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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 12

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: By reason of the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loved me more than all the children of heaven, He made me a garment of glory on which were fixed all kinds of lights, and He clad me in it. 2 And He made me a robe of honour on which were fixed all kinds of beauty, splendour, brilliance and majesty. 3 And he made me a royal crown in which were fixed forty-nine costly stones like the light of the globe of the sun. 4 For its splendour went forth in the four quarters of the Araboth Raqia', and in (through) the seven heavens, and in the four quarters of the world. And he put it on my head. 5 And He called me THE LESSER YHWH⁠ in the presence of all His heavenly household; as it is written (Ex. xxiii. 21): "For my name is in him".⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 23:21 and 3 Enoch 12:5

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Exodus, God places his name in the angel sent to guide Israel. In 3 Enoch, God repeats that declaration when naming Metatron the lesser YHWH, explaining the angel's divine title through authority God has given him.

Passages

Exodus 23:21

Hebrew Bible
19 The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. 20 “I am going to send a messenger before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. 21 Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my Name is in him. 22 But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

3 Enoch 12:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
2 And He made me a robe of honour on which were fixed all kinds of beauty, splendour, brilliance and majesty. 3 And he made me a royal crown in which were fixed forty-nine costly stones like the light of the globe of the sun. 4 For its splendour went forth in the four quarters of the Araboth Raqia', and in (through) the seven heavens, and in the four quarters of the world. And he put it on my head. 5 And He called me THE LESSER YHWH in the presence of all His heavenly household; as it is written (Ex. xxiii. 21): "For my name is in him".
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... Similarly, in Sefer Hekhalot the endowment of Metatron with the office of the Lesser YHWH coincides with a reference to the Angel of the Lord tradition from Exodus. Thus, from 3 Enoch 12:5 one learns that the deity called the great angel “the lesser YHWH in the presence of his whole household in the height as it is written, ‘My name is in him.’” The close ties between Metatron and the Angel of the Lord figure were not forgotten in later mystical lore. Michael Miller suggests that “Eleazar of Worms must have known these [traditions] for his interpretation the dictum: ‘My Name is in him’ of Metatron, to mean that ‘the great name is inscribed on his heart’ (MS Paris-BN 850, fol. 83b).”51 ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, Yahoel and Metatron: Aural Apocalypticism and the Origins of Early Jewish Mysticism (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017), 155.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 23:21 and 3 Enoch 12:5

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