3 Enoch 35
3 Enoch 35
Section: Metatron’s Rank and Cosmic Form
Translated by Hugo Odeberg (1928)
CHAPTER XXXV
The camps of angels in * Araboth Raqia’: angels. performing the Qëdushsha
1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:
(1) 506? thousand myriads of camps has the Holy One, blessed be He, in the height of ’ Araboth Raqia’. And each camp is (composed of) 496 thousand angels.
1 E puts as heading: ‘the Order of the Camps’ 2 E: 496
’ Blessed,” i.e. the angels whose function is the performance of the responses of the Qédushsha. ‘This in the present context forms the transition to the section, beginning with the following chapter, a section which has the performance of the Qédushsha in the heavens as main theme. Cf. Introduction, section 17.
thousand camps of fire and ten thousand hosts of flame(s). Referring to the angels arranged 1n camps (ch. xxxv. 1), hosts and armies. Cf. ch. xix. 6. The angels are made of fire, cf. note on ch. xxii. 4.
between every several camp…there is a cloud lest they be burnt by fire. For ‘clouds’ as protecting the angels cf. Mass. Hek. iii: “and clouds (are set) to protect the ministering angels from the splendour of the Throne of Glory”.
Section 5. The Celestial Qëdushsha. (Chh. xxxv, xxxvi, xxxviii, xl.)
Ch. xxxv. With this chapter begins a new section centering round the conception of the heavenly Qédushsha, the counterpart of the Qédushsha on earth. Vss. 1—4 form an introduction, treating of the numerous camps in which the song-uttering angels are arranged. The different fragments all begin with an explicit reference to the performance: of the ‘ (Thrice) Holy’ (‘‘ When the time for the saying of the ‘Holy’ draws nigh” or “when the ministering angels utter the Song”) and are contained in chh. xxxv. 5, 6, xxxvi, xxxviii, xxxix, xl.
On the conception of the celestial Qédushsha see Introduction, section 17.
(z) The number of camps: 506 thousand myriads of camps has the Holy One. . .each camp…496 thousand angels. For parallels cf. Alph. R. ‘Aqiba, BH. iii. 21, and Hilkoth ha-mMal’akim (Add. 27199), fol. 125 a.
The passage of Alph. R. ‘Agqiba, placing the camps in Shechaqim (the third heaven) instead of, as here, in the ‘Araboth (the highest of the heavens)—by reason of the
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(2) And every single angel, the height of his stature is as the great sea; and the appearance of their countenance as the appearance of the lightning, and their eyes as lamps of fire, and their arms and their feet like in colour to polished brass ?and the roaring voice of their words like the voice of a multitude.
(3) And they are all standing before the Throne of Glory in four rows?. And the princes of the army are standing at the head of each
TOW.
3-3 E om.
assigning of the celestial Sanctuary to the Shechagim—truns: ‘‘In Shechaqim 1018 camps are standing before the Shekina in the Sanctuary which is the Shechagim, saying before Him the ‘Holy’ every day, and each camp is (composed of) 1008 myriads of ministering angels. For ‘ Shechagim’ is by Gematria 1018…From the morning until the evening they say before Him: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, and from the evening until the morning they say ‘ Blessed be the glory of H from His place’”’.
Hilkoth Mal’ akim, 1b., presents both conceptions, that of the present chapter and that of Alph. R. ‘Agiba, in a developed form: “ (Of) the angels 906,000 myriads (the number 906 is developed from ‘506’ of vs. ı here through the addition of a ‘NM’ to the numerical letters: ‘}PMNN’ instead of ‘1PN’) are standing to the right of the Throne and as many are standing to the left of the Throne, together with a troop without number and a host without reckoning. They teach song(s) and hymn(s). And in Shechagim there are 1018 camps of angels (cf. the passage in Alph. R. ‘Agiba above) who say ‘ Holy’ and ‘ Blessed’ from morning until evening. Before Him there are 496,000 angels who utter the ‘Holy’ by day and the ‘ Blessed’ by night. And all the angels and all the camps bathe in fiery rivers seven times and restore themselves by fire 365 times (cf. ch. xxxvi. 2).”
Vss. 1 and 4 seem to indicate that the ‘camps’ here represent ail the ministering angels. But the emphasis is clearly on the song-uttering angels and in the two parallel passages just referred to as well as in ch. xl. 3 the ‘camps’ refer only to the angels as performing the Qédushsha. There was, moreover, a definite tradition current, to the effect that the number of ministering angels in general was countless, infinite (basing upon Job xxv. 3: “Is there any number of his armies?”’). Cf. Hilkoth Mal akim above (“a troop without number etc.’’) and esp. TB. Chag. 13 b, where it is said expressly, that the passage Dan. vii. 10, which vs. 4 here uses as scriptural support, is to be interpreted as referring to the number of one troop only, * for the troops are without reckoning’. The ‘camps’, then, are understood as the armies of angels which have the performance of the Qédushsha for their special object. Apart from this, of course, the view obtains that all the higher (and lower) classes of angels utter the ‘Thrice Holy’ or the ‘Blessed’. Cf. chh. xx. 2, xxv. 5, xxvi. 8.
The numbers ‘ 506’ and ‘496’ are arrived at by means of gematrical calculations, as it is expressly stated to be the case with the number ‘1018’ of the camps of Shechagim in Alph. R. ‘Agqiba, referred to above. (506 = kingdoms, 496 = kingdom. See Introduction, section 17 E.)
(2) From ‘the appearance of their countenance’ the description of the angels in this verse is in the literal terms of Dan. x. 6. The speculations concerning the song-uttering angels and the judgement are to a large extent drawn from inter- pretations of different passages of Daniel. Cf. vs. 4.
(3) they are all standing before the Throne of Glory in four rows. Cf. ch. xxxvi. 2. The four rows here represent the same idea as ‘the four camps of Shekina’, chh. xviii. 4, xxxvii. 1 (see note on ch. xviii. 4) and as * the four camps of angels” glorifying the Most High, P. R.’El.iv. the princes of the army at the head of the rows (the meaning is probably ‘one prince at the head of each row’ ) are,
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(4) And some of them utter the “Holy” and others utter the ** Blessed”, some of them run as messengers, others are standing in attendance, according as it is written (Dan. vii. ro): ‘Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set and the books were opened ”.
(5) And in the hour, when the time draws nigh for to say the “Holy”, (then) first there goes forth a whirlwind from before the Holy One, blessed be He, and bursts upon the camp of Shekina and there arises a great commotion among them, as it 1s written (Jer. XxX. 23): ‘“Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing commotion “.
(6) At that moment *thousand thousands of them are changed into sparks, thousand thousands of them into firebrands, thousand thou- sands into flashes, thousand thousands into flames, thousand thousands into males, thousand thousands into females, thousand thousands into
4-4 E corr. from ‘at that moment, etc.’ to ‘until they take upon themselves, etc.’
consequently, a parallel representation to that of ‘the four great princes…over the four camps of Shekina’, ch. xviii. 4, and identical with the “‘four angels at the head of the four camps of angels etc.”, P. R. ’El., ib., whose names are MIKAEL, URIEL, GABRIEL and RAPHAEL. On these grounds it is possible to point to a con- nection between the tradition preserved in the present chapter and 1 En. The four ‘Presences’ of 1 En. xl, uttering praises before ‘the Lord of Glory’, MIKAEL, RAPHAEL, GABRIEL and PHANUEL, are there introduced in the close company of “‘ the thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand etc.”, xl. ı, and of “those who stand before Thy glory and bless, praise and extol, saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, and, ‘Blessed be Thou and blessed be the name of the Lord for ever and ever’”, ch. xxxix. 12 f. Cf. ib. ch. ix. xr and lxxi and 2 Ez. xviii. 9 (/* the Grigori are standing in four orders, while singing [the Praise of the Holy One] with one voice”). Cf. Zohar, iii. 50 a: “four pb”. (Vide Introduction, section 17 A.)
(4) Some of them utter the “‘Holy”’ etc. some of them run as messengers etc. Cf. note above on vs. t. Thousand thousands ministered unto him etc. Dan. vii. ro. ‘T’his verse seems to bave been used as an epitome of mystical gnoseis: it was the starting-point for the computation of the number of the angels, was used as support for the conception of the Nehar di-Nur, the fiery river(s), the ministration of the Qédushsha by hosts of angels, the Celestial Beth Din, the Judgement and the Book(s) of judgement.
Some say the ‘ Holy’, some the ‘ Blessed’, i.e. the Qédushsha, consisting of the Thrice Holy and the response ‘ Blessed’, of which latter there are at least two forms within the present book: (1) ‘ Blessed be the glory of H’ from His place (ch. i. 13), and (2) ’ Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever! (ch. xxxix. 2). The Qédushsha responsorium, as performed by the angels, is attested in x Em. xxxix. I2f., referred to above note on vs. 3. (Notice the form of the ‘Blessed’ there.)
(5) when the time draws nigh for the recital of the Holy…there goes forth a whirlwind. The moment before the Qédushsha was one of commotion and shudder through all the heavens, of a ‘momentous’ significance. Cf. chh. xvill. 7, XIX. 6, XXXVili. I.
(6) thousand thousands of them are changed into sparks…flames… males…females…light etc. The angels are thus represented as changeable
CH. XXXV| CELESTIAL QEDUSHSHA IIQ
winds, thousand thousands into burning fires, thousand thousands into flames, thousand thousands into sparks, thousand thousands into chashmals of light*; until they take upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, the high and lifted up, of the Creator 5of them all> with fear, dread, awe and trembling, with commotion, anguish, terror and trepidation. Then they are changed again into their former shape to have the fear of their King before them alway, as they have set their hearts on saying ?the Song? continually, as it is written (Is. vi. 3): “And one cried unto another and said (Holy, Holy, Holy, etc.)“.
4-4 E corr. (mistaking the abbreviation ‘3”iNN—-thousand thousands o them are made into—for: saying Amen) 5—5 ins. with E. 4: lacuna
into various forms from their original state of angels with bodily form. This is stated Gen. R. xxi. 13, with reference to Ps. civ. 4: “‘‘ (who maketh his angels spirits), his ministers a flaming fire’, which changes, for they change, appearing at one time as males, at another as females, now as winds (or, spirits), now as angels’. This dictum (attributed to Rab?) is quoted and commented upon by Maimonides in his More Nébukim, vol. 1, ch. xlix. The expression ‘are made into males. . .made into females’ is somewhat suspect in its present connection, where the changing of the angels into all sorts of fiery, lifeless substances, is apparently conceived of as a punishment ad premonitum, till they acquiesce in performing their duty, the performance of the Qédushsha.
until they take upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, the high and lifted up, of the Creator. By the recitation of the Qédushsha, the angels take upon themselves the yoke of heaven. In the Qédushsha they recognize the Holy One, blessed be He, as the king of the heavens—cf. the response in the Qédushsha of the Liturgy: “‘H”’ shall reign for ever etc.” Ps. cxlvi. 10. So the Israelites every day, when they recite the ‘ Shema‘’ take upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, M. Ber. ii. 2, and when praying in general, TB. Ber. 10 b. The Qédushsha is in itself the religious duty of the song-uttering angels. In the performance of the Qédushsha they put themselves as a harmonious unity in the heavenly kingdom, hence they are changed again into their former shape, described in vs. 2 as individual, manifested angelic beings, in which existence they remain only as long as they continue in the performance of the duty that is their only raison d’être. Cf. chh. xl. 5, xlvii. x f.
On the meaning of the expression ‘take upon oneself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven’ see article “ Kingdom of heaven” in JE and Abelson, Jewish Mysticism,
p. 84.
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