3 Enoch

Odeberg1928 source English page 303

CH. XXVII| ANGELOLOGICAL SECTION (A1) 95 princes, wondrous more than all the servants. His name is RAD- WERIEL? H’ who is appointed over the treasuries of the books. (2) He fetches forth the Case 501 Writings (with) the Book of Records in it, and brings it before the Holy One, blessed be He. 4And he breaks the seals of the case*3, Sopens it, >takes out® the books and delivers them before the Holy One, blessed be He®. And the Holy One, blessed be He, receives them of his hand and gives them in his sight to the Scribes, that they may read them 7in the Great Beth Din’ in the height of ‘Araboth Ragia‘, before the heavenly household. 2 E: ‘Daryd’el’ D marks, through vowel points, the pronunciation ‘ Radweritel’, which is adopted above. 3-3 Eom. 4-4 Dom. 5-5 so E. A corr.: ‘gives’ 6-6 D om. 7-7 so DE. A (seemingly): ‘before the Holy One, blessed be He, the Great One’ there exists a connection as well with regard to name as function between RADWERIEL here and the ‘VRETIL’ of 2 En. xxii. 11, 12 (and xxiii): “‘ And the Lord called one of his archangels, by name Vretil, who was more wise than the other archangels and wrote down all the doings of the Lord. And the Lord said to Vretil, * Bring forth the books from my store-places, and give a reed to Enoch and interpret to him the books’ etc.” The affinities between this and the features represented in the present chapter are obvious. 2 En.: VRETIL, an archangel, more wise than the other archangels—here: RADWERIEL, above the Seraphim, the highest of the Merkaba-angels, exalted above all the Princes etc.; 2 En.: VRETIL brings forth the books from God’s store-places— here: RADWERIEL is appointed over the treasuries of the books and fetches forth the ‘ Case of Writings with the Book of Records’. The derivation of the words ‘RADWERIEL’ or ‘VRETIL’ is uncertain: from the Greek 600060775 (thus signifying ‘fluent speech, fluent reading’?). Cf. vs. 3. He may originally have had the function, here assigned to the scribes, of ‘reading the books before the Great Beth Din in heaven’. (2) Case of Writings. The Hebrew word, here translated ‘Case’, is used in this sense in TB. Sota, 22 d, Meg. 26 b 61 al., also Alph. R. ‘Aqiba, letter Qoph. Book of Records (or ‘of remembrance’). On the three main lines of conceptions of the ‘books’ at the Judgement cf. note on ch. xviii. 24. The ‘book of records’ evidently is conceived of as recording all the deeds of the inhabitants of the world relevant to the issues at the Judgement. The Book of Records is the basis of the Judgement also acc. to the liturgical prayer ונתנה תקף'‎ ' (‘and thou wilt remember all that is forgotten, and wilt open the Book of Records’’). takes out the books. The plural might either refer to other books besides and inclusive of the Book of Records or be due to a confusion between two traditions, one knowing one ‘Book’ only, the other speaking of ‘the books’. The second tradition is represented, e.g. in 4 Ez. vi. 20, Ap. Bar. xxiv. 1, Rev. xx. 12, not to mention Dan. vii. 0. gives them. ..to the scribes, that they may read them. A similar situation, with the same expressions, is pictured in the Alph. R. ‘Aqiba, letter Qoph, only with the difference that it there takes place at the court of the Pharaoh. The illustrative features are borrowed from the writer’s ideas of the proceedings at a royal court. The Great Beth Din or Sanhedrin or Court of Justice. Cf. chh. xxviii. 9 and xxx. 1. The Sanhedrin on earth had its counterpart in heaven, the Beth Din Shel- ma‘ala under the presidency of the Most High himself. The members of the Beth Din on high were the highest angels, according to ch. xxx evidently the seventy-two princes of kingdoms together with the Prince of the World, acc. to ch. xxviii. 9,