3 Enoch

Odeberg1928 source English page 332

124 THE HEBREW BOOK OF ENOCH [CH, אזאאא‎ Glory fly compass the Holy of His Shekina’. (2) And the angels of the host, and the flaming Servants, and the mighty ’Ophannim, and the Kerubim -of the Shekina, and the Holy Chayyoth, and the Seraphim, and the Er ellim, and the Taphsarim ? off like eagles, with sixteen wings. And they surround and One, blessed be He, on the four sides of the place I = E. ve ‘(the place of the) Glory of His Shekina’ 2 A ins.: ‘the troops of | flame’ meaning that suggests itself in the present connection is that of “names that are explicit, have an individual, fixed form or appearance”’. Cf. ch. xlvili B 1, acc. to the reading of FGH: ‘The Holy One, blessed be He, has 70 names that are explicit, the rest that are not explicit are innumerable and unsearchable’”’. The Explicit Names are here distinguished as being graven on the Throne of Glory (with a flaming style; cf. chh. xiii. 1, xxix. 1, xl. 4). Cf. the enumeration of the different categories of Names in Alph. R. ‘Agiba, BH. iii. 26. The Explicit Names are there in a separate class from those on the Throne, if the reading is correct: “The Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to Moses all the Names: both the Explicit Names, the Names that are graven on the royal crown on his head, the names that are graven on the Throne of Glory, the names that are graven on the ring of his hand, the names that are standing as pillars of fire round his chariots, the names that surround the Shekina like eagles of the Merkaba, and the names by which heaven and earth are sealed...”. [he intent of the passage is probably to denote all these names as Explicit Names. fly off like eagles. Cf. above, ‘the names that surround the Shekina like eagles’. For the names flying off, cf. TB. ‘Ab. Zar. 18 a (the letters fly off from a scroll of the Tora, when burning), Pesachim, 87 b (when the tables of the testimony were broken by Moses, acc. to Ex. xxxii. 19, the letters graven on them, flew off). Alph. R. ‘Aqiba, BH. iti. 53: “The letter Kaph went down from its place on the Fearful Crown and stood before the Throne of Glory’’. Similarly, ch. xlviii B 1, the Names of the Holy One are represented as going forth ‘from before the Throne of Glory’. The names are thus represented as self-existent and capable of taking on the form of living beings. The object of the names flying off as eagles (angels of the form of eagles) is their participation in the responses of the Qédushsha. This is explicitly stated with regard to the letters (the letters and the Names being vastly inter- changeable terms) in the quotation from “the book of Enoch” in Mishkan ha-‘Edut by Moses de Leon (BH. ii. p. xxxi): “the letters in the four different quarters round the Throne (cf. here: on the four sides of the place 01 His Shekina (Ay off. ..and when flying off say: ‘Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever’’’. _(2) And the angels of the host, and the flaming Servants etc. The Explicit Names surrounding the Holy One are accompanied by great armies of princes of fire and mighty regiments of troops (gédudim) of fire, says Alph. 1%. ‘Aqiba, BH. iii. 25 - For ae present enumeration of various angelic classes cf. chh. vi. 2, vii, xiv. 1. ee 2 של ו‎ present verse is to be regarded as presenting a tradition of the ps heirs ל‎ poner This is indicated by the mention of the four = emer ok / phannim, Kerubim, Chayyoth and Seraphim). > 0 - . the cpt ession “prince of the host applied to the princes ו‎ ect . In each heaven there is one ‘host’. The term mean one special class 2 ne rie pee ה‎ of angels, it might 0 ‘tha anunia opie = % ו‎ 6 angels of the host would then, here, mean. ו ל‎ ae. sn ighest of the heavens’. Cf. ch. ור‎ | ה‎ (Oohanni, קת‎ occurs also ch. vii. Cf. note, 2b. and ב‎ Tren and the Kerubim of the Shekina, the holy Chayyoth phim, lhe mighty ’Ophannim or ‘the ’Ophannim of Gebura’: Gebura otc ar sk f ‘ é 4 q |