3 Enoch

Odeberg1928 source English page 281

CH. [זנאא‎ ANGELOLOGICAL SECTION (A1) fe (3) His stature is full of (burning) coals. The height of his stature is as the height of the seven heavens the breadth of his stature is as the wideness of the seven heavens and the thickness of his stature is as the seven heavens. (4) ?The opening of his mouth is like a lamp 01 fire”. His tongue Sis a consuming 076%. His eyebrows are like unto the splendour of the lightning. His eyes are like sparks ‘tof brilliance*. His coun- tenance is like a burning fire. (5) And there is a crown of holiness upon his head on which (crown) the Explicit Name is graven, and lightnings go forth from it. And the bow of Shekina is between his shoulders. IDE‏ ו And his sword is like unto a lightning;‏ תסקט And his sword is‏ his loins and his arrows® and upon his loins there are arrows like‏ 2-2 13: ‘from his mouth there burns as it were a lamp of fire’ D: ‘the opening of his mouth burns like a lamp of fire’ 3-3 so B. AD: ‘consumes fire’ 4-4. B omits. 5 D: ‘arrow’ (3) His stature etc. The simpler reading of Hilkoth Kisse (see above) might with advantage be adopted: “‘his stature is as high as the seven heavens and the thickness of his stature is as the width of the sea’’. On the measures of high angels 01. ch. 1x. 1, xxi. ז‎ and notes. Also ch. xlvili 6 5. (4) The opening of his mouth is like a lamp of fire etc. The description of the body of this angel-prince is in the usual terms conveying that he is wholly made up of fire. The substance of the angels’ body is regularly fire. So it is said in 2 Fn. .אואא‎ I, 3, with regard to God’s creation of the angels: "107 all the heavenly: hosts I (God) fashioned a nature like that of fire: their weapons are fiery, their garment is a burning flame...”’. Descriptions of this kind are frequent. Cf. 2 Fn. 1. 5 (“‘their faces shone like the sun, their eyes like burning lamps, fire came forth from their lips. ..their wings were brighter than gold’’). Cf. also Chibbut ha Qeber, i, Mass. 116%. iv, Rev. xix. 11-15. Occasionally one finds the statement that some angels are made of water in contrast with others who are made of fire or that the angels in general are composed of fire and water. E.g. Midrash ‘Asereth haDébaroth, pp. 64 seqq., BH. (on the contents of ‘Araboth): ‘“‘the angels are made of fire and water, and there is peace between them etc.’’, based on Job xxv. 2. Cf. ch. xlii. (5) And there is a crown of holiness upon his head. The term ‘crown of holiness’ instead of the more usual ‘crown of glory’, probably with reference to the attribute of ‘holiness’ conferred upon this prince in vs. I. on which the Explicit Name is graven. Cf. ch. xii. 1 and note, also ch. xxxix. 1. Acc. to Shir Rabba, i, the explicit name was engraved on the crowns given to the Israelites at mount Sinai. the bow of Shekina. The (heavenly counterpart of) the ‘bow in the cloud’ is probably meant. This has become a regular part of the speculations on the heavenly splendours, cf. ch. xxii c 4, 7. Then also it is understood as referring to the angel’s weapon. (6) his sword is upon his loins. Sword is a frequent concomitant attribute of the angel of death or of the EER of destruction. Cf. Rev. R. Foshua ben Levit, BH. ii. 48.