (1 Sam. xvi. 23): “and the evil wind departed from him.
(9) There blow the “Wind of Wisdom” °and the “Wind of Understanding” and the “ Wind of Knowledge” and the “Wind of the Fear of H’”* as it is written (Is. xi. 2): ” And ®the wind of® H’ shall rest upon him; “the wind of wisdom and understanding, the wind of counsel aad might, the wind of knowledge and of the fear of H’“.
(10) There blows the ‘\ Wind of Rain”, as it is written (Prov. xxv. 23): “the north wind bringeth forth rain ”
(11) There blows the ” Wind of Lightnings ”, as it is written (Jer. x. 13, li. 16): “he maketh lightnings for the rain and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries ”
(12) *‘There blows the “Wind, Breaking the Rocks”, as it is written (1 Kings xix. 11): “the Lord passed by and? a great and strong wind (rent the mountains and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord) “.9^ 7
(13) There blows the ‘Wind of Assuagement of the Sea”, as it is written (Gen. viii. 1): and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged “.
1 Ins. with BDE. A om. 2 E: ‘Day’ corr. 3-3 Eom. 4. B quotes I Sam. xvi. 14: ‘and an evil wind from the Lord troubled him’ 5-5 B: ‘and the wind of counsel and might” and “126 wind of knowledge and fear of H’’’’ E: ‘and Understanding,” “the wind of counsel and might”, “the wind of know- ledge and fear”? 6-6 so BDE. A om. 7—7 B om. from ‘the wind of wisdom etc.’ vs. 9 to the end of vs. 12. 8-8 E om. ọ so D. AB: ‘in’
the point of connection with ch. xxii, treating of the Kerubim. (6) and after that the wind… . The scriptural verse in question is interpreted in a sense different from the ( but the Lord was not in the wind : and after the wind an earth- quake, etc.), in order to furnish the notion ‘wind of earthquake’.
CH. XXIII] MERKABAH ETC. Ä 83
(14) !T’here blows the “Wind of Wrath”, as it is written (Job i. 19): “and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and it fell’.
(15) There blows the Storm-Wind ”, as it is written (Ps. cxlviii. 8): “Storm-wind, fulfilling his word “.
(16) And Satan is standing among these winds, for ‘‘storm-wind ” is nothing else but ‘‘ Satan ”®, and all these winds do not blow but . under the wings of the Kerubim, as it is written (Ps. xviii. 11): “‘and he rode upon a cherub and did fly, yea, and he flew swiftly upon the wings of the wind”.
(17) And whither go all these winds #? The Scripture teaches us, that they go out from under the wings of the Kerubim and descend on the globe of the sun, as it is written (Eccl. i. 6): ‘The wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course and the wind returneth again to its circuits ” And from the globe of the sun they return and descend upon [!sthe rivers and 5 the seas, upon] the mountains and upon the hills, as it is written (Am. iv. 13): ‘For lo, he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind “.
(18) And from the mountains and the hills they return and descend to the seas and the rivers; and from the seas and the rivers they return and descend upon 1” 1 (the) cities and provinces; and from the cities and provinces they return and descend into the Garden, and from the Garden they return and descend to Eden, as it is written (Gen. iii. 8): “walking in the Garden in the wind of day”. And in the midst of the Garden they join together and blow from one side to
10-10 B om. 11 DE add: ‘and Sorrow’ 12-12 so D. BE om. A: ‘for Satan has no wind (spirit?)’ 13 BDE add: ‘(when) descending’ 14-14 SO DE(B). A om. 15 A ins. ‘in the Garden and from the Garden and into’ 16-16 B om. 17 DE ins. ‘the country and from the country they return and
descend upon’
(16) Satan is standing among these winds etc. Satan, acc. to the reading adopted above, is represented by ‘the Storm-wind ’. The winds are thus divided into good and evil ones. Cf. 1 En. xxxiv. 3: “and out of one portal they (the winds) blow for good: but when they blow through the other two portals it is with violence and afflic- tion on the earth. The ‘storm-wind’ represents the destructive agency among the winds.
(17) The winds are represented as going out from under the wings of the Kerubim. The idea common to older and later Apocalyptic and Rabbinic is that the winds are kept in treasures in heaven, from where there are sent out and whereto they return.
(18) into the Garden, and from the Garden. ..to Eden. On the relation be- tween the ‘Garden’ and ‘ Eden’ cf. note on ch. v. 5.
. And in the midst of the Garden they join together. Cf. Cant. R. Par. iv. 31: “in the world to come God will make the north wind and the south wind to blow
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- THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CHH. XXIII, XXIV
the other and are perfumed with the spices of the Garden even from its remotest parts, until!8 they separate from each other, and, filled with the scent of the pure spices, they bring the odour from the re- motest parts of Eden and the spices of the Garden to the righteous and godly who in the time to come shall inherit the Garden of Eden and the ‘T’ree of Life, as it 15 written (Cant. iv. 16): ” Awake, O north wind; and come thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his precious fruits “.