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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book

An Enoch-Metatron Piece

Chapter 48C

1 Aleph! I made him strong, I took him, I appointed him: (namely) Metatron, my servant who is one (unique) among all the children of heaven. I made him strong in the generation of the first Adam. But when I saw the men of the generation of the flood, that they were corrupt, then I went and removed my Shekina from among them. And I lifted it up on high with the sound of a trumpet and with a shout, as it is written (Ps. xlvii. 6): "God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet". 2 "And I took him": (that is) Enoch, the son of Jared, from among them. And I lifted him up with the sound of a trumpet and with a tera'a (shout) to the high heavens, to be my witness together with the Chayyoth by the Merkaba in the world to come. 3 I appointed him over all the treasuries and stores that I have in every heaven. And I committed into his hand the keys of every single one. 4 I made (of) him the prince over all the princes and a minister of the Throne of Glory (and) the Halls of 'Araboth: to open their doors to me, and (of) the Throne of Glory, to exalt and arrange it; (and I appointed him over) the Holy Chayyoth to wreathe crowns upon their heads; the majestic 'Ophannim, to crown them with strength and glory; the honoured Kerubim, to clothe them in majesty; over the radiant sparks, to make them to shine with splendour and brilliance; over the flaming Seraphim, to cover them with highness; the Chashmallim of light, to make them radiant with Light and to prepare the seat for me every morning as I sit upon the Throne of Glory. And to extol and magnify my glory in the height of my power; (and I have committed to him) the secrets of above and the secrets of below (heavenly secrets and earthly secrets). 5 I made him higher than all. The height of his stature, in the midst of all (who are) high of stature (I made) seventy thousand parasangs. I made his Throne great by the majesty of my Throne. And I increased its glory by the honour of my glory. 6 I transformed his flesh into torches of fire, and all the bones of his body into fiery coals; and I made the appearance of his eyes as the lightning, and the light of his eyebrows as the imperishable light. I made his face bright as the splendour of the sun, and his eyes as the splendour of the Throne of Glory. 7 I made honour and majesty his clothing, beauty and highness his covering cloak and a royal crown of 500 by (times) 500 parasangs (his) diadem. And I put upon him of my honour, my majesty and the splendour of my glory that is upon my Throne of Glory. I called him the LESSER YHWH, the Prince of the Presence, the Knower of Secrets: for every secret did I reveal to him as a father and all mysteries declared I to him in uprightness. 8 I set up his throne at the door of my Hall that he may sit and judge the heavenly household on high. And I placed every prince before him, to receive authority from him, to perform his will. 9 Seventy names did I take from (my) names and called him by them to enhance his glory. Seventy princes gave I into his hand, to command to them my precepts and my words in every language: to abase by his word the proud to the ground, and to exalt by the utterance of his lips the humble to the height; to strike kings by his speech, to turn kings away from their paths, to set up (the) rulers over their dominion as it is written (Dan. ii. 21): "and he changes the times and the seasons, and to give wisdom to all the wise of the world and understanding (and) knowledge to all who understand knowledge, as it is written (Dan. ii. 21): "and knowledge to them that know understanding", to reveal to them the secrets of my words and to teach the decree of my righteous judgement, 10 as it is written (Is. lv. 11): "so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return to me void but shall accomplish (that which I please)". 'E'eseh' (I shall accomplish) is not written here, but 'asah' (he shall accomplish), meaning, that whatever word and whatever utterance goes forth from before the Holy One, blessed be He, Metatron stands and carries it out. And he establishes the decrees of the Holy One, blessed be He. 11 ["And he shall make to prosper that which I sent". 'Asliah (I will make to prosper) is not written here, but wehisliah (and he shall make to prosper), teaching, that whatever decree goes forth from before the Holy One, blessed be He, concerning a man, as soon as he makes repentance, they do not execute it (upon him) but upon another, wicked man, as it is written (Prov. xi. 8): "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead".] 12 And not only that but Metatron sits three hours every day in the high heavens, and he gathers all the souls of those dead who died in their mother's womb, and the sucklings who died on their mother's breasts,⁠ and of the scholars who died over the five books of the Law.⁠ And he brings them under the Throne of Glory and places them in companies, divisions and classes round the Presence: and he teaches them the Law, and (the books) of Wisdom, and Haggada and Tradition and finishes (completes) their instruction (education) [for them]. As it is written (Is. xxviii. 9): "Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand tradition? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts".

Texts in conversation

Compare Revelation 6:9 and 3 Enoch 48C:12

New Testament · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

Revelation describes the souls of slain martyrs under the heavenly altar. In 3 Enoch, Metatron gathers the souls of children and students of the Torah under the Throne of Glory, following a similar tradition.

Passages

Revelation 6:9

New Testament
9 Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a long white robe, and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

3 Enoch 48C:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
10 as it is written (Is. lv. 11): "so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return to me void but shall accomplish (that which I please)". 'E'eseh' (I shall accomplish) is not written here, but 'asah' (he shall accomplish), meaning, that whatever word and whatever utterance goes forth from before the Holy One, blessed be He, Metatron stands and carries it out. And he establishes the decrees of the Holy One, blessed be He. 11 ["And he shall make to prosper that which I sent". 'Asliah (I will make to prosper) is not written here, but wehisliah (and he shall make to prosper), teaching, that whatever decree goes forth from before the Holy One, blessed be He, concerning a man, as soon as he makes repentance, they do not execute it (upon him) but upon another, wicked man, as it is written (Prov. xi. 8): "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead".] 12 And not only that but Metatron sits three hours every day in the high heavens, and he gathers all the souls of those dead who died in their mother's womb, and the sucklings who died on their mother's breasts, and of the scholars who died over the five books of the Law. And he brings them under the Throne of Glory and places them in companies, divisions and classes round the Presence: and he teaches them the Law, and (the books) of Wisdom, and Haggada and Tradition and finishes (completes) their instruction (education) [for them]. As it is written (Is. xxviii. 9): "Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand tradition? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts".
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... In Judaism also we find the belief that the souls of the righteous were under the altar in heaven. This in the Aboth R.N. xxvi, " Rabbi Akiba declares . . . that whoever was buried in the land of Israel was just as if he were buried under the altar, and whoever was buried under the altar was just as if he were buried under the throne ofglory? In Shabb. i52 b it is stated that "the souls of the righteous are preserved under the throne of glory," and in Debarim rabba, ii, God says to the soul of Moses: "Go forth, delay not, and I will bring thee up to the highest heaven, and cause thee to dwell under the throne of My glory amidst the Cherubim and Seraphim and heavenly hosts. ...”
R. H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, Volume 1 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920), 173.
“... Nathaniel Deutsch observes that both Metatron and Abathur are associated with the care of human souls in other ways. Metatron is characterized as the teacher of “all the souls of the dead that have died in their mothers’ wombs, and of the babies that have died at their mothers’ breasts, and of the schoolchildren that have died while studying the five books of the Torah.” Abathur’s watch house is depicted as the storage place for the pre-existent souls that have not yet descended to earth. Once again we observe the logic of the angelic vice regent: he is a guardian of the gate; a lord of mediation. Therefore, Metatron and Abathur are in charge of souls that are betwixt and between different modes of existence. In one case, the souls belong to those individuals who were never born or who died too young to receive a proper education; in the other case, the souls are waiting for their corresponding bodies to be born. Deutsch, Guardians of the Gate, 99. [...] Synopse §75 (3 Enoch 48C:12) attests to a similar tradition; it reads: Metatron sits for three hours every day in the heaven above, and assembles all the souls of the dead that have died in their mother’s wombs, and of the babes that have died at their mothers’ breasts, and of the schoolchildren beneath the throne of glory, and sits them down around him in classes, in companies, and in groups, and teaches them Torah, and wisdom, and haggadah, and tradition, and he completes for them their study of the scroll of the Law, as it is written, “To whom shall one teach knowledge, whom shall one instruct in the tradition? Them that are weaned from the milk, them that are taken from the breasts.” Alexander, “3 Enoch,” 1.313. ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, The Greatest Mirror: Heavenly Counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2017), 243–244.

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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Revelation 6:9 and 3 Enoch 48C:12

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