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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 36

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: At the time when the ministering angels desire to say (the) Song, (then) Nehar di-Nur (the fiery stream) rises⁠ with many thousand thousands and myriads of myriads (of angels) of power and strength of fire and it runs and passes under the Throne of Glory, between the camps of the ministering angels⁠ and the troops of Araboth. 2 And all the ministering angels first go down into Nehar di-Nur, and they dip themselves in the fire and dip their tongue and their mouth seven times; and after that they go up and put on the garment of 'Machaqe Samal' and cover themselves with cloaks of chashmal and stand in four rows over against the Throne of Glory,⁠ in all the heavens.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 2:2 and 3 Enoch 36:1

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Numbers, Israel's tribes camp around the meeting tent, organized by their tribal name. In 3 Enoch, angels stand in four rows facing God's throne, organized and arranged similarly to Israel's tribes.

Passages

Numbers 2:2

Hebrew Bible
2 “Every one of the Israelites must camp under his standard with the emblems of his family; they must camp at some distance around the tent of meeting. 3 “Now those who will be camping on the east, toward the sunrise, are the divisions of the camp of Judah under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab. 4 Those numbered in his division are 74,600. 5 Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar. 6 Those numbered in his division are 54,400.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

3 Enoch 36:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: At the time when the ministering angels desire to say (the) Song, (then) Nehar di-Nur (the fiery stream) rises with many thousand thousands and myriads of myriads (of angels) of power and strength of fire and it runs and passes under the Throne of Glory, between the camps of the ministering angels and the troops of Araboth. 2 And all the ministering angels first go down into Nehar di-Nur, and they dip themselves in the fire and dip their tongue and their mouth seven times; and after that they go up and put on the garment of 'Machaqe Samal' and cover themselves with cloaks of chashmal and stand in four rows over against the Throne of Glory, in all the heavens.
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... But mah˙anaîm in the next line suggests that the primary link is with the Genesis verse, which in turn links with Gen. 32: 3, where Jacob again encounters angels of God: ‘This is God’s camp’, he says, and he calls the name of the place Mahanaim. This word is widely thought on the one hand to be a dual form meaning ‘two camps’, and on the other a dual form with singular meaning. Against the latter are the occurrences of forms of mah˙aneh meaning ‘camps’ in the Merkava texts. Philip Alexander, in his book on the mystical texts of Qumran, writes: The ordinary angels are designated ‘the camps of ‘Elohim’ . . . The language is suggest- ive and once again hints at a parallelism between earth and heaven, between Israel and the angels. Tradition linked the origin of the idea that the angels were marshalled in camps with the name Mahanaim (‘Two Camps’), which Jacob gave to the place where he met the ‘angels of God (’Elohim)’ in Gen. 32.2. Later Jewish mystical literature often refers to the ‘camps’ of angels (3 Enoch 36.1; Heikhalot Rabbati 28.2, Synopse §277; Sefer ha-Razim 1.5; 4.23; 6.30). But the term forges another link––with Israel in the wilderness where the tribes were organized in camps around the tabernacle (see Num. 2).22 ...”
Edmée Kingsmill, The Song of Songs and the Eros of God: A Study in Biblical Intertextuality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 132.

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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Numbers 2:2 and 3 Enoch 36:1

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