Andrei Orlov
Origin of the Name "Metatron" and the Text of 2
(Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch
[The paper was presented on the Early Jewish and Christian
Mysticism Group, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November
24, 1996.
Published in: Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 21
(2000) pp. 19-26 under the title: "The Origin of the Name
'Metatron' and the Text of 2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of)
Enoch." This paper requires the fonts SP Tiberian, SP
Ionic]
The history of scholarship on 2 Enoch has produced no real
consensus about possible provenance of the text. Rather, there
are several paradigms of scholarly perception and the circles of
their recurrence. These paradigms are the consequences of
different backgrounds and perspectives of scholars involved in 2
Enoch's studies.
One of the important paradigm of the research on 2 Enoch
is the view that the text has deep connections with the Merkabah
mysticism. This hypothesis has been the part of long and
respected tradition. Among the leading pioneers of this approach
stand Gershom Scholem and Hugo Odeberg. Odeberg may well be the
first scholar who pointed out that the descriptions of celestial
titles for Enoch in 2 Enoch are the most important
evidences of possible connections between the Slavonic apocalypse
and texts of the Merkabah tradition.
In these descriptions of celestial titles, one may find the
origins of another image of Enoch, quite different from early
Enochic literature, which was later developed in Merkabah
mysticism--the image of the angel Metatron, "The Prince of
the Presence."
The Slavonic text provides rudimentary descriptions of several
traditional Merkabah titles of Enoch/Metatron, (e.g., "the
Lad," "the Scribe," "the Prince of the
World," "the Prince of Presence"). Keeping these
manifestations of Merkabah symbolism in mind, my presentation
will focus upon only one of these titles of Enoch, namely,
"The Prince, or the Governor, of the World."
The Merkabah tradition stresses the role of Metatron as the
"governing power over the nations, kingdoms and rulers on
earth." 3 Enoch portrays Metatron as the Prince of
the World, the leader of seventy two princes of the kingdom of
the world, who speaks (pleads) in favor of the world before the
Holy One.
Chapter 43 of the short recension of 2 Enoch and a similar
passage of the text of 2 Enoch in the Slavonic collection Merilo
Pravednoe ("The Just Balance") reveals Enoch in his
new celestial role. Both texts tell outline Enoch's instructions
to his children during his brief return to the earth, in which he
mentions his new role as the Governor or the Guide of the earth:
Blessed is he who understands all works of the Lord, (and
glorifies Him): and, because of His work, knows the Creator. And
behold my children, I am the Governor of the earth, prometaya,
I wrote (them) down. And the whole year I combined and the hours
of the day. And the hours I measured: and I wrote down every seed
on earth. And I compared every measure and the just balance I
measured. And I wrote (them) down, just as the Lord commanded...
the doings of each person will put down, and no one will hide,
because the Lord is the one who pays, and He will be the avenger
on the great judgment day.
An important aspect of both passages is the Slavonic term prometaya,
which follows Enoch's title, "The Governor of the
World." This term was deliberately
left in its original Slavonic form in order to preserve its
authentic phonetic image. Prometaya represents an
etymological enigma for experts in Slavonic, since it is found
solely in the text of 2 Enoch. It should be stressed again
that there is no other Slavonic text where the word prometaya is
documented.
Prominent Russian linguist I. Sreznevsky, in his Slavonic
dictionary, which is still considered by experts as a most
reliable tool of Slavonic etymology, was unable to provide a
definition for prometaya. He simply added a question mark
with the meaning for the word. The variety of readings for this
term in the manuscripts of 2 Enoch shows similar
"linguistic embarrassment" among Slavic scribes who
most likely had some difficulties discerning the meaning of this
ambiguous term. The readings of other manuscripts include promitaya,
prometaemaa, pometaya, pametaa.
One possible explanation for the singular occurrence of prometaya
is that the word may actually be a Greek term that was
left untranslated in the original text for some unknown reason.
In fact, 2 Enoch contains a number of transliterated
Hebrew and Greek words preserved in their original phonetic form
(e.g., Grigori, Ophanim, Raqia Araboth). When I started to
investigate the term prometaya more closely, what drew my
attention was the root meta, which necessitated further
examination of the relationship between the words prometaya and
metatron.
Contemporary scholarship does not furnish a consensus concerning
the origin of the name "Metatron." In scholarly
literature, there are several independent hypotheses about the
provenance of the term. I want to draw our attention to one
possible interpretation, which could be connected with some
materials in 2 Enoch. According of one of the hypothesises
the name "Metatron" may be derived from the Greek me&tron (measure, rule). A. Jellinek
may well be the first scholar who suggested me&tron
as an alternative explanation of Metatron, on the assumption that
Metatron was identical with Horos. Gedaliahu Stroumsa in his
article "Forms of God: Some Notes on Metatron and
Christ," gives some convincing new reasons for the
acceptance of this etymology, on the basis that Metatron not only
carried God's name, but also measured Him; he was His Shicur
Qomah (the measurement of the Divine Body). In the light of this
observation, Stroumsa stresses that "renewed attention
should be given to me&tron and/or
metator (a conflation of the two terms should not be
excluded) as a possible etymology of Metatron."
Matthew Black, in his short article dedicated to the origin of
the name Metatron, expounds upon an additional etymological facet
of this interpretation of the name. He traces the origin of the
word to a previously unnoticed piece of evidence which can be
found in Philo's Quaest. in Gen., where, among other
titles of the Logos, Black finds the term praemetitor. He
further suggests that praemetitor could be traced to the
Greek term metrhth&j, the Greek
equivalent of the Latin metator, "measurer,"
applied to the Logos.
The term praemetitor in its hypothetical meaning as a
"measurer" is an important piece of evidence because it
is almost phonetically identical with the Slavonic term prometaya.
Additionally, the term prometaya is incorporated into the
passage which describes Enoch as the Measurer of the Lord. In
chapter 43, immediately after the use of this term, Enoch makes
the following statement:
"I have arranged the whole year. And from the year I
calculated the months, and from the months I have ticked off the
days, and from the day I have ticked off the hours. I, I have measured
and noted the hours. And I have distinguished every seed on
the earth, and every measure and every righteous scale. I
have measured and recorded them."
A similar passage in the previously mentioned collection, "Merilo
Pravednoe" also emphasizes the functions of Enoch as the
measurer:
"And the whole year I combined, and the hours of the day.
And the hours I measured: and I wrote down every seed on
earth. And I compared every measure and the just
balance I measured. And I wrote (them) down, just as
the Lord commanded. And in everything I discovered
differences..."
These two passages echo the passage from Philo's Quast. in
Gen. which discusses the Divine Logos as the "just
measure":
"And "Gomorra" "measure" true and
just, is the Divine Logos, by which have been
measured and are measured all things that are on earth
- principles, numbers and proportions in harmony and consonance
being included, through which the form and measures of
existing things are seen."
The text of 2 Enoch also uses the identical term
"just measure," (mera pravedna), immediately
after the passage dedicated to the function of Enoch as a
measurer.
In addition to Stroumsa's suggestion about possible connections
between "the measurer" and "the measurement of
divine body" it is noteworthy that there is another
hypothetical link between the functions of Enoch-Metatron as
"the measurer" and his "measurement" of human
sin for final judgement in the text of 2 Enoch. Following
Enoch's introduction as "the measure," the text
mentioned the final "measurement" of each person for
final judgment:
"...in the great judgement day every measure and weight
in the market will be exposed, and each one will recognize
his own measure, and in it he will receive his
reward...Before humankind existed, a place of judgment, ahead of
time, was prepared for them, and scales and weights by
means of which a person will be tested."
A second possible interpretation of the term prometaya can
be traced to Enoch's title, "Governor of the World,"
after which the Slavonic term prometaya occurs. It can be
assumed that prometaya in this situation is a Greek word,
which somehow connected with this title. Possible hypothetical
Greek prototypes of "prometaya" could be promh&qeia, in the sense of protection,
care, or providence, which could be directly related to the
preceding title of Enoch, Governor, Guide of the earth - "I
am the Governor of the earth, prometaya, I have written
them down."
In conclusion, it is important to note that prometaya
could represent a very early, rudimentary form of the title that
later was transformed into the term "metatron."
In relation to this, Gershom Scholem, in his analysis of the term
"metatron," shows that the reduplication of the letter tet
(++) and the ending ron
represent a typical pattern that runs through all Merkabah texts.
In his opinion, "both the ending and the repetition of the
consonant are observable, for instance, in names like Zoharariel
and Adiriron." Further, he stresses that it must also be
borne in mind that on and ron may have been fixed
and typical constituents of secret names rather than meaningful
syllables.
Thus, keeping in mind the possible date of 2 Enoch in the
first century of the common era before the destruction of the
Second Temple, prometaya could be one of the earliest traces
connecting the names Enoch and Metatron.