3 Enoch 24
3 Enoch 24
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XXIV The different chariots of the Holy One, blessed be He
R. Ishmael said : Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, the glory of all heaven, said to me:
(1) Numerous chariots has the Holy One, blessed be He: He has the “Chariots of (the) Kerubim!”, as it is written (Ps.
18 so with DE. A om. corr. 1 DE: ‘(a) kerub’
together as one”. are perfumed with the spices of the Garden. For the fragrance and sweet odour of the trees of Gan ‘Eden, esp. of the Tree of Life, cf. 2 En. viii. 2,3. In Apoc. Pauli the ‘perfuming winds’ are replaced by ‘evwdéorarov vdep’, which “flows from the root of the tree of life”. Cf. also Rev. R. Joshua ben Levi, Paradise, 5th Compartment: ‘‘a perfume breathes through it, more exquisite than the perfume of Lebanon” (Gaster’s translation).
they bring…the spices of the Garden to the righteous…in the time to come. Here we are at once translated into a picture of the future world. It would have been more natural if the relative sentence (‘who etc.’) had not appeared here, for then ‘the righteous and godly’ could have been referred to the common con- ception, according to which they are already living in Paradise, having been brought there immediately after death. The author’s glide from present to future time is, however, comprehensible and excused by the poetical form of expression of the chapter.
Also acc. to 2 En. ix, “the fragrancies of the Garden of Eden are prepared for the righteous”. Cf. especially Num. R. xiii. 3 (there, as here, with reference to Cant. iv. 16): “In the world to come God will make a feast for the righteous in the Garden of Eden. Neither balsam nor spices will then be needed, for the North Wind and the South Wind will come down and bring with them all the spices of the Garden of Eden and they will spread their perfume”. See Introd. sect. 16, 6.
Ch. xxiv. The same method that is used in regard to the ‘ winds’ in the aforegoing chapter is here applied to the ‘chariots’, The key to the understanding of the often far-fetched deductions from scriptural passages can be expressed by the principle: ‘‘ WHENEVER IT IS STATED IN THE HOLY WRIT THAT GOD APPEARS, IT MUST BE ASSUMED THAT HE APPEARS ON A VEHICLE”. Thus, e.g. when it is said (vs. 5), ‘I saw the Lord standing upon the altar’, this is interpreted as referring to ‘the Chariot of the altar’; ‘appeared in the Tent’ is interpreted as ‘appeared in the
Chariot of the Tent’, etc. (1) the Chariots of the Kerubim. This forms the connecting link with ch. xxii,
CH. XXIV] MERKABAH ETC. 85
xvill. II, 2 Sam. xxil. II): “And he rode upon a cherub and did fly 33
“(2) He has the ‘‘ Chariots of Wind’’, as it is written (zb.): “‘and he flew swiftly upon the wings of the wind 5
(3) He has the ‘‘Chariots of (the) Swift Cloud”, as it is written (Is. xix. 1): ‘‘ Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud”.
(4) He has “the Chariots of Clouds”, as it is written (Ex. xix. 9): “Lo, I come unto thee in a cloud ”.
2(5) He has the “‘ Chariots of the Altar”, as it is written (Am. ix. 1): “I saw the Lord standing upon the Altar”.
(6) He has the ‘Chariots of Ribbotaim”, as it is written (Ps. Ixviii. 18): The chariots of God are R:bbotaim; thousands of angels ”
(7) He has the “Chariots of the Tent”, as it is written (Deut. xxxl. 15): ‘‘ And the Lord appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud ”2
(8) He has the ‘‘Chariots of the Tabernacle”, as it is written (Lev. 1. r): “And the Lord spake unto him out of the tabernacle”.
(9) He has the “Chariots of the Mercy-Seat”, as it is written (Num. vii. 89): ‘‘then he heard ?the Voice? speaking unto him from upon the mercy-seat ”
(10) He has the “Chariots of Sapphire Stone”, as it is written (Ex. xxiv. Io): *‘and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone”.
(11) He has the “Chariots of Eagles”, as it 1s written (Ex. xix. 4): “I bare you on eagles’ wings”. “Eagles literally are not meant here but “they that fly swiftly as eagles
(12) *He has the “chariots of Shout”, as it is written (Ps. xlvii. 6): “God is gone up with a shout “.5
(13) He has the “Chariots of ‘Araboth’’, as it is written (Ps. Ixvili. 5): “Extol Him that rideth upon the ‘Araboth”.
(14) He has the ‘‘Chariots of Thick Clouds”, as it is written (Ps. civ. 3): ‘‘who maketh the thick clouds His chariot”.
(15) He has the ‘Chariots of the Chayyoth9”, as it is written (Ezek. i. 14): ‘and the Chayyoth® ran and returned”. “They run by permission and return by permission, for Shekina is above their
heads.’
2-2 DB om. vss. 5-7. 3-3 B: ’ YYY’ (i.e. YHWH) MT as above. 44 BDE om. ep: gloss). 5-5 B om. 6 so BDE. A: ‘the Living Ones’ (Chayyim). 7-7 Bo
treating of the Kerubim in general and mentioning the ‘chariots of the Kerubim’,
vs. r1. Cf. ib. note. (15) They run by permission scil. of the Shekina. Shekina is above their heads. Cf. the expression ‘ Shekina is resting upon them’, with reference
86 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CH. XXIV
(16) He has the ‘‘ Chariots of Wheels (Galgallim)”, as it is written (Ezek. x. 2): ‘And he said: Go in between the whirling wheels’’.
(17) He has the “Chariots of a Swift Kerub”, as 1t 15 written (?9): “riding on a swift cherub®”’,
And at the time when He rides on a swift kerub, as he sets one of His feet upon him, before he sets the other foot upon his back, he looks through !^eighteen thousand?? worlds at one glance. And he discerns and sees into them all and knows what is in all of them— and then he sets down the other foot upon him, according as it is written (Ezek. xlviii. 35): ” Round about eighteen thousand ”.
Whence do we know that He looks through every one of them every day? It is written (Ps. xiv. 2): “He looked down from heaven upon the children of men “to see if there were any that did under- stand, that did seek after God™”’.
8 The reference is a confusion of Ps. xviii. 10 with Is. xix. 1. B om. vs. 17. 9 D: ‘cloud’ cf. vs.3. ro-ro so BDE. A: ‘18,000 thousands (of worlds)’ 11-11 Bom.
to the Kerubim, in ch. xxit. 13. The Chayyoth carry the Throne of Glory, the seat of Shekina.
Note the systematic order of the ‘chariots’ in vss. 15 seqq. The Chariots are those of ‘the Chayyoth (vs. 15), the Galgallim (vs. 16), the Kerub (vs. 17), the ‘Ophannim (vs. 18) and the Divine Thrones (vss. 19 seqq.)’. This order recalls the system of the Merkaba-representation in the angelological section, chh. xix-xxii, xxiv seqq.: four classes of Merkaba-angels arranged according to rank under and next to the Divine Throne. If the order here presented is intentional, it appears that the Merkaba-picture of this chapter is different from that of the angelological section referred to: the arrangement (and names) of the superior classes of angels here ts not congruent with that of the latter. Cf. further note on ch. xix and Introduction.
(16) Chariots of Wheels (Galgallim). On the Galgallim cf. note on ch. xix. 2.
(17) Chariots of a Swift Kerub. Cf. P. R. ‘El. iv: “When God looks out on the earth his Chariots are on the wheels (Galgallim, cf. the preceding vs.), when riding in heaven, on a swift Kerub”.
before he sets the other foot etc. The expression occurs also Hek. R. iii. 2 et al.
he looks through 18,000 worlds at one glance. “It was presumed that our present earth was preceded by many others which were not good in the eyes of the Creator (Gen. R. iii. 9, ix. 2) who traverses in all 18,000 worlds”’, The 18,000 worlds are co-existent with the present world.
The number 18,000 is here deduced from Ezek. xlviii. 35. So also in S. Raziel, 36 (Ma’ase Bereshith).
Acc. to ‘Abéda Zarda, 3 b, the number is derived from Ps. Ixviii. 18, interpreted somewhat in the following sense: ‘God rides (through) twenty thousands (i.e. 20,000 worlds) less two thousand (worlds)’. This interpretation is repeated in later cabbalistic works, e.g. ‘ Peli’a’ (cited YR. i. 7 b).
In the Talmud-passage just mentioned the Holy One is represented as traversing all the 18,000 worlds ‘‘on his SWIFT KERUB”.
The number 18,000 is lastly deduced even in a third way, viz. from the first word of the Tora: Bereshith. The number of the letters of this word when written in full (beth, resh, shin, etc.) is 18. Hence the interpretation: “18 (scil. thousand worlds) created God”.
With the conception of 18,000 worlds may be compared that of 955 heavens: | ch. xlviii A 1 (cf. note, ıb.).
CHH. XXIV, XXV] MERKABAH ETC. 87
(18) He has the ‘‘Chariots of the ‘Ophannim”, as it is written (Ezek. x. 12): “and the ’Ophannim were full of eyes round about.”
(19) He has the ” Chariots of 13 His Holy Throne”, as it is written (Ps. xlvii. 8): ’* God sitteth upon his holy throne”.
(20) He has the “chariots of the Throne of Yak”, as it is written (Ex. xvii. 16): ‘‘ Because a hand is lifted up upon the Throne of Jah”.
14(21) He has the “‘ Chariots of the Throne of Judgement”, as it is written (Is. v. 16): “but the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment”.
(22) He has the ‘\ Chariots of the Throne of Glory ”, as it is written (Jer. xvii. 12): ‘‘ The Throne of Glory, set on high from the beginning, js the place of our sanctuary”.
(23) He has the “Chariots of the High and Exalted Throne”, as it is written (Is. vi. ı): “I saw the Lord sitting upon the high and exalted throne ”. 16