Daniel 7:9

Hebrew Bible

8 “As I was contemplating the horns, another horn—a small one—came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things. 9While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, and its wheels were all aflame. 10 A river of fire was streaming forth and proceeding from his presence. Many thousands were ministering to him; many tens of thousands stood ready to serve him. The court convened, and the books were opened.

1 Enoch 14:19

Pseudepigrapha

17 And I looked and saw ⌈⌈therein⌉⌉ a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. 18 And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon. 19 And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. 20 None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him. 21 The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh Him: ten thousand times ten thousand (stood) before Him, yet He needed no counselor.

 Notes and References

"... as it has already been established regarding Ez 1:15, 19-21 and Ezra 10:16, 19 that the ophanim and living beings / cherubim together form one unit of angelic activity, I understand the ophanim and the holy angels to be set in parallel in line 9b, i.e, they are one and the same. What is being described here is the essence of angelic activity - moving out from the central throne of God, and returning. Newsom recognises that the paired verbs of line 9b are drawn from a form of Ezra 1:14 like that underlying the LXX and suggests that the author may have known both textual traditions ... Newsom does not recognise the “streams of fire” as part of the imagery of Ezra 1:27, yet the upper part of the body of the form like a man on the throne, had the appearance of fire, and the movement of the fiery beings out from God’s throne would indeed, by implication, form “streams of fire”. Newsom notes that “streams of fire” are indeed part of the imagery of the divine throne in 1 Enoch 14:19, and interestingly, at Daniel 7:9b-10, the wheels (called galgali there) of the divine throne are associated with streams of fire ..."

Evans, Annette Henrietta Margaretha The Development of Jewish Ideas of Angels: Egyptian and Hellenistic Connections (pp. 91-92) University of Stellenbosch, 2007

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