3 Enoch - Content

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Modern scholars describe this book as pseudepigraphal, as it says it is written by Rabbi Ishmael who became a 'high priest' after visions of ascension to Heaven, 90 CE - 135 CE. Rabbi Ishmael is a leading figure of Merkabah literature.

The name Sefer Hekhalot (Hekhalot meaning Palaces/Temples), along with its proposed author, places this book as a member of Hekalot/Merkabah lore. Its contents suggest that 3 Enoch's contents and ideas are newer than those shown in other Merkabah texts. The book does not contain Merkabah hymns, it has unique layout and adjuration. All these facts make 3 Enoch unique not just among Merkabah writings, but also within the writings of Enoch.

3 Enoch contains a number of Greek and Latin words. This book, unlike 1 Enoch, appears to have been originally written in Hebrew. There are a number of indications suggesting that the writers of 3 Enoch had knowledge of, and most likely read, 1 Enoch.

Some points that appear in 1 Enoch and 3 Enoch are:

  • Enoch ascends to Heaven in a storm chariot (3 Enoch 6:1; 7:1)
  • Enoch is transformed into an angel (3 Enoch 9:1-5; 15:1-2)
  • Enoch as an exalted angel is enthroned in Heaven (3 Enoch 10:1-3; 16:1)
  • Enoch receives a revelation of cosmological secrets of creation (3 Enoch 13:1-2)
  • The story about precious metals and how they will not avail their users and those that make idols from them (3 Enoch 5:7-14)
  • A hostile angel named Azaz'el/Aza'el and two others like him are mentioned in passing (3 Enoch 4:6; 5:9)

The main themes running through 3 Enoch are the ascension of Enoch into Heaven and his transformation into the angel Metatron.

"This Enoch, whose flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to flashes of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and whom God placed on a throne next to the throne of glory, received after this heavenly transformation the name Metatron." —Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) p. 67

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