Skip to Content
intertextual.bible
Go to Related Reading
About this book

3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 16

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, the Glory of all heaven, said to me: At first I was sitting upon a great Throne at the door of the Seventh Hall; and I was judging the children of heaven, the household on high by authority of the Holy One, blessed be He. And I divided Greatness, Kingship, Dignity, Rulership, Honour and Praise, and Diadem and Crown of Glory to all the princes of kingdoms, while I was presiding (lit. sitting) in the Celestial Court (Yeshiba), and the princes of kingdoms were standing before me, on my right and on my left by authority of the Holy One, blessed be He. 2 But when Acher came to behold the vision of the Merkaba and fixed his eyes on me, he feared and trembled before me and his soul was frightened even to departing from him, because of fear, horror and dread of me, when he saw me sitting upon a throne like a king with all the ministering angels standing by me as my servants and all the princes of kingdoms adorned with crowns surrounding me:⁠ 3 in that moment he opened his mouth and said: "Indeed, there are two Divine Powers in heaven!" 4 At once Bath Qol (the Divine Voice) went forth from heaven from before the Shekina and said: "Return, you backsliding children (Jer. iii. 22), except Acher!" 5 Then came 'Aniyel, the Prince, the honoured, glorified, beloved, wonderful, revered and fearful one, in commission from the Holy One, blessed be He, and gave me sixty strokes with lashes of fire and made me stand on my feet.

Texts in conversation

Compare 3 Enoch 16:2 and Chagigah 15a:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

Share:

Summary

In 3 Enoch, Acher mistakes Metatron for a second god in heaven. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah reshapes this tradition, challenging Metatron's appearance and rejecting the concept of a second power in heaven.

Passages

3 Enoch 16:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
2 But when Acher came to behold the vision of the Merkaba and fixed his eyes on me, he feared and trembled before me and his soul was frightened even to departing from him, because of fear, horror and dread of me, when he saw me sitting upon a throne like a king with all the ministering angels standing by me as my servants and all the princes of kingdoms adorned with crowns surrounding me: 3 in that moment he opened his mouth and said: "Indeed, there are two Divine Powers in heaven!" 4 At once Bath Qol (the Divine Voice) went forth from heaven from before the Shekina and said: "Return, you backsliding children (Jer. iii. 22), except Acher!"
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

Chagigah 15a:5

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
§ The Gemara stated earlier that Aḥer chopped down the saplings, becoming a heretic. With regard to him, the verse states: “Do not let your mouth bring your flesh into guilt” (Ecclesiastes 5:5). The Gemara poses a question: What was it that led him to heresy? He saw the angel Mitatron, who was granted permission to sit and write the merits of Israel. He said: There is a tradition that in the world above there is no sitting; no competition; no turning one’s back before Him, i.e., all face the Divine Presence; and no lethargy. Seeing that someone other than God was seated above, he said: Perhaps, the Gemara here interjects, Heaven forbid, there are two authorities, and there is another source of power in control of the world in addition to God. Such thoughts led Aḥer to heresy.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Chagigah

References

“... In this way, the Bavli narrative shifts focus away from the “two powers” po- lemics that are the central concern of the parallel narrative in 3 Enoch, in which Elisha states clearly, “Certainly, there are two powers in heaven!” The variants in the textual tradition of this phrase in the Hekhalot sources suggest that it is no coincidence that the Bavli’s idiomatic “perhaps, God forbid” becomes the unambiguous “certainly” in 3 Enoch. It would have been enough in all cases for Elisha simply to declare, “There are two powers in heaven!” Yet every extant version includes some verbal qualifier that modifies the declaration: b. Hagigah 15a has “perhaps, God forbid,” 3 Enoch has “certainly,” Merkavah Rabbah has “he thought perhaps,” and an additional extant fragment from 3 Enoch has the presumably corrupted savri’. The contrast between 3 Enoch’s and b. Hagigah’s presentations of this phrase clearly reflect divergent concerns. In b. Hagigah, the text is edited to read as if Elisha never truly thought that there are two powers in heaven. Rather, his exclamation serves rhetorically in context as an implicit rebuke to Metatron for giving a false impression that might confuse the unwary. The exclamation implies that because Metatron is sitting, someone might see him and falsely conclude that there are two powers in heaven. Correctly reading the idiomatic expression “perhaps, God forbid” means that there is no reason, at this stage in the Bavli narrative, to think that Elisha committed any misdeed. Elisha in 3 Enoch, in contrast, is presented as “one who says that there are two powers,” a ...”
David M. Grossberg, Heresy and the Formation of the Rabbinic Community (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017), 184.

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

Tags

Your feedback

3 Enoch 16:2 and Chagigah 15a:5

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library