Andrei Orlov
Ex 33 on God's Face: A Lesson from the Enochic Tradition
[published in Seminar Papers 39, Society of Biblical
Literature Annual Meeting 2000 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical
Literature, 2000) 130-147]
Ex 33:18-23 depicts Moses who asks the Lord to show him His
glory. Instead the Lord agrees to proclaim his name before Moses,
telling him that it is impossible for a human being to see God's
face.
In recent scholarship this prominent motif of Moses' story has
become a stumbling block for students of the Hebrew Bible.
Currently most biblical scholars agree upon apparent difficulties
in the literary-critical analysis of this section of Exodus. M.
Noth comments that "a literary-critical analysis of Ex 33 is
probably impossible."[1]
B. Childs confirms that there are several fundamental exegetical
problems with Ex 33:18-23. "The most difficult one is to
determine the role of this passage in its larger context."[2]
The internal logic of the passage about the Divine face is also
problematic. The whole narrative about God's panim in Ex
33 is quite perplexing. Ex 33:11 informs a reader that God would
speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. A
few verses later, in 33:14-15, God promises Moses that His face
will go with him. In the context of these promises and early
testimonies about "face-to-face" relationships, it
comes as a surprise that in 33:20 the Lord suddenly rejects
Moses' request to see His face.
It is clear that the anthropomorphic tradition about the divine
face in Ex 33 has a fragmentary character. [3] It may well contain
polemics between the anthropomorphic position of J source and the
Deuteronomic theology of the divine name: instead of seeing of
God's face the Lord offers Moses to hear His name.[4] M. Noth observes that Ex 33 can be
seen as "a conglomeration of secondary accretions."[5]
The apparent difficulties one faces in clarifying the concept of
the divine face within the context of the known sources of the
Pentateuch call for an investigation of the broader biblical and
extrabiblical traditions where this motif could be possibly
preserved in its extended form. Implicitly linked to the
"original" Exodus motif, these later
"interpretations" might provide some additional
insights which may help us better understand the fragmentary
tradition preserved in chapter 33. This article will focus on one
of the possible echoes of Ex 33--the theophanic tradition of the
divine countenance preserved in the corpus of the Enochic
writings.
The Face of the Lord
The Slavonic Apocalypse of Enoch, a Jewish text,
apparently written in the first century CE, [6] contains two striking
theophanic descriptions involving the motif of the divine face.
The first one occurs in 2 Enoch 22[7] which portrays Enoch's encounter
with the Lord in the celestial realm. Enoch recounts:
I saw the view of the face of the Lord, like iron made burning
hot in a fire and brought out, and it emits sparks and is
incandescent. Thus even I saw the face of the Lord. But the face
of the Lord is not to be talked about, it is so very marvelous
and supremely awesome and supremely frightening. And who am I to
give an account of the incomprehensible being of the Lord, and of
his face, so extremely strange and indescribable? And how many
are his commands, and his multiple voice, and the Lord's throne,
supremely great and not made by hands, and the choir stalls all
around him, the cherubim and the seraphim armies, and their
never-silent singing. Who can give an account of his beautiful
appearance, never changing and indescribable, and his great
glory? And I fell down flat and did obeisance to the Lord (2
Enoch 22:1-4, the longer recension).[8]
In chapter 39 Enoch reports this theophanic experience to his
sons during his short visit to the earth, adding some new
details. Although both portrayals demonstrate a number of
terminological affinities, the second account explicitly connects
the divine face with the Lord's anthropomorphic
"extend." The following account is drawn from the
shorter recension of 2 Enoch:
And now, my children it is not from my lips that I am reporting
to you today, but from the lips of the Lord who has sent me to
you. As for you, you hear my words, out of my lips, a human being
created equal to yourselves; but I have heard the words from the
fiery lips of the Lord. For the lips of the Lord are a furnace of
fire, and his words are the fiery flames which come out. You, my
children, you see my face, a human being created just like
yourselves; I am one who has seen the face of the Lord,[9] like iron made burning
hot by a fire, emitting sparks. For you gaze into my eyes, a
human being created just like yourselves; but I have gazed into
the eyes of the Lord, like the rays of the shining sun[10] and terrifying the
eyes of a human being. You, my children, you see my right hand
beckoning you, a human being created identical to yourselves; but
I have seen the right hand of the Lord, beckoning me, who fills
heaven. You see the extend of my body, the same as your own; but
I have seen the extend of the Lord,[11]
without measure and without analogy, who has no end... To stand
before the King, who will be able to endure the infinite terror
or of the great burning (2 Enoch 39:3-8).[12]
In both theophanic descriptions the notion of the Lord's
"face" plays a crucial role. It is not a coincidence
that in both of them the "face" is associated with
light and fire. In biblical theophanies smoke and fire often
serve as a divine envelope that protects mortals from the sight
of the divine form. Radiant luminosity emitted by the Deity
fulfills the same function, signaling the danger of the direct
vision of the divine form. Luminosity also represents the screen
which protects the Deity from the necessity of revealing its true
form. Scholars note that in some theophanic traditions God's form
remains hidden behind His light.[13]
The hidden Kavod is revealed through this light, which
serves as the luminous screen, "the face" of this
anthropomorphic extend. 2 Enoch's theophanies which use
the metaphors of light and fire may well be connected with such
traditions where the divine "extend" is hidden behind
the incandescent "face," which covers and protects the
sovereignty of the Lord.
In 2 Enoch 39:3-6 the "face" is closely
associated with the divine "extend" and seems to be
understood not simply as a part of the Lord's body (His face) but
as a radiant façade of His anthropomorphic
"form."[14]
This identification between the Lord's face and the Lord's
"form" is reinforced by an additional parallel pair in
which Ehoch's face is identified with Enoch's "form":
You, my children, you see my face, a human being created just
like yourselves; but I am one who has seen the face of the Lord,
like iron made burning hot by a fire, emitting sparks... And you
see the form of my body, the same as your own: but I have seen
the form (extend) of the Lord, without measure and without
analogy, who has no end (2 Enoch 39:3-6).
The association between the divine face and divine form in 2
Enoch 39:3-6 alludes to the biblical tradition from Ex
33:18-23 where the divine panim is mentioned in connection
with his glorious divine form - God's Kavod:[15]
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the Lord
said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you,
and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence...
but," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may
see me and live."
It is clear that in the biblical passage the impossibility of
seeing the Lord's face is understood not simply as the
impossibility of seeing the particular part of the Lord but
rather as the impossibility of seeing the complete range of His
glorious "body." The logic of the whole passage, which
employs such terms as God's "face" and God's
"back," suggests that the term panim refers to
the "forefront" of the divine extend. The imagery of
the divine face found in Psalms[16]
also favors this motif of the identity between the Lord's face
and His anthropomorphic "form." For example, in Ps
17:15 the Lord's face is closely associated with His form or
likeness:
As for me, I shall behold your face[17]
in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding your form .
It is evident that all three accounts, Ex 33:18-23, Ps 17:15 and 2
Enoch 39:3-6, represent a single tradition in which the
divine face serves as the terminus technicus for the
designation of the Lord's anthropomorphic extend.
Apparently, all these accounts deal with the specific
anthropomorphic manifestation known as God's Kavod.[18] The possibility of
such identification is already hinted in Ex 33 where Moses who
asks the Lord to show him His kavod receives the answer
that it is impossible for him to see the Lord's "face."
The correlation of the divine face with "likeness" in
Ps 17:15 can be also an allusion to kavod, which in Ez
1:28 is described as "the likeness of the glory of the
Lord."
There is another early Mosaic account which correlates the Sinai
encounter with Kavod. This important tradition, found in
the fragments of the drama "Exodus" written by Ezekiel
the Dramatist, depicts Moses' experience at Sinai as the vision
of God's anthropomorphic kavod:[19]
I dreamt there was on the summit of mount Sinai
A certain great throne extending up to heaven's cleft,
On which there sat a certain noble man
Wearing a crown and holding a great scepter in his left hand.[20]
W. Meeks observes that this passage may be safely taken as a
witness to traditions of the second century BCE, since it was
quoted by Alexander Polyhistor who lived around 80-40 BCE. [21]
It means that by the second century BCE Moses' association with kavod,
hinted in Ex 33, was already surrounded by an elaborate imagery,
in which the Throne of Glory played a crucial role.
2 Enoch 22 further strengthens this theophanic pattern in
which the encounter with the Divine Face is understood as the
vision of God's throne. The text gives a number of evidences
which prove that the anthropomorphic "extend,"
identified with the divine face, indeed represents His kavod.
The theophany of the divine countenance in the Slavonic
apocalypse is surrounded by a peculiar kavod imagery,
which plays a prominent role in the Ezekelian account. The
following parallels are noteworthy:
1. The theophany of the divine face took place in the highest of
the heaven.[22] The
highest of the heaven is a traditional place of God's Throne, the
abode of His Glory. A later account found in 3 Enoch tells
that "In Arabot there are 660 thousands of myriads of
glorious angels, hewn out of flaming fire, standing opposite the
throne of glory. The glorious King covers his face, otherwise the
heaven of Arabot would burst open in the middle, because
of the glorious brilliance..."[23]
2. The theophanic description in 2 Enoch 22 refers to
"His many-eyed ones,"[24]
alluding to Ophanim, the Wheels, the special class of the
Angels of the Throne who in Ezekiel 1:18 are described as the
angelic beings "full of eyes."
3. A reference to the "many-voiced ones" probably
alludes to choirs of angelic hosts surrounding the Throne.
4. Finally, in 2 Enoch 22 there is a direct reference to
the throne of the Lord, which occupies a central place in the
theophanic description, and is pictured as "supremely great
and not made by hands."[25]
The Throne of Glory is surrounded by the armies of the angelic
hosts, cherubim and the seraphim, with "their never-silent
singing."[26]
Moses' Face
Previous research shows that the correlation between God's face
and his luminous form (his glorious Kavod) was already
implicitly articulated in Ex 33. The Enochic theophany found in 2
Enoch further strengthens this connection, giving a
theophanic description of the Lord's face as his terrifying
"extend" which emits light and fire.
The important detail of these two accounts is the "danger
motif"--the warnings about the peril of seeing the Deity.
Both of them contain specific references to the harmful effect
this theophanic experience has on the mortals, who dare to behold
the Divine face. In Ex 33:20 the Lord warns Moses about the
danger of seeing His face: "You cannot see my face, for no
one may see me and live." The motif of peril is further
reinforced by the Lord's instructions in 33:22 where he commands
Moses to hide himself into a cleft in the rock and promises to
protect the prophet with His hands.
The "danger motif" also looms large in 2 Enoch.
In 2 Enoch 39, immediately after his description of the
theophany of the face, Enoch gives warning to his children about
the danger of this theophanic experience:
Frightening and dangerous it is to stand before the face of an
earthly king, terrifying and very dangerous it is, because the
will of the king is death and the will of the king is life. How
much more terrifying [and dangerous] it is to stand before the
face of the King of earthly kings and of the heavenly armies,
[the regulator of the living and of the dead]. Who can endure
that endless misery? (2 Enoch 39:8).[27]
The "danger motif" in Ex 33 and in 2 Enoch
implicitly suggests that both of these accounts support the idea
that the human being actually can see the face of God. M.
Weinfeld argues that the warning about the danger of seeing the
Deity usually affirms the possibility of such an experience. In
his observations about antianthropomorphic tendencies of
Deuteronomy, Deutero-Isaiah and Jeremiah, he points to the fact
that these texts demonstrate a lack of usual warnings about the
danger of seeing the Deity found in pre-Deuteronomic books. He
concludes that it happened because the Deuteronomic school cannot
conceive of the possibility of seeing the Deity.[28]
The possibility of theophany hinted in 2 Enoch and Ex 33
might suggest that Exodus' account implicitly asserts that Moses
could see the divine form.[29]
The distinctive details in the depiction of Moses' face in Ex 34
may further support this conclusion. But before we explore this
motif, let us again return to the narrative of 2 Enoch.
From this Enochic account we learn that the vision of the Divine
face had dramatic consequences for Enoch's appearance. His body
endures radical changes as it becomes covered with the divine
light. The important detail here is that the luminous
transformation of Enoch takes place in front of radiant
"face" of the Lord. In 22:6 Enoch reports that he was
lifted up and brought before the Lord's face by archangel
Michael. The Lord decides to appoint Enoch as sar happanim,
the Prince of the Divine Presence: "Let Enoch come up and
stand in front of my face forever."[30] Further, the Lord commanded the
archangel Michael to extract Enoch from earthly clothing, anoint
him with the delightful oil, and put him into the clothes of the
Lord's glory (22:8-9).[31]
The text describes the actions of Michael, who anoints Enoch with
the delightful oil and clothes him. The symbolism of light
permeates the whole scene; the oil emanates the rays of the
glittering sun "greater
than the greatest light."[32]
At the end of this procedure, Enoch "had become like one of
the glorious ones, [33] and there was no
observable difference."[34]
In Enoch's radiant metamorphosis before the Divine face an
important detail can be found which links Enoch's transformation
with Moses' account in Exodus. In 2 Enoch 37 we learn
about the unusual procedure performed on Enoch's face on the
final stage of his encounter with the Lord. The text informs that
the Lord called one of his senior angels to chill the face of
Enoch. The text says that the angel appeared frigid; he was as
white as snow, and his hands were as cold as ice. The text
further depicts the angel chilling Enoch's face, who could not
endure the terror of the Lord, "just as it is not possible
to endure the fire of a stove and the heat of the sun..."[35] Right after this
"chilling procedure," the Lord informs Enoch that if
his face had not been chilled here, no human being would be able
to look at his face.[36]
This reference to the radiance of Enoch's face after his
encounter with the Lord is an apparent parallel to the
incandescent face of Moses[37]
after the Sinai experience in Ex 34.
References to the shining countenance of a visionary found in 2
Enoch return us again to the Exodus story. Ex 34:29-35
portrays Moses[38]
after his encounter with the Lord. The passage says that
"when Moses came down from Mount Sinai ... he was not aware
that his face was radiant, because he had spoken with the
Lord." The strange logic of the last sentence, which points
to ambiguous connection between the speech of the Lord as a cause
of Moses' glowing face can be explained by the Enochic theophanic
account where "the lips of the Lord are a furnace of fire,
and his words are the fiery flames which come out."[39]
These parallels between the later Enochic text and the biblical
Mosaic account are not inappropriate. As will be demonstrated
later, the connection between the Enochic and Mosaic accounts has
quite ancient roots. One of the evidences of the early link
between Enoch and Moses includes the already mentioned drama of
Ezekiel the Dramatist, which was apparently written during the
second century BCE.[40]
W. Meeks[41] and P.
W. van der Horst[42]
observe that Moses' depiction in the drama of Ezekiel the
Dramatist bears some similarities to Enoch's figure in the
Enochic traditions. They note a number of remarkable allusions in
the drama to the Enochic motifs and themes. These allusions
include the following points:
1. Moses's account is depicted as his dream vision in a fashion
similar to Enoch's dreams in 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch.
2. In the text Moses is "elevated" by God, who gives
him the throne, the royal diadem,[43]
and the scepter.
3. God appointed Moses as an eschatological judge of humankind
able to see "things present, past and future"[44]--the traditional
role of Enoch found already in early Enochic booklets.
4. Moses is an "expert" in "a variety of
things," including cosmological and astronomical
information:
I beheld the entire circled earth
Both beneath the earth and above the heaven,
And a host of stars fell on its knees before me;
I numbered them all,
They passed before me like a squadron of soldiers.[45]
This preoccupation with various meteorological, astronomical and
eschatological "secrets" are typical duties of the
elevated Enoch which are here transferred to Moses apparently for
the first time.[46]
5. Finally, the motif of assigning the seat/throne is a peculiar
feature of Enochic literature where Enoch/Metatron is depicted as
a scribe[47] who has
a seat (later a throne) in the heavenly realm.
[48] 2
Enoch 23:4 pictures the angel Vereveil who commands Enoch to
sit down.[49]
"You sit down; write everything...." And Enoch said,
"And I sat down for a second period of 30 days and 30
nights, and I wrote accurately" (23:6).[50] The theme of Enoch/Metatron's
seat became a prominent motif in Rabbinic tradition, where according to b. Hag.
15a, the privilege of "sitting" beside God was accorded
solely to Metatron by virtue of his character as a
"scribe": for he was granted permission as a scribe to
sit and write down the merits of Israel.
The tacit links between Enoch and Moses found in the early
Enochic theophanic tradition later become openly articulated in
Rabbinic literature. In this later enunciation, as in the initial
encounters, the familiar theophanic motif from the Exodus story
again plays a crucial role. From 3 Enoch we learn that it
is Enoch-Metatron, whose face once was transformed into fire,[51] who is now the one[52] who tells Moses
about his shining visage: "At once Metatron, Prince of the
Divine Presence, said to Moses, 'Son of Amram, fear not! for
already God favors you. Ask what you will with confidence and
boldness, for light shines from the skin of your face from one
end of the world to the other.'"[53]
Conclusion
The foregoing research has examined some extrabiblical materials
related to the divine face's motif found in Ex 33. The
investigation has shown that the evolution of this motif in later
traditions is dependent on Enoch-Moses gestalt, which
plays a prominent role in Enochic theophanies of the divine face.
This research, however, would not be complete without mentioning
another important source which is also related to the traditions
about the patriarch Enoch and the prophet Moses. This source is
the priestly editor of the Pentateuch.
Much attention has been devoted to the peculiar interest of the
priestly editor in anthropomorphic descriptions of the Deity.[54] M. Weinfeld and T.
Mettinger show that the Priestly source played a crucial role in
promoting biblical theophanic traditions. In these traditions
Moses' figure has occupied an important place.[55]
The Priestly source also was the locus where the enigmatic figure
of Enoch for the first time appeared in its esoteric complexity,[56] indicating that the
priestly author was cognizant of the broader Enochic
developments. Some scholars believe that perhaps it is "to
some such developed Enoch tradition the author of Genesis is
making reference when he emits his cryptic statements about Enoch
in Genesis 5:22-24."[57]
Students of the Enochic tradition are now aware that the priestly
editor was familiar with the peculiar Mesopotamian traditions[58] which constituted a
conceptual framework for Enoch's figure.[59]
In these Mesopotamian traditions a prototype of Enoch,
Enmeduranki, is portrayed as a "translated" figure, the
one "who sat in the presence[60]
of Shamash and Adad, the divine adjudicators."[61] This reference to
Enmeduranki's access to the glorious presence/face of the solar
deity[62] indicates
that the later role of Enoch as sar happanim, the Prince
of the Divine Presence or the Prince of the Face,[63] was already present in its
rudimentary form in the Mesopotamian traditions known to the
priestly editor.
In the light of these observations the idea that Ex 33 could
actually contain the original Enochic motif is not inappropriate.
The implicit link between the Enochic account of the divine
Presence and the Mosaic account of the divine panim may
well reflect the conceptual world of the priestly editor, who
often "has expressed his acquaintance with a fairly broad
range of Mesopotamian traditions in remarkably few words."[64]
[1] M. Noth, History
of Pentateuchal Traditions (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1972) 31, n. 114.
[2] B.S. Childs, The
Book of Exodus. A Critical, Theological Commentary
(Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1974) 595.
[3] A.F. Campbell and
M.A. O'Brien placed Ex 33 within the nonsource texts. Cf. A.F.
Campbell and M.A. O'Brien, Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts,
Introductions, Annotations (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
1993) 263.
[4] The Old Testament
materials reveal complicated polemics for and against
anthropomorphic understanding of God. Scholars agree that the
anthropomorphic imagery of the Hebrew Bible was
"crystallized" in the tradition, known to us as the
Priestly source. Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the
Deuteronomic School (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972) 191.
Theological developments of the Priestly tradition demonstrate
that the anthropomorphism of the Priestly source is intimately
connected with the place of Divine habitation. In this tradition,
"in which the Divinity is personalized and depicted in the
most tangible corporeal similitudes," God, who possesses a
human form, has a need for a house or tabernacle. (Weinfeld,
Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 191). Weinfeld
rightly observes that this anthropomorphic position was not
entirely an invention of the Priestly source, but derives from
early sacral conceptions found in the early sourses. In these
traditions the Deity was sitting in his house ensconced between
the two cherubim, and at his feet rests the ark, his footstool.
In spite of the active promulgation of anthropomorphic concepts
in some Old Testament materials, like J, P and Ezekelian sources,
the Hebrew Bible also contains polemics against God's
corporeality. Scholars note the sharp opposition of the book of
Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic school to the anthropomorphism
of the Priestly source and early anthropomorphic traditions. In
their opinion, Deuteronomic school "first initiated the
polemic against the anthropomorphic and corporeal conceptions of
the Deity and that it was afterwards taken up by the prophets
Jeremiah and Deutero-Isaiah." (Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and
the Deuteronomic School, 198). In contrast to the
anthropomorphic imagery of J and P, the Deuteronomic school
promulgates anticorporeal theology of "divine name"
with its conception of sanctuary (tabernacle) as the place where
only God's name dwells. On Deuteronomic antianthropomorphism cf.:
T.N.D. Mettinger, The Dethronement of Sabaoth. Studies in the
Shem and Kavod Theologies (Coniectanea Biblica. Old Testament
Series, 18; Lund: Wallin & Dalholm, 1982); Moshe Weinfeld,
Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 191-209.
[5] M. Noth, History
of Pentateuchal Traditions (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1972) 31, n. 114.
[6] On 2 Enoch
see: I. D. Amusin, Kumranskaja Obshchina (Moscow: Nauka,
1983); F. Andersen, "2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch,"
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. J. H. Charlesworth; New
York: Doubleday, 1985 [1983]) 1. 91-221; G. N. Bonwetsch, Das
slavische Henochbuch (AGWG, 1; Berlin: Weidmannsche
Buchhandlung, 1896); G. N. Bonwetsch, Die Bücher
der Geheimnisse Henochs: Das sogenannte slavische Henochbuch
(TU, 44; Leipzig, 1922); C. Böttrich, Weltweisheit,
Menschheitsethik, Urkult: Studien zum slavischen Henochbuch
(WUNT, R.2, 50; Tübingen: Mohr, 1992); C. Böttrich, Das
slavische Henochbuch (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlaghaus,
1995); C. Böttrich, Adam als Mikrokosmos: eine Untersuchung
zum slavischen Henochbuch (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,
1995); R. H. Charles, and W. R. Morfill, The Book of the
Secrets of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896); J. H.
Charlesworth, "The SNTS Pseudepigrapha Seminars at Tübingen
and Paris on the Books of Enoch (Seminar Report)," NTS
25 (1979) 315-23; J. H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament. Prolegomena for the Study
of Christian Origins (SNTSMS, 54; Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1985); J. Collins, "The Genre of
Apocalypse in Hellenistic Judaism," Apocalypticism in the
Mediterranean World and the Near East (ed. D. Hellholm;
Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1983); L. Cry, "Quelques noms
d'anges ou d'êtres mystérieux en II Hénoch," RB 49
(1940) 195-203; U. Fischer, Eschatologie und Jenseitserwartung
im hellenistischen Diasporajudentum (BZNW, 44; Berlin: W. de
Gruyter, 1978); A. S. D. Maunder, "The Date and Place of
Writing of the Slavonic Book of Enoch," The
Observatory 41 (1918) 309-316; N. Meshcherskij, "Sledy
pamjatnikov Kumrana v staroslavjanskoj i drevnerusskoj literature
(K izucheniju slavjanskih versij knigi Enoha)," Trudy
otdela drevnerusskoj literatury 19 (1963) 130-47; N.
Meshcherskij, "K voprosu ob istochnikah slavjanskoj knigi
Enoha," Kratkie soobshchenija Instituta narodov Azii
86 (1965) 72-8; J. T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic
Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976);
H. Odeberg, 3 Enoch or the Hebrew Book of Enoch (New York:
KTAV, 1973); A. Orlov, "Titles of Enoch-Metatron in 2
Enoch," JSP 18 (1998) 71-86; S. Pines,
"Eschatology and the Concept of Time in the Slavonic Book
of Enoch," Types of Redemption (ed. R. J. Zwi
Werblowsky; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970) 72-87; A. Rubinstein,
"Observations on the Slavonic Book of Enoch," JJS
15 (1962) 1-21; P. Sacchi, Jewish Apocalyptic and its History
(JSPSS, 20; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996); A. De
Santos Otero, "Libro de los secretos de Henoc (Henoc
eslavo)," Apócrifos del AT IV (ed. A. Díez Macho;
Madrid, 1984) 147-202; G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism,
Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic tradition (New York: Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, 1965); M. I. Sokolov,
"Materialy i zametki po starinnoj slavjanskoj literature.
Vypusk tretij, VII. Slavjanskaja Kniga Enoha Pravednogo. Teksty,
latinskij perevod i izsledovanie. Posmertnyj trud avtora
prigotovil k izdaniju M. Speranskij," Chtenija v
Obshchestve Istorii i Drevnostej Rossijskih (COIDR) 4 (1910);
M. Stone, Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period (2
vols; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984) 2, 406-8; A. Vaillant, Le
livre des secrets d'Hénoch: Texte slave et traduction française
(Paris: Institut d'Etudes Slaves, 1952; repr. Paris, 1976); J.
VanderKam, Enoch: A Man for All Generations (Columbia:
University of South Carolina, 1995).
[7] In this paper I
have used Andersen's English translation of 2 Enoch and
follow his division in chapters. Cf. F. Andersen, "2
(Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch," The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha (2 vols.; ed. J.H. Charlesworth; New York:
Doubleday, 1985 [1983]) 1.102-221.
[8] Andersen, 136. The
shorter recension of the Slavonic text gives a less elaborated
description of the Lord's appearance: "I saw the Lord. His
face was strong and very glorious and terrible. Who (is) to give
an account of the dimensions of the being of the face of the
Lord, strong and very terrible? Or his many-eyed ones and
many-voiced ones, and the supremely great throne of the Lord, not
made by hands, or those who are in attendance all around him, the
cherubim and the seraphim armies, or how unvarying and
indescribable and never-silent and glorious is his service. and I
fell down flat and did obeisance to the Lord." Cf. Andersen,
137. Andersen observes that the absence of the comparison with
hot iron in MSS of shorter recension shows the embarrassment of
scribes over this attempt to describe the Lord's appearance.
Andersen, 137.
[9] Slav. lice
Gospodne. Cf. A. Vaillant, Le livre des secrets d'Henoch:
Texte slave et traduction française (Paris: Institut
D'Etudes Slaves, 1952) 38. Unless noted otherwise, this and the
subsequent Slavonic citations are drawn from Vaillant's edition.
[10] The important
detail of this description is solar symbolism, which plays an
important role in 2 Enoch. The text often uses solar
metaphors in various descriptions of angelic beings; e.g., in
chapter 1 where Enoch meets two angels with "faces like the
shining sun." Later, during his heavenly journey, Enoch sees
"a group of seven angels, brilliant and very glorious with
faces more radiant than the radiance of the sun." The images
of fire and light are often involved in these solar descriptions
of angelic hosts. The text pictures "... glorious and
shining and many-eyed stations of the Lord's servants... and of
the ranks of powerful fireborn heavenly armies." Andersen
rightly observes that "fire and light are fundamental
elements in the physics of 2 Enoch." Andersen, 104.
[11]Slav. objatie
Gospodne. Vaillant, 38.
[12] MSS of the
longer recension do not demonstrate substantial differences with
this description.
[13] April De
Conick's pioneering research shows that in Enochic traditions
God's form remains hidden behind his light. A. De Conick, Seek
to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas
(Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, 33; Leiden: Brill, 1996),
104-5.
[14] G. Scholem's
research on the presence of the Shicur
Qomah traditions in 2 Enoch 39 helps to clarify the
"anthropomorphic" character of the Lord's
"extend" in 2 Enoch. Cf. his lecture "The
Age of Shiur Qomah Speculation and a Passage in
Origen" in G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah
Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition (New York: The Jewish
Theological Seminary, 1965).
[15] The term kavod
can be translated as "substance," "body,"
"mass," "power," "might,"
"honor," "glory," "splendor." In
its meaning as "glory" dwbk
usually refers to God, his sanctuary, his city, or sacred
paraphernalia. The Priestly tradition uses the term in connection
with God's appearances in the tabernacle. P and Ezekiel describe dwbk as a blazing fire surrounded by
radiance and a great cloud. M. Weinfeld, "kavod"
TDOT, 7. 22-38.
[16] On the Face of
God in Psalms see: S. Balentine, The Hidden God: The Hiding
Face of God in the Old Testament (Oxford; Oxford University
Press, 1983) 49-65; W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament
(2 vols; Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967) 2.35-9; M.
Fishbane, "Form and Reformulation of the Biblical Priestly
Blessing," JAOS 103 (1983) 115-21; J. Reindl, Das
Angesicht Gottes im Sprachgebrauch des Alten Testaments (ETS
25; Leipzig: St. Benno, 1970) 236-7; M. Smith, "'Seeing God'
in the Psalms: The Background to the Beatific Vision in the
Hebrew Bible," CBQ 50 (1988) 171-83.
[17] Note also that
poetic rhyme further reinforces the correspondence between the
face and the form of God in this passage.
[18] Contra W.
Eichrodt who insists that the panim had no connection with
the kavod at any rate. He argues that the two concepts
derive from different roots, and were never combined with one
another. Cf. W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament,
2.38.
[19] Pieter W. van
der Horst observes that Ezekiel the Dramatist's vision of God in
human shape seated on the throne is based on the first chapter of
the biblical Ezekiel. Cf. P.W. van der Horst, "Moses' Throne
Vision in Ezekiel the Dramatist," JJS 34 (1983) 24.
[20] C.R. Holladay, Fragments
From Hellenistic Jewish Authors (4 vols.; Texts and
Translations, 30; Pseudepigrapha Series, 12; Atlanta: Scholars
Press, 1989) 2.363.
[21] W. Meeks, The
Prophet-King. Moses Traditions and the Johannine
Christology (SNT, 14; Leiden: Brill, 1967) 149. Cf. also C.R.
Holladay, Fragments From Hellenistic Jewish Authors,
2.308-12.
[22] Andersen,
136-37.
[23] Alexander, 305.
[24] Andersen, 137.
[25] Andersen, 137.
[26] Andersen, 137.
[27] Andersen, 164.
[28] M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy
and the Deuteronomic School, 207.
[29] Another
"Mosaic" account attributed to J, openly articulates
this possibility: "With him (Moses) I speak mouth to mouth,
clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the
Lord (Num 12:8). "
[30] Andersen, 139.
[31] Andersen, 139.
[32] Andersen, 138.
Jarl Fossum provides a number of allusions to the theme of
"shining oil" in 2 Enoch. cf. J. Fossum, The
Image of the Invisible God: Essays on the Influence of Jewish
Mysticism on early Christology (NTOA, 30; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1995) 84.
[33] Andersen
observes that "this motif (Enoch's transformation into the
glorious angel) seems to have been influenced by the legend of
Moses, whose shining face was a reflection of God's magnificent
glory." Andersen, 139.
[34] Andersen, 139.
[35] Andersen, 160.
[36] Andersen, 160.
[37] About possible
Mesopotamian provenance of this motif cf.: M. Haran, "The
Shining of Moses's Face: A Case Study in Biblical and Ancient
Near Eastern Iconography [Ex 34:29-35; Ps 69:32; Hab 3:4]," In
the Shelter of Elyon (JSOP, 31; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press, 1984) 159-73; W. Propp, "The Skin of Moses' Face -
Transfigured or Disfigured?" CBQ 49 (1987) 375-386.
[38] On Moses'
traditions see: R. Bloch, "Die Gestalt des Moses in der
rabbinischen Tradition," in Moses in Schrift und
Überlieferung (Düsseldorf: Patmos-Verlag, 1963) 95-171;
G.W. Coats, Moses: Heroic Man, Man of God (JSOTSup, 57;
Sheffield: Sheffield Press, 1988); S. Hafemann, "Moses in
the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: A Survey," JSP 7
(1990) 79-104; W.A. Meeks, The Prophet-King: Moses Traditions
and the Johannine Christology (NovTSup, 14; Leiden: Brill,
1967); R. Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronomist: A Literary
Study of the Deuteronomic History (New York: Seabury, 1980).
[39] Andersen, 163.
[40] C.R. Holladay, Fragments
From Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 2.312.
[41] Meeks, 147.
[42] P.W. van der
Horst, 21-29.
[43] The crowning of
Enoch-Metatron became a prominent leitmotif in later Enochic
tradition, especially, in 3 Enoch. W. Meeks observes that
the enthronement of Enoch-Metatron in 3 Enoch
"betrays interesting similarities to Moses'
traditions." Meeks, 207. See also van der Horst who observes
that "like Moses, Enoch is assigned a cosmic and divine
function that involves the wearing of regalia." P.W. van der
Horst, 25.
[44] C.R. Holladay, Fragments
From Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 2.367.
[45] C.R. Holladay, Fragments
From Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 2.365.
[46] R.H. Charles
argued that this transition of Enoch's function to Moses first
was made in 2 Apoc. Bar., where God shows Moses "the
measures of the fire, also the depths of the abyss, and the
weight of the winds, and the number of the drops of rain." APOT,
2.514.
[47] In 1 Enoch
74:2 Enoch writes the instructions of the angel Uriel regarding
the secrets of heavenly bodies and their movements. M. Knibb,
The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition in the Light of the
Aramaic Dead Sea Fragments (2 vols; Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1978) 2.173. Qumran Enochic fragments (4QEnGiants 14; 4QEn 92:1)
picture Enoch as "the scribe of distinction." Cf. J.T.
Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976) 261-62 and 305. In the Book of
Jubilees Enoch is attested as "the first of mankind... who
learned (the art of) writing, instruction, and wisdom and who
wrote down in a book the signs of the sky..." J.C.
VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (2 vols.; CSCO 510-11,
Scriptores Aethiopici 87-88; Leuven: Peeters, 1989) 2.25-6.
[48] P.W. van der
Horst also stresses unique features of Moses' enthronement in
Ezekiel the Dramatist, which depart from Enochic and Merkabah
imagery. He observes that "In Moses' vision, there is only
one throne, God's. And Moses is requested to be seated on it, not
at God's side but all alone. God leaves his throne. This scene is
unique in early Jewish literature and certainly implies a
deification of Moses." van der Horst, 25.
[49] Slav. Sjadi.
Vaillant, 26.
[50] Andersen, 141.
[51] 3 Enoch
15:1 depicts this radiant metamorphosis of Enoch-Metatron:
"When the Holy One, blessed be he, took me to serve the
throne of glory, the wheels of the chariot and all the needs of
the Schekinah, at once my flesh turned to flame, my sinews to
blazing fire, my bones to juniper coals, my eyelashes to
lightning flashes, my eyeballs to fiery torches, the hairs of my
head to hot flames, all my limbs to wings of burning fire, and
the substance of my body to blazing fire." Alexander, 267.
[52] Scholars
observes that in Merkabah tradition Metatron is explicitly
identified with the Face of God. Cf.: A. De Conick,
"Heavenly Temple Traditions and Valentinian Worship: A Case
for First-Century Christology in the Second Century," The
Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism (eds. C.C. Newman,
J.R. Davila, G.S. Lewis; JSJ 63; Brill: Leiden, 1999) 329; D.J.
Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot (TSAJ 16; Tübingen:
Mohr/Siebeck, 1988) 424-425.
[53] 3 Enoch
15B:5. Cf. Alexander, 304.
[54] On the issue of
Old Testament's anthropomorphism see: J. Barr, "Theophany
and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament," VT Suppl.
7 (1960), 31-8; J. Hempel, "Die Grenzen des
Anthropomorphismus Jahwes im Alten Testament," ZAW 57
(1939), 75-85; F. Michaeli, Dieu à l'image de l'homme: Étude
de la notion anthropomorphique de Dieu dans l'Ancient Testament
(Neuchâtel: Delachaux, 1950); E. Jacob, Théologie de
l'Ancient Testament (Neuchâtel: Delachaux, 1955), 30ff.;
M.C.A. Korpel, A Rift in the Clouds. Ugaritic and Hebrew
Descriptions of the Divine (Münster: UGARIT-Verlag, 1990),
87-590; T.N.D. Mettinger, The Dethronement of Sabaoth. Studies
in the Shem and Kavod Theologies (Coniectanea Biblica. Old
Testament Series, 18; Lund: Wallin & Dalholm, 1982); J.
Oelsner, Benennung und Funktion der Körperteile im
hebräischen Alten Testament (Leipzig, 1960).
[55] T.N.D.
Mettinger, The Dethronement of Sabaoth. Studies in the Shem
and Kavod Theologies; Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the
Deuteronomic School, 191-209.
[56] The traditions
about Enoch are different in J and P. For the discussion of the
differences cf. J. VanderKam, Enoch and the Growth of an
Apocalyptic Tradition (The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
Monograph Series, 16; Washington: The Catholic Biblical
Association of America, 1984) 23-51; H.S. Kvanvig, Roots of
Apocalyptic: the Mesopotamian Background of the Enoch Figure and
of the Son of Man (WMANT, 61; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener
Verlag, 1988) 40-53.
[57] M. Stone,
"Enoch, Aramaic Levi and Sectarian Origin" JSJ
19 (1988) 162.
[58] On the
Mesopotamian traditions behind the Enoch's figure cf.: H.
Zimmern, "Urkönige und Uroffenbarung" in Eberhard
Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament (2
vols., Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 1902-03) 2.530-43; H. L.
Jansen, Die Henochgestalt: Eine vergleichende
religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Norske
Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo II. Hist.-Filos. Klasse, 1; Oslo:
Dybwad, 1939); P. Grelot, "La légende d'Hénoch dans les
apocryphes et dans la Bible: origine et signification", RSR
46 (1958) 5-26, 181-210; J. VanderKam, Enoch and the Growth of
an Apocalyptic Tradition; H.S. Kvanvig, Roots of
Apocalyptic: the Mesopotamian Background of the Enoch Figure and
of the Son of Man.
[59] Important
witnesses to these traditions include the various versions of the
so-called Sumerian antediluvian King List, the materials which
dated from 1500 B.C.E. to 165 B.C.E. The List demonstrates a
number of similarities with the genealogy of Genesis 5. One of
its interesting details is that Mesopotamian kings, as well as
patriarchs from Genesis' account, had extraordinary long reigns,
ranging from 3,600 to 72,000 years. A second important parallel
is that two versions of the List give ten kings, the last of whom
is designated as the hero of the flood. It demonstrates a close
resemblance to the role of Noah who occupies the tenth place in
the list of Genesis 5. J. Vanderkam notes that "in the
literature on Genesis 5 there is a well established tradition
which holds that P modeled his pre-flood genealogy on a
Mesopotamian list of antediluvian kings, the so-called Sumerian
King List." Vanderkam, 26. An important character in the
Sumerian King list is Enmeduranki (Enmeduranna), the king of
Sippar, the city of the sun-god Shamash. In three copies of the
List he occupies the seventh place, which in Genesis' genealogy
belongs to Enoch. Moreover, in other Mesopotamian sources
Enmeduranki appears in many roles and situations which
demonstrate remarkable similarities with Enoch's story. J.
Vanderkam's research shows that the priestly author was aware of
these broader Mesopotamian traditions which served as a prototype
for Enoch's figure, whose symbolical age of 365 years reflects
the link between the patriarch and the solar cult of Shamash.
Vanderkam concludes that "the biblical image of Enoch is
based on the Mesopotamian picture of Enmeduranki."
Vanderkam, 50.
[60] In another text
about Enmeduranki the same motif of the divine presence can be
found: "...he may approach the presence (ma-h9ar)
of Shamash and Adad..." W.G. Lambert, "Enmeduranki and
Related Matters", JCS 21 (1967) 132.
[61] W.G. Lambert,
128 and 130.
[62] On Mesopotamian
solar symbolism and its influence on biblical concepts, including
the concept of the divine panim cf. A. Caquot, "La
Divinite Solaire Ougaritique," Syria 36 (1959)
90-101; B. Janowski, Rettungsgewissheit und Epiphanie des
Heils (Bd. 1; Neukirchen, 1989) 105ff.; B. Lang, Gott als
"Licht" in Israel und Mesopotamien: Eine Studie zu Jes.
60:1-3.19 (Klosterneuburg, 1989); W. Smelik, "On
Mystical Transformation of the Righteous into Light in
Judaism," JSJ 26 (1995) 122-44; M. Smith, The
Early History of God: Yahweh and the other Deities in Ancient
Israel (San Francisco, 1990); M. Smith, "The Near
Eastern Background of Solar Language for Yahweh," JBL
109/1 (1990) 29-39; H. P. Stähli, Solare Elemente im
Jahweglauben des Alten Testaments (OBO 66; Freiburg:
Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1985).
[63] Some scholars
argue that the biblical concept of the divine face also has
Mesopotamian roots. M. Fishbane and M. Smith show that the
language of the Lord's shining face was part of Israel's
inheritance from ancient Near Eastern culture. Cf. M. Fishbane,
"Form and Reformulation of the Biblical Priestly
Blessing," JAOS 103 (1983) 115-21; M. Smith,
"'Seeing God' in the Psalms: The Background to the Beatific
Vision in the Hebrew Bible," CBQ 50 (1988) 171-83.
Fishbane stresses that "the various and abundant use of such
imagery in ancient Near Eastern literature, particularly from
Mesopotamia where it recurs in a wide range of genres, suggests
that ancient Israel absorbed such imagery as part and parcel of
its rich patrimony." M. Fishbane, 116.
[64] Vanderkam, 50.