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This mystical autobiography constitutes the first part of a work that was very well known in the early Middle Ages, in a treatise called Sefer
Hekhalot, “The Book of Divine Palaces.” It was published in a detailed
critical edition, an extensive introduction and commentary and English translation by Hugo Odeberg in 1928.1 Odeberg studied the
subject in the framework of biblical and postbiblical studies, so he gave the book a new title: “Third Enoch or the Hebrew Book of Enoch,” joining it to the apocryphal works of First Enoch (the Ethiopic one) and Second Enoch (the Slavonic one). It was thus accepted as a late contribution to the biblical apocrypha and psdeuepigrapha. In this framework it was retranslated into English by Prof. Philip Alexander of Manchester, with a new introduction and commentary, and included in the new edition of this corpus edited by James Charlesworth.
This work belongs to the later stratum of Hekhalot mystical litera- ture, written probably several centuries after Hekhalot Rabbati. The absence of Greek influences and other reasons seem to indicate that it was written in Babylonia, between the seventh and the ninth centuries. Most of the text—from chapter 17 to the end (chapter 48)—is dedi- cated to the presentation of the structure of the divine realms and the great divine powers that govern them, being the most detailed treatise on this subject in ancient Jewish mystical literature. The first part begins with a brief description of the ascension of Rabbi Ishamel to the chariot, in a manner familiar from Hekhalot Rabbati and other older texts, but without going into details, as if it were a common, well-known practice. Some of the angels surrounding the Throne of Glory object to Rabbi Ishmael’s presence among them, and he is protected by Metatron, “The Prince of the Countainance.” During the discussion Rabbi Ishamel hears the other angels refer to Metatron as “the youth” (na’ar); surprised that such a great power is called by this undistin- guished apellation, Rabbi Ishamel inquires for the reason. Responding to this question, Metatron recounts his biography, and the next ten chapters are told by him, in the first person.
Metatron, according to this narrative, was originally Enoch, son of Jared, who was called by God to heaven to serve as a witness to the evil- doings of people before the deluge, thus justifying the ferocious divine punishment that they received. He is a latecomer to the divine realms, and therefore he is called “a youth.” The text gives no reason why God
did not preserve him as a witness and nothing more, but continued to transform him, step by step, into the greatest divine power besides him. He is endowed with superhuman intellectual qualities, the knowledge of all languages including those of animals and birds. His body begins its transformation, his limbs turn into fire, he grows numerous wings and in each of them many eyes, which burn like the sun. He is given a throne and a chariot with horses of fire, and is clothed, like God, by a garment of light. God gives him a crown, on which “the letters by which the heaven and earth were created” are engraved, and the name of God— YHVH.2He was given the task of sitting and judging the nations, thus
mastering all the attributes of God himself. Because of this, when Elisha ben Avuya, one of the four sages who entered the pardes (Tosefta Hagiga 2:4), saw Metatron, he proclaimed: Are there two powers in heaven?, becoming the talmudic paradigmatic heretic.3To prevent such a mistake
being repeated, God sent another divine power, Anafiel, to punish Metatron with sixty lashes of fire, “so that everyone will know who is the master and who is the slave.” The last words in this description—Anafiel making Metatron stand up on his feet—indicate the Jewish belief that angels have no joints, therefore they cannot sit down. When Elisha ben Avuya saw Metatron sitting on a throne, he had to conclude that this was no angel but a divine power (whereas the reason for his ability to sit was that originally he had been a human being, Enoch). After receiving his punishment, Metatron is forbidden to sit down.
There is no earlier text that identified Metatron with Enoch, and until evidence to the contrary are presented, we have to assume that this is the work of the author of this treatise. Why did he describe the great divine power as a transformation of a human being? Why did he insist that Metatron be endowed with all the regalia of God himself? A probable explanation is that the concept of “two powers in heaven,” the lesser of them being the creator, the demiurge (yotzer bereshit), identi- fied with Metatron, was prevalent in some Jewish circles, and this trea- tise is intended to refute this, by describing Metatron as a transforma- tion of a human being who was born several generations after the creation so that he could not participate in this process. This necessi- tated describing him as endowed by all the external attributes of God, so that Elisha’s mistake is an understandable one.4 This might be the
devotion to detail that is demonstrated by the author in the description of the transformation may attest to a possible identification of Enoch with the paradigmatic mystic. If Metatron evolved from a human being—even if that was a biblical figure—maybe other human beings may aspire to share a similar illustrious fate. Talmudic and Midrashic literature ignored the figure of Enoch, and the verse in Genesis indi- cating his elevation to heaven while still alive was interpreted as refer- ring to his death. The author of this work, while presenting a conserva- tive view opposing the existence of a divine demiurge, expressed a radical position by endowing Enoch not only with everlasting life but also with the achievement of almost complete deification.
Ishmael Enters the Seventh Palace
“Enoch walked with God. Then he vanished because God took him.” (Gen. 5:24)
Rabbi Ishmael said: When I ascended to the height to behold the vision of the chariot, I entered six palaces, one inside the other, and when I reached the door of the seventh palace I paused in prayer before the Holy One, blessed be he; I looked up and said: “Lord of the Universe, grant, I beseech you, that the merit of Aaron, son of Amram, lover of peace and pursuer of peace, who received on Mount Sinai the crown of priesthood in the presence of your glory, may avail for me now, so that Prince Qaspi’el, and the angels with him, may not prevail over me and cast me from heaven.” At once the Holy One, blessed be he, summoned to my aid his servant, the angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence. He flew out to meet me with great alacrity, to save me from their power. He grasped me with his hand before their eyes and said to me, “Come in peace into the presence of the high and exalted King to behold the like- ness of the chariot.” Then I entered the seventh palace and he led me to the camp of the Shekhinah and presented me before the throne of glory so that I might behold the chariot. But as soon as the princes of the char- iot looked at me and the fiery seraphim fixed their gaze on me, I shrank back trembling and fell down, stunned by the radiant appearance of their eyes and the bright vision of their faces, until the Holy One, blessed be he, rebuked them and said, “My servants, my seraphim, my cherubim, and my ophanim, hide your eyes from Ishmael my beloved son and hon-
ored friend, so that he does not shrink and tremble so.” At once Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, came and revived me and raised me to my feet, but still I had not strength enough to sing a hymn before the glorious throne of the glorious King, the mightiest of kings, the most splendid of potentates, until an hour had passed. But after an hour the Holy One, blessed be he, opened to me gates of might, gates of speech, gates of song, gates of shekhinah, gates of peace, gates of wisdom, gates of strength, gates of might, gates of speech, gates of song, gates of sanctifying praise, gates of chant. He enlightened my eyes and my heart to utter psalm, praise, jubilation, thanksgiving, song, glory, majesty, laud, and strength. And when I opened my mouth and sang praises before the throne of glory the holy creatures below the throne of glory and above the throne responded after me, saying,
Holy, holy, holy, and,
Blessed be the glory of the Lord in his dwelling place.
Metatron Vouches for Ishmael
R. Ishmael said: Then the eagles of the chariot, the flaming ophanim and the cherubim of devouring fire, asked Metatron, “Youth, why have you allowed one born of woman to come in and behold the chariot? From what nation is he? From what tribe? What is his character?” Metatron replied, “He is of the nation of Israel, whom the Holy One, blessed be he, chose from the seventy nations to be his people. He is of the tribe of Levi, which presents the offering to his name. He is of the family of Aaron, whom the Holy One, blessed be he, chose to minister in his presence and on whose head he himself placed the priestly crown on Sinai.” At once they began to say, “This one is certainly worthy to behold the chariot, as it is written,
Happy is the nation of whom this is true, happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
Ishmael Questions Metatron
R. Ishmael said: Then I questioned the angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence. I said to him, “What is your name?” He answered, “I
have seventy names, corresponding to the seventy nations of the world, and all of them are based on the name of the King of the kings of kings; however, my King calls me ‘Youth.’”
Metatron Is Enoch
R. Ishmael said: I said to Metatron, “Why, are you called by the name of your Creator with seventy names? You are greater than all the princes, more exalted than all the angels, more beloved than all the ministers, more honored than all the hosts, and elevated over all poten- tates in sovereignty, greatness, and glory: why, then, do they call you ‘Youth’ in the heavenly heights?” He answered, “Because I am Enoch, the son of Jared. When the generation of the Flood sinned and turned to evil deeds, and said to God, ‘Go away! We do not choose to learn your ways,’ the Holy One, blessed be he, took me from their midst to be a witness against them in the heavenly height to all who should come into the world, so that they should not say, ‘The Merciful One is cruel! Did all those multitudes of people sin? And even if they sinned, what sin did their wives, their sons, and their daughters commit? And what of their horses, their mules, their beasts, their cattle, and all the birds of the world which the Holy One destroyed with them in the waters of the Flood—what sin did they commit that they should have perished as well?’ Therefore the Holy One, blessed be he, brought me up in their lifetime, before their very eyes, to the heavenly height, to be a witness against them to future generations. And the Holy One, blessed be he, appointed me in the height as a prince and a ruler among the minis- tering angels.”
“Then three of the ministering angels, Uzzah, ‘Azzah, and ‘Aza’el, came and laid charges against me in the heavenly height.” They said before the Holy One, blessed be he, “Lord of the Universe, did not the primeval ones give you good advice when they said, Do not create man!” The Holy One, blessed be he, replied, “I have made and will sus- tain him; I will carry and deliver him.” When they saw me they said before him, “Lord of the Universe, what right has this one to ascend to the height of heights? Is he not descended from those who perished in the waters of the Flood? What right has he to be in heaven?” Again the Holy One, blessed be he, replied, and said to them, “What right have
you to interrupt me? I have chosen this one in preference to all of you, to be a prince and a ruler over you in the heavenly heights.” At once they all arose and went to meet me and prostrated themselves before me, saying, “Happy are you, and happy your parents, because your Creator has favored you.” Because I am young in their company and a mere youth among them in days and months and years—therefore they call me ‘Youth.’
God Removes the Shekhinah
R. Ishmael said: Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, said to me: From the day that the Holy One, blessed be he, banished the first man from the garden of Eden, the Shekhinah resided on a cherub beneath the tree of life. The ministering angels used to muster and come down from heaven in companies, and in bands and cohorts from heaven, to execute his will in all the earth. The first man and his gen- eration dwelt at the gate of the garden of Eden so that they might gaze at the bright image of the Shekhinah, or the brilliance of the Shekhinah radiated from one end of the world to the other, 365,000 times more brightly than the sun; anyone who gazed at the brightness of the Shekhinah was not troubled by flies or gnats, by sickness or pain; malicious demons were not able to harm him, and even the angels had no power over him. When the Holy One, blessed be he, went out and in from the garden to Eden, and from Eden to the garden, from the gar- den to heaven, and from heaven to the garden of Eden, all gazed at the bright image of his Shekhinah and were unharmed, until the coming of the generation of Enosh, who was the chief of all the idolators in the world. What did the men of Enosh’s generation do? They roamed the world from end to end, and each of them amassed silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls in mountainous heaps and piles. In the four quarters of the world they fashioned them into idols, and in each quarter they set up idols about 1,000 parasangs in height. They brought down the sun, the moon, the stars and the constellations and stationed them before the idols, to their right and to their left, to serve them in the way they served the Holy One, blessed be he, as it is written, “All the array of heaven stood in his presence, to his right and to his left.” How was it that they had the strength to bring them down? It was only because
‘Uzzah, ‘Azzah, and ‘Aza’el taught them sorceries that they brought them down and employed them, for otherwise they would not have been able to bring them down.
Thereupon the ministering angels conspired to bring a complaint before the Holy One, blessed be he. They said in his presence, “Lord of the Universe, what business have you with men, as it is written, ‘What is man (Enosh) that you should spare a thought for him?’ It does not say here, ‘What is Adam?’ but, ‘What is Enosh?’ because Enosh is the chief of the idolators. Why did you leave the heaven of heavens above, the abode of your glory, the high and exalted throne which is in the height of ‘Arabot, and come and lodge with men who worship idols? Now you are on the earth, and the idols are on the earth; what is your business among the idolatrous inhabitants of the earth?” Immediately the Holy One, blessed be he, took up his shekhinah from the earth, from their midst. Then the ministering angels came, and the cohorts of the hosts, and the armies of ‘Arabot, one thousand compa- nies strong, and myriads of hosts. They took trumpets and seized horns and surrounded the shekhinah with psalms and songs, and it ascended to the heavenly heights, as it is written,
God went up to the sound of horns,
the Lord went up with a fanfare of trumpets.
The Angels Object to Enoch’s Elevation
R. Ishmael said: The angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, said to me: When the Holy One, blessed be he, desired to bring me up to the height, he sent me Prince ‘Anapi’el YHWH and he took me from their midst, before their very eyes, and he conveyed me in great glory on a fiery chariot, with fiery horses and glorious attendants, and he brought me up with the shekhinah to the heavenly heights. As soon as I reached the heavenly heights, the holy creatures, the ophanim, the seraphim, the cherubim, the wheels of the chariot and the ministers of consuming fire, smelled my odor 365,000 myriads of parasangs off; they said, “What is this smell of one born of a woman? Why does a white drop ascend on high and serve among those who cleave the flames?” The Holy One, blessed be he, replied and said to them, “My ministers, my hosts, my cherubim, my ophanim, and my seraphim, do not be displeased at this,
for all mankind has rejected me and my great kingdom and has gone off and worshiped idols. So I have taken up my Shekhinah from their midst and brought it up to the height. And this one whom I have removed from them is the choicest of them all and worth them all in faith, right- eousness, and fitting conduct. This one whom I have taken is my sole reward from my whole world under heaven.”
On the Wings of the Shekhinah
R. Ishmael said: The angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, said to me: when the Holy One, blessed be he, removed me from the gener- ation of the Flood, he bore me up on the stormy wings of the Shekhinah to the highest heaven and brought me into the great palaces in the height of the heaven of ‘Arabot, where the glorious throne of the Shekhinah is