3 Enoch 32
3 Enoch 32
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XXXII The execution of judgement on the wicked. God’s sword
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:
(1) ! When the Holy One, blessed be He, opens! the Book half of
1-1 E: ‘when they open before the Holy One, blessed be He’
. angels of destruction and the attribute of Justice (as accusing and desiring the strict enforcement of the Law): ‘‘ God said to Gabriel (with reference to the situation, Ezek. ix. 4 seqq.), ‘Go and write on the forehead of the righteous a mark of ink, that the angels of destruction may not get power over them, but on the forehead of the wicked a mark of blood, that the angels of destruction may have power over them’. Then said the attribute of Justice before the Holy One… ‘…In what respect are those better than these?‘"" Cf. ib. 1525,89 a; Yer. Shebu’oth, vi. 37 a; Rev. vii. 2, xii. 7; Test. Abr. xii, xiii; Gédullath Moshe, section Gehinnom ; Masseketh Gehinnom, BH. i. x42; Alph. R. ’ Agiba, BH. iii. 62. See also ch. xliv. 2 and note. In these instances they appear mainly in two aspects: one is that of executots of punishment and of the divine decrees in general in the world, the other that of officials of Gehenna appointed over the wicked (and intermediate).
On their number and names the different sources are at variance, from those speaking of two angels of destruction, usually called ’apH and CHéMa (i.e. anger and fury), cf. SIMKIEL and ZA‘APHIEL, ch. xliv. 2, to those counting them in thousands and myriads. Rev. of Moses (tr. Gaster, RAS’s Fournal, 1893, p. 589) represents the angel-prince QEMU’EL as the chieftain of 12,000 angels of destruction.
The ‘man’ who acc. to the present chapter, obtains the support of the attribute of Mercy is apparently man in general, the vast majority, perhaps those who else- where (e.g. ch. xliv) are referred to as the class of intermediate, ‘béndniyyim’.
Instances of the attribute of Mercy pleading for man in opposition to the prosecuting activity of the attribute of Justice are numerous in later Qabbala. YR. i. 94 a, quotes from ‘Asara Ma’amaroth the following passage: “The attribute of Mercy occupies itself with the merit of every creature…if a man commits a transgression, then the attribute of Justice comes to punish the man on account of the transgression but the attribute of Mercy says: ‘Even if the man’s hand has sinned, lo, yet his eye has not sinned…if thou wilt punish his body on account of the sin of the hand, lo, even the eye will suffer, and so it will be punished unjustly?”, and continues the passage: “in this way the Mercy prevents tribulations and plagues from visiting the world (as punishments for the sins of mankind)”.
Ch. xxxii. This chapter treats of the aspect of the judgement consisting in the execution of judgement on the wicked. The execution of the Divine decrees is referred to in ch. xxviii. 9, the executors there being the ‘Jrin and Qaddishin. The identity of the executors of judgement is in the present chapter not revealed. Regarded as immediate continuation of ch. xxxi. 1 of this chapter would imply that they are ‘the angels of destruction’. That is, however, the natural conclusion presenting itself at a slight examination of the chapter, since the execution of judgement is here that on the wicked only, not of the Divine decrees in general. The plurality of angelic beings indicated by the words ‘they go out from before Him in every moment’ can in this connection scarcely be interpreted as any others than the angels of destruction, whose essential function is the punishment of the wicked.
(1) When the Holy One…opens the Book etc. One book as the basis of judgement here as chh. xxx and xxvii. 2 (i.e. the Book of Records). Cf. notes, 1D.
CH. XXXII] DIVINE JUDGEMENT 109
which is fire and half flame, (then) they go out from before Him in every moment to execute the judgement on the wicked ?by His sword (that is)? drawn forth out of its sheath and the splendour of which shines like a lightning and pervades the world from one end to the other, ?as it is written (Is. Ixvi. 16): ‘‘ For by fire will the Lord plead (and by his sword with all flesh).”
(2) And all the inhabitants of the world (Zt. those who come into the world) fear and tremble before Him, when they behold His sharpened sword like unto a lightning from one end of the world to the other?, and sparks and flashes‘ of the size of the stars of Raqia’ going out from it; according as it is written (Deut. xxxii. 41): “If I whet? the lightning of my sword”.
2-2 E: ‘and His sword is’ 3-3 E omits from ‘as it is written etc.’ vs. 1 till ‘and sparks etc.’ vs. 2. 4-4. E om. 5-5 E om.
they go out from before Him in every moment. ‘They’ is best understood as ‘the angels of destruction’; cf. above and note on ch. xxxi. 2. For the angels of destruction as executing punishment on the wicked in the world, cf. Hek. R. v: “R. Ishmael said: ‘What did the Beth Din on high do? In that hour they com- manded the angels of destruction and they went down (to earth) and made a *” consumption even determined” upon Caesar Lupinus’“. Further A/ph. R.’ Aqiba, BH. iii. 50, 51 (with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem): ‘‘In that hour six angels of destruction were sent down on Jerusalem, and they destroyed the people in it…and these they were: ’Aph, Chema (cf. note, ch. xxxi. 2), Qeseph (= ‘wrath’),, Mashchith (= ‘destroyer’, Ex. xii. 23), Mashmid (also = ‘destroyer’), Mekalle (= ‘consumer’)…And each one of them had a two-edged sword in his hand”; ib. BH. iii. 62 (in a context, treating of the idolaters of the world), ‘‘ Forthwith ’Aph and Chema, two angels of destruction,…drew their sword…in order to destroy the world”. Cf. further the references adduced in the note on ch. xxxi. 2. The expression every moment prompts the conclusion that the execution of the punishment is one that takes place in this world continually (as well as. through periods of great crises); this is confirmed by pointing to the parallel passages just referred to. We are even in this chapter concerned with the daily judgement. Against this conclusion does not speak what follows:
by His sword (that is) drawn forth out of its sheath. In the two passages from R. ‘Aqiba cited above, the angels of destruction are represented as armed with swords. Here the sword by means of which the punishment is executed is ‘the sword of God’, a conception, acc. to the statements in the present chapter itself, deduced from Is. lxvi. 16 and Deut. xxxii. 41. The sword of God is a well-known, eschatological, symbol of the O.T. Cf. Is. xxvii. 1, xxxiv. 5, xlvi. r0, xlvii. 6, lxvi. 16, Ezek. xxi. 3 seqq. Later we meet with the same symbol of punishment and vengeance in 1 En, e.g. xc. 17, 19 (connected with the opening of the ‘book’), “opened the book. ..and a sword was given to the sheep”; ib. xci. 12, “and a sword shall be given to it, that a righteous judgement may be executed”. Add b. xc. 34, Ixxxviii. 2. Other instances of the same symbolic use of ‘the sword’ are Rev. i. 16, ii. 12, 16, vi. 3, 4, xix. 15. It may be noted that ‘the sword’ in this chapter again, as in the O.T., is God’s sword, although wielded by the angels of destruction.
(3) And all the inhabitants of the world fear and tremble. ..when they behold His. . .sword. . .from one end of the world to the other. This is more in the style of a description of the Last Judgement. Perhaps the writer unconsciously falls in with the eschatological phraseology. Or, more probably, the situation in
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