Language:
English
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period
Angaben zur Quelle:
50,1 (2019) 52-100
Keywords:
Meṭaṭron
;
Enoch
;
Hebrew book of Enoch Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Angels in post-biblical literature
;
Rabbinical literature History and criticism
;
Babylonia Religion
Abstract:
This article traces the evolution of the archangel Metatron from his inception to his identification with Enoch. It argues that the name Metatron was derived from the term metator, which was used in Palestine to describe the role of the angel of the Lord in Exod 23:20-21. It was only in Babylonia that Metatron became a name of a specific angel, where, however, he was never identified with Enoch. The first attestations of Metatron in Palestinian sources are only from the beginning of the seventh century CE, and they know nothing of Enoch. The earliest evidence for Enoch-Metatron is only found in Palestinian sources from the eighth century. Enoch-Metatron is therefore neither an ancient esoteric Palestinian tradition nor a Babylonian creation, but rather a late Palestinian innovative synthesis of Babylonian Metatron and Byzantine Enoch trajectories, which resulted in a new hybrid figure.
DOI:
10.1163/15700631-12501239
URL:
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