The Holy Scripture
Chapter XLVIII
Come, and I will show thee the Right Hand of MAQOM, laid behind (Him) because of the destruction of the Holy Temple; from which all kinds of splendour and light ‘shine forth and by which the 955 heavens were created; and whom not even the Seraphim and (Is. li. 9): Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord" according as it is written (Is. lxi. r2): "He caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses ".
In that moment the Right Hand of MAQOM was weeping. And there went forth from its five fingers five rivers of tears and fell down into the great sea and shook the whole world, according as it is written (Is. xxiv. 19, 20): “‘The earth is utterly broken (1), the earth is clean dissolved (2), the earth is moved exceedingly (3), the earth shall stagger like a drunken man (4) and shall be moved to and fro like a hut
”, ë five times corresponding to the fingers of his Great Right Hand. (5) But when the Holy One, blessed be He, sees, that there is no righteous man in the generation, and no pious man (Chasid) on earth, and no justice in the hands of men; and (that there is) no man like unto Moses, and no intercessor as Samuel who could pray before MAQOM for the salvation Sand for the deliverance, and for His Kingdom, that it be revealed in the whole world; and for His great Right Hand® that He put it before Himself again to work great’ salvation by it for Israel, | Moses and Samuel stood before me" (Is. lxiii. 5): ‘‘ Mine own arm brought salvation unto me".
“Said the Holy One, blessed be He” in that hour: How long shall I wait for the children of men” to work salvation according to their righteousness “for my arm? For my own sake and for the sake of my merit and righteousness will I deliver my arm and l5by 1t!$ redeem my children from among the nations of the world. As it is written (Is. xlviii. 11): “For my own sake will I do it. For _ how should my name be profaned”’. |
In that moment will the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal His Great Arm and show it to the nations of the world: for its length is as the length of the world 16 and its breadth is as the width of the world. And the appearance of its splendour is like unto the splendour of the sunshine in its might, in the summer solstice.
Forthwith Israel will be saved from among the nations of the world". And Messiah will appear unto them and He as it is written (Is. lil. ro): °° The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God". And again (Deut. xxxii. 12): “The Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him". (Zech. xiv. 9): ' And the Lord shall be king over all the earth”. The Divine Names that go forth from the Throne of Glory, crowned and escorted by numerous angelic hosts through the heavens and back again to the Throne—the angels sing the ‘Holy’ and the Blessed’ AEFGH: K: (1) 1 These These are the seventy-two names written on the heart ı FGH begin: ‘The Holy One, blessed be He, has seventy names that are explicit, and the rest that are not explicit are innumerable and unsearchable. And these they are. (The names are missing.) These are the names etc. prevail against them. There is no idea of a new earth nor even of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down (although this is not actually refuted). Contrast the passage in Mysteries R. The tradition embodied in the present fragment thus bears marks of being rather old (or at least archaistic). (A) the Kingdom of Messiah, of the house of David. There is no hint that the kingdom of Messiah here is conceived of as temporary. On the contrary it is from the context to be identified with the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, see the reference to Zech. xiv. g: “And H’ shall be king over all the earth”. The Kingdom of Messiah as identical with the Kingdom of Heaven represents the final consummation, in approximately the same sense as that of the prophetic eschatologies from which passages are drawn as scriptural support. AEFGH: K: | | are the names of the Holy One, blessed be He: SS, SeDeQ {righteous- of the Holy ness, SaHI’eL SUR {Is. xxvt. 43, SBI, SaDdIQ in the text-critical notes referred to as m-5 (Lm), explicitly states its indebtedness for its recension of C 3-10, 12 and D (abridged) to Alph. R. ‘Aqiba. | A common feature of A and E on one hand and the editions of Alph. R. ‘Aqiba on the other is, that in the fragment B the actual Divine Names, there referred to, are missing—and were apparently missing already in the mss. on which the said printed editions of ’Othiyyot R. ‘Agiba were based (since they contain no express statement as to their being omitted in print, as in the case of the names of Metatron, fragment D, see text-notes, 1D.). Add. 61, fol. 13 a, however, following on a recension of the so-called Sepher ha-gQoma and Seder Mat‘ase Bereshith (fol. 12 b) there occurs a fragment which no doubt is closely related to the present fragments—ch. xlviii B, c— although it represents only an abridged version. This fragment is embodied in text and translation in a separate column and is marked ‘K’ and > resp. The distinguishing feature of K is that it gives the Divine Names and thus supplements the other sources. Cf. further note on ch. xlviii c beginning and introduction. (1) (K): These are the 72 names.... FGH count 70 ‘names that are ex- plicit, and besides them innumerable names ‘that are not explicit. Ch. xlviii C 9, D5, also refer to the ‘7o names of the Holy One. Cf. also the conception of the 72-lettered name. that are written on the heart of the Holy One.... The specific place of the Divine Names is in different sources differently designed. The names are sometimes represented as written on the Fearful Crown, sometimes on the Throne, sometimes on the forehead of the Most High. Cf. the quotation from Alph. R. ‘Agiba in note on ch. xxxix. 1. Here the Names are represented as written on the heart of the Most High. Opp. 563, fol. 92 b, also in the R. Ishmael-recension). The names enumerated here are on the whole identical with those of the Shi‘ur Qoma passage just referred to. The resemblance between K (ch. xlviii B) and that passage is as striking as to prompt the conclusion that one is dependent on the other. Hence the Shi‘ur-Qoma passage in its different readings may be used as a text-critical aid to the present fragment. The enumeration of Divine Names given here presents the following different categories: (1) firstly, the various synonyms of the Divine Name, originally drawn from the O.T., may be singled out from the rest. They comprise the category of Divine Names known as ‘the Ten Names. They are here SUR, SADDIQ, SeBAOTH, shapday, ’ELOHIM, YHWH, YaH, Chay, RoKeB ‘ARaBOTH.... The omission of the important name 'EHYE ’asher ’EHYE is, however, remarkable. In the Shi‘ur-Qoma passage this name occurs after SEBAOTH in all the readings. It is probable that it was originally included also in the present fragment. The addition of this name, moreover, gives the number 72 as the number of names, agreeing with the specifica- tion in the opening of the fragment. (2) Another category is that of various permutations of the four letters constituting the Tetragrammaton and the “EHYE, i.e.’ Aleph, Yod, He, Waw. (3) A third category comprises the permutations of other letters, derived from O.T. names or passages OHB II AEFGH: K: One, blessed {righteous, S‘Ph, SHN, SeBa’oTh {Lord of Hosts, be He, ShaDda Y (God Almighty), eLoHIM (God), YHWH, SH, DGUL,W'DOM, SSS","YW^,' Y','HW, HB, YaH, HW, WWW, SSS, PPP, NN, HH, HaY {living, HaY, ROKeB ‘aRaBOTh {riding upon the ‘Araboth, Ps. lxvin. s, YH, HH, WH, MMMM, NNN, HWW, YH, YHH, HPhs, HS, IL, W,5°,7,"°, QOO (Holy, e Holy, OSAR, BW, ZK, GIN UR, GINURYa, Y, YOD, ’aLePh, H'N, P'P, RW, YYW, "a BBB, DDD, TTT, KKK, KLL, SYS,'TT', BShKMLW 1— blessed be the Name of His plo kingdom for ever and ever, completed for MeLeK Ha‘OLaM {the King of the Universe, or from the different systems of substitutions of letters. Lastly a couple of names consist simply of a name of a letter of the alphabet: Yod, ’Aleph and He. completed for Mélek ha-‘Olam. The right interpretation of this is doubtful to decide. It seems that there was a tradition, according to which tbe explanation of the Divine Names or the series of the Divine Names was permissible as far as to the name MELEK ha ‘OLAM (the King of the Universe). After that name it was not permissible to give explanations or discourses on the basis of the Names. Hence there arose the technical expression ‘‘ad Melek ha-‘Olam. Cf. e.g. The real meaning of the expression in question here is thus probably (instead of ‘completed for etc.’): here the series is completed with regard to the rule ‘up to the name MELEK ha-‘OLAM but not further. Holy, Holy, Holy....Blessed be the Name etc.. . Blessed be He who gives power to the faint etc. The names are inclosed in the responses of the Qëdushsha and in other glorifications. This is also the case with the names in the Shi‘ur-Qoma fragment which in all readings ends with the response ‘Blessed. 'The letters representing the responses Holy’ (QQQ) and Blessed’ (BShKMLW) are to be regarded as together forming actual Divine Names, acc. to the Notarigon-system. Some of the other names are perhaps also derived from the responses, e.g. BBB, KKK, KKL. As Divine Names—and not as private additions of praise by the writer—are also to be considered the Nozariqon-complexes at the end of the enumeration. Nehunya ben ha-qQana embodied in the liturgy, the Notarigon of which forms the 42-lettered Name (known as אנא בכח גדלת ימינך תתיר צרורה: וגו': (אבג 'יתץ קרע' שטן (A) the names of the Holy One...that go forth...from the Throne of Glory. This echoes the idea represented in ch. xxxix. 1: ‘the explicit names that are written with a flaming style on the Throne of Glory...fly off like eagles on sixteen wings. See note ad loc. and cf. vs. 2 here: ‘when they bring them back to their place, the Throne. It is not actually stated here (as in ch. xxxix. 1) that the Names are written on the Throne, only that their place is before or by the Throne, and this in reality accords with the expression of K (and Shi‘ur Qoma): “written on the heart of the King of Kings, the Holy One, the ‘heart’ being in AEFGH: K: BRH LB {the beginning of Wisdom for the children of men, BNLK W‘Y {blessed be He who gives strength to the weary and increaseth strength to them that have no might, Is. xl. 29)! that go forth (adorned) with numerous crowns of fire ? with numerous crowns of flame, with numerous crowns of chashmal, with numerous crowns of lightning *from before the Throne of Glory. And with them (there are) thousand 9 hundreds9 of power (i.e. powerful angels) who escort them like a king AE: FG: with honour and pillars® with trembling and dread, with awe and of fire Sand cloud(s)°, and shivering, with honour and majesty and fear, pillars of flame, andwith with terror, with greatness and dignity, with lightnings of radiance glory and strength, with understanding and and with the likeness of knowledge and with a pillar of fire and a (the) chashmal. pillar of flame and lightning—and their light is as lightnings of light—and with the like- ness of the chashmal. (2) And they give “glory unto them and they answer™ and cry before them: Holy, Holy, Holy. **: And they roll (convoy)? them through every heaven as mighty and honoured princes. And when they bring them all back to “ihe place of the Throne of Glory, then all the Chayyoth by the Merkaba open their mouth in praise of His glorious name, saying: “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever”. An Enoch-Metatron piece AEFGH: K: (1) Alepht I made him (1) “I seized him, and I ti1-11 EG: ‘unto them glory and praise of strength’ 12 GF add: ‘As it. is written (Is. vi. 3): and one cried unto another and said: Holy, Holy, Holy’ A: | FGH: Lm: the height of my glory in the height glory in the power; (and I have of my power, inthe height. secrets of above and in the secrets of be- Lm: (5 The height of his sta- ture among all those (that are) of high stature (is) seventy thousand parasangs. And I made his glory great as the majesty of my glory (6) and the brilliance of his eyes as the splendour of the Throne of Glory committed unto him) the secrets of above and the se- crets of below (hea- venly secrets and earthly secrets). AFGH: (5) I made him higher than all. The height of his stature, in the midst of all (who are) high “of stature’ (I made) seventy thousand parasangs. I made his Throne great by the majesty of my Throne. And I increased" its glory by the honour of my glory. (6) I transformed his flesh into torches of fire, and all the bones of his body into fiery coals; and I made the appearance of his eyes as the lightning, and the light of his eyebrows as the im- perishable light. I made his low. 10—IO so ins. with FGH. A here a lacuna 11 so FG. FG. A: ‘fire and thousands of fire’ 12 FG: ‘his appearance’ 110-118 0 the honoured ’Ophannim...on the glorious Kerubim...the holy Chayyoth. .the spark(s)”’. i (I committed unto him) the secrets celestial and the secrets terrestrial (K:) I committed to him Wisdom and Intelligence. (5) I made him higher than all. Cf. ch. ix. I. The measure here ascribed to Metatron, 70,000 parasangs, is unique to this fragment. As compared with the statement of ch. ix. 1 and the measures of the Throne of Glory acc. to ch. xxiii c the size here assigned to Metatron is remarkably small. Was the original reading perhaps ‘surpasses all the others that are high of stature, with 70,000 parasangs’? The Shi‘ur Qoma counts in thousands of myriads of parasangs in its description | of the measures of the Throne (with the special units of measure prevailing in heaven) and TB. Chag. 13 a, in journeying distances of 500 years (the size of the world), cf. with that ch. 1x. 1. | o I made his Throne great by...my Throne of Glory. Cf. ch. x. r. (6) I transformed his flesh into fire etc. Cf. ch. xv. CH. XLVIII(C)| SHORT ENOCH-METATRON PIECE 169 AFGH: Lm: face bright as the splendour of the sun, and his eyes as the splendour of the Throne of Glory. (7 I made ? honour and (7) his garment honour and majesty his clothing, beauty majesty, his royal crown 500 and highness “ his covering by 500 parasangs. cloak and a royal crown of 500 by (times) 500 para- sangs (his) diadem. AFGHLm: And I put upon him of my honour, my majesty and the splendour of my glory that is upon my Throne of Glory. I called him © the LESSER YHWH, the Prince of the Presence, the Knower of Secrets: for every secret did I reveal to him as a father“ and all mysteries declared I unto him "in uprightness". (8) I set up his throne at the door of my!“ Hall 5 + he may sit and judge the heavenly household on high. And I placed every prince before him, to receive authority from him, to perform!* his will. (9) Seventy names did I take from (my) names and called him by them to enhance his glory. Seventy princes gave I into his hand, to command I3 FG ins.: ‘glory’ I4 FG ins.: ‘and strength’ 15 FG ins.: ‘by my name’ 15a-15a: so FGLm. A: ‘all’ 16-16 FG: ‘in love’ Lm: ‘as a friend’ 17-17 FGLm: ‘as (I set up his Throne)’ 17a Lm: ‘his’ Law, and (the books) of Wisdom, and Haggada™ and Tradition™ and finishes (completes) ®®their instruction (education) [for them]®. As it is written (Is. xxviii. 9): “Whom will he teach knowledge and whom will he make to understand tradition**? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts”. The names of Metatron. The treasuries of Wisdom opened to Moses on mount Sinai. The angels protest against Metatron for revealing the secrets to Moses and are answered and rebuked by God. The chain of tradition and the power of the transmitted mysteries to heal diseases (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: ':1YeHOEL YaH, 2YeHOEL, 3YOPHIEL and 4Yophphiel, and — 5 A4PHPHIEL and o6 MaRGeZIEL,;GIPpU Y EL,8Pa'aZIEL,o9' A'aH, 95SePhaM, 96GBIR, 97G1BbOR YaH, 98GOR, s9GORYaH, xooZIW, 101' OK BaR, the xo2LESSER Y HWH, after the name of his Master, (Ex. xxtii. 21) '' for my name is in him" , xo3RaBIBIEL, xo4TUMIEL,! 105,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, Sthe 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 tn the seventy aspects of the seventy tongues. (4) But as soon as the forty days were ended, he forgot all of them in one 9? 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 unto me”. And after that it remained with him. And whence do we know, that it remained (in his memory)? Because it is written (Mal. to. 4): “Remember ye the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto 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 Hon 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; Athe 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 dost thou reveal this secret to %a son of man”, born of woman, tainted?” and unclean, Pa 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 Vand Eve, and the cattle, and the wild beasts, and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, Stand Behemoth*® and Leviathan, and the creeping things, the worms, 24—24..F'G om. 25 G: ‘of the princes; the angel, the Prince of the high ones’ F: ‘of the high princes’ 26-26 FG: ‘the children of men’ 27 A: ‘tailed’ 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 dost thou reveal this to flesh and blood? A: FG: Hast thou obtained autho- JI answered them: Because the Holy One, rity from MAQOM? And blessed be He, has given me authority. again: Hast thou received And furthermore, I have obtained per- permission? The Explicit mission from the high and exalted Throne, Names went forth from be- from which all the Explicit Names go fore me 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 9*with rebuke?? from before him, saying to them: “I delight in, and have set my love on, and have en- trusted and committed unto 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 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 dost thou reveal this to flesh and blood? Ae FG: Hast thou obtained autho- J answered them: Because the Holy One, rity from MAQOM? And blessed be He, has given me authority. again: Hast thou received And furthermore, I have obtained per- permission? The Explicit mission from the high and exalted Throne, Names went forth from be- from which all the Explicit Names go fore me 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 Swith rebuke® from before him, saying to them: “I delight in, and have set my love on, and have en- trusted and committed unto 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