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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 22

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: Above these there is one prince, noble, wonderful, strong, and praised with all kinds of praise. His name is KERUBIEL H', a mighty prince, full of power and strength, a prince of highness, and Highness (is) with him, a righteous prince, and righteousness (is) with him, a holy prince, and holiness (is) with him, a prince glorified in (by) thousand hosts, exalted by ten thousand armies. 2 At his wrath the earth trembles, at his anger the camps are moved, from fear of him the foundations are shaken, at his rebuke the Araboth do tremble. 3 His stature is full of (burning) coals. The height of his stature is as the height of the seven heavens, the breadth of his stature is as the wideness of the seven heavens and the thickness of his stature is as the seven heavens. 4 The opening of his mouth is like a lamp of fire. His tongue is a consuming fire. His eyebrows are like the splendour of the lightning. His eyes are like sparks of brilliance. His face is like a burning fire. 5 And there is a crown of holiness upon his head on which (crown) the Explicit Name is graven, and lightnings go forth from it. And the bow of Shekina is between his shoulders. 6 And his sword is like a lightning; and upon his loins there are arrows like a flame, and upon his armour and shield there is a consuming fire, and upon his neck there are coals of burning juniper and (also) round about him (there are coals of burning juniper). 7 And the splendour of Shekina is on his face; and the horns of majesty on his wheels; and a royal diadem upon his skull. 8 And his body is full of eyes. And wings are covering the whole of his high stature (lit. the height of his stature is all wings). 9 On his right hand a flame is burning, and on his left a fire is glowing; and coals are burning from it. And firebrands go forth from his body. And lightnings are cast forth from his face. With him there is always thunder upon (in) thunder, by his side there is ever earthquake upon (in) earthquake. 10 And the two princes of the Merkaba are together with him. 11 Why is he called KERUBIEL H', the Prince? Because he is appointed over the chariot of the Kerubim. And the mighty Kerubim are given in his charge. And he adorns the crowns on their heads and polishes the diadem upon their skull. 12 He magnifies the glory of their appearance. And he glorifies the beauty of their majesty. And he increases the greatness of their honour. He causes the song of their praise to be sung. He intensifies their beautiful strength. He causes the brilliance of their glory to shine forth. He beautifies their fine mercy and lovingkindness. He frames the fairness of their radiance. He makes their merciful beauty even more beautiful. He glorifies their upright majesty. He extols the order of their praise, to establish the dwelling-place of him "who dwells on the Kerubim". 13 And the Kerubim are standing by the Holy Chayyoth,⁠ and their wings are raised up to their heads (lit. are as the height of their heads) and Shekina is (resting) upon them and the brilliance of the Glory is upon their faces and song and praise in their mouth and their hands are under their wings and their feet are covered by their wings and horns of glory are upon their heads and the splendour of Shekina on their face and Shekina is (resting) upon them and sapphire stones are round about them and columns of fire on their four sides and columns of firebrands beside them. 14 There is one sapphire on one side and another sapphire on another side and under the sapphires there are coals of burning juniper. 15 And one Kerub is standing in each direction but the wings of the Kerubim compass each other above their skulls in glory; and they spread them to sing with them a song to him that inhabits the clouds and to praise with them the fearful majesty of the king of kings. 16 And KERUBIEL H', the prince who is appointed over them, he arrays them in graceful, beautiful and pleasant orders and he exalts them in all manner of exaltation, dignity and glory. And he hastens them in glory and might to do the will of their Creator every moment. For above their lofty heads abides continually the glory of the high king "who dwells on the Kerubim".

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 10:20 and 3 Enoch 22:13

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Ezekiel, the living creatures are identified as cherubim. In 3 Enoch, these cherubim stand beside the living creatures as a separate group, dividing and organizing these figures from the vision into distinct kinds of angels.

Passages

Ezekiel 10:20

Hebrew Bible
18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19 The cherubim spread their wings, and they rose up from the earth while I watched (when they went, the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 20 These were the living creatures that I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each had four faces; each had four wings and the form of human hands under the wings.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

3 Enoch 22:13

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
13 And the Kerubim are standing by the Holy Chayyoth, and their wings are raised up to their heads (lit. are as the height of their heads) and Shekina is (resting) upon them and the brilliance of the Glory is upon their faces and song and praise in their mouth and their hands are under their wings and their feet are covered by their wings and horns of glory are upon their heads and the splendour of Shekina on their face and Shekina is (resting) upon them and sapphire stones are round about them and columns of fire on their four sides and columns of firebrands beside them.
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... 1. Theophanies: The visions of the Merkabah in Ezekiel 1; 3:12-15, 22-24; 8:1-4; 10:1-22; and 43:1-7 were their basic texts. These provided them with such fundamental elements as the Merkabah (3En 1:1, 5-7); the wheels (ophanim; 3En 25); the four creatures (hayyot; 3En 20f.); the throne of glory (3En 1:10,12); the hasmal (3En 36:2,7); the cherubim (3En 22). Daniel 7:9-10 and Isaiah 6 were incorporated into Ezekiel's picture. Daniel 7 records a vision of God seated on a fiery throne which has wheels of flame. It furnishes the additional motifs of the heavenly law court (3En 28:7), the River of Fire (3En 18:19-21; 19:4; 33:4; 36:1-2; 37:1), and the hosts of attendant angels (cf. 3En 19:6). Isaiah 6 contains a vision of God seated on a high and exalted throne (cf. 3En 26:12). Isaiah 6 contributes to the total picture the seraphim (3En 26) and the QeduSSah (3En 1:12; 20:2). Note also the vision of heaven in 1 Kings 22:19-22, in which the Lord is seen seated on his throne with all the array of heaven standing before him. Ezekiel employs the language of the nature theophanies ("fire, lightning, storm") to express the appearance of God's glory. The Merkabah texts expand this imagery by drawing on other Old Testament accounts of nature theophanies, particularly God's appearance to Israel at Sinai (Ex 19:16-18; cf. IKgs 19:11- 13; Pss 18:7-15 and 97:2-5). For combinations of these elements see 3 Enoch 34 and 37. 2. Angels: Such Old Testament phrases as "the host of heaven" (IKgs 22:19) and "the host of the height" (Isa 24:31) suggest that the number of the angels is virtually infinite (cf. 3En 19:6). The Old Testament appplies various names to the angels: seraphim (Isa 6:2, 6); cherubim (Ezek 10); creatures (hayyot) (Ezek 1); Watchers and holy ones (Hrin and qaddisin) (Dan 4:14). 3 Enoch takes these names as designations of different orders of angels (3En 19-22; 25-28:6). The angels are represented in Genesis 19: If. and Daniel 8:15f. as having human form, and in Joshua 5:13; Numbers 22:23; and 1 Chronicles 21:16, 30 as being armed with weapons; cf. 3 Enoch 22:3-9. The powerful "angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament (who is sometimes hard to distinguish from God himself) may be the prototype of 3 Enoch's Metatron (cf. Ex 23:20-23 with Judg 2:1-5, and see 3En 12:5 and b.Sanh 38b). ...”
Philip S. Alexander, “3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983), 1:246.

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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Ezekiel 10:20 and 3 Enoch 22:13

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