Andrei A. Orlov

http://www.andreiorlov.com

 Enoch as the Mediator

[an excerpt from A. Orlov, The Enoch-Metatron Tradition (TSAJ, 107; Tuebingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2005), pp. xii+383. ISBN 3-16-148544-0.]

… The patriarch’s mediatorial functions loom large in Enochic lore and constitute another highly complex and multifaceted role of this character. Early Enochic sources indicate that this role appears to be more complicated than the similar mediatorial duties of Enmeduranki attested in the tablet from Nineveh.

In contrast to the king of Sippar, whose mediation involves the task of bringing celestial knowledge to humans, the seventh antediluvian patriarch is portrayed as the one who not only dispatches knowledge from the celestial to the terrestrial realm but also conveys messages received in the lower realms to God and other celestial beings. [1]

Of prime importance is that this two-way communication involves specific media of knowledge represented respectively by the heavenly tablets and Enoch’s petitions and testimonies written on behalf of fallen creatures. The patriarch’s mediating duties comprise a whole range of topographical and chronological dimensions. His functions as mediator are not confined to a particular realm or a particular petitioner, since his clients include a range of divine, angelic, human, and composite creatures.  In the Book of the Watchers faithful angels of heaven ask him to assist their brethren in the lower realm.  In this text he mediates on behalf of the rebellious group which includes the fallen Watchers and the Giants. In 2 Enoch the elders of the earth ask him for intercession. In the Genesis Apocryphon his son Methuselah is successful in obtaining through him special knowledge about the puzzling situation of Lamech.

Enoch’s mediating activities also are not limited by specific chronological boundaries. He mediates in the generation of the Flood, but he is also expected to be a mediator and the witness of the divine judgment in the eschatological period. The shorter recension of 2 Enoch 36:3 stresses the long-lasting scope of the patriarch’s mediating activities when it mentions the Lord’s invitation to Enoch to become his celestial scribe and witness of the divine judgment forever.

The range of the patriarch’s mediating activities is also very broad. He mediates knowledge, sharing the esoteric information which he received from various angelic and divine agents with humans. He mediates as intercessor, helping various creatures to record and deliver their petitions to the Creator. He also mediates judgment by recording the sins of humans and writing testimonies.

It is apparent that Enoch’s role as mediator interacts with a wide range of other roles and functions: he mediates through his scribal role when he writes petitions and testimonies and copies tablets. He mediates as a diviner who receives and interprets dreams and visions which serve as important mediums between the upper and lower realms. He mediates through the office of expert in the secrets, transmitting celestial wisdom to human beings. The aforementioned range of Enoch’s mediating activities demonstrates the highly complex nature of this office. Although it is extremely difficult to offer a comprehensive rationale that can effectively schematize all facets of this role, some general comments can be made.

One notices that Enoch’s mediating activities can be divided into two major categories: his mediation of knowledge and his mediation of divine judgment. Both spheres seem to represent important centers of the patriarch’s mediating activities.

Although mediation of divine judgment cannot be completely separated from Enoch’s mediation of knowledge since the former necessarily includes knowledge of the upcoming judgment that the patriarch possesses and sometimes shares with others, it is useful to confine Enoch’s mediation of divine judgment to a separate category.  Indeed, this category appears to be more complex than his mediation of knowledge and can be viewed as encompassing two major activities taking place in two temporal loci.

First, a few words must be said about the temporal loci of Enoch’s mediating activities in reference to divine judgment. It appears that the patriarch is predestined to mediate judgment in two significant temporal loci. One of them is the historical locus associated with the generation of the Flood; in this locale Enoch acts as an intercessor and a writer of testimonies to the Watchers, Giants and humans. The second locus is eschatological and involves Enoch’s future role as witness of the divine judgment at the end of time.[2] These two loci might be seen as the boundaries that demarcate the period covered by Enoch’s prominent role as God’s assistant in divine judgment. Indeed, in the time between the generation of the Flood and the upcoming final judgment, Enoch does not completely abandon his role as the witness of the divine judgment, since early Enochic traditions often depict him as the one who meticulously collects knowledge about the sins and righteous deeds of God’s creatures; this knowledge will be used at the time of the final arbitration.

The seventh antediluvian patriarch’s mediation of the divine judgment includes two roles that exhibit his unique position as the middleman between humans and God: the role of the intercessor and the role of a herald of the judgment. In his role as the intercessor, the seventh antediluvian hero acts as a special envoy from creatures to their Creator, bringing petitions and pleas to God. In his role as the herald of judgment the patriarch behaves as a messenger from the Creator warning the creatures of lower realms about future punishment.

The role of envoy to both parties, divine and human, becomes possible not only through the patriarch’s knowledge of the “secrets of the divine judgment” but also through his understanding of the secrets of the human heart. The later Hekhalot materials specifically stress Enoch-Metatron’s expertise in the mysteries not only of the Creator but also of the creatures. In Synopse §14 (3 Enoch 11) Enoch-Metatron conveys to R. Ishmael that “before a man thinks in secrets, I see his thought; before he acts, I see his act. There is nothing in heaven above or deep within the earth concealed from me.”[3]

In view of the multifaceted nature of the Enochic mediation, the further investigation of this role will be divided into three sections. The first section will deal with Enoch’s mediation of knowledge; this mediation is mainly represented by his transmission of sacred knowledge to people of earth in general and to his son in particular. The second section will deal with the historical locus of his mediation of judgment, and in particular with his dealings with the Watchers/Giants. Finally, the third section will deal with the patriarch’s role as the eschatological witness of the divine judgment and the writer of testimonies to the sinners of the earth.

Mediation of Knowledge

It has been previously noted that the patriarch’s roles as the expert in secrets and the scribe are interconnected in the early Enochic booklets. One of the significant links that unifies these two roles is the special knowledge that Enoch receives from angels and then must write down. The function of mediating knowledge is also what connects these two roles with the patriarch’s role as mediator.  This tripartite cluster in which the seventh antediluvian patriarch acts simultaneously as a scribe, an expert in secrets, and a mediator is prominent in the Enochic materials and can be found already in the Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 82:1) where Enoch is depicted as a transmitter of special knowledge to his son Methuselah: “And now, my son Methuselah, all these things I recount to you and write down for you; I have revealed everything to you and have given you books about all these things. Keep, my son Methuselah, the books from the hand of your father, that you may pass (them) on to the generations of eternity.”[4]

In the passage from the Astronomical Book, as in the previously analyzed text about Enmeduranki,[5] three roles of the seventh antediluvian hero, namely, his expertise in the secrets, his scribal activities and his role as a mediator, are tied together through the reference to the tablet dispatched to the hero, which serves as an important unifying symbol for this cluster of his roles.[6]  There is little doubt that Enoch’s writings in themselves represent the mediatorial tools, the media that are able to bridge the vertical and horizontal boundaries: the frontier lines between celestial and earthly realms, as well as the line of catastrophic demarcation between antediluvian and postdiluvian generations.  The motif of Enoch’s writings as a mediatorial device for bridging the flood catastrophe is recurrent in Enochic traditions. Enoch’s writings serve the purpose of preserving knowledge in light of the impending flood. In 2 Enoch 33 God reveals to Enoch that the main function of his writings is the dissemination of knowledge and its preservation from the impending catastrophe:

And give them the books in your handwriting, and they will read them and they will acknowledge me as the Creator of everything…. And let them distribute the books in your handwritings, children to children and family to family and kinfolk to kinfolk.... So I have commanded my angels, Ariukh and Pariukh, whom I have appointed to the earth as their guardians, and I commanded the seasons, so they might preserve them [books] so they might not perish in the future flood which I shall create in your generation.[7]

Here again the three aforementioned roles of the patriarch are observable: Enoch’s scribal activities, his mediatorial role, and his role as an expert in secrets. The last role is hinted at through the reference to the guardian angels of Enoch’s writing.

Despite the apparent esoteric character of the knowledge conveyed by the angels and God to the seventh antediluvian patriarch, the dissemination of this information remains one of the major functions of Enoch-Metatron in various Enochic materials. They depict him as the one who shares astronomical, meteorological, calendarical, and eschatological knowledge with his sons and others during his short visit to the earth. He also delivers knowledge about the future destruction to the Watchers/Giants. In the Merkabah tradition, Enoch-Metatron is also responsible for transmitting the highest secrets to the Princes under him, as well as to humankind.      

A significant aspect of this Enochic role is that this transmission of knowledge from celestial to earthly agents is executed not only through the written medium of the celestial books or the tablets, but also orally. In 1 Enoch 82:1 the patriarch says that for his son’s sake, he will recount and write down the things that he learned himself. Commenting on this passage, James VanderKam observes that “there is no mistaking the fact that Enoch relayed Uriel’s revelations to Methuselah both orally and in writings.”[8]

The event of oral instruction leads us to another Enochic role, teacher or instructor, which becomes a prominent theme later in the Merkabah tradition.[9]  Here Enoch-Metatron is portrayed as the Prince of Torah (Sar Torah) whose function is to instruct the visionaries in the secrets of the Torah and to educate the souls of the deceased infants in the wisdom of the Scriptures.[10] This aspect of oral instruction plays a significant role already in 2 Enoch. Despite the explicit references to the Enochic books, a large body of the text is devoted to the extended oral instructions of Enoch to his sons, including Methuselah and the people of the earth.

Later Hekhalot materials refer to the adjuration of the Prince of Torah, who sometimes is identified in these texts with Metatron. One must not however forget that already in some early Enochic traditions as in the later Merkabah developments, the oral transmission of celestial knowledge can be initiated not simply by the elevated Enoch or some other angelic agent but also upon the request of humans. Here one can possibly see the beginning of the adjuration pattern prominent in later Jewish mysticism in general and in Hekhalot literature in particular. Thus, in some early Enochic texts, Methuselah is often depicted not only as a passive recipient of the traditions passed on to him by his elevated father but also, in a manner similar to the later Merkabah visionaries who invoke the Sar Torah, as someone who can actively initiate the quest for special knowledge from his heavenly patron. This motif is evident in 1 Enoch 106 and the Genesis Apocryphon, where Methuselah approaches Enoch in order to obtain knowledge about Lamech’s puzzling situation. According to these narratives, when Methuselah learned about Lamech’s suspicions, he decided to ask advice from Enoch. The Genesis Apocryphon reads: “he (Methuselah) left for the higher level, to Parvaim, and there he met Enoch, [his father...].”[11] The active role of Methuselah is highlighted by the motif of his travel to “the higher level,” Parvaim, where he encounters Enoch.  Genesis Apocryphon further tells us that “he (Methuselah) said to Enoch, his father: O my father and lord, to whom I have co[me...] [...] I say to you: Do not be annoyed with me because I came here to [...] you [...] fear (?) before you [...].”[12] This ability of Methuselah to initiate the request for urgently needed information might also be reflected in the testimony preserved by Pseudo-Eupolemus, which attests to a tradition according to which “Methuselah ... learned all things through the help of the angels of God, and thus we gained our knowledge.”[13]

A related motif is found in 2 Enoch 38, which depicts Enoch’s transition to earth after his transformation near the throne of Glory. The passage specifically mentions Methuselah as the one who was anticipating Enoch’s arrival, “mounting strict guard”[14] at his bed. Although 2 Enoch 38 does not contain any explicit references to adjurational practices, this motif of awaiting the descent of the angel coupled with the reference to the ascetic practice of “mounting strict guard,” is provocative and can be compared to the later Hekhalot Sar Torah accounts with their emphasis on ascetic preparations for the adjuration of the Sar Torah.

Mediation of the Divine Judgment: Enoch’s Intercession for the Watchers

It has been previously mentioned that Enoch’s mediation of the divine judgment is connected with two important chronological points: the generation of the Flood, when he was appointed by God as a special envoy to the rebellious group of the Watchers, and the eschatological locus, where he is predestined to become the witness of the divine judgment at the end of times.[15]  This section of the investigation will deal with Enoch’s functions as a mediating force between God and the fallen Watchers/Giants, both as an intercessor and as a witness of judgment.

In various Enochic materials, the patriarch is pictured as a special messenger of the Deity to the Watchers/Giants – a messenger with a unique, long-lasting mission to this rebellious group, both on earth and in other realms. The Book of the Watchers depicts him as the intercessor for the fallen angels. His mission entails not only compassion for the fallen creatures but also the message of condemnation of their sins. According to Jub 4:22, Enoch “testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the daughters of men…. Enoch testified against all of them.”[16] In the Book of Giants Enoch delivers the written sermon, reprimanding the Watchers/Giants’ sinful behavior and warning them about the upcoming punishment.[17] Enoch’s mediating efforts are not limited solely to the fallen Watchers, but also include their faithful counterparts in heaven, who remained untouched by sin.  2 Enoch 18 portrays Enoch’s preaching to the Watchers of heaven during his celestial tour; he encourages them and suggests that they start the liturgy before the face of the Lord.[18]

Enoch’s role as the envoy to angels tells us something new about his position. VanderKam observes that “in 1 Enoch 12–16 the patriarch assumes a status far higher than he had enjoyed in earlier descriptions of him. In the Astronomical Book he relayed to his son and posterity the scientific information that Uriel had divulged to him, but here he becomes a mediating envoy between the Lord and the angels on whose behalf he intercedes.”[19]

This observation points to a significant difference in two mediating events. In the Astronomical Book the patriarch serves as a liaison between his angelic guide who entrusted him with celestial knowledge and the creatures of flesh and blood whom he must enlighten about the angelic secrets. In the Book of the Watchers Enoch’s status as mediator is much higher because he serves as an intermediary between the fallen angels and God.  In this capacity as a middleman between the angelic group and the Deity, his status as intercessor is even higher than that of angels, since their sins (or the sins of their associates, as in the case of the faithful Watchers of heaven) place them now below the elevated humanity of the patriarch. The patriarch’s role as intercessor thus poses a paradox, resisting the traditional understanding of the intercession in which an angelic being must assume the role of intercessor on behalf of the creatures of flesh and blood. In 1 Enoch 15:2 God himself points to the paradox of Enoch’s role: “And go, say to the Watchers of heaven who sent you to petition on their behalf: ‘You ought to petition on behalf of men, not men on behalf of you.’”[20]

VanderKam observes that “Enoch becomes an official mediator for the angels because their crimes had made them too ashamed to approach their former heavenly home again.”[21] The important aspect here is that the Watchers are not only ashamed to approach the Deity, they also seem to have lost their ability to serve effectively as mediators even on their own behalf. It is interesting to note that the text implies that under current conditions even the faithful Watchers of heaven are not able to serve as mediators between God and their former colleagues in the lower realm. Thus, 1 Enoch 12:3–13:1 implies the superiority of Enoch as a mediator even over the angels of heaven. The text depicts the faithful Watchers of heaven asking the patriarch to serve as an intermediary between God and their fallen brethren:

And I Enoch was blessing the Great Lord and the King of Eternity, and behold the Watchers called to me, Enoch the scribe, and said to me: “Enoch, scribe of righteousness, go inform the Watchers of heaven who left the high heaven and the holy place, and have corrupted themselves with the women ….”[22]

VanderKam observes that in Chapters 12–16 of 1 Enoch, “Enoch plays an intriguing and suggestive role: though he is a human being, he serves as an intermediary between angelic groups. He brings to the evil Watchers, who sinned with women and thereby unleashed all manner of evil on the earth, the announcement that they will have no peace.…”[23] In 1 Enoch 13:3–4 one can hear a similar request for mediation by the patriarch from the fallen Watchers who, trembling before Enoch, ask him to write a petition from them to the Lord of heaven: “Then I went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid; fear and trembling seized them. And they asked me to write out for them the record of a petition that they might receive forgiveness, and to take the record of their petition up to the Lord in heaven.”[24]

Chapters 12–16 of 1 Enoch depict the patriarch repeatedly crossing the  boundaries between celestial and terrestrial worlds on behalf of his clients in the lower and upper realms. Observing Enoch’s voyages, VanderKam notes that “Enoch, like the sinful angels, was one who crossed boundaries, but he, unlike them, retained the ability to retrace his steps. The angels, once they had committed themselves to the life of flesh and blood, lost the ability to return.”[25]

One must note that in the mediating encounters with the Watchers’ group the patriarch uses the medium of the written word. The fragments of the Book of Giants testify to the multifaceted nature of these activities. Here again the scribal role of the patriarch is closely connected with his office as mediator. Collins recognizes the connection between both duties, noting that “Enoch … is introduced initially in the role of scribe, and his function is one of intermediary between the angels in heaven and their fallen brethren on earth.”[26]

Mediation of the Divine Judgment: Enoch as Eschatological Witness

Chapter 36 of the short recension of 2 Enoch depicts the Lord appointing the elevated patriarch to several newly-acquired celestial offices, including those of the expert in secrets, the heavenly scribe, and the servant of the divine Face: “and you will be in front of my face from now and forever. And you will be seeing my secrets, and you will be scribe for my servants … and you will be for me a witness of the judgment of the great age.”[27]

The significant feature of this description is that, besides the three roles previously explored in the investigation, it contains a reference to Enoch’s office as a “witness of the divine judgment.” This eschatological role of the patriarch will later occupy a prominent part in early Jewish mysticism, where Metatron is named as )twdhs)d hbr )r#, “a great angel (prince) of testimony.” In the Merkabah tradition he appears also as the heavenly advocate defending Israel in the celestial court.

It is possible that Enoch’s role as a witness of the divine judgment has Mesopotamian roots. Alfred Haldar’s research demonstrates that in some Mesopotamian texts a ba3ru= practitioner was considered an assistant to the “lords of decision,” Šamaš and Adad, the deities responsible for judgment. According to one Mesopotamian text, “the ba3ru= shall seat himself before Šamaš and Adad on the tribunal and then judge a judgment of right and righteousness. Šamaš and Adad, the great gods, the Lords of vision, the Lords of decision, appear before him in order to decide a decision (and) answer him with a faithful yea.”[28]

In early Enochic materials the patriarch’s roles as a witness and the author of a testimony occur often. Their significance is effectively summarized in the Book of Jubilees,[29] where a relatively short account of Enoch’s activities is literally saturated with the motifs and themes pertaining to his position as a witness of the divine judgment. According to Jub 4:19,[30]

He saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur – how things will happen for humankind during their history until the day of judgment. He saw everything and understood. He wrote a testimony for himself and placed it upon the earth against all mankind and for their history.[31]

As with Enoch’s mediation in knowledge, which was carried out through distinctive written materials (tablets/books and petitions), the mediation of divine judgment again is executed through the written medium: Enoch’s testimony, depicted as a writing placed on the earth. This latter feature may indicate that this written evidence, just like some of Enoch’s other records, also bridged the boundaries between the heavenly and earthly realms.[32] One must note that Enoch’s role as the witness of the divine judgment is rooted in his extraordinary personal situation: he was able to become a righteous person in the generation prominent for its iniquities. This is why according to the Greek text of Ben Sira 44:16, Enoch is predestined to serve as the “sign of repentance for the generations.” This unique destiny also makes him the witness of the divine judgment at the time of the final condemnation. Jub 4:23–24 attests to this peculiar role of the patriarch:

He was taken from human society, and we led him into the Garden of Eden for (his) greatness and honor. Now he is there writing down the judgment and condemnation of the world and all the wickedness of mankind. Because of him the flood water did not come on any of the land of Eden because he was placed there as a sign and to testify against all people in order to tell all the deeds of history until the day of judgment.[33]

It has been already mentioned that Enoch’s role as witness of the divine judgment appears to have two loci: historical and eschatological. He was able to testify in a temporal locus which was situated in the antediluvian generation: “he testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the daughters of men because these had begun to mix with earthly women so that they became defiled. Enoch testified against all of them.”[34] He also will testify against sinners of all generations in the final day of judgment at the end of the times. [35]

A passage found in one of the recensions of the Testament of Abraham seems to allude to this eschatological role of the seventh patriarch; Enoch is depicted as witness of the divine judgment,[36] helping Abel, who is the eschatological judge:

And Michael said to Abraham, “Do you see the judge? This is Abel, who first bore witness, and God brought him here to judge. And the one who produces (the evidence) is the teacher of heaven and earth and the scribe of righteousness, Enoch. For the Lord sent them here in order that they might record the sins and the righteous deeds of each person.” And Abraham said, “And how can Enoch bear the weight of the souls, since he has not seen death? Or how can he give the sentence of all the souls?” And Michael said, “If he were to give sentence concerning them, it would not be accepted. But it is not Enoch’s business to give sentence; rather the Lord is the one who gives sentence, and it is this one’s (Enoch’s) task only to write. For Enoch prayed to the Lord saying, ‘Lord, I do not want to give the sentence of the souls, lest I become oppressive to someone.’ And the Lord said to Enoch, ‘I shall command you to write the sins of a soul that makes atonement, and it will enter into life. And if the soul has not made atonement and repented, you will find its sins (already) written, and it will be cast into punishment.’” (B 11:2–10).[37]

At the conclusion of this section, another detail connected with Enoch’s role as witness of the divine judgment must be mentioned. It appears that this prominent role includes the duty of visiting places connected with the scenes of the current and the eschatological judgments.  In a variety of Enochic traditions, the patriarch is depicted as a seer led by his angelic guides to the places of the execution of the divine judgment, as well as to the terrifying places where various sinful creatures await their final trial(s).[38]  He must travel to the frontiers of the abyss, where in the fiery cosmic prisons, angelic hosts are punished for their iniquities. On these journeys Enoch often sees both preliminary and final places of the punishment of the fallen angels. One of the passages found in 1 Enoch 21:1–8 might give a hint of the emotions that Enoch is predestined to experience in his encounter with the places of the divine judgment:

And I saw a terrible thing – neither the high heaven, nor the (firmly) founded earth, but a desert place, prepared and terrible. And there I saw seven stars of heaven bound on it together like great mountains, and burning like fire.…And from there I went to another place, more terrible than this, and I saw a terrible thing: (there was) a great fire there which burned and blazed, and the place had a cleft (reaching) to the abyss, full of great pillars of fire which were made to fall; neither its extent nor its size could I see, nor could I see its source. Then I said: “How terrible this place (is), and (how) painful to look at!”[39]