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In Ezekiel, the wheels beside the cherubim are covered with eyes. In 3 Enoch, an angel prepares the eye-covered wheels to praise God, giving a part of the heavenly chariot its own role in worship.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ezekiel 10:12
Hebrew Bible
11 When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow without turning as they moved, 12 along with their entire bodies, their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around. 13 As for their wheels, they were called “the wheelwork” as I listened. 14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.
3 Enoch 25:5
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
Why is he called 'OPHPHANNIEL? Because he is appointed over the 'Ophannim and the 'Ophannim are given in his charge. He stands every day and attends and beautifies them. And he exalts and orders their apartment and polishes their standing-place and makes bright their dwellings, makes their corners even and cleanses their seats. And he waits upon them early and late, by day and by night, to increase their beauty, to make great their dignity and to make them diligent in praise of their Creator. And all the 'Ophannim are full of eyes, and they are all full of brightness; seventy two sapphire stones are fixed on their garments on their right side and seventy two sapphire stones are fixed on their garments on their left side.
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Notes and 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 James H. Charlesworth (ed.) The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 1
(p. 246) Doubleday, 1983
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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