3 Enoch

Odeberg1928 source English page 305

- eS. — 6 CH, XXVIII] ANGELOLOGICAL SECTION (AT) 97 CHAR TEE RAO itt The ‘Irin and Qaddishin R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Angel, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: (1) Above all these there are four great princes, ‘Jrin and Qaddishin by name: high, honoured, revered, beloved, wonderful and glorious ones, greater than all the children of heaven. ‘There is none like unto them among all the celestial princes and none their equal among all the Servants. For each one of them is equal to all the rest together. (2) And their dwelling is over against the Throne of Glory, ג‎ their standing place 2over against the Holy One, blessed be He?, 1-1 Hom. 2-2 so D. A uncertain, corr.; perhaps: ‘is the place of the Throne (Beth ha-kKisse)’ Ch. xxviii. (1) ‘Irin and Qaddishin, 1.6. the Watchers and the Holy Ones. The ‘Irin and the Qaddishin are acc. to the present angelological system at the summit of the hierarchy of angels. They form the council of the Most High (vs. 4), have executive power over the terrestrials (vs. 6) and, acc. to the latter part of the chapter, they assist at the forensic as well as retributive judgement, being both ‘court-officers’ and executors of the Divine decrees. The ‘Jvin are mentioned in 1 En. (as ‘ Watchers’), alone or together with the Qaddishin (= ‘Holy Ones’) in chh. vi—xvi, xix, Ixxxvi et al. In 2 En. they appear as the ‘ Grigorz’, 1b. xviii. The expression ‘Holy Ones’ occurs frequently in 1 En. (chh. ix. 3, xii. 2, xiv. 23, Memes eal vile 2 vil, 21x. 4,1x1..5, 10) 12) xvii. xix. 13) lxxi 8) Ixxxi.\5; 01. 19. Vide CHARLES, 1 En. Index ,זז‎ * Angels, the holy ones’). In ch. ix. 3 it refers to the four archangels or ‘ Presences’, in ch. .1אאא1‎ 5 to the seven archangels, in ch. xlvii. 2 possibly to the Chayyoth, in chh. xxxix. 5, lx. 4, .1ַא1‎ 8, lxv. 12 to the angels or ‘children of heaven’ in general, the distinction from other classes of angels or as a definite class being uncertain, as is the case also with chh. lvii. 2 and Ixxi. 8. Of special interest here are ch. xii. 2 (“watchers and the holy ones”’), ch. xiv. 23 (“the most holy ones who were nigh to him did not leave by night [= watchers] nor depart from him’’). ‘These passages indicate a conception of the ‘Jrin and Qaddishin as a special class of angels, intimately connected with each other, and hence show affinity with the presentations of our chapter. Cf. also ch. .א1א]‎ As regards the ‘ Watchers’ we meet with two different traditions in 1 En. One, the more prominent, is embodied in chh. vi-xvi, xix, lxxxvi, represents the watchers as fallen angels, identifying them with “‘the sons of God” (Gen. vi). The other view agrees with that of the present chapter in placing the Watchers near the Divine Presence and is represented in chh. xii. 2, xiv. 23, .1א1‎ 12 (‘“‘those who sleep not above in heaven” = ‘the Watchers’) and, possibly, ch. cvi. 19. (Cf. however, CHARLES’s distinction in Pseudepigrapha (A and P. 11), p. 188, note 5.) Notice the expression, 1 En. xx. 1: “the holy angels who watch”’, with reference to the seven archangels. ‘The names and conception are, of course, deduced from Dan. iv. 14 (10). See vss. 4, 8 and g here. The present interpretation of the said passage in Daniel is, * however, by no means the general one. Cf. the commentaries. (2) their dwelling is over against the Throne of Glory...over against the OHB 7