3 Enoch
The Third Book of Enoch (Hebrew: ספר חנוך לר׳ ישמעאל כ׳׳ג), also known as The Book of the Palaces, The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest and The Elevation of Metatron, and abbreviated as 3 Enoch)[1] is a Jewish apocryphal book.
Authorship
Modern scholars describe this book as
Date of composition
Though 3 Enoch purports to have been written in the 2nd century, it was probably composed in or near Babylon,[2] and its final redaction was likely completed in the 5th or 6th century.[3] The oldest printed text of 3 Enoch appears to be the Derus Pirqe Hekalot. It covers 3:1–12:5 and 15:1–2, and it is dated by Arthur Ernest Cowley to around 1650. The name "3 Enoch" was coined by Hugo Odeberg for his first critical edition of 1928.[1]
Content
The name Sefer Hekhalot (Hekhalot meaning palaces or temples), along with its proposed author, places this book as a member of Hekhalot literature, a genre which overlaps with the Merkabah or "Chariot" literature. Although 3 Enoch does not contain Merkabah hymns, it contains many of the concepts found in other Merkabah texts.[4] It also has a unique layout[5] and adjuration.[6] All these facts make 3 Enoch unique not just among Merkabah writings, but also within the genre of Enochian literature.[7] Several indications suggest that the writers of 3 Enoch were familiar with the content of 1 Enoch (an apocalyptic text dating to the Second Temple period).
Some points that appear in 1 Enoch and 3 Enoch are:
- Enoch ascends to Heaven in a “storm chariot” (3 Enoch 6:1; 7:1)
- Enoch is transformed into an angel (3 Enoch 9:1–5; 15:1–2)
- Enoch is enthroned in Heaven as the exalted angel Metatron (3 Enoch 10:1–3; 16:1)
- Enoch receives a revelation of cosmological secrets of creation (3 Enoch 13:1–2)
- The story about precious metals and how they will not avail their users and those that make idols from them (3 Enoch 5:7–14)
- Hostile angels named 'Uzza, 'Azza, and 'Azzael challenge Enoch before God (3 Enoch 4:6) and are mentioned again in passing (5:9)
The main themes running through 3 Enoch are the ascension of Enoch into Heaven and his transformation into the angel Metatron.
This 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.
— Gershom Scholem (1941), Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, p. 67.
Canonicity
3 Enoch is not included in the biblical canon of any denomination of Judaism or Christianity.
See also
References
Citations
- ^ a b Charlesworth 1983, p. 224.
- ^ a b c Evans 1992, p. 24.
- ^ Charlesworth 1983, p. 229.
- ^ Charlesworth 1983, pp. 225–227.
- ^ Dan, Joseph, The Ancient Jewish Mysticism, p. 110.
- ^ Schäfer, The Hidden and Manifest God, 144.
- JSTOR 3269626.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-1598564914.
- Evans, Craig A., ed. (1992). Noncanonical writings and New Testament Interpretation. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 0-943575-95-8.
External links
- Odeberg, Hugo, ed. (1928). 3 Enoch or The Hebrew Book of Enoch. London: Cambridge University Press.
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