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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book
Chapter 37

1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: In the seven Halls there are standing four chariots of Shekina,⁠ and before each one are standing the four camps of Shekina. Between each camp a river of fire is continually flowing. 2 Between each river there are bright clouds [surrounding them], and between each cloud there are put up pillars of brimstone. Between one pillar and another there are standing flaming wheels, surrounding them. And between one wheel and another there are flames of fire round about. Between one flame and another there are treasuries of lightnings; behind the treasuries of lightnings are the wings of the stormwind. Behind the wings of the storm-wind are the chambers of the tempest; behind the chambers of the tempest there are winds, voices, thunders, sparks [upon] sparks and earthquakes [upon] earthquakes.

Texts in conversation

Compare 3 Enoch 37:1 and Chagigah 12b:11

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

In 3 Enoch, the elements of the weather are kept in special storage in heaven. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah describes God instead sending these elements down to earth at the request of David.

Passages

3 Enoch 37:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
1 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: In the seven Halls there are standing four chariots of Shekina, and before each one are standing the four camps of Shekina. Between each camp a river of fire is continually flowing. 2 Between each river there are bright clouds [surrounding them], and between each cloud there are put up pillars of brimstone. Between one pillar and another there are standing flaming wheels, surrounding them. And between one wheel and another there are flames of fire round about. Between one flame and another there are treasuries of lightnings; behind the treasuries of lightnings are the wings of the stormwind. Behind the wings of the storm-wind are the chambers of the tempest; behind the chambers of the tempest there are winds, voices, thunders, sparks [upon] sparks and earthquakes [upon] earthquakes.
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

Chagigah 12b:11

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
The Gemara asks a question: With regard to these things listed above, are they located in heaven? It is obvious that they are located on the earth. As it is written: “Praise the Lord from the earth, sea monsters and all depths, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind, fulfilling His word” (Psalms 148:7–8). The verse seems to indicate that all these things are found on the earth. Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: David requested mercy with regard to them, that they should not remain in heaven, and He brought them down to earth. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, “You are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, evil shall not sojourn with You” (Psalms 5:5).
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Chagigah

References

“... First, the Parables of Enoch and 2 Enoch are distinctive in their development of an extended scheme within which the imagery of the storehouse functions as the governing device within accounts of meteorology. While the imagery is widely found in the biblical material and in postbiblical texts, these texts are distinctive in developing it in an extended way, with the imagery of the storehouse and/or treasury governing the account. Most texts use the store- house/treasury image as part of a wider range of images associated with the meteorological elements or, in the postbiblical literature, with light and lumi- naries. Even those texts that do contain more extended accounts of the places in which the meteorological elements or luminaries are contained, such as the Rule of the Community, do not use the storehouse as the principal image, but include it within a wider list of heavenly places. The closest parallels are found in b.Ḥagigah 12b and 3 Enoch 37 (§55), which is undoubtedly significant, but both are marked by a number of differences. In the case of b.Ḥagigah 12b, the storehouses are associated with elements reserved for eschatological punishment—there is no interest in meteorology, as such—and in the case of 3 Enoch 37/§55, the real interest is in the divine throne. 3 Enoch 48c/§72, which refers in a broader way to the storehouses, is also uninterested in meteo- rology itself; it is more clearly driven by a concern to show Metatron’s position of delegated authority over the angels. ...”
Grant Macaskill, The Entangled Enoch: 2 Enoch and the Cultures of Late Antiquity (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill BV, 2024), 143.

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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3 Enoch 37:1 and Chagigah 12b:11

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