3 Enoch

3 Enoch[1] is Biblical apocryphal in Hebrew. 3 Enoch purports to have been written in the 2nd century, but its origins can only be traced to the 5th century.[2] Other names for 3 Enoch include "The Third Book of Enoch", "The Book of the Palaces", "The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest" and "The Revelation of Metatron".

Most commonly, the Book of Enoch refers to 1 Enoch, which survived completely only in Ge'ez. There is also a Second Book of Enoch, which has survived only in Old Slavonic.[3][4]

Content

Modern scholars describe this book as pseudepigraphal, as it says it is written by "Rabbi Ishmael" who became a "high priest" after visions of ascension to Heaven.[2] However, inasmuch as the 2nd century Tanna Rabbi Ishmael likely lived after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, it is possible that this refers to the earlier Tanna of the same name, Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen, who, as his name implies, was in fact a high priest in the Temple (and may have been the later Rabbi Ishmael's grandfather.) Rabbi Ishmael is a leading figure of Merkabah mysticism.

The name Sefer Hekhalot (Hekhalot meaning palaces or temples), along with its proposed author, places this book as a member of Hekalot or Merkabah mysticism. Its contents suggest that 3 Enoch's contents and ideas are newer than those shown in other Merkabah texts.[5] The book does not contain Merkabah hymns,[6] it has a unique layout[7] and adjuration.[8] All these facts make 3 Enoch unique not just among Merkabah writings, but also within the writings of Enoch.

3 Enoch contains a number of Greek and Latin words. This book, unlike 1 Enoch, appears to have been originally written in Hebrew. There are a number of indications suggesting that the writers of 3 Enoch had knowledge of, and most likely read, 1 Enoch.

Some points that appear in 1 Enoch and 3 Enoch are:

The main themes running through 3 Enoch are the ascension of Enoch into Heaven and his transformation into the angel Metatron.

Thi Enoch, whose flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to flashes of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and whom God placed on a throne next to the throne of glory, received after this heavenly transformation the name Metatron.
— Scholem, Gershom G (1961) [1941], Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p. 67 .

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hugo Odeberg (ed.), 3 Enoch or The Hebrew Book of Enoch, Cambridge University Press 1928 (edition and translation).
  2. 1 2 Craig A. Evans (1992). Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation. p. 24.
  3. ↑ http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/2enoch.html
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-02-20. Retrieved 2006-03-08.
  5. ↑ Swartz, Scholastic Magic, 178ff
  6. ↑ Alexander, Philip, 3 Enoch, p. 245.
  7. ↑ Dan, Joseph, The Ancient Jewish Mysticism, p. 110.
  8. ↑ Schäfer, The Hidden and Manifest God, 144.


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