Texts in Conversation
In Isaiah, the prophet hears angels praise God. In 3 Enoch, the angels answer Ishmael’s song with the same praise as he participates in the same heavenly worship that Isaiah only watches.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 6:3
Hebrew Bible
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. 3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” 4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 I said, “Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
3 Enoch 1:12
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
After one hour (had passed) the Holy One, blessed be He, opened to me the gates of Shekina, the gates of Peace, the gates of Wisdom, the gates of Strength, the gates of Power, the gates of Speech (Dibbur), the gates of Song, the gates of Qedushsha, the gates of Chant. And he enlightened my eyes and my heart by words of psalm, song, praise, exaltation, thanksgiving, extolment, glorification, hymn and eulogy. And as I opened my mouth, uttering a song before the Holy One, blessed be He, the Holy Chayyoth beneath and above the Throne of Glory answered and said: "HOLY" and "BLESSED BE THE GLORY OF YHWH FROM HIS PLACE!" (i.e. chanted the Qedushsha).
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Notes and References
“... The description of the angels and their heavenly praise for the
most part is an end in itself, man is not present therein. However,
based on the narrative frame and the constantly repeated opening
formula: "R. Yishmaangel Metatron, the Prince of the
Countenance, said to me," the entire macroform is shown to be a
revelation of Metatron to R. Yishma•el, who for his part has as-
cended to heaven. At the beginning it is stated explicitly that R.
Yishmaholy
creatures joining in with the trishagion' of Isaiah 6:3 and the
"Blessed be the glory of the Lord in his place" (Ezekiel 3:12).48
Therefore, there can be no doubt that in 3 Enoch as well the praise
of the angels in heaven serves as the model for earthly praise, even
though the connection is less direct than in other texts and deter-
mined mostly by the narrative frame. ...”
Schäfer, Peter
The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism
(p. 132) State University of New York Press, 1992
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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