3 Enoch 31
3 Enoch 31
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XXXI
(The attributes of) Justice, Mercy and Truth by the Throne of Judgement
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, sald to me:
)1( At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, is sitting on the Throne. of Judgement, (then) Justice is standing on His right and Mercy on His left and Truth! before His face.
ı so E. A: ‘in Truth’ (cf. Is. xvi. 5, quoted vs. 2).
“the nations appear before God in the future age to receive their reward. They are summoned up singly, are asked what they have done in the world, and each is condemned (Rome, Persia and other nations)”.
On the Prince of the World see note on ch. xxxviii. 2, and cf. notes on chh. iii. 2, iX. 2-3, X. 3, xlviii € 9. In the Enoch-Metatron pieces, chh. iii-xv and xlviii c, Metatron occupies the same position as the Prince of the World here, i.e. leader of the princes of kingdoms and, notably, Metatron and the Prince of the World are. acc. to one trend of traditions, identical. Here, in so far as Metatron is represented as the speaker, this is not the case.
at the hour when the book is opened etc. This is the same view of the book, forming the base of the judgement, that we meet with in ch. xxvii. 2, ‘the Book of Records’. Cf. note, ib. The ‘records’ are here perhaps conceived of more from the point of view of the nations or the world at large than of the individual.
Ch. xxxi. Another short, independent, piece on the Judgement, characterized by the representation of the hypostasized attributes of Justice, Mercy and Truth as agencies at the Divine Judgement.
Justice and Mercy as attributes of God is a subject of speculation from the earlier periods: “‘Palestinian as well as Alexandrian theology recognized the two attributes of God, ‘middath ha din’ and ‘middath ha rahamim’ (Sifre Deut. 27, Philo, De Opific. Mundi, 60) and the contrast between justice and mercy is a fundamental doctrine of the Cabala”’ (TE, article ‘Justice’). Among the Tannaites the doctrine of Justice and Mercy as the two main attributes of God was connected particularly with the name of R. Meir. Cf. Bacher, Agada der Tannatten, vol. ii. p. 60, and TB. Ber. 48 b, Gen. R. xxvi, Ab. R. Natan, xxxii, R. ‘Aqiba, TB. Sanh. 67 b.
(1) At the time (or: in the hour) when the Holy One…is sitting on the Throne of Judgement. Although not clearly indicated, the judgement is probably here, as in the preceding chapters, the daily judgement, for which is appointed a fixed time, cf. ch. xxx. 2 and note.
Justice is standing on His right hand, Mercy on His left and Truth before His face. Since Mercy in vs. 2 is represented as supporting man, Justice probably stands for the accusing function at the judgement. Justice and Mercy as agencies at the judgement or of attributes of God as Judge are perhaps indicated in the Talmudic dictum as to the tevo Thrones, one of Justice, the other of Mercy (Sedaga), TB. Chag. 14 a, Sanh. 38 b (attributed to R. ‘Agiba from R. Jose the Galilean).
CH. XXXI] DIVINE JUDGEMENT 107
(2) And when man? enters before Him to judgement, ?(then) there comes forth from the splendour of the Mercy towards him as (it were) a staff? and stands in front of him. Forthwith man falls upon his face, (and) all the angels of destruction fear and tremble *before him‘, according as it is written (Is. xvi. 5): ” And with mercy shall the throne be established, and he shall sit upon it in truth.”
2 E: *a wicked man’ 3-3 E prob. corr.: ‘the Mercy goes out from judgement towards him’ 4—4 E: ‘on his right’
For the hypostasized attribute of Justice as accusing cf. Alph. R. ‘Aqiba, and rec., BH. iii. 50: ‘In that hour the attribute of Justice said before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Lord of the Universe, even the righteous are designated for death (i.e. have sinned—according to Law no man shall be justified) ’“.
For a later representation of the roles of Justice and Mercy cf. Sha’are ‘Ora, quoted YR. 7b, vol iii: “The attribute of Justice gives to the supplicant… riches and all good things, but the attribute of Justice prevents (interrupts, annuls) the decision and says, Let us consider whether this supplicant is worthy that his supplication be granted him, and if not, Jet him be judged in the Great Sanhedrin etc.” Notice the combination here of the two conceptions of Justice-Mercy and of the Great Sanhedrin.
The distinctive feature of the present chapter, vs. 1, is the introduction of the third attribute, the Truth, as mediating between Justice and Mercy. The combina- tion of truth with judgement is deduced from or, rather, occurs already in the O.T. Reference is in vs. 2 explicitly made to Is. xvi. 5. Then in 4 Ezra, vii. 34 (‘But judgement alone shall remain and truth shall stand’). For references to parallels in Rabbinic see Box, Ez. Apoc. p. 122, note ad loc. Cf. further Alph. R.‘Aqiba, beg. (The Holy One. . .is called Truth, and He sits on His Throne…in Truth…all his judgements are judgements of truth, and all his ways are Mercy and Truth’), and ch. xxvi. 12. The mediating character of the attribute of Truth is here symbolic- ally indicated by the place assigned to it ‘before the face of the Most High’ between ‘Justice’ to the right and ‘Mercy’ to the left. Another expression of the mediation at the judgement is found, ch. xxxiii. 1 (‘Angels of mercy, of peace, and of de- struction’).
The distinction involved in the expressions ‘to the right’, ‘to the left’, does not carry the extreme symbolical significance of certain gnostic systems and esp. the later Qabbala: there the accusing role is always assigned to the left side, the favour- pleading to the right. In the system of T’en Sefiróth Justice is on the left, Mercy on the right (contrast here).
(2) when man enters before Him to (receive) judgement, i.e. immediately after death, cf. note on ch. xxviii. ro. there comes forth from the splendour of the Mercy towards him as (it were) a staff and stands in front of him. This evi- dently means that the attribute of Mercy wields a protecting, supporting influence over man against forces working for the strict application of the principles of justice. And this influence is represented as prevailing over the latter, at least such seems to be the import of the words following: all the angels of destruction fear and tremble before him. The angels of destruction represent the execution of the decrees of justice (cf. ch. xxxii. 1), i.e. the punishment of man’s sin. Here it appears that ‘the staff’ from the ‘splendour of the Mercy’ protects man from the rage of the angels of destruction.
For the conception of the angels of destruction cf. x En. liii. 3 (“I saw all the angels of punishment abiding and preparing all the instruments of Satan [for the sinners] ”), Ivi. 1, Ixiii. x (^ In those days shall the mighty and the kings. . .implore God to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment”). 2 En. x. 3; Ap. Petri, 6,8. TB. Shab. 55 a, presents an instance of the connection between the
108 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CH. XXXII