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3 Enoch

Hebrew Book of Enoch

About this book

The Names of Metatron

Chapter 48D

1 Seventy names has Metatron which the Holy One, blessed be He, took from his own name and put upon him. And these they are: YeHOEL, YaH, YeHOEL, YOPHIEL and Yophphiel, and APHPHIEL and MaRGeZIEL, GIPpUYEL, Pa'aZIEL, 'A'aH, PeRIEL, TaTRIEL, TaBKIEL, 'W, YHWH, DH, WHYH, 'eBeD, DiBbURIEL, 'aPh'aPIEL, SPPIEL, PaSPaSIEL, SeNeGRON, MeTaTRON, SOGDIN, 'ADRIGON, 'ASUM, SaQPaM, SaQTaM, MIGON, MITTON, MOTTRON, ROSPHIM, QINOTh, ChaTaTYaH, DeGaZYaH, PSPYaH, 'BSKNYH, MZRG.., BaRaD.., MKRKK, MSPRD, ChShG, ChShB, MNRTTT, BSYRYM, MITMON, TITMON, PiSQON, SaPhSaPhYaH, ZRCh, ZRChYaH, 'B', BeYaH, HBH BeYaH, PeLeT, PLTYaH, RaBRaBYaH, ChaS, ChaSYaH, TaPhTaPhYaH, TaMTaMYaH, SeHaSYaH, 'IR'URYaH, 'aL'aLYaH, BaZRIDYaH, SaTSaTKYaH, SaSDYaH, RaZRaZYAH, BaZRaZYaH, 'aRIMYaH, SBHYaH, SBIBKHYH, SiMKaM, YaHSeYaH, SSBIBYaH, SaBKaSBeYaH, QeLILQaLYaH, KIHHH, HHYH, WH, WHYH, ZaKkIKYaH, TUTRISYaH, SURYaH, ZeH, PeNIRHYaH, Z'ZI'H, GaL RaZaYYa, MaMLIKYaH, 'TTYaH, 'eMeQ, QaMYaH, MeKaPpeRYaH, PeRISHYaH, SePhaM, GBIR, GiBbORYaH, GOR, GORYaH, ZIW, 'OKBaR, the LESSER YHWH, after the name of his Master, (Ex. xxiii. 21) "for my name is in him",⁠ RaBIBIEL, TUMIEL, Segansakkiel, the Prince of Wisdom. 2 And why is he called by the name Sagnesakiel? Because all the treasuries of wisdom are committed in his hand. 3 And all of them were opened to Moses on Sinai, so that he learnt them during the forty days, while he was standing (remaining): the Torah in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues, the Prophets in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues, the Writings in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues, the Halakas in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues, the Traditions in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues, the Haggadas in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues and the Toseftas in the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues. 4 But as soon as the forty days were ended, he forgot all of them in one moment.⁠ Then the Holy One, blessed be He, called Yephiphyah, the Prince of the Law, and (through him) they were given to Moses as a gift. As it is written (Deut. x. 4): "and the Lord gave them to me". And after that it remained with him. And from where do we know, that it remained (in his memory)? Because it is written (Mal. iv. 4): "Remember the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even my statutes and judgements". 'The Law of Moses': that is the Tora, the Prophets and the Writings,⁠ 'statutes': that is the Halakas and Traditions, 'judgements': that is the Haggadas and the Toseftas. And all of them were given to Moses on high on Sinai. 5 These seventy names (are) a reflection of the Explicit Name(s) on the Merkaba which are graven upon the Throne of Glory. For the Holy One, blessed be He, took from His Explicit Name(s) and put upon the name of Metatron: Seventy Names of His by which the ministering angels call the King of the kings of kings, blessed be He, in the high heavens, and twenty-two letters that are on the ring upon his finger with which are sealed the destinies of the princes of kingdoms on high in greatness and power and with which are sealed the lots of the Angel of Death, and the destinies of every nation and tongue. 6 Said Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence; the Angel, the Prince of the Wisdom; the Angel, the Prince of the Understanding; the Angel, the Prince of the Kings; the Angel, the Prince of the Rulers; the angel, the Prince of the Glory; the angel, the Prince of the high ones, and of the princes, the exalted, great and honoured ones, in heaven and on earth: 7 "H', the God of Israel, is my witness in this thing, (that) when I revealed this secret to Moses, then all the hosts in every heaven on high raged against me and said to me: 8 Why do you reveal this secret to son of man, born of woman, tainted and unclean, a man of a putrefying drop, the secret by which were created heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, the mountains and hills, the rivers and springs, Gehenna of fire and hail, the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life; and by which were formed Adam and Eve, and the cattle, and the wild beasts, and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and Behemoth and Leviathan, and the creeping things, the worms, the dragons of the sea, and the creeping things of the deserts; and the Tora and Wisdom and Knowledge and Thought and the Gnosis of things above and the fear of heaven. Why do you reveal this to flesh and blood? I answered them: Because the Holy One, blessed be He, has given me authority. And furthermore, I have obtained permission from the high and exalted Throne, from which all the Explicit Names go forth with lightnings of fire and flaming chashmallim. 9 But they were not appeased, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked them and drove them away with rebuke from before him, saying to them: "I delight in, and have set my love on, and have entrusted and committed to Metatron, my Servant, alone, for he is One (unique) among all the children of heaven". 10 And Metatron brought them out from his house of treasuries and committed them to Moses, and Moses to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets and the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue, and the men of the Great Synagogue to Ezra and Ezra the Scribe to Hillel the elder, and Hillel the elder to R. Abbahu and R. Abbahu to R. Zera, and R. Zera to the men of faith, and the men of faith (committed them) to give warning and to heal by them all diseases that rage in the world, as it is written (Ex. xv. 26): "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord, your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord, that heals you". (Ended and finished. Praise be to the Creator of the World.)

Texts in conversation

Compare 3 Enoch 48D:4 and Exodus Rabbah 47:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

In 3 Enoch, Moses receives both the Torah and its interpretation at Sinai. Rabbinic tradition in Exodus Rabbah also describes God teaching Moses both, establishing the oral and written Torah as equally divine in origin.

Passages

3 Enoch 48D:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
4 But as soon as the forty days were ended, he forgot all of them in one moment. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, called Yephiphyah, the Prince of the Law, and (through him) they were given to Moses as a gift. As it is written (Deut. x. 4): "and the Lord gave them to me". And after that it remained with him. And from where do we know, that it remained (in his memory)? Because it is written (Mal. iv. 4): "Remember the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even my statutes and judgements". 'The Law of Moses': that is the Tora, the Prophets and the Writings, 'statutes': that is the Halakas and Traditions, 'judgements': that is the Haggadas and the Toseftas. And all of them were given to Moses on high on Sinai.
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

Exodus Rabbah 47:1

Rabbinic · Aggadah
“Write for yourself these matters,” that is what is written: “I write for him the many teachings of My Torah, but they are regarded as foreign” (Hosea 8:12). When the Holy One blessed be He revealed Himself at Sinai to give the Torah to Israel, He said it to Moses in order: Bible, Mishna, Talmud, and aggada, as it is stated: “The Lord spoke all these matters” (Exodus 20:1); even what a student asks his teacher, the Holy One blessed be He said to him at that time. After [Moses] learned it from the mouth of the Holy One blessed be He, He said to him: ‘Teach it to Israel.’ He said to Him: ‘Master of the universe, I will write it for them.’
1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus Rabbah

References

“... j . "The Prince of Torah": Wert adds "As it is written, *Of all men you are the most handsome [yopydpitd, with a play on Yepipyah], your lips are moist with grace, for God has blessed you for ever' " (Ps 45:2). The text follows A B G Crac. TarJon to Deut 34:6 names Metatron, Yopi'el, 'Uri'el, and Yepipyah as "Princes of Wisdom," i.e. Princes of Torah; see "Theolog­ ical Importance." According to the parallel pas­ sage in Ma'yan Hokmah, BHM, vol. 1, p. 61, it was the fear of the angels that caused Moses to forget the Law. On the theme of angelic opposition to the revelation of the Law to Moses see 3En 15B:2, n. e. k. "As a gift": See b.Ned 38a: "At first Moses used to study the Torah and forget it, until it was given him as a gift." 1. "Remembered the Torah": Wert adds 4 4and did not forget it again." Text follows A B G Crac. m. "On Sinai," Wert; B has "In the height [mdrom], on Sinai.'' Both the oral and the written Torah were given to Moses on Sinai; see ExR 47:1; b.Ber 5a. ...”
Philip S. Alexander, “3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983), 1:314.

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3 Enoch 48D:4 and Exodus Rabbah 47:1

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