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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 13

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the angel, the Prince of the Presence, the Glory of all heavens, said to me: Because of the great love and mercy with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loved and cherished me more than all the children of heaven, He wrote with his finger with a flaming style upon the crown on my head the letters by which were created heaven and earth,⁠ the seas and rivers, the mountains and hills, the planets and constellations, the lightnings, winds, earthquakes and voices (thunders), the snow and hail, the storm-wind and the tempest; the letters by which were created all the needs of the world and all the orders of Creation. 2 And every single letter sent forth time after time as it were lightnings, time after time as it were torches, time after time as it were flames of fire, time after time (rays) like [as] the rising of the sun and the moon and the planets.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 69:16 and 3 Enoch 13:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In 1 Enoch, a secret oath is said to hold creation together. In 3 Enoch, God writes the letters used to create the world on Metatron's crown, connecting his new authority with the hidden power behind creation.

Passages

1 Enoch 69:16

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
16 And these secrets are powerful through his oath: the heavens were suspended before the world was created and will be forever. 17 By this oath the earth was founded upon water, and from the hidden depths of the mountains come beautiful waters, from the creation of the world and on forever. 18 By this oath the sea was created, and as its foundation He set for it the sand against the time of its fury, and it dare not pass beyond it from the creation of the world and on forever. 19 By this oath the depths are made firm, remaining calm and undisturbed from eternity to eternity. 20 By this oath the sun and moon complete their courses and do not turn aside from their ordained paths from eternity to eternity.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

3 Enoch 13:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the angel, the Prince of the Presence, the Glory of all heavens, said to me: Because of the great love and mercy with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loved and cherished me more than all the children of heaven, He wrote with his finger with a flaming style upon the crown on my head the letters by which were created heaven and earth, the seas and rivers, the mountains and hills, the planets and constellations, the lightnings, winds, earthquakes and voices (thunders), the snow and hail, the storm-wind and the tempest; the letters by which were created all the needs of the world and all the orders of Creation.
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... There is undoubtedly a close relationship between the Similitudes and 3 Enoch 3–15, although the exact nature of the connection remains murky; perhaps it is a combination of literary and oral trans- mission of traditions in Hebrew or Aramaic. There are numerous parallels between the two works. We find a story or stories about precious metals and how they will not avail their users and those who make idols from them (1 Enoch 52; 65:6–8; 67:4–7 // 3 Enoch 5:7–14). One of the characters is a hostile angel whose name is sim- ilar in the the two traditions (1 Enoch 54:5; 55:4; 69:2: ʿAzazʾel or ʿAzaʾzel // 3 Enoch 4:6; 5:9: ʿAzzaʾel); Enoch ascends to heaven in a storm chariot (1 Enoch 52:1; 70:1–3; // 3 Enoch 6:1; 7:1); Enoch is transformed into an angel (1 Enoch 71:11–17 // 3 Enoch 9:1–5; 15:1–2); he is an exalted angel enthroned in heaven (1 Enoch 55:4; 61:8; 62:1–5; 69:29 // 3 Enoch 10:1–3 [cf. 16:1]); and he receives a reve- lation of cosmological secrets of creation (1 Enoch 69:16–26 // 3 Enoch 13:1–2).¹⁶ The details of the connection between the Similitudes and 3 Enoch remain to be worked out, but some more or less genetic relationship is indicated, and it is important to note that 3 Enoch is a descendant of the form of the Similitudes that included the exal- lation of Enoch in 1 Enoch 70–71. ...”
James R. Davila, “Of Methodology, Monotheism and Metatron: Introductory Reflections on Divine Mediators and the Origins of the Worship of Jesus,” in The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism: Papers from the St. Andrews Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus, ed. Carey C. Newman, James R. Davila, and Gladys S. Lewis, JSJSup 63 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 12.

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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1 Enoch 69:16 and 3 Enoch 13:1

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