3 Enoch 33 - The Letters Hung from the Throne
3 Enoch 33
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XXXIII
The angels of Mercy, of Peace and of Destruction by the Throne of Judgement. The scribes. (vss. 1, 2) The angels by the Throne of Glory and the fiery rivers under it. (vss. 3-5)
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:
(1) At the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, is sitting on the Throne of Judgement, * (then) the angels of Mercy are standing on His right, the angels of Peace are standing on His left and the angels of Destruction are standing in front of Him.
I E adds: ‘of truth’
the writer’s mind may be that of a great general Divine visitation, such as a war. Passages representing the Divine sword as visible to an assembly or large number of people simultaneously, occur in Rabbinic: e.g. Szfré on Deut. xi. 12 (cf. Lev. R. xxxv, Deut. R. iv): “(At Sinai) A book and a sword came down from heaven… and the Voice was heard, saying: ‘If you practise the doctrine of this book, you shall be saved from the sword, but if not, you shall be punished by it’“. It should be noted that the ‘sword’ in this passage is said to be identical with the sword of Gen. iii. 24, which is another of the fundamental references on which the con- ception of the ‘sword’ is based. See Gen. R. xxi. 14 (the sword personified).
Ch. xxxiii. 1—2. Vss. x and 2 of the present chapter constitute the last fragment of the context treating of the Judgement. The representation of vs. 1 is but another version of the conception of the principal agencies at the Judgement, already met with in ch. xxxi. The hypostasized attributes of Justice, Mercy and Truth of ch. xxxi. 1 are here replaced by the angels of mercy, peace and destruction. It is safe to assume that the angels of mercy here more or less exactly correspond with the attribute of Mercy there as to significance and function, i.e. represent the activity of plea in favour of man. As regards the angels of peace their character of mediating forces is confirmed by the frequent usage of the term ‘peace’ for the mediation between two opposites, see ch. xlii. 7. The correspondence between the angels of destruction and the attribute of Justice was attested, note on ch. xxxi. 2, esp. in the passage quoted from TB. Shab. 55a. The attribute of Justice perhaps more emphasizes the accusing part, the angels of destruction, again, the punishment, the strict carrying out of the principles of justice.
(1) the angels of Mercy are standing on His right. In contrast with ch. xxxi. 1, the defending agencies, the ‘melammedim zakuth’ are assigned the place to the right side, cf. note, tb. The strict system of the later Qabbala is however not applied even here, since the opposing agency of the ‘melammedim choba’ on the left is missing.
For the angels of mercy pleading in favour, cf. Hilkot ha-kKisse (Add. 27199, fol. 139 a): “‘211 myriads of angels of mercy are standing there (by the Throne) and they plead in favour of Israel”. Jb. fol. 125 a (Hilkot Mal’akim): the ‘angels of mercy’ are the performers of the Thrice-Holy part of the Qédushsha, perhaps a symbolic expression of the meritorious properties of the performance of the Oédushsha (ch. xl. 1). The angels of mercy have their attentions and efforts fixed on the ‘merits’: cf. end of note on ch. xxxi. 2.
CH. XXXIII] MERKABAH, ETC. III
(2) And one scribe 1s standing beneath? Him, and ?another scribe?
above Him. (3) And the glorious Seraphim 4: E:
surround them like fire- surround the Throne on its four sides with
brands round about the walls of lightnings, and the ‘Ophannim
Throne of Glory. surround them with fire-brands round about the Throne of Glory.
2 so E. A: above Him’ 3-3 so E. A: ‘a Kerub’
The expression ‘angels of peace’ is perhaps derived from Is. xxxiii. 7. The ‘angel of peace’ is Enoch’s guide acc. to 1 En. xl. 8, ]i1. 5, liii. 4, lvi. 2 et al. Cf. also Test. Dan. vi. 5, Asher, vi. 6.
On the angels of destruction see notes on chh. xxx. 2 and xxxii. 1 (xliv. 2).
(2) one scribe is standing beneath Him, and another scribe above Him (acc. to the reading of E adopted above). The scribes record all the facts that have regard to the Divine Judgement, the fixed times appointed for man’s entering and leaving this world (ch. xviii. 23, 24), his observance or non-observance of the Divine statutes, all ‘the doings of the world’, not only as to individuals but with reference to nations and the world at large (chh. xxvii. 2, xxviii. 7, xxx. 2). Besides such ‘facts’ the scribes also write down the decisions of judgement, the Divine decrees with regard to man after death as well as to the living.
For instances related to the ideas here presented cf. Chibbut ha-qQeber, BH. i. 150: * a scribe and one appointed with him (function at man’s death)… counting the number of his days and years”; Sefer Chasidim (EF. ii. 333): “two scribes record the place assigned for every man, whether in Paradise or Hell”; Hek. R.’ v. I (in the Legend of the Ten Martyrs): “in that hour, the Holy One, blessed be He, ordered the Scribe incessantly to write down dire decrees and terrible plagues …for the wicked Rome”. Note also Hek. R. xx, where GABRIEL, the scribe, is represented as writing down the merits and deeds of a man, desiring to behold the vision of the Merkaba, and also his application for the grant of this privilege.
Ch. xxxiii. 3—5. With vss. 3 seqq. of the present chapter the theme of the Divine Judgement is abandoned. What follows in this chapter is a short representation of the Throne of Glory, the Merkaba-angels surrounding it and the seven fiery rivers flowing through all the seven heavens down to Gehenna, thus forming a concise summary of the Merkabah-picture: the heavenly glories with the Throne at their centre. Since the emphasis here is neither on the Judgement-Throne—as in the section on the Judgement, just concluded—nor on the angelic classes of the heavenly hierarchy—as in the angelological section—it may be convenient to include these verses in the section comprising chh. xxiii, xxiv, xxxiv, xxxvii, which deals with various wonders of the heavens (the Throne of Glory, the ‘Araboth and the seven heavens in general), esp. from the quasi-physical aspect. This section is of the same fragmentary, unsystematical character as the section on the Judgement.
As regards the relation between vss. 1, 2 on one hand and vss. 3-5 on the other, it is quite probable that they belong together even originally, the compiler having put this chapter in its present place merely because the two opening verses referred to the subject of the preceding chapters, the Judgement.
Considered as a unity the present chapter forms another instance of the Merkabah picture revealing the Throne in its highest aspect as a Judgement-Throne. This tendency is noticeable in both the angelological expositions: ch. xviii and chh. xix— xxviii. Cf. note on ch. xxvi. r2.
(3) This verse presents three classes of Merkaba-angels: acc. to 4, Kerub,
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And clouds of fire and clouds of flames compass them to the right and to the left; and the Holy Chayyoth carry the Throne of Glory from below: each one ‘with three fingers. The measure of the fingers of each onet is 800,000 and 700 times hundred, (and) 66,0008 parasangs.
(4) And underneath the feet of the Chayyoth seven fiery rivers are running and flowing. And the breadth? of each river is 365 thousand parasangs ®and its depth is 248 thousand myriads of para- sangs®. Its length is unsearchable and immeasureable.
(5) And each river turns round in a bow in the four directions of ‘Araboth Ragia‘, and (from there) it falls down to Maà’ón and is
4-4 E om. 5 A repeats: “each one with three fingers’ 6 E: ‘6000’ 7 E: ‘length’ 8-8 E om.
Seraphim and Chayyoth; acc. to E (probably the correct reading), Seraphim, ’Ophannim and Chayyoth; thus in both readings omitting one of the classes of the angelological section (besides the wheels of Merkaba). Apart from this, the adopted reading presents the same order as that of the angelological section: Seraphim, ’Ophannim, (Kerubim), Chayyoth.
For the ‘clouds of fire and clouds of flames’ cf. the ‘four clouds’, ch. xix. 4 and chh. xxxix and xxxvii.
the Holy Chayyoth carry the Zune of Glory. ‘This is a frequent statement. Cf. Gen. R. lxxviii, Lam. R. to iii. 23.
each one with three fingers. Cf. ch. xvii. 6. The measures of the fingers present some difficulty. Originally the passage might have contained some reference to the different measures ascribed to each of the three fingers, e.g. the first one 80,000, the second 70,000, the third 66,000, in a gradation intended to convey a corre- spondence in proportions to the second, third and fourth fingers of a human hand, respectively. For measures of the Chayyoth cf. ch. xxi. 1-3 and note, Chag. 13 a.
(4) seven fiery rivers running and flowing underneath the feet of the Chayyoth. Cf. ch. xix. 4 (under the wheels of the Merkaba, upon which the feet of the Chayyoth are resting, four fiery rivers are continually running) and note, :b., ch. xviii. 19 and note (the four heads of the fiery river), the fiery river of ch. xxxvi, the fiery rivers between the camps of Shekina in ch. xxxvii. Note also ‘the rivers of fire’, flowing in the midst of rivers of water’, ch. xlii. 7. In 1 Ez. cf. ch. xiv. 19: ‘from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that J could not look thereon ” (seven rivers, 1b. Ixxvii. 5-7). 365 number of positive, 248 of negative statutes.
The conception of ‘rivers of fire’ from underneath the Throne of Glory or the Chayyoth is an amplification of that of the fiery river, derived from Dan. vii. 10, ‘a fiery stream issued and came forth fromm before him”, and after this passage frequently called Nehar di-Nur and sometimes Rigyon (e.g. Rev. of Moses, BH. i. 59). Acc. to Gen. R. Ixxviii, Lam. R. iii. 21 (with reference to Lam. iii. 23); the Nehar di-Nur goes forth from the perspiration of the Chayyoth who are perspiring under the burden of the Throne(s). Acc. to Mass. Geh. simply “from under the Throne of Glory”.
The amplification of the conception of one fiery river into that of several rivers of fire, beginning with the assumption of four heads of the Nehar di-Nur (ch. xviti) is at variance as to the number of these rivers, one tendency being to make them into four (corresponding to the number of the Chayyoth and the ‘ winds’), another to count them as seven (so here).
)5( And each river turns round in a bow in the four directions of ‘Araboth Raqia’. Cf. ch. xxiii. 17,18. and (from there)…to Ma‘on and is
CH. XXXIII] MERKABAH, ETC. 113
stayed (?), and from Ma’ón to Zebul, from Zebul to Shechagim, trom Shechagim to Ragia‘, from Ragia‘ to Shamayim and from Shamayım upon the heads of the wicked who are in Gehenna, as it is written (Jer. xxiii. 19): ‘‘ Behold a whirlwind of the Lord, even his fury, is gone, yea, a whirling tempest; it shall burst upon the head of the wicked ”.
stayed (?), etc. The heavens are enumerated with the omission of Makon and the substitution of the Hebrew name Shamayim for the Latin Wilon (velum or Greek Bov). In ch. xvii. 3 both these names are given for the first heaven. In Seder Rabba di Ber. Rabba the Wilon and Shamayim appear as two different heavens, Viz. the first and second respectively.
A parallel to the present conception of the fiery river(s) going through all the heavens and eventually falling down upon the heads of the wicked in Gehenna is found in Mass. Geh. iv (BH. i. 149): “the fiery river goes down upon them (the wicked in Gehenna) and it runs from one end of the universe to the other”. Simi- larly in the fragment, translated by Gaster, RAS’s Journal, 1893, pp. 599-605, called Description of Hell: “the river Di-nur floweth from beneath the Throne of Glory and falleth over the heads of the sinners’. Cf. 2 En. x. 2: “in Gehenna there is a fiery river coming forth and it floweth from one end of the world to the other”. In T’B. Chag. 13 b, the fiery river from the perspiration of the Chayyoth is said to ‘fall down upon the heads of the wicked in Gehenna”’ with reference to Jer. xxiii. 19, the scriptural passage adduced also by our verse. Cf. further Apoc. Petri, 8, Apoc. Pauli, 57. Hek. R. xiii (Rigyon surrounds His Throne…and covers all the chambers of the Hall of ‘Araboth Ragqia‘ with fire-smoke).
In the vss. 4. and 5 of the present chapter we meet with a conception of fiery rivers that is brought about through an amalgamation of various views concerning . the Nehar di-Nur.
(1) Founding upon Dan. vii. 10 the Nehar di-Nur became a constituent part of the picture of the splendours by the Throne. Flowing from underneath the Throne its origin was explained from the perspiration of the Chayyoth, heavily burdened by the weight of the Throne. In this aspect it serves no definite purpose other than to add to the glory of ‘the Holy One, blessed be He, who sitteth on the Throne of Glory’.
(2) Brought into connection with the ‘thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand’ angels ministering before the Throne acc. to the same passage, Dan, vii. 10, from which the conception of the Nehar di-Nur was deduced—especially in their function of performers of the Qédushsha or ‘the Song’ the fiery river became the bath of purification, by which the song-uttering angels were thought to prepare themselves for the saying of the Thrice Holy: see ch. xxxvi.
(3) Once connected with the ministering angels even other functions than the last named were assigned to the Nehar di-Nur. In the fiery river the angels were ” renewed every morning” (in accordance with Lam. iii. 23). To the tradition holding the view that the song-uttering angels live only so long as to perform the Qédushsha and then perish, the fiery river was the substance from which they were formed and whither they were sent back again: TB. Chag. 14 a, Gen. R. lxxviii, Lam. R. iii. 21. From this conception there is only a short step to that of the fiery river as the place of punishment for those of the ministering angels who uttered the Song untimely or improperly: ch. xlvii. 2.
(4) Lastly the Nehar di-Nur, as derived from Dan. vii. 10, is brought to bear upon the “judgement and the books” mentioned ib. Already serving the purpose of sanctification, purification and punishment of the ministering angels, it was easily made an integral part of the Divine Judgement. On one hand it served to purify man in general from sin after death (on the third day of judgement: cf. the purification with lashes of fire, ch. xxviii. 10, Chibbut ha-qQeber, BH. i. 151),
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