Angelic Israel: Self-Identification with Angels in Rabbinic Agadah and its Jewish Antecedents

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Sa1r-x4antirication with ADqa1a in Rabbinic Aqa4ah an4 ita Javiah ADtaca4anta

Jonah Chanan Steinberg

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2003

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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2003

Jonah Chanan Steinberg All Rights Reserved


ABSTRACT

ANGELIC ISRAEL Self-Identification with Angels in Rabbinic Agadah and its Jewish Antecedents

Jonah Chanan Steinberg

The earliest rabbis inherited from antecedent Jewish sects and authors a theme of kinship between Israel and the Angels of heaven.

This theme was prominent in the sectarian thought of

Qumran (as evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls) and it pervaded pseudepigraphic writing in the time of Rabbinism's emergence. Rabbinic voices carried the theme of Angelic Israel forward, though not without some opposition.

In classical agadah this

theme retained elements familiar from earlier sources, ideas that fueled later Jewish mysticism; and the theme was also distinctly rabbinized.

The notion of kinship between Israel

and the angels became a motivatinq force for rabbinic piety, rabbinic learninq, and the discipline of quotidian halakha. In much rabbinic thouqht, the trope of Angelic Israel remained a mainstay in the conception of the Jewish person and the Jewish people.


TABLE OF CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1

SURVEY OF SCHOI.ARSHIP •••••••••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••• 10 The Dead Sea Scrolls, the "New History of Religions School," and the End of Rationalist Apoloqy •.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• lO Scholarship on Angelic Themes in Rabbinic Literature •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 20 CHAPTER ONE: ANGELIC HUMANITY AT QUMRAN: THE EVIDENCE OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS BEYOND THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 42 Introduction •.•••••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••••.•••• 4 2 Scholarship on the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice ••••••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••• 49 A Methodological Note •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 69 A Sketch of the Angelic Community of Qumran: An overview of the Tertual Evidence ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 71 The Genres and Terts in Turn •••.••••••••••••••.•••••• 89 The Hodayot: A Psalmody of Anqelic Election ••••••••.•••..•..••••••.••..•.•• 89 Mediating Anqels in the Divine Court on Earth: Priesthood and Temple in Qumran Ideoloqy •.••..•••••••••••••••• 112 4Q491c: The Self-Glorification Hymn •••••••••••• l32 The War Rule lQM and 4QM: Angelic •••••••••••••• 137 Battle on Earth Constitution of an Angelic Community: The Rule Scroll (lQS, lQSa, lQSb) : The Rule of the Community (irr,n 1,0), the Rule of the congregation (niun 1,0) and the Rule of Benedictions c~,~wn~ n~,~ ,,~i) ..••.••..•...•.....•.....•... 143 The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice Tbemselves ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• l54 i


CHAPTER TWO: THE ANGELIC LEGACY OF ADAM: ISRAEL AS AN ANGELIC LINEAGE IN PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OUTSIDE QUMitAH • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 169

Introduction.

.169

Paradoxical Motif, Paradoxical Narrative.

.175

Angelic Israel: A Priestly Paradigm.

.182

In the Beginning: Angelic Adam.

.......... .... ...... .187

The Angelic Line of Israel •••••

.196

Seth •• Enoch (et. al.) Noah ••

.197 • •• 199 .207 .212 ••• 213 • ••• 215 .222 • •• 226 .235

. .. . . . . . . .

Abraham .. ...... .

Isaac (and Abraham again) Jacob-Israel ••••••••••••• Joseph (and Asenath, and Levi) Moses •• Isaiah. The Angelic Hope of Israel.

.240

CHAPTER THREE: ANGELIC ISRAEL: THE RABBINIC SOURCES AND TRADITIONS ••••••••••••••••••.•••

.244

............ . ... .. . ..... . . . ....244 ...... . . .. .. ....... .. ..... .247 Sources.

Introduction •••••• The Range of

Symbolism and Actuality in Classical Midrash. • . . . . • . . . • . • . . • . . . • . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 51

The Angelic Identity of the First Human Beings. • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • .

• •.•••••••••••• 256

Adam's Heirs: The Angelic Patriarchs of Israel. Shea •••••••••••.... .....••..

The Angelic Abraham •• The Angelic Isaac •••• The Angelic Jacob-Israel •••

Joseph ••••••••••••••••• ••••

.278 ••• 281 • •• 283 • •• 292 • .295 •• 308

Levi, Aaron, the Angelic Priesthood, and the Temple .••••••..•••...••••.•••.••••..•••••••• 312

ii


.. . . ..... . .... . . . . . ... .. . . .. . . ... .335 The Anqelic Moses. ...... .. . . . ..... . .. ... . .... . . ..343 The Anqelic Prophets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .352 rsrael at Sinai •••

Anqelic rsrael in the Wilderness.

.360

The Riqhteous and the Time to Come •••••••••••••••••• 372 The Anqelic Saqes and the Academy on HiCJh. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .•••••••.•••.••••••• 3 81

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 Biblioqraphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Note on Texts and Translations •••••••••.••••••••••••••••• 423

iii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In my years at Columbia University I have had a veritable dream-team of advisors and supporters.

First amonq them has

been my mentor, Professor David Weiss Hali vni, who steadfastly fostered

in me the fulfillment of the classical rabbinic

dictum, "A man should always study what his heart desires," and I miqht add, "even if his heart's desires be somewhat off the trail blazed by the master in critical talmudic studies." From Professor Halivni I have learned to learn rabbinically. Professor Alan Seqal of Barnard Colleqe fanned the flames of this

idea

from the start;

and

he has been

qenerous toward the resultinq conflaqration.

in every way

I cannot imaqine

this study's conception, its development, nor especially its completion, without him. New York University I

To Professor Lawrence Schiffman of owe an entire world,

Qumran's sectarian vision.

the world of

If scholarship of the Dead Sea

Scrolls had, historically, been so open-handed as Professor Schiffman has been to me, this project would perforce have been much

shorter--much

of

what

doubtless already have been done.

I

have

done

here

would

Speakinq of entire worlds,

Professor Elliot Wolfson, also of New York University, is one unto himself--it is virtually impossible to venture to a place in the landscape of Jewish mysticism where his mind has not roamed.

I

am qrateful to him for readinq the proposal for

this project and affirminq its worth.

To honor the tutelaqe

of these qreat scholars with my own work is a iv


lofty hope

indeed.

This onqoinq study is dedicated to them, and to all

of my teachers,

and I mean to make it more worthy of that

dedication in a later form. I

am

especially

qrateful

to

Professors

Michael

Stanislawski and Wayne Proudfoot for joininq the committee to read this dissertation, and for their sound suqqestions. I have been the beneficiary of Faculty and President's Fellowships

at

Columbia

University.

Lucius

N.

Littauer

Foundation qrants enabled me to spend summers workinq with Professor

David

Weiss

invaluable apprenticeship.

Halivni

on

his

publications--an

Professor David Kraemer invited me

to teach at the Jewish Theoloqical Seminary, an opportunity which opened the door to other teachinq appointments.

A

Finkelstein Fellowship from the University of Judaism, in Los Anqeles, enabled me to spend an idyllic academic year in the City of Anqels and at the Zieqler School of Rabbinic Studies (where Pinchas Giller suqqested the title of this project). The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Colleqe, its faculty, and its students, have embraced, encouraqed, and inspired me durinq my three years as Director of the Colleqe's proqram in Rabbinic Literature and Civilization.

I am particularly qrateful for

the scholarly company of Drs. Tamar Kamionkowski, Joel Hecker and David Golomb. With love and pride, I acknowledqe my family, includinq its newest member, Aurora, and my fiancee, Rebecca Rose Saxe. One could not ask for more wondrous human beinqs.

v


For my teachers

vi


GBKBRAL r.RTRODUCTZOR

BecoaiDCJ DiviDe

Every revelation is simply a revelation of the nature of man to existinq men. rn revelation man's latent nature is disclosed to him, becomes an object to him. He is determined, affected by his own nature as by another beinq; he receives from the hands of God what his own unrecoqnized nature entails upon him as a necessity ••• (Feuerbach [1841] 1957: 207-8)

What appeal did a life of Torah and commandments offer to the minds represented by classical rabbinic aqadah?

What

benefit was conceived that justified commitment to rabbinic piety?

What experience sustained devotion?

These questions

are answerable in many ways--arquably as many as there were Saqes (and redactors of their dicta)--but such questions are too seldom treated as seriously interestinq or worthy, and are rarely more than perfunctorily answered.

The phenomenon of

punctilious and meticulous attention to Torah is too often treated

as

justifyinq,

thouqh

such

care

self-sufficient

were without

self-evidently reference

particular benefit or consolation.


to

selfany

2

To be sure, there are warhorse answers to the question of what constitutes, so to speak, the carrot at the end of the halakhic stick.

The life of the world to come; the production

and preservation of a practical framework of Jewish life in the absence of the Temple; divine favor with the rewards of family, and perhaps long life; the fellowship of admired and admiring peers; the alteration of the world for the better; and, perhaps most often asserted as ultimate, the conviction of livinq in fulfillment of the Creator's will--these are some easily recalled reasons, and certainly they are reasons for devotion in classical rabbinic Judaism. great deal question:

of To

space what

in which

end

to

rabbinic

Still there seems a

ask and piety?

to

answer the

What

could

the

discipline of the lived religion offer the devotee in the devotee's here-and-now?

How did rabbinic piety excite the

soul? This conception. this

work

work

answers

that

question

in

terms

of

self-

It is not the only right answer; nor even does represent

the

sole

answer

in

terms

of

self-

conception that might be discerned

in classical rabbinic

thought.

the

This

work

uncovers,

in

agadic

legacy

of

rabbinism, one particular appeal to piety, an appeal couched in terms of the nature of Jewish self- and peoplehood.

It is

an appeal that resounds loudly through Jewish writings dating just before the Rabbis' rise, and (not surprisingly therefore)


3

the theme echoes still and makes its call anew amonq the earliest rabbinic voices also. The appeal in question is the conceptual trope that I term here "anqelic Israel."

Its argument is of an ontoloqical

affinity or continuity of the Jewish person, and the Jewish people, with the anqelic host of heaven, and thereby (to an extent to be explored here) with divinity itself.

Manifest

piety, as it appears in this theme, entails and enables the instantiaton and recoqnition, in the Jewish self and in the Jewish

nation,

of

a

status

preternatural beinqs on hiqh.

of

actual

kinship

with

Realizinq himself in this way

(and we will see the deqree to which him-selves are important to these sources), the Jewish man becomes a wondrous beinq. Such

status

is

conceived

as

the

riqhtful

and

at

least

potentially actual lot of Jewish humanity; yet, qiven the sad state of human affairs when seen from its vantaqe point, it is also a status for which the human beinq is an inadequate siqn and cipher.

Only anqels will do, in the sources arrayed here,

to explain what a Jew miqht be.

This is a study of the theme of "anqelic Israel, " or "self-identification with anqels."

That is to say, it is a

study of the use of heavenly and anqelic paradiqms in the conception and construction of Jewish identity and community as

this

theme

appears

in

rabbinic

literature's Jewish antecedents.

aqadah

and

in

that

The study includes three


4

principal

parts:

1)

a

discussion

of

angelic

conceived by the sectarians of Qumran;

2)

a

rsrael

as

survey of the

theme in apocalyptic and pseudepiqrapic sources; and 3)

a

tracing of the theme through the sources of rabbinic aqadah. With these three components, this work also sets out to answer the question:

What became of the qreat explosion of interest

in self-association with the anqels that is so evident and so characteristic in so much of the Jewish literature of Late Antiquity?

Where did this fascination qo, and what became of

the theme along the main line,

so to speak,

of rabbinic

reliqion? The

first

principal

humanity at Qumran.

chapter

is

a

study

of

anqelic

A thorough survey of the relevant sources

is itself an innovation, since the corpus of texts is so newly available to scholarship.

Moreover, the assemblinq of these

sources enables a newly nuanced conclusion with regard to the nature of the Qumran-sect's piety and its self-conception. The conclusion is that the community at Qumran reqarded itself as a beachhead, so to speak, of the heavenly world upon the earth--a foothold from which the sectarians imaqined they would storm forth, in leaque with the celestial angels, as the vanquard of a

new heavenly order to be realized upon the

earth, and especially in Jerusalem.

This account makes sense

of the peculiar admixture at Qumran of self-association with the angels on the one hand, and, on the other, preoccupation with

earthly

affairs,

with

the

terrestrial


sancta

of

5

Jerusalem,

and

with

the

corruptions

of

mankind.

The

eschatoloqical narrative of the sect makes sense also of the typical and fr.equent alternation, in a qreat deal of Qumran literature,

between

audacious

self-aqqrandizement

alonq

anqelic lines and abject self-deprecation in the most base and earthly terms.

The sectarians at Qumran believed themselves

to be livinq on the cusp of the end of days, at the outset of an

eschaton

in

which

their

already

determined

and

proleptically experienced qlory would be clearly manifest in an earthly world made continuous with the heavens.

Yet, as

they awaited the full unfolding of this final triumph, the sectarians struggled miqhtily with the ignominies and unangelic indignities of human life, which they experienced as real impediments to the kinship with the angels of which they were assured. was

The self-understanding of the Qumran sectarian

correspondingly

tremulant

between

two

opposite

conceptions. The chapter on Qumran is a worthwhile study in its own right; it takes a step toward a better understanding of the piety and the community reflected in the Dead sea Scrolls. Qumran, as it turns out, provides a prime example of religion centered upon the idea of angelic humanity.

rn comparison

with the library of classical rabbinic agadah, the sectarian writings of Qumran are much more pervasively and consistently preoccupied with angelic themes.

The frequent and intensive

focus of these texts upon the idea of Israelite affinity with


&

the anqels makes Qumran a useful paradiqm, or paraqon, of the trope "anqelic Israel." therefore, relevant anqelic

is

a

useful

rabbinic Israel

A review of its apposite texts, precursor

sources.

to

Qumran,

is writ so

exploration where

larqe and so

of

the

the notion of

inteqrally to a

reliqious system, must awaken us to the phenomenon of exalted ontoloqy of the self--we miqht say,

to "anqelification of

self-concept"--as an available and well-trodden pathway in the Jewish piety of Late Antiquity. The

second

principal

chapter

concentrates

on

pseudepiqraphic literature beyond Qumran and demonstrates once more that belief in an ontoloqical affinity between Israel and the host of heaven was a major and central feature of Jewish piety in Late Antiquity. accordinq

to

these

ancestral past and, even its

Not just Israel in the eschaton,

sources,

but

the

heroes

of

Israel's

implicitly (and sometimes explicitly),

livinq priests and pietists miqht recoqnize and

actualize kinship and continuity with the anqels and their heavenly

domain.

This

observation

itself

is

not

an

innovation; however the relevant sources must be arrayed and discussed to Late

enable an appreciation of this theme in Jewish

Antiquity

that

will

support

a

discussion

of

its

ramifications in classical rabbinism. In the second place, and more innovatively, the chapter on the pseudepiqrapha arques that many of the traditions of anqelic Israel that are found in that literature may most


7

readily be understood in terms of a

common,

underpinning

narrative motif, which must have been important in its time. The motif is of a struggle between opposed angelic forces played out upon the earth--a struggle that pits a faction associated with the fallen

angels

of

old,

who

corrupted

humankind, against a faction associated with the fallen but originally angelic Adam, the latter faction being Israel, of course.

In brief,

the narrative motif suggests that an

Israelite

inclination to strive toward

identity with the

angels in heaven is opposed by the corrupting tendency of a certain angelic faction to forsake its heavenly station and propagate rebellion in the earth. The third and final principal chapter of this study turns to the agadic sources of rabbinism themselves, with especial emphasis on early midrashic sources and talmudic traditions. In these sources, the theme of angelic Israel continues to live and resonate;

it

is significantly developed

and

it

connects with particular elements of devotional practice and conviction.

Again,

it

is

important

ideological

breadth

of

rabbinism,

to

emphasize

within

which

the self-

identification with angels is but one theme among many, and one taken up by only certain voices.

on the other hand,

angelic Israel is no less than a prominent theme, and there is scarcely a corpus of classical midrash in which it does not appear.

Not surprisingly, there is some ambivalence to be

discerned in early rabbinic agadah on the topic of angelic


8

Israel.

After all, the notion was associated, just before the

rise of rabbinism, with radicalizing and exclusive sectarian thought.

Still,

despite

passages

that may reflect some

authentic attempts at hushing, the theme of angelic Israel continues its appeal in rabbinic agadah. heroes

of

priests;

Israel's and

primordial

then

its

Aqain we see the

history;

latter-day

its

prophets

pietists,

the

and

Sages

themselves, associated ontologically with the host of heaven. The theme is frequent, far more than a curiosity. Addressing Jewish piety offers

in

terms

of

self-conception

certain advantages to the study of rabbinic religion.

Classical

rabbinic

literature

systematic doqma and theology.

is

famous

for

a

lack

of

Attempts to press the legacy

of classical rabbinic thought into unified accounts of creed, faith,

or teleology,

inevitably smack of hodqe-podge and

confusion, and mostly leave us bewildered as to Jewish life's particular allure.

National affiliation tends to stand in for

nuanced ideology, and organizing principles are notoriously difficult to come by. Recently, scholarly attention has shifted, rightly and usefully, to the very liberty of thought afforded by early rabbinism's wide doctrinal parameters, 1 and to the accurate reflection of the human condition in the conflicting truths allowed by midrash and the absence of accessible absolute 1

E.q. Cohen, •The Siqnificance of Yavneh: Pharisees, Rabbis, and the End of Jewish Sectariani811l," and A. Seqal, Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Ro•an florld (Cambridqe: 1986).


, knowledqe that their multiplicity suqqests. 2

However, well

as these new approaches to rabbinic reliqion may account for the appeal of rabbinic learninq, and for the production of rabbinic discourse,

they cannot on their own explain the

allure of the correspondinq reliqious praxis.

We wonder, does

spiritual excitement come only from playinq out in life the particulars that fiqure in study; or is there some other joy and

assurance,

some

other

elevation

of

the

spirit--

contemplated at least by some--that inheres in the careful craftinq of the rabbinic life? We may say that the piety of rabbinic study is a piety of investiqatinq divinity and its call to the utmost.

The piety

of rabbinic reliqious praxis, on the other hand--as far as the sources herein are concerned--is a piety of oneself becominq divine. 3

For a piety of becominq divine, a piety of exalted

self-concept, the anqels of heaven prove a frequent point of reference, and a pervasive imaqinal paradiqm.

2

the

E.g. David xra. . .r, 1'he lfind of the 1'al18Ud: An Int•~~ectua.l History of (Oxford: 1990).

Bav~i

3

My thought concerning this sort of piety and aspiration has been influenced, toward the end of preparing the present version of this study, by Grace Jantzen•• Becolaing Divine: 1'ovarda a FUiinist Philosophy of Re~igion (Blo~qton: 1999).


10

SORVBY OW SCBOLARSBXP

The Dea4 Sea Scroll•, the 11 Bev Bi•tory of Reliqion• School," &D4 the BD4 of R&tionali•t Apology

No development has influenced contemporary scholarship on Judaism and related traditions in Late Antiquity so profoundly as the opening to general scholarly consideration of

the

writings discovered in the Judean Desert at Qumran (a.k.a. the Dead Sea Scrolls).

The increasingly reconstructed library of

Qumran,

continually

and

the

developing

picture

of

the

sectarian qroup that occupied that site from a time soon after the Maccabean revolt until a time close to the destruction of 70 CE,

has brought on a

wave of

innovative and paradigm-

shifting observations concerning forms of Judaism in Late Antiquity4; portions of the Hebrew Bible, and especially the book

of

Daniel 5 ;

intertestamental

Apocryphal

and

4 E.g. Albert I. Baumgarten, 1'he Flourishing o£ Jewish Sects in the llaccabean Bra: An Ineerpretation (Leiden: 1997); John J Collins, 'A Throne in the Beavena: Apotheoaia in pre-Christian Judai811l' in Death Bcstasy and OCher Worldly Journeya, COllin• and Fiahbane eda. 1995, pp.43-S8. David Daube, •on Acta 23:8 Sadducee• and Angela• JBI. 109 1990, 493-497; Jamea Kugel, 'Levi•a Elevation to the Prieathood in second Temple Writing•• BTR 86, 1993. w.F. Smelik, •on Myatical Transformation of the Righteoua into Light in Judaism• JSJ 26, 1995, pp.122-144.

5

E.g. John J COllina, "The Son of Man and the Sainta of the Moat High in the Book of Daniel' JBL 93, 1974, pp. 50-66.


11

Pseudepiqraphic texts6 ;

early Christianity and Christoloqy7 ;

and the mystical Hekhalot Literature that later emerqed from rabbinic Judaism8 --all of this in addition to the specialized study of the sect at Qumran itself. In celestial

this

wave

court

prominently.

of

and

Qumran-influenced its

occupants,

the

scholarship anqels,

the

fiqure

The importance of the denizens of heaven in the

literature of Qumran has become increasinqly evident as the textual record has been assembled and studied.

The place of

what miqht be called an anqelic anthropoloqy in the reliqion of the sect has come more and more to be recoqnized as cardinal.

In Devorah DiaaDt' s estimation, "the coDlllluni ty, or,

in fact, its core of full members, functioned analoqically to a community of priestly anqels, officiatinq in the innermost sanctuary of the heavenly temple." 9

It is even questionable--

6

E.g. Charlesworth, James H, •The Portrayal of the Righteous aa an Angel• in Nicklesburg & COllins, Ideal Figures in Ancient Judaism: Profiles and Paradigms, SBLSCS 12, Chicago, 1980, pp.l35-151; Collins, 1995, Robert G. Hall, •taaiah'a Ascent to See the Beloved: An Ancient Jewish Source for the Ascension of Isaiah?• JBL 113, 1994, pp.463-484; J.C. VanderKam, Bnoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition (Washington D.c.: 1984). 7

E.g. P.G. Davia, •Divine Agents, Mediators and New Testament Christology• Journa1 of Theological Studies, 45 1994, pp.479-503; Hall, 1994, pp.463-484; and especia1ly Crispin B.T. Fletcher-Louis, Luke-Acts Angelology Christology and Soteriology, (Tubingen: 1997). 8

B.g. Rachel Blior, 'Mysticism, maqic and angelology; the perception of angela in Bekha1ot literature• Jewish Studies Quarterly 1, 1 (1994), pp.3-53; Martha B~lfarb, •aeaven1y Ascent and the Relationship of the Apocalyptic and the Bekhalot Literature• BUCA 59, 1988, pp. 73-100; P. Schafer, •The Aim and Purpose of Barly Jewish Myaticiam•, 12th Sack• Lecture (Oxford centre for Poatqraduate Hebrew Studiea, 1986), and •zngel und Menachen in der Bekha1ot-Literatur•, both in Schafer, Hekhalot Studien (Tubingen: 1988). 9

Dimant, Devorah, 'Men aa angela; the se1f-imaqe of the Qumran cOIIIIIlunity• Re1igion and Politic• in the Ancient Near Baat (1996), p. 98.


12

as will be discussed in the section on Qumran below--whether "analogy" is a sufficient term for the way in which the Qumran sectarians conceived of their relationship to the heavens and the

angels.

crispin H.

T.

l'latchar-Louia,

for

example,

describes a "close communion with the angelic realm" at Qumran (1997,

p. 56).

association

Andre

des

caracteristique

caquot

adeptes de

la

aux piete

writes anges

that du

"une

ciel

qumranienne."

certaine

passe (A

pour

certain

association of the adepts with the angels is a characteristic of Qumran-piety. ] 10 The apparent

importance of angels

and

angelic identity in the sectarian literature of Qumran has led to a revisiting of related ideas in other traditions as well. One

such

area,

newly reexamined

in terms

of

Jewish

angelic categories, is early Christian piety and Christoloqy, which has seen the emergence of what has been called a "New History of Religions School," 11 characterized by "an interest in Jewish precedents for the early Christian view of Jesus as a

mediatorial

fiqure,

who,

though human,

humanity" (Fletcher-Louis, 1997, p.1).

transcends that

This school regards

Jewish angelic categories as "an important resource for the formation of early Christian thought, both with respect to Christology, and the life of the righteous"

(1997, p.251).

10

Andre Caquot, 'Le Service dea Angea• RQ 13, 1988, p. 424.

11

F1etcher-Louia, 1997, definea and diacuaaea thia movement, pp.1-11.


13

P.G. Davia has described the change in orientation that has taken place in the study of early Christoloqy as follows: (We] have long been used to models of christoloqical evolution which emphasize the changes brought about as early Palestinian Jewish Christianity gradually became a movement of Hellenistic Gentiles who brought with them from pagan cultures very different conceptions of what might be attributed to, and expected from, a savior figure. This sort of analysis, which can be traced back to William Bousset, has been undercut by new knowledge of Palestinian Judaism itself and by a more precise understanding of the chronoloqy of early Christianity. (p.479) Davis' representative argument is that "Christoloqy was not a phenomenon

without

context

or

precedent

in

Palestinian

Judaism, and it makes historical sense as a product of that environment" written,

"The

appearance

of

In particular,

(p. 503).

identification God

is

of

Jesus

as Alan Segal has with

the

manlike

both the central characteristic of

Christianity and understandable within the context of Jewish mysticism and apocalypticism. 1112 This

recent

movement

toward

Jewish

sources

in

the

investigation of Christianity is important to the present study of self-identification with angels in classical rabbinic Judaism and its Jewish antecedents in two principal ways. first

is

The

inasmuch as the Christian studies bear out the

central claim of this work--that preternatural self-conception was an essential element of piety in the Jewish world out of which rabbinism emerged.

As Alan Segal has written, "Paul

12

Al.an P. Segal, Paul ebe Convert: The Apoaeolaee and Apostasy of saul ebe Pharisee, (New Raven: 1990) p. 44.


14

provides important information about first-century Judaism and Jewish mysticism, equally important to the use that Jewish texts have found in establishinq the meaninq of Christian texts."l 3

What Seqal says of Paul may pertain equally to the

authorship of Luke and Acts, whose anqelic concepts FletcherLouis has linked to earlier Jewish ideas of anqelic humanity in an expansive study. 14 study

Fletcher-Louis'

of

Luke

and

Acts

is

the

paradigmatic example of the second way in which the work of the "New History of Reliqions School" is important to this present project--namely, that its scholars have extensively collected and commented upon Second Temple Jewish sources havinq to do with the celestial world and human assimilation to it, far beyond earlier treatments of the subject.

In a

viqorous burst of scholarly activity, numerous appearances of anqels

in

especially

the

Jewish

instances

literature in

which

of

human

Late

Antiquity,

beinqs

approach

and and

participate in the anqelic world, have been studied insofar as they relate to oriqins of christoloqical concepts and beliefs. The aim has

been,

as Davis

puts

it,

"locatinq Christian

thouqht and practice within the spectrum of first-century

ll Segal, Alan, •Paul and the Beginning of Jewish Mysticism•, in Deaeh Bcseasy and Oeber world~y Journey•, COllin• and Fiahbane ada. 1995, p. lOS. 4

Pletcher-Loui•, 1997. Pletcher-Loui• himaelf contend• that, "Indeed, Luke-Act• may act a• a further witne•• to the •hape of contemporary Jewi•h thought,• but hi• concern i• not with the development of that thought within JudaiSB it•elf beyond the emergence of Chriatianity. l


15

Judaism,

while

at

the

same

time

isolating

some

of

the

innovations which would, in due course, lead Christianity out of

its Jewish matrix"

(Davis,

p.481).

In a

sense,

this

present work follows the trail cut by such studies to a certain juncture, after which it traces the same themes along the main stream of rabbinic Judaism, so to speak, rather than along the Christian branch. on the other hand, the chapters and paragraphs of the Christian studies that set forth the importance of angels in Second Temple Judaism--in its eschatology, its soteriology, and (most importantly) in its ontology of human existence-cannot simply be swallowed whole to serve as the first steps of a work on rabbinism. their

sources

in

a

Those studies present and exposit manner

directed

toward

soteriological and eschatological concepts.

Christian

Even though the

debt of certain Christian concepts to Second Temple Judaism has been recognized to an unprecedented degree, the Christian appropriations

still are quite distinct from the related

adaptations that persisted in rabbinic culture.

What is more,

the Christian variations inevitably color the readings of earlier sources by scholars for whom those Christian concepts are the ultimate termini.

Therefore, even where the resulting

differences of emphasis and interpretation may be only slight, the

work

of

revisiting

the

early

Jewish

sources

with

subsequent Judaism foremost in mind is not only defensible in a study culminating in related rabbinic ideas, it is quite


11

necessary to the onqoinq study of the earlier Jewish sources themselves. Althouqh relevant studies of Qumran sectarianism will be discussed in separate sections below, it is important to note briefly here--in this discussion of the academic trends that point toward this project--the ever increasinq association of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hekhalot Literature in scholarly As early as 1957,

treatments of both.

based on the few

fraqments of the Qumran "Sonqs of the Sabbath Sacrifice" (4Q

Serek

Sbirot

Olat

Hasbabbat)

then

made

public

by

John

Struqnell, Gershom Schol. . , the pioneer of Jewish mystical studies,

recoqnized

literature

and

similarities terminoloqy." 15

in

an

the

affinity

Hekhalot

phraseoloqy

and

between texts,

that

sectarian

citinq

"several

possibly

in

technical

More recently, followinq the publication by

carol Newsom of a complete critical edition of the Qumran

Sbirot, and of parallel fraqments unearthed at Masada 16 , Alan Seqal has commented: "The Anqelic Liturqy [i.e. the 4Q Sbirot text]

evinces some of the most characteristic aspects of

Jewish mysticism in an apocalyptic community of the first century"

(1990, p.40).

Joseph Bauaqarten has demonstrated

very convincinqly not only that "certain aspects of Herkabab exeqesis preserved in rabbinic [by which is meant primarily 15

Lecture• in Hew York later publi•hed a• Jewish Gnosticism, lferkabah (Hew York: 1960) p. 3.

lfysticillllt and Tabltudic Tradition, 16

S~tic

c.

Hew•oaa, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition, Harvard

Studie• •erie• 27 (Atlanta: 1985).


17

Hekhalot] sources serve as indispensable guidelines for the proper understanding of the Qumran

Songs

of

the

Sabbath

Sacrifice," 17 but, much more remarkably, that the opposite is also trUe.

The Shirot help elucidate certain passages of the

Hekhalot Literature

(Baumgarten,

pp.208-212).

:rt is not

surprising to see early and fragmentary texts interpreted in the light of

later and more complete traditions.

extremely noteworthy,

on the

other

hand,

when the

It is early

fragmentary texts can bring compelling clarity to previously obscure elements of a

later literature,

and that is what

Baumgarten has argued impressively that the Qumran "Angelic Liturgy" can do, texts.

on occasion, with regard to the Hekhalot

At the same time, equally convincing scholarship has

dated the composition of the Hekhalot texts themselves--at least as we have them--to a time around the end, and most probably after, the Talmudic period. 18 study

of

affinities

between the

Qumran

Baumgarten's brief and the Hekhalot

literatures calls, therefore, for an attempt to connect the dots, so to speak, through the era of the classical rabbinic literature.

Recent studies have linked the Hekhalot texts

with documents from Qumran--especially with regard to what :r

17

Joseph Baumqarten, "The Qumran Sabbath Shirot and Rabbinic Merkabah Traditions", Revue de ~an, 13, 1988, p. 200. 18

E.q. P. Schaefer 'Tradition and Redaction in Bekhalot Literature•, Journal of Studies in Judai.m 14, (1983), pp. 172-181 and David J. Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot: Early .Tavish Responses to Bzeltiel's Vision (Tubinqen: 1988).


18

would call their ontology of angelic and human existence. 19 This

has

however,

happened,

without

there

being

a

comprehensive study on the pertinent ideas in the classical agadic literature, which falls chronologically between the two more esoteric corpora, literature. 20

Qumran's

library and the Hekhalot

This study should fill that gap, although it

will not be limited to the aim of producing a missing link, and it will not be limited to those ideas that are especially important to the Hekhalot literature.

The aim here is to

understand the classical agadic traditions of angelic Israel themselves, continuity

whatever between

these Second

sources Temple

may and

also

say

Hekhalot

about ideas.

Finally, among the academic trends that lead toward this project, I should cite the general, attitudinal move away from rationalistic apologies for rabbinic and other literature toward what David Daube has called, "greater tolerance for the supernatural."

Concerning early Jewish scholarship that is

relevant to the theme of angels in rabbinic literature, Daube has commented, The progressives who ••• set out to make the storehouse of Midrash and Talmud accessible to the uninitiated so its input could be qrasped felt apologetic (and fearful too) about antiquated

19

To the sources listed in note 4, above, I would add Dale Allison Jr. Silence of the Angela, reflections on the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice• Revue de Qumran 13 (1988) pp. 189-197, especially p. 196. ~The

° C.R.A. Morray-Jones, 'Transformational Mysticism in the ApocalypticKerkabah Tradition~ JJS 43, 1992, pp. 1-31 has come closest to doing so, as I will discuss below. 2


19

notions and mores among their forbears--hence tended to play them down both for their own satisfaction and for their public's. (Daube, p.497) Even in some more recent scholarship focussed upon classical rabbinic sources (notably that of •l•ischer, Halperin, and Kaaher), there has been a marked tendency to relegate the most remarkable

statements

and

practices

suggesting

human

association with angels (and even some more commonplace ones) to an alleged fringe outside the religious mainstream of the rabbinic elite. 21

That inclination is related to a grave

misapprehension regarding angelic anthropology in rabbinic literature--a belief that it must be a radical and exceptional phenomenon, off the beaten track that leads to modern Jewish orthodoxy (which is far too often taken as the yardstick of normativity) •

However, as Fletcher-Louis has written very

recently with regard to the Second Temple period, there is no reason to assume that belief in an angelomorphic humanity was particularly esoteric or sectarian. Though perhaps frowned upon by Sadducees, an angelomorphic humanity, at least in its particular focus on specific individuals, is grounded in the Biblical text itself, and would thus be common to most second Temple Judaisms. Yet there are indications that particular groups, such as the Essenes, could intensify the belief in an angelomorphic life in accordance with their own particular group identity. (1997, p.212) This study will show that a conceptual association of human and angelic life continued onward as an essential component of 21

E.g. Ezra Flei•cher in •The Qeduaha of the Amida (and other Qedushot): Hi•torical, Liturgical and Ideological A•pect•• (Hebrew), Tarbiz LXVII, 3, (April-June 1998) Engli•h Ab•tract, p. VIJ P. Schafer, Rivalieae zwischen Bngel und Kenschen (Tubingen: 1988) p. 2331 Halperin, p. 450.


20

rabbinic piety.

At the same time, it seems clear that the

various "intensifications" mentioned by Fletcher-Louis did serve as warninqs, especially to the earliest rabbis, of the radicalizinq and factionalizinq power of the idea of anqelic humanity,

and thus

rabbinic

inspired some voices within the early

tradition

to

siqnificant

mitiqations

and

modifications of the theme.

Scholarship on Angelic Th. .es in Rabbinic Literature Any study of anqelic themes (as well as virtually all themes) in rabbinic literature must take into account Ephraim Urbach's epoch-makinq synopsis of rabbinic self-expression, 'l'he

Sages:

'l'heir

Concepts

and

Beliefs'.-2 ,

somethinq to add to Urbach's picture.

and

must

have

The relevant chapters

of Urbach's work for the present study are those on "The Celestial Retinue" (1995: pp.135-183) and on "Man" (pp.214254). With

reqard

to

"The

Celestial

Retinue,"

Urbach

is

primarily concerned with the rabbinic treatment of biblical sources.

As are all of Urbach's chapters, this one is an

encyclopedic concatenation of selected dicta arranqed around broad theoloqical principles, althouqh sometimes sources are juxtaposed so as to demonstrate a varieqation of rabbinic

aa Urbach,. E, 2'1Je Sage•: Their Concepe• and Beliefs, tran•., (Cambridge: 1995, Fourth Printing).

:I•rael Abraham•


21

The theoloqical principles featured in Urbach's

opinion.

chapter that are most relevant to this study are "[God's] preference (p.lSO),

for

the

people

of

Israel

[over

the

angels] "

(which is also a focus of Peter Schaefer's work, to

be discussed below) , and the related rabbinic contentions that "the righteous [are] greater than the angels" (pp.lS0-158), and that "the fulfil1ment and observance of the Torah ••• are prerequisites of this eminence as of every other position of distinction" (p.l58).

Also important is Urbach's brief survey

of evidence for the belief that "everywhere angels accompany man and guard him" (p.l59). While there is no doubting the usefulness of Urbach's chapter as a basic guide to the roles of angels in rabbinic literature, its triple aim of being brief, representative, and comparative, is at times dizzying and naturally tends toward excluding or giving very short shrift to sources not deemed to reflect major rabbinic ideas.

It also tends sometimes toward

reducing complicatedly nuanced sources to simple illustrations of cardinal beliefs, skimming over subtler aims. The chapter of Urbach's work that is closest to this study's project is his chapter on "Man".

Here,

Urbach's

conclusion accords with this work's to some degree.

Urbach's

analysis is framed, aptly and poignantly, with the assertion that in addition to Biblical information, the views of the Sages concerning man. • • result from the contemplation of human existence, with all the contradictions that manifest themselves in man's character and actions, and in particular they


22

flow from a consideration of the paradox in man, in whom there is, on the one hand, existence and beinq, and on the other, nothinqness and void. (p.217) In the terms of Tanaitic traditions concerninq man's cominq into beinq at the end of the world's creation (Avot 3, 14, Tosefta Sanhedrin 8,4-5 and parallels)

Urbach puts it this

way: "On the one hand (man] is stamped with the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, and on the other a qnat preceded him" (p.218).

One aim that this present study shares with Urbach

is to elucidate what it meant to the rabbis to be "stamped with the

seal of the Holy One,

blessed be He,"

and the

conclusion reached here will accord in the main with Urbach's-namely,

that

"man ••• holds

a

position

between the hiqher

beinqs (of heaven) and the lower creatures (of earth), but he is able wholly to exalt himself and be amonq the hiqher beinqs,

if he deserves the Torah and does the will of his

Heavenly Father" (p.221). Urbach's discussion,

in this

chapter,

of the

rabbis

"dualistic anthropoloqy" in relation to "the Stoic-Platonic views, which were prevalent in the Hellenistic world" (p. 248), and his illustration of certain differences between Tanaitic and Amoraic conceptions of the relationship of soul and body

(e.q. p.224), as well as his discussion of rabbinic ideas of human pre-existence (pp.240-241) are also important to this study's consideration of rabbinic identification of Israel with the anqels.

On the other hand, Urbach's presentation of

rabbinic anthropoloqy differs from the approach of this study


23

in that Urbach concentrates upon philosophical rather than experiential categories.

In a way,

Urbach's use of Greek

philosophy as the chief informinq context of rabbinic ideas corresponds

to

the

similar

tendency

in

scholarship

on

Christoloqy, cited by P.G. Davis, that is now qivinq way to the

recoqnition of

influential Jewish precedents.

While

Hellenistic philosophy should not be entirely discounted as an influence, the present study is primarily concerned with the influence of earlier Jewish ideas on later Jewish tradition. When the continuity of earlier Jewish thouqht with the aqadic sources is emphasized, mytholoqical and experiential themes come to the fore more than do philosophical arquments. In connection with Urbach's appreciation of the rabbinic notion of a

"paradox in man," one side of which involves

divine or anqelic identity, we should also recall I. Cheraua' discussion of what he calls the rabbinic synthesis of "world affirminq" and "world-denyinq" outlooks. 23

In the conclusion

of his study of rabbinic mysticism, Chernus writes, In discussing the midrashim ••• I suqqested that the attraction of the "world denyinq" stance may lie larqely in its ability to evoke a direct experience of "coincidentia oppositorum" while the attraction of "world affirmation" may arise from its rejection of "coincidentia oppositorum" and its consequent ability to provide meaninqful structure for the community based on the irreconcilability of opposites. The rabbis found themselves attracted in varying measure to both of these stances. (Chernus, p.140) Chernue, I «yseiciam in Rabbinic ~udaism, Studia Judaic& 11, (Berlin: 1982) pp. 139-140. 23


24

At the same time,

in a very important observation, Chernus

qoes on to say, the rabbis were not bound by the limited choices which the modern person may see... Rather they souqht a true harmonization of these two basic attitudes within their own lives. By inteqratinq the attractive elements of a "world denyinq" stance into their basically "world affirminq" tradition, the rabbis were able to effect what I would call the ultimate coincidence of opposites: to affirm and yet simultaneously deny the validity of "coincidentia oppositorum" as the basic truth about life. In doinq so they were able to enrich the meaninq of mysticism by qivinq it a qroundinq in everyday life. Their ecstatic states may have been in some sense fliqhts from the world, but more fundamentally they were a means to strenqthen the life of the community in this world. Ecstasy and everyday life thus constituted a sinqle continuum, rather than two mutually exclusive states. (Chernus, p.140) A related observation, and methodoloqical recommendation, is made by Fletcher-Louis in the conclusion of his work on the anqelic ideas in the historical background of Luke and Acts. In concludinq that, in the period of Christianity's emerqence, "there was a well established and siqnificant tradition, or even traditions,

in which human identity was understood in

anqelic cateqories" (1997, p.211), Fletcher-Louis arques that an approach to the data ••• which does not impose riqid dualism, but rather accepts the openness and fluidity of human, anqelic and Divine cateqories, allows for simplicity of interpretation, and does most justice to the texts' own worldview(s). (1997, p.211) This study reaches a similar conclusion with reqard to anqelic ideas as they persisted in the texts of rabbinism. Fluidity--or dual polarity--of human identity in early rabbinic piety is also the central theme of Suaaa Biditah's


25

writinq on "The Cosmic Adam:

Man as Mediator in Rabbinic

Literature. nz•

readinq

sources,

the

In Niditch's

of

certain

"enormous world-fillinq Adam,"

the

rabbinic primeval

antbropos of creation, whom she dubs the "world-spanner," served as a paradiqm for rabbinic self-conception.

In that

self-conception, accordinq to Niditch, Man can span two worlds; he can link the present and the future, the other-worldly and the thisworldly. He is thus the Levi-Straussian intermediary who partakes of each side of a dichotomy, thereby renderinq bearable the tension between them. (p.l40) Niditch suqqests that the cosmic Adam "belonqs to a larqer symbol system which reflects the Rabbis' sense of themselves, their conflicts, and their problems--a conclusion that points toward further study. In this connection,

the four paqes that Sacha Stern

dedicates to the idea of "Israel as Anqels" in his book on

Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writingszs should also be mentioned.

There, Stern observes,

In the Babylonian Talmud, the non-Jews are excluded from a number of Halakhic rulinqs on the exeqetical basis that they are not called 'man' (adam); but Israel alone are 'man'. In a later Hidrash, the nations who are called 'animal' are contrasted with rsrael who are called 'man' (adam).

z• Suaan Niditch, •The Cosmic Literature•, JJS 34, 1983, pp.137-146.

Adam:

Han

aa

Mediator

in

Rabbinic

zs Sacha Stern, .Tevi•h Ideneiey in Early RAbbinic flrieing• (Leiden: 1994) pp. 39-42.


2' I would like to argue, however, that more than 'man', Israel are considered to be akin to anqels. (p. 39) Stern concludes his brief seqment by sayinq, Israel wear the clothes of God. They can be recognized as the sons of God, for, it is implied, they resemble Him. The holiness of the Almiqhty, of the Sbabbat, and of Israel, are all one and the same. Israel are like God, for they are masters over all the inhabitants of earth. The almiqhty Himself has called them 'God'. To conclude, rabbinic sources suqqest that althouqh the title of "man" is restricted to Israel, in some sense Israel transcend the level of humanity, and have some affinity with the anqels, and even with God. (pp.41-42) Stern's brief remarks leave ample room for an investiqation of the various manifestations and details of rabbinism's anqelic anthropoloqy, of the roots of the theme in earlier sources, and of the attitudes with which the theme is taken up in classical aqadah.

To round out the list of studies that move

in directions closest to this work's, mention should be made of a very brief article in the Central Conference of American

Rabbis (CCAR) Journal (Fall 1995, pp.25-30 & notes), by Judith

1. Abr-•, entitled "The Reflexive Relationship of Hal'acbei HaSbaret

(the

ministerinq

anqels]

and

the

saqes". 26

Particularly intriquinq, and worthy of further investiqation, is Abrams'

suqqestion that the early saqes considered the

"Ministerinq Anqels" rather than some other anqelic qroup as their "corollary in heaven" precisely because the Ministerinq 26

z. Abram•, "The Reflex~ve Relat~onah~p of Mal • ache~ HaSharet (the angel•) and the Sage•", CCAR Journal (Fal.l, 1.995) pp. 25-30 (5 notes,

Jud~th

m~~stering

pp.J0-34).


27

Angels are often presented as being in conflict with the people of Israel, "[just as] there was tension between the sages and the general population"

(Abrams, p.28).

Abrams'

work is focussed on a paradigmatic correlation on the part of the sages of themselves with the ministering angels. heavenly role of the Ministering Angels,

The

she asserts, was

conceived of as "consistent with the role of the sages played on earth."

Abrams' work does not seek after actual angelic

ontology in rabbinic self-conception, and it does not trace themes either before or beyond the talmudic texts; but it does help point the way to these questions. Abrams'

observation

that

the

relationship

of

the

Ministering Angels to Israel is characterized by "conflict" brings

us

to

the

one

recent

book-lenqth

study

devoted

specifically to an angelic theme in rabbinic literature, Peter Scba~er's

doctoral dissertation, Rivalitaet zwischen Engel und

Henschen 27 •

Schaefer's thesis is quite different from,

and

at times quite opposed, to the one that this present study advances. Schaefer observes that the election of Israel is the cardinal tenet of rabbinic theology, and he reduces angelic discussions in rabbinic literature to illustrations of that principle.

He writes,

n P. Schafer, Rivalieae zwiachen Bngel und Nenschen, (New York: 1975) Replacing umlaut with letter •e•, the •palling will be Schaefer hereinafter, except in the Bibliography.


28

Die Erwaehlunq rsraels und das besondere Verhaeltnis zwischen Gott als dem Gott rsraels und rsrael als dem Volk Gottes stehen so sehr im Mittelpunkt der theoloqischen Reflexion, dass alle anderen "Glaubensinhalte" hinter dieser Vorstellunq zurucktreten bzw. darunter subsumiert werden. Dies qilt in qanz besonderer Weise auch fuer die Enqelvorstellunq. Die Enqel als solche sind nicht oder nur weniq Geqenstand der theoloqischen Ueberlequnq und Diskussion. Die Rabbinen haben keine Anqeloloqie entwickelt und waren daran auch nicht interessiert; desweqen waere es voelliq unanqemessen, wolte man in der rabbinischen Literatur so etwas wie eine "Lehre von den Enqeln" suchen oder diese qar aus den verstreuten Bemerkunqen der Rabbinen ueber die Enqel rekonstruieren. (1975, p.233) rn Schaefer's estimation, the only consistent and widespread theme that can be extracted from rabbinic expositions in which anqels

occur

is the assertion,

over and

over,

of God's

preference for rsrael over the denizens of heaven. Der Mensch ist Hoehepunkt und Ziel der Schoepfunq; die Enqel sind fuer die Vollendunq der Schoepfunq in der Geschichte Gottes mit rsrael nicht von Bedeutunq und ruecken an den Rand des rnteresses. (1975, p.233) FUrther,

in this theme of human supremacy, Schaefer sees a

marked disjunction of earlier Jewish

classical

rabbinic

literature

from

sources of the Second Temple Period, in which

approach and assimilation to anqelic scenes predominated. Schaefer notes, Ein Wandel des Weltbildes von der "Vorstellunq einer 'Sympateia' zwischen irdischem und himlischem Geschehen" im Fruehjudentum zu einer betonten Anthropozentrik im rabbinischen Judentum waere demnach der Grund fuer den Neuansatz in der Enqel "lehre". (1975, p.233)


21

Schaefer will admit that what he identifies as the main line of rabbinic thought concerninq anqels does not exhaust all the viewpoints represented in the classical corpus. Es versteht sich von selbst, dass diese Vorstellunq nicht repraesentativ ist fuer das rabbinische Judentum in seiner Gesamtheit, sondern nur fuer eine, wenn auch sehr wahrscheinlich dominierende Gruppe innerhalb des rabbinischen Judentums. (1975, p.233) On the other hand, Schaefer's approach and his conclusion-that the rabbis, for the most part, were not preoccupied with anqels at all, except to assert their superiority over the host of heaven in God's eyes--corresponds directly with, and indeed

anticipates,

his

conclusion

in

later

work

on

the

Hekhalot Literature: that the angelic and heavenly concerns of that literature are, most of all, to be differentiated and separated from the main stream of classical rabbinic piety. In Schaefer's presentation,

the paradigmatic rabbinic

narrative concerning the angels is one in which the denizens of heaven rush to the heavenly court to learn the date of the New Year, only to be referred by God to the academy of the Sages below.

For Schaefer, that aqadic tale is indicative of

a radical shift of paradiqm from the Second Temple period-"wie sehr man qerade im Blick auf die Enqelvorstellunq von einem Wandel des Weltbildes sprechen kann" (1975, p.233).

The

angels, according to this interpretation, have become a cosmic curiosity, as it were, an admittedly splendid ceremonial and decorative guard surroundinq God in heaven, but not commanding


30

fascination, much less aspiration, only servinq as straw-men for the arqument of rsrael's superiority. Schaefer's assertion of a Wandel., or paradiqm-shift, away from the conceivinq of a Sympateia between heaven and earth is directly opposed by Beat• Bgo's recent monoqraph, Im Himmel.

wie auL Erden: Studien zum Verhael tnis von himmlischer und irdischer Welt im rabbinischen Judentum 28 which is another book-lenqth study related in topic and in subject-matter to the present investiqation of self-identification with anqels in classical rabbinic literature and its Jewish antecedents. From

its

opening,

a

profound

difference

from

Schaefer's

argument of a rabbinic move away from Second Temple ideas of heaven is apparent in Eqo's work.

Ego frames and describes

her project in this way: rn der hier vorlieqenden Arbei t werden die rabbinischen Vorstellungen ueber das Dependenzverhaeltnis von oberer und unterer Welt, wie sie im Kontext der Motive des himmlischen Tempels und Gottesdienstes und des himmlischen Jerusalem zum Ausdruck kommen, darqestellt und auf ihre theologischen rmplikationen untersucht. (Eqo, p.1)

Eqo describes a persistinq •urbil.d-Abbild-Relation• between the heavenly realm (and in particular the heavenly sanctum and its

liturgy)

and

the

conceived by the rabbis.

"Kultusqemeinschaft"

of

rsrael

as

The Second Temple conception of that

28

Ego, Beata. Ia BU..l vi.e auL Brden: seudi.en zua Verhael en.is von hi.Jial.i.scher IU1d i.rdi.•cher llele iA rabbi.ni.•chen Judene11111, WONT 2.34, (Tub.ingen: 1989).


31

relationship of heaven and earth--and of those realms' anqelic and Israelite denizens--is described as follows: Das ant ike Symbolverstaendniss, auf der Indentitaet von Bild und Sache basiert, resultiert aus der Vorstellunq, dass Tempel und Gottesdienst einem himmlischen Vorbild entsprechen, auch das Motiv einer Kultusqemeinschaft von Enqeln und Menschen. Der Priester im irdischen Hiliqtum befindet sich qleichzeitiq im oberen Heiliqtum und steht mit dem himmlischen Hohenpriester in kultischer Gemeinschaft; Israel verkuendiqt zusammen mit Den enqeln das allumfassende Koeniqtum des Weltscheoepfers und die Heiliqkeit und Ehre qottes. (Eqo, p • .l70) Eqo's work establishes convincinqly the continued prominence of this Temple-paradiqm in rabbinic literature, a continuity with Second Temple Judaism that has important implications for the conceivinq of rabbinic Jewish identity. for

all

At the same time,

that Eqo takes stock of Jewish Late Antiquity's

assimilation of Bild to Sache, her particular focus on Templephenomena leaves ample room for a

study of anqelic self-

perception that involves a broader ranqe of sources and in which

identity and self-conception as phenomena take the

foreqround. Two

shorter,

but source-rich and hiqhly

influential

articles have been written recently about the possibility for the riqhteous of transformation Jewish

sources.

The

first

of

into celestial beinqs these,

whose

focus

in is

eschatoloqy, is W.F. 8aa1ik's •on Mystical Transformation of the Riqhteous into Liqht in Judaism;" 29 the second is C.R.A.

29

Smelik, 1995, PP• 122-144.


32

Morray-Jon••' "Transformational Mysticism in the Apocalyptic-

Merkabah Tradition. " 30 Saelik opens his discussion of rabbinic apotheosis with the following conclusion concerning Second Temple Judaism: According to early Jewish interpretation of the intertestamental age the righteous awaited a mystical transformation into light in the hereafter. This particular concept of what may be termed the apotheosis of the righteous is shared by Paul in his letters to the Corinthians and by the Apostolic Fathers. (p.l22) He argues that "vestiges of the mystical interpretation are still to be found in rabbinic literature" (p.l23), although he perceives a "rabbinic reluctance to articulate the concept of mystical transformation itself"

(p.l23).

After succinctly

documenting "the remarkable boom of angeloloqy in the last prechristian centuries"

(p.l25ff),

he argues that "in the

first centuries C.E. the Sages went against this tide" in that "they did not deny the existence of angels and a blissful hereafter, but they restrained excessive expectations in this respect" (p.l27.).

As a reason for this opposition to intense

angeloloqy, Smelik cites the factionalism and radicalism of the time of Christianity's emergence and suggests that "within this

climate the apotheosis

of

the

righteous

had

become

suspect" (p.l27). There is room to argue with Smelik's conclusion that in the early Tanaitic period "such traditions [of apotheosis]

3

° Korray-Jone•,

1992, pp. 1-31.


33

were

no

lonqer

Judaism."

reqarded

as

compatible

with

R. Akiba does indeed silence R.

(rabbinic)

Papas when the

latter embarks upon an identification of Israel with the anqels,

as Smelik cites;

but R.

Akiba himself is closely

associated by widespread tradition in rabbinic literature with the practice of ascent,

and even with the

aqqrandizement of Bar Kochba.

preternatural

A tradition may become esoteric

and hiqhly quarded without beinq done away with altoqether, as the Mishnah's own restriction, but not complete prohibition, of the teachinq of Haaseh Herkabah suqqests. end-result

of

sayinq so

is

almost

the

Nonetheless, the same

as

Smelik's

conclusion, for he suqqests that the early rabbis were not successful in suppressinq the anqeloloqy of the Second Temple period ("Rejected traditions often went underqround only to emerqe aqain as soon as circumstances chanqed") and that the saqes

exercised only

"half-hearted self-censorinq,"

which

"may ••• explain why some works appear to adopt conflictinq attitudes towards the question of mystical transformation" (pp.l27-128).

Smelik is concerned with locatinq the vestiqes

of the Second Temple anqelic ideas that survived rabbinic self-censorship restrictions.

and

which

echo

in

rabbinic

cautions

and

In particular, Smelik traces the theme of "the

sevenfold shininq of the riqhteous"

whose persistence in

rabbinic literature indicates a continuity with Second Temple ideology.

Nonetheless, Smelik's work emphasizes the closinq-

down of such tradition whereas the present study is focused


upon its preservation, albeit siqnificantly transformed and mitiqated.

Smelik concludes,

The apotheosis of the faithful to the Glory of God as anqels of liqht, found in the New Testament and intertestamental literature alike, cannot have been unknown to the Saqes. It may even have been shared by them initially until it had to be suppressed to counter heretics who stuck to the liqht-mysticism which entailed the danqer of veneration of anqelic beinqs visibly represented by the stars. (p.l44) Accordinq to xorray-Jon••, whose view is closer to the arqument

of

this

study,

the

suppression

of

themes

of

anqeloloqy and apotheosis in rabbinic society was far from complete, and that by desiqn, at least on the part of some early rabbis.

In his University of Cambridqe dissertation,

Morray-Jones arqued "contra Urbach, Schaefer, and Halperin31 , in favor of a modified version of the hypothesis advanced by Scholem

and

developed

by

Gruenwald

that

the

talmudic

references to ma'aseb merkabah indicate the existence of an esoteric tradition or traditions within first- and secondcentury

rabbinism. " 32

In

the

article

presently

discussion, he arques: Such traditions were inherited from apocalyptic circles and enthusiastically developed by some Tanaim, but were opposed by others, mainly because the same traditions were beinq developed by qroups whom they reqarded as heretical, includinq various forms of Christianity and Gnosticism. (1992, p.l)

n

(who•• work I will di.•cu•• below)

32

c.R.A. Morray-Jane•, 1988.


under

35

With reqard to the primary anqelic mediatinq fiqure that features prominently in both Apocalyptic and later Hekhalot traditions, Morray-Jones concludes, there is evidence to suqqest that the rabbis were concerned to quard aqainst an early and widespread tradition of the Name-bearinq anqel who was intimately associated, and sometimes identified, with the Name-Word-Glory-Power of the LORD. It seems that they countered this threat, if not by outriqht suppression, by siqnificantly downqradinq the status and importance of Metatron (as this anqel came to be called) , but that the early tradition was preserved and developed in esoteric circles. 3 Enoch's statement that Metatron used to sit upon a throne but was 'demoted' because of 'Aher's heresy may well be, in this sense, historically correct. (1992, p.10) That early rabbinic condemnations of heresy often have to do with "the identity and status of a human fiqure in heaven," was demonstrated in detail by Alan saqal. 33

Morray-Jones'

work affirms that conclusion and suqqests that what made speculation on fiqure

so

the

primary,

fascinatinq

to the

hypostatic rabbis

anqelic

mediatinq

nonetheless was

the

associated possibility that a human beinq miqht become, or be assimilated to that fiqure throuqh a process exemplified by Enoch

in

apocalyptic

tradition.

The

pediqree

possibility has also been addressed by Seqal,

of

that

who writes:

"There is adequate evidence that many Jewish mystics and apocalypticists sensed a relationship between the heavenly f iqure on the throne and important f iqures in the life of their community" (1990, p.51). 33

In Paul's Christian adaptation

Alan Segal, f'vo Power• in Beaven: Christianity and Gno•tici- (Leiden: 1977) •

Bar~y

Rabbinic Report• about


3'

of apocalyptic tradition, Segal has found affirmation that one of absorption. 34

this relationship was

In the apocalyptic conception, as described by MorrayJones, an exceptionally righteous man who beholds the vision of the divine Jcabod on the Merkabah, is transformed into an angelic being and enthroned as celestial vice-regent, thereby becoming identified with the Name-bearing angel who either is or is closely associated with the Jcabod itself and functions as a second, intermediary power in heaven. (1992, pp.10-11) "It is hardly surprising," he remarks, "that some rabbis were ambivalent about such traditions" (1992, p.11). contribution

to

the study

of

the

rabbinic

Morray-Jones' period

itself

consists in demonstrating the extent to which such traditions persisted

alongside

condemnations.

(and He

sometimes

argues

that

through) the

warnings

and

tradition

of

transformation, absorbed into rabbinic culture in more and less mitigated

forms,

is

continuous with

the

account of

Enoch's transformation in the later Hekhalot text known as 3 Enoch,

which "(although] the redactor is careful to avoid

taking the final, heretical step ••• seems to be a theologically sanitized version of a ascending hero becomes

tradition according to which identified with the Jcabod"

the

(1992,

p.11). Rabbinic traditions concerning the celestial grandeur of Moses (1992, p.13) and Adam (1992, p.16), according to Morray

34

Segal, 1995, pp. 95-122.


37

Jones, also model the experience of human transformation in a paradigmatic

and

representational

manner.

Having

cited

sources reflecting those traditions, Morray-Jones opines: There are, then, good grounds for believing that some first- and second-century rabbis attempted to suppress an early tradition of the ascent into heaven of an exceptionally righteous man or men who received the divine Name and became in some way associated or identified with the Angel of the LORD, or the Form of God as enthroned Logos-PowerGlory, but that this tradition was kept alive in esoteric circles. (1992, p.14) "This is, presumably," Morray-Jones suggests, "what Paul has in mind when he speaks of 'glorification'" (1992, p.18). In the remainder of his study, Morray-Jones traces the intensification of this theme in the Hekhalot literature, through close examination of which, he concludes: It seems that the mystic is identifying himself with the Merkabah and asking God to be enthroned upon or within him. In other words, he is seeking to become, like the patriarchs and righteous men of mythical history, a vehicle for the manifestation of the divine Image or Glory. (1992, p.26) With regard to the experience of the pre-Hekhalot rabbis themselves, clear.

however,

Morray-Jones'

conclusions are not as

His establishing of continuity between apocalyptic

sources and radical post-talmudic traditions comes at some expense to taking stock of what this study will argue was a remarkably successful absorption and moderation of the theme of human celestial identity in classical rabbinic thought. When Morray-Jones pauses briefly to provide a snapshot, so

to

speak,

of

actual

rabbinic

mystical

piety

formative period, it goes like this:


in

its

38

••• the idea was current that exceptionally worthy human beings or 'men of righteousness' were able to achieve a transformation into the likeness of the divine Glory which was analogous to that ascribed to the heroes of the heavenly-ascent narratives and to the righteous in the world to come. Such men, i t appears, were believed to be gifted with supernatural powers and to function as mediators and intercessors between the earthly community and the realm of God. (1992, p.20) But evidence of intercession clearly connected with ascent and transformation is not a clear feature of classical agadic literature, and the single example of the sage Hanina b. Dosa that Morray-Jones suggests (1992, p.20) is not a particularly compelling one.

While Morray-Jones makes a good case for a

rabbinic effort to

both own and mitigate the

concept of

assimilation to the highest angelic status, he does not make clear

how

such a

religion proper. the kabod?

belief

actually

functioned

in

rabbinic

What does one do when (and if) one has been

How (if at all) does one come down, as it were,

from that (or even a somewhat lesser) realization of divine identity, and what then? This study agrees with Morray-Jones' assertion that there is real continuity between Second Temple angelic concepts and much

later

leaders

Hekhalot

knew

of

and

traditions, in

some

and

that

instances

radically mystical kind of apotheosis.

early

even

rabbinic

practiced a

However, this present

work will seek to appreciate in greater nuance and detail the mitiqation of such beliefs and practices into a less hazardous (although equally powerful and otologically serious) angelic anthropology in classical rabbinic literature.


Of course we

31

will also pay attention to the more radical aspirations that evidently persisted as well.

X. Wiabb&Da's article on "The 'Measures' of God's Glory in ancient Midrash," also blazes an important trail into the territory investiqated here. particular upon a

That article is

midrashic passaqe

focused in

in Sifre Deuteronomy

(Pisqa 355) which likens Israel to God, but also points toward the hazard of dwellinq upon (or in) that likeness: "There is none like the God of Jeshurun [ ein ka'el yesburun]" (Deut.33:27) Israel says, 'There is none like God [ein ka'el],' and the Holy Spirit says 'Jeshurun [is] God [el yesburun]' [some editions correct to 'Like God is Jeshurun [ka'el yesburun]'. Israel says, 'Who is like you amonq the Gods o Lord,' and the Holy spirit says 'Happy are you o Israel, who is like you?' [

... ]

All of Israel qathered around Moses and said to him, 'Moses, tell us what is the aspect [midah, which can also mean 'measure'] of the supernal Glory (like) [mah hi midat kavod sbel maalah]? He said to them, 'From the ones below you may know what the supernal aspect is (like). [Your question] may be likened to one who said, 'I wish to see the face of the kinq!' They said to him, 'Enter the country, and you shall see.' He [approached] the country and he saw a screen spread forth across the entrance to the country and qoodly stones and jewels fixed upon it. Immediately he fell to his the earth. They said to him, 'See, you did not even manaqe to move your eyes without fallinq down; had you entered the country itself and seen the face of the kinq, how the much more so ••• Fishbane associates this tradition with Avot Derabbi Natan 37 in which it is said that "seven aspects [middot] serve before the Glory."

(p.66)

"There can be little doubt," Fishbane

writes, "that these middot, which serve before the Throne of God's kabbod, are archanqelic beinqs of the pleroma," {p.67)


40

and through this observation he places the Sifre and its supernal midah in one family tree with the Christian concept of "becoming a perfect man and attaining the measure [metron] of the stature of the fullness of Christ" in Ephesians 4. this "stature" is related to the physical body of Christ ••• the teacher's theological and terminological equivalent for the measure (or extent) of the divine Anthropos in Jewish sources-the middat kabod in Sifre Deuteronomy 355. On this view, Eph. 4:7-16 presents Christ as the supernal Anthropos in the image of the invisible God", so that perfected faith in and knowledge of this heavenly figure lead to some sort of mystical relationship to the divine figure on high. (p.71) Based on this association, Fishbane concludes that "the sages shaped [the] cautionary instruction (in Sifre Deut. 355] with technical terms known to them from the theosophical-mystical tradition" (p.73). Clearly this present study is not without precedent. Affinity between the rabbinic world and the heavens has been noted

with

various

emphases

by

a

especially in the most recent years. much to be done. fall within a

number

of

scholars,

Still, there remains

Even though most of the studies cited here

trend toward recognizing the importance of

angelic categories in rabbinic thought, the multifariousness, in focus and in aim, of the existing treatments is itself a justification for a

comprehensive analysis with classical

rabbinic literature itself in the foreground.

There is still

a place--and even a conspicuously empty one--for a book-length study on self-identification with angels in classical rabbinic


41

literature and its Jewish antecedents, undertaken by a student of the rabbinic tradition itself.


42

Chapter One

UGBLXC IIUIIUXTY AT QUIIRD

the BVi4eDce of the Dea4 sea scrolls BeyoD4 the Songs oL tile Sabbatb SacriLice

Introduction The sectarian community that inhabited the site now known as Khirbet Qumran from shortly after the Hasmonean uprising until shortly before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple seems to have been (or, at least, to have become) a society founded upon the idea that certain human beings might realize somethinq like angelic identity in their earthly lives.

The

sectarians of Qumran believed themselves to be living in, or on the verqe of

c,n,~

n,1ITM, the end of days.

Already at the

time of the sect's foundation--apparently by a faction of the temple priesthood, victory of

alienated in the wake of the Hasmonean

165 BCE35 --the leadership of Qumran claimed to

recoqnize certain siqns of the eschaton' s

inception.

The

texts presented in this chapter show that the life and selfconception of the sect were shaped by this central belief in the eschaton's arrival. of

the

eschaton's

For the sectarians of Qumran the idea

advent

entailed

a

dissolution

of

the

35 Among theoriea of the aect•a origin, I find thia conclusion, aa set forth moat axtenaively by Lawrence Schiffman, (e.g. in Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: 1994)) moat compelling.


43

boundaries between heaven and earth, and between human beinqs and the anqels.

The final triumph of the end of days was to

brinq a world-alterinq transposition of God's celestial court and

sanctuary

sectarians

into the

earthly realm.

contemplated,

rehearsed,

Accordinqly,

and

even

the

beqan

to

experience the anqelic identities and roles that they believed the

elect

of

Israelite

humankind

was

to

assume

in

the

transformed cosmos to come. The

anqelification,

so

to

speak,

of

the

sectarian

community appears in many Qumran documents as a fait accompli, a reality already determined, manifest, and experienced--not just a future reward to be contemplated. chosen,

earthly

elect

to

the

The joininq of the

supernal,

anqelic

host

is

frequently described in the scrolls of Qumran as already actual;

yet the

final

triumph

eschaton had still to occur. experienced liminal,

by the devout

transitional,

even

and

transformation of

the

Correspondinqly, the identity of

Qumran

seems

paradoxical.

to The

have

been

Qumranites

qloried in a preternatural destiny shared with the anqels of heaven.

Nevertheless, they were excruciatinqly coqnizant of

the limitations and pitfalls of human,

fleshly existence.

Much of the life of the sect apparently was shaped to rehearse and describe

the eschatoloqical

vision that

its

members

contemplated, and thus, at least imaqinatively, to realize and experience that vision.

The sect's requlations concerninq

ritual purity and proper conduct evidence an enterprise of


44

minimizing and imaginally transcending earthly limitations; but

equally

they

testify

that

those

experienced as actual impediments. literature,

the

aggrandizement

most

and

were

Quite often, in Qumran's

wondrous

realized

limitations

statements

angelic

status

of

appear

selfright

alongside passages of the most profound self-abasement and abject admission to the iniquities and impurities that the sectarians believed were inherent in earthly, human existence. The

sect's

distinctive,

eschatological

account for this frequently apparent paradox.

outlook

must

If, as Lawrence

Schiffman has written, the sect lived, "with one foot, as it were, in the present age, and one foot in the future age," 36 then the self-conception, and arquably the self-experience, of the sectarian spanned a corresponding dichotomy.

on the one

hand--to borrow from the language of the documents themselves-the sectarian belonged to the "assembly of worms and of those who walk in darkness," (1QS, XI, 10), and on the other hand he experienced his community as already united "to the sons of the heavens" (e.g. 1QS, XI, 8), and himself as being "in one lot" with God's celestial elect (e.g. 4Q181, 1, II, 3-6). Most of what has been written concerning the affinity of the Qumran sectarians and the angels has been in connection with the so-called n:1Uli1 n'21D n11,Ul 110, Sabbath

Sacrifice.

This

is

a

or Songs or the

sequence of

compositions,

36

Lawrence Schiffman, "Coalllunal Neala at Qumran," Revue de Qumran 10 (1979), p. 45, and ~he B•chatological Ca..unity of the Dead sea Scroll•, SBL Monograph Seriea #38, 1989, p. 7.


45

involvinq detailed imaqininqs of the celestial service of anqelic

worship

on

the

first

thirteen

sabbaths

of

calendar, alonq with exhortations to communal worship.

the The

text bears remarkable similarities in content and in style to the much later Hekahlot literature, and it is certainly an offshoot

of

intertestamental,

apocalyptic

speculation. 37

Fraqments of this text have been unearthed at Masada as well as at Qumran, yet the distinctive idiom of the text leaves little doubt of an oriqin at Qumran. In view of the many and varied texts amonq the Dead Sea Scrolls that present visions of anqelic Israel, there is no scientific reason for the Songs

o~

the Sabbath

Sacri~ice

to

take center staqe in an investiqation of our theme in Qumran's library.

on the other hand, a review of pertinent scholarly

opinion must center upon this one text. Sea

Scrolls-scholarship,

more

than

The history of Dead the

content

of

the

sectarian library, has led to a situation in which the Songs o~

the Sabbath

Sacri~ice

fiqure so prominently in discussions

of anqelic themes and self-conception at Qumran. By explorinq the theme of self-identification with anqels throuqhout the Dead Sea Scrolls, this present chapter should help to contextualize the Songs within the library of Qumran.

o~

the Sabbath

sacri~ice

In this way, the work here will

37

Alan Segal ha• c01111118ntecl: •The Angelic Liturgy [i.e. the 4Q Shiroe text) evince• •ame of the mo•t characteri•ti.c a•pect• of Jewish mysticism in an apocalyptic community of the fir•t century• (1990, p.40). More •cholarship on thi• connection will be quoted below.


"'

hopefully qo some distance toward elucidatinq some of the mysteries of the Qumran community that have hitherto been discussed almost exclusively in connection with one enigmatic and

fraqmentary

text.

The

new

availability

to

qeneral

scholarship of virtually all the material discovered to date at

Qumran

affords

an

unprecedented

opportunity

for

a

comprehensive exposition on the place of anqeloloqy in the self-conception of the Qumran sect.

This work is an essential

precursor to the project of investiqatinq self-identification with anqels in classical rabbinic sources. at

lenqth

and

in detail,

provides

the

most

coherent

textual

because Qumran,

extensive, record

It belonqs here,

of

varieqated, the

ways

it turns

out,

explicit,

and

in

which

self-

identification with anqels could operate and find expression in Jewish identity and community in the pre-rabbinic Jewish world of Late Antiquity. The project of this chapter is certainly not without precedent.

As Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis writes,

It has lonq been recoqnized that the Qumran sectarians experienced a close communion with the anqelic realm. This is manifest across a wide spread of DSS texts. In the Hodayot, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice ••• and various other texts we learn of a community whose members have been raised from the depths of human existence to the heavenly heiqhts. They have the lot of the anqels and an experience of eternal life, new creation, subsequent to the forqiveness of sins. 38

38

Pletcher-Loui•, 1997, p. 184.


47

Devorah Dimant's recent essay, "Men As Angels: The Self-Image of the Qumran Community" 39 provides a

learned and concise

synopsis of much that this chapter will reveal in depth, although the conclusion here will be different in crucial nuances from Dimant's.

Most of the scholarly articles on the

Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice advance some theory of Qurman' s

angelic ideology, and a qreat many other Qumran studies touch upon the importance of the angels to the sect.

What is more,

the text of the Songs of the Sabbath sacrifice itself has been thoroughly analyzed by its present-day editors, their analyses have subsequently been debated,

and no lesser scholars of

Jewish mysticism than Gershom Scholem in his time and Elliot Wolfson in ours have made preliminary comments on the relation of the songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice to later Jewish mystical traditions. 40

Still, there is room, and even a great need,

for a comprehensive study of the place of angelology in the self-conception of the Qurman sect throughout its literature, and this attempt at that task will also revisit the way in which the possibility of mystical experience in the religion of Qumran should be conceived and understood. In brief, these are the conclusions that this chapter will reach:

39

First of all, the mystical paradigms of early

Dimant, 1996, pp. 93-103.

40

Gerehom Schol. ., Lecture• in Mew York published •• Jewish GnoaeiciSIII, lferlcabah lfy•eici.,. .nd f"al.laudic rradieion, (Mew York: 1960) p. 3~ Elliot Wolfson, •Mysticism and the Poetic-Liturqical Compoeitiona from Qumran: A Reeponse to Bilhah Nitzan,• JQR 85 (1994), pp. 185-202.


48

Apocalyptic and later Herkabah traditions--both of which are focussed upon the elevation or translation of a hero, so to speak,

into

the

transformation--do

heavenly not

quite

world

and

match

the

his

concomitant

character of

the

sustained and pervasive anqelic self-descriptions in evidence at Qumran.

On the other hand, if we consistently recall that

the sect believed that the heavenly world itself was in an eschatoloqical process of becominq manifest upon the earth, then we can much more readily comprehend the way in which the sectarians of Qumran, as the self-styled earthly anqels of the eschaton, idealized and experienced themselves. Further, the place in Qumran's reliqion of the Songs of

the

Sabbath

Sacrifice,

and

of

other

texts

that

suqqest

concepts of anqelic humanity, must be thouqht of in terms of the hierarchical structure of the sectarian community and the special role of its priestly leadership.

We should not seek

after only one kind of religious experience (mystical or not) associated with these texts. arose

from

and

encouraqed

The sources here most likely several

kinds

of

experience,

correspondinq to the stratification of the sectarian community and the ways in which anqelic identity was ascribed to and expected of the members of the strata. world of

the eschaton there was

to

Even in the ideal

be an

inner sanctum

inhabited by especially exalted officiants who would reflect divine light upon the many.


"'

Finally, shifts from imperative to descriptive mode (and back), and alternations of focus between maqnificent celestial figures,

on

communities,

the on

one the

hand, other,

and

blessed

indicate

an

assemblies

or

importance

of

charismatic or dramatic example in the angelification of the Qumran community.

In short, the priestly leadership of Qumran

not only presented, but also represented to its followers the glimpse of a transformed world in which human beings were to assume the roles of angels in the true temple-court of God. In the final stage of the eschaton, as imagined at Qumran, that once heavenly temple-court,

in all its glory, was to

become manifest and established in the earth. of

the

sect

enabled

its

initiates

and

its

The leadership followers

to

envision, rehearse, and prepare for that reality.

Scbo~arsbip

on the Songs

o~

'the Sabba'tb

Sacri~ice

In 1957, on the basis of the few fragments of the songs

of the Sabbath Sacrifices then made public by John Strugnell, Gershom Scholem concluded that the document bore

"several

similarities in phraseology and possibly also in technical terminology"

to

the

Merkabah-mysticism

of

later

Jewish

tradition. 41

By 1965, when the second edition of Scholem's

Jewish Gnosticism was published, Struqnell had produced a more

41

Schol. . , Jevid Gnoaeici. . , p. 3.


50

complete description of the material and had published two fragments, of which Scholem wrote, These fragments leave no doubt that there is a connection between the oldest Hebrew Merkabah Texts preserved in Qumran and the subsequent development of the Merkabah mysticism as preserved in the Hekhalot texts. 42 Lawrence Schiffman's pertinent article of 1982 43 also depends on Struqnell's work (and on Strugnell's table-scraps) and

reading that article provides

some

insight

into

the

frustration that inhered in Qumran scholarship before the availability of the entire corpus of discovered documents. With regard to the Qumran text, Struqnell had written this is no angelic liturgy, no visionary work where a seer hears the praise of the angels, but a Haslcil 's composition for an earthly liturgy in which the presence of the angels is in a sense invoked and in which... the Heavenly Temple is portrayed on the model of the earthly one and in some way its service is considered the pattern of what is being done below. 44 To this,

Schiffman rejoined,

"We must grant the truth of

Strugnell's statement so long as we cannot see the entire text. n4s what

42

Schiffman also remarked that "we cannot judge to

extent

[the

composition

in

question]

was

used

in

Scholem, Jewish Gnoaeicisn, p.128.

43

L. Schiffman, •1ferbvab Speculation at Qumran: the 4Q serekh Shiroe :ozae ha-Shabbae• in lfyaeica, Philoaophera, and Polieicilllla: Basaya in Jewish Ineelleceual Biaeory in Honor of Al.exllllder Al.e.tllll, Jehuda Reinhartz et.al. ed•., (North Carolina: 1982) pp. 15-47. 44

John Struqne11, •The Angelic Liturgy at Qumran--4Q Serek S.irot Olat Bas•abbat•, •uppl. to VT, VII (1959), p.320. 45

Schiffman, •1ferkavah Speculation,• p.l7.


51

liturqical context observed that

in actual worship by the sect. " 46

the published

fraqments

He

seemed only to

be

"speculative description of the heavenly throne-chariot based on exeqesis of the relevant material in Ezekiel and other biblical traditions, " 47 and he wondered "if the text at hand does not simply describe the anqelic praise in heaven on the particular Sabbath." 48 text was visionary

Struqnell had noted that the Qumran

not of the "guided-tour" is

taken

to

see

the

variety, heavens,

in which the and

Schiffman

commented, "This may be because the visions are the result of intellectual endeavor in interpretinq the biblical material rather

than

of

a

mystical

experience." 49

Nonetheless,

Schiffman noted that "40 Serekh Shirot Olat ha-Shabbat is replete with expressions and motifs met also in the later hekhalot traditions"; and he wrote "It is apparent that there

is a lonq tradition behind the hekhalot which reaches back to material like that preserved (in the Qumran documents]." he said not only on the basis of content,

This

but also on the

basis of certain stylistic characteristics noted by Struqnell. Those included:

"frequent use of participles,

a

startlinq

paucity of verbs, and chains of nouns that frequently leave

46

Schiffman, •xerkavah Speculation,• p. 17.

47

Schiffman, •xerkavah Specul.ation, • p. 17.

48 49

Schiffman, •xerkavah Speculation,• p. 18. Schiffman, •xerkavah Speculation,• p. 19.


52

one in doubt as to how to divide the phrases." 50

Schiffman

commented that the stranqe impression created by the syntax of these (Qumran] texts can best be understood in liqht of later hekbalot literature. The awesome nature of the throne beinq described and the effusive praise and qrandiose descriptions lent themselves to this syntactic character. 51 on the one hand, Schiffman arqued that these Qumran texts did not bespeak incubation or preparation for a mystical journey, nor did they involve maqical names.

He concluded that they

"are not intended, like the later materials, to brinq about ecstasy or mystical experience. " 52

The Sect,

accordinq to

Schiffman in 1982, was only describinq what could be known from "its vantaqe point." 53

On the other hand, Schiffman's

work allows that from their vantaqe point the sect of Qumran looked intently toward the heavens, and he calls the Qumran material

"the

containinq

earliest

mystical

known

post-biblical

speculation

reqardinq

Hebrew

text

the

divine

the Songs

of the

throne. " 54 The

complete,

critical

edition of

Sabbath Sacrifice was finally published by Carol Newsom in

50

Struqnell, "The Angelic Liturgy,• p. 342f.

51.

Schiffmanr "«erkavah Speculation,• P• 20.

52

Schiffman, "Merkavah Speculation,• P• 45.

53

Schiffman, "Merkavah Speculation,• P• 45.

54

Schiffman, "Merkavah Speculation,• P· 46 (my italica).


53

1985. 55

The

majority

of

Newsom's

work

in

a

subsequent

article is a tracing of what she calls the "implicit exegesis" of Ezekiel and other texts in the 4Q fragments. 56

At the

same time, Newsom also makes important contributions to the discussion of the place of the Sabbath Songs in the thought and experience of the Qumran Sect and in the study of Jewish mysticism.

She writes, "Although heavenly praise is the focal

point of the Sabbath songs,

there are indications of the

communion of praise that exists between human and angelic worshipping communities. " 57

Newsom writes of similarities

between the earthly priesthood and the angels

of the

4Q

fragments, and she writes that, "If the Sabbath Shirot are indeed compositions of the Qumran community and not merely documents preserved and used by them then this fascination with the angelic priesthood can probably be judged to be an expression of a disenfranchised priestly community's attempt to clarify and reaffirm its own

identity. " 58

Elsewhere,

Newsom calls the Qumran-Shirot "quasi-mystical" and here she suggests

that

the

text

was

"employed,

not

merely

for

speculative purposes, but as the vehicle by which the human

55

New•om, 1985.

56

Carol New•om, •Kerkabah Exeqe•i• in the Qumran Shirot •, Journal of Jevi•h Studiea, 38, (Sprillq, 1987), pp.ll-30, ••P· p. 18. 57

New•om, 1987, p. 12.

58

New•om, 1987, p. 13.


54

worshippinq community shares in the experience of heavenly praise. " 59 We have already noted Joseph Baumqarten's work, which uses elements of the Qumran Shirot and later hekhalot texts to illumine

one

another--to

good

and

credible

advantaqe. 60

Baumqarten's study also addresses the function of the Qumran texts with reqard to actual experience and the place of these texts in the study of mysticism. and Schiffman,

Baumqarten, like Struqnell

remarks on the distinctive style of Qumran

Shirot--what he calls the "numinous unarticulated syntax," 61 and he supports Newsom's contention that "they were desiqned to evoke the feelinq of beinq in the heavenly sanctuary and in the presence of the anqels. " 62

His major contribution in

this reqard is in the suqqestion that the Shirot represent a kind

of

"conqreqational

mysticism" 63

throuqh

which

the

aspirations of priestly and lay adherents of the Qumran sect were

fulfilled

inasmuch

as

they

were

"permitted

to

descriptively approach the splendors of the anqelic realm." 64

59

Neweom, 1987, p. 30.

60

Joseph Baumgarten, •The Qumran Sabbath Sh~rot,• p. 200.

61

Baumgarten, •shuot,• P· 200.

62

Baumgarten,

63

Baumgarten, •shuot, • pp. 200-201.

64

Baumgarten, •shUot,• p. 206.

•sh~rot,•

pp. 200-201.


55

Bilhah Nitzan in her article on what she calls the "Harmonic Shirot65

and also

Mystical focuses

Characteristics" on

Celestial realm and God. "one

finds

clear

this

desire

of to

the

Qumran

approach

the

"Xn Qumran poetry," Nitzan writes,

statements

concerninq

the

reliqious

experience of communion between human beinqs and the celestial entouraqe. " 66

Further,

she arques,

"Xn cuttinq themselves

off from worship in the earthly temple and in considerinq themselves to be like pure priests, [the Qumran sectarians] claimed that their praise of God resembles that of the anqels and is in unison with them." 67

And she writes, "This manner

of approachinq God may indeed be considered mystic." 68 Nitzan separates the alleqed "mystical approach" of the Qumran Shirot into two aspects, a "celestial approach" and a "coJDDlunionist "celestial

approach" • 69

approach"

in

In

Nitzan's

Qumran's

formulation,

mysticism

consisted

the of

elevatinq the prayers of the celestial entourage above those recited by earthly beinqs. the

other

hand,

involved

The "communionist approach," on human

unison

presumably in their hiqher form of praise.

with

the

anqels,

The goal of the

65 Bilhah lfitzan, •Harmonic and Myatical Characteri.atica i.n Poeti.c and Li.turgi.cal Wri.tinga from Qumran,• JOR 85 (1994), pp. 163-183.

66

Nitzan, P• 164.

67

Ni.tzan, P• 165.

68

Nitzan, p. 165.

69

Nitzan, PP• 166-168.


51

Shirot,

according to Nitzan is to facilitate "a spiritual

experience of communion with the celestial entourage," or, "an experience of harmony and communion between the chosen earthly and heavenly worshippers." 70

But while Nitzan contends that

communion and harmony with the angels are the goals of the Shirot, she believes that a part of their brand of mysticism is the belief that human beings cannot truly stand beside the anqels in the highest heights.

She writes, "It is clear that

human beings do not participate in the choirs of the angelic hosts, nor ascend to the heavenly sanctuaries to be close to the angelic choirs." 71

Nitzan sees this belief manifested in

humble statements in the Qumran corpus such as, "How may we be considered among them?"

and,

"How shall our priesthood be

considered in their holy habitations?" 72 Eliot Wolfson is sharply critical of Nitzan's approach and categorizations. article73

as

an

Wolfson's uses his response to Nitzan's

occasion

definition of mysticism.

to

present

his

own

specialized

In the first place, Wolfson argues

that the "celestial approach" described by Nitzan should be excluded from the province of mysticism outright, inasmuch as it is not about proximity or union but about distance and insurmountable difference. 70

N~tzan, p.168.

71

N~tzan, p.

7

In the second place, Wolfson goes

182.

a N~tzan, pp. 182-183; Cf. 4Q400, 2, 6-7.

73

Wo1faon, •Myat~c~811l and the Poet~c-L~turg~ca1 compo•~t~ona from Qumran. •


57

farther,

suggesting that even Nitzan's second element,

the

"communionist approach," ought to be excluded from the rubric of mysticism. Wolfson

is

critical

not

only

of

Nitzan's

talk

of

"mystical unison," but also of the paradiqm of mystical union as a defining criterion in the study of early Jewish mysticism and mysticism in general. the

study

Wolfson,

of

allegedly

The privileging of unio mystica in mystical

phenomena,

according

to

is "a tendency rooted in Neoplatonic ontology and

epistemology: contemplation of God results in a form of union whereby the soul separates from the body and returns to its ontological

source

in

the

One. " 74

The

Jewish

sources,

Wolfson writes, "beginning with apocalyptic and Qumran texts, may provide a different model, based on the 'angelification' of the human being who crosses the boundary of space and time and becomes part of the heavenly realm. " 75

But even the

experience of ascent to the heavenly realm,

according to

Wolfson, must be divided into two experiential components, only one of which he calls truly mystical. The ascent itself, characterized by a standing posture, is to be distinguished from a transformative experience which involves the assuming of a seated place in heaven.

Wolfson

writes, "In my opinion, the word 'mysticism' should be used

74

Wo1f•on, 1994, p. 186.

75

wo1f•on, 1994, p. 186.


58

only when there is evidence for specific practices that lead to an experience of antic transformation, divine

or

anqelic. " 76

If there

i.e.,

is mysticism at

becominq Qumran,

accordinq to Wolfson, it inheres in an antic transformation implied by participation in the celestial liturqy.

In

a

1990 article, Newsom revisited the experiential siqnificance of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, writinq, The lanquaqe ••• is extraordinarily vivid, sensuous ••• both aurally and visually. What this does is to create and manipulate a virtual experience, the experience of beinq present in the heavenly temple and in the presence of the anqelic priests who serve there. It is, I suspect, in order to create and maintain this sense that the text avoids explicit reference to the human community after the one brief reference early in the cycle. 77 "The result," Newsom contends, "is to provide the community that recites and hears these sonqs not only with a model for their priesthood but also with an experiential validation of their leqitimacy as those permitted to share in the experience of heavenly worship." • 78

Moreover, Newsom arques that

It would be a mistake to merely as a sectarian text. reliqious problematic that Sabbath Shirot were common contemporary Judaism ••• 79

76

think of the document Certain aspects of the appear to underlie the to a wide spectrum of

Wolfaon, 1994, p. 187.

77 Carol Newaom, •se Baa Batabliahed for Bimaelf Prieata: Human and Angelic Prieathood in the Qumran Sabbath Shirot• in Schiffman ed., Archaeology and Bi•eory of ehe Dead Sea Scroll•, (1990) p.115. 78

Newaom, 1990, pp. 115-116.

79

Newaom, 1990, p. 116.


51

At the same time--in something of an internal contradiction within her own work--Newsom argues that "the Sabbath Shirot neither replace human worship nor do they merge the human and angelic priestly communities."

Rather,

In elaborating the existence of an angelic priesthood and heavenly temple, the religious imagination constructs a realm where adequate cult is maintained. This ideal realm is made vividly present through the community's act of worship in invoking the angelic praise and describing it in sensuous and evocative language. Significantly, the Sabbath Shirot do not speak of actual coparticipation in the conduct of the cult of the heavenly temple. 80 Newsom seems to vacillate between, on the one hand, drawing and

maintaining

a

distinction,

and

insisting

upon

separateness, of angels and humans, and, on the other hand, speaking of the creation of a perceived (and in that sense, actual) experience of shared participation with the angels in their liturgy. This

vacillation

itself,

I

would

argue,

probably

approximates quite closely the experience and conflicting self-perceptions of the Qumran sectarians themselves--evident in other of their texts as well, most notably in the Hodayot, as we shall

see. 81

The Qumranites could not deny

their

80

lfew•om, 1990, p. 117.

81

lfew•om her•elf i• •en•itive to ambivalence on the part of the Qumran

••ct when ahe writea, •The centuriea long •trugqle over the proper forma of cultic wor•hip not only produced qroup• claiminq •Jmowledqe of the hidden thinqa

in which all Iarael had qone aatray (CD 3.13-14), but also anxiety that even thia knowledqe waa not wholly adequate. • (1990, p.ll7). •The problem, in it• •harpeat terma,• lfew•om continuea, •adait• of no •olution, and one cannot look to the Sabbath Shirot preci•ely aa a ••olution• to the dilemma.•


'0 physical humanity (and its insufficiency) even as their belief in an incipient eschaton convinced them of the actualization of their anqelic identities.

In another conflicted argument--

vacillatinq (as I would arque aqain) in consonance with the sectarians

themselves--Newsom

writes,

While the distinction between human and anqelic realms is maintained, a common experience is qenerated throuqh the power of the lanquaqe of the sonqs to invoke and make present the worship of the heavenly temple. Insofar as the liturqy is successful in creatinq the virtual experience of beinq present in the heavenly temple, it mutes the reliqious anxiety associated with the inadequacy of human worship. The experience provided by the Sabbath Shirot serves to authenticate and reward human worship while at the same time allowinq for a proleptic transcendence of its limits. 82 In her analysis of the text of the Songs of the Sabbath

sacrifice, Newsom discerned a "pyramidal," or ascendinq and descendinq structure, with a culmination in sonq 7.

In his

revisitinq of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,

C.R.A.

Morray-Jones 83

aqrees

eiqht

cycle describe

of

the

with

Newsom the

that

sonqs

"sacred

six

center"

throuqh of

the

heavenly sanctuary and are "characterized by a repetitious and hypnotic quality, suqqestive of an increase in intensity of devotion, " • 84

However, Morray-Jones believes that this "no

more than a preliminary crescendo" in an experiential liturqy

82

Newaom, 1990, p. 117.

83

C.R.A. Morray-Jonea, •The Temple Within: The Embodied Divine Image and ita worahip in the Dead Sea Scroll• and Other Early Jewish and Chriatian Sourcea,• SBL SemLnar Paper•, 1998, pp. 400-431. 84

Morray-Jon•• 1998, p. 411.


11

that actually climaxes at its very end, with a vision of the enthroned, divine glory.

Morray-Jones correlates the thirteen

Sabbaths of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice with the calendar of the Qumran sect, and concludes, Xn my opinion, it is the twelfth song, falling on the sabbath following the covenant renewal ceremony of 4QBerakbot, that forms the true climax of the liturgical cycle as a whole. This song describes the manifestation of the Glory upon the merkabab. 85 As to the experience entailed by this liturgy, Moray Jones suggests that "these songs ••• enabled the community to gain access to the heavenly temple and to join with the angelic hierarchy in its worship before the throne" "performance" contends,

of

the

this

"liturgical

sectarians

Through the Morray-Jones

cycle",

undertook

a

"ritual

journey"

consistinq of an "ascent" to the heavenly throne-room. 86 Finally, in the "revisionist" analysis of Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis 87 ,

the

Songs

of

the

Sabbath

Sacrifice

represent much more than a mere vision of the service of the angels in heaven, and more even than an effort to join in the worship of such superior, celestial beings.

Fletcher-Louis

arques that the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice are "a liturgy for a divine humanity 11 ,

88

85

Morray-Jonea, 1998, p. 417.

86

Morray-Jonea, 1998, p. 420.

by which he means that "much of the

87 Criapin B.T. Fletcher-Louia, '"Heavenly Aacent or Incarnational Preaence? A Reviaioniat Reading of the Song• of the Sabbath Sacri.Lice, SBL Selllinar Papers, 1998, pp.367-399.

'

88

Fletcher-Louia, 1998, p. 367.


lanquaqe within the Songs ••• refers to the Qumran community members

who

identity. " 89

now

have

a

heavenly,

Fletcher-Louis'

angelic

and

divine

is certainly the most radical

interpretation of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, but it also accounts for certain peculiarities of the text.

In the

first place, Fletcher-Louis takes note of the texts's repeated calls to worship, on the part of the "Instructor" (7,Jwn), calls that are clearly directed toward angelic beings, and he comments, This "Instructor" is to call angels to worship in a way which goes far beyond OT psalmody in its details of liturgical direction (cf. e.g. Ps.148). The detail would be understandable for the conductor of a mortal choir, much less for a purely angelic one. Fletcher-Louis'

radical suggestion is that the angels who

worship in the heavens in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifices (or

at

least

a

central

sectarians themselves.

group

of

those

angels)

are

the

He argues,

If, within the Sabbath Songs, the references to angels, elohim, elim, and so on, be allowed to refer to the sectarians themselves, then many of the liturgy's problems disappear. In the first instance, where the Songs use peculiar language for angels--language normally used of humans--this is because it is describing divine humans. These are the sectarians, who we know from other (Qumran literature] arranged themselves in military and cultic formations drawn from the OT. The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,

Fletcher-Louis notes,

"abound with angelic titles which are both peculiar within extant Jewish texts of the period and, in any case, much more 89

Fletcher-Louis, 1998, p. 369 (his italics).


63

naturally used of human beings than suprahuman angels. " 90 Among the suspiciously human titles used of the angels in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,

Fletcher-Louis singles out

O,WM1 (heads), o,M,WJ (chieftains), and o~, '1l1

for bands of the angels, divisions), (station,

(camp),

~JTTT.J

or

Fletcher-Louis

standing notes

o~,

(priests), and,

O,J~lJ

(their bannered hosts,

or

ili19 (their gathered troops), inlln

body),

passages

and

(divisions).

nll'75Jn

elsewhere

in

the

Dead

Sea

Scrolls in which these particular designations are used of the sectarian community itself.

In addition to this peculiar use

of usually human designations for the angels in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,

Fletcher-Louis identifies "language

which is technical terminology in

[Qumran literature]

for

community members," singling out especially the appellation, 111 ,n,nn '71J ("all those perfect of path")

(cf.4Q403 1, I,

2) 91 and also "Oll nlJ,:l" ("a people of discernment"). 92 In addition to the terminological difficulties that would be

resolved

by

understanding

certain

of

the

angelic

participants in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice as the sectarians themselves, Fletcher-Louis indicates another enigma of the document that would be obviated by that interpretation:

9

° Fletcher-Louis,

91

1998, p. 368.

Fletcher-Louis, 1998, p. 368-369.

92 Fletcher-Louis, 1998, p. 373. Fletcher-Louis remarks, "Newsom riqhtly recognizes that this expression bears comparison with the use of Isa.27:11--"for this is a people without discernment ( M1 i1 n 1 P ~ OD M'2) --in CD 5: 16 and lQ&• 10:19.


,. the peculiar absence form this liturgy of the actual words spoken by the angels is readily explicable if those words were well known to the Qumran sectarians. Fletcher-Louis suggests that "the Songs are a conductor's or a lead-chorister's score.

His call for angelic worship is met

by the response of the community members themselves." 93 Fletcher-Louis'

argues that the angels of the inner,

heavenly sanctum, who are described as wearing articles of the high-priestly vestments, are to be understood as the priests of the sect itself. priestly attire service divine

As he puts it, "those clothed in high

("chiefs of those wonderfully dressed for

( ••• chiefs of the kingdom of holiness ••• ) are

(n1W~),

humans,

not suprahuman angels. "

This

reading

is

consistent with the earlier argument that the angels called to prayer at the outset of each sabbath's song are the sectarians themselves

and,

interpretation

according

also

accounts

to for

thirteenth song, of "sacrifices" and

"the

odour

of

their

Fletcher-Louis, the

(c,rr~T),

appearance,

this in

the

"offerings" (nlrrJn)

drink-offerings"

(C~,JCJ

rr,1).

Fletcher-Louis cites and seconds Daniel Falk' s contention that such terminology

could be

"only with

difficulty used

of

Fletcher-Louie' approach here ia aomewhat reminiacent of (though~ I thi.nk, more readily credible than) a theory advanced in 1988 by Dale Alliaon~ to the effect that the ~an Shirot are reticent about the actual content of the angela' aonga becauae the aectarian worahippera were moved by the liturgy to pronounce incomprehenaible utterancea--in the manner of apeaki.ng-in-tonguea--that could not (or ahould not) be aet down in writing. In both interpretations, it ie the aectariana themaelvee who are called to heavenly praiae by the Shirot. see Dale c. Allaion Jr., •The Silence of the Angel•~· pp.l89-197. 93


15

spiritualized, purely angelic sacrifices. " 94

What is more,

he argues, In the thirteenth Sabbath Song the focus is, very specifically, upon the high priestly garments which the Pentateuch prescribes for Aaron in Exodus 28. It is true that there is a very old tradition of giving angels a priestly characterization. It is also true that angels are frequently described wearing celestial garments. Yet, nowhere, to my knowledge, in Jewish angelology are angels--rather than angelomorphic humans--dressed in the garments of Exodus 2 8 • 95 Fletcher-Louis concurs with Moray-Jones' refutation of Newsom's

"pyramidal" reading of the Songs of the Sabbath

Sacrifice,

agreeing

that

the

progression

of

the

liturgy

reaches its zenith not in the middle segment, but at the end, with the vision of the enthroned divine glory.

What is more,

in a reading that answers to Elliot Wolfson's criterion for mystical experience, Fletcher-Louis contends that the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice portray a

the chief priestly figures

engaged in the celestial service as "embodying the glory of

94

Fletcher-Louia, 1998, p.390. Daniel Falk, Daily, Sabbath, and Feseival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls, STDJ 27 (1998), Leiden, Brill, pp.lJS-6. The difficulty of which Falk writea ia aomewhat belied, however, by the later example of a frequently recurring midraah in which the angel Michael offers a sacrifice (1~1~) upon an altar in the heaven• (e.g. b.Bagigah l2b). On the other hand, Fletcher-Louia argues, •None of the texts cited by Newsom ••• offers a straightforward or compelling history-of-religions precedent for seeing the sacrificial language at thia point as purely metaphorical.• 95

Fletcher-Louia, 1998, p. 390. Aa I will discuss in the concluaion of thia chapter, Fletcher-Louia perhapa over-argues thia point. Be must know that the archangel Gabriel ia identified in Genesia Rabah with the •certain man clothed in linena• of Dan.lO, linen being aaaociated with the priestly garmenta. Fletcher-Louia cannot have it both waya. If, aa he arquea, the •high prieat•a wearing of thia clothing ia aymbolic of hia poaaeaaion of a divine, tranacendent or otherworldly identity,• then it ahould not be implauaible to find divine, transcendent or otherworldly being• ao clothed.


on the basis of linquistic "overlap" between the descriptions of the angelic-priestly garments in the 12th Sabbath Song and Ezekiel's vision of the enthroned, divine glory, 97 and on the basis of a conceptual identification of the high priestly garments with the temple's holy of holies, Fletcher-Louis

concludes

that

the

Songs

of

the

Sabbath

Sacrifice identify certain angelified, sectarian priests, "in their heavenly garb" with the vision of the enthroned, divine glory.

"This means,"

he writes,

"that the Qumran Chief

Priests embody, in some way, that Glory and in so doing bring the cycle of the Shabbat Shirot to its ultimate climax." Through this imaginative,

sectarian identification of the

priesthood with the divine glory,

Fletcher-Louis contends,

"the priesthood gives physical and substantial tangibility to a reality which is fundamentally invisible and beyond human knowing."

Fletcher-Louis writes,

If this theology of priesthood, and its implicit anthropology, seems shocking, it should not. We have already seen how a similar pattern is present in Similitudes of Enoch, with the Enochic Son of Man described in terms of the "something that seemed like a human form" of Ezekiel 1:26 in Eth. Enoch 46:1. Both Enoch and the "one like a son of man" character in Daniel 7, to which the Similitudes are indebted, are high priestly characters. In the Similitudes the true high priest who embodies God's Glory is hidden in preexistence with God, only to be revealed in the end 96

Pletcher-Louis, 1998, p. 393.

97

Newsom herself admits that •implicitly, the analogy [between the description of the enthroned glory and the garments of the angelic priests) would extend also to the garments of Israel's high priest, who thus reflects in a more distant fashion the Glory of God.• (DJD 11, 353).


17

times. In the Songs of the Sabbath sacrifice such an embodiment of God's Glory is a present reality, experienced by the Qumran community in its regular worship. Fletcher-Louis' work does much to establish linguistic and thematic similarities between the self-descriptions of the Qumran

sectarians

and

the

descriptions

certain

of

the

celestial praise-givers of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. He also demonstrates convincingly certain imaginal linkages between the appearance of the heavenly officiants

in the

innermost sanctuary and the image of the Glory toward which the heavenly worship in Ezekiel 1 is directed.

As these

heavenly officiants are imagined in priestly garb and roles, Fletcher-Louis'

contention

that

the

priesthood

at Qumran

represented or reflected to the sectarians a heavenly reality, perhaps even the divine glory itself, is also quite plausible. on the other hand, compelling as Fletcher-Louis' work is, the

Songs

of

the

Sabbath

Sacrifice

are

not

unequivocal as is his interpretation of them.

nearly

so

Especially

since we cannot know the way in which this text was used liturgically--if it was so used--there is a limit to what we can conclude from the remnants of this one text itself (much less from its most fragmentary, final segments upon which so much of Fletcher-Louis' argument rests). What we can do--what the new availability of so much of the Qumran library makes possible--is contextualize the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifices within the self-descriptions, rituals, liturgies, and other ideoloqical writings of the Qumran sect.


,. We can search this other literature for passages that can help us to discern what it may have meant for the Qumranites to contemplate and describe in rich detail the priestly service of the heavenly, angelic temple, and what imperative calls to worship may have meant for the sect in that context. Fletcher-Louis himself has revisited the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and the Qumran library more broadly in a

very recent book,

Al.l

the Glory of Adam, 98

after this present study was undertaken.

published just Fletcher-Louis'

survey of the Qumran literature defends two claims:

The first

is that the Qumran community believed that "in its original, true

and

redeemed

angelic)." 99 redeemed,

state

humanity

is

divine

(and/or

The second is that "the attainment now, for the of

this

true

humanity

was

conceptually

and

experientially grounded in their 'temple' worship in which ordinary space and time, and therefore human ontology, are transcended. " 10 °

Fletcher-Louis'

first

conclusion

is

certainly true with reqard to the Qumran sect's concept of its own

faction

patrimony.

of

humanity

and

its

particular,

Israelite

It is also true, as we shall see, that the temple

and its priesthood were the cardinal focal points in Qumran's concept of anqelic Israel.

On the other hand, Fletcher-Louis'

understandinq of the role of the Temple-service in Qumran's 98

Studie• on the Text• oL ehe Deae~ oL Judah, Vol. 42 (Leiden: 2002).

99


100

Pletcher-Loui.•, 2002, p. 476.


ideology is that "those who enter the worship of the community experience a transfer from earth to heaven, from humanity to divinity,

and

accordinq

to

from mortality to Fletcher-Louis,

immortality." the

key

That

is,

trasformational

experience in Qumran's reliqion is one of ascent,

and the

rites and liturqies of the sect have the heavens as their qoal.

By contrast, this chapter will argue that the exalted

self-conceptions

of

Qumran's

sectarian

writers,

and

the

connection with the anqelic host that their texts express, can best

be

in

understood

terms

of

the

eschatological

transformation of the earthly realm that these sectarians believed was already underway and which they strove to hasten. The

difference

in

nuance

may

seem

small,

but

Qumran's

distinctive literature makes considerably more sense if we think not of an effort to forsake the earth for anqelic life in the heavens, but rather of an effort to realize anqelic identity in order to take part in a divine campaiqn flowinq from the heavens into the earth.

A llethodological. Not:e

The

reliqion

undoubtedly warranted

to

of

evolvinq beqin

Qumran

was

a

tradition. 101 with

a

sketch,

continuous, Therefore, composed

101

of

althouqh it

is

several

cbarle•worth, in the •General Introduction• to the tran•lation• of the •croll• that he ha• edited warn• that the Qumran document •mu•t not be pre••ed into a un~fied •y•tem,• and urge• that we •peak not of a •theology,• but of •theolog~e•• at Qumran.


70

illustrative

quotations

from

principal

documents,

that

describes, in broad strokes, the place of angels in the selfconception of

the sect.

Following this

sketch,

we will

consider the relevant genres and texts of Qumran in turn and in more depth.

In this way, this chapter will present both a

coherent ideology of angelic identity at Qumran and also responsible treatments of the individual and unique documents that contribute to the picture.

The sect at Qumran endured

for about a century, and discrepancies in the details of its self-descriptive documents (e.g., famously, between the socalled Damascus Covenant and the Rule of the Community) and even in its various calendrical schemes, probably attest to the development of the sectarian tradition over time or even to its absorption of several factions.

Major documents and

genres must be considered individually; but the theme of selfidentification with the anqels emerges as a common denominator in a great deal of Qumran literature.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------71 A Sketch o& the Aogelic Comgn j the Tartua.l ,lyidenca

tv

or

Qumran:

An OVe.rvimr of

,J~n w,l~ 111~~ M79~1 1~1u ,97 7M ,nn1 1nun~ W11~ nlu7 c,7(M] 4 (In],~ 1nu ~wnn~7

nn1u7 vacat W,M 1M7[9 ,T1] 5 [ ••• ]~ 1,W1i~ CD 71ll~1 C71D ,,n7 C]7[1]D ,,n7( ••• 6 ] [ ••• 1]7 7(,]9~ 1WM 171ll ,97 7~n

[

...

In accordance with God's compassion and in accordance with His goodness and the wonder of His glory He brought close some from among the sons of the earth blank to be considered with Him in the comm[unity] 4 of celestials, to be a holy congregation standing in rank, for eternal life, and in one lot with His holy ones, ( ••. ] 5 his (wonder]ful [mysteries], each man according to his lot which He assigned to (him •.. ] 6 ( ••• ] for et(e]rn[al] life [ ... ] (4Q181 1, II, 3-6) The passage above, Creation 102 emerges

in

expresses the

from a document labeled 4QAges of

the

writinqs

central

idea

of

sectarians,

elevation to anqelic status

its of a

of

Qumran,

as

namely:

it the

predetermined Israelite

elect, above the surrounding world and the rest of humanity-even Jewish humanity--as the sole earthly community chosen by God for victory and glory in the end of days. 103

In the

deterministic ideoloqy of the sect this distinction of the conqreqation is understood as the unfoldinq of a divinely 102 Also known as the •Peaher of the Periods," a designation to be discussed below.

As D~ant (p.95) aaya, •Any inquiry into the self-understanding of the community must begin with ita fundamental theoloqical premises: first of all, the world was created by a divine will, accordinq to a preordained plan. Secondly, the sphere of human activity is marked by a deep dichotomy between two camps: the forcea of Liqht and the forces of Darkness. The two camps consist of both human and anqelic beinqa, and are led by two archanqela: the camp of Liqht is led by the Anqel of Light, and the evil camp of Darkness ia led by the angel Belial. The two realms exist in conatant atrugqle, which will come to an end with the final victory of the boats of Liqht at the Bachatoloqical Era.• 103

~an


72

assigned role that entails the realization of a commonality, and shared experience, with God's community on high. 104

It

is well known that the anthropology of the sect, as expressed through many of its documents,

is one of marked fatalism-("Before

determined their actions"), (4Q180,

1,

sectarian, lineage,

2).

as

a

them

4QAges of Creation

He

has

it

The communal alleqiance of the individual

in this system of belief,

and

creating

role divinely

confirms a status,

assigned,

"enqraved on

a

the

heavenly tablets," in the parlance 4QAges of Creation (4Q180, 1, 3) • 105

For the elect, the allotted status to be fulfilled

is one not only of unison but of ultimate unity with the heavenly host, as the documents examined in this chapter will attest.

The passages from the writinqs of Qumran that I

present in this overview illustrate the cardinal points of a sectarian self-identification with the angels. The fragmentary 4QAges of Creation, Pesher on the Periods)

106

(also known as the

from which we have seen lines 3-6,

presents itself as an interpretive treatise on "the aqes that God has made."

104

The account begins with "the qenerations of

For a diacuaaion of the terma n,'7M and n,Wlii1, paaaage, denoting the angela, aee Yadin (1962) pp.230-23l.

as used in this

105

Devorah Dimant (1979, p.93) notea other instances in which the verb •engrave• (i2i2n) ia uaad in connection with predeatination in the Qumran writings. 106

we ahould note that the te~ n,~i2--•agea,• or •perioda•--generally occur• in paaaagea relating to the aect'a belief• concerning creation, history, and predeatination. Cf. Devorah Dimant, •The 'Peaher on the Period• (4Ql80) and 4Q18l, Iarael Orieneal seudiea, 9, (1979), pp. 77-102, and F. Notacher, Zur rheologiachen rer.inologie der Quaran-rexte, (Bonn: 1956) pp. 167-169.


73

Noah from Shem to Abraham" (1Q180, line 4), and speaks also of "Azazel and the angels who came to the daughters of man" (line 6) •

Consequently,

quoted above,

one might initially suspect the lines

concerning the exaltation of

certain human

beings to celestial station, of reflecting merely legend or pseudo-history--a third-person narrative of the distant past, and

not an actual

self-description.

However,

4QAges

of

Creation is also a document of pesher exegesis, which is, as

a

rule,

contemporarizing,

narratives

referential

to

rendering the

environment of the sect itself.

biblical

immediate

verses history

and and

In this particular instance

of pesher, the aim of the exegesis seems to be to explain the situation of the Qumran sect in terms of a universal, divinely determined history of intertwined human and angelic hosts. The pesher tells how God "delivered the sons of the heavens and the earth to a wicked community until its end" (4Q181, 1, 2-3), a trope which is characteristic of the sect's eschatological view of its own situation and, what is more, further

indicative

of

an

understood

commonality

between

heavenly and earthly elect communities.

Commenting on this

document,

common

J .T.

Milik

observed

that

a

denominator

through all the "ages" of the narrative is the involvement of heavenly beings in human affairs. 107

Though the fragmentary

condition of 4QAges of Creation makes absolute certainty impossible, 107

J.T.

it

~1~,

is most probable •Mi1ki-Sedek et

that

~1ki-Resa,•

the

intent

of

the

JJS 23 (1972), pp. 95-144.


74

document is to present the sect itself as the culmination or final generation of a divinely chosen lineage distinquished by its continual association with the angels. probable that the retelling of this

It also seems

history is meant to

engender a coiUlunal self-understanding continuous with the exalted stature of the patriarchal heroes in the interpretive tradition surrounding Genesis 108 • situation of

the sect

In this way,

is cast as

the present

the culmination of

an

oriqinally heavenly and anqelic process being worked out on the earth. As the final offshoot of an elect exalted from of old, the sect itself is stationed, per its own ideology, over and against the world of evil--in particular, the evil brought into the world below through the conjugation of Azazel's minions with the daughters of men (an embellished biblical theme present especially in lEnoch, fraqments of which have also been recovered at Qumran) • 109

The present situation of

108

In the Prayer of Enosh (4QPEnoahb), linea S-12, for example, the patriarch is given •the crown of the heavens and the glory of the akiea• (n1CD o,~nw 11131 o,nw), made a prince and a ruler in all the inhabited world, and •the angel of Your peace is in hia congregation. • Fletcher-Louis (Lulce-Aces ••• p.l45) writes, •Aa the Eaaenea gain an angelic mode of existence, ao too they are promised the loat glory of Adam.• Be ainglea out lQS 4:23; lQB 17:15; CD 3:20 4Ql71 iii lf in thia connection. In thia way, he conclude&, •The attainment of an angelic or divine identity ia grounded in man•a original identity.• 109

Maxwell J. Davidson ( •Angela at Qumran: A Comparative Study of lEnoch 1-36, 72-108 and sectarian Writings from Qumran, • JSPS 11) concludes, •the members of the Qumran community did not actually compose the Enochic writings, but rather carried these previously composed documents to ~an· (p.22). In thia connection I should note the theory of J. T. Milik that a hypothetical •aook of Periods• waa canonical at Qumran and served aa a source for 4Ql81 and lEnoch•a •aook of the Watchers• (Milik, 1972). Milik'a theory ia convincingly rebutted by Ronald Buggina (•A canonical •aook of Periods at Qumran?• Revue de Qwaran 15 (1992), pp. 421-436), aa far aa the necessity of auch a document ia concerned,


75

the elect community reveals itself through pesher exegesis and esoteric teaching as the final stage of an ages-old struggle of angelic potencies.

The nations

(Including the rest of

Israel) round-about the sect are irredeemably evil, while the sect alone is the lot of 1ight--"7N 71lll 1WliT 71ll

~n~

N,3

c,n71D 11N7" ("for they are the lot of darkness, and the lot of God is for eternal light") as 1QM, the War Scroll, puts it ( 1QM , XII , 5 -6) 110.

The outside world is the earthly domain

of Azazel or Belial,

and the sect alone is the embattled

portion of God, protected by God's preferred angel of light or truth:

"7D,7J. i,n 11N ,JJ. 7137 11TlP

1nnN 1N7n[ .•• ]"

("The

angel of His truth ••• will rescue all the sons of light from the hand of Belial")

(4QCatena

(4Q177),

l9+12+13i+15,

12).

Those brought close to stand with God, in community with the celestials, in our opening passage from 4QAges or creation, are to be understood as the sectarians themselves, and not only the heroes of their imagined past. The members of the sect hoped and expected to act out the final cosmic triumph in their own lives, on the earth and in league

with

God's

celestial

host

of

angels. 111

The

but it is clear that the cCIIIIIlunity at Qumran consistently conceived of ita history in the episodic, apocalyptic te~• that Milik identifies. 110 4Q548 (4QVisions of Amra.), frag. 1, linea 12-13, expresses the same duality, emphasizing the opposes ultimate destinies of eternal life for the sons of light and death for the sons of darkness: •Mn~u nnnw~ M,l~l~ M,l~l ,l~ ~3 ,,M Knln~ MJWln~ M3Wlrr ,l~ ~J1• (•Thus all the sons of light go to the light, to eternal happiness and to rejoicing; and all the sons of darkness to darkness, to death.•) Also Cf. Charlesworth (1994), p.xxii. lll

Yigael Yadin, 1'.11e Scroll of the War oL the Sons oL Light Against the (OXford: 1962) especially pp.229-242.

Sons of Darkness,


7' predetermined epic battle is foretold in Qumran's War Scroll, which also emphasizes the unity of heavenly and earthly hosts: ~ 1 :l T:l C, JN.,n nHl:l~ 1 O,nUl:l i1~ [M] C,Wij7 :l 11 M, J 1 i1J., i1nntu 2 Wi1j7 Cll ,1,TT:l1 i1J[nnM n1il]i1'1 i1JW11j7 190]n1 i1JW11j7 11Dn:l ~J1M CM:l~ ~1J n1nw 190[1 O]il:l i1Jn1~W n,1:l1 [i1J,n]1J1:l ,iCTT1 3 i1Ji1:lJ .,1JTJ C,i7[1~ 4 c,n.,1n ,1n1n .,,J:l [ ••• ] 11'1n., c,,rr 01TT:l 1n~ i1n1rr Oll iTT, Cn1M1:l1.,1 Ci1,9.,M., i1J,1,TT[:l n1M]J~ i1j79~1 [ ll,JJ~~1] i1nrr.,n:l 5 ,, n1w1~ i1J,JN'1n [Cll1] i1J,W1ii7 [c,rr]~1J c,nw ,,,n:J cn1 i1J,o9wn :J,,:l p1M ,ni7

l For there is a multitude of holy ones in heaven and hosts of anqles in your holy dwellinq to [praise] your [truth.] And the chosen ones of the holy nation 2 you have placed for yourself amonq t[hem]. The book of the names of all their hosts is with you in your holy dwellinq, and the nub[ber of the ju]st in your qlorious dwellinq. 3 [Your] blissful mercies and the covenant of your peace you enqraved for them with the chisel of life, in order to rule[ ••• ] durinq all times eternal, 4 to muster the arm[ies] of your [ch)osen ones accordinq to its thousands and its myriads, toqether with your holy ones [and with] your anqels, to have the upper hand in the battle [and destroy] the rebels of earth in the lawsuit of your judqements while the nation of the chosen ones of heaven triumphs. (1QM, XII, 1-5)

The term "nation" (Cll) in this passaqe surely desiqnates the earthly nation of Israel (or rather its elect, the sect), but the shiftinq usaqes of "nation" in these lines also bespeak a peculiar blendinq of heavenly and earthly domains in the thouqht of the sectarians.

On the one hand, the "chosen ones

of the holy nation" (W1ij7 Oll ,,,TT:l) are stationed amonq God's celestial& (lines 1-2)--an assumption of human beinqs to the anqelic host. ones

(i1J1,TT:l

on the other hand, the armies of the chosen n1M:l~),

presumably,

aqain,

the

sectarians

themselves, triumph toqether with God's "holy ones" (i1J,Ul1ii7)


77

and "angels"

(i1J,JN.,ll)

against an earthly opposition

p1N)--a translation of the heavenly struggle, beings,

to earth. 112

Finally,

(,lli1

and heavenly

the victorious party is the

"nation of the chosen ones of heaven"

,,,TT~

(O,llW

Dll),

a

construction of "nation," that can best be understood in terms of a union of the styled elect community or "nation" on earth with the angelic host of heaven, to the point that heavenly and earthly constituents are virtually indistinguishable in the victory of the eschaton. The key to understanding the angelic self-conception of the Qumran

sectarians

predestined,

is

their manifest belief

that

the

ultimate combination of heavenly and earthly

hosts, of celestial and terrestrial battles, was not in the future, but already underway. from its outset,

In the ideology of the sect,

the eschaton was in the present.u 3

This

belief is explicit in the famous Halakhic Letter, or Hiksat Haaseh Torah (4QMMT), apparently a missive sent by the early

leadership of the sect to the priesthood of the Temple in Jerusalem,

quite probably around

the

time

of

initial separation and its move to Qumran. 114

the

sect's

As well as

1.12 John J. COllin• (1974, p.S2) write•, •since the di•covery of the Qwmran text•, the u•age of the te~ [kedoah~) i• no longer •o overwhe~ingly indicative of the meaning •angel•"· The u•e here, in combination with o,JM~n, doe•, however, clearly denote the angel•· I would add, however, (and hopefully thi• chapter will demon•trate) that the frequent u•e of o,w1~~ with reference to the •ect need not d~ini•h the angelic connotation of the term at all. l.l.l

See Schiffman, B•chaeologic:al. CoiiDtlniey,

p. 7.

1.14

Cf. Lawrence Schiffman, "The Place of 4QMMT in the corpu• of Qumran," Nev Per•peceive• on Qwu-an Lav and Biaeory, John Kampen and Mo•he J. Bern•tein, ed•. (Atlanta: 1996).

Reading

401111~:


78

listing various qrievances concerning fine points of ritual law,

the document serves as a

declaration of the sect's

independence and a manifesto of its eschatological faith. Towards its end, 4QMMT warns that some of the signs foretold of the end of days have already come to pass ~wn

19D~

~1n~w

n1~~~~1

n1~1J~

n~~n

lM~W",

("D,,,~n

lliTJMl

"and we recognize

that some of the blessings and the curses have come to pass that are written in the book of Moses" 4Q398 11-13, 3) and

days."

The eschaton having already arrived, in the view of

the Qumran sectarians, the dividing lines between heaven and earth were apparently dissolving in their minds.

The time had

come for them to realize an assigned identity and allotted destiny in common with the angelic host. The Rule of the Community (1QS), which reads as a kind of constitution for the Qumran sect 115 , elevation

of

the

sectarians

is unambiguous about the

themselves

to

a

status

of

community with the celestials: ~Mi

WlJMn

~1nCJ

1WM

~,Wln

,J,U

~~~~

11~n

~U,J~

6

C~lU

~,l~J

~n1u

nnrn1

1,un eM

~,,~l

C~,ITJ,l

C~lU nTliTM~ Clnl ~M 1IT~ 1WN~ 1CJ ilCn ill~ n~D~ CilC 1JIT C,nW ,l~ CUl C,Wli~ 8 ~11ll ~,~J p~ ~,~ en c~1u nnun~ Wil~ nJJn

ilCl iiT,

7

~1~n1

CiN

,J~n

My eyes have observed that which abides eternally: 6 wisdom that has been hidden from mankind, knowledge and prudent understanding (hidden) from the sons of man, source of justice and well of 7 1.1.5

Cf. Moahe Weinfeld, Tile Org&nizaeional Paeeern and elle Pena.L Code of elle QWU'an Sect, (Fribourg/Gottingen: 1986); J. Licht, The Rrde Scro.1.1: A Scro.1.1 froa ell• flild•rn••• of Judea--lOS, lQSa, lQSb, (Jeruaalem: 1957); and the related work of Philip a. Daviea.


79

strength and spring of glory (hidden) from the assembly of flesh. To those whom God has selected he has given these as an everlasting possession; and he has given them an inheritance in the lot of B the holy ones, and to the sons of the heavens he unites their assembly to form a council of community and a council, a holy foundation, to form an everlasting plantation throughout all 9 ages to come. (lQS, x:r, 6-9) The community of Qumran regarded itself in angelic terms and considered its own identity as continuous with that of God's angelic minions in the world on high.

Beyond the explicit

statement of this belief, we can note, in the lines above, an emphasis upon a sapiential, or (in that limited sense) gnostic inheritance involved in the elevated status of the sect. have yet to determine whether,

We

in the sectarian ideology,

hidden knowledge is the means of transformation, or whether angelic

status,

divinely

conferred,

simply

makes

such

knowledge accessible and evident.

At this point we should

only

and

note

that exalted knowledge

angelic

status

are

concomitant--an observation we shall have occasion to make in regard to certain rabbinic sources as well. A similar theme of realizing angelic identity, along with exalted

knowledge,

psalmody of Qumran.

pervades

the

Hodayot,

the

distinctive

:In fact, the characteristic thanksgiving,

from which the Hodayot derive their scholarly designation, is very often the expression of gratitude

for

God's

having

elevated the sectarian psalmist to angelic station and to heights and glory far beyond the inherently base and earthly human condition which the speaker also considers his rightful,


80

or natural lot.

The following Hodayab composition represents

the paradox of lofty and lowly identities that emerge as the dichotomous poles of possibility in human sectarian) life.

(or,

at least,

Between these poles, the self-conception of

the speaker alternates back and forth: 111~N 71Mwn1 nnwn ,W9l nn,,g ,3 ,l11M n311N vacat nn1M1 1~rr 1,M7 11w,n~ n37nnM1 c71D 0117 ,Jn,7un 20 n1Ul IT111 C71D 1107 19Dn nn1~, 21 1WM7 n1~n W, M,3 M1~71 c,w11~ M~~ 22 en 1nun~ ~~,nn7 ~1 uwgn nn1nn n1rr11 en o71n 7111 w,M7 79n1 e,nw ,J~ n1n en 1rr,~ 713 11l7 n3,n1M79J 19071 nJ1 1rr,~ n3nw 77n7 nn1 23 ,n71 o,n~ 7~1n ,JM nn 1nrrn 24 1~, ,JN1 nJ,wnn en1 25 nnw1 71~1~ ,n~~,nn M,3 ,7 rr13 nn1 ,n~wrrl 7111~ e,M37IT

I thank you, Lord, for you have redeemed my soul from extinction, and from the Sheol Abaddon 20 you have lifted me up to an everlasting height, so that I can walk on a boundless plain. And I know that there is hope for he 2~ whom you fashioned from dust for an everlasting community. And the depraved spirit you have purified from great iniquity that he might stand in rank with 22 the host of the holy ones and come into community with the congregation of the sons of heaven. You cast for a man eternal destiny with the spirits of 23 knowledge, so that he might praise your name in the community of jubilation and tell your wonders before all your creations. But I, creature of 24 clay, what am I, mixed in water, and for whom am I taken, and what strength have I that have stood in the lot of evil 25 and with scoundrels in their lot? (1QH•, XI, 19-25) Although the speaker eventually recalls his own humanity and his

concomitant

iniquity,

his

elevation

to

a

status

of

commonality with the host of heaven reads as an accomplished reality at the beginning of this hodayab.

The speaker has

been redeemed (line 19), lifted up (line 20), purified (line 21), and brought into the ranks of the holy ones (lines

21-22),

so that he stands

(D,W11~ M~~)

"in community with the


81

conqreqation of the sons of heaven" (c,nw

,l~

niD CD

iiT,~).

rt should be noted that this hodayah-composition is one of several, in columns 10-16 of lQHa, that have been suqqested as "Teacher-hymns, " representinq the unique status and experience of Qumran's foundinq leader,

its Teacher of Riqhteousness.

Reservinq judqement, for the moment, on that theory, we can say that our text both aqqrandizes its speaker and offers his experience--his realization of the "hope for be whom you have established from dust for an everlastinq community" C~lD

ilO~

many.

19Dn

~n1~,)--as

(1WN~ ~1~n

a path that miqht be shared by the

Notably, the terms used to denote the supernal host

to which the speaker has been joined are used elsewhere of the sect itself.

The terms ilO (council), iiT, (community) and

~iD

(conqreqation), often appear in reference to the sect, and even

c,Wli~ N~~.

the "host of holy ones" is suqqestive of both

anqels and the sect.

Much more tenuously, o,nw ,ll could be

interpreted--after the manner of the more frequent sobriquet, 11M

,l~

("sons of liqht"), and the appellation c,nw

,,,rr~

CD

("nation of the chosen ones of heaven"), which we have just encountered (in lQM,

xrr,

5) --as indicatinq not only "the

denizens of heaven," but also those people associated with heaven, as the sect is associated with liqbt.

rn notinq that

these terms are often used of the Qumran sect itself, should not minimize their clear, anqelic connotations. trope

of

c,n'11D,

eternity that

1~rr

pervades

the

passaqe

(e.q.

we The

C'11D,

t,N) and the settinq of the C'11D 011 ("eternal",


82

or "cosmic heights") certainly indicate a more than normal, earthly condition. 116

The speaker declares that his lot has

been cast among the "spirits of knowledge," so that he can participate in the praise of God, and we should note that , TTl 1 nnN nu~,

"spirits of knowledge of the truth" are among the

wondrous entities envisioned in the eighth of the Songs of the Sabbath

as

Sacrifice

participants

innermost heavenly sanctum O,Wl~i1

("holy ones")

4Q403,

30, 40) • 117

in

( 4Q405,

the

19,

3) ,

praises of

the

where angelic

also partake in the jubilation

(e.g.

We should also observe that the command

to give praise that initiates the sixth of the Songs of the Sabbath

highest heights" "those

is

Sacrifice

addressed

(0,~11

called to the

(Mas1k, 1, 9-11).

,n11n

highest

both to

,JWl,)

"dwellers

in the

and "called ones," or

heights"

(O,n11

011

,N11i2)

Whether or not the speaker of this Hodayot-

composition is testifying of being called or raised to that selfsame

celestial

setting,

reminiscent of those heights.

his

language

is

certainly

The experience presented in

this text may be offered as a paradigm to the many.

It may be

116 While the phrase 0'11D '1w 1n11 appears frequently in classical rabbinic literature, 0'71D on ia rather rare. In Deuteronomy Rabah (Vilna) 11:10, the aun and moon stand o'71D 011::1. The words occur again in Hekhalot Rabati, chapter 10, wit reference to God's aervanta (O,n1wn). Moat notably, the setting appears again in the 131, ("creator of luminaries") bleaaing of the rabbinic recitation of the Sh-a (Seder R. Amram Gaon; Machzor Vitry, 89) aa the place where God's angelic aervanta ( ,n1wn) stand. R. David Abudarham'a liturgical opua links the usage there with Prov.25:3 ("The heaven for height") and Ezekiel 1:18 ("on'1 n:llll"--"and they were lofty"). 1.1.7

Aa to •apirita• in other Qumran texts, Dimant (p.98) haa noted: "In both (the Hodayot and the War Scroll) two common designations for angela are uaed: •angela' (•alachill) and 'apirita• [ruchot)."


83

that while the poet of this bodayah is speakinq in terms of an elevation to the anqelic community, he is also be speakinq of his joininq the elite of Qumran, in which case he may consider the two inductions to be synonymous or simultaneous. As

in

many

Qumran

compositions,

self-deprecation

immediately follows the remarkable testament of exaltation in our hodayah-text.

Not only lines 23-25, but a whole ensuinq

seqment of the composition turns to a meditation upon the lowliness of the speaker and his susceptibility to the evil that pervades the earthly world.

A discourse on the rule of

Belial (lines 26-33) in turn qives way to an assured prophecy of violent redemption heaven

(c,nwi1

(D,nw ,llJ.l

NJ.~)

nnrr~n)

(lines 34-36)

in which the host of

and the "war of the heroes of heaven" achieves victory on earth:

35 nnNJ. 1Wilj1 '11J.T Di1,l liTl:J llni1J. ~N Dlll, N,:J ,WlN li1J,,, llllnn,[l] c'1li1 lJn, c,nwi1 NJ.~l lilJ.:J i(ll J.l]Uin N~l ~J.nJ. ~1wn c,nw 36 ,,,J.l nnrr~n1 c~lll i1ln:J 09Nl ill~ i1~1ITJl i1~:J For God will thunder with the roar of his strenqth, and his holy habitation will echo with the truth of 35 his qlory, and the host of the heavens shall qive their voice, and the foundations of the world will melt and tremble, and the battle of the heroes 36 of heaven shall roam in the earth and not turn back until there be eternal, unparalleled utter destruction. (lQHa, XI, 34-l6) Aqain,

it is possible to read the o,nw ,llJ.l

heaven"), whose war is to take place on the earth the D, nw

, 1, rr:J

("the chosen ones of heaven")

("heroes of (~:ln:l)

of

--like

lQM--as

connoting the sect itself; but even if the sect is meant, clearly it is a sect that understands itself as an extension


84

of the angelic host.

The divine response described in this

concluding passage begins squarely in the heavens, with God's own wrath in His own abode, to which the heavenly host adds its voice, and even as the response flows into the earthly realm its representatives in that realm are still designated in heavenly terms.

The declaration that the triumph of the

"heroes of heaven"

shall "roam in the earth"

suggests

a

dissolution of boundaries between heavenly and earthly spheres and forces.

In view of the language here and above, we can

note once more that words frequently used to denote the sect-Trr,, 110,

~TD,

~111,

~~D,

nDun,

~J~n,

and

M~~--may

also be

used of the host of heaven, or ambiguously, in a manner that suggests a continuous or conjoined heavenly-earthly assembly. We must take care not speak of Qumran's vision of elect humanity

in

homoqenous.

the

eschaton

as

though

the

sect

had

been

The sect was by no means egalitarian--it was of

priestly conception and was

led

by

a

decidedly

elevated

priestly caste, and it was therefore inherently hierarchical and stratified.

Just as the entire realm or lot of light, in

Qumran's ideology, was in the care of the Angel of God's Truth and his host, so too the sect was in the care of its priestly leadership, and probably--ultimately, or at least ideally--in the care of a Within the

single,

cosmic and

most exalted leader of that caste. national

narratives

of

the Qumran

library we can discern a distinct narrative of the priestly line; and amid the pervasive expressions of the sect's angelic


85

self-conception

we

can

discern

especially

exalted,

and

especially realized anqelic self-conceptions within documents that reflect the experiences and the roles of the priestly leadership and of initiates to that leadership.

We will

explore this distinct narrative and especial aggrandizement of the priesthood in the discussions of the individual texts, below--particularly in connection with the so-called Qahat, Levi,

and

Amram-testaments,

as

well

as

the

Rule

of

Benedictions, the so-called Self-Glorification Hymn, and in connection with the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice themselves. Finally, in this overview, before returning to consider the several qenres and texts of the Scrolls in more depth, we should consider the question of anqel-worship at Qumran.

It

is clear that the sect saw its own salvation, and its triumph over the lot of Belial 118 ,

as arisinq through the power or

help of some anqelic aqency subsidiary to God's self, as we have seen in lines from the War Scroll, above.

Occasionally,

acknowledqement and veneration border upon worship in the Qumran literature, althouqh the unique God remains clearly in command, as in the followinq blessing of the congreqation from a document known as Sefer ba-Hilhamah: 0,311~ ~N1W,

[ ••• 1nN1] ~JD1 ~N1W, 3 [~M] OW~ 031~1 5 (1]Wi1j2 CW 111~1 [ ••• ]. l1,~D ~MOW~ [ 4Cn]M 1Wi1i2 ,3N~n 6 ~13 0,311~1 1n[ ••• ] 0,311~1 iD ,n~1D~

11.8 Xn discussing the veneration of angela at Qumran, it should be mentioned that the sect ia charged, by contrast, to curse and damn Belial (4Q286, frag. 7, col. 2).


., He shall bless them in the name of [the God of] 3 Israel, and be shall beqin to speak, and say: Israel, blessed are y(ou] 4 in the name of God Most High • ( ••• ] and blessed is [His] holy name 5 forever and ever, and blessed (are) His ( ••• ] and blessed are all His holy angels (11Q14, 1, II, 2-6 = 4Q285 1) While this blessing does show a veneration of angels, it is more remarkable for the way in which it combines the blessing of those angels with the blessing of Israel itself--that is, of the sect.

In this way the composition does as much to

elevate the stature of the human community as it does to suggest submission to the celestial host. enjoy similar, blessed status.

Both communities

The sectarian community and

the angels are blessed together, in this liturqy, because they stand together, as the end of the prayer indicates: 14 1n 1Wil~]

~n~w ~D1 ~,rr, cJniD~ ~1WJ(n1 Dll ]~1J( l,Ml] 15 ,JM~nl CJnD ~M M,J CJ~1M~ 1(~i l,Ml p1M~] CJ,~D M1~l 1Wi1~ OWl CJniD~ C(,~~,nn

(And there shall be no disease] at all (or stum]bling block in your congregation, and pernicious animals will vanish from ~4 [the land, and there shall be no pes]tilence in your land, for God is with you and [His holy] ~5 angels [sta]nd in your conqregation, and His holy name is called upon you. (4Q285, 1, 9-11 = 11Q14, 1, II, 13-15 Another instance of angel-veneration seems to occur in 4Qinstruction (4Q418), a text which seems to be addressed to

initiates within the Priestly leadership of the sect,

and

which appears to prescribe that deference to God's "holy ones"


87 (C,tlll ii1) u

9

should precede the assumption of exalted status

on the part of the initiate. n9,N1 ~J~,wn~ 11~1N~1 ~J~ nn[g ]~Jw ~nNl ,WJlJTl ctN ~,til~~ ~Ji,~l ~n~ ~JnN 10 ( ••• ]ii1'9 i:lJ li,n ~Jn~nJ nj1n C1tJ:l ~Jnn 11 [ ••• ]~n i1i19~1 ~1J1 C,W1ii1 ~1J 1,W(:l] nng 12 [ ••• C1]tJ:l1 1,W1ii1 1n1N9 11i~ C,~i1 ~1J Cll 13 ( ••• ].W1ii1 1nw~ N1i1J~ [ ••• c~]lll nunn~

nnN

11~1

And you, (He has op]ened insight for you, and He has made you to rule over his treasure, and an epha of truth He has entrusted ( ••. ] 10 they are with you. And it is in your hand to turn away anger from the men of pleasure and to appoint over [ ••• ] 11 your people. Before you take your inheritance from His hand, honor His holy ones, and bef(ore .•• ] 12 begin (with] the sonq of all the holy ones. And every one who is called to His name is holy ( ••• ] 13 durinq all times his splendor, his beauty for the eternal plantation (4Q418, 81, 9-13 = 4Q423 8 + 24) Aside from the suggestion of deference to the angels here we should note, in this last passage, the theme of God's settinq the adept over His house or treasure.

This

is a

trope

reminiscent of God's promise to Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah's vision (,n,:l nN l,in

~nN

Cl).

At the same time,

the initiate is charqed to acknowledqe those of like or higher stature before assuming his own inheritance in God's house. (Joshua also first stands before anqelic ministers in God's court.)

This

fraqment

also

exemplifies

the

fluid

and

ambiguous way in which the words "holy" and "holy ones" ( ,W1ii2 C,W1ii1) are used in the Qumran literature:

"God's holy ones"

U9 For the identification of theae o,w11~ aa angela in 4Q418 specifically, aee Daniel J. Barrington, •wiadom at Qumran, • 1'he CoiiiiJJUiliey of ehe Renewed Covenane: 1'he Notre o... S~poaiu• on ehe Dead Sea Scroll& (Indiana:

1994).


88

(1,W1ii2)

in line 11 seems to desiqnate the angels,

common

usage at Qumran, and the same angelic group seems also to be indicated in "the song of all the holy ones"

(D,W1i~

11J ,,W)

in line 12; but it is the initiate who is told to break into this song, and the text proclaims that "all who are called to His name are holy"

(Wli~

1nw1

the same fragment reads, ~J111l

1,9~

C,1M

11J~l

1~n

M1i2J~

"~Jntu

11J1

11J).

1WMJ

11

An earlier line of ~JWi~n~:l

C,Wil~ Wi1~1"

l~i~J

~T~

("Honor Him by

this: by consecrating yourself to him, as He has made you holy of holies for all the earth and among all celestials has cast your lot") --another indication that earthly priesthood entails angelic status

(4Q418 81,

3-5

same self-consecration appears,

(=4Q423

8 + 24?)) • 120

This

in another passage of 4Q418

(43, 44, 54, I, 10-11 = 4Q417 2, I 13-14) in connection with a sapiential reward and the suggestion that the adept might comprehend, if not even take part in God's eternal glory and actions: "1,tlllJn n111:lll M19 ,T1 CD D11D

il:lJ~

Din TM1 11 ("And

then you will comprehend eternal glory with the mysteries of His wonder and His valiant deeds. " 121

If there is angel-

120

The initiate ia to serve aa a conduit of bleaainq from God to the people, a function associated with an elevation beyond the lot of flesh: ·~3,ngw 1W~ rr11 ~13n ~J~,i~~ ••• ~~~ 0~1n 11~nJ ~nM1 O,W1i~ 11~~ 11~n rrng• (•Your lips Be has opened a aprinq to bleaa the holy ones, and you, as an eternal fountain of praise ••• Be baa separated you from every spirit of flesh.") The passage seems both to indicate the priestly atatua of the initiate and to indicate that this priestly atatua itself transcends normal humanity. 121

The text aeema to auqqeat that the initiate will acquire the ability to discern the fated lota in life, good and evil, aaaiqned to other human beings, knowledge inscribed in a heavenly book before God (4Q417 2 15-16), not qiven to the •spirit of flesh• (1W~ rr11) which cannot discern good from evil (linea 1718), but entrusted to •znoah, with the nation of spirit (IT11 on WllM7).


•• veneration in 4Q418 it is continuous with self-veneration, or self-qlorification, a phenomenon quite in evidence at Qumran, as we shall see.

In realizinq their identity as the holiest

beinqs on the earth, the Qumran sectarians, and especially their

priestly

leaders,

achieve

the

status

of

anqels,

entailinq access to divine knowledqe and conqress with the hiqhest divine retinue.

It is perhaps the kernel of Qumran's

secret

holiness,

doctrine

that

as

an

expression

and

fulfillment of election, when it is realized maximally by those whom God has chosen, has an upper limit just short of divinity itself.

2'be Genres and 2'erts in 2'U.rD

2'lle Bodayot: A Psal..ady of Ange~ic B~ection

We have already seen one hodayah composition, above, in which the sectarian speaker testifies that he has been lifted up from an earthly condition "to an eternal heiqht" Ci1D)

to stand "with the host of holy ones"

(C,Wli~

{C11i

~~~

CD)

and to be united in community with the "conqreqation of the sons of heaven"

(C,nW

,J~

niD

CD

iTP~

~1~/)

realize "an eternal destiny" (/11 l CilD) • 122

122

see the treatment of

loa•,

in order to

Such elevation

XI, 19-25, above.


90

is a sustained theme in the Hodayot. 123 statements of elevation alternate, passages

of

self-abasement

anything but anqelic.

which

At the same time,

as we have seen, seem

antithetical,

with and

We can observe the same pattern once

more in the following Hodayah composition, quoted here in its entirety: ilTln iln1::lli1 1nrr 1:~P::ll 19ll Cll ilnN':?9i1 ,J ,'7N ilJTlM ,wun::1 ,J':?,Jwnl ilJnnM TlC::l ,JnlJT[lil] 4 M,J iln ,JMl 11Jn::l ,ngw ':?1n1 il':?iln s ,JlW':?::ll n111i1 ,9::1 1nn1 ilJM':?9 T,nn Cl,il 6 ':?lJ iliTITlWN ilJn11::ll::ll ilJTCIT::l il1nTM1 i1J1 7 ilJ::llC l11l1 CTM ,Jl 11n::1 ilJTl::lJ i1190Ml ilJnW i1J1lN ili1T~ ilJT, ::11 ilJ, g nnM , J , nuT, , J M1 ,wg J uwunwn Tl::lJ '71Jl i11l::ll ':?lJ ilJITlJ::ll illli ':?lJ 8 ilJn::lWTin::ll nlJ,':?O ::111 ilJ::l1C::ll 9 lllJ ,cgwn ':?lJ i1J9M::l Mlil ilJnM 10 ilJnnM TlC::l cnllTlil ,J i1JJ1~1 ,J::l ':?1J'7 i1J,niT11 WlJN iln1i1C ilJTl::lJ llln':?l vacat cn':?J~il ilJM'79 ,T1::ll TIT,il':? ':?un nnWMl ilTJ nl::lll1n ':?1Jn ilJ':? 11 WTi1ni1'7 uwgn nu':?1n 19lln c,1il':? i1J,W1Ti1 12 ou ':?1lll1 1nnN ,J::l [O]ll :J:~Pni1'71 13 [ilJ]nJ,l':? illllJ rr11n1 [C':?l]ll T1C'7 c,nn 14 ':?lJ Cll WTTTnil':? [ ••• ] ,IT111 ill N::l~ Cll i1J,J9':? Tnlln::l ilJ1 TIT,::l O,llT, Clll il,ilJ nun

I qive thanks to you, my God, because you have done wonders with dust; with a creature of clay you have done (thank) fvery/ mightily. And I, what am I that 4 you have [ta]ught me the secret of your truth and have instructed me in your wondrous works? You have put thanks in my mouth and praise on my tonque, 5 and circumcise my lips in a place of jubilation. I will chant of your kindness and talk of your might all 6 the day always. I shall bless your name and tell your glory amid the sons

l2J

As Dombkowaki-Bopldna (p.328) writes, "These recitals of deliverance experienced constitute the main element of the genre of individual thanksgiving, which predominates 1QB." I have mentioned above that the compositions in columna 10-16 of 1QB have been singled out as particularly representative of an experience of exaltation and have been suggested as a aeries of Teacher-hymns, representing the special status of the sect's founding leader. On the other hand, Martin G. Abegg has noted that "the same dramatic themes are present throughout the Thanksgiving Hymns: (1) humanldnd is a vessel of clay and prone to sin; (2) God is the creator and determiner of all things; (3) the wicked persecute the righteous but God sustains them; (4) God has commissioned the author of the psalms as his mouthpiece." ("4Q49l, 4Q427, and the Teacher of Righteousness,." in Craig A. Evans and Peter w. Flint, ada., Bschaeology, Nessiani. .,. and the Dead Sea scrolls, (Michigan: 1977)).


91

of Adam and by your abundant goodness 7 my soul will delight. I know that truth is in your mouth, and justice in your hand, and in your thoughts 8 all knowledge, and in your might all strength, and all glory is with you. In your wrath are all punishing judgements, 9 but in your goodness, abundance of forgiveness; and your mercy is for all the sons of your will. For you have taught them the secret of your truth, and have instructed them in your wondrous mysteries. blank And for the sake of your glory you have purified mankind from offence, so that he can make himself holy 11 to you above every impure abomination and guilt of unfaithfulness, to become united with the sons of your truth and in a lot with 12 your holy ones--to raise from the dust the maggot of the dead to an everlasting council and from a perverse spirit to knowledge of you, 13 so that he can stand in rank before you with the perpetual host and the spirits of( ••• ], to renew him with everythinq 14 that will exist, and with those who know, in a community of jubilation. (lQH" XIX, 3-14) The composition reads as a meditation on the speaker's own elevation to lofty and exalted status, 124 but it is also a meditation

on

his

natural,

base

and

human

condition.

Dombkowski Hopkins notes of the Hodayot: in general, "What does stand out clearly in the collection is a constant shiftinq of emotions and themes; this shiftinq creates a thematic and emotional tension,

and it is this tension which must be

recognized as the most important element in lQH." Hopkins

also

alternation

seconds

H.

constitutes

Bardke's an

suggestion

intentional

124

Dombkowski that

"such

'spiritual

lQBb (1Q35), frag. 1, col.. I (•lQ&•, col.. XV) expreeee• the •ame idea• of purification, forgiven••• and elevation •to •tand in your pre•ence for ever and ever. •


92

exercise.' n1.2s

Here the aim of the exercise seems to be an

experience of elevation to angelic status.

The lanquage

describing the transition--especially the nomenclature--is ambiquous

in a

difficult

to

manner that we have

tell

where

references

references to the angels begin.

noted before: to

the

it

is

sect end and

"The sons of your truth" (,l::l

ilJnnN), God's "holy ones" (ilJ,W11i1), and even the "everlasting

council" they

(0~1U

110) are terms suggestive of the sect, although

certainly

suggest

the

"perpetual host" (1U

M::l~)

more

angelic

suggestive

of

angels

as

well,

while

the

and the "spirits" (n1IT11) are terms beings,

although,

certain human beings can belong among them.

apparently, The speaker

addresses the possibility of a man's being raised above the materiality,

impurity,

humanity and,

and iniquity that inhere in normal

in being so raised,

joining a preternatural

community that exists above those conditions. The

transition,

as

expressed

in

involves an awareness of secret knowledge.

this

composition,

:rn particular, the

speaker has been initiated into "the secret of [God's] truth" (ilJnnN

110)

(ilJN~9

,WDn::l

and God has taught him His ,l~,Jwnl),

enabling him to give praises in the

"place of jubilation" (1 1JD ill1) • 126

125

B.

Barc:lke,

"wondrous deeds"

We have already noted

•coneideratione eur lee Cantiquee de Qumran, •

Revue

Biblique, 68 (1956), pp.225-226; and Dobkow.ki Hopkins, p.329. 126

for ., l

God'•

rm-r m ) •

In the hodayah that beqine in lQ&• x.v, 26, the epeaker qivee thank• inetructinq him in •the aayeteriee of Your wonder• (i1JM'19 "n:l1


93

that, among the spirits of the innermost heavenly sanctuary of the Songs

or the Sabbath

knowledge of truth"

Sacririce are "spirits of (4Q405,

(nnM nn1 ,n11)

19,

3), and we (M~9)

should now also note the pervasiveness of "wonder" that text.

princes"

praises

god

(M~9

nlJ1

jubilations"

with

the sixth of the "chief

"seven

,,J.i llJ.Ul)

words

(4Q403,

with "seven words of his wondrous power"

wondrous

I,

5-6),

and

(~JW

,11J.l

~J)

(nl11J.l

,1J.i llJ.WJ.

In the song of the eighth sabbath, the "offering of

the tonques"

(C~,Jltll~

nn11n) of the second rank of angelic

priests of the wondrous habitation (,JW 110 llllnJ.)

18-27).

(M~g~

,J~JJ.

c,,JW

T1J. nu1 ,T, llJ.W)

(4Q403, 1, II,

In view of such passages, the initiatory instruction

concerning divine wonders this

J.l1~

is described as "seven mysteries of knowledge in

the mystery of wonder"

of

of

1,

blesses "all those powerful in instruction"

M~9

in

Among the many occurrences of "words of wonder" in

the song of the Sixth Sabbath127 ,

1M~9).

the

hodayah

gives

(~JM~9

,WDn) for which the speaker

thanks--and

which

f iqures

in

his

realizing membership in the exalted, eternal congregation--has overtones of the heavenly rites.

So even though the speaker's

mission, or ministry--chanting, blessing, and recounting--is among humankind

1 lJn) and the "community of jubilation"

(~J1

which

U7

(DiM , J J. 11nJ.), the "place of jubilation"

the

speaker

is

enabled to

act

should

Cf. 4Q403, 1, I • 4Q404 1 -5; 4Q40S, 3-6.


(~J1

1n,)

in

probably be

94

understood as ontoloqically continuous if not identical with the heavenly world and its ministerinq inhabitants. In

a

similar

vein,

the

speaker

of

another

Hodayot

composition, who tells of havinq been divinely appointed as "a father to the sons of lovinqkindness and as a caretaker for the men of portent" {n9ln ,WJN7 1nlN31 10rr

,J~7 ~N)--that

is,

as a reliqious leader of the sect--qoes on to describe himself in preternatural terms,

as a beinq who mediates God's own

radiance: ,nD91~1

24 ,l1~ 01n1 ,W9l ~n1TD ,7(N ~nN ••• ] ~3il~37 ~nll,J~ 1WN 11M~ o,nu~w 11N~ (11W,]n~ ,7l1 13nl n7[1D] 11Nn7 ,7 ~nN

~7Dn7

,3 25 vacat

[ ••• You, my Go]d, have saved my life, and lifted my horn 24 up hiqh. I am radiant with sevenfold liqht, with the li[qht which] you prepared for your qlory. blank 25 For you are my (ever] lastinq luminary, and have established my foot on le[vel qround]. (lQH•, XV, 23-25 (= 1Q35 1; 4Q428 6-7)) The theme of the sevenfold liqht

(o,nu~w

11N)

in which the

speaker of this hodayah says he appears is probably to be associated with a passaqe that appears several columns earlier in the same scroll, in which the speaker testifies of havinq underqone a sevenfold divine purification: ll,~N~ 16 ~n79~ OiN ,l~ ill7 ,~ ~31,~l~ 1Dn71 11J~ ~~ltn 9.0J31 WN ,tulln~ ~~(TJ 9.]1~n~ l~N,~nl on1~1~n~ o,nD ,DW1 ,7D 11~n,, 17 o,nu~w 1~o7 o,rr91J

{,W9l} J,wn ,7N ~nNl 18 vacat ,W9l lNJi, 01,~ 7131 19 rr3n 9.10 .[ ••• ] ••• 3 ~no7g ll,~N W9Jl ~nni7 ~1uo nl,1N

And to show your greatness /throuqh met before the sons of Adam, you did wonders ~6 with the poor man, you brouqht him like qold into the crucible to be worked in fire and like purified silver in the


95

furnace of the smiths to be refined seven times. 17 The wicked of the nations hustle rush at me with their trials and crush my soul all day lonq blank 18 But you, my God, have chanqed {my soul} from storm to calm and have freed the soul of the poor man like [ ••• ] prey from the power of 19 lions. (1QH•, XIII, 15-19) Aqain,

althouqh

the

lanquaqe

of

the

composition

is

preternatural, the mission of the poet, and the qlory that he manifests, is vis a vis earthly humanity (DiN words

suqqest

that

a

conviction

of

,J~ ill~).

divinely

refined

purified identity afforded the sectarian community, least

its

leadership,

surroundinq world, attitude of

a

sense

of

detachment

The and

or at

from

the

which was reqarded consistently with an

infinite superiority and with an assurance of

eventual triumph already underway. However, there is more to the sectarian self-conception of the Hodayot than the fulfillment of an anqelic role vis a

vis humanity, and more even than an experience of beinq in leaque

or

in

harmony

with

the

anqelic

host.

Metaphor,

analoqy, and imitation are not sufficient to account for such passaqes as the followinq: ~~n~u ,WJN ~,~~ 1Wlij2]~ D,J:l l',~n

13 ~~il~[Jl ~JnnN] ~nlN,~~ ,J l,Nl D,J9 ,JN~n DU iTP ~lll~l ~~il~J ,9:1 l~lW, D~l ••• [ ••• ] ,J ,,,g 14 ••• [ ••• ~iW p],~J rrlg 15 [DWlW ~J,Wlii2 ~]lll~ ~J,lW ,,~,, ~lJ ~U ~~ ~~,1 D~lD nuun ,91U~ l~J ~il~ D~lD i[D ~lJl Dl~n ill l,WllW[l D],i2TTW ill 16 1[,9Jlll ~:l]n 17 [l,N~ n,n,]~ ~,~, ,,nl[,]~[i nN li2uin] lill nll~J ~,~[nl ~,WllW] ~lNW iUl D9N l,N~ ~:ln ~ll llll,l lj2IT llD:l, l~lll ,:l,:lW:l lO~ l,N~ D~lD 18 ,lj2n~ llN l,lln iU ~nWM 19 ,WJM ~l~:l nlUl:l WN~[ ~,~1 ~~lll ,]J:l ~lJ ~~~

For you have brouqht [your truth and] your [qlo]ry in a lot

13 to all the men of your council and


together with angels of the countenance, without there being a mediator between [your holy ones ••• ] ••• 14 its fruit, because [ ••• ] They will answer to your glorious commands and will be your princes in the lo[t of tour holy ones. Their root] 15 will sprout like a flo[wer of the field fo]r ever, to make a shoot grow in branches of the everlasting plantation so that it covers all the wo[rld] with its shade, [and] its [crown] 16 (reaches) up to the skie[s, and] its roots down to Sheol. And the source of light [will] be an eternal spring, 18 inexhaustible, in its shining flames all the son[s of injustice) will burn (and it will be turned] into a fire that singes all the men of 19 guilt unto destruction.

''

(1QK•, XIV, 12-19 (=4Q428 5; 4Q429 2))

These lines evidence the sect's belief that it shared in the experience of God and in the realization of God's will that were the lot of the angels in heaven.

For the most exalted

members of the sect (the 0,1W, in the parlance of this text) the experience of God seems to have been unmediated.

The

station of these leaders at the head of the "lot of your holy ones"

(1Wli~

~11l)

may bespeak a mediation of the experience

to those outside the leadership, although it may also present an example to be followed by the many. direct experience was possible,

In any event, the

in the belief of the sect,

because God had granted certain human beings an essentially angelic identity: ~ 1 :J nN 14 D~ tJ19W~ [0~ lD Dii1n ilnll,] :Jil 1WN il~N 1 D,~, C[D 1,Wili1] niDl 1,IT11 N~~ CD CnN1~ 010~ 1,WDn D,n,~ il,N~~ ~l:Jl p1Nil CD l,nlN~~ 15 ~[l:J)l 1Wil~

iD ni1~91 16 c~lD ,~~ ~l:J~ 1n1~wnn ~l:J(:J) n1n1iln~1 17 11~D~ D~ iln[ ••• ] ilWDnl D~lD Di~n ilnnll,:Jil ilnN ,J 1N]1 N~ 1WN nN cn,N1il ,:J 1n~wnn ~l:J~ 1il~:J 119o, D,[~il]~l Di~ ,n,~ 19il~ nlWirr 18 N11~~1 Di~ 1W[N ••• ,n~lD~ il,iln ilnNl [TNn cnlJ,:J)il il[n]N ,:J D~lD nl,ill iD


t7

These are they whom you prepared from the very first to judge through them ~4 all your works, even before they were created, along with the host of your spirits and the congregation of your holy ones, with your holy firmament and all its ~5 hosts, with the earth and all its progeny in the seas and in the depths, and all your design unto all periods of eternity ~6 and everlasting appointment. For you prepared them from the very first and you have [ ••• ] the work of [ ••• ] in them so that ~7 they might recount your glory throughout all your dominion--for you have shown them that which was not s[een, ••• ] what was there from of old and create ~8 new things, demolish things standing from of old, and erect things that will endure forever. For you prepared them long ago and you shall exist for ever and ever. (1QH• 1QHodayot, v, 13-19) The sect conceived of itself as sharing in the eternity, the grandeur,

and the cosmic sovereignty of its God.

In the

expression of this self-estimation, the Qumran Hodayot provide an extremely important paradigm of the theios-aner, or Godman, a creature born of woman but sharing in the preternatural glory of the divine. provide

the

scholarship--of

The Dead Sea Scrolls probably do not

paradigm--much a

unique,

looked

messianic

for

God-man,

salvific pathway from humanity to divinity. hand,

by

Christian charting

a

On the other

the scrolls do bear witness to the conception of a

pathway from earthly to heavenly identity, divinely determined and realizable in the life of the elect individual: iD1n~ 11n~~

1n1J,J~ nn1n1 ~,i~ 18 ~n[N1~] ~nN ~, vacat 19 ,,~D ••• ~~, ~1J~ 1~~n~1 1n,,~~ 1nw~~ 11~1 1 1 N1 lD 01~W1 0~1D TID1W,~ 1W9l n1~ ~1J n1n9~1 1 1 nn1 vacat 1i1~J 1w~n 20 01n1 11cnn

blank Only you have [created] ~8 the righteous man, and from the womb you determined him for the time of your desire, to be kept in your covenant and to walk on all (your paths), and to ••• on him ~9 in


,. the abundance of your mercy, and to open all the narrowness of his soul to eternal salvation and everlasting peace without limitation, and you have raised his glory above flesh. blank (1QH4 VII, lines 18-20) on the subject of a transcendence of the flesh, we have already

noted

indicators

that

of

defecation,

the

their

Qumran

sectarians

earth-bound

sexuality,

and

the

Hodayot

suggest

infirmity--through

that,

the

humanity--alimentation,

regulation, concealment, and exclusion. from

minimized

even

strict

The lines just quoted beyond

such

human

imitations of the angelic host, the Qumran community may have believed in an actual transformation or transcendence of the flesh in its own experience.

Perhaps this transformation was

conceived of as being realized proleptically, through what we might

call the angelic

role-play of

sectarian rites

and

restrictions, whereas it was to be realized in actuality at the

time

of

God's

final

judgement.

In

any

event,

the

suggestion of an actual transformation of the flesh is also present in the following, tantalizingly fragmentary passage from the Hodayot, which cannot be conclusive but, equally, must not be ignored:

,T11[ ••• ] ••• s ,~M~n~ .[ ••• ]1~9wn~ 4 ~~•u,, ,n[ ••• ] D.[ ••• ] ••• ,~M~n 7 ~~ ~~ 1991lP1[ ••• ]~ 1tu~ 6 " llW9 ~~~,~~ 11un~ ~~,[···l11~nn c,~M 8 llJ~n1 rr11 ,n,~ll~ 11 ..,.,

••• who will summon you 4 to his judgement[ ••• ] to the angels of 5 ••• [ ••• ] and the mysteries of iniquity /to change/ 6 flesh in [ ••• ] and in it will fly all 7 the angels of [ ••• ] as the cords of the spirit, and you have subjugated the celestials from the place of your [ ••• ] in the dwelling of your glory (1QH4 XXIV top, 3-8 (= 4Q428 14))


,, Whether

or

not

the

Qumran sect

believed

in

an eventual

"chanqinq" of the flesh, the Hodayot certainly suqqest that they

believed in themselves

as members

of God's

anqelic

community, althouqh perhaps of varyinq ranks, strivinq toward and at times even achievinq full companionship and belonqinq with God's heavenly host.

In this way the sect imaqined

itself as beinq privy to the divine intimacy and immediacy enjoyed

the

by

the

celestial court. 128

anqelic

ministers

in

the

innermost

The Hodayot also stronqly suqqest that

reliqious experience at Qumran came very close to meetinq Elliot Wolfson's criterion for mystical experience--that is, "experience of ontic transformation, i.e. becominq divine or anqelic." All of this is demonstrated most impressively, within the Hodayot,

by a text recently edited and released by Eileen

Schuller. 129

Her

reconstruction

of

a

hodayah

text

from

Qumran's Cave Four (paralleled in lQHa) indicates most clearly that the imaqined relationship of the sect to the anqels exceeded mere metaphor, analoqy, and imitation, and extended to a

concept of transformed and qlorified identity.

The

128

Fletcher-Louia (Lulce-Acea. • • p.l85) addreeeea "the queation of whether the elect (at Qumran) experienced any kind of transformation.• He writea, "There are thoae who have anawered neqatively, ineietinq on the careful aeparation between men and anqela in the DSS. certainly the lanquaqe of aacent and communion ia frequently juxtapoaed with expreaaiona of the depravity of humanity. On the other hand, there ia the view, which now haa the support of cave 4 fraqmenta, that recoqnizea a tranacendent, anqelomorphic humanity reaultinq from tranaformation and communion.• 129 Bileen Schuller, •A Hymn from a Cave Four Hodayoe Manuacript: 4Q427 i + ii,• JBL 112/4 (1993), pp. 605-628, and DJD XXXX, 1999, pp. 77-123.


100

beginning of this hodayah text overlaps exactly with the ending of the so-called Self Glorification Hymn of the cave four War Scroll (4Q491c), so that it seems very probable that this hodayah and that text are actually a single composition-probably,

originally,

a

Hodayot-composition

that

was

interpolated (and somewhat reworked) into a manuscript of the War Scroll. 130

Still, because the two overlapping texts do

vary from one another,

because they are preserved in two

separate manuscripts found in two separate Qumran caves, and because

Schuller considers

it

"not easy to describe

relationship between the texts," we shall focus portion found in the Hodayot at present,

the

upon the

and turn to the

portion known as the Self-Glorification Hymn in a separate discussion. ut

The Hodayot-fragment reads:

[,n 'PJ, ,n ,ngtu ·nn1 ••• ] 9 c,'7N::l [,J1nJ ,n ••• ] N'71 D,W1i~'7 U1 1['7n~ i,i, ,JN ••• ] 10 ,Ji1U, l1W'7::1 D,'7N DD ,JN N(,]J ~ni, N1'7 ,i(1::1J'71 ••• ,::1] 11 N::l, cnJ1 ,'7 1,nJN T5J::l N'7 1('7n ,J::l cu ,i1::1J112 1 [,]inun ,::1 ::lWIT, N1'7[ ••• ,::1 1ntu] 13 N1'7 (D,1,91N) 0,11,::1 1N 1J,J1~ '7N ni(D::l 1ITnW i1::1J] 14 1'7n'7 11,W D,i,i, 11nT D'71U N::l~::l iiT, 1nn1[1 Wil~] 15 llDn::l 1'7'7~ ~DlW, '7~N::l ,n9tu::l 1nw lW(,i~~l 16 1JJ'7n'7 il::lJ1 1J'7N'7 '7i1l 1::1~ 1U,nW~ D,~~ '71 (J::l17 ] ilnJ'7 1~ 1n, 1~ ~J 1 1W'7 1 TlU llO Martin G. Abegg Jr. notes that the Self-Glorification Hymn (4Q491) "has a clear generic relationship to the Thanksgiving Hymns. ("Who Ascended to Heaven? 4Q491, 4Q427, and the Teacher of Righteousness," Eschat=ology, lfessianism, and t;he Dead Sea Scroll•, Craig B. Evand and Peter w. Flint, ada. (Michigan: 1997.) Schuller suggests, on the basis of lexical items peculiar to 4Q427 7, and not found elsewhere in the Rodayot, that the composition originated independently of the other Hodayoc and was later incorporated into them as well. In any event, the Sel.L-GloriLicacion Hy.n does not appear in the 1QM version of the War Scroll and seems to be one of several •victory hymns• interpolated over t~ into the text. (Schuller, p.627). 131 Of thi.a Hodayot;-material, Abegg (p. 71) writes, "What we have before us in 4Q427, then, is an additional proclamation of our bold and mysterious figure (of the Self-GloriLicat=ion HYJIIIl) who claims to be reckoned with the gods."


101

lnWil n:ltd[i118 ] l,M, o,n'7lll n1nntuJ. lll,J.il i1Jl,li12 Dlnn['719 1 11, Tlll ll,ilnl nlMl ,'79ni1 1J1J. ~~~ Tn,J. 20 i1Di1,'791Jl D,'1WlJ D,1i1'7 n11nDJ nl'7l'71 D,T1 D'1lll D,Ml 011 nlllllJ '7,9Wi1'11 nllll ,,~ nJ'7 J[,Wi1'7] nlM[/9 D,]~i1'71[ il]il ,T1 D[nil/] 21 Who is like me among the celestial& 9 [ ••• who can measure what flows from my lips? Who] will confront me with the tongue 10 [... I am the companion of the Kin]g, friend of the holy ones, and there shall not come 11 [unto me ••• and to my gl]ory shall not be similar, for (as for) me, m[y] standing in rank is with the celestials 12 [and my glory is with the sons of the ki]ng. Not with fine gold shall I crown myself, and gold they shall not 13 [place upon me ••• ] shall not be thought of me. Chant, dear ones, sing to the king 14 [of glory! rejoice in the com]munity of God, exult in the tent of salvation! Give praise in the [holy] 15 habitation [e)xalt together in the eternal host! Ascribe grandeur to our God and glory to our King 16 [Sancti] fy his name with lips of might and eternal tongue! Lift your voices 17 in all eras, cause the sound of the shout to be heard! Express eternal rejoicings without 18 cease! Bow down in the united congregation! Bless the One who does lofty wonders and makes known the strength of His hand, 19 to seal mysteries and to reveal hidden things, to lift up those who stumble and those of them who fall 20 [to retu)rn the path of those who hope for knowledge and to abase the exalted meetings of the eternally proud 21 [to make perfec)t mysteries of s[plendor) and to rai[se up glorious wo]nders. (4Q427 7, I+9, 8-21 (= 1QH• XXVI top and cf. 4Q471b) The composition is especially remarkable, in connection with the songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, for its combination of self-glorification with a

jubilant call to communal and (I

would argue) angelic worship.

The composition is suggestive

of the "congregational mysticism" posited by Baumgarten with reference to the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, but it is also a personal testament--and this is perhaps a key to the experiential,

mystical

dimension

of

the

angelic


self-

102

conception at Qumran.

Mysticism, as Wolfson defines it, must

be a deeply personal and individual matter--an imaqined and believed experience of actual,

ontic transformation.

It

cannot be merely a matter of mouthinq formulae, however qrand or esoteric, and it cannot be limited to the contemplation of exalted

imaqes

and

ideas,

however

contemplation may make them.

vivid

and

compellinq

It is always difficult (with

reqard to many Jewish texts deemed "mystical") to extrapolate personal experience from documents that are most replete with descriptions of outward phenomena, hiqh and wondrous as the phenomena miqht be.

It is perhaps especially difficult to

conceive of actual, mystical experience on a communal scale and in a very

liturqical mode.

well

indicate

how

However, Schuller's hodayah may such

mysticism

miqht

have

been

attempted in practice. The text beqins with a personal statement of exaltation to celestial stature.

The distinctions that the speaker

claims are so far above even the dearest earthly ornaments that he speaks of fine qold as thouqh it were base. speaker is not only a "friend to the holy ones" but a "companion of the Kinq" interroqative,

(l~n~

(O,Wll~~

The U1),

,,,,),and his rhetorical

"Who is like me amonq the celestials?"

(,n

n,~N::l

,Jln:J)

God's

own that only mysticism as defined by Wolfson can

is a personal arroqation of qlory so like to

account for its audacity.


103

The testimony

sudden to

a

shift

from

communal

this

imperative

captivating and transporting.

wondrous is

first-person

dramatic

and

even

The speaker calls upon the many

to exult as though they had already experienced an elevation akin to his own.

What is more, he uses terms that are both

familiar to the sect and increasingly angelic in connotation. He addresses his audience as "companions," (0,,,,,) even as be (17n~

is "companion of the King"

,,,,), drawing them into his

own experience and calling upon them to act as only companions in that experience might. l 32 "in

the

congregation of

He calls upon them to rejoice

God"

(7M

nlll:l) --which they

know

themselves to be--and the designations that ensue: "the tent of salvation" Wll~)

(~lllW,

7~M)

and "the holy habitation"

(lllln

seem meant to be synonymous with that congregation, so

that the speaker's words tell his listeners that in belonging to the sectarian community they have already attained angelic identities and prerogatives. composition

achieves

contemplative

a

experience

The ingenious approach of the

leap-frog, of

or

mystical

an

end-run

around

metamorphosis

by

powerfully, imperatively suggesting that a transformation has already taken place.

ll2

Schuller (p.6l4) ia uncertain whether those addressed by the apeaker at thia point are .. angela or hWIUUla. .. She indicates the usage of the term as an ende~nt for human being• in Pa.60:7, 108:7, 127:2, and Jer.ll:lS, but also ita reference to the angela in the Ascen•ion of I•aiah 4:1. Although an ~perative to the heavenly angela ia poaaible, on the model of the Song• of ehe Sabbath Sacrifice, it ••em• far more likely--in view of the continuation of the compoaition, which haa to do with the elevation of hWDan beinga--that the apeaker haa in mind a human audience in which he attempt• to induce an experience of angelic identity.


104

With the force of a comprehensive indoctrination and of supporting practices behind it--indoctrination and practices such as we can observe in the rites and regulations of the Qumran

sect--this

method

might

work;

transformation of self-experience.

it

might

induce

a

If the listeners truly

believe in the speaker as he describes himself then they are liable to believe in themselves as he addresses them--that is, as ones whose natural

lot is to exult in the celestial,

This is an extremely important paradiqm of

eternal host.

mystical transformation by charismatic example in Jewish Late Antiquity. 133 The speaker follows up the communal, angelic imperative with a third-person account of God's saving grace, as though to assure his listeners that what he has said of them, and what he has

required of them,

can actually be

so.

The

description is couched in a further imperative to bless God as the one "Worker of Lofty Wonders" (n1Ml

M,~9n~)

who can effect

such transformations, "revealing the power of His hand" (lP 1 1n 11,

T lll)

(D,lnOJ

as He "seals secrets and reveals hidden things" n1~l~l

O,Tl

Dlnn~),

lifting up mere fallible human

beings, "to make perfect mysteries of splendor and raise up glorious wonders."

The

llJ Fletcher-Louis Luke Ac~s... p.215 notes of interteatamental literature that • ••• in a number of instances, we find a specific pattern in which an angelomorphic red.....r leads, or heads, a righteous COCIIIIlunity who are themselves angelomorphic, though perhaps to a lesser degree (Dan 7-12, the S~ilitudes, perhaps ~an, SibOr 5:238-285).•


105

next column of 4Q427 contains a similar passage of praise (part

of

the

same

composition,

according

to

Schuller's

reconstruction), whose comparable terms make clear that the elevation spoken of

in the

first

column

is,

indeed,

an

elevation to angelic status: ~,9W~ N,~ 8 [n1N~9l ~W1D ~N] ~1il 11[1]nN1 1D,nW[~ iD1 9 [ ••• ]~ 11,:lN 19lm 01,1 n,1W 1,N~ TT11 n1~:ll [ ••• 1~]N911 iTT, niD:l O,~N OD1 ~n1~:1 1~1,:ll, O,~ITW 1,rm 1 ,N~ 0,1, p1N ,~W1:J1 vacat 0~1D n7:J~ 9.N 10 11:1::1 ~n~,J1:Jn:l o~1D nrmw1 OiD~:l 11 [c~1u n11J:ll1 ]~[W1ll]~ ~N 111:1 11n, 1 12 [... ]n:lW~ 1 ,N1 ~l nDi:l 13 [ ••• 11n111:1l D,91~~ ~,iln1 n1Nl n[1]N7[9J [11n~1 1,i]OTT :111:1 ~nnDi:l ~n~,Jg 7u :1101 1,Wlin 71~7 ] 1l~~W~1 ~i~~ 7N ~~1lDi, 1nnN ,l:l 71~7 1 ,nTT1 14 )1l1~~1 ~~n11:ll TT1:J:l ~~nNJ~ 1l,N1 N,~ 11:1~~ 15 [ ••• ~n1 ~~N7 1tu:1 ~n n1~,7o N79~1 o{~~},nrn 16 [ ••• 18 [ ••• i)nDn:l :l~,n~~1 1'~~ p~n ~7N 190~ 11 [ ••• J.TT, 21 [ ••• ]~ (;n·'"'"'lg• 1n11 ~~~ :l,W~7 p,7n l,N1 o,nw ,l:l [ ••• C,l],:l W,N~ N71 ~~~ 1l1:li

Proclaim and say: Great is God [who works wonders,] 8 for he brings down the haughty of spirit without remnant and raises up the poor from the dust to [ ••• ] 9 and to the skies he magnifies him in stature and with the celestials in a communal congregation; and heals [him ••• ] 10 wrath for eternal destruction. blank And the stumblers of the earth He raises up beyond price and ete[rnal might] 11 is in their strides and eternal joy in their dwelling-places, everlasting glory without cease [ ••• ] 12 And they shall say: Blessed is God who do[es] lofty wo]nd[er]s and displays his might greatly[ ••• ] 13 in knowledge to all his creations, and goodness upon their faces when they know his many lov[ingkindnesses] and his [abundant] 14 mercy toward all the sons of his truth. We have known You, God of righteousness, and we have understood [ ••• ] 15 the glory, for we have seen your jealousy in the strength of your might and we have recognized [ ••• ] 16 {your} mercy and wondrous forgivinqs. What is flesh in relation to these and what ••• [ ••• ] 17 to recount these from era to era, and to stand in rank [ ••• ] 18 the sons of heaven without an intermediary to answer to You /to hear your wonders/ [ ••• ] 21 to you we have spoken and not to an intermediary man ••• (4Q427 II, 7-21 (= 4Q428 13; 4Q431)


101

Schuller suggests that the pattern here is similar to that of Isaiah

11-12,

in

which

"an

extended

description

of

eschatological realities is followed by the summons to give praise." 134

"However," she notes, "here the summons and the

praise are not in terms of 'on that day,' but now, present.nus

in the

The heavenly elevation is already a reality to

be experienced and, as Schuller emphasizes, "because of what

the God has done for the psalmist there is no need for an intermediary. " 136 The humble, "What is flesh ••• • that comes toward the end of this passage should not be taken as a reference to those outside the sect.

On the contrary,

no statement of the

elevation of Qumran's elect seems complete without such a postscript of ostensible humility--and in cases such as this the postscript is perhaps better understood as a statement of wonder at the transformation just experienced. are readily comparable to a Sabbath

Sacrifices,

passage in the Songs of the

following

an

ministers, that asks rhetorically, c,"7N

nDi~

1J19ll 11W"7 nn11n

~n

These lines

account ·~n

of

lJnJl~~,

the c~

angelic ~wrrnJ

~n

••• Ci,JlDn~" ("As what are we to

be reckoned among them, and what is our priesthood in their dwelling places ••• what is the offering of our earthly tonque amid the knowledge of celestials?") 134

Schuller, p.62S.

lJS

Schuller, p.62S.

136

Schuller, p.62S.

(4Q400 2 6-7)


In fact,

107

paradoxically, ostensible indicator

that one survivinq line of characteristic,

humility that

in

there

Songs

the was

a

the

stronqest

transformational,

mystical

experience associated with that text.

may

be

We have said that the

sectarians of Qumran--even the speakers of the Hodayot--were profoundly aware of their earthly bodies and imperfections. That such awareness could coexist in one consciousness with the anqelic self-estimations that we have observed is indeed paradoxical--but that is precisely the paradox of mystical experience in the course of human life. 137

When it comes to

explaininq this apparent contradiction in the sectarian selfconception of Qumran, perhaps it is as much as we can do to note that the paradox was experienced and conveyed as

a

mystery and a wonder by the authors of Qumran themselves, as a further passaqe from 4Q427 attests: ~lJ

l,J~~,

,,ll~~ ~Jnlwnnll N,~9~[~ ••• ] 1 1Wl ~n1 n 11lll 1W ~ 190~ nll1 Nl~ [ ••• ] 8 ~J1llJ~ ~~1n1 ~Jnll n,1ll ~nlN,(l~ ••• ~WN] 9 ,,~,~ nlJlJJ ,JNl ~J,nTT1 nn1n~ cgwn ,rrgn [ ••• ] 10 1nw~~ 19n l~ nlT 11l ,nlWTTJ ,n~ llN~ l~l 19[1l lTlN 1nTT] 11 1~, 13 l~l ~n1j1TT C~lll nl,~Jl 191l 1T1Nl ~nn(J ••• ] 12 N,J ~J,J9~14 1 11nn~1 ~Jnn n,1ll N,l~~ ~nlw~ [ ••• llN~l ••• 15] 1W1TT l,Nl ~J 11l Cln11N 11N~ C~lll 11Jnl( ••• [ ••• 1j1]TT l,N~ Cl~W ,~ill ~10 N(~l

,j11TT1

1

And what is flesh 7 [ ••• to] do wondrously, and, in your desiqn, to strenqthen and to establish everythinq for your qlory 8 [ ••• ] the host of knowledqe, to proclaim unto flesh miqhty deeds and solid precepts to the proqeny of 9 [woman? ••• ] You

137 An attempt to avoid thi• paradox ha• led •ome •cholare to conceive of Helchaloe literature a• •death-meditation•, • proleptically de•cribinq realitie• to be experienced fully at the end of earthly life. I would argue that Qumran, and the Helchaloe demon•trate that it i• po••ible to live on earth for a long time while experiencing the my•tical paradox.


108

have brought him into a covenant with you and have uncovered the heart of dust so that he will be kept 10 ( ••• ] from the traps of judgement, by reason of your mercy. And I--creature 11 (of clay, ear of du]st and heart of stone--for whom am I taken to such an extent that 12 you have [g]iven [ ••• ] into an ear of dust and that you have inscribed events of eternity in the heart 13 [of stone? ••• ] you have caused [ ••• ] to cease, to bring into the covenant with you and to stand 14 (before you ••. ] in the eternal dwelling place, for the light of perfect light unto eternity without darkness 15 [ ••• witho]ut end and eras of peace without li[mit]. (1QH• XXI top, 6-15 (= 4Q427 5; 4Q428 10)) The

speaker does

not deny his

own humanity,

describes and owns angelic experiences.

even as

he

The paradox suggests

that the sectarians of Qumran experienced the possibilities of humanity more broadly,

or more liminally than the usually

conceived distinctions between heaven and earth allow.

On the

basis of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice alone, FletcherLouis' contention that the sectarians are to be understood as the anqels described in that text seems tenuous.

Takinq the

Hodayot along with the Shirot, however, one can imagine how the

Qumran

sectarians

miqht

indeed

have

apprehended

the

invitations and descriptions of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice in terms of celestial roles and experiences to be incorporated in their own lives. We cannot know certainly whether and how the Hodayot were used

liturgically

by

the

Qumran

sect. 138

It

138

seems

very

Schuller (p. 628) •ugge•t• that, •the ongoing debate about whether the Bodayoe were actually u•ed liturgically in the prayer of the community or whether they were more didactic and only for per•onal reflection need• to be reexaained now that we have a text with •uch a clear liturgical component.


109

likely that they were

liturgically used,

probably in the

context of regular services of communal worship.

Calls to the

many, and blessings, such as we have seen, suggest this use. Still, even if such a composition as the invitation to angelic praise in 4Q427 were only read or recited devoutly outside of communal rites (which almost certainly was also the case) it would still have the effect of associating the reader with the elevated status of the speaker and drawing the reader into the celestial experience.

How much the more so, perhaps, were the

composition read aloud by a speaker whom the faithful revered and of whom they would believe the initial testimony of nearly divine stature.

How much the more effective, perhaps, if the

speaker were a chief-priest, clad in the majestic garments of service. Unmistakably, in any case, there is a hierarchy implied in the diction of 4Q427, which is very much in keeping with the known stratification of Qumran society.

Although the

speaker addresses his audience as "companions" (D,T,T,), he arroqates for celestials

himself a

(D,'2M),

supreme position,

even among the

and although he invites his fellows to

share in the rites of the heavenly sanctum, it does not appear that he invites them quite to his own stature.

rt seems

possible that the experience of the listeners was intended to be subsidiary and vicarious--a glimpse and a

taste of the

stature enjoyed in full by their elite or by their leader-especially

since,

as

Dombkowski

Hopkins


notes,

110

"Presumably ••• each member of the sect did not share in the same level of knowledge and enlightenment. " 139

The speaker

of

"Teacher

this

composition

Righteousness"

(il11n

need j1"T~)

not 140

be

--as

the

has

famed

been

suggested

of

some

scholars with regard to the Hodayot generally 141 --but his superlative self-glorification and his imperative elevation of the many necessitate considerable authority.

The mystical

experience suggested by the testament and the imperatives of that

text

is

one

founded

upon

a

presumption

of

devout

adherence of the listeners to the charismatic figure of the speaker,

to

such

an

extent

that

this

speaker's

self-

descriptions and his expectations of the many actually serve to define the identity of the listeners and expand their experienced abilities.

Again, this a very important paradiqm

of transformational leadership to discover in Jewish Late Antiquity. Who

is

the

speaker-leader

of

4Q427,

whose

angelic

qrandeur calls the many to give praise as angelic beings

l39

Dombkowski Hopkina, p. 357.

140 It ia even unclear what exactly it would mean could we conclude that the apeaker ia the, ~i3 ~11n aince Gaster (Dead Sea Scriptures, pp. 27-29), for instance, contenda that the term refers to an office held by several "teachers" in turn, while othera ... it as referential to a sinqle, foundinq fiqure of the aect. 141 Dombkowaki Hopkin& lista Van dar Ploeq, Merril, Brownlee and Vermea, •The Qumran CCIIIIDUnity and 1 Q Hodayot: A Reaaaeasment, • Revue de Qumran 10 (1981), pp. 331- 336. •Hyatt,• Dombkowaki writea, "takea the middle way; the author is at leaat a peraon of hiqh atandinq in the Qumran aect who •qeneralizea for all of mankind• from hia own experiences. • Cf. J.P. Hyatt, •The View of Man in the Qumran •Hodayot•,• Journal. of Semitic Studies 2 (1955-56), p. 276. Dombkowaki aidea with Hyatt•a view, more or leas, rejectinq the neceasity of identifying the Teacher aa the author of the Hodayot.


111

themselves?

The apparent history of the sect, the mode of

psalmody, and the evidence to be considered below make a chief priestly figure the most likely candidate. was founded around a priestly core,

The sect at Qumran

and its vision of the

future is centered upon the priestly office.

The entire sect

seems to have been designed to support and champion its priestly caste and to eschaton.

realize a

priestly vision

of

the

Thus, the use of these Hodayot at Qumran may well

have corresponded closely to a role that carol Newsom has suqqested for the songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

Newsom

writes, Consider the situation of the members of the priesthood at Qumran. They understood themselves as alone representinq the true and faithful priesthood, i71'T~ ,l:l and j7'T~ ,l:l ["sons of Zadok" and "sons of riqhteousness"]· Yet physical realities contradicted their claim. Althouqh they were accorded special status within the community, the traditional marks of validation for their identity and leqitimacy as priests of God were not accessible to them. As members of the Qumran community, they did not have authority in the Jerusalem temple; they could not conduct its sacrificial service; they possessed neither the sacred vestments nor utensils. The danqer of this situation was not that outsiders would discount their claim but that their claims to the true priesthood would cease to remain plausible to the members of the sect themselves, especially those who were not of the foundinq qeneration. What may have been needed in such a situation was not merely rhetorical arguments to demonstrate the authenticity of the claims of the qroup, but rather some experientia~ validation of their claims. It seems that the community of Qumran as a whole was desiqned to enqender such an experiential validation. merely a political aqenda.

This was not

It was also a sincere effort to


112

transform

the

cosmos--or,

transformation.

The

at

Hodayot

least,

to

anticipate

compositions

that

we

its have

examined encourage their listeners to participate in the glory of their speakers--or, at least, to think of themselves in terms of that glory. Qumran in general, towards

an

These compositions, and the texts of

invite the sect to envision and to work

entire

cosmos

remade

around

their

priestly

leadership. The priests of Qumran could only have commanded the authority necessary to evoke such a vision if they already represented to their followers a heavenly reality manifest upon the earth.

lfedia'ting Angels in 'tile Divine Court on Bartb: Pries'tllood and !'eaple in au-ran Ideology

Apparently, the sect of Qumran was established around a core of former or aspiring temple priests, and perhaps around

a

single,

high-priestly

Righteousness.

figure

Throughout the

in

the

literature of

Teacher

of

Qumran,

the

priesthood holds a preeminent position in the community.

It

seems likely--especially in view of the sources to follow-that the Qumran community regarded its distinctive heritage and traditions as a priesthood.

legacy transmitted and ensured by its

The primacy of Levitical purity in the sect's

regulations, the temple-like heavens imagined by the sect, and even the importance of psalmody, all suggest that the sects's


113

exalted conception of its own stature and holiness had roots in a fascination with the priestly office. We have already seen,

through the Pesher,

4QAges of

creation (4Q181), that the Qumran community identified itself with the angelic stature of the patriarchal heroes as they appear

in

1Enoch and

other

apocalyptic

literature.

The

community evidently conceived of itself as the remnant of exalted rsrael, destined for victory the final stage of a conflict of cosmic and angelic forces of good and evil--a conflict

whose

fundamental

first

narratives

stages of

the

the

sect

discerned

pentateuchal

in

tradition

mediated through apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts. book of Jubilees

the as The

(to be examined closely in the following

chapter), which seems to have informed the self-conception of the sect, is especially remarkable for its understanding of the priesthood in angelic terms. 142 Notably, the pseudepiqrapha peculiar to Qumran include a so-called Apocryphon of Levi (4Q540), a Testament of Qahat (4Q542),

and Visions of Amram

(4Q543-548),

documents that

suggest that the sect had an especial interest in the role and stature of the priestly line in the unfolding cosmic drama. The sectarian priesthood seems to chart the way into the angelic realm for its followers. 143 142

rf we understand the

Cf. Pletcher-Louia Luke-Act• ••• , p. 126.

143

Fletcher-Louia (Luke-Act•, p. 118) notea: "Already in Zechariah 3:110 the High Prieat haa a peculiar right of ace••• to the heavenly court and conaequent community with the angela.• Perhapa the aectarian priesthood at


114

Levi,

Qahat,

and

Amram-pseudepiqrapha

as

parts

of

the

foundation upon which the characteristic self-conception of the Qumran sect was built, then we can more readily comprehend the ways in which angels, priesthood, and temple appear in conjunction as a focus of fascination in other Qumran scrolls. With specific regard to the self-identification with angels of the Qumran sect, and the special station of the priesthood in this angelic self-conception, the Visions of Amram provide the most instructive passages.

While

less

explicitly angelic in focus, the Levi and Qahat pseudepigrapha of Qumran also do much to demonstrate and explain the central importance of the priesthood to the sect. one passage in the Apocryphon of Levi speaks of a special, priestly, intermediary instructor and savior-figure,

who might well

be Qumran's

initial Teacher of Righteousness: J ,Jl ~1J~ rr~nw,, ~li ,Jl ~J ~n 19J,, 4 ,,Jn ~n~n wnw ~N n1u1J ~J19~N1 1,nw lnNnJ NJWln ~iU, 1,iN l,Jn NJWlrr ~Ul NUlM ,,~~ ~lJl Mll~J ,~l~U 1,~n 1N,lW NnW,l, 1n N~91U1 NUlN 1[n] 5 ~1J1 1 1il, ,~,~n 1 ,Mil 1 1, [liJ] 6 ~lilll 1 11nM, ~1~~ [ ••• 1] 7 1,9N1 W,Nl ~li 11~~n, ,~l~D 1,N1Jl 11wJnw,1 ,~,n,,l Nnn ~nu,(l] ~n~n onrr1 1~w ,i1

~lnNn ~rn,,

~[nn]

And he shall atone for all the children of his generation, and shall be sent to all the children of 3 his [people]. His word is as the word of the heavens, and his teaching as the will of God. His eternal sun shall shine 4 and its light shall burn in all the ends of the earth; and above the darkness it shall shine. Darkness shall vanish 5 ( fr] Olll the earth and cloud fro• the dry land. They shall speak lllanY words of hilll, and many 6 [lie]s; they shall tell tales of hilll, and utter all disparagelllents against hilll. His generation shall ~an

invited it• follower• to •hare in thi• ace•••·


115

be evil and changed 7 (and ••• ] and its place shall be of deceit and violence. [And] the people shall go astray in his generation and they will be bewildered (4QApocrLevi~ (4Q541), 1, 2-7) For our purposes we should take especial note of the belief in the supernatural radiance of this priestly figure and his ability to mediate the divine and heavenly will to the people. The setting of this personage in a time of the people's going astray

accords

with

the

early

sect's

situation in the Jerusalem of its day,

estimation

of

the

and the theme of

defamation against the Teacher is well known from Qumran's

pesher documents.

Among the other fragments of this Levi

document, the one other passage that ought to be mentioned in connection with the centrality of a quasi-angelic priesthood at Qumran is the concluding prophecy: 6

[lfT:ln]

110, il:,TTM '21~'21 N11TT OW i1~1:1M'2 O,j2n1 MNJW 1n i11iln M'21 Mn'2D 1,ill:l ilTITn1 Mv1{~}n

And you shall raise up for your father a name of delight and for all your brothers a tested foundation. You will see and rejoice in eternal light, and you will not be of the enemy. Whether or not these words were written at (or of) Qumran at all, it seems very probable that this conclusion of the Levi document would have been understood by the sect as pointing to its

own

foundation.

A powerful,

priestly,

intermediary

figure, and his priestly adherents, credited with metaphysical distinctions, certainly stood at the center of the sect's early history and self-conception and just such a priestly


111

figure is clearly evident in the apocryphal pseudepiqrapha treasured by the group. The Apocryphon of Levi provides a basis for conceivinq of the priests as mediators of divine light and teachinq, and it establishes the priesthood as the basis from which the final triumph of the faithful over the forces of darkness will be achieved.

The surviving fraqments of Qumran's Testament of

Qahat (4Q542) tell of a special, divine knowledge associated with these priestly roles,

and they emphasize a carefully

quarded continuity and purity in the transmission of this knowledge

throuqh

eschaton--that

is,

the to

line

of

Qumran.

Levi

to

The

the

time

Testament

of

of

the

Qahat

promises, apparently to Qahat's priestly descendants, that God will cause His liqht to shine upon them, and allow them to know His "qreat name"

(N~1

NnW)

(1,

r,

line 1).

The text

adjures them to be exceedinqly careful with this inheritance (line 4), breeds"

quardinq it from foreigners

(l,N~,J)

(l,1Jll)

or "half-

(line 5), "because, beinq resident amonq you,

they will become chiefs over you" (lines 6-7).

They are to

take such care so that the inheritance may be transmitted in truth, perfection, and purity (lines 12-13). exclusive

leqacy

of

divine

knowledqe,

The idea of an

the

accompanyinq

admonishment, and the dire prediction of subjuqation, accord with the picture of a priestly qroup claiming sole leqitimacy but

beset

by

temporally

powerful

opponents--the

picture

presented by the Halakhic Letter of Qumran's leadership at the


117

time of he sect's foundation. this

true

line

of

teaching,

is

essential

agency

the

As in the Apocryphon of Levi,

priesthood,

with

its

proprietary

presented in the Testament of Qahat as the in

the

eventual

triumph

of

light

over

darkness: 713 2 [ ••• l,n7D 1713 iD1 1D3 1n U1W1~~ 11Jn97N 1 lJlJW, Nn7D nJ1~ 3 [ ••• 1113,7ll Nn'N, NUW1~ 1nn ilD M71 l,n7ll , , i 71J7 DN~ 4 [ ••• 111il71 11J,7ll 6 [ ••• 71D l , i lin7 11n1~n1 113i10, 1n s ( ••• 19n NnW(,1N:ll 7 (···1-~TT l,n7D ,:l,TT 71J n~1TT N,TTTn71 11lli,1 NUW1~ ,1(i1~ 8 (···1·7~7 N,77TT 71J~1 N'n1iln~1 i1~9n NJN ,,~ D1nll il37 lllJ1 9 [ ••• N1UW,1 ,J~ 71J 11 ( ••• 1 i~9n NJ N 1 1 i1, J ~ 71 i1 { N} J, ( J ~ 7 1 1 10 ( ••• ,~nJ 713 12 ( ••• ~il1, ,7 ,~N , 171 ,~N , 177 1~il, 1 il~1 lJT llil~ llJ7 13 ( ••• 1 llil~ l11iliTn , i 1iilW~ vacat 11Jnu 11iln1J7,ilnN~

I have taught you in truth from now and unto all (eternity ···1 2 all the word of truth will come upon y[ou ···1 3 eternal blessings will rest upon you and will be ( ••• 1 4 will abide for all the generations of eternity and there will be no more ••• (···1 5 from your foundation, and you will rise to judge judgement up (on ••• 1 6 and to see the sinfulness of all the sinners of eternity ••• [ ••• 1 7 and in fire and in the abyssfesf, and in all the caves, so that there will not ••• [ ••• ] 8 in the generations of truth, and all the children of evil will vanish[ ••• ] 9 And now, to you, Amram, my son, I charg(e ••• ] 10 and to your (so]ns and to their sons I charge (···1 1~ and they gave to Levi my father, and Levi ga(ve] to me ( ••• ] 12 all my writings as witness that you shall take care with them[ ••• ] 13 for you; through them you will merit much, through their being carried on with you. We have already seen the importance of esoteric knowledge to the Qumran community--the knowledge spoken of in the Hodayot and we shall observe it again in the indoctrinating teachings of the sect.

This fragment from the Testament of Amram

identifies the priests as the guardians through whom the essential

knowledge

has

been

passed,

and

it


links

this

118

transmission

of

knowledge

directly

to

triumph of the elect over the wicked.

the

eschatological

In view of these

testaments it seems very probable that the exclusive, exalted self-conception of the Qumran sect was a priestly product or, at least, that the sect conceived of itself and its mission as fulfilling a charge and a promise transmitted through the true lineage of Levi to the priestly leadership of Qumran. The Visions of Amram (4Q543-548) make apparent that the vaunted legacy and destiny transmitted through the line of Levi were imagined as an angelic identity.

inheritance and an assurance of

The text presents itself as the vision

revealed by Amram to his sons 144 on his deathbed in Eqypt (4Q543, frag. 1, lines 1-8).

(Intriguingly, Amram includes

among those SWDDloned his son,

"Malachiah"

(Anqel of God) ,

perhaps a designation for Aaron or for Moses.)

The start of

the vision related by Amram is the apparition to him of two chief angels, who quarreled over him and ultimately allowed him to choose the one who would govern him (4Q544, 1, 10-14; 2,

1-6;

3,

1-2).

The

first

is

Malki-resha

(angel-of-

wickedness), dreadful and pestilential in appearance, ruling in darkness over all that is dark.

The other, whose three

names have not survived the fragmentation of the document, is benevolent of aspect and controls "all the sons of light."

It

seems evident that these anqels are, respectively, none other

144

Mi.riam i• al•o . .ntioned at the beginning of the text, but •eeminqly before Amraa •ummon• Aaron and begin• the revelation.


111

than Belial (or Azazel) and the opposed Angel of God's Truth (or Light),

who control the forces of darkness and light

respectively in so many of Qumran's documents.

The identity

of the sect as the Sons of Light is thus rooted in the legend of a fateful choice made by Amram of the line of Levi, the progenitor of priestly leadership. Quite unfortunately, the passage introducing the legacy and status that Amram transmits to his sons is very poorly preserved, but it involves the following words: ~M

•••

1~1 .•• ~M1W,

1~ ~o1~

••• ~nJrr 1~ 1nJ1 1,n~u •.. 1~ 1nJ1 1,i1 Mi ND1M~ i~Dn •.• ~1~nn ~M 1M~n1 ~1~n ••• i~Dn ~~ ..• 1,n~D ,,i~ .•• ] ~J~ 1nw ~~

and we shall give to you ••• eternal, and we shall give to you wisdom ••• will be added to you ••• A celestial shall you be; and 'Angel of God' shall you be called • • • you will do in this land, and judgement ••• and when your name, for all ••• for the generations of eternity ••• in it you shall do ••• Israel (4Q543, 3, 1-6, cf. 4Q545, 1, I, 15-18) Fragmentary

as

the

God" he

(~1~n

(~M 1M~n),

acquires

is,

it

reads

as

an

angelic

The one to whom it is addressed is to be

commissioning. celestial

passage

~M)

and acquires the designation "Angel of

a status, involving powers of judgement, which

by virtue of

notably, wisdom.

an entrusted

legacy

including,

There is no "like" or "as" in the language

of this elevation; the beneficiary is to be angelic, nothing less, and yet be is also a human being.

The paradox of

this passage from the Visions of Amram suggests a particular understanding at Qumran of the promise made to the Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah's vision:

"If you will keep my trust


120

then you too shall judqe my house, and I shall qive you access amonq these [celestials) who stand here"--not someday, but immediately,

as

Joshua's

purification suqqest. fulfillment

of

the

heavenly

transformation

and

That is to say, in Qumran's ideoloqy priestly

role

on

earth

involves

the

assumption of an actual anqelic identity, allowinq access to the anqelic world.

This is paradoxical, to be sure; but the

paradox seems preferable to ascribinq an ideoloqy of mere "analoqy"

or

"imitation"

to

the Qumran

priesthood.

The

paradox is preferable because it does more to account for the texts before us. Allowinq for paradox in the self-experience of the Qumran priesthood does a qreat deal, for example, to account for the followinq blessinq from lQSb, the Rule of Benedictions, that appears to be addressed to the priestly initiate: ,~~M il~J~ Wil~ 11Dn~ C,J9 1M~nJ 25 ~nMl CD ~11l ~,9n1 n1J~n 26 ~J,~l n1wn ~,~o ~,~[n1 27 M,J ~J ,~~ ~1J~1 C~1D nD~ [ ••• ] liT, n~Dl C,J9 ~~n~ [ ••• )11Mn~1 1nD~ w11~ ~Jn,w,, ,,~9W[n ~1J nnM] W"'Tl~~ 1T J (~Jn,UP 1 ••• ] 28 0,~1 , J9 1,M~~1 nllil 1,W1i~1 lnW i~Jnl 1~ Wi[~n ~nM )M,J C,Wil~

•••

nl]M~~

,JM~n

May you be 25 as an anqel of the countenance in the holy habitation for the qlory of the God of Hos[ts ••• You shall] be about, servinq in the sanctuary of the 26 kinqdom, and castinq your lot with the anqels of the countenance and the council of the community [ ••• ] for eternal time and for all the perpetual periods. For 27 [all] his [ju]dqements (are truth.] And may he make you hol(y] amonq his people, like a luminary [ ••• ] for the world in knowledqe, and to shine on the face of the many 28 [ ••• And may he make you) a diadem of the holy of holies, because [you shall be made ho]ly for him and you shall qlorify his name and his holy ones. 1Q28b (lQSb) IV, 24-28


121

The blessing wishes that the priest inhabit both the "holy habitation" 145 and the "sanctuary of the kingdom," sharing a lot146 with the

"angels of the countenance"

"council of the community." earthly

distinctions

and also the

This alternation of heavenly and

strongly

suggests

a

convergence

of

angelic and human qualities and experiences in the person of the priest, and the assurance of eternity in line 26 also points to

a

preternaturalization of the priest's

status.

Certainly this blessing urges the priest to think of himself as angelic. The

blessing

of

initiation

above

bears

remarkable

similarity to a passage from Jubilees in which the patriarch rsaac blesses Levi, and in which it is equally apparent that the priesthood is to fulfill an angelic role: May the Lord give you and your seed greatness and great glory. May he draw you and your seed near to him from all flesh to serve in His sanctuary as the angels of the presence and the holy ones. May your sons' seed be like them with respect to honor and greatness and sanctification... And they will 145

11un, the word translated here as •habitation•, can certainly mean the earthly Temple, conceived as a divine dwelling place; however, more so than llJn (also habitation), or lJwn (locua of God's indwelling), 11nn maintains the connotation of God' a celestial dwelling place. llDn can also signify •lair, • as of a lion (Nah.2:12) or jackals (Jer.10:22), and so the word suggests the place in which a baing is moat at home--for God, the heavena. rn Deuteronomy 26: 15, God is exhorted to look down •o,nUli1 1n 1Ui"Ti7 11nnn•, •from Your holy habitation, from the heavens.• rn Jeremiah 25:30 God'a roar ia heard from on high, •1w~i7 11unn.• Pea~ 91:9 declares, •1llDn nnw Ul,n•, •you have placed your dwelling place on high.• rn Second Chronicles, the prayer of the priests blessing the people reaches •n,nw~ 1W~i7 11un~·, •to [God's) holy habitation, to the heavens.• A wonderfully ambiguous usage is found in Zechariah 2:17, in which the human host falls ailent when God takes up residence in Jerusalem, •1Wii7 11unn 11Dl ,J., for Be has roused B~aelf from Ria holy habitation.• 146

Licht (p. 285) points out the a~ilar usage of •casting a lot• to mean volitionally joining a group in Proverbs 1:14. There, by contrast, the fatal choice described is the joining of the wicked.


122

become judges and rulers and leaders for all the seed of the sons of Jacob. The word of the Lord they will speak righteously, and all of his judgements they will execute righteously. And they will tell my ways to Jacob, and my paths to Israel. The blessing of the Lord shall be in their mouth, so that they might bless all of the seed of the beloved." Commenting on this passage, in connection with the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, Fletcher-Louis concludes that here, in

Jubilees,

we find "evidence that Mal

2:6-7

(in which the

priest is called a malach of God] represented and provided support for a post-exilic exploration of the angelomorphic identity of the human priesthood. n

Our passage from lQSb

reads as a something of a radicalization of this Jubileestradition. From the perspective of the general sectarian community, the adherents of the priestly core, the angelification of the priest perhaps appeared even closer to complete. Louis writes,

As Fletcher-

again in connection with the Songs

of the

Sabbath Sacrifice: "Like the author of Jubilees the community

which

recited the

Songs

were prepared

to

see

the

human

priesthood as angelomorphic and they both did so within the context of an ongoing tradition of biblical interpretation." (p.9)

If the blessing from lQSb, above, charges the priest to

be holy and luminous, transmitting knowledge from on high and

representing the glory of God to the people, this is probably very much as the people of Qumran experienced him, whatever the priest's own internal. experience of his angelification may have been.

The foll.owing passage,

also from the Rule of


123

Benedictions,

although

more

fragmentary,

impression that the priest is mediating

angel

to

the

many,

to

fulfill

and

strengthens

the

the role of a

further

indicates

a

convergence of the earthly priesthood and the angelic host: ~(1~~1

n,,,

~~,n~T

n1n],J n,11

~~,~M

1,Jg ,l1TM MW,

~~(,]W1T~ ~1~ T1~9,1 1n~, 2 ~(~nJ1]~~~ ,~w1, ~~W11~ ~~niD ~1~ ~M 1,Jg 3 M(W, ]~~D1T ~1~( ••• ]1n~1 T 1 ~~~ ~~D1 T Wi~ (, 1 TD i] 1 ~~~ 4 1 ~ ( ••• ] ••• ( ••• ] ~~~ 1n, C~(1D ••• ] ,JTT 5 ••• [ ••• 1,J9 M]W, D~(1]D WT1 ]~ ,~N~n CD1 1W~n C( ••• ]... 6 ••• ( ••• ]n1~~n1

... [ ...

~ May the Lord lift his face towards you, and the plea(sant] aroma (of your offerings may he smell, and al]l those who belong to (yo]ur priesthood 2 may he choose. And may he visit all your holy one(s], and in ( ••• ] all your descendants. (May he li]ft 3 his face towards all your community. May he place on your head [ ••• ] ••• 4 in (perpetual] glor[y, and may he] make your descendants holy with eternal glory. May he lif(t his face •• ] ••• 5 ( ••• ] May he give you (eter]nal ( ••• ] and the kingship ( ••• ] 6 ( ••• ] from flesh. And with the h[oly] angels [ ••• ] (1Q28b (lQSb) lQRule of Benedictions, III, 1-6)

Notably, the motif of distinctive headdress--again reminiscent of

the

angelic

elevation

Zechariah's vision with its

of

Joshua

11~u~ ~,J~

the

High

Priest

in

(pure turban)--appears

in this passage just at the point at which the distinctions wished upon the priest shift from the earthly to the angelic. This passage suggests once more that fulfilling the priestly role on earth entailed an assumption of angelic identity. priest serves

the

role of

an angel

of

the

The

countenance,

mediating the divine glory, and divine will and judgement, to the earthly community.

The two passages just quoted from the

Rule of Benedictions make the angelification of the priest


124

explicit.

The followinq one is more ambiguous, but important

nonetheless: 11~ 717Jn ~Jn,w,, lWi]l~ 11un]n ,JliN ~JJ1~, ~J7 Wi[IT, C71D ]nll~J n,1~1 C,Wli~ 26 c,~iJ 7[1J ~19]W, ~J,,wun~l Wil~ [ 2111nn~ ]~Jnl~n 11n~

nJJn,l

71J ]n,w1

c,nn [ 28,1W ]71J 11~, ~J~,~ 1w~ 71J

~J7,nJ,

7tnnl c,J[inn

~J,ngw

n~n1

May the Lord bless you from His holy habitation. May he set you as a qlorious ornament in the midst of 26 the holy ones and may he renew unto you the covenant of eternal priesthood. And may he qrant you your place [in the] holy [habitation]. 27 May he j[udqe al]l the nobles by your works and by what issues from your lips all the [princes of] 28 the nations. May he qive you to inherit the first fruits of [all de]liqhts. And by your hand may he bless the counsel of all flesh. (lQSb, III, 25-28) This passaqe is a prime example of what miqht be termed, "earthly anqelification" translate the priest, heavenly

realm,

nor

at Qumran.

to whom it does

it

It does not clearly is

addressed,

clearly

set

him

into the amonq

the

ministerinq anqels in the celestial throne room--we have seen that "holy ones"

in the Qumran scrolls can mean both the

anqels and the members of the sect. this

passaqe

uses

and

the

Yet the lanquaqe that

preroqatives

it

bestows--the

qrantinq of a place in the holy habitation, the involvement in divine judqement, and assiqnment to mediate divine blessinq-not only model the priesthood upon the anqelic paradiqm, but suqqest a de facto anqelification of the priest, at least in relation to the people beneath him. That the mediation of divine liqht and blessinq by the priesthood was imaqined at Qumran as somethinq supernatural,


125

and as involved with heavenly forces and beings, is suggested by one of the very few surviving shreds of a work designated the Apocryphon oL Hoses (1Q29, 4Q375-376).

The fragmentary

state of the document makes it impossible to discern exactly the context of the priestly mediation described, or even to identify the all of the entities involved.

Other fragments of

the same text describe a sacrificial rite of atonement and the approach of the priest to the Ark of the Testimony, so the setting is most likely the service of the Day of Atonement-and the communal experience is decidedly preternatural:

7D 1WM

n,7MnW~ 1~~~ n17~ 1 1nWJ1 ~nM1 [ •••

1~17

l~M~ WM n1J1W7~ 1nu M~,, ~~11,M, 1 IU 7~~~ 71~ ,l,U7 ~7ln ,7MnW~ 2 11~ ] ••• 7 7 [ ••• (?) 1JD~3 ] ~7UJ 1TTM1 ~~,7(M] 1~1, (1WM] 7(1~ ~n,W]U1

~ they shall illumine you, and it will go out with him in tongues of fire. The left-hand stone, that is at its 2 left side shall be revealed to the eyes of all the congregation until the priest finishes speaking. And after the [cloud (?) ] has been lifted up 3 [ ••• ] and you shall keep and d[o all] [that] he speaks to you.

Apparently the priest--probably as he exits from the holy of holies--is

involved

in

a

revelation

of

divine

will,

accompanied by visible fire and light, seemingly proceeding from the temple, and a cloud, which may be the smoke of the incense and which,

in any event,

presumably indicates the

presence of God in the sanctuary.

As an apocryphon,

the

fragments of this text read as an expansion or reworking of Leviticus

and,

as

originate at Qumran.

such,

the

text

does

not

necessarily

Nevertheless, the document can help us


121

to understand what the Qumran community may have expected from the priestly office. Several

fragments

of

a

text

designated

4QBlessings

(4Q286-290) comprise a rich catalog of heavenly fixtures and inhabitants, reminiscent of those in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

read

In tone, as well as in content, these passages

remarkably

strings

of

like much

later hekhalot

noun-constructions,

listing

texts

and

in

their

evoking

features of the highest heavens: ~~in1n ,n11[n]~ ~~i1~~ ~n~ 1 l91N1 ~n~,~11~ ~~i1~~

i 1~ i10

,,

~ 1 T1

WN , '0 1n 3 [ ~n~ ] , i 1 0 7 1 ~ 1 ] N79 1 11Nn1 D 1 11N n[11]~l 1 s ( N7]9 n1N9n 0111 1~1[T 011~n1 Wi1~ 1 WDU [ 6 ••• n]1N911 n1N11l 7i111 n1rr~wn 1i~ n111~1 7 ~n ••• ~l,~{n} 11~n1 ~Di n,J~n1 ~n~1rr i1D D 1 N79 1]W1, ,J1~n1 ~i~ ,J~n 7~w 1~1N nnN i101 Wi1~ n~n1 1 T11 D71D 1 niT11 nnN 1 iDIT1 ~1\l n1lD1 0 1 iDTT 8 [~1 1 7li1 ~nl1~n~ Wi1~ 1 D1~W1 .[ ••• ]1~~ 9 [ ••• 0 1 N]79 1 iD1nl il~~ ~nn191~n~ 0 1 . [ ••• ] 10 [ ••• ]D 1 Wi1TT ~nn1~]7rrn~ p1N n1n~w1 [ ••• ] 11 [ ••• ~n]n1i1nn~ [ ••• ]7[ ••• ].1 ~l 1 111(i ••• ] 12 ••• 111i 1 iD[1n1 ~

i1~~ 0111 ~1~n1 n1(i1~]

l 1l

,

1i~1

~,

711 ,n1i~1 ~~1~, ~w1n n1~~1n1 ~~W1i~ 2 (l]1in1

1

:lCll1

i[1~4

[ • • • 1] WTTl 1 1 N [ ••• ]

13

the seat of Your honor and the footstools of your glory in the [hei]ghts where You stand and the pa(th] 2 of your holiness and the chariots of your glory, their keruvim and their ofanim and all their councils 3 foundations of fire and bright flames of light and radiances of splendor, ri[ve]rs of light and luminaries of wonder 4 [splend]or and beauty, and exalted glory, council of holiness and pla[ce of rad] ience and height of beauty, wonders of 5 maje(sty] and gathering place of mighty deeds, splendor of praises and greatness of wonders and healing(s ••• ] 6 wondrous works, counsel of wisdom and form of knowledge and source of understanding ••• [ ••• ] 7 and holy council and council of truth, store of intelligence from the sons of righteousness and habitations of upr(ightness, qreat of] 8 lovingkindnesses and responses of good and true lovingkindnesses and eternal mercies and wondrous myste[ries ••• ] 10 [ ••• ] in their in their seasons and periods of glory in [their] announced


the

127 times~~ [ ••• ] and Sabbaths of the land [in their] divi[sions and the fixed] times of release •.• ~2 [ ••• et]ernal releases and[ ••• ] ~3 [ ••• ]light and dark[ness ••• ] (4Q286 1, II, 1-13)

God's footstool usually suggests the temple and the Ark of the Covenant, 66:1,

as opposed to the heavenly throne--as in Isaiah

Lamentations

2:1,

Psalms

99:5

and

132:7,

and

1

Chronicles 28:2--but here, remarkably, the divine footrests are in the heavens.

This subsuming of the divine footstool

among the heavenly paraphanalia perhaps indicates that the temple-court sectarians,

that the one

held

the

fascination

into which they

of

the

Qumran

imagined themselves,

presently and in the earthly world of the eschaton, was the celestial sanctuary.

The word i10 is used in this passage as

it is used elsewhere of the sect, to designate a close group or gathering,

and the catalog of such convocations in the

heavenly setting, each designated a particular virtue, might indicate that the sectarians believed it was possible to take part in those assemblies by manifesting their respective virtues. The setting of all these wonders is imagined to be the temple.

This is made apparent by a fragmentary passage from

the second fragment of 4Q286,

in which the catalog of the

heaven1y assemblies and their attributes continues: ~n~,]i10~[ ••• ] 2 [W]i~n ,Nwn ,IT11 ~131 ~n1i~ TlD~ r1u~ ugwn nNJ~ .[ ••• ] 3 rr13~ o,~N ,,,~l ~nn1~wn[~1 O,Wil~ Wi[1~ ••• ] 5 ~3Wi1~ OW nN ~n~13 iiT[,~4 ]

11M1


128

••• in the strength of their majesty, and all the spirits that bear the sanctuary 2 [ ••• ] in [their] councils [and in] their [d]ominion, celestial valiant ones in strength 3 [ ••• ] the zeal of judgement in might 4 [to]gether all of them Your holy name 5 [ ••• ho]ly of holies, and light (4Q286 2, 1-6) The designations, (tPWil~

Wil~)

"sanctuary"

(Wi~n)

and "holy of holies",

suggest strongly that the paradigm for the

heavenly imagining of 4QBlessings is the Jerusalem temple, and so too do the architectural and decorative images and the holy service--and servants--evoked in the following passage from 4Q287: ••• ]D

••• ] 2 [ ••• ]~n~,,,J ~[n ••• ]1 ~n~[ ••• ] 1 n1n'11 ~nil:lJ ,n[ ••• ] 3 [ ••• ]~n1i~ nl,J[:ln [ ••• ]. lJD ,n111 WN ,JN'1n ~n.[ ••• ] [ 4 ••• ] .[ ••• ] ••• [ ••• ] 6 [ ••• D,W]il~ Wil~ ,n11 nn~11 8 [ ••• ,]iDln '11J:l D,Wil~[ ••• 7 ] [ ••• ]Wil~ ,D,~11 ,n1wn '11Jl ~n[ ••• ] 9 [ ••• ~]Jnl~l'1M il:lJ cw nN[ ••• ] W(ili2] 11 [ ••• ~n],tmln c,nn:l[ ••• ] 10 [ ••• Wil]i2 n1N9n:l ~J,]n1wn ['11J] 12 ••• [ ••• ~J,n1J'1]n ,'1J,~:l ~J~~~ ,JN'1[n ,J]lDn:l ~JWili2[ ••• 13 ] ,JN'1n ~n11~[ ~n~[

~n~,N'19 1~[1T] 5

]their[ ••• ] and[ ••• ] their platforms[ ••• ] their [ ••• ] their majestic [str]uctures [ ••• ] 3 their glorious [ ••• ] • • • their wonderful doors [ ••• ] 4 [ ••• ] their [ ••• ] the angels of fire and the spirits of cloud [ ••• ] 5 [ ••• sp]lendor of the embroidery of the spirits of the holy of hol [ ies ••• ] 6 [ ••• ] ••• [ ••• ] and the holy firmaments [ ••• ] 7 [ ••• ] the holy ones in all the appointed tim[es ••• ] 8 your glorious divine name [ ••• ] 9 [ ••• ] and all the h[oly] servants [ ••• ] 10 [ ••• ] in the perfection of t[heir] deeds [ ••• ] 11 [ ••• hol]y in [Your] r[oyal] palaces [ ••• ] ••• 12 [ ••• ] all who serve [ You with] their majestic [beauty]. The angels of 13 [ ••• ]your holy[ ••• ] in the dwelli[ngs of the an]gels of your righteousness (4Q287, 2, 1-13 (=4Q286 12)) 1

2

[ •••

[ ••• ]

The combination of heavenly description and "appointed times"

reminds of certain Apocalyptic literature,

Jubilees and 1Enoch.

However,

notably

in terms of classification,


121

there is no escaping that, 4QBlessings is, very literally, a bekbalot-text--that is, a text concerned with the details of the temple-like chambers of heaven--and the similarity of this document's

phraseology

and

tone

compositions is equally striking.

to As I

classic

helchalot

agree with a

late

(post-talmudic) dating of the compilation and redaction of the hekhalot literature,

I can entertain the notion of a direct

connection, or series of simple links, between the sectarian outpost at Qumran--destroyed in 68CE--and the mysticism of the classic hekhalot texts only with considerable skepticism. Still,

in the face of that skepticism, it would be well to

remember

that

a

transcription

of

the

so-called

Damascus

Covenant did land in the Cairo Genizah (not to mention a copy

of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifices at Masada).

That is to

say, some documents treasured at Qumran, including decidedly sectarian writings, found lives beyond the sect itself. Dimant has written that, at Qumran, "the coJDJDunity, or, in fact, its core of full members, functioned analogically to a community of priestly angels, officiating in the innermost sanctuary of the heavenly temple. " 147

The texts we have

seen suggest that we must go farther--beyond analogy--and say that the community at Qumran was centered upon a priesthood conceived of and experienced in angelic terms and that the piety, and the self-conception of Qumran was centered upon the possibility of partaking in the angelic identity vouchsafed to 147

Dimant, P• 98.


130

the priests.

Again, this self-understanding is paradoxical,

and we must ask what sense it can have made to human beings who--notwithstanding experience

the

their

temporal

lofty

and

imaginings--continued

quotidian

realities,

not

to to

mention the indignities, of an embattled earthly life. one solution would be to posit that the transformed identity is experienced only transiently, intermittently, or proleptically, at the height of special rites and practices, or that the mystic is only a sometime visitor to the world of the angels. angelic

Certainly, there do appear to be high-points of

experience

at

Qumran,

especially

in

liturgical

compositions--in certain of the Hodayot and possibly in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

Yet the angelic status of the

sect does not come across in its literature as transient or restricted to certain times.

As we have seen, angelic status

is termed as an abiding state of being.

Again, the key to

understanding this paradox is in remembering that the sect believed it was living in the eschaton, when the kingdom of God would be realized in the earth.

That is, the sectarians

did not need to experience journeys to the heavens or even imagine dramatic transformations of their physical bodies in order to assume angelic identities because the heavenly world was coming to them.

This belief is especially manifest with

regard to the Temple as conceived by the sect.

Even the

sanctuary as ideally conceived in the so-called Temple Scroll-not to mention the Temple under Hasmonean and Herodian


131

control--is only a place-holder for the divine sanctum soon to be established on the earth: n1~n ~M1t1P

[ ••• ] ,,~n ,nW 4 [l,~W]N 1WN n,~~ [ ••• ] , l ~ nNn i,nn s ilTil U!JWllil n1 1n~ 1n1, :l ~,~~, ilnil,1iJ ~,~~ 6 l:l,,i2, 1WM ~,~~ ilnilnl~iJn ,,ill en,~,, 1 (iln]il~ 11~1~ ,~ 1M,~, 1WM ilnil,nlJnn D~ln~ ilnnM 8 ,nJ~Wl C~ln~ Oil~ il,ilN ,~llNl Dn~ ,~ nM ,,~n 9 l,~WD 1WN ~il~~~ ,Wij2[n nnN] ~W1j2Ml inl ll,~il~ 10 ,Wij2n nN ,JN N1:lN 1WM il,1:lil 01, 1n ,il~~ ~N n,~~ ~li2n, on ,n,~ 1WM n,,:l~ c,n,il ~lJ ,~ [Dl,]

i~~

[ ••• ] In the house 4 upon which I [shall make] my name [reside ••• ] burnt offerings, [day] by day, according to the rule of this requlation, s continually, form the children of Israel, besides their freewill offerings. All that they will offer me, 6 all their vows and all their presents which they bring me for th[eir] acceptance 7 I shall accept them. They shall be for me a people and I will be for them forever; and I shall dwell 8 with them forever and always. I shall sanctify my [te]mple with my glory, for I shall make my glory reside 9 upon it until the day of creation, when I shall create my temple, 10 to establish it for myself for all days, according to the covenant which I made with Jacob at Bethel. (11Q19, XXIX, 3-10)

As Lawrence Schiffman has written, even the "ideal Temple" imagined by the

~emple

Scroll "would be replaced in the end of days

with a divinely created sanctuary. " 148

If this is so, then

we might say, conversely--and the sectarians of Qumran may have believed--that the angels

in heaven were themselves

place-holders for the sectarian priesthood and its supporters, who would assume their rightful positions in and around God's true sanctuary as soon as it was established in their earthly Lawrence Schiffman, •The r ..p~e Scro~~ and the Mature of ita Law,• p. 43. •until then,• Schiffman writea, •the author/redactor aaw hia acroll aa repreaenting the correct way in which the Temple wa• to be built and operated.• 148


132

world.

This hypothetical conception helps us to understand

how a priest of Qumran could hope to inhabit simultaneously the "sanctuary of the kingdom" and the "holy habitation" of the heavens, and it helps us to understand how the sect of Qumran may have experienced an intensification of angelic identity while yet inhabiting the earth.

If,

as Wolfson

defines it, true mysticism involves an ontic transformation-an experience of becoming angelic or divine--how do

its

practitioners account for the persistence of their earthly lives? world

Qumran answers this challenge with an ideology of a in

transformation,

so

that

angelic

identity

is

increasingly the natural state of the elect in the earth.

!'he Sel:r-Glori:rication B}'ml

4Q49~c::

Before turning to the so-called War Scroll generally, a brief

look

at

the

embedded

text

known

as

the

Self-

Glori:rication Hymn will serve to strengthen the conclusions that are emerging in this chapter.

The fragment reads as

follows: 1n11:11 TT(1:J:l ••• ] 2 [ ••• ]n1N11l il'9il[ ••• ] ••• [ ••• ] 1 ••• ] 3 ~~~:1( ••• ]:1 O,W11~ 17,1,1 0(,~,]1~ (1]ll1, ••• 111 111 7]1:J:l 1nn1D ,T11 1nnM TNn ill,:Jil 7N1W[, c,n71D n1D7 o,J,:lN n~u1 c,n[ ••• ] ••• [ ••• 4 ] 7,rr( l:lW, 7:1 C,7M niD:l T1D MO:J O,n7[1D ••• 5 ] ,n,nn[ ••• ]. 6 ,n11 N.[ ••• N]17 ilnil,:l,lll 01~ ,:J7n 71:J 1:1 Ml:l, M171 ,n71T 0n11, M171 {ilnl,} M17 ,11:l:J[ ••• ] 01:1,.[ ••• ] 7 l,M1 O,DW:l il[ ••• ]:l ,n:lW, ,lM M,:J M,:l ,n]1Mn 1W:l:J M17 W11~ niD:l ,l1:Jn1 :lWTT 1" 1nN 0,7M CD ,lN T1:17 M,[n] Wl1~il 11(Dn ••• ] 8 11:l:J:l ,7 1~, 71:J( M,:J :l1W, C, ,M:l:J (M]1il M,n M,7 ilni, ,11:l:J:l M,n1 ,:1 :lWTTl M, n 1 , l 1n:J c, 1D~ ( 7 1 :J M1til, M, n 1n ( ••• 1 9 190 { • } 1 10 ilnln M17 il,11il1 ,n,lWl l,M1 N,:l ilnlil D1 7(1:10,]


133

M,n ,ngw ~Tnl[ M,9 ,n]ng~ M,J{l}i'l, M,U .[ ,n,,,~~1 u1 1~n~ ,.,,., ••• ] 11 ,ugwn~ ~n,.,, ,J,.,n, M,n, ~,3, ,inDn e,~M en M,JM M,[3 ~ni, Ml~ e,Wli~~ {? M1~1) M,~l T9 (? Ml~) M,~ 1~n~ ,J~ en .,11J3[1 ] 13 ~[ ••• ] vacat [ ••• ] vacat [ ••• ] 12 e,1,91M en3 [ ••• 1]~11nr W1'1i7~ 11Dn~[ ••• ] ,~,~M~ e,~,in[ 1JJ1 l,M, e,n~1n nnnw~[ ••• ] ~J1 M,l~~ ,n,nw[~ ••• ] 14 ~[ ••• ] 16 [ ••• ,n,]wn 11~ e,~~~ e[ ••• ] 1s [ ••• ].3 [ ••• ]n13J ,,., n,,.,~~ ~

[ ••• ] has done awesome thinqs wondrously[ ••. ] 2 [ ••• in the streq]th of His power the ju[st] exult and the holy ones rejoice in [ ••. ] in riqhteousness. 3 [ ••• I]srael He established from of old; His truth and the mysteries of His wisdom in al[l generations ••• ] miqht 4 [ ••• ] • • • [ ••• ] ••• and the council of the poor for an eternal conqregation. [ ••• ] the perfect ones of 5 [ ••• et] ernal; a miqhty throne in the conqregation of the celestials, in which none of the kings of the East will sit, and their nobles n[ot ••• ] my silence (?) 6 [ ••• ] my qlory shall not {be compared} and none other shall be exalted besides me, nor come against me for I have sat in[ ••• ], in the heavens and there is no 7 [ ••• ] I am reckoned amonq the celestials and my dwellinq-place is in the holy congregation. (My] des[ire] is not like (that of) flesh, [but] all that is dear to me is in (the) qlory (of) 8 [ ••• ] holy [hab]itation. [W]ho has been considered despicable on my account? And who is comparable to me in my glory? Who, like the seafarers, will come back and tell? 9 [ ••• ]Who will bea(r all] sorrows as I do? And who (suffe]rs evil like me? There is none. I have been instructed, and no teaching is comparable 9 [to my teachinq ••• ]And who will attack me when [I] op[en my mouth]? And who can measure what flows from my lips? And who will confront me and retain comparison with my judgement?~~ [ ••• friend of the king, companion to the holy ones ••• incomparable, f]or (as for) me, [my] standinq in rank is with the celestials and my qlory is with the sons of the kinq. Mine is (Not?) [pur]e qold and mine is (not ? ) the gold of Ophir ~2 [ ••• ] blank [ ••• ] blank [ ••• ] ~3 [ ••• exult,] righteous ones, in the God of [ ••• ] in the holy habitation chant to H[im ••• ] ~4 [... cau]se joy to be he[ard] in the meditation ( ••• ] eternal rejoicing without • • • [ ••• ] ~5 to raise the horn of His annoi[ted ••• ] ~6 [ .•• ] to make known His power with strenqth [ ••• ] 4Q49lc (4QSelf-Glorification Hymnb), 1 I 1-16


134

Initially, M. Bai11et identified the speaker of this text as the anqel Michael, a conclusion rightly contested by Morton Smith, who suqgested instead with regard to its authorship, "One thinks

immediately of the author of the Hodayot. " 149

"However," Smith wrote, the anqels of the Hodayot and those of the War Scroll usually come down into the assemblies of the saints. This speaker's claim to have been taken up and seated in heaven and counted as one of the elim is more direct and explicit than anything I recall in the Hodayot or in any of the Dead Sea documents hitherto published. While the text is extreme and special in its formulation, it does

fit

into

the

world

of

encountered in this chapter.

ideas

that

we

have

already

The convergence of heavenly and

earthly realms may account for the unusual apparent direction of angelic traffic noted by Smith, and it may also explain the angelified speaker's preoccupation with earthly kings--also noted by Smith.

That interest in the "kings of the East"

ruled out an oriqinally heavenly angel as speaker in Smith's analysis ("Would an archanqel have stooped to say that?" 150 ) but it did suggest to Smith an original settinq in the early years

of

speaker,

Herod's Smith

reiqn. 151 posited

As

to

"probably

the

experience of

••• the

influence

the of

speculation on deification by ascent towards or into the

149

Morton Smith, •A•cent to the Beaven• ill 4QM•. • Lawrence Schiffman. ed. Archaeology .nd Biaeory ill ehe Dead Sea scroll•, JSOT (Sheffield: 1990). p. 187. 150

Smith. P• 168.

151

Smith. p. 186.


135

heavens,

speculation which may have gone along with some

practices that produced extraordinary experiences understood as

encounters

with

gods

or

angels."

Speculation

seems

certainly to be in play, although the paradigm of ascent, borrowed from apocalyptic and hekhalot literature, is probably not quite on the mark. J.

J.

Collins also rules

out

speaker as the voice of this text.

an originally

angelic

"The hymn," he writes,

"gives the impression that the speaker has come to be reckoned with the gods but was not of heavenly origin. " 152

In that

assessment, Collins affirms Smith's analysis, but also notes, "This is not precisely an example of ascent,

at least as

ascents are described in the apocalypses, although it is a related phenomenon."

As to its author, Collins suggests the

Teacher of Righteousness, but also indicates difficulties with this identification. may have been,

He suggests, "The author of this hymn

not the Teacher, but a teacher in the late

first century B.C.E." Martin G. Abegg Jr. , as we have noted, explores the links between this text and the Hodayot-composition published by Schuller, and suggests the Hodayot as a fittinq home for the whole, over and against Schuller's own inclination to think that the so-called hymn originated independently. "Whatever we

conclude about

the

original

He writes,

setting of

the

statements in manuscript III of 4Q491, it appears clear that 152

COlli.n8, 1995, P• 44


131

the answer to our quest for the identity of the implied speaker of this text and of 4Q427 rises and falls with our judqement concerninq the author of the Thanksgiving Hymns. Although we cannot be absolutely certain of the speaker's identity,

the Teacher of

Riqhteousness,

founder of the Qumran community,

the

acknowledqed

is a strong candidate." 153

Whoever the speaker may have been, he would have made a fitting lead-chorister, so to speak,

for the Songs of the

The deqree of self-qlorification here

Sabbath Sacrifice.

seems requisite for the speaker of the calls to anqelic worship believed

in the Songs. to

occupy

so

Put differently, exalted

a

station

only a

speaker

could

credibly

describe the angelic realm, seeminqly direct its choirs, and imperatively sugqest to his listeners that they experience themselves as belonginq to the anqelic host--as does the speaker of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

If founded

upon a sustained and gradual indoctrination and preparation, such an angelification by charismatic example and imperative miqht well fit the bill of mysticism as defined by Wolfson. Indeed--assuming,

for

the

moment,

a

single

speaker

(or

speaker's office)

in all of these texts--if his listeners

believed wholeheartedly and with qreat enthusiasm in the stature of this leader as he describes himself in 4Q491, how could they have dared to doubt that they were anqels when he ls3

Abegg, P· 72.


137

blessed them as such in the priestly initiation of the

Ru~e

of

called to them as such in the Songs of the

Benedictions,

Sabbath Sacrifice--or, for that matter in this text?

For

here

we

can

note

once

more

a

characteristic

alternation of self-aggrandizement, description of God's inner court, host,

and imperative leadership of worship as an angelic amid suggestions of secret,

divine knowledge,

elect

lineage, predestined identity, and true priestly status. heady brew! speculate),

Add to it, the

sensory

perhaps cues

of

(and here, priestly

of course, vestments

A we and

incense-smoke, almost certainly chanting, banners and weapons inscribed with the names of principal angels (as in the War Rule) ,

and an ingrained ascetic and levi tical practice of

minimizing the outward signs of the flesh--and Wolfson's criterion for mysticism,

the personal experience of ontic

transformation, seems well within reach.

Indeed, a community

that shared in such an experience, under the leadership of a priestly elect, would be just such a community as might take seriously and imagine vividly the plan of the war of the end of days set forth Glorification

in the War Scroll--in which the

Se~f

Hymn is nested.

The themes and ideas of the so called War Rule (lQM and 4QM), have been the subject of a great deal of study which has brought

to

light

the

possibility

of

multiple


sources

138

underlying the text as we have it and has suggested a great range of possible periods of composition and redaction, from the Hasmonean to the Herodian.

According to Davies, whose

conclusions represent the current thinking on this scroll, the earliest elements in the scroll come from "a compilation made in the Hasmonean period of traditions which arose during and immediately

after

the

Maccabean

wars,

applied

to

an

eschatological war in which the twelve tribes of Israel would vanquish the nations. " 154

The final redaction of the text,

according to Davies "is to be attributed to the period after the Roman occupation of Palestine, i.e., the second half of the 1st century B.C.

onwards. " 155

If this is so then lQM

represents a consistent and sustained interest at Qumran in a final epic battle in which the sect envisioned itself taking part. Notably, a common feature throughout all the component portions of this scroll is the theme of angelic involvement in the final war.

Not only is the triumphant side identified as

the portion of the angel Michael, while the opposing forces of the "nations" or "Kittim" are identified as the lot of the opposed angelic potentate, Belial, but the celestial forces of light and darkness associated with these two principal angelic figures are consistently portrayed as active agents in the battle itself, the sectarians expecting, i t seems, to fight in 154

Davie•, 1011: 1'he fiar

155

Davie•, p. 123.

Scro~~

fro• Qwaran (Rome: 1977) p. 123.


131

tandem with their angelic counterparts. 156 as

close

as

relationship imagined war.

we

can

with

to

the

understanding

angels

that

is

Now we must come

the

nature

reflected

of in

the this

For the purpose of this study, it is important

to consider the degree and the nature of the convergence of angelic and human forces described in the War Rule. the

sectarians

conceived

of

their

earthly

Clearly

struggle

as

reflecting a parallel and determining conflict of heavenly forces.

Seemingly, the joining of angelic and human hosts

spoken of in the War Rule was believed to involve the immanent presence of celestial beings among the earthly combatants. Finally, the conception of this battle also came to involve a reciprocal belonging of the earthly combatants within the celestial host. The

general

idea

of

conjoint

heavenly

and

earthly

campaign is certainly reminiscent of the passage from the song of Deborah and Barak, in Judges 5:20 N10,0 CD

1nrr~J

c~,nl~,onn"

"C,~~,~~

1nrr~J

c,nw 1n

("From the heavens the stars fought

from their pathways, fought against Sisera.")

The idea of

angelic involvement in an earthly war is also most reminiscent of the appearance of the Captain of the Host of the Lord to Joshua before his battle at Jericho (Jos.5: 13-15).

That is to

say, there is certainly biblical precedent for the imagining

156

COllin• ('"The Son of Han ••• • p. 56) not•• of the War Scroll that '"though it i• po••ible to di•tingui•h the heavenly battle between Michael and Belial frOID the earthly battle, yet the angelic ho•t atingle• freely with the araty of X•rael.'"


140

of celestial beings as interested and involved parties in earthly conflicts.

Such precedents themselves already bespeak

a certain degree of self-association with the angels. both

of

these

biblical

examples,

correspond to the angelic, remains

clearly

celestial.

human,

while

the

Yet, in

human

may

and share a mission, the human

and

the

celestial

distinct

and

The present question is whether, in Qumran's War

Scroll, ideas of angelic parallelism and involvement evolved to incorporate an imagined preternaturalization of the earthly combatants, that is, an angelic self-conception. We have already noted that the sectarians' camp of war, described

in

1QM,

was

especially

to

be

guarded

against

impurity and against base indicators of mere humanity, such as deification,

"because angels of holiness are with them in

their lines" (4QMa frags. 1-3, line 10).

These regulations

indicate an effort to be worthy of the company of these angels through striving to be as like them as possible. more,

What is

the apparatus and decorations to be involved in the

earthly battle,

as described in the War Rule,

were to be

emblazoned with angelic names: ]~[M]~,n 11W,M1~ ~u 1~n~, ~M91 ,D,~1~ ~D ~M,1W

[

16

[ ••

~lMnW~

7M911

15

,Jln

nl7lln~ ,W,~W~ ~M,1~l

~M,1Wl

7D

1,n],~

~,~ ~n1 ,JW~

~M,1~ll

7D

~M~,n

And on all the shields of the towers ~5 they shall write: on the first, "Michael," [on the second "Gabriel," on the third,] "Sariel," on the fourth, "Rafael;" "Michael" and "Gavriel" on [the right, and •sariel" and "Rafael" on the left .•• ] (1QM, IX, lines 14-16)


141

The imaqined proximity of the anqels, the imitation of them, and this sort of totemic use of anqelic names on the reqalia of

the

war

speak

of

a

certain

sectarians with the anqels.

self-association

of

the

Yet on the basis of that evidence

alone we could not say surely that the earthly warriors conceived of themselves as anythinq more than human beinqs enjoyinq exalted company and quidance. The passaqe from lQM (XXI, lines 1-5) quoted at lenqth in the introduction to this chapter does more to tell us about the sectarian self-conception involved in this association with the anqelic host.

The passaqe states that the "chosen

ones of the holy nation" have been "placed" by God amonq the "multitude of holy ones in heaven."

Their names are inscribed

in the "book of the names of all their hosts," carved "with the chisel of life "to rule in all times of eternity."

So

when the passaqe finally states that the chosen ones on earth are to be mustered "toqether with your holy ones and with your anqels to have the upper hand in the battle and destroy the rebels of the earth, " and when the victors are termed the "nation of the chosen ones of heaven," it seems certain that we are hearinq of sectarian warriors who belonq amonq the anqels, just as the anqels belonq in the earthly camp of war. This is the self-conception urqed by the War Rule. How was this anqelic self-conception to be experienced by the members of the sect?

The elevation of the earthly chosen

ones to anqelic status reads as an experienced reality in


142

lines such as those quoted above; and yet Qumran was populated by human beinqs whose imaqined day of final triumph was still set in the future. normal

bodily

sectarians

Concern about impurity,

functions

experienced

heavenly anqels.

indicates themselves

the ways as

infirmity, and in which

different

from

the the

On the basis of one final excerpt from the

War Rule we can say somethinq about the ways in which they may have also experienced themselves as similar to those anqels. One doxoloqy embedded in the text of the War Rule reads as follows: ~WD, 1WN p1N~l O(,n]W~ 7N1W, 7N ~JlnJ N,n 1WN 7N1W, ~JnDJ N,nl ~~Trr~ ~JTI1l~lJl 9 D,7lil~ ,,nl7nl n,,~ ,Wli~ en 10 n1~1N~ ,nn 71Jn ~J7 11 ,Nl11 i~JJ 71~ ,UnlWl ( ••• ] ••• ( ••• ~]J,~ ,7,Jwn Til~lnD ,DnlWl lTlN ,7lln Wil~ ,JN7n ~J,WDnJ n1rr~ ~1rr

Who is like you, God of Israel, in the hea(ven]s or on earth to do as your qreat deeds 9 and like your miqhty marvels, and who is like your nation, Israel, whom you chose for yourself from amonq all the nations of the lands, 10 a nation of ones sanctified in covenant and learned in the law, wise in knowledqe, ( ••• ] hearers of the qlorious voice and seers of 11 the holy anqels, open of ear, hearinq profound thinqs? (1QM,

This passaqe suqqests sapiential,

auditory,

X,

8-11}

and visionary

experience as elements involved in the quasi-anqelic life of the Qumran sectarians.

Accordinq to these prayerful lines the

community enjoys visual experience of the anqelic host and auditory experience, as it seems, of God's own voice. 157 157

As

This passage is not unique in the Qumran library in cla~ng such distinctive experiences. A rather fragmentary passage from a text known as fiord• of the Luminari•• (4Q504, frag. 3, II, linea 7-8) has been reconstructed aa reading, •[ ••• Bye) to eye You have been a. .n in our midst[ ••• ) B [ ••• )and Your


143

in other passages that we have seen, the distinctions of the elect

seem

to

supernatural.

ranqe

the more

mundane

to

the more

There is nothinq necessarily angelic in beinq

learned of the law ill,~).

from

{~1n

,in1~n)

and wise in knowledge

{,~,3wn

On the other hand, being truly covenanted and properly

learned apparently were considered as steps along the way to more wondrous experiences, such as envisioning the angels and hearing God's glorious voice.

Cons"ti'tu"tion of an Allge~ic Co..uni"ty: !'be Ru~e Sera~~ (~QS, ~Qsa, lQSb), !'he Ru~e of "the Co..uni"ty (JlO in,il), "the Ru~e of "the Congregation (il"TDil lJ!V and "the Ru~e oL Benedictions (,l:li

'1 , ::Jbm'1

i1 ::J, :1)

The

primacy

of

the

priesthood,

and

the

essentially

priestly and temple-centered character of the sect's religion and law, are especially evident in the following passage from the Rule of tbe Community: Wil~

n11

plM~

11~1~1

ilO,~

il~Mil O,Jl3nil ~13J ~NlW,J il~N n1,i1J nDUil ~Dn1 DW9 nnWN ~D 193~ O~lD 4 nnM~ n1n,l3 ogwn~ c,ngw s nn11n1 n~T ,~~nn1 n1~1u 1w~n ,WlN 1~,iJ, M,ilil nul 11~1 nnln n~ilJ 11i c,nn1 ~i~ in, n,~1 c,Wi1~ Wi1~ in,il~ 111i1N~ Wi1~ n,J in,il 6 ogwn~ 1~wn, 111i1N ,l~ ~1 7 c,nn~ o,3~1ilil ~Nlw,~ 1i11 8 in,il ,WlM 11Jn ~3~ ~11li11 M~, Cil,g ~D1 1li1J1 ••• o,nn~ C,3~1ilil Wil~il ,WlN

When these be in Israel, in accordance with these rules, as a foundation of holy spirit for truth 4 eternal, to atone for the quilt of iniquity and for holy word• (we] have heard.• That particular pa••age apeak• of the experience of Iarael at Sinai, but the a~ •eem• to be to extend that experience into the •elf-conception of the elect in the pre•ent. Thia aeem• eapecially likely if B•ther G. Chazon ia correct in her conclu•ion that 4Q504 ia a liturgical compo•ition, an order of weekday prayer• for u•e by the community, and that it wa• u•ed a• •uch by the community for over two centuriea (•4QDIBBAN: Liturgy or Literature?,• Revue de Quaran 15 (1992), pp. 447-455).


144

the unfaithfulness of sin, and for favor for the earth, above the flesh of burnt offerings and the fats of sacrifices, and the offering 5 of the lips be for judgement as the pleasant aroma of righteousness and the perfectness of the path be as a voluntary free-will offering--at that time the men 6 of the community shall set apart a holy house for Aaron, in order to become a most holy community, and a communal house for Israel who walk in perfection. Only the sons of Aaron will rule in judgement and with regard to property and by their word shall [all] go out and [by their word shall] the lot of all the provision for the men of the community [be determined]. And they are the holy men who walk in perfection ••. This text is representative both of a distinctive sectarian piety that expresses itself in the terminology of the temple and of a great temporal authority vested in the priesthood at the center of the sect, concomitant with an idealization of that priesthood. In the overview at the start of this chapter, we noted that the Rule of tbe Community (lQS)

conceives of a

community of heavenly and earthly constituents.

joint

The text

instructs the members of the sect that God has granted them "an inheritance in the lot of the holy ones, and to the sons of the heavens He unites their assembly to form a council of community

and

a

council,

a

holy

foundation,

to

form

ever lasting plantation throughout all ages to come. " 158

an The

word "plantation" (nDtJn) has a distinctly earthly connotation, which might seem odd in the context of the sect's selfassociation with

the celestial

host;

but what

that

term

represents is essential to the hope and the vision of Qumran. 158

s..

the treatment of lQS, XI,

l~n••

6-9, above.


145

For all its fascination with the heavens and the angels, and for all its efforts to escape the impediments of the flesh, the eschatological hopes of Qumran were remarkably focused upon the earth as the site of the

final

triumph of the

eschaton and the eventual center of God's sovereignty in the end

of

days.

anticipated,

The

personal

transformation

contemplated,

and experienced in the sect of Qumran is not

separable from the cosmic transformation that sect believed to

be underway in its world. transformation

is

In turn, and equally, that cosmic

inseparable

from

the

transformation

of

society and self toward which the self-styled elect of Qumran were directed.

lQS, the Rule of the Community, can best be

understood as a document that introduces the regulations and behavior

that

befit a

human

society aspiring

to

angelic

identity in a transformed cosmos, and the duties incumbent upon the members of such a community. 159 The

following

brief

passage,

from

the

Rule

of

the

Community, gives poetic expression in the first person to the lifestyle of devotion toward which those who joined the Qumran community directed themselves: 11~n7 ~7,71 1 ,~1TT

,7~J 11J~1 7N i1~~7 ,nl,ll 71~1 nni~ ~1nTN 01, N1~n OD 10 1U9wn 1~~ NWN ,ngw 7,7TI1 1Wi1~ 1nN 1~1~ 1 ~1D N~1n tlD1 7N n,1~~ i1N{i1} 1~N J1W ,n7J7 ,71~l 11 O,WN cn1,~~1

159

L~cht (p. 18) emphas~zea that the Rule of the commun~ty ~· not a general code of law, but presents ·~nternal regulat~ona of the sect,• and that, beyond law per ae, the document ~· concerned w~th •matter• that ahape the character of the ca.aun~ty, • aaaong them, ·r~tea, bleaa~ng• and cursea, obl~gatory bel~efa and op~~ona, and poetry that expre••e• the character~at~c rel~g~oua atandpo~nt of the aectar~an.•


141

I will sinq with knowledqe and for the qlory of God shall all my music be, the playinq of my harp accordinq to his holy order, and the flute of my lips I shall tune to its correct measure. 10 At the onset of day and niqht I shall enter the covenant of God, and when eveninq and morninq depart I shall repeat his precepts; and by their existence I shall set my limit without turninq away. (1QS, X, 9-11) The ideal of such a devoted and reqimented, not to say anqelic life, in harmonious accord with divine will, is associated by the authorship of 1QS with an ultimate destiny of richest rewards: N91n7 ~~ ,J71~ 71J n11~9, 7~n nnM ,l~7 rr11 ,.,o ~7N iD n1J1~ 71J OD D1T n1191 D,n, 111M~ D17W J111 7 11M~ 11~ n1n on il~J 7,7Jl ~J ,,IT~ o,n71D nrrnw1 D,n71D These are the foundations of the spirit of the sons of truth (in) the world. And the reward of those who walk in it will be healinq, 7 plentiful peace in a lonq life, fruitful offsprinq with all everlastinq blessinqs, eternal enjoyment with endless life, and a crown of qlory 8 with majestic raiment in eternal liqht ( 1QS, IV, 6-8) It is quite remarkable that the rewards enumerated in these lines,

althouqh culminatinq in timeless and preternatural

glory (iD beqin

nlJ1~,

with

11~

n•n ,i1JJ 7,7J,

decidedly

satisfactions

temporal,

(n119 ,c,n,

~l

earthly,

111M D1T)

60 .l

,,IT, o,n71D nrrnw), and

even

carnal

It would be wronq

l60

Licht note•, on thi• pa••age, that "the member• of the ••ct hoped for the •material• and not ju•t the ••piritual• reward• of the world to come" (p. 97). I would rather •ay that the ••ctarian• believed that the material benefit• of a well-regulated earthly life were continuou• with the preternatural reward• of angelic identity. I hope thi• chapter demon•tratea that tho•• preternatural reward• were not merely prize• to be anticipated but realitie• to be experienced imaginatively in the life of the •ect.


147

then to say that the attitude of this document is worlddenying or set in complete asceticism or denial against the ways of mundane humanity.

Rather,

completely fulfilled

life--fulfilled through strict

human

lQS suggests that the

requlation, to be sure--can be continuous with the realization of an elevated and eternal identity. With regard to the exaltation expressed in the passage above, we should take especial note of the glorious crown and qarment, which we have encountered already in biblical and apocryphal passages and will see again in rabbinic sources. Like Joshua the High Priest in the vision of Zechariah, it is by keeping God's trust and the pathways set by God below that the adept of Qumran achieves belonging and access angelic kind.

of

an

As with Joshua in Zechariah's vision, the mark

of the belonging is conceived visually in the form of garment and head-dress. Although the angelic and human constituents that make up the joint heavenly-earthly community tend toward identity at the high-points of lQS, the collapse is also markedly less than complete--just as the realization of the sect's cherished eschatology was incipient but not yet complete.

Anqelic life

remains the ideal, and human life the reality.

An awareness

of the

flesh

and the hinderance

it can pose to

angelic

identity is a perennial theme in lQS, as throughout Qumran literature. lowliness

Characteristically, reminders of physicality and often

appear

in

close

proximity

to


the

most

148

audacious self-identifications with the angels.

For example,

following the forthright declaration (in XI, 6-9) that God has elevated the earthly elect to become a united community with the sons of heaven, we read: ,nNl:JTT ,lJ(Jjg ,n1J11ll ~1ll 10~ 110~1 illlW1 OiN~ ,JN1 ,J lWlTT ,J~1il1 iln1 110~ 10 ,~~~ n11lJJ Oll { ••• } 11 1i,n1 l:J5JaJnil ~N~ ,J 1ill~ l,J, N1~ W1JN1 1J11 OiN~ 111il o1n Nl~

But I belong to evil humankind and to the society of unfaithful flesh; my failings, my iniquities, my sins, { ••• } with the depravities of my heart, 10 belong to the assembly of worms and of those who walk in darkness. For not to man belongs His path, nor does a human being steady his step, for unto God is the judgement and from His hand is the perfection of the path. (1QS, XI, 9-10) This passage cannot be a negation of what goes before, nor should it be read as an admission that the speaker does not participate in the glory he describes.

This passage of self-

abasement is followed by further segments that stress God's salvation of the speaker from stumbling and from fleshly transgressions (lines 12-15) and further lines in which the speaker asserts anew that he has been raised up to stand eternally in God's presence (lines 16-17) • 161 We should remember that these passages occur in a text of instruction, teaching, qroup.

outlining a

teaching,

and perhaps a

mode of

to be impressed upon the aspiring adepts of the

This beinq so, we should perhaps think of the first-

161

Licht write• of thi• portion of lQS, •since the poet i• certain of hi• cho•enne••, he know• that the •in• that attach to him by dint of hi• humanity will not impede him, for God will •ave him froa them. (P• 224)


141

person compositions that appear at the end of 1QS--statements of dedication,

promises of devotion synchronized with the

seasons and movements of the celestial bodies,

claims of

communal glory and exaltation, and abject acknowledgements of human failing such as the one quoted above--as meditations of indoctrination. limitations

of

We might conclude that meditation on the human

existence

contributed

an

essential

element to the sectarian effort to realize a life beyond those limitations. 1QS,

as

we

have

it,

ends

with

another

extended,

prayerful and meditative passage that both indicates a lofty possibility, seemingly realized in the life of the speaker, but also immediately emphasizes the qulf between that reality and the earthly life of a human being: i1i~::l 1Jil il:Ji::lll ::1'1 16 illli'1 nn19il .,'1N ilnN 111::1 ::l~,nil'7 DiN ,1,n::l'1 iln,~1 1WNJ il:JnnN 1::1'1 Ci1il1 1.,W1Jn il:JJ1~1 1'7::11 l1i cnn N1'1 il:J,ill'7::ln N,J ill'1 il:J.,J9'1 11 il, i1 J il '7 1 J 1 illli '7 1 J 18 iln, 1 1 i1 ilnN '7 1 J ilUllP N1 ~ '7,JWil'71 il:Jn~ll '1ll ::l,Wil'1 il:Jn'11T 1ITN 1,N1 il,il il:JJ1~1::l

'1J

1J1::lni1'71 il:J,T1 i1n1ll::l t:J,::lil'11 i1JW1ii1 n::1wnn '71J::l 19 nN '1,Ji1'7 '71J, ,n1 i1Jn111::ll 20 n1J Cll i1J,n1N~9J ~1J::l ilWN i1'1,1 21 il:JN'79 ,Wlln::l CiNi1 1::1 i1N1il ~N iln1 i1Ji1::l:J 111 in iln1 cn'1 1 1 '1::lln 191ln ilN 1 i1 1 il:J, .J g~ ::lWTP iln 1nrr ::l,Ul, iln 1ni11Uln 19ll'11 p11i1 1nrr 22 i111,~n ilN1ill 1,::1, iln n~ll~l i, 1~1,1

Blessed are you, my God, who opens 16 the heart of your servant to knowledge. Establish all his deeds in justice, and raise up the son of your handmaid, as you have desired the chosen of mankind, to stand before you 17 eternally. For without you no path is made perfect, and without your will nothing can be done. You have taught 18 all knowledge and all that exists came to be at your will. Beyond you there is no-one to oppose your counsel and to understand 19 all your holy thought, to gaze into the depth of your mysteries and to contemplate all of your wonders and the strength of 20 your might.


150

Who can endure your glory? What indeed is the son of man among your marvelous deeds? 21 As what shall one born of woman be considered in your presence? Shaped from dust has he been, maggots' food shall be his dwelling; he is spat saliva, 22 molded clay, and for dust is his longinq. What will the clay reply and the one shaped by hand? And what counsel shall he attain by understanding? (1QS, XI, 15-22 = 4Q264 I) The passage's blend of superiority and humility is typical of The opening of the speaker's heart to knowledqe

Qumran.

enables him to assume an eternal place amonq the elect men (CiM

the

,,,TT:l)

in God's ranks, 162 yet the knowledge for which

speaker gives

thanks

is

beyond

human

inaccessible to mere earthly comprehension.

understanding,

It seems probable

that this composition, with all its negativity, is intended to inculcate or cultivate a sense of transcendent status vis a

vis normal humanity, a feeling of exaltation concomitant with In its second column,

having attained esoteric knowledge.

lines 19-25, the Rule of the Community describes the community arrayed for instruction "year after year, Belial's dominion," first,

in strict order,

all the days of

the priests entering

one behind the other, "according to their spirits,"

followed by the Levites, and finally "all the people shall enter in order, one after the other in thousands, hundreds, fifties,

and

idealization,

tens." this

Though

order

of

the

high

assembly

is

numbers

suggest

consistent with

regulations elsewhere in the scrolls so that this passage 162 (n,,,rr~),

We have already noted the angelic connotation• of •cho•en one•• a• in •n,nw ,,,~ on•, •the nation of the cho•en one• of heaven,• in

lQK.


151

probably

does

assembly for

describe

an

actual

indoctrination.

procedure

of

communal

A similar regimentation

is

manifest in the section of lQS that describes the communal meals to be held by the sect.

The purpose of the strict

ordering of such ranked assemblies is explained in the lines that immediately follow: n~ll 23 '2N iTP :l 1 illDll n, :l W, N '2N1tlP W, N '2~ nDi'2 C1j7llll C 11, N 1 '2 1 1 illDll n, :lll W, N '2 1 9W, N'2 1 D,n'2 1D iOIT n:l~N1 :l1C n1JD1 nllN iiT,:l ,,~, '21J~ N,J 24 1'211l D,ll'21D i10 ,J:l1 Wi1j7 n~N:l 1~D1'2 W,N 25 i7i~ n:lWITn1

••• so that each Israelite may know his standing in God's community 23 in conformity with an eternal plan. And no-one shall move down from his rank nor move up from the place of his lot. 24 For all shall be in a Community of truth, of proper meekness, of compassionate love and upright purpose, 25 towards each other, in a holy council, associates of an everlasting society. (lQS, XX, 19-25) The regimentation of this order of assembly corresponds to the description of the eschatological assembly imagined in the Rule of the Congregation (lQSa).

That triumphal assembly was

to involve a celebratory, messianic banquet and, as Schiffman bas suggested, "the Messianic banquet has so many features in common with the communal meal of the group that one can only conclude that the function of the Qumran communal meals was to be what the Rabbis termed 'a sample of the world to come'" 163

The fact that the world-to-come of the Qumran sectarians included feasting in addition to the exalted, temple-centered reality that we have considered above, is another indication

163

Lawrence Schiffaan, •Communal Meal• at Qumran,• p. 53.


152

that humanity was to retain somethinq of its distinctive, earthly nature even as it moved toward its anqelic role in the world of the eschaton. 164 1QS

prohibits

coarse

{which

is

to

say

un-anqelic)

behavior in the military encampment of the sect, prescribinq punishments, such as those specified in 1QS, VII, lines 15-17, for "one who spits in the course of a meetinq of the Many" {line 15),

one who "takes out

'his hand'

from under his

clothes, or if these are raqs which allow his nakedness to be seen" {lines 15-16), and even for "whoever takes out his left hand to qesticulate with it" {line 17), for example.

Since

eatinq {and so, presumably, spittinq) and sexual intercourse, alonq

with

defecation,

differentiate

human

beinqs

from

celestial ones, these restrictions can be read as an effort to pass, as it were, for anqels, or to prepare for the anqelic life by concealinq and limitinq the conspicuous indicators of earthly humanity. Ritual excluded

impurity,

their

disease,

sufferers

from

and

physical

membership

in

164

disability the

ideal

J .J. Collin• note• that •The eo-called lfessianic Rule, lQSa, aeeumes that the conditione of human exietence are not greatly altered by the coming of the Keeeiaha. Proviaion muet etill be made for the education of children, and for community meal• and regulationa. One of the ta•k• of the princely Meseiah, however, wae to wage war on the ltittial, the Gentile enemiea of Ierael. Thie war ie included in the end of day• in the Peaher on Isaiah (4Qptaaa). The phrase [Pi1 1 ,,mtil) ie never applied, however, to the conditione that ensue after the eechatological war. We ehould perhape allow for eome variation in the way the motif ie ueed, but in general we may agree with Ste~del that the end of day• ie •the laet period of time directly before the time of ealvation. • ( •The Expectation of the End in the Dead Sea Scrolla,• Craig A. Evan• and Peter w. Flint, eda. Eschatology, llessiani. . and the Dead sea scrolls (Michigan: 1997) pp.

81-82.


153

community as it was imagined and experienced at Qumran. 1QSa,

the

Ru~e

of

the Congregation,

which

envisions the

sectarian assembly and banquet at the end of days, conspicuously

human

conditions

are

In

deemed

such

unacceptable

specifically because they are not appropriate in a conjoint human and angelic company. ~~~~ 11n~

M1~,

~M DiM~ 4 n1Nn0 ~1~n nrrM~ Ul1ln W,M ~1~1 inun ~, Trr~ 5 ,n~l~ ~~M~ llllln w,M ~1~1 ~~M 1M neg D,i, 6 1M D,~l1 ~M~l 11W~~ lll1Jn ~1J1 ~ill~ D,lll n1M1~ 7 11W~~ lll1ln 01n 1M D~M 1M W1IT 1M 11ll ~~M N1~, ~M 8 ~ill~ 11n~ ~Trrn~ ,n~~~ ~W1~ l~T W,N 1M Dnilll Wi1~ 9 ,~M~n N,J DW~ ,W1JM ~ill 11n~ ~~,n~~ 1~1W11il 10 Wi1~~ n~ll ~M 1li~ ~~Mn iiTM~ 1~1 W, DM1 .M1~ 11 lll1ln M,~ W,M~ M1~, N~ ~ill~ 11n ~M1 1~,9n

Any man afflicted by any of the impurities 4 of a man shall not enter the assembly of these; and any man who is afflicted by these should not s hold rank in the midst of the congregation. And any one afflicted in his skin, paralysed in his feet, or 6 in his hands, lame, blind, deaf, dumb, or defiled in his flesh with a blemish 7 visible to the eyes, or the tottering old man who cannot keep upright in the midst of the assembly. B these shall not enter to take their place among the congregation of the men of name, for the angels of holiness are in their congregation. And if one of these has something to say to the holy council, ~o they shall ask it of him but that man he shall not come into the congregation for he is afflicted. These regulations have their roots in the levitical code, of course,

in which the disabled and blemished are excluded,

along with the rituals. 165 certain

impure,

from

association with the Temple

While 1QSa does not enable us to say anything

about

the

original

concept

of

sacred

community

underlying the levitical regulations themselves, the document 165

Por a di.•cu••i.on of th••• Qumran law• in detail, see Lawrence Schi.ffman, The B•chaeo~ogical cam.uniey of ehe Dead Sea Scro~~., pp. 38-51.


154

certainly does enable us to understand how these regulations were interpreted and justified at Qumran through the concept of

a

united

human

and

angelic

assembly.

The

community

believed itself to be in one lot with the angelic host,

a

situation with which impurity, deformity, and even conspicuous humanity, were incompatible. For all

that

it contemplated,

and

even experienced,

angelic identity, the sect of Qumran conceived of itself--even in the eschaton--as a community rooted in the earth.

Qumran's

distinctive, paradoxical combination of heavenly and earthly aspirations reflects a sectarian effort to pave the way for God's rule on the earth by perfecting the human community of Israel (or, at least, its •remnant") to such an extent that it might realize itself equal as equal to the angels, able to constitute the fitting entourage and court of God's own glory.

!'be Songs of ~a Sabba~ Sacrifice !'be.se~ves

Even before entering into the question of whether and how the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice were used ritually by the sect at Qumran, we can note in their textual fra9Jilents several levels of meaning which must have emanated from the selfidentification of the sectarians with the host of heaven, and which must have contributed to that experience. that

the Songs

are

a

product

of

Qumran's

This assumes sect

and

its

particular ideoloqy--and that is the impression they make. While i t is certainly true, as Carol Newsom has written, that


155

"certain aspects of the religious problematic that appear to underlie the Sabbath Shirot were common to a wide spectrum of contemporary Judaism, " 166 nevertheless there

is a

specific

affinity between the world-view and cosmic narrative apparent in the Songs and the ideology of the undoubtedly sectarian documents at Qumran.

First of all, let me demonstrate that

affinity of world-view, which also constitutes the first level of meaning

on which

the Songs

bespeak an

identification

between the sectarians themselves and the heavenly host that the text presents. In keeping with the ideology of Qumran, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice feature a divine, predestined cosmic plan whose creatures live fates determined before their coming into being.

It is true that angelic participants in the worship of

God's heavenly sanctuary are the apparent cast of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, {MasShirShabb) ,

but 4Q402,

touch upon

the

and its Masada parallel

framing

cosmic history

in

language that reminds of those narratives that address the status of the sect itself,

such as we have seen in other

Qumran texts: "1,n1nrn1 1nuin1 iD

o,n71D n1i1Dn 71J all

that

exists,

,,~"

,,~

71J

nui

~,~J

eternally,

and

from

his

knowledge

and

{4Q402 4 12-

The description of those who take part in this scheme

sounds similarly familiar: 166

N,J

{"For from the God of knowledge came

decisions all the predestined things, forever") 13).

,~INn

"Dn1,~

,J97 Di1

1i1~J

Schiffman, 1989, p. 116.


,tmmn N,J

1545 1n~wrrnn•

("For they are of His glorious deeds, before they

even came into being [they are part] of His thought") 4

15).

The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice also tell of a

great, divine war at an appointed time (4Q402 4 7). ( 4Q402

(4Q402

("?~~

This war may be a heavenly battle

4 10) ,

o,~7N

nnn7n")

(c,~nw

nnrr7n)

but we have seen already that heavenly and

earthly battles correspond and merge in the thought of Qumran, and the "new wondrous deeds" (N79 n1w1n ,wnn) associated with the war in 4Q402 may well entail a blending of heavenly and earthly struggles.

All of this is to say that sectarian

listeners at Qumran would have recognized the oft-rehearsed story of their own community's situation in the narrative elements that frame the heavenly worship of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

Amonq the creatures of the divine plan, according to the Songs, God has established a special caste of priests, who

stand amid those who are holy and eternal, to serve the divine countenance

in

assemblies

and

councils

distinguished

by

special knowledge and also in the "temple of His kingdom." The priestly leadership of the sect can hardly have failed to recognize itself in the terms of this role-description: ]

17 1,~,1 C,W11~ ,W11~ ID ,W11~~[ 10, N,~ ~lll:l 111 :lJ 1,:11:1 c, J5J ,n1wn [ 1n1 J7n w1~n:1 :11 1~4 1,~1n n1n c,~17N[ n1n11 71J ,11o:11 nlll] 5 ,,N 71J7 ell nlll( ,1o,n 71J7 111:lJ] 6 ,u5Jwn1 rr11 ,wnn 71J7 c,~17N 111:lJ n1J,:l ,J~1~7

For He has established among the eternally holy those holy of holies to be for him priests of the inner sanctwa in the sanctuary of his kingdom-ministers of the countenance in the sanctum of His


157

glory; in the congregation of all celestials of knowledge and in the councils of all spirits of divinity He has engraved His laws for all creatures of spirit and the statutes of His glory for all founders of knowledge, a people who comprehend the glory of God. (4Q400 1, I 3-6 (=4Q401 15)) The distinctive combination, in this passage, of a celestial setting, an angelic experience of immediate proximity to the countenance of God, a

"sanctuary of God's kingdom" and a

mission to God's "nation," consequent to divine judgements, should be familiar to us from the initiatory blessing of the Rule of Benedictions (1QSb IV, 24-28).

There, the priestly

initiate is promised that he will be "as an angel of the countenance in the holy habitation"

("Wil~

lllln~

D,J9

lM~nJ")

and find himself "serving in the sanctuary of the kingdom and casting [his] lot with the angels of the countenance and the council of the community" ("CD liT,

n~Dl

(1~9wn

D,J9

~J

the many"

,JN~n")--"for

~11l

~,9nl

nlJ~n

~J,~~

n1wn

all of God's judgements are truth"

nnN N,J")--so that he may "shine upon the face of ("D,~1

,J9

,,N~~").

This notion, in the Songs of

the Sabbath Sacrifice, of a priestly appointment spanning the gulf between heaven and earth, and the terms used to define the role,

must have been immediately recognizable to the

priestly initiates of Qumran as descriptive of themselves. The holiness of these "priests of the inner sanctum, " 167 follows from their adherence to laws prescribed for them by

167 Perhaps ~,1~ ,lnJ would be better translated •approaching priests,• in the sense of •priests who draw near.•


158

God: "ID

1

WI1~

~1J

1WI~n,

engraved for them holy

0~

1n~

laws,

n1rr

0 1 WI1~

1

~1IT1"

("He has

by which all the eternally

sanctified are to make themselves holy") (4Q400 1 I 15); there is no impure person amid their sancta

("0~ 1 WI1~~ ~nc

1

1

~");

and God has "purified these pure ones of light" so that they might deal with those "depraved of path" and "atone" "appease God's will") for those who "return from sin" 1

DW9

~W ID~ 1J1~1

1 I 16).

119J 1 1 111

1

1DJ

~1J

1

71nl7 11N

(or

("1~0 1 1

11~0")

(4Q400

These holy priests are described as "distinguished

in the camps of the celestials," but also "awesome in the assemblies of humankind" ("0 1 N11J1 C 1 WJN

1

IC1n7")

C 1 ~17N

(4Q400 2 2 = 4Q401 14 I

1

JITn

71J~ C 1 1~JJ

8).

~n~

One of their

functions is to tell of, and thus mediate, the splendor of God's sovereignty, according to their knowledge 1n1J7n cnD1J")

(4Q400 2 3); and,

in addition,

they "announce hidden things" ("n11nCJ 7) the

•

1D 1 nW~")

( 11 11~

11901

it seems 168 , (4Q401 14 II

All of this sounds very much like the role with which initiate

to

the

priestly

leadership

is

charged

in

4Qinstruction, as well as in 1QSb, and is also consonant with the priestly self-conception evident in the Self-Glorification Hymn and in the Bodayot.

Perhaps it is precisely in terms of

such priestly mediation of divine realities that we should understand the reference in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice to "a nation that comprehends the Glory of God" C 1 ~7N).

168

(11~J n1J

1

~

CD

Those called to serve in the interior temple-court

The text at thia point ia very fragmentary.


159

both experience the divine countenance and represent God's qlory to those who stand at a somewhat qreater remove.

That

seems to have been the role of the priestly leadership of Qumran.

Consequently, when we read--fast on the heels of the

description of the mediatinq, holy priests, just quoted--the self-abasinq phrases, c,~M nDi~

1l19D

amonq them,

11W~

"~n

••• c~,lllln~

~n

llnll~Jl

c~ ~wnnl

~n

nn11n" {"As what are we to be reckoned

and what is our priesthood in their dwellinq

places ••• what is the offerinq of our earthly tonque amid the knowledqe of celestials?")

(4Q400 2 6-7), we would be quite

wronq to conclude that the authorship and the audience of the

Songs intended by these words to distance and separate itself and its leaders from the heavenly sanctum and its anqels of the countenance. 169 aqain

that

just

On the contrary, we have seen aqain and such

self-abasement

is

the

perennial

accompaniment of self-aqqrandizement at Qumran, the reverse side of the coin, as it were--and a coin can be recoqnized by its

reverse

side.

In

fact

we

are

ready

to

conclude,

qenerally, that laments of the "what am I" and "what are we" varieties at Qumran should always be read with the proqression of verses 5 and 6 of the biblical Psalm 8 very much in mind. There the rhetorical question, ",J CiM 1~i~9n"

169

1~1

1~1JTn

,J WllM

~n

{"What is man that You should remember him, and the

Nitzan doe• draw thi• conclu•ion, a• I have mentioned.


human beinq that you should recall him?" 170 )

is

immediately by the statement,

nun

1~1cun"

"1i~1

i1~~1

c,~7Nn

followed 1~1cnn1

("But You have made him little less than a qod, and

You have crowned him in qlory and splendor.")

To follow that

paradiqm, the human "offerinq of the tonque"

(1 1W7

nn11n)

modestly played down in 4Q400, should actually be thouqht of as a desired, even essential contribution to the praises of the celestial host. 171 Thus far we have seen that the sect at Qumran must have identified with the celestial population of the Songs of the

Sabbath Sacrifice both in terms of a shared cosmic narrative, and in terms of a paradiqm of priestly leadership and priestly mediation of divine qlory and knowledqe.

Fletcher-Louis' work

has correlated the titles and sobriquets of the songs with the lanquaqe used to describe the sect itself.

Fletcher-Louis'

project is focussed upon the culmination of the Songs in what he deems an implied qlorification of the elect priesthood as an embodiment of the divine qlory of the heavenly temple.

On

the way to this culmination, Fletcher-Louis also identifies desiqnations of qroups, assemblies, and divisions named in the

Songs which miqht equally be used of the assembled members of

170

or •appoint CCIIIIIliaaioning.

h~·--an ~rtant

reading in this context of priestly

171 we should also no~• that in the eighth Song--set in the innermost heavenly sanctum (whether we choose Newsom's •pyramidal• or Morray-Jones' and Fletcher-Louis' •proqreaaive• readinq)--the offering of the chief angelic priest of the inner sanctum (.:l,,il Fll:Jl'l wn•) ia described by the same words a• •rmnn lllli~·, an offering of the tongue.


1&1

the Qumran sect. the Songs of

By dint of that characteristic terminology,

the

Sabbath

would have spoken to

Sacrifice

members of the Qumran sect beyond the priestly leadership, and probably would have fostered an identification with certain ranks of anqels for such lay-sectarians (so to speak) as well. In

several

sevenfold,

of

the

wondrous

principle

Songs,

(M~9

blessinqs

variously desiqnated communal qroups.

fiqures

,1~1

extend

D~W~---11~1)

to

The sobriquets of these

blessed assemblies would have been recognizable to sectarian listeners, including non-priests, as designations that applied to the sect itself in general. (~1~

destined for justice" straight" (1W1, (1J1~1

,,~nJ

,~~1~

~1~),

~1~),

The appellations, "all those

,iD1J

~1~),

"all those who walk

"all those who burry to His will"

"all those pure of path" (111 ,n,nn

"all those valiant of knowledge" those who hope in Him"

(1~

,~1rr

(7~Ul

71~),

,11~l

~1~),

~1~),

and "all

must have evoked the

self-recognition of sectarian listeners of whatever rank and standing, so that the more wondrous and exalted desiqnations interspersed with these--for example, pure"

(c,n~1ll

(C,~11~

,7,M

,,1~\'l

71~),

~1~),

"all

"all those eternally

"all those innermost celestials" those

holy

foundation of knowledge" (nDi ,,o,nn

ones

c,w11~

who praise the sovereiqnty of his glory" 111~~),

who

71~),

(n1~~n

"all those eternally blessed" (c,n71D

form

the

"all those ,7~i1n

~1~

,~11~ ~1~),

and

the fragmented "all those who know the mysteries of ••• •

(71~

••• ,T1 ,Di1,), would probably have been apprehended by these


112

same sectarian listeners as exaltations of themselves,

as

aqqrandizements of their own elect status. Assemblies called by similar names are charqed to offer praises in the Songs oL the Sabbath Sacrifices.

The beqinninq

of the sonq of the Seventh Sabbath (in 4Q403 and parallels) presents the most intact and extensive of the survivinq calls to worship in the sequence, includinq the following passaqe, which is representative: 11W~~ 111~~ 11~1 M~9 ,~1~M~ 1J11(~ 1nlli] ,JJ1n 1JJ1 [M1~ N,~ 1~1 ,11~ ~1~ ,9~ 37 1M~9 n1J1 nn1 ,l1~ ~1J ,rr11 ~1J~ 1n11~1~ U91Wl in {nni} ,JJ1n ~J~ c,~1~M 111, lil~~~ M,J i1~~ 1(~]n~ i1~ ,~M ~~ 1il~ 38 1,~ 1nnM~

111,

~~~

n1rr11

~lJl

nn1

,~,M

~J

Sing with joy, you who sing joyously of His knowledqe, with joyous song of the God of wonder, and proclaim His qlory in the tongue of all those who proclaim the joyous knowledqe of His wonder 37 by the mouth of all those who proclaim Him, for he is God of all those who sing joyously of eternal knowledge and judqes in His miqht all spirits of understanding. 38 Give thanks, all celestials of splendor, to the King of splendor for to His glory all celestials of knowledge give thanks and all spirits of justice qive thanks for His truth. (4Q403 1 I 36-38) Sectarian

listeners

can

hardly

have

failed

to

recoqnize

themselves in at least some of the titles of the praise-qivers called in this liturqy; and those praise-qivers are decidedly angelic in character, and the setting in which they are evoked is certainly the divine throne-room--and this settinq becomes more and more wondrous as the liturqy progresses.

After

another call to praise in lines 38-41, the text begins to revert from imperative to descriptive tone and, at the same time, focus on the praise-qivers themselves seem to qive way


1&3

or merge into attention to the architectural details of the heavenly environment: Nwn ,i1nD C,Wi1~ W(i1~ ,i10], ~13 1~~~, ~~N~ c,~]1~N 42 (11]nr 1n,J~n n1J,9 ~131 c,n11 011 1~10 {1T} D,~1 iiT, N[wn]~ (11N1 nDi ,IT11 ~13] IT13 (D,]~~N ,IT11 1(~1IT~W143 ] 1Wi1~ Wi~n~ 0,11~0 [1n1111~ ~13 c,n11n w11 D,~1 c,n~1(D ,n~1n n1i]1~~ (W]i1~ ,rr111 1n,]J~n 1n,[J~n1 44 ~(1]3 1n11,~1 45 ~Dnn C,n~[1D Wi]1~ ,IT(11] D,,rr D,~~N C,Wi1~ ~1~T~

N11(J

,wun

i1~(3~

n1rr11

N~91 1i~1 i1~ N~9J N~9 D,~1~ C,W]1i~ ~13[n] N~9 ,Wi~n ~13~ ••• ] [ 46nD]i Dn111N 11N~ [1n11,~ ]~(13 ~i~1 nnN 1~n 11un~ ~~,~o c,~1~M

With these [words?] all those (who form] the foundation of the holy of holies give praise, supporting columns of the dwelling of the highest heights and all the corners of His structure. Sing 42 to God awesome in strength all spirits of knowledge and light, to bear together the firmament, most pure of all purities, for the sanctuary of His holiness, 43 and give praise to Him, divine spirits, to acknowledge eternally the firmament, highest of all heights, all its beams and its walls, all 44 its structure, the work of its form, spirits of the holy of holies of the living God, spirits of eternal holiness, above 45 all holy ones, in the firmament of wondrous wonder, splendor and majesty, and wonder of the glory, in the light of their light, knowledge ••• 46 ••• in all the sanctuaries of wonder, divine spirits round about the dwelling place of the King of truth and justice. All its walls ••• (4Q403 1, I 41-46 = 4Q405 frags. 4, 5, 69, 58, 57, 9-15) The firmament above the heads of the creatures of Ezekiel's vision seems to be at issue here, and the Ezekelian impression of

the

heavenly

temple

as

the

seat

of

God's

glory

is

strengthened in the next column of 4Q403 (and its parallels in 4Q405

and 11Q17),

by the repeated

instances

holies" (lines 6-7) and "inner sanctum"

(1,~i),

of "holy of and by rushing

celestials with the appearance of coals of fire (II line 6), and "their cherubim and ofanim" (line 15).

The Songs oL the


114

Sabbath

Sacrifice

seea

to

be

geared

toward

allowing

experiential access to that Ezekelian, celestial reality. Even so,

rather than simply impose the paradigm of

apocalyptic translation, such as Enoch's, or the program of later merkabab-speculation and hekablot-ascent, upon the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, it makes sense instead to propose a

function for the Songs at Qumran that is consonant with the ideoloqy of the sect and takes into account what we have seen of its world-view. It is less appropriate to speak of Qumran as a gateway to the heavens for its sectarians than it is to say that those sectarians experienced their enclave as a bastion or outpost of the angelic realm upon the earth--a beachhead, as it were, for the eschatological invasion of a heavenly reality into the world of humankind.

Focussed as the Songs of the Sabbath

Sacrifice are upon the heavens, we still must recoqnize that

the sect of Qumran was not preparing communally to forsake the earth for the celestial sanctum.

Instead, the sect was

mustering forces to participate triumphantly in the forcible imposition of God's heavenly temple and its service upon the earth. Correspondingly, we may propose the role of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice in the sect of Qumran to be as follows:

A caste of priests, regarded by their followers as already participating in an angelic reality, and probably cultivating that experience for themselves, extends to those followers the


1&5

possibility of experiencinq anqelic identity as well.

Throuqh

charismatic example combined with aqqrandizinq exhortations and imperatives, the priestly leadership encouraqes amonq its followinq

a

transformed

self-understandinq.

The

self-

experience thus induced is understood as confirminq, and even contributinq

to

earthly world

an

into

eschatoloqical the

transformation

abode of God.

of

the

Throuqh rich and

captivatinq descriptions of the celestial world, alternatinq with imperatives addressed in suqqestive and allurinq terms, the exalted priesthood qives its sect to understand that its earthly home is ontoloqically continuous with the abode of the anqels.

Thus, in its own imaqininq, when the sect ultimately

charqes forth from Qumran to purify Jerusalem it will be from no mere earthly outpost, but from the heavens themselves. The scheme just set forth is consonant with the planninq and imaqininq, at Qumran,

of an epic final battle between

darkness and liqht for sovereiqnty in Jerusalem.

It is in

accord with the emphasis at Qumran on the practices and rightful custodianship of the temple in Jerusalem.

It is in

keepinq with the manifest effort at Qumran to manaqe the realities of embodied human existence so that the concerns of anqelic

life--purity,

service,

reqimented

behavior,

and

militancy on behalf of God--would supersede the concerns of earthly flesh. Qumran of

This scheme makes sense of the project at

orqanizinq human society in such a

actualize an eschatological reality in the earth.


way as

to

Experience

1,, of the heavens and angelic self-experience were not ends unto themselves at Qumran but subserved a plan for transforming the world and, in particular, the temple in Jerusalem. The Songs of tbe Sabbath Sacrifice cannot be separated from the Qumran sect's triumphal narrative of the cosmos, nor from the hierarchical structure of its society,

organized

around its alienated and aspiring temple-priests.

How much

any

sectarian

individual,

at

any

level

of

the

sect's

hierarchy, truly experienced his angelic identity as real and actualized must remain a matter of conjecture.

Still, the

idea of such real and actual experience seems to have been the basis of religious life at Qumran, and every indication points to experience and praxis, not to doctrine alone.

T h e

alternations of descriptive and imperative tone in the songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and elsewhere in the literature of

Qumran, are intended to bring about the general experience of an

angelic

reality and

angelic

identity;

but the

actual

experiences induced by such texts in individual members of the sect must have been a matter of degrees, however continuous each level of experience might have been with the next.

At

the very least the sectarians addressed in these texts must be have been sanctum.

expected to

imagine

and

envision the

heavenly

They seem also to have been invited to think of

themselves as belonging to that setting.

The leaders of the

sect

of

were

essential,

certainly

induced

to

think

themselves

as

constituent members of God's angelic elect and


1S7

guides of God's people on earth.

The leadership of the sect

was encouraged to think of itself as bridging the heavens and the earth, and the sect at large was encouraged to regard its leadership in that way. If there was a communal lection of the Songs of the Sabbath

Sacrifice

at

Qumran--which

seems

likely--the

participants and listeners of the lection would have had various responses, described.

along the continuum of experience just

These experiences would have been determined to a

large degree by the roles and stations of the participants and listeners within the sectarian community.

We may speculate

that a lowly member of the sect might have recognized some point in the text past which he could, or should no longer identify with the ever-loftier celestials evoked, but such a person would probably also have assumed that his superiors, and perhaps the leader of the liturgy in particular, realized angelic

identity

more

exalted

than

his

own.

(The

preponderance of description in the text may testify to the importance of imaginal spectatorship in the experience of the many.)

In fact,

faith in the superiority of the realized

identities of his leaders would probably have been an integral ingredient

of

a

lowly

sectarian's

own

experience

of

angelification. In conclusion, the experience targeted by the angelifying texts of Qumran was one of experienced, antic transformation. That is, the desired result was a deeply felt change of self-


168

conception, predestined,

entailing the

perception

divinely determined,

that of the angels in heaven.

in

one's

self of

a

identity continuous with

In this sense, liturgies like

the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice would have enabled a communal experience of mysticism. 172 Even if the person at the pinnacle of a lection of the Songs,

the issuer of the calls to worship and the dramatic

purveyor of the images and sobriquets of the divine throneroom--presumably the self-glorifying, priestly leader of 4Q427 and 4Q49lc--even if the holder of that high and essential office were a fraud, so to speak, and experienced nothing like a

mystical

still

he

would

provided to those below him ample fodder

for

a

experience.

transformation

himself,

have

mystical

The compelling lection of such a text in a well-

prepared sectarian assembly would have given participants ample opportunity to experience themselves as angels and to glimpse the world as it would be when they were.

That very

experience, or the promise of it, and scarcely anything less, may have been exactly compelling enough to justify a decision of forsaking city-life to follow a band of would-be priests and live an existence of exile and enmity in Wadi Qumran, on the shore of the Dead Sea.

172 Moreover, the apparent leader'• claial of a throne in the heaven• (in 4Q49lc) lend• further weight to the •ugge•tion that the ultimate my•tical experience of •becoming divine or angelic, • a• •et forth by Wolf•on in collftection with the Shirot and with hekha~oe literature, wa• realized at lea•t in the upper echelon of Qumran.


11t

Chapter Two

TIIB UGBLXC LBGACY OJ' ADAII

Zarae1 aa an Angelic Lineage iD Paeudepigrapba outaide QUaran

InUoduation The library of Qumran, as we have seen, provides dramatic evidence of efforts toward the experience of angelic identity. The intensity and pervasiveness of angelic fascination in the sources of Qumran is intelligible in terms of that locale's having been the home of a single religious movement (evolving, to be sure, but relatively circumscribed through the period of its existence) for whom an idea of Israel's affinity with the angels apparently was a foundational and sustaining raison d'etre. On the other hand, the texts of Qumran are far from alone in representing ideas and motifs that can be grouped under the heading of •angelic Israel."

For one thing, there can be

little doubt that the idea of Israel as angelic came to Qumran from without, from a larger Jewish world that was preoccupied with the theme. 173

Jubilees, and the Similitudes of 1Enoch,

Jame• a. Charle8WOrth, in •The Portrayal of the Righteous as an Angel, • pp. 135-151, defend• the a••ertion that the theme of angelic humanity i• •certainly a Jewish concept that antedate• the second century C.E. and may predate the fall of Jerusal. . ~ 10.• (P• 135). I would argue, on the basis of Qumran's evidence and of evidence in this chapter, that the concept wa• 173


170

which originated outside of Qumran, are witnessed among the Dead Sea Scrolls as well, and probably informed and inspired the formation and early development of the Qumran sect. 174 As well,

fraqments of the songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,

likely indigenous to Qumran, have been found at Masada, which hints at broader contemporary interest in Qumran's traditions and

practices,

history. 175

at

least

toward

the

end

of

the

sect's

What is more, among those of the so-called "Old

Testament Pseudepiqrapha" 176 that are dated to the last two centuries in which the Jerusalem Temple stood and to about the first

four

affinity

centuries

and

after

convergence

its

between

destruction, Israel

and

notions the

of

angels

widespread safely before the second century C.E. and also before Jerusalem's fall. Thia ia also the view of w. P. Smelik, who, in his article, •on Mystical Transformation of the Righteous into Light in Judaism,• remarks upon what he terms a •remarkable boom of angelology in the last prechristian centuries,• and document• with a number of citation• his assertion that •the association of the righteoua with angela, star• and light became well attested and widespread.• (p. 125)

o.s. Wintermute, in O'rP, vol.2, pp.43-44, notes that •moat scholars are convinced that there ia an explicit reference to Jubilee• [in the Damascua Rule) (CD 16.2-4). Be also notea, •The majority of scholars who have atudied the relationahip between Jubil-• and the doctrines of the sect at Qumran have noted a strong kinship. • On the other hand, •Jubil-• doea not reflect any significant break with the larger national body whereaa the ~an aect baa broken with the eatablishment and ita prieathood, which it judge• apostate.• 174

175 It bears recalling once more that the ao-called Damaacua covenant (the Rule oL the congregation) made ita way into the cairo Genizah, a fact that ahould inspire some humility in apeculationa concerning the geographical and chronological range of intereat in ~an·• ideas. 176

Por a general diacuaaion and definition of thia textual field, see Charleaworth•a introduction to 'rhe Old 'reat. . .nt Pseudepigrapha (Hereinafter, O'rP), vol. 1, pp. xxi-xxxiv, in particular xxiv-xxv.


171

abound. 177

'Angelic

Jewish texts,

Israel'

is

a

preeminent

theme

among

(and in Jewish elements of other texts 178 ) that

represent Jewish religious thought in the period immediately before and during the rise of rabbinism. The persistence of the theme of angelic humanity outside Judaism is attested by the preservation (and adaptation) of so many

of

the

relevant

texts

in

the

Eastern

and

African

churches, in whose lanquages many of these documents come to us.

on the other hand, relatively little has been said to

date of the theme's persistence in rabbinic Judaism. qreat

flourishing

of

angelic

fascination

and

The

heavenly

speculation that characterizes the textual record of Judaism following the Maccabean revolt

is such an explosion and,

apparently, so sweeping a wave through pre-rabbinic Judaism, that the question of where this phenomenon went--how it was absorbed, harnessed, diffused, or contained in the classical rabbinic tradition--should be far more obvious and pressing

I. Gruenwald, in Apoca~yptic and lferlcabah lfysticiSIII, (Leiden: 1980) p. 47, notea that, before Jewiah apocalyptical literature'& "disappearance" (which he aaya waa complete within thirty or forty yeara after the Temple • a destruction-a concluaion open to doubt), the genre "underwent a noteworthy change. Ita natural intereat in the world of the divine Merkavah gained more power and aignificance. Thua one can find in the apocalyptic texta which were written under the tragic impreaaion of the deatruction of Jerusalem a marked interest in theoaophical aubjecta." 177

178

Moat of the texta to be examined in thia chapter come to ua through varioua Baatern and A£rican churchea. Aa well, the Gnoatic Apoca~ypae of Ad. . the Chriatian ~eae. . .ne of Ad. ., Apoca~ypae of Baruch, ~eaeamene of Iaaac and lfartyrdo• and Aacenaion of Iaaiah, are all booka that in their preaent atate tran~t Chriatian meaaagea but, aa we ahall diacuaa, are thought to include earlier Jewiah tradition&. We ahall alao aee an Apocalypse of Seehel, apparently of Jewiah origin, that ia preaerved in the COlogne Mani Codex.


172

than it has been amonq scholars of rabbinic reliqion.

Of

course it is necessary, first of all, to explore the phenomena in question before turninq to their traces in the classical rabbinic canon. As to qeneric characteristics of the texts at hand: a qreat many of the relevant pseudepiqraphic books are of a quided-tour variety, in which particular human protaqonists and

narrators

are

emissaries. 179

taken up

into

the

heavens

by

anqelic

The frequency of this theme itself bespeaks

wide acceptance of the notion that human beinqs miqht enjoy anqel-like experiences.

Further, in many of those same texts,

and in others, patriarchs and prophets of the Israelite line {and at least two matriarchs) are presented as partakinq in somethinq

like

anqelic

identity.

In

particular,

the

prominence of an anqel-like conception of Adam amonq these texts points toward an understandinq of mankind as oriqinally anqelic.

Finally, almost all of the texts included by these

descriptions

also

involve

visions

and

promises

of

the

riqhteous elect enjoyinq anqel-like identity after death or in a time-to-come. The anqelic themes in the various pseudepiqraphic works have of course been recoqnized and commented upon before, not least by the principal editors and translators of the various works, the true pioneers in this textual field.

The work here

179 The•• include lBnoch, 2Bnoch, Apocalyp•• of Zephaniah, 4Ezra, Vi•ion• of Ezra, Apocalyp•e of Sederach, Apocalyp•• of Abraham, Te•tament of Levi, Te•tament of Abraham, Te•tament of I•aac, A•c•n•ion of I•aiah.


173

has been facilitated especially by the succinct and well cross-referenced introductions to many of these sources in Charlesworth's

two

Charlesworth's

article of Angel." 180

Righteous

as

an

included

in

that

one

volumes.

study,

1980

on

With

must

also

single

"The Portrayal regard

Charlesworth

to

the

writes,

of

out the

sources "almost

all ••• present the ideal figure as really a human with angelic qualities or even angelic status. " 181

While agreeing with

Charlesworth's caution that "the diverse traditions should not be forced into a coherent system," 182 this chapter will argue that many of these traditions are most comprehensible in terms of a common underpinning narrative motif.

These texts also

reflect what we may rightly call a Zeitgeist characterized by a

propensity and a

angelic lines.

readiness to conceive of rsrael along

This study is in agreement with, and should

affirm Charlesworth's conclusion that, in these sources, "We are confronted with evidence of the impressive elasticity of the Jewish perspective of man and the importance of man in the cosmos. " 183

More recently, crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis has

written an extensive and abundantly annotated

chapter on

"Jewish angelomorphic traditions," examining, as he puts it, "the extent and form of Jewish textual evidence for the view 180

s-

181

Charle•worth, 1980, P• 135.

182


183


the fir•t note of

th~•

chapter, above.


174

that humanity or particular human beings can be angelic in identity or status. " 184 The endeavor here, however, must be more than a mere stroll

through

Fletcher-Louis'

very

pertinent

study

and

through the indispensable work of Charlesworth and of other scholars.

For

one thing,

this

chapter's

survey

of

the

pseudepigrapha enables us further to define exactly what we are seeking in the rabbinic sources.

To specify:

we are

looking for conceptions of the Israelite line as actually sharing in the nature of the angels.

in a particular ontology of Israel,

This study is interested in texts that portray

living Israelites as angelic in essence.

Eschatology,

as

Fletcher-Louis observes, often "recapitulates protology. 11185 That is, descriptions of the righteous enjoying angelic life after death

and at the

end of days

often correspond to

ascriptions of angelic nature to Israel's progenitors, and especially

to

the

first

human

beings

before

their

transgression. On the other hand, one cannot necessarily infer ontology or anthropology from teleology.

The promise of angelic life

on the other side of a great personal or cosmic transformation is qualitatively different from the suggestion that one might

184

I must acknowledge as well that in Fletcher-Louis' chapter I encountered a number of relevant sources--especially Christian ones and texts beyond the scope of Charlesworth's two volumes--that had not previously figured in my own thinking. 185

Fletcher-Louis, 1997, pp. 138-139.


175

come to realize inherent angelic nature in the here-and-now, during earthly life.

Correspondingly, we are here interested

in eschatological and post-mortem angelification only where these

themes

clearly contribute

to

the

trope of

angelic

identity realizable within the present life.

Paradmcical. llotiL, Paradorical. Narrative

The

very

idea

of

"angelic

humanity"

would

seem

an

oxymoron, mankind being famously and apparently a creature of the earth. epicenter

So it is perhaps best to begin this survey at the of

the

paradox,

incarnate human being. 186

with

the earthly

body of

the

The book of Jubilees includes the

following elaboration on the law of circumcision within its narrative of Abraham and Sarah: This law (of circumcision] is for all the generations, and there is no circumc1s1ng of days 187 and there is no passing beyond eight days because it is an eternal ordinance and written in the heavenly tablets. And anyone who is born whose own flesh is not circumcised on the eighth day is not from the sons of the covenant which the Lord made for Abraham since (he is) from the children of destruction. And there is therefore no sign upon him so that he might belong to the Lord because (he is destined) to be destroyed and annihilated from the earth and to be uprooted from the earth because he has broken the covenant of the Lord our God. Because the nature of all the angels-of-the186

Charleaworth, in hia 1980 atudy, collecting Jewiah heroea repreaented aa angela, notea, •a1moat all paaaagea [included) present the ideal figure a• really a human with angelic qualitiea or even angelic atatua." (p. 135) 1

~

i.e. ahortaning the period before circumciaion; cf.

o. s. Wintermute,

OTP, vol. 2, p.87, note b.


17, presence and of tbe ange~s-of- sanctifica-tion •as tbus Lro• tbe day of 'their crea'tion. ADd in 'tile presence of tbe ange~s-of-tbe-presence and tbe ange~s-of-sanctifica'tion be sanctified Israe~ so tba't 'they mgb't be vitb b1. and lf'itb his ho~y ange~s.

(Jubilees 15:27) As

a

sign

of

angelic

nature

inscribed

in

the

flesh,

circumcision perhaps best represents the paradox of angelic identity realized through earthly

life.

Circumcision

is

conceived here as a ritual of angelification--or, at the very least, of angelomorphism.

It is a covenantal act that brings

the human body into conformity with an angelic paradigm.

The

rite distinquishes the faithful line of Israel from other factions round about and allows Israel access to the company of the angels and of the divine.

o. s.

noted, has commented that Jubilees,

Wintermute, as we have in contrast with other

texts found at Qumran, "does not reflect any significant break with the larger national body." 188

Still, the eschatological

polemic here against non-circumcision certainly is an internal harangue, defining an elite or true Israel, as much as it is a statement of distinction from other nations. 189

188

To borrow

O'l'P, vol. 2, p.44.

189

Jubileea 16:33-34 makea the internal harangue explicit, predicting that "the aona of Iarael will deny thia ordinance, • making themaelvea "like the gentiles, • and incurring •great wrath from the Lord. • Notably, theae noncircumciaera are termed •the aona of Belial.• Fletcher-Louia (1997, p. 126) writea, "The book of Jubilee• ia a thoroughly Jewiah apocalypae with an early second century B.c. origin. There are atrong connection• with later Eaaeniam ••• However, the exiatence of manuacripta out aide Qumran indicatea Jubilee• ia representative of wider ideaa, c01111110n to Jewiah groupa wishing to define themaelvea over againat the threat of Hellenization. • Later in hia atudy, Fletcher-Louia obaervea generally of the Second Temple period, "Whilat the demarcation of the nation over againat paganism waa widely atrenqthened, ao too many Jewa inveated their energy in demarcating themaelvea aa truly faithful Jewa


177

Wintermute's idiom in a "national

body"

circumcision,

of

literal sense,

Israel

is

according to this

the characteristic

angel-like text,

by

dint

of

and the covenantal

conformity of the body is seen as a passport to community with God's holy angels. 190 An internal harangue is suggested in particular by the

statement that those who are uncircumcised have "broken the covenant of the Lord our God" (15:26) • 191

However, elsewhere

in the book, the camp to be "destroyed and annihilated from the earth and to be uprooted from the earth," is the camp of idolatry. 192

Admittedly the idolatrous camp might include

apostate Israelites as well, but such can hardly be the sole

over against their racial siblings,• and he goes on to say, "such groups could express their separation and sense of privilege in angelomorphic terms." (1997, p. 184) Albert I. Baumqarten, in The Flourishing of Jewish Seces, writes of the period following the Maccabean revolt: "With the old national per~ter facing a new sort of danger, as a result of an outcome of which Jews might have only dared dream, but possessed of a cultural bias in favor of a situation in which they found themselves protected from the outside world by a perimeter, sects flourished which established new voluntary boundaries of their own against other Jews." (p. 88)

° Circumcision, according to Jubilees 16:31-32 corresponds to a divine choice to reign over Israel with out intermediation, in contradistinction to other nations, who are governed by •spirits" who "lead them astray.• Israel is delineated in this passage in particular over and against "Ishmael and his sons and brothers and Baau." 19

191 The reference might be to compliance with an anti-circumcision edict, however a theme of censuring voluntary, hellenizing tendencies in Jubilees is evidenced by the dictate, in connection with Adam's covering of his nakedness: "Therefore it ia C(llllllAnded in the heavenly tablets to all who know the judgement of the Law that they should cover their shame and they should not be uncovered aa the gentiles are uncovered" (3:31). 192

In Jubilees 22:22: "As for those who worship idols and for the hated ones, there is no hope in the land of the living; because they will go down to Sheol. And in the place of judgement they will wal.k and they wil.l have no memory upon the earth, ao all of those who worship idols shall be taken away."


178

subjects of the prediction; surely the nations who do not accept Israel's God are also meant. Much as we have seen throughout the literature of Qumran, Jubilees casts the faithfully covenanted Israelite line over and against a camp of evil and error to be vanquished utterly in the eschaton.

Israel is excluded from the faction of evil,

as we have just seen, by dint of its inclusion in one camp with God's holy angels. the

angels

through

an

The nation realizes its affinity with adherence

to

God's

laws

that

is

expressed in earthly life, and even through the flesh. On

the

other

hand,

Jubilees,

like

many

of

the

pseudepigrapha that we shall examine in this chapter, gives evil in the world of humankind a decidedly angelic point of origin.

At issue is the theme of the celestials who were

drawn to the daughters of mankind, procreated with them, and thereby caused all flesh to corrupt its way, and injustice to increase in the earth (Jubilees 5:1-2).

In comparison with

other pseudepigrapha that we shall see, Jubilees is perhaps somewhat oblique with regard to this theme, but it too gives the impression that the conflict of good and evil in the earthly world is actually a tendencies. identity

with

An

Israelite

the

angels

struggle of opposite angelic inclination

in

heaven

to is

strive opposed


toward by

the

179

corruptinq tendency of a certain anqelic faction to forsake heaven and propaqate rebellion in the earth. 193 such a briefly formulated synopsis of the theme is, of course,

somethinq of a simplification; the pseudepiqraphic

narratives tell not one but several stories. course

of

this

chapter

we

shall

see

Still, in the

that

quite

a

few

pseudepiqrapha seem to be, in part, variations on this common narrative that casts--to simplify aqain--the faction of the fallen anqels aqainst the faction of the fallen but oriqinally anqelic Adam.

Whereas the faction of the fallen anqels is

doomed to ultimate

failure and destruction,

the

covenant

between God and the Israelite line enables the elect amonq Adam's descendants to retain or reqain somethinq of Adam's oriqinal

anqelic

nature

and

thereby,

eventually,

to

triumph. 194 Another early pseudepiqraphon (apparently also brouqht to Qumran), 1Enoch, presents a much more poiqnant and dramatic

193

It ia in thia aenae, preawaably, that Jubilee• include• noncircumciaing Jewa among the •aona of Beliar• in 16: 33. Jubileea initially aeema to aee the corrupt influence of the fallen angela aa extinguished through the divine decree of death (5:8), the violence through which the deacendanta of the illicit uniona are •wiped out from the earth• (5:9), the decree of a •new righteouaneaa• (5:12), and the flood (5:20-32). However, aoon after the flood, Noah obaervea of hia aon•, • I • - in your deeda before me that you have not been onea who walked in righteouaneaa becauae you have begun to walk in the patha of corruption ••• Por I • - · and behold, the demona have begun to mi•lead you and your children.• (7:26-27). The aetting of Noah'• remark in a aummary of the flood-narrative give• the imprea•ion that Noah'a aona have allowed the iniquity reaulting from what he calla here the •fornication of the watchera• (7:21) to •lip through even the draatic purge of the deluge. The flood might thua aeem a tragically futile epiaode, except that, along with God' a aubaequent covenant with Noah (which anticipate• the blood-covenant with Iarael according to 6:10-12), the cataatrophe doea level the playing field aomewhat, ao to apeak. 194

Por thia narrative line, cf. llnoch 15:8,11-12; 19:1; 10:21-22; 69:111; and 86-87 (where the narrative ia told in the form of an animal-apocalypae).


180

expression

of

this

affinity with the

same

counterintuitive

faithful

angels

theme:

in heaven set

angelically originated evil in the earth. particularly

clear

in

the

a

framing

human

against

The theme is

narrative

of

Enoch's

intercession on behalf of the fallen angelic "Watchers." This purpose of Enoch's heavenly journey reverses expected roles entirely:

one might well expect pleas for heavenly angels to

intercede on behalf of a humanity responsible for sin in the wake of Adam's transgression. 195

Instead, while Adam's sin

cannot not entirely be denied, the origin of evil in the world is placed squarely in the story of the rebellious celestial Watchers and their leader Azazel (first told in chapters 68) • 196

of

Contrary to what one might expect, the commingling

these

angels

introduction

into

with the

human earth

women, of

and

the

heavenly

concomitant

"secrets"

is

responsible for a distancing of human beings from their own intended angelic status.

This counterintuitive phenomenon is

most explicitly (and perhaps most paradoxically) indicated in lEnoch in connection with an angel called Pinem'e,

listed

195 Indeed, this ia exactly the normative assumption with which God upbraids the Watchers in 1Enoch 15, •tt ia meet that you [Watchers] intercede on behalf of man, and not man on your behalf.• 196 This account of the origin of iniquity ia recapitulated also in lEnoch 64:2: •These are the angela who descended upon the earth and revealed what was hidden to the children of the people, and led the children of the people astray to commit sin,• and the theme is also apparent in 16:1-2: •rrom the days of the slaughter and destruction, and the death of the giants and the spiritual beings of the spirit, and the flesh, from which they have proceeded forth, which will corrupt without incurring judgement, they will corrupt until the great age ia conaUDD&ted, until everything is concluded upon the Watchers and the wicked ones.• Later in this chapter we shall see that Adam's transgression itself ia often regarded as the first human act instigated by the fallen angelic faction.


181

amonq the leaders of the fallen Watchers, who is said to have revealed to mankind "all the secrets of their wisdom," and "caused the people to penetrate the secret of writinq and the use of ink and paper" (69:8-9).

The text qoes on to explain:

on account of this matter there are many who have erred from eternity to eternity, until this very day. For human beinqs were not created but to be like anqels, permanently to maintain pure and riqhteous lives. Death, which destroys everythinq, would have not touched them had it not been throuqh their knowledqe, by which they shall perish; death is now eatinq us by means of this power. (lEnocb 69:10-11) Xt is doubtful that the authorship of this ink-and-paper work, 1Eno~h,

words.

intended to be ironically self-referential with these Mankind at larqe, accordinq to this passaqe, is at

risk of remaininq diminished from anqelic status because of access

to

the

heavenly

secrets

of

wisdom

and

writinq.

Evidently the authorship of 1Enoch believed that, outside its own divinely sanctioned tradition, wisdom and writinq were vectors of error and iniquity.

That conviction obviates the

paradox or irony of our passaqe somewhat,

but it remains

remarkable that 1Enoch itself, and all other scriptures that purport to combat the camp of evil instiqated by the fallen anqels, emerqe as efforts to fiqht anqelic forces with their own deadly weapons--to use the secrets of wisdom and writinq to counteract the disastrous consequences of the introduction of these same faculties to humankind. A broadly accepted narrative of the form just outlined--a elrama pittinq the upward-strivinq descendants of an Adam


182

diminished from original angelic status against an opposite earthly faction inspired by rebellious fallen angels--must have emerged safely before the destruction of the second Temple.

It seems evident that this narrative theme underlies

many of the various pseudepiqrapha that speak to the theme of angelic Israel.

Our understanding of many of the texts that

we encounter among the pseudepiqrapha can be improved with reference to the theme of an elect human line's divinely sanctioned effort to realize and regain its original angellike stature. in

Ultimately, our understanding of certain themes

classical

rabbinic

literature

can

be

improved

with

reference to this pseudepiqraphic theme as well.

Ange~ic Israe~:

A

Pries'tl.y ParaditpJ

Before turning to the various expressions of the theme just outlined,

it is essential that we appreciate just how

much the angelic conception of Israel that is involved depends on

the

levitical

tradition

of

Israel

as

"a

kingdom

of

priests."

We should first recall the biblical narratives of

prophetic

commissioning

in

which

priestly

figures

are

initially awed by the alterity of angels only to realize something like angelic identity in themselves Zech, 3) •

(E.g.

I sa. 6,

We shall hear many echoes of this theme in the

sources of the present chapter.

It is also worth noting that

Fletcher-Louis,

has argued for

most recently,

a

possible

association of the •one like a son of man• in Daniel with the


183

figure of the High Priest officiating in the Temple. 197

We

have also seen the centrality of the priestly line and of the Temple-modalities

of

psalmody,

purity,

and

communal

regimentation in the angelic conception of Israel at Qumran. Bearing all this in mind, it is quite arguable that the notion of

angelic

Israel

originates

as

an

essentially

priestly

The argument is borne out by the evidence of the

concept.

pseudepiqrapha. To begin with Jubilees once more, Jacob's blessing of Levi in that book indicates the belief in a particular priestly lot in common with God's angels: May the Lord give you and your seed very great glory. May He draw you and your seed near to Him from all flesh to serve in His sanctuary as the angels of the presence and the holy ones. May your sons' seed be like them with respect to glory and greatness and sanctification. And may he make them qreat in every age. And they will become judges and rulers and leaders for all of the seed of the sons of Jacob. (Jubilees 31:11-15) Certainly at Qumran this blessing was interpreted as more than a matter of mere analogy and parallelism. further priestly

evidence role

for

among

There is also

an ontological understanding of the other

texts

to

be

examined

in

this

chapter. 198

cr~•pin H.T. !'letcher-Lou~•, •The H~gh Prie•t •• Divine Mediator in the Hebrew Bible: Dan. 7:13 •• a Te•t ca•e,• SBL S.-inar Papers, 1997, pp. 161-193. (1997b). 197

198

Temple

cf. al•o Jame• Kugel'•, •Lev~'• Blevat~on to the Prie•thood in Second BTR 86, 1993.

Writ~ng••


184

The angel who mediates the revelation of Jubil.ees to Moses

says

that

the

line

of

Levi

was

"chosen

for

the

priesthood and levitical orders to minister before the Lord always

just as we do. " 199

lEnoch

as

well,

the

In the animal-apocalypse of

establishment

of

the

tabernacle

corresponds to a transformation of the figure of Moses from a sheep

into a

man,

clear code

as we shall see, 200

pericope,

for angelification and thus another

in that

indication

that the angelic ontology of Israel is dependent upon the priestly tradition.

As well,

calendrical and astronomical

we should consider that the interest within Jubilees and

lEnoch is paralleled in Qumran's sectarian texts, and was, apparently, a point of contention between the early sect there and

the

priesthood

in

Jerusalem, 201 another

these books' belonging in the priestly domain.

indication

of

We shall also

observe that Levi plays an essential role in the induction of Asenath into the secrets of Judaism and angel-like identity in

Joseph and Asenath. The Letter of Aristeas

(variously dated between 250

B.C.E. and 100 C.E.) presents an outside view of High Priest and his service as something other-worldly.

199

Jubil•••r pa••age mu•t refer 237-8)r Bgo (199lr note that Jubil••• 200

In this theme,

30:18. Pletcher-Loui• al•o ob•erve• that the "we" in thi• to the •angelic community• (1997r p.l26). Mach (1992ar pp. pp. 363-4)r Kugel (1993r p. 35) and Weinfeld 1995r p. 149 all treat• the prie•tly line a• angelic.

And cf. Pletcher-Loui8r 1997r p. 182.

201

We •hould recall that the foundational •aalakhic Letter• of Qumranr 4QMMTr begin• with a calendar.


185

the

letter

may

very

well

reflect

presentation of itself to the people. is

mostly

an

account

of

the

the

priesthood's

own

The Letter of Aristeas

translation

of

the

Jewish

Scriptures into Greek, but it also contains a description of Jerusalem and of the Temple that includes the following lines in a description of Eleazar, the High Priest: on his breast he wears what is called the "oracle," to which are attached "twelve stones" of different kinds, set in gold, each stone flashing its own natural distinctive color--quite indescribable. Upon his head he has what is called the "tiara," and upon this, the inimitable "mitre," the hallowed diadem having in relief on the front in the middle in holy letters on a golden leaf the name of God, ineffable in glory. The wearer is considered worthy of such vestments at the services. Their appearance makes one awe-struck and dumbfounded: A man would think he had come out of this world into another one. I emphatically assert that every man who comes near the spectacle of what I have described will experience astonishment and amazement beyond words, his very being transformed by the hallowed arrangement of every single detail. Aristeas vv.99-99

At the least, the letter interprets the appearance of the High Priest as being recognizably calculated to give the impression of

an

angelic

being.

To

Israelites

regarding

him

as

emblematic of their entire people, the High Priest would have conveyed an implicit message of national angelic identity. The lanquage of the text suggests that the fiqure of the High

Priest crosses the

boundary between this world

and

another, yet it also can be read as saying that the observer himself would feel as though he had left this world upon


18&

seeinq the Hiqh Priest in the Temple service. 202

In this

way, the Hiqh Priest serves the same role as do the various quidinq anqels of the pseudepiqraphic tours of heaven: he awes with the qlory of the supernal realm and allows the one who encounters him to share in the experience of that realm.

In

that

an

sense,

the

Hiqh

apocalyptic fiqure.

Priest

serves

as

somethinq

of

What is more, the entire qenre of anqel-

mediated apocalypses could well be founded on the paradiqm of a

priesthood that represents the anqelic world,

allows its adherents to experience that world. a

and thus

This would be

priesthood that mediates truths from that world to the

people, a priesthood that functions, as Hecataeus of Abdera, writinq

in the

late fourth

century B.C. E.,

puts

it,

"as

angeloi to them of God's commandments. " 203

202

Fletcher Louis (1997, p. 125) points out that while R.J.H. Shutt, in OTP (v.l, p.19) interprets the line as referring to the observer•• own experience, the 1913 translation of Herbert Andrews, in Charles• edition, translates that the experience of seeing the High Priest was such •aa to make one feel that one had come into the presence of a man who belonged to a different world. • 203 Cf. Fletcher-Louis, 1997, pp. 120-122. Beata Ego, in her 1989 study, describes the relationship between the earthly •xultua• of the temple and the heavenly realm in terms of what she calla •urbild-Abbild-Denken,• a convergence to the point of identity between the symbol. and the symbol.ized. She goes on to assert, "Auf Grund des antiken Symbolverataendnisaes, daa auf der Binheit von Bil.d und Sache baaiert, iat der irdiache Kul.tus nicht nur zeichenhafte Representation des himmliachen Kul.tua, aondern mit dieaem geradezu identiach.• (p. 68). That is, in Bgo•a view, the earthl.y community is not merely meant to symbolize the angelic realm, ita identity ia meant to converge with that realm.


187

In the Beg.i nni ng:

Ange~ic

Ada.

Mount Zion, the site of Jerusalem's Temple, is a focal point in Jubilees' angel-like conception of Israel, and Mount Sinai, the locus of the book's revelation to Moses upon his ascent to God, is another.

A third focus of especial interest

in mankind's angelic nature is the Garden of Eden.

All three

of these loci are readily conceived as points of congress and convergence,

perhaps

to the point

earthly and heavenly realms. are

also

converge.

points

at

which

of

unity,

between the

As such, these imaginal places human

and

angelic

identities

The three places are suggestively listed together

in the account of Noah's rejoicing at his son Shea's allotted portion: And he knew that the garden of Eden was the holy of holies and the dwelling of the Lord. And Mount sinai (was) in the midst of the wilderness, and Mount Zion (was) in the midst of the navel of the earth. These three were created as holy places, one facing the other. The service of the High Priest in the Temple's holy of holies, as we shall continue to see, was conceived as a high-point of human Sinai

angelomorphism. 204 and

Zion,

Thus

suggests

the

that

equation of the

angelic

Eden

with

character

recapitulated by Moses on Sinai and by the High Priest on

204

Pletcher Loui• (1997, p. 139) ha• noted that •the •pacific correlation between the cult and Bden/paradi•e ••• i• well known and developed in the po•tbiblical period.•


188

Mount Zion in the Temple's inner sanctum, was thought of as original to humanity, as having been realized optimally in the first created human being. We shall see that the notion of a wondrous, angel-like Adam is a prominent fixture of rabbinic thought. conception of Adam is also widespread literature. 205 clearly

in pseudepigraphic

The idea is prominent at the outset of the

gnostic

centuries,

A similar

Apocalypse

c. E. , 206

of

Adam,

dated

to

which seems to rely upon a

the

first

commonplace

acceptance of the notion of an angelomorphic Adam in its presentation of an original humankind greater in stature even than the demiurge: The revelation which Adam taught his son Seth in the seven hundredth year, saying, Listen to my words, my son Seth. When God created me out of earth along with Eve your mother, I used to go about with her in a glory which she had seen in the aeon from which we had come. She taught me a word of knowledge of the eternal God. And we were like the great eternal angels, for we were loftier than the God who created us and the powers that were with him, whom we did not know. (ApAdam 1:1-3) An affinity between Adam and the angels is also the essential assertion

in the opening of the Testament of Adam,

also

ascribed to the early centuries C.E. {between the second and 205

CharleftrOrth pp.l37-9).

(1980) collect• •everal of the relevant text•

206

(e•p.

The compo•Ltion of thi• text i• dated to the fu•t centuria• C. B., but the work'• relLance upon ready acceptance of the idea of an angelic Adam i• •ugge•tLve of a long•tanding tradition to thL• effect. G. Macrae wrLte• in OTP vol. 1, p. 708, •The l~Lt• for dating are approx~tely the fir•t to the fourth centurL•• A.D., and the document probably belong• earlier rather than later in thi• period. In addition, it may contain tradLtional element• that are much earlier.•


181

the

fifth,

with the Jewish foundations

of the

survivinq

Christian recensions probably considerably older) 207 : The fourth hour is the "holy, holy, holy" praise of the seraphim. And so X [Adam] used to hear, before I sinned, the sound of their winqs in Paradise. But after I transqressed aqainst the law, I no lonqer heard that sound. The fifth hour is the praise of the waters that are above the heaven. And so I, toqether with the anqels, used to hear the sound of miqhty waves, a sound which would prompt them to lift a hymn of praise to the Creator. (TAdam 1: 4-5) Here, Adam shares, until his sin, in an anqelic experience of the qoinqs on in the hiqher heavens.

His perception of the

praises above seem no more limited than that of the anqels at larqe. The Testament oL Adam presents the idea that Adam was initially intended to become "a qod". 208

This plan is not

neqated by Adam's transqression, accordinq to the text, but only deferred with Adam's consiqnment to death for three days, after which time he is indeed seated at God's riqht hand and divinized

(TAdam 3:2-4) • 209

The Enoch-apocalypse preserved

207 Cf. Stephen Edward Robino•on, !'eae.-.ne oL Ad11111: An Exutinaeion oL ehe Syriac .nd Greek !'radieiona, SBL Di••ertation Serie• (Atlanta: 1982) pp. 148-53, and O!'P, vol. 1, p.990. 208 If ·~M· i• the underlying Hebrew here then the a••ociation of the term with Adam doe• not nece••arily originate in •o marked a •Two-Power••-theme a• we find in thi• text and it• enthron-nt of the fir.t man next to Goc:l. Recall that the prie•tly initiate of ~an •eem• to be promi•ed the identity of an ~M in 4Q543, 3, 1-6, (cf. 4Q545, 1, I, 15-18). 209 Thu• Adam •et• a precedent for Jeau•' own death, reaurrection, and a•cenaion, and hi• charting of thi• route from humanity to divinity indicate• a belief that •uch a potential wa• inherent, and realizable, in humanity even before the incarnation of the Chri•t. Cf. Fletcher-Louia, 1997, p.140.


190

in Slavonic

(2Enoch)

also speaks of Adam as an

intended

angelic co-regent or viceroy: And on earth r assigned him to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious. And r assigned him to be a king, to reign on the earth and to have my wisdom. And there was nothing comparable to him on the earth, even among my creatures that exist. (2Enoch 30:11-13) This narrative of the commissioning of Adam in 2Enoch is immediately preceded

(in the Leningrad manuscript210 )

by a

poetic fragment that speaks poignantly of the paradox of human-angelic nature in a manner that shares a great deal with a rabbinic conception, which we shall encounter,

of man's

comprehending several divine "creatings," from "above" and from "below."

The fragment reads:

From invisible and visible substances r created man. From his two natures come both death and life. And as my image he knows the world like no other creature. But even at his greatest he is small, And again at his smallest he is great. (2Enoch 30:10) The text continues,

in the divine voice,

to assign "four

special stars" to Adam (30: 14) --and this may be a

further

indication of angelification, since, in 2Enoch, angels govern stars. 2 u

Moreover, the text associates the four letters of

Adam's name with the four directions of the cosmos (30:13), a motif present not only in this text,

210

charle•worth'• •J• liS, a.k.a.

•BAR liS, •

but in the Sibylline

Library of the Academy of

Science•, Leningrad. 211

s - ••pecially 4:1.


111

Oracles (3:26) and in the Life of Adam and Eve (27:1) as well. This conception of an omnidirectional Adam, so to speak, calls to mind the cosmos-spanning Adam of midrashic literature, who stretches "from one end of the world to the other. " 212

The

close correspondence of these pseudepiqraphic motifs to themes in the rabbinic sources that we shall see does not mean that these extra-canonical works as such were known to the authors and tradents of rabbinic midrashim.

Certainly, however, these

motifs were present in the various milieux of early rabbinic creativity.

The similarities suggest that a need was felt, on

the part of at least some rabbinic sages, to contend with, and absorb such themes. Classical Rabbinic literature preserves a tradition of the angels worshiping the figure of the first man. 213

In the

rabbinic sources, that worship is retold as an error, arising out of an angelic confusion of the likeness of God with the genuine article.

Remarkably, the Life of Adam and Eve, a text

dated by M.D. Johnson to between 100 B.C.E. and 200 c.E. 214 , recounts that the heavenly angels were required to worship

Th••• trad~t~on• are gathered and exam~ned by Su•an H~d~tch in 'The Co•mic Adam• (1983). 212

213

E.q. Gene•~• Rabbah 8:10, probably the earlie•t rabbinic •ource to thi•

effect. 214

O'ZP, vol. 2., p. 252.


192

Adam as he was paraded before them by the angel Michael. 215 According to this text, it was the refusal of the Satan and those angels subordinate to him to worship the first man that led to their beinq cast out of heaven and to their jealousy and spite toward mankind: "So with deceit r assailed your wife and made you to be expelled throuqh her from the joys of your bliss,

as

r

have

been

expelled

spiteful,

fallen anqel puts it. 216

narrative

(4:1-2),

"clearly

my qlory,"

as

the

According to this same

Adam and Eve ate "the food of anqels"

before beinq expelled from Eden. motif

from

one

way

Fletcher-Louis deems this

of

expressing

humanity's

angelomorphism," and he links it to the account in the fifth or sixth century C.E. Conflict of Adam and Eve in which Adam and Eve begin to thirst for water after their sin, when, as well, they can no longer see the anqels. 217 A similar

account

of

the

angels

being

commanded to

worship Adam--and of the refusal of one anqelic party to do so,

resul tinq in a banishment from heaven and inciting of

215

Fletcher-Louia (1997, p. 142) write• that thia text may be "underatood aa advocating a two-power• theology, • and it doea aeem likely that Adam • • intended atature in thia text ia aa we have aeen indicated in 2Enoch 30:11-13. 216

LAB, Viea, 12-16. Notably, the anqela fall down in worahip of God at the aiqht of the fiqure of Adam even when be ia dead, aa they arrive in a chariot of liqht from the open heaven• to tranaport him to the paradiae of the third heaven. ((LAB, Apocalypae, 33). It ia Adam himaelf, however, who ia worshiped by the anqela in Viea 12-16. The Apocalyp•e of Sederach (an amalqam of text• from the earlieat centuria• c.z. and a later Cbriatian aermon) alae tells of the anqela beinq required to worahip Adam, and alao cite• Satan•• refuaal to do so aa the reaaon for bia expulaion from heaven and apite toward mankind. 217

Fletcber-Louia, 1997, p. 141.


113

transqression on the earth--survives in the Apocalypse of Sederach,

admittedl.y

a

much

later text,

Byzantine period, but shaped, according to of much earlier material."a18

redacted

s.

in

the

Agourides, "out

Clearly an account such as the

one that we have just seen in the Life of Adam and Eve is the basis of Sederach's qrievance with God concerning the origin of evil amonq mankind: Sederach said to him, "It was by your will that Adam was deceived, my Master. You commanded your anqels to worship Adam, but he who was first amonq the anqels disobeyed your order and did not worship him; and so you banished him, because he transqressed your commandment and did not come forth to worship the creation of your hands. If you loved man, why did you not kill the devil, the artificer of all iniquity? ApSederach 5:1-3 In the Testament of Abraham (dated by E.P. Sanders to 100

c. E.,

"pl. us or minus twenty-five years,") 219 the patriarch,

led by the angel Michael to the first gate of heaven, espies "a man seated on a qolden throne."

The appearance of the man

is "terrifyinq, like the Master's," (11:4) 220 he is described as

"wondrous"

(11:6),

and

he

despairs

and

(much

less

frequently) rejoices in turn as he watches the souls of the departed pass through a narrow or a broad gate--according to

218

u

9

220

O'rl', vol.l, p. 606. O"rl', vol. 1, pp. 874-875.

Aga.i.n, the "Two-Power•• •ugge•tion i• r-.rkable.


114

their merits and their ultimate fates, we learn (11: 1-7). 2 ;u To Abraham's inquiry, "Who is this most wondrous man, who is adorned in such qlory ••• ? " Michael respond=:= 1 first-formed 222 Adam who is in such qlory,

"This is the

and he looks at

the world, since everyone has come from him" (11:9).

This

portrayal of Adam, resplendent in heavenly qlory, reminds of a fulfilled divine promise in the later Testament of Adam, where the first human beinq is elevated to become "a qod," seated at the Lord's riqht hand. 223

Seated224 in celestial

majesty

in

at

this

fateful

crossroads

the

Testament

of

Abraham, Adam suqqests a wondrous, anqelic, or even divine potential inherent in humankind, despite the human propensity toward transqression and shortcominq which the first man also represents. The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch text,

probably

of

the

second

(JBaruch), a Christian

century

C. E.,

certainly fashioned around earlier J e w i s h

and

almost

textual

221

Te•tament of Abraham 11:1-12. The broad gate leading to "destruction~" and •eternal puni•hment~· and the narrow one "to life~" another indication of Adam'• angalomorphic natura being realized~ even in death~ by only a emall elect among men. "Among ••van thou•and~· in the word• of the en•uing text it•elf~ "there i• •carcaly to be found one •avad •oul~ righteou• and undefiled." 222

Gk. ho proeoplaaeoa.

223

Again~ the parallel• with Chri•tology are remarkable.

224

Wolf•on, in •My•ticiem and the Poetic-Liturgical eompoeition• from recognize• that while ••cent to heaven i• often characterized by a •tanding po•tur•~ con•ummation of the my•tical aim i• repr•••nted by anthron-nt.

Qqmran~·


195

elements, 225 speaks of Adam's diminishment, subsequent to his transgression, as a loss of divine glory, a fate shared by all his sinful progeny: Then know, Baruch, just as Adam through this tree was condemned and was stripped of the glory of God, thus men who now insatiably drink the wine deriving from it transgress worse than Adam, and become distant from the glory of God, and will secure for themselves eternal fire. (3Baruch 6:16) To the extent that the descendants of Adam share in their progenitor's transgression,

they perpetuate his separation

from the highest angelic nature and status.

Still, while a

divide between mankind and the angelic world is acknowledged as the usual lot of postlapsarian humankind, that divide is not

at

all

according

to

originally such

inherent,

narratives

of

nor the

is

it

first

inevitable, human

being.

Visions and assertions such as we have seen suggest that the divide between humankind and the angels, consequent to Adam's sin, was not thought of as insurmountable.

On the contrary,

Adam's original glory seems to have been a focus of yearning, and of striving as well. The closing--or, at least, bridging--of the gulf between the human and angelic worlds is a predominating theme in the pseudepiqraphic

literature

that

ascribes

itself

principal figures of Israel's biblical lineage.

225

to

the

As Fletcher-

H.B. Gaylord Jr. write• in Ml' vol.l, p. 656, in connection with 3Baruch, •The •cholarly dichotomy o£ Jewi•h and Cbri8tian writing• in the fir•t two centuria•, like the earlier one between dia•pora and Pale•tinian Jewry, may be a ~•leading attempt to di•tingui•h what i• clo•ely interrelated.•


191

Louis has noted, such pseudepiqrapha are marked by "a tendency to idealize Israel's heroes in an anqelomorphic direction." This

idealization,

Fletcher-Louis

observes,

"leads

succession of anqelomorphic f iqures from Adam, likes of Noah,

Enoch,

Jacob,

Joseph,

to

a

throuqh the

and Moses."

Thus,

anqelic protoloqy and eschatoloqy, as Fletcher-Louis puts it, are "bound by a succession of heroes who maintain, or reqain the oriqinal,

i.e.

Adamic,

anqelomorphic status of human

identity. " 226

!'be

ADge~ic

Line of

Israe~

Surveyinq the pseudepiqraphic literature of the era in which rabbinic Judaism took shape, one can define Israel and its ancestors precisely as that elite lineaqe vouchsafed the ability to recapture and realize the oriqinal possibility of anqelic humanity.

A divine intention that the Israelite line

preserve somethinq of Adam's oriqinal anqelic identity is implicit in the account, in the Life of Adam and Eve (Vita 2528), in which, after his sin but before beinq expelled from Eden,

Adam is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, amid

"many thousands of anqels" to God's immediate presence where he pleads, "Let not the name that reminds of your majesty227 226

l'letcber-Loui•, 1997, pp. 138-139.

2 ~ A• M.D. John•on note• (in o.rP, vol. 2, p. 268, perbap• tbi• allude• to Adam' • n . . . being an acro•tic for the four di.rection• of the world; but certainly it al•o •ugge•t• that Adam--eponyaou• for humanity--i• the •n. . . that realind• of [God'•) maje•ty. The notion ca11• to ~nd the title given by Abraham Jo•hua


197

be blotted out•

(27:1-3).

In response,

Adam is assured,

"There shall not be abolished from your seed forever those who would serve me"

(27:3).

That promise alone would not be

sufficient to indicate a continuation of angelic humanity. However, when Cain is born in the Life of Adam and Eve (Vita 21:3) the text describes him as "lustrous," (1ucidus), and in the

corresponding Greek text

Diapbotos by name.

(ApMos

1: 3)

Cain

is

called

Like his father, then, Cain represents the

heavenly potential of humanity--although,

of course,

Cain,

like Adam, also represents paradigmatically the failure of mankind to realize its illustrious potential. seth Not only Cain, among Adam's children, but Seth as well is conceived as having been wondrous and angel-like, if we may admit as evidence an "Apocalypse of Sethel," preserved in something of a catalogue of patriarchal apocalyptic testaments in the Cologne Hani Codex.

According to Charlesworth, the

account •apparently predates Mani (215-275

c. E.) and in no way

seems to reflect peculiarly Manichean ideas;

it seems very

Jewish and contains no discernable Christian elements ... aas The Sethel apocalypse (CHC 50.1-51.1)

immediately follows a

brief passage concerning Adam's nature (and alleged literary

Beachel to a amal.l volume of hia early poetry: Der She.-Hamefora•h: llen•ch, worth mentioning becauae Beechel'a poem• are certainly informed by claaeical rabbinic aa well aa Baaidic aourcea. zza Charlesworth, 1980:139, and cf. Bimmelfarb l99lb:81-2, and PletcherLouia, p. 145, note 209.


118

oevre), which reads: "And [Adam] became mightier than all the powers and the angels of creation. these are in his writings."

Now many other things like

The text continues:

Likewise, also Sethel, his son, has written thus in his Apocalypse, saying: "I opened my eyes and beheld before my face an angel whose splendor I was not able to speak of from my experience. For it was nothing other than flashes of lightning ••• ••• when I listened to these things, my heart rejoiced and my mind was changed, and I became like one of the greatest angels. When that angel placed his hand upon my right hand, he wrenched me from the world from which I was born and carried me off to another place exceedingly great. Now I heard behind me a very great uproar from those angels whom I left behind in this world ••• 229 This

is

an

account

of

angelic

transformation,

and

the

wrenching of Sethel from the earth, and his dumbfoundedness at the appearance of the angel who removes him, might be read to preclude

sethel's

identity

in

this

having world.

possessed On

the

any other

sort hand,

of

angelic

Sethel

is

introduced here as the son of the angelomorphic Adam; the inclusion of "el" in the variation of Seth's name suggests angelic identity; and the world from which Sethel is torn is apparently inhabited by angels as well, whom he says he leaves behind.

The passage suggests a transformative reaction of

recognition,

an account of Sethel's encountering and then

2 9

a Thia ia the reading of the text aa recon•tructed and tranalated from the Gr-k by Ron cameron and Arthur J. Dewey, The Co~ogne lfani Codez ( P. Co~ on. inv. nr. 4710) •concerning the Origin of hi• Body•, SBL, (Montana: 1979).


111

realizinq an anqelic identity that is already his own, but not fully experienced or actualized previously. 230 BDocb (at. a.I.)

The notion of an inborn but unrealized anqelic identity of the highest sort in the Israelite line helps to account for the peculiar narrative twist of the pseudepiqraphic Enochliterature

(both

in

lEnoch

and

2Enoch231 )

in

which

the

patriarch is either sent into heaven (lEnoch) or summoned to heaven (2Enoch) to intercede on behalf of the fallen anqels. It is otherwise entirely perplexinq that angels would call for a human advocate; but if Enoch, even before he realizes his angelic identity in heaven, is already, even if unknowingly, of

higher

angelic

understandable.

rank,

then

the

narrative

becomes

more

Such an inborn but unrealized rank, in turn,

makes sense if Enoch, from the outset, preserves within him

230 With regard to Seth and his nature, we should also take note of the narrative in the Li.Le oL Ad. . and Bve in which Eve and Seth are sent on an errand to the edge of Eden by the dying Adam--whose death-throes, and his outrage at them, seem narrated precisely to emphasize his fall from an original angelic identity (Viea 35:1-36:2, ApMos 9). In both Viea and ApMoa texts, Seth ia attacked by a wild beast for no apparent reason, other than to occasion Eve•a outraged rebuke to the animal, •sow ia it that you were not afraid to throw yourself at the image of God?" (Viea 37:3), and (in ApMoa 10:3), •&ow did you not remember your subjection, for you were once subjected to the image of God?" These words suggest that in losing fully realized angelic identity mankind also lost something of ita promised dominion even over the lesser creatures of the world. In any event, aa Fletcher-Louis (1997, p.l45) observes, "it ia not until Bnoch•--to use the patriarchal chain aa a chronoloqy--"that [angelic identity] is clearly recovered.• 231

The so-called 3Bnoch ia actually a Nerk&b&b-taxt whose aynopaia of the themes of that genre augqeata a late, and quite probably post-talmudic, comp.i.lation and composition. Still, the continuity of some characteristic motifs in 3Enoch with the earlier Bnoch-paeudepigrapha evidence not only a sustained interest within Judaism in the trad.i.tion of an angelified Enoch, but also the persistence of particular traditions of Enoch's elevation.


200

somethinq of the oriqinal stature of Adam as God's anqelic viceroy. The same notion of a man of elect lineaqe discoverinq a qreat unrealized or unactualized anqelic potential in himself seems also to be at the root of that seqment of 1Enoch which has often been interpreted as narratinq Enoch's transformation into the eschatoloqical Son of Man who is ultimately to establish God's dominion on the earth. 232

Concerninq this

narrative seqment, Alan Seqal has written, This is an extraordinarily important event, as it underlines the importance of mystic transformation between the adept and the anqelic vice-reqent of God, qivinq a plausible explanation of how the sectarians that produced the visions in Daniel expected to be transformed into stars. Indeed, it is possible to say that 1 Enoch 71 qi ves us the experience of an adept underqoinq the astral transformation prophesied in Dan. 12:3 albeit in the name of a pseudepiqraphal hero. 233 This

pericope

has

also

been

perplexinq

to

scholarship,

particularly because the wondrous and redemptive Son of Man described in the forerunninq portion of 1Enoch, known as the

Similitudes, appears first of all as a fiqure external to Enoch himself, whose life and times Enoch is enabled to see. Prior to Enoch's "transformation" or "transmoqrification" 234 -

232

B.g. Morna D. Booker, The Son oL llan in llarlc, SPCK, London, 1967, pp. 41-42; P. M. Ca•ey, Son oL llan: The Ineerpreeaeion and InLluence oL Daniel 7, SPCK, London, 1979, p. 102ff; Segal, 1995, p. 103. 233

Segal, 1995, pp. 103-104.

n 4 Segal•• and Fletcher-Loui•• cho•en term• for the event, re•pectively.

•t fell on my face, my whole body mollified and my •pirit tran•fo~,· i• the account (in 71: 11) of what happened to Bnoch when he beheld the cry•talline inner •anctWD of the heaven of heaven•. It •hould be noted that thi• i• not nearly •o


201

-upon which the patriarch is greeted by "the Antecedent of Time, with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Phanuel, and a hundred thousand and ten million times a hundred thousand anqels that are countless," and is addressed by an anqel as "son of man"-prior, then, to this ultimate elevation, Enoch is presented with a vision of a holder of the same title, "son of man," who has, as Fletcher-Louis notes, "both anqelomorphic and supraanqelic features": 'His countenance was full of grace like that of one amonq the holy anqels' (46:1). He sits on a throne of qlory, at times apparently his own (51:3), at others sharinq that of God (62: 2, 5; 69:29 cf. 61: 8). He is the primary aqent of revelation (46:3; 48:7; 53:6), and judqement (49:4; 62:11; cf. 45:3; 61:8; 69:27-8; 63:11; 38:2f; 53:6; and 92:1), and is even the recipient of human worship (48:5; 62:9; cf. 46:5, 52:4; and 92:1). In 61:10 he is counted amonqst God's anqelic powers. At several points he has a hidden and even pre-mundane existence (48:3, 6; 62:7). In 69:13-29 the Son of Man is associated with the Name of God, or the oath that has cosmocratic power ••• zls It should be emphasized that this same character is also presented to Enoch as "the one born of human beinqs, " and that the especial province of this son of man is to be humankind

graphic and dramatic a traneformation ae we find in 2Enoch 22:4-10, where the patriarch marvel• at the celeetial being that he become•: '"And I gazed at myeelf, and I had become like one of the gloriou• onee, and there wae no obeervable difference.• (22:10). Nonetheleee, a• Alan Segal hae done, it ie quite poeeible to map Enoch' • experience onto the later paradigm of lrerlcabah-myeticiem and literature while noting ite much earlier roote. Seqal writee: '"In chapter 39, Enoch aacenda to heaven while reciting hymn• and bleeeing• •• do the Merkabah myetic•J there he ia overcome with the eplendor and glory of the throne roome. Hie face chang•• on account of the vieion, which evidently reflect• the experience of the prophecy that '"thoee who are wee shall ehine as the etare• (Dan. 12:3), becauee 1 Enoch 62:15 etatea that the elect ehall shine ae atara and be clothed with garment• of glory• (1995, p.l03). zls Fletcher-Louie, 1997, p.l50.


202

and

its world.

rectification rewarding

He of

"the

Spirits. " 236

is to

the

be the agent of the ultimate

earthly

faithful

ones

realm, who

deposing

cling

to

kings

the

Lord

and of

Thus it would not be entirely surprising were

a living human being, Enoch, elevated to this singular station or assigned it for a return to earth in the time to come.

In

other words, it is plausible, as James Vanderkam writes, that in having the Son of Man presented to Enoch initially as a separate

fiqure,

"the

author

is

indulging

in

a

sort

wordplay which prepares the reader, however obliquely, Enoch's

identification as

Son of

Man

in

71: 14, "

of for

or,

as

Fletcher-Louis puts it, "Throughout the parables (Enoch is] encountering his heavenly self/counterpart--the Son of Man--as one might encounter one's alter ego in the visionary or dream state. " 237 on the other hand, we should recall that "son of man," is a frequent sobriquet for human visitors to the heavenly realm in the biblical narratives of prophetic commissioning after which

Enoch's

Zech.J).

self-realization

is

modelled

(especially

If we concentrate upon the notion of an angelic

lineage of Israel, and are not pressed toward the concept of a unique, divine or angelomorphic christ, then it is more than enough for our purposes to say that Enoch is made to realize

236

237

B.g. 46:4-8.

Pletcher-t.oui•,

1997,

p.lSl,

where Fletcher-Loui• al•o provide•

•ummary of other •cholarly per8pective•.


a

203

himself as partaking in the very same exalted human-anqelic nature as will the particular son of man who is to reiqn in the eschaton--and it may well be unwarranted to make messianic claims for Enoch's "transmogrification" in this text.

Enoch

need not become the messianic Son of Man himself in order to realize himself as beinq every bit as wondrous an angelic "son of

Adam,"

enjoying

the

heavenly

rank

and

prerogatives

oriqinally intended for the first human being. We have already seen that superior angelic rank--worthy of adoration by other angels--was the originally intended lot of Adam. such rank seems to be regained by Enoch, but he does not see himself alone in that destiny, at least not in a brief segment of

lEnoch that occurs riqht between the qlorious

descriptions of the eschatological son of man and the account of Enoch's own admittance to the heaven of heavens: And it happened after this that [Enoch's] livinq name was raised up to that son of man and to the Lord238 from among those who dwell upon the earth; it was lifted up in a wind chariot and it disappeared from among them. "From that day on, I was not counted among them. But he placed me between two winds, between the northeast and the west, where the angels took a cord to measure for me the place for the elect and riqhteous ones. And there I saw the first fathers and the riqhteous ones of old, dwelling in that place. (lEnoch 70:1-4) Not only Enoch, but his forefathers as well, have a riqhtful place with the Lord and with the final, triumphal son of man. 238

Note that if thi.• pa••age mean• that Enoch become• •that •on of man, • then it al•o mean• that he become• •the Lord,• an admi••ible reading from a Chri•tian point of view, to be •ure, but unlikely a• the actual •en•• of thi• pre-Chri•tian text.


204

The measuring out of that "place for the elect and righteous ones" with a heavenly measuring cord suggests that it is also the rightful place of an extensive lineage to follow Enoch, so long as the members of that lineage remain "the faithful ones who cling to the Lord of Spirits.• This idea of an entire Israelite line with a rightful place in the highest rank of celestial& is probably the basis of

Enoch's

observation

vision by

in

Enoch

43:1-4. which

seems

The

vision

ends

to

allude

to

in his

an own

extraordinary status as one allowed to realize that rank fully during his earthly life.

Yet, extraordinarily realized as

Enoch's angelic nature is among living human beings,

the

vision and the observation taken together indicate that such intrinsic nature itself is not extraordinary in the Israelite line.

The vision reads: And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven. And I saw how He called them each by their respective names, 239 and they obeyed Him. And I saw the impartial scales for the purpose of balancing their lights at their widest areas. And their natures are as follows: Their revolutions produce lightning, and in their number they are as many as the angels. They keep their faithfulness each one according to his name. And I asked the angel who was going with me and who had shown me the secret things, What are these? And he said to me, The Lord of Spirits has shown you the prototype of each one of them: These are the names of the holy ones who dwell upon the earth and believe in the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever. (lEnoch 43:1-4)

239

Probably an interpretation of the con•olation in I•a.40:26.


205

Then,

concluding this pericope of celestial visions,

Enoch observes, "And I saw another thing regarding lightning: how some stars arise and become lightning and cannot dwell among the rest.• That final observation seems to describe Enoch's own situation precisely.

He is not intrinsically different from

the rest of the faithful line, who are also correlated to spinning, flashing celestial alter-egos, but he has been made to realize his nature as such and thus does not remain upon the earth among the rest but finds his way to a rightful place in the heavens. The stellar imagery of the vision in 43:1-4 is not an allegory but an apocalyptic, angelic ontology of elect human nature.

The Animal Apocalypse of lEnoch 83-90, on the other

hand, is entirely metaphorical, but it too points toward the concept of an elect line within Israel that is angelic in nature.

Among all the animals in whose guise the cast of the

biblical story appears in this apocalypse, there is a lineage of

•snow-white•

animals

(bovids

first,

then

sheep)

that

centers upon figures whom we find angelified elsewhere, and at times this snow-white line seems to stand for all the faithful of Israel.

It is especially notable that this animal-vision

ends with the appearance of a messianic figure--presumably the Son of Man of the

Simi~itudes--whose

arrival is described as

follows: Then I saw that a snow-white cow was born, with huge horns; all the beasts of the field and the


2oa birds of the sky feared him and made petition to him all the time. I went on seeing until all their kindred were transformed and became snow-white cows; and the first among thea became a thing, and that thing became a great beast with huge black horns on its head. The Lord of the sheep rejoiced over it and over all the cows. I myself became satiated in their midst. Then I woke up and saw everything. (1Enoch 90:37-39) It is quite clear that Enoch himself does not become the messianic fiqure in this vision.

Rather, he delights in the

arrival of this fiqure among all the others of his line who are transformed into "snow-white cows." least all its faithful,

All of Israel--at

and perhaps all in the world who

become faithful to the messianic ruler--are transformed into snow-white cows, which is also the description of the first Adam, and of Noah, and of Abraham, who in turn bears a line of snow-white sheep, obviously intended (in 89:10-13) as Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's twelve sons, and their progeny. As to Enoch's own elevation, the animal-apocalypse does include an account of the event, but once more there is no indication that Enoch is made identical with the messianic fiqure of the story's end.

Enoch account of his being taken

up into heaven is embedded at the appropriate genealogical position in the animal-apocalypse, following a vision of all the cattle corrupted in the aftermath of a star's falling from heaven, upon which a band of big, dark cows appear who mount "the heifers" and give rise to a race of elephants, camels,


207

and donkeys 240 --quite obviously an account of the infusion of evil into mankind by the fallen anqels.

Enoch then qoes on to

say: Aqain X saw them (i.e the cattle corrupted by the fallen star and the dark cows] commencinq to qore and devour one another; so the earth beqan to cry aloud. And X lifted my eyes unto heaven and saw a vision: And behold, there came forth from heaven one in the form of a snow-white person--one came out of that place and three others with him. Those ones which had come out last seized me by my hand and took me from the qenerations of the earth, lifted me up into a hiqh place, and showed me a hiqh tower above the earth, and all the hills were firm. one of them said to me, "Stay here until you see everythinq that will happen to these elephants, camels, and donkeys, as well as to the stars and to the bovids--all of them. (lEnoch 87:1-4) Enoch becomes a heavenly spectator to the punishment of the fallen anqels, to the flood, and to the entire story of Israel up to the arrival of the messianic, qreat-horned, white bovid. Notably,

the flood does not eliminate corruption from the

earth, since Noah and his three cow-sons,

after the flood,

beqet "snakes, hyenas, wild boars, foxes, squirrels, swine, hawks, eaqles, kites, striped crows, and ravens," amonq whom is also born a solitary snow-white cow--i.e Abraham.

Roah Special mention should be made of the appearance of Noah, and also of Moses, in the animal-apocalypse.

Althouqh born "a

bovid," Noah becomes "a person" in order to build his "boat" when one of the snow-white people who emerqe from heaven in 240

Th••• are all non-•acrificial and illec:lible animal•, it •hould be noted.


208

the account of Enoch's elevation above (apparently the first one, who does not participate in Enoch's journey) proceeds to Noah to him and teaches him "a secret" argue

that

Noah,

transformation

and

into a

Moses--who

(89:1).

undergoes

one might a

similar

human being at the raising of the

tabernacle--present the only clear angelifications of the animal-apocalypse, since they takes on the human form of the four figures who emerge from heaven.

On the other hand, the

Israelite lineage of snow-white cows and sheep (culminating in a great messianic bovine figure) is ontologically set apart by the animal apocalypse from the corrupting dark bovids and their

progeny

of

wild

beasts. 241

That

is

to

say,

the

Israelite line is ontoloqically different from the rest of humanity. Noah

is

also

remarkably

distinguished

characteristics toward the end of 1Enoch.

with

angelic

As is arguably the

case in the animal apocalypse, the account of Noah in chapter 106 presents at least as outstanding and dramatic narrative of angelomorphism as does the surrounding story of Enoch himself. Indeed, correlating this account with Noah's transformation from bovid to human in the animal-apocalypse, we can say that, where 1Enoch alone is concerned, Noah,

even more than his

illustrious grandfather, represents the possibility of a human

241 We •hould al•o note the appearance of • •hepherd•, • later in the animalapocalyp•e (89:59), correlating, apparently, to the king• and to the Ra•monean leader•. It i• not clear that the imagery of the ani.mal-apocalyp•e i• •trictly con•i•tent throughout.


209

beinq existinq as a wondrous anqel durinq his time on the earth.

This story of Noah itself contains an affirmation that

Enoch's place is "aaonq the anqels," even at a Enoch's sons can visit their father--that

is,

time when durinq his

earthly life; but is also seems possible that Enoch is already in the heavenly world when Methuselah searches for him at the "ends of the earth" in order to confer with him about Noah (106:8).

The remarkable narrative of Noah's birth in 1Enoch

106 reads, in its entirety, as follows: And after some days my son, Methuselah, took a wife for his son, Lamech, and she became preqnant by him and bore him a son. And his body was white as snow and red as a rose; the hair of his head as white as wool, and his coiffure242 beautiful; and as for his eyes, when he opened them the whole house qlowed like the sun--the whole house qlowed even more exceedinqly. And when he arose from the hands of the midwife, he opened his mouth and spoke to the Lord with riqhteousness. And his father, Lamech, was afraid of him and fled and went to Methuselah his father, and he said to him, "I have beqotten a stranqe son: He is not like an ordinary human beinq, but he looks like the children of the anqels of heaven to me, his form is different, and he is not like us. His eyes are like the rays of the sun, and his face qlorious. It does not seem to me that he is of me, but of anqels, and I fear that a wondrous phenomenon may take place upon the earth in his days. So I am beseechinq you now, beqqinq you in order that you may qo to his qrandfather Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwellinq place is amonq the anqels. When Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me, at the ends of the earth, for he had heard that I was there. He cried aloud and I heard his voice and came to him and I said to him, "Behold, my son, I aa here, why have you come 242

The Bthiopic word i• dend-a, which corre•pond• to what i• now colloqgially called an •afro• in Bngli•h, according to E. X•aac, OTP, vol. 1, p. 86, note g.


210

here?" Then he answered and said, "On account of a qreat distress have I come to you, on account of a qrievous vision have I come near here. Now, my father, hear me: For unto my son Lamech a son has been born, one whose image and form are not like unto the characteristics of human beings; and his color is whiter than snow and redder than a rose, the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes glare like the rays of the sun; and when he opened his eyes the whole house lighted up. And when he rose up in the hands of the midwife, he opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven. Then his father Lamech became afraid and fled, and did not believe that the child was of him, but of the image of the angels of heaven. And behold, I have come to you in order that you make me know the real truth." Then I, Enoch, answered, saying to him, "The Lord will surely make new things upon the earth; and I have already seen this matter in a vision and made it known to you. For in the generation of Jared, my father, they transgressed the word of the Lord, that is, the Law of heaven. And behold, they commit sin and transgress the commandment, they have united themselves with women and commit sin together with them; and they have married wives from among them, and have begotten children by them. There shall be a qreat destruction upon the earth ••• (1Enoch 106:1-15) Enoch goes on to foretell the deluge, instructing Methuselah,

and he concludes by

"Go and make it known to your son

Lamech that this son who has been born is his son in truth-and not in falsehood."

Lamech's distress and fear at Noah's

angelic alterity should probably be understood in terms of the account of the fallen

angels who took earthly wives and

brought iniquity into the world, Enoch.

which is retold here by

Lamech seems to fear that Noah may be the product of

such a union and not his own son. Correspondingly,

one might think to arque that this

entire story does more to distinguish between the angels and


211

humankind,

includinq the proqenitors of Israel in qeneral,

since Noah's appearance is so unexpected and shockinq to his own father.

Yet Lamech is assured that Noah is his own son,

which should almost certainly be conceived as somethinq of a revelation concerning Lamech' s own nature and legacy. clarification reqardinq Noah serves

to

say that

Enoch's Noah

is

angelic by dint of descent, even through his unknowing and astonished responsible.

parent;

no

other-worldly

angelic

parent

is

What is more, Noah's arrival on the scene is set

by Enoch in opposition to the grievous consequence among humankind of the union of the fallen angles with earthly women.

Once more the sugqestion is of an earthly conflict

between closely matched angelic forces:

the progeny of the

fallen angels against the lineage of the diminished Adam. Noah is conspicuously and manifestly angelic, which is astonishing to his own father, but Noah is so not because he is from outside Lamech's line, as Lamech may fear, but because he is Lamech's son.

The implication of the narrative seems to

be that in order to combat the influence of the corrupting fallen angels--that is, the evil of the world round about-something of the intended angelic nature of the first Adam had to be recovered and restored to evidence within the elect human line.

Noah is extraordinary, true; but again what is

extraordinary in the anqel-man is the realization of his innate angelic potential and not his

possession of that


212

potential to beqin with, which is revealed to be, "in truth," his patrimony. Abrabaa

We have already seen at the outset of this chapter how Abraham in Jubilees is charqed to circumcise his offsprinq in order to make them conform to the nature of

the anqels.

Fletcher-Louis writes that "after Enoch (and] Noah the next OT character to attract anqelomorphic attention is Jacob/Israel; but Abraham as well, as Israel's chief patriarch, can be seen in several texts to retain the inheritance of anqelic identity that is destined to distinquish his offsprinq. Amonq the Pseudepiqrapha is an Apocalypse of Abraham, which R. Rubinkiewicz dates to between 70 AD and the middle of the 2nd century CE, and whose oriqinal lanquaqe he posits to have been Hebrew, makinq the land of Israel the work's most likely place of composition. 243

In this work, Abraham is

visited by the Anqel of God--here named Iaoel--who calms Abraham's fright, sayinq, "Stand up, Abraham, friend of God who has loved you, let not human tremblinq enfold you" (10: 5). Abraham is awed, to be sure, at the wondrous appearance of Iaoel,

but soon after he testifies that durinq the ensuinq

forty day fast

in preparation for his sacrifice of split

animals, "my food was to see the anqel who was with me, and his discourse with me was my drink"

243

(12:1-2).

O'rP, vol. 1, p. 683.


If not an

213

outriqht anqelification of Abraham, this motif is at least an indication of a close affinity with the Anqel of God, who protects and consecrates him, and who announces to him that "a venerable honor has been prepared for you by the Eternal one" (10:15).

Even more suqqestively, Xaoel rebukes the menacinq

Azazel by invokinq Abraham's riqhtful celestial place: "Shame on you, Azazel, for Abraham's portion is in heaven, and yours is on earth, enamored

of

for you have selected here and have become the dwellinq place

of

your

blemish"

(13 :8).

Moreover, Xaoel informs Azazel that Abraham cannot be harmed because "the qarment which in heaven was formerly yours has been set aside for him, and the corruption which was on him has qone over to you" suqqests

that

the

( 13: 14) •

opposition

This remarkable reversal

between Abraham's

line

and

Azazel's itself supplies the remedy to Adam's demotion from outriqht anqelic status. Azazel

is

drawn

ever

Xn jealousy toward Abraham's line,

downward

into

the

realm

of

Adam's

banishment, whilst Abraham, throuqh his reachinq toward God and obedience to God's commands, takes his foe's forfeited place--or, eventually, will do so--to recover a station amonq the celestials. Xaaac (aDd Abrabaa aqaiD)

We should take note of several passaqes in the Testament

of Isaac, a text now extant in Coptic, Ethiopic, and Arabic manuscripts and including clearly Coptic Christian elements, but thouqht to be based upon a Jewish work of the second


214

century

c. E. 244

Although the angelification of Isaac in this

text is subsequent to the patriarch's death, we should note the importance of Abrahamic descent to the convergence of the patriarch's line and the angels. In the first place, when Isaac first sees the angel who will take him up to heaven, he mistakes and says, "I am truly amazed concerning you; are you not Abraham, my father?" to which the angel replies, "I am not your father Abraham, but I am the one who ministers to your father Abraham." (2:10-11) Isaac's

question

establishes

some

phenomenal

continuity

between this angel and Abraham as perceived by his son--so, presumably, as Abraham was during his former, earthly life. The response given to Isaac establishes the actual superiority of Abraham, at least after his death, to the angel. Upon being led up to heaven, Isaac does encounter his father, who receives him "with all the goodly ones," (6:1-4) and with whom he recites the threefold "Holy," of Isaiah 6, but with the variation: "Heaven and earth are full of your sanctified glory!"

(6:5).

To this service of Abraham and

Isaac, God responds, Excellent is your coming, 0 Abraham, faithful one; excellent is your lineage, and excellent is the presence here of this blessed lineage. (Testament of Isaac 6:7) The text goes on to describe Isaac as being "like the silver which is burned, smelted, purified, and refined in the fire,"

244

Cf.

w.

P. Stine•pring,

O~P,

vol. 1, p. 904.


215

and continues, "likewise everyone who shall come forth from Isaac, the father of fathers. " ( 8: 3) probably a

The ref ininq of rsaac is

reference to his bindinq, 245 and the next verse

elaborates: "On the day when Abraham, the father of fathers, offered

him

as

a

sacrifice

to

God,

the

perfume

of

the

sacrifice ascended to the veil of the curtain of the one who controls everythinq" (8:4).

Whether or not this passaqe can

be read as an elevation of rsaac, the statement that Abraham's offerinq filled the heavens and the earth "with the sweet fraqrance of his way of life before the Lord" (8:2), indicates a cosmically important return to the heedinq God's commands, upon which the anqelification of Abraham's line depends.

Jaaob-Iarael Jacob,

eponymous patriarch of Israel,

is certainly an

anqelified character in a number of pseudepiqraphic sources. Perhaps the most dramatic and explicit of these is the rather mysterious Prayer of Joseph, described in Oriqen's Commentary

on John as "an apocrypha presently in use amonq the Hebrews," and so authored well prior to 231 C.E. 246

The so-called

"Fraqment A" of this text--quoted in Oriqen's commentary in

245 on the other hand, we have •-n the motif of refining with connotation• of anqelification in the Qumran texta, notably lQ&•, XIII 16, where Iaaac and hia bindi.nq are not the 11\lbject. 246 So J. z. Sali.th. OTP, vol. 2, p. 700, who auqqeata that '"the varioua paral.lela to both helleniatic and Aramaic material• would •uqqeat a first-century date.•


211

support of an arqument that John was an anqel who came to earth to attest to Jesus' naturea47 --opens as follows: I, Jacob, who am speakinq to you, am also Israel, an anqel and a rulinq spirit. Abraham and Isaac were created before any work. But I Jacob, whom men call Jacob but whose name is Israel, am he whom God called Israel, which means, a man seeinq Goda48 , because I am the firstborn of every livinq thinq to whom God qives life. (Prayer of Joseph fraqment A v.l)

z.

J.

Smith suqqests that the reference to Israel as the

firstborn of all livinq thinqs is probably "a literalistic understandinq of Ex. 4:22: 'Israel is my first-born son, '"a49 and

the

passaqe certainly serves

to

elevate Israel,

nation, to a status of primacy in creation. to

recount

Jacob's

journey

from

Padan

the

The text qoes on Aram

(or

"Syrian

Mesopotamia" in the LXX-like parlance of the text), durinq which he encounters "Oriel, the anqel of God" who explains that "I, Jacob, had descended to earth and I had tabernacled amonq men and that I had been called by the name of Jacob" (v.4).

It is Oriel, in this retellinq, who enqaqes Jacob in

the famous wrestlinq match,

out of a

jealousy toward the

patriarch that reminds of the jealousy of Azazel (or Belial, etc.)

toward

a 47 Origen,

a•a

Adam

(v.5) .aso

Althouqh

co. . .neary on John 2:31; J.Z. Smith,

~M ~M, W,M

in

OTP,

the

canonical,

vol. 2, p. 699.

i• the etymology, cf. F1etcher-Loui•, 1997, pp. 160-161.

a 49 OTP, vo1.2, p. 718, note q.

aso The jea1ou•y of •the angel of God• toward Jacob i•, of cour•a, it•e1f an indication of the patriarch~• .uperiority in •ome regard.


217

biblical version of the story (and in other versions 251 ) the patriarch acquires the name Israel from his angelic sparringpartner at the end of the bout, in this text Jacob himself proclaims his own name to be Israel--a climatic move in a struggle having all to do with names, and the knowledge of names, which appear to be intimately tied to angelic status: [Oriel] envied me and fought with me and wrestled with me, saying that his name and the name that is before every angel was to be above mine. I told him his name and the what rank he held among the sons of God: "Are you not Oriel, the eighth after me, and I, Israel, the archangel of the power of the Lord and the chief captain among the sons of God? Am I not Israel, the first minister before the face of God?" And I called upon my God by the inextinguishable name. (Prayer of Joseph, fragment A vv.4-9) First

of

all,

establishing

of

it

is

his

remarkable

own

that

superiority

Jacob's

over

Oriel

confident in

this

struggle seems to depend upon his first having been reminded of his own name and nature by Oriel in verse 4.

Origin

recognizes this narrative turn when he writes that Jacob's angelic status is "something which he recognizes while doing service in the body, Oriel. " 252

being reminded of it by the angel,

This perplexity, which Smith deems "one of the

more puzzling motifs"

in the text, 253 is amplified by the

fact that, once brought to consciousness of his true identity, 251 !'or the early Palestinian 'rargwDic retellinq, Gen.32:25-31. 252

Thia account ia termed •rragment 2, p. 714.) 253

c•

aee Codex Neofiti,

of the Prayer of Joseph (OTP, vol.

Smith, OTP, vol. 2, P• 709.


218

Jacob-Israel immediately moves to put the informinq anqel, who himself claims a hiqher status, in a subordinate place, naminq Oriel's exact rank and station while assertinq the superiority of his own.

While the extremely concise presentation in this

particular tellinq may distill the narrative motif almost to the point of beinq unintelliqible, what we find here is a paradiqmatic presentation of a certain conception of anqelic Israel that proves common to much pseudepiqraphic literature: Israel's

true,

anqelic

nature

is

typically

latent

and

unactualized, hidden in earthly life (thus an anqel, when it first

appears

wonder).

to an

Israelite,

is

an object of

awe

and

Yet when impelled or quided by an encounter with

some fiqure of the upper realm, Israel (that is, any chosen Israelite)

may realize in himself a

supreme reflection of

divinity, which all anqels must revere.

Fascination at the

wondrous alterity of anqels potentiates recoqnition of supreme anqelic identity or alter-eqo--a recoqnition which, in terms of self-conception, must be called transformative. the

literary

device--and

the

reliqious

This is

phenomenon--that

accounts for much of the paradox apparent in the concept of anqelic

Israel.

interchanqes

with

Awareness

of

coqnizance

likeness, of representinq God.

corporeality and mortality of

existinq

in

God's

own

This comprehension of contrary

natures within the livinq Israelite is an essential theme in much pre-rabbinic Jewish writinq. Experientially, it seems to

be the qoal of such literature as the Prayer of Joseph.


211

The status regained by Israel in the Prayer of Joseph is primordial (vv.2-3), inherent (vv.l, 4, 8), and second only to God's own (v.S).

Jacob's claim to the title of "firstborn of

every living thing" also suggests that his status is at least a recapitulation of Adam's original, angelic nature.

As well,

if "firstborn" status attaches to the entire people of Israel-which is the sense of Ex.4:22--then Jacob's claim to angelic station may attach to the entire people as well.

Taken to the

maximum, the suggestion is: to the extent that any individual personifies Israel,

that person shares in the station of

"chief captain among the sons of God," "first minister before the face of God," and "archangel of the power of the Lord," as claimed by the eponymous ancestor.

This formulation may seem

extreme, but on the other hand it does much to explain the appeal of what we can term "agelifying literature. " 254 Such a realization of angelic status seems to be the object of the Greek Prayer of Jacob.

This text takes its name

from an instruction included at the prayer's end in the single surviving papyrus: "Say the prayer of Jacob seven times to the North and East" (line 20), but the petitions and invocations of the prayer itself are framed simply as the words of "one 254

Alan Segal baa written of Jewish mysticism in general, emerging from ita roots in Late Antiquity, •aaaically, the central iaaue of Jewish mysticism waa the relationship between human beings and an enormous angelic human figure manifesting God. The figure is generally called 'God's Glory' or hia 'Kabod.' The relationship was one of absorption• (1995, pp. 95-122; eap. p. 98). That ia to aay, the transformation or •abaorbtion• of a literary hero, ao to apeak, into a aupr- angelic figure should not be thought of aa merely legendary and descriptive of one exceptional peraon in particular. Rather, the motif serves aa a paradigm for religious effort and experience. Segal addresses the Prayer of Jo•eph in this same study (p. 102).


220

who has the prayer from the race of Israel" (line 14).

The

opening line calls to God as "Father of all the Patriarchs," suggesting that the formula is not strictly a pseudepigraphon ascribed to Jacob.

The prayer ends in the following petition:

Fill my heart with good things, Lord; As an earthly angel, as having become immortal, as having received the gift which is from you, amen amen. Prayer of Jacob lines 18-19 Charlesworth

writes

that

"parallels

with

second-century

documents indicate that the prayer may be as early as the second century

(C. E. ] , " 255 and J. Z.

first-century authorship.

Smith has suggested a

On the basis of provenance and

comparison with other sources,

Charlesworth also indicates

Egypt as the locale of the prayer's composition, and, pointing to

several unusual usages and transliterations

of

Hebrew

names, reminiscent of various magical papyri, he concludes, "If

the

author was

a

Jewish magician,

understand the Jewish traditions. " 256

he did

not

fully

Yet if this text is a

non-Jewish attempt to access and employ secrets of "the race of Israel," then all the more it indicates that the claim of an affinity between Israel and the angels was a widespread and characteristic feature and attraction of Judaism in the early centuries C.E.

255

O'rP, vol.2, p. 715.

256

O'rP, vol.2, P• 716.


221

Goodenough has called the Prayer of Jacob, a "prayer for transfiguration, " 257

and

Charlesworth

observes,

"It

is

possible that the author claims to be like Jacob--who is 'an angel of God' according to the Prayer of Joseph. " 258 more

toward

the

side

of

Charlesworth,

we

can

Tending say

that

"transformation" does not suffice to describe the object of the Prayer of Jacob, as much as does the notion of realizing an angelic identity and access that rightfully inheres in being

of

"the

race

of

Israel. " 259

Whether

of

Jewish

authorship or not, the Prayer of Jacob represents a belief that the line of Israel has knowledge of rites and invocations through which angelic identity within earthly life can be realized. 260 It may well be in this same vein that the fifth book of the Sibylline Oracles--originating from an at least somewhat syncretistic261 strand of EcJYptian Judaism, and the Jewish Revolt of 132

between 70

c. E.

c. E. 262 --refers to "the divine

257 E. R. Goodenough, Jevi•h Symbol• in ehe Greco-Roman Period, (New York, 1953) vol. 2, p. 204. 258

O'J!P, vol. 2, P• 716.

259

Charle•worth remark•, •Jacob i• portrayed neither a• one who ha• been glorified nor a• one who ha• lo•t hi• cele•tial form; rather he i• I•rael, an angel who i• primordial and who de•cended to the earth, receiving the name of Jacob.• (1908, p. 140) 26

° Cf.

Charle•worth, 1980, p. 141.

261

The author claim• to be the •familiar friend of I•i•.• (line 53).

262

Thi• i• the conclu•ion of J.J. COllin•, O'J!P, vol. 2, pp. 390-391.


222

and beaven.ly race of the blessed Jews who live around the city of God at the center of the earth" (lines 240-251).

As well,

Fletcher-Louis, in connection with these oracular lines has noted: "That Philo (Virt177) thinks of those who fulfill the Mosaic

law

as

tbeoi

andres

may

presume

a

similar

tradition. ":z63 Joaaph (an4 Aaaaath, an4 Levi) Fletcher-Louis has written thoroughly and convincingly of the angelomorphic and quasi-divine attributes associated with Joseph and, upon her conversion, with his wife, Asenath, in the pseudepigraphic Joseph and Asenath.

c. Burchahrd has

written that this text is "first attested toward the end of the fourth century [C. E.]," but also observes that "A book glorifying the mother of the proselytes ought to have been written before Greek-speaking Judaism ceased to make

its

impact on the ancient world ••• " and suggests that "we are probably safe to say that the book was written between 100 B.C. and Hadrian's edict against circumcision, which has to do with the

second Jewish war of

132-135

[C.E.]." 264

With

indebtedness to Fletcher-Louis' more complete and abundantly annotated commentary on the text,:z65 this chapter must also include some essential observations and quotations.

:z63


:z64

OXP, vol. 2, p. 187 •

:z65

Pp. 155-171.


223

As Fletcher-Louis observes, Joseph makes a glorious, even apollonian entrance in his chariot, in 5:4, upon which Asenath laments: But I, foolish and daring, have despised him and spoken wicked words about him, and did not know that Joseph is a son of God. For who among men on earth will qenerate such beauty, and what womb of a woman will qive birth to such liqht? What a wretched and foolish girl I am, because I have spoken wicked words about him to my father. And now, where shall I go and hide from his face in order that Joseph the son of God not see me because I have spoken wicked things about him? And where shall I flee and hide, because every hidinq place he sees, because of the qreat light that is inside him? (Joseph and Asenath 6:3-6) Fletcher-Louis has suggested that the twelve precious stones and

associated

rays

that

adorn

Joseph's

crown

in

this

appearance indicate an affinity with the figure of the Hiqh Priest--and we have seen that the High Priest's crown and twelve-stone breastplate do contribute to what is described as an other-worldly appearance in the Letter of Aristeas. In 14:9, the angel who appears to facilitate Asenath's conversion is described as •a man in every respect similar to Joseph, except that his face was like liqhtninq, and his eyes like sunshine, and the hairs of his head like the flame of fire of a burning torch ••• and sparks shot forth from his hands and his feet.• apart

from

actual

angels,

marvelous appearance, Fletcher-Louis

This passaqe may seem to set Joseph

seems

but

in

view

of

Joseph's

own

and of Asenath's wonderment at him, justified

in

concluding


that

the

224

difference between Joseph and the angel is "a contrast of degree rather than kind."

His conclusion is supported also by

Asenath's perception of Jacob and by the appearance of Asenath herself Asenath's

to

her view

family, of

subsequent Jacob

to

includes

her the

conversion. following

characteristics: ••• and his eyes were flashing and darting flashes of lightning, and his sinews and his shoulders and his arms were as those of an angel,, and his thighs and his calves and his feet like those of a giant. And Jacob was a man who had wrestled with God. And Asenath saw him and was amazed and prostrated before him face down to the ground. (Joseph and Asenath 22:7-8) Asenath's family sees her in a similar way: And they saw Asenath like the appearance of light, and her beauty was like heavenly beauty. And they saw her sitting with Joseph and dressed in a wedding garment, and they were amazed at her beauty and rejoiced and gave glory to God who gives life to the dead. And after this they ate and drank266 and celebrated. (Joseph and Asenath 20:6-8) Asenath's perception of herself is also described in terms similar to the description of the Joseph-like angel of 14:9 as she dresses to join her beloved: And Asenath leaned over to wash her face and saw her face in the water. And it was like the sun and her eyes were like a rising morning star and her cheeks like the fields of the Most High ••• (Joseph and Asenath 18:8)

266

That A•enath'• fam.ily •ate and drank• .in her radiant pre•ence may even

be .intended to evoke the •cane of the ••venty elder• on S.ina.i, eat.ing and drinking .in v.i.w of God'• own pr•••nce and of the radiant foundation of God'•

throne, ••pec.ially •.inca the official wedd.ing-fea•t doe• not take place unt.il the end of chapter 21.


225

With reqard to Asenath's conversion to Jewish-anqelic Burchard sums up the conception of Jewish identity

status,

and the affinity between Jews and anqels in Joseph and Asenatb as follows: So Jews live in close relationship with God, and with anqels, whose food they share; but they remain apart from non-Jews, with whom they may coexist but not minqle ••• Relationship with God implies that Jews enjoy all the privileqes that come with divine childhood, leadinq some sort of anqelic existence ••• These thinqs are embodied in an exemplary, if not exclusive, fashion by the Patriarchs qenerally, with particular emphasis, besides Asenath, on Joseph, and Levi. 267 In fact, Asenath' s

initiation

contribution Joseph,

Levi fiqures prominently in the process of

seems

on his own,

as be

a

Jewess,

essential

appears

and to

Levi's

her

particular

anqelification.

insufficient as

a

quide and

mediator in the followinq seqment of the narrative: And Levi was on Asenath's riqht side, and Joseph on her left. And Asenath qrasped Levi's hand. And Asenath loved Levi exceedinqly beyond all of Joseph's brethren, because he was one who attached himself to the Lord, and he was a prudent man and a prophet of the Most Hiqh and sharp-siqhted with his eyes, and he used to see letters written in heaven by the finqer of God and he knew the unspeakable mysteries of the Most Hiqh God and revealed them to Asenath in secret, because he himself, Levi, would love Asenath very much, and see her place of rest in the hiqhest, and her walls like adamantine eternal walls, and her foundations founded upon a rock of the seventh heaven. (Joseph and Asenatb 23:13)

Once

more,

wonderment

267

in Joseph at

anqelic

and

Asenatb,

alterity

can

we

see

serve

that as

O~P, vol. 2, p. 191.


a

initial literary

22,

stepping

stone

to

angelic

identity--and

experiential stepping stone as well.

perhaps

an

This particular story is

remarkable in its assertion that the angelic patrimony of rsrael

might

be

assumed

by

an

outsider,

but

in

this

peculiarity the book still exemplifies the belief that the line of rsrael is possessed of an inheritance that allows human beings to realize and live angelic identity in the course of earthly life.

Levi's perception of Asenath's place

"in the highest" and her foundations "in the seventh heaven," even before her conversion is complete, suggests that what Asenath achieves in this book is not so much a fundamental, ontoloqical transformation as it is a reclaiming.

rf that is

so then the concept is that angelic nature is originally given to all human beings but is seldom or never realized outside of rsrael,

which,

alone

among

nations,

retains

the

secret

knowledge of this identity and its fulfillment.

The special emphasis upon Levi's angelic prerogatives, which we have already encountered in Jacob's blessing of his son

in

Jubilees

30:11-15,

brings

us

once

more

to

the

prominence of the Levitical line, and of priestly service and imagery,

in the angelic conception of rsrael.

After Levi

himself, whose blessing in Jubilees amounts to an angelic commissioning, Moses next exemplifies angelification in the


227

pseudepigrapha

outside

of

Qumran. 268

Of

course,

Moses'

angelomorphism and sometime transformation is not associated predominantly with the Temple-service but rather with his role as the mediator of divine instruction.

Nonetheless,

it is

well to remember that Moses can be taken as an emblematic hero for subsequent descendants of the Levitical line, who are also to be,

according to Levi's blessing in Jubilees,

"judges,

rulers, and leaders for all the seed of the sons of Jacob." Fletcher Louis' work of 1997 provides a comprehensive and innovative synopsis of traditions of Moses' angelification, beginning with Philo's deification of Moses--"He gives him the title tbeos, and associates him closely with the Logos, the preeminent

intermediary

Fletcher Louis'

being

between

section on Moses

God

and

Man. " 269

begins with an argument

against the widely held opinion "that Philo's exalted view of Moses is possible because 'he had drunk deeply at the well of

268 At Qumran, aa we will •ee, relevant to our theme.

there are a Qahat- and an Amram-text

269

Pletcher-Louia, 1997, p. 173. Alan Segal'• 1995 •tudy al•o notea, •Philo apeaka of Moaea aa being made into a divinity (ei• eheon) in aeveral place• (e.g. Sacrifice• 1-10; «o••• 1.155-58),• and not•• the idea •that Moaea attained to a divine nature through contact with the logo•.• (p. 103) Segal al•o note• that Philo doea not confine thia motif to Mo•e• alone: •tn the Sacrifice• of cain and Abel 8-10, Philo refer• to Deut. 5:31 aa proof that certain people are diatinguiahed by God to be atationed •beaide h~aelf.• (p. 103)


228

Hellenism. '" 270

Against

this

position,

Fletcher-Louis

writes, it seems that, on the contrary, where nellenistic Jewish authors such a Philo deify Moses, they are not only rooted in the Biblical text (e.g. Exod.7:1), but are also reusing and inculturating a fundamentally Jewish tradition which bad conceived of Moses in angelomorphic terms since at least the second century [B.C. E.] • 271 In "firm support" of this contention, Fletcher-Louis cites Sirach

and the animal-apocalypse of lEnocb.

With regard to

Sirach: The Greek of Siracb 45:2-3 says God 'made (Moses) as glorious as the holy ones ••• Since the Geniza text has elohim, this was certainly meant to describe an angelomorphic transformation. 272 As to the animal-apocalypse, Fletcher Louis notes, as we have done, that the transformation of Noah from bovine into human form at the building of the ark is paralleled by Moses' own transformation from sheep to human being at the time of the building of the tabernacle (lEnoch 89:36). Even more dramatically, Fletcher-Louis notes, in Ezekiel the Tragedian's Exagoge, throne-tbeopbany

what

tradition and

he

terms

"evidence of the

Merkabah mysticism"

in an

27 ° Fletcher-Loui•, 1997, p. 173. The quotation i• from the conclu•ion of Barry Blackburn•• 1991 •tudy, p.68, and Fletcher-Loui• note•, •Before [Blackburn)... carl Holladay (1977) had argued that no •uch Belleni•tic deification of Mo•e• took place in Jewi•h author•, except perhap• with important qualification• in the ca•e of Philo.

271

Fletcher-Loui•, 1997, p. 174.

272

Fletcher-Loui•, 1997, p .175.


221

account

of

Moses'

assuminq

what

seems

to

be

seat. 273

The passaqe in question is the followinq:

God's

own

on Sinai's peak r saw what seemed a throne so qreat in size it touched the clouds of heaven. Upon it sat a man of noble mein becrowned, and with a scepter in one hand while with the other he did beckon me. I made approach and stood before the throne. He handed o'er the scepter and he bade me mount the throne, and qave to me the crown; then he himself withdrew from off the throne. I qazed upon the whole earth round about; thinqs under it, and hiqh above the skies. Then at my feet a multitude of stars fell down, and I their number reckoned up. They passed by me like armed ranks of men. Then I in terror wakened from the dream.

(Exagoge 68-82) Admittedly, the framinq of the narrative as a "dream," and Jethro's

subsequent

interpretation

of

this

dream

as

foretellinq Moses' earthly rule over men, detract from the suqqestion of ontoloqical converqence between Moses and God's own qlory.

Even so, Fletcher-Louis may well be correct in

suqqestinq that the theoloqical motif of this passaqe "by later standards would be reqarded as a Two Powers heresy."n 4 Alleqorical dream thouqh it may be, the vision does set a remarkably conqruent precedent for the actual transformation of Enoch into Metatron in the Merkabah tradition, as retold in the

much

later

JEnoch,

and

also

for

classical

rabbinic

273 Segal al•o focu•e• upon this •ource in hi• 1995 •tudy, where he write•, •The •urviving text of Ezekiel the Tragedian al•o hint• at a transformation of an earthly hero into a divine fiqure when he relate• that the venerable man (pbos gennaios) handed Ko•e• hi• •ceptre and auaDOned him to •it upon the throne, placing a diadem on hi• head. Thereafter the •tar• bow to him and parade for his in•pection.• (p. 102)

n 4 Fletcher-Louis, p. 180.


230

accounts of Moses' affinity with the angels, which we shall examine closely in this study. 275 Fletcher-Louis

nuntius,"

given

to

also

cites

Moses

in

the

the

appellation,

"great

of Hoses,

Testament

a

Palestinian text dated by R.H. Charles to between 4 B.C.E. and 70 C.E. dead,"

(because in it, on the one hand "Herod is already and,

on

standing. ") 276 manuscript, constructions language. 277

the The

but

other text

with

that

hand,

"the

survives

Temple

in

a

transliterations

indicate

on this basis,

Greek

is

still

single

Latin

and as

syntactical

the

original

Fletcher-Louis argues against

previous interpretations as follows: The majority of English translations translate the nuntius of vl7 as messenger, obviously thereby denying any divine or 'angelic' identity to Moses. But there is ample reason to think that the latter is precisely how Moses is understood. Whilst the semantic range of the word nuntius might allow us to exclude an angelic identity, it is recognized that angelos would have been in the Greek, underlying the Latin text. It therefore seems safe ns With reference to those rabbinic sources, c. R. A. Morray-Jones, in 'Transformational Myaticiem in the Apocalyptic-Merkabah Tradition' (1992, p. 13), summarizes: •[Wayne) Meeks [in •Moses as God and Kinq,• Religion• in Antiquity: Eaaaya in lfe1110ry of Ervin RUI•dell, Neuaner ed. (Leiden: 1968)) has arqued very convincinqly that the rabbinic sources dealinq with Moses' heavenly ascent at Sinai preserve traces of an earlier tradition that he was enthroned and received the divine Name and the qarment and crown of the divine Glory, thouqh this has everywhere been partially suppressed. Thus, in midraahim such as Peaikta Rabati. 20, Moses takes hold of the Throne rather than beinq seated upon it and, rather than clothinq him with the divine qarment or 'robe of Glory', God merely spreads a corner of it over him. Nonetheless, the tradition persisted that Moses ascended to heaven after hie death. These midraahim frequently associate Moses with Metatron, who ae4-• as hie quide and protector, and state that hie flesh was turned to fire ••• • n

6

n

7

Charles, h•uaption, pp. lv-lviii, BWIIID&rized by J. Priest in OTP, vol. 1, p. 918. Priest, OTP. vol. 1, p.918.


231

to say that in the Greek text Moses is called ho megas angelos [i.e. the Great Angel]. This titular usage of angelos, which assumes God as the sender, tells against a purely secular and functional sense. 278 Fletcher Louis also notes that J. Tromp has commented: "The association of Moses with the Holy Spirit in 11:16 is so strong

that

one

could

passage in question,

speak

of

near

identity. " 279

The

which certainly does seem almost to

conflate Moses with the divine, is with reference to Moses' impending death and reads, in the voice of Joshua: Moreover, when the kings of the Amorites hear of your death, believing that there is no longer with us that sacred spirit, worthy of the Lord, manifold and incomprehensible, master of leaders, faithful in all things, the divine prophet for the whole earth, the perfect teacher in the world, now believing that they can storm us, they will say, 'Let us go up against them.' (Testament of Hoses 11:16) rt should also be noted that the text goes on to tell that Moses, in response to Joshua's distress, "grasped his hand and raised him into the seat before him" (12:2), reassuring him with reminders of God's promise. text was sometimes

aware of like

or

a

Xf the authorship of this

tradition of Moses'

identical

to

God's

own seat being own--which

seems

possible--then this enthronement of Joshua, so to speak would be meant subtly to suggest an angelic deputizing.

Certainly

such a transmission of quasi-divine identity results if this

na Fletcher-Louia, 1997, p. 181. 279

Tromp, J., riJe .t.au.ption oL lfoaea: A Critical Edition vith Co,..ntary, SVTP 10, Leiden, Brill, 1993; Fletcher-Louia, 1997, p.181.


232

tellinq is taken in combination with the biblical account of Joshua's beinq infused with spirit throuqh Moses' layinq on of hands (Deut.34:9), as the authors of the Testament of Hoses must have known it would be. 280 Fletcher-Louis

concludes,

partly

on

the

basis

of

parallels to its Latin terms in descriptions of deities and spirits,

that Joshua's description of Moses

represents

a

belief "that [Moses] is an incarnation of the Holy Spirit's presence."

This belief

in

turn,

Fletcher-Louis suqqests

"qives content" to Moses claim of pre-existence,

in 1:14--

"[God] did devise and desiqn me, who was prepared from the beqinninq of the world, to be the mediator of his covenant." Fletcher Louis also identifies five loci in Josephus' writinqs in which "there is allusion or reference to Moses' divinity. " 281

First, Pharaoh's dauqhter, on presentinq the

foundling Moses to her father says, "I have brouqht up a child who is of divine form (morphe theios)" (Ant 2:232).

Second,

in Ant 3:180, Josephus calls Moses a "theios aner. " 282

The

280

In •A Throne in the Heavens• (1995), J.J. Collins notes, •The idea that righteous human beings will have thrones in heaven as an eachatalogical reward becomes current from the first century c.z.• As evidence, he cites 1 Enoch 108:12: •[God) will bring out into shining light those who love my holy name, and I will set each one on the throne of his honor, • and also Rev.3:21, which promises the one who conquers •to sit on my throne with me, • and in Rev. 20:4 the visionary sees •thrones and those seated on them were given authority to judge.• (p. 50). 281

Fletcher-Louis, 1997, pp. 182-183.

C&rl R. Holladay, in his study, rheioa Aner in He~~eniaeic-Jud&i. .: A Crieique of ehe lfiauae of ehia caeegory in Nev reaeamene Chriaeology, SBLDS 40, 282

1977, remarks that, •the expression eheioa aner never occurs in either the Greek Old Testament or in the Hew Testament, but derives instead from the alien world of Helleni.m.• (p. 6). Be goes on to write that •within the Hellenistic world


233

context of this appellation is interesting, and, as FletcherLouis observes,

may well be "related to traditions of an

angelomorphic high priesthood," and certainly points to a cosmological understanding of the Temple: ••• if anyone do but consider the fabric of the tabernacle, and take a view of the garments of the high priest, and of those vessels of which we make use in our sacred ministration, he will find that our lawgiver was a divine man ••• for if anyone do without prejudice look upon these things, he will find they were everyone made in way of imitation and representation of the universe. (Antiquities 3:180) Moses' being able to model the sanctuary after the universe seems to imply that his status as a "divine man" is more than merely a prophetic stature and entails as well the kind of cosmic knowledge that a denizen of the heavenly realm might possess. the theioa aner waa a wideapread and popularly known figure who poaaeaaed a recognizable aet of traita, the moat prominent and recurrent of which were hia divinity (or at leaat hia uniquely conceived affiliation with the divine), itinerancy, and miracle-working; other diatinguiahing marka might alao include propheaying, oracular and ecatatic utterance&, wiadom, and rhetorical ability." (p. 15) Be alao opinea: "That within Jewiah life and thought, eapecially aa reflected in the Old Teatament, the notion of a "divine man" waa a contradiction in terma and therefore the expreaaion theioa aner ia an inappropriate deaignation for auch Old Teatament figure& aa prieata, propheta, judgea, kinga, and other "men of God." (p.16) However, he notea, "That within Jewiah thought, owing to the impact of Belleniam, a perceptible conceptual transformation begin& to occur in the Belleniatic era aa Jewa, particularly in the Diaapora, in their effort& to propagate the Jewiah faith (either by "mi.aaionary preaching" or "apologetic") begin to reinterpret and remodel their ancient Biblical heroea, moat notably Moaea, to conform to the image of the Belleniatic theioa aner, ao that by the firat century A.D. it waa not uncommon for Jewa to conceive and preaent their heroea to non-Jewa a• •divine men• in thia Belleniatic aenae.• (pp. 16-17) On the other hand, Holladay notea: •Aa to the queation of whether in BelleniaticJudaiam it became eaaier for Jewa to conceive of a divine man becauae the line of demarcation between man and God had become blurred, we have •-n evidence that auggeata that Hellenization among Jewa, rather than bridging the gap, only widened it,• (p.235) and he writea, "There aeema to be no direct correlation ••• between the extent of Hellenization and a willingneaa or propenaity to deify human beinga.• (pp. 235-236). Thia laat remark correaponda with Fletcher-Louie' contention (noted above) that Philo'a divinizing of Moaea ia not a conaequence of Belleniatic inclinationa.


234

The third locus in Josephus identified by Fletcher-Louis is

Against

in

Apion,

a

statement

that

the

Egyptians

acknowledge him to have been "a wonderful and divine person (andra thaumastos •••• kai theion)" (Ap 1:279). passage,

in

the

Antiquities,

In the fourth

Fletcher-Louis

observes,

"Josephus hints at the tradition paralleled by Philo and the tanaim, in which Moses eats heavenly food on Sinai. " 283

The

fifth reference in Josephus that Fletcher-Louis identifies, again in the Antiquities (3:320), says that Moses' mediation of the Law "caused this man to be ranked higher than his own nature."

Fletcher-Louis coDlDlents,

particularly

interesting

given

the

"Josephus'

lanquage is

comparison

with

his

lanquage when commenting upon Herod Agrippa I's arrogation to divinity (Ant 19:345) ••• and his record that Herod the Great had 'a higher opinion of [the Essenes] than was consistent with their mortal nature (Ant 15:372) ." 284 Louis

concludes,

"although

he

doesn't

"Thus," Fletcherrefer

to

angels,

Josephus' portrayal of Moses is described in angelomorphic terms. " 285

283

F1etcher-Loui•, 1997, p. 183.

284

F1etcher-Loui•, 1997, p.183.

285

F1etcher-Loui•, 1997, p.183.


235

Iaaiab In Joseph and Asenath, as we have seen, Levi perceives that Asenath's "foundations" are built "upon a rock in the seventh heaven. "

This motif suqqests that Asenath, even

before her conversion, heavenly alter-eqo,

has a

latent anqelic identity,

or

of which she is unaware until she is

brouqht to consciousness of it by Joseph and Levi.

In that

sense, Asenath's conversion is not so much an ontoloqical transformation; rather it is the realization of an identity that is Asenath's by riqht, by dint of her humanity. A similar motif, of a reserved place, or place-holder, for

a

human

beinq

in the seventh heaven occurs

Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah.

in

the

The theme occurs in the

eiqhth chapter, part of a seqment of the book (chapters 6-11) deemed to be a Christian composite--culminatinq, as it does, in an encounter with the christ--circulated separately as the Vision of Isaiah.

Of this section, M.A. Knibb observes, "The

fact that Jerome refers to 11:34, and that Epiphanius qives a quotation of 9:35f., suqqests that this part of the Ascension was in existence, at the latest, by the end of the third century (C.E.]. century. n2s6

But it is probably much older than the third

It will be clear, however,

that despite its

O~P. vol.2, pp. 149-150. Ball (1994) identi.fi.ea the Bthi.opic ~c•n•ion I•aiah aa •a Chrati.an documant froa the early aecond century,• (p. 463) but he writea, •few, if any, component• of the Vi.ai.on of Iaai.ah ore demon•trably nonJewi.ah. 286

o~


231

Christian objective, the portion of chapters 7-9 that we must examine here shares much with pseudepiqrapha from Jubilees and 1Enoch on.

The theme of this segment is hardly a novelty.

rt

is rather, at the very least, a protraction of earlier ideas, and its inclusion in this text is certainly a testament to continued interest and belief in the rightful place of human beings among the angels throughout the first three centuries

C. E. rsaiah,

in this segment, seems to describe a personal

transformation that corresponds to the stages of his guided, journey through the successively higher heavens: And he took me up into the third heaven, and in the same way r saw those who were on the right and on the left, and there also there was a throne in the middle and one who sat on it ••• And r said to the angel who was with me, for the glory of my face was being transformed as r went up from heaven to heaven, Nothing of the vanity of [my] world is named here. (Ascension of Isaiah 7:24-26) rsaiah's progressive transformation is such that, by his entry into "the air of the sixth heaven," he is ready to hear a truth about his own status from his angelic guide: And again, he took me up into the air of the sixth heaven, and r saw a splendor such as r had not seen in the five heavens as r went up; the angels possessed great glory, and the praise there was holy and wonderful. And r said to the angel who led me, "What is this that r see, my Lord?" And be said to me, "X am not your Lord, but your companion." (Ascension of Isaiah 8:1-5) Once more we see that a human initiate's sense of his angelic guide's alterity is supplanted by knowledge of an affinity, or


237

identity shared between himself and the anqel.

Althouqh

Isaiah at first experiences his ascent as a transformation, the ascent seems rather to be an experience that allows the prophet to realize that, ab origine, there is not a heaven in which

he

is

not

at

home.

Isaiah's

belonqinq

in

each

successive heaven, then, is not primarily a consequence of the chanqe of aspect that he experiences in himself at each staqe; more importantly, it is the realization of an already riqhtful place, as Isaiah learns upon enterinq the seventh heaven: And he led me into the seventh heaven, and moreover I heard a voice sayinq, "How far is be who dwells amonq aliens to qo up?" And I was afraid and was tremblinq. Behold! From there another voice which was sent out has come, and it says, The holy Isaiah is permitted to come up here, for his robe is here.

(Ascension

o~

Isaiah 9:1-3)

Isaiah, as an earthly man, may "dwell amonq aliens," but the central revelation of his ascent is that he is not himself considered alien in any of the heavens. on the other band, the robe reserved for Isaiah in the seventh heaven is not one that he can assume in full while livinq his earthly life.

Nor is his learninq of that robe's

existence a common experience amonq humankind: But I say to you, Isaiah, that no man who bas to return into a body of that world has come up or seen, or understood what you have seen and what you are to see, for you are destined in the lot of the Lord and in the lot of the tree, to come here, and from there is the power of the sixth heaven and of the air •••• And he said to me, "Hear this also from your companion: when from the body by the will of God you have come up here, then you will receive the robe which you will see, and also other numbered


238

robes placed there you will see, and then you will equal. to the anqels who are in the seventh heaven. (Ascension of Isaiah 8:1-15)

be

so Isaiah's experience is a prolepsis, but it is the foretaste of

the

fulfillment

of

an

identity

already

determined before the prophet's awareness of

qranted it,

and

and the

"other numbered robes" of this passage suggest that Isaiah is not alone in having an angelic qarment reserved for him in the highest heaven. That the soul comes from heaven and from God is also hardly an unfamiliar notion in connection with Israelite and Jewish religion.

Nor is the idea that the soul might resume

a heavenly life after death at all unknown; and the idea of Israel living an angel-like existence beyond the end of days is also a

well-recoqnized phenomenon. 287

This chapter has

focused upon passaqes that seem to indicate an actual anqelic identity inherent in at least certain human beinqs even in their earthly lives.

This means that the present discussion

287

Clearly echoing Daniel, lEnoch 58:3, for example, proclaims: '"The righteou• one• •hall be in the light of the •un and the elect one• in the light of eternal life which ha• no end, and the day• of the life of the holy one• cannot be numbered.'" 2Enoch 65:11 (in the '"A'" text) al•o preserve• thi• motif a• well.: '"Bow happy are the righteou• who will ••cape the Lord*• great judgement, for their face• will. •hine forth like the •un.• The parallel pa••age in the '"J'" text i• even more explicit about the angel-like existence of the time-to-come: •aut they will. have great light, a great indestructible light, and paradi•e, great and incorruptible. Por everything corruptible wil.l pa•• away, and the incorruptible will come into being, and wil.l be the •helter of the eternal. re•idenc••·· Even the vi•ion of enlightenment and angelification in the time to come in lBnoch 48:1--'"All of the thir•ty one• drink (of the water) and become fil.led with wi•dom; then their dwelling place• become with the holy, righteou•, and elect one••--•ugge•tive a• it i• of learning in thi• life a• a path to angel.ic exi•tence, doe• not meet the criterion of thi• •tudy. lBnoch 62:13-16 ha• •the righteou• and elect• clothed with •garment• of glory• in the time to come, and according to 104:4, their joy will be a• that of the angel• of heaven.


231

has excluded many passages, similar to the promise that Isaiah hears in his Ascension, to the effect that human beings will, after death or in an age to come, find themselves existing as angels.

Such motifs do not, in and of themselves, demonstrate

the belief in an angelic Israel in the sense that we are exploring in this study. post-mortem angelic life,

That is, the theme of a future or even where it is conceived as a

recapitulation of the soul's origin,

does not on its own

bespeak a view of Israel as a people apart, distinquished by an inherent and actual angelic identity. Even

the

notion

that we have

just

observed

in

the

Ascension of Isaiah, that certain living human beings might

have personal angelic robes, numbered and assigned in, as it were, the cloakroom of the seventh heaven, may fall somewhat short of expressing a belief in angelic identity in the course of human life, inasmuch as those robes cannot be worn, and usually cannot even be perceived during embodied life, as the angel tells Isaiah. Isaiah,

However, that same angel's confession to

"I am not your Lord but your companion"

(even if

calculated to prepare Isaiah for an encounter with his Lord in the person of the christ), does more closely approach the theme of this study inasmuch as it reveals to Isaiah a truth about his

own nature that may be hidden

by

his

earthly

existence, but nonetheless remains actual to some degree.


240 !'be

Ange~ic

Israe~

Hope of

We have seen that many of the writings that attest to the religious thought of pre-rabbinic Judaism can be interpreted in terms of a narrative theme in which the line of Israel retains innately something of the wondrous nature of the first human being and strives toward ever more complete realization of its rightful angelic identity.

By this effort, and by the

requisite knowledge of humankind's angelic patrimony, Israel is distinguished from the nations that surround it, whose contrary beliefs and actions are often presented in terms of the influence of a

subversive,

fallen faction of angels,

jealous of the status of Adam.

The same motif can serve

equally, as we have seen, to distinguish a self-styled elect within Israel from a perceived corruption of the nation at large. God's

The true Israel enjoys the status of firstborn in household

of

creation,

entitled

to

the

honor

and

preroqatives of the favored son. According characters

to

who

this are

understanding, especially

the

angelified

particular in

the

pseudepigraphal literature should not be read merely as lesser precursors and precedents for the figure of a christ who bridges the heavenly and earthly identities and realms.

The

wondrous accounts of various patriarchs and prophets may have been preserved, in part, because they are amenable to such a reading,

but

the

stories

themselves,

as

we


have

seen,

241

oriqinate well before Christianity and seem to emerqe from a vision

of

Israel's

anqelic

identity

that

requires

particular intermediary for its realization. Jacob,

and

other

fiqures

the

certainly

discovery

and

Adam,

serve

as

realization

no

Levi,

exemplary

paradigms

for

of

anqelic

identity.

The accounts of such characters certainly invite

the identification of their often eponymous descendants (sons of Adam, sons of Levi, children of Israel). anqelic

identity of Israel

depends upon

The corporate

patrimony and a

continuous line to these ancestors and leaders. of

this

is

qualitatively different

from

the

However, all concept

heavenly identity achieved throuqh adherence to a salvific

son

of

God,

as

emerqes

in

of

sinqle,

Christianity.

The

difference seems to rest in a conception of Israel (or of humanity) as already, inherently anqelic.

Aqain and aqain, in

the sources surveyed in this chapter, we see that what is required in the realizinq of anqelic nature is the jolt of confrontation with an identity that is primordially intrinsic and

already

qiven.

When

placed

amonq

the

anqels,

the

Israelite readily discovers a reserved and riqhtful place. In the Fourth Book of Ezra, a Jewish text, dated to about 100

c. E.

I

288

the prophet invokes the firstborn status of

Israel, the nation, in the followinq complaint: As for the other nations which have descended from Adam, you have said that they are nothinq, and that they are like spittle, and you have compared their 288

OTP, vol. 1, p. 20.


242

abundance to a drop from a bucket. And now, 0 Lord, behold these nations, which are reputed as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. But we your people, whom you have called your first-born, only begotten, zealous for you, and most dear, have been given into their hands. If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance? How long will this be so? (4Ezra 6:55-59) Ezra's angelic quide responds with reference to Adam and the consequences of Adam's transqression, but also, ultimately, with an indication that Adam's original lot is to be attained anew.

The response begins with a parable: There is a sea set in a wide expanse so that it is broad and vast, but it has an entrance set in a narrow place. If anyone, then, wishes to reach the sea, to look at it or to navigate it, how can he come to the broad part unless he pass through the narrow part •••

After a second, equivalent parable, the angelic emissary goes on, apparently speaking in God's own voice, to explain: So also is Israel's portion. For when I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged. And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, 289 full of dangers and involved in great hardships. But the entrances of the future world are broad and safe, and really yield the fruit of immortality. Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and vain experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them. These passages represent an effort to come to terms with the disparity between a belief in elect lineage and nature, on the one hand, and the experience of disadvantage and destruction, The very word• u•ed by Jacob to de•cribe the day• of h~• earthly l~fe to Pharaoh in Gen. 289


243

on the other.

The response of 4Ezra is typical: the present

world is the crucible of troubles and temptations in which Xsrael may be refined by makinq choices of obedience and discipline that countermand the transqression of Adam. 4Ezra is also typical in placing the rewards for these choices in a future world--another way of reconcilinq elect identity and worldly downtroddenness.

Yet the promise of a

future world alone was evidently insufficient on its own to inspire and to console

in the

destruction of Jerusalem. this

chapter speak to

centuries surroundinq the

The accounts that we have seen in

Xsrael with a

vision of

intrinsic

identity, in the here and now, that miqht sustain and inspire until the inception of that next world, and hasten its cominq.


244

Chapter Three

ANGELIC ISRAEL: THE RABBINIC SOURCES AND TRADITIONS

,JN

(~9

D,~~n)

~,nJi

~N,W,

l~N

Nl~

N11Jl Dl,N N"i DnN D,~~N ,n,nN

Another interpretation: "He is terrible and awesome"-- this refers to Israel, as it is written, "I said, you are elohim" (Ps.82:6). Vayikra Rabah 18:2

In'traduction It should now be clear that self-identification with the angels was a major feature of much Jewish religious thought at the end of the era of the second Jerusalem Temple.

The

library of Qumran has enabled us to see how a concept of angelic Israel became fundamental in the self-conception and the raison d'etre of one particular Jewish community.

The

many representations of affinity and kinship between Israel and the angels in the pseudepigraphic literature enable us to say

that

the

inhabitants

of

Qumran

were

not

alone

in

conceiving of the distinctiveness and the destiny of Israel in angelic terms. The

theme

literature.

of

angelic

Identification

Israel with

persists the

angels

in

rabbinic

figures

in

rabbinic accounts of Adam and of the original nature of


245

humanity, in narratives of Israel's proqenitors and ancestral heroes, in imaqininqs of revelation and its consequences, in idealizations valorizations

of of

the

Temple

rabbinic

and

life,

its

priesthood,

in conceptualizations

worship, and in visions of the world to come. be discovered

in of

The theme can

in almost all of the texts of

classical

rabbinic literature that contain qreat quantities of aqadah; and one need only look at the yotzer and kedushah-liturqies of rabbinic prayer to see that fascination with celestial beinqs and with the anqelic service in the heavens remained a source of inspiration and an orqanizinq principle in Jewish prayer. When

one

finds

a

distinct

theme

manifest

in

the

protoloqy, the teleoloqy, the cosmology, and the liturgy of a reliqion,

and

also

manifest

in

that

reliqion's

characterizations of its participants, then one is tempted to say that the theme must be fundamental and essential to the reliqion.

One miqht normally be justified in sayinq so; but

classical

rabbinic

literature rabbinism's consistent,

(if

literature

there

success

be is

unified,

voices--free

such

a

not

normal

reliqious

A function

texts do

not present a

its

and

sustained

to

a

thinq).

that

anthropological argument. multiple

is

theoloqical

of

and

By eschewinq unanimity in favor of ranqe

within

quite

rudimentary

doctrinal parameters--classical rabbinic reliqion spreads its tent wide, admittinq a variety of outlooks and interests and


241

allowing

these

to

flourish.a 90

The

one

God

created

the

world, elected Israel from among the nations, and revealed to Israel the all-important Torah from which all truth derives; and it is exceptionally hard, and probably undesirable, to pin "the rabbis," in their textually assembled multitudes, to more specific doctrines and dogmas. The rise

of rabbinic

leadership

in the wake of

the

Temple's destruction is commonly regarded as marking the end of a period characterized by separate Jewish sects, and as marking

the

dawn

of

an

era

of

Jewish

normativity.

Normativity, however, is hardly the first word that comes to mind when one surveys the landscape of rabbinic thought.

The

texts of Qumran, on the whole, evidence a much more coherent and single-minded theology and world-view than does midrashic literature;a91 and the same was probably true of other prerabbinic Jewish sects whose libraries are not available to us. Early rabbinism tolerates and includes multiple ideologies. As Shaye Cohen has observed: "The dominant ethic here is not exclusivity but elasticity.

The goal was not the triumph over

other sects but the elimination of the need for sectarianism itself. " 29 a

Next

to

Qumran's

zealous

particularism,

the

tanaitic assertion that all of Israel have a share in the world to come rings radically inclusive. ~° Cf. Shay• J. D. COhen, 291

•The Significance of Yavneh.•

With due re•pect for the variation• amonq ~an-text•!

a92 Shay• J. D. cohen, •The Significance of Yavneh.•


247

In

view of the quite varied spiritual and thematic

interests evidenced in classical rabbinic literature, we are bound, when we consider particular rabbinic concepts--of God, mankind, the cosmos, and their interplay--to speak of opinions

within rabbinic literature rather than opinions of rabbinic literature corporately.

To express it in this vein,

essential argument of this chapter is as follows: framework

of

classical

rabbinic

agadah,

the

Within the

proponents

of

a

concept of angelic Israel carried their theme forward and argued for its importance.

2'1le Rallge of Sources

The sources presented in this chapter are culled from "classical rabbinic literature."

The objective is to discern

the thought and beliefs of those sages who shaped the main line, so to speak, of rabbinic religion. and Amoraim,

These are the Tanaim

whose voices we hear in the Mishnah and the

Talmudim as well as in midrashic compilations.

To be sure,

one cannot study the thought of those sages without, at one and the same time, studying the work of the various redactors who anthologized and shaped the classical rabbinic legacy. One

must

remember

that

the

Talmudim

and

the

midrashic

anthologies are all composite works, assembled by editorial agents distinct from the sages whose dicta are their buildingblocks.

These editors, or redactors, demonstrably also made

contributions of their own to these works, sometimes adding


248

quite substantially, sometimes emending or slightly adapting the traditions to which they were heirs. 293 the

dates

of

the

compilations

of

the

What is more,

various

midrashic

anthologies that purport to transmit the views of the tanaitic and amoraic sages range widely, from the days of these sages themselves to much later centuries; and some of these works were assembled and reworked gradually through great spans of time. In view of such active redactional work in the midrashic literature, and such widely ranging dates of redaction, one can well question the merit of assembling agadic traditions from various sources thematically, as this chapter will do. Many scholars now eschew such a method in favor of what Jacob Neusner

has

literature.

termed

a

"documentary

approach"

to

rabbinic

That approach treats each work in turn as a

literary and

religious world unto

itself,

studied in isolation from other sources. 294 underlying Neusner's rabbinic text,

approach are:

which must

be

The arguments

that when we study

a

we can encounter it only as its redactors

wished it to be read; that, therefore,

it is actually the

293

The •eparatene•• of the redactional endeavor from the productivity of the named Sage• cited in talmudic and other rabbinic text• i• the topic of ongoing and pion. .ring •cholar•hip by Profe••or David Wei•• Ralivni, to whoa I owe my training in the critical analy•i• of •uch text• in term• of their formation. For the late•t development• in thi• area cf. the introduction to the volume on Bava Met•ia of lfelcoroe u..aoroe (Source• and Tradition•), Debir, Jeru•alem, forthcoming. 294

Jacob Neu•ner, •Why Schechter, Moore, and Urbach are Irrelevant to Scholar•hip Today, • in seudiea in ehe Behnography oL Judai.,., Scholar'• Pre••• Atlanta, 1989, pp. 173-194.


241

world of thought of those redactors that we inevitably study; and that, consequently, we must not take the attributions of dicta in rabbinic texts at face value and believe that we are studying the

thought of the

sages who are named

in the

particular text. On the other hand, there is every reason to think that attributions of dicta in the classical midrashim are, for the most part, made in good faith. the

presumption

fancifully,

that

but

the

That is, we should start with

attributions

represent

the

are

not

invented

bona

redactors'

fide

transmission of parts of a legacy from previous generations. we should make a contrary case only where reasons to do so present themselves,

albeit we should also be cautious and

modest in making claims for the accuracy of attributions.

We

must acknowledge that the redactor's inheritance may well have accrued not only shades and nuances in its transmission, but also

settings

amid

other

sources

and

associative

links

accentuating particular themes, all of which may well reflect later sensibilities. uncomplicated

We are thus a far cry away from claiming

preservation

of

traditions

through

the

generations; yet, takinq care to be alert to the complications of transmission, we can still discern early thought in later texts. This chapter will concentrate as much as possible upon the

earliest

principally

agadic

Bereshit

sources Rabah,

that

evidence

Vayikra

Rabah,

our

themes--

and

talmudic


250

aqadot.

However,

where

themes

of

anqelic

Israel

are

represented significantly in later compilations--the Midrash on Psalms and Bemidbar Rabah, for example--this chapter will follow the themes into those sources as well.

Anachronism is

not the qoal; and if we consistently recall the provenances of the various texts here, then the picture that emerges is a diachronic one that reveals remarkable continuity of rabbinic thouqht on the subject of Israel's affinity with the anqels.

Another note before turninq to the substance of this chapter:

From the earliest days of the scientific study of

rabbinic literature in Western academe,

there has been a

tendency to reqard themes and opinions that do not persist within current Jewish orthodoxy as not seriously intended by the early rabbis, or as peripheral curios. -to

take

the paradigmatic example of

Solomon Schechtersuch an

approach--

purported to discern between the "wheat" and the "chaff" in rabbinic orthodoxy

aqadah, of

determinations. 295

unapoloqetically his

own

We

must

allowing

experience avoid

such

to

the

Jewish

inform prejudices

his and

295 solomon Schechter, some Aspect• of Rabbinic Theology, Adam and Charla• Black, London, 1909. Schechter (pp. vii.i-ix) wrote, "I made little uee of euch matter ae may be de•cribed a• mere legend or fancy, falling within the province of folk-lore and apocalyp•• rather than belonging to the domain of theology. The•• repreaent the chaff, an inevitable growth in the field of religion. • Schechter believed that •the unity of the Synagogue wae and i• •till incorporate, • and that thi• ju•tifiec:l occaeional appeal• to •living te•timony• a• a witne•• to ancient rabbini.c idea•. For Schechter • • admi•aion of hie own Jewiah experience a• a yard-•tick, and hi• •eJutptical attitude• toward de•cription• of cla••ical rabbinic thought that did not jibe with hi• own experience of the religion, •ee p.xviii.


251

approach the rabbinic sources with a view to their antecedent traditions, chapters.

which we have encountered in the previous two

At this point in our study, it should be clear that

the theme of angelic Israel was earnestly meant and fervently believed in earlier forms of Judaism.

This chapter will

demonstrate that the theme remained important and compelling for many rabbinic sages as well.

Syllbo~is• and

Actuality in

C~liSsica.l

lfidrasll

Bereshit Rabah 68: 12 presents the following midrashic interpretation of Jacob's dream of a ladder of angels: ~~

,0,10

~wwn ~,1D

~J~1

,111ng ,, l,NW Cl,IT n,,

rr~rn (~ n1nw) 1IT,1W n1Jl1~~ l,N ,C,,lil C,J~~ l,N

~niN

1,,1D ~~J 'il illill

,W~~~

,IT~Tn~

,D

N19~

1~

,Jn

rr~rn ~~ .~~1N ~~1n ,w~~~ ,~n,nw~ D,ln 1WN1l ,,, ,C,~,N ,~N,n illill ,c,nw,

0,111,1 C,,lD CilW ,1~ 1,111,1 ~~l '~ nN ,n,N1 (U C1nD) ,l,,D

Bar Kapara taught: There is no dream without an interpretation. "And lo, a ladder"--that is the ramp [of the Temple's altar]; "set up on the earth"--that is the altar, as in "An altar of earth you shall make for me" (Ex.20:21); "and the top of it reached to the heavens"--that refers to the sacrifices; "and lo, angels of God"--those are the high priests; "ascended and descended upon it"--in that they ascend and descend the ramp; "and lo, the Lord stood over him"--[as it is said] "I saw the Lord standing over the altar" (Amos. 9: 1) • 296 Clearly priests are identified with angels in this midrash, and the Temple-service is identified with Jacob's dream-vision

296 Thi• midra•h i• paralleled in the Midra•h on P•alm•, 78:6 where it illu•trate• the &rC)WIIent that Gocl gave Jacob a premonition of the T8iDple.


252

of

heaven

chapter,

and

however,

identifications speakinq

earth

only

in of

we

interpenetratinq.

Throuqbout

this

must

nature

such

question

classical clever

the

rabbinic

symbolic

sources.

correlations,

of

Are

of

we

the

correspondence of separate realities in the imaqes of a dream? can we say only that the service of the Temple was understood by the early rabbis as referrinq symbolically to the heavenly service of the celestial& in the intimate presence of God?

Or

did anqels and priests, temple and heavens, coincide in some rabbinic minds to the point of a more actual kind of identity? To illustrate, by example, the opposite end of what we miqht

call

a

spectrum,

in miclrashic

literature,

ranqinq

between metaphor and actuality, consider, by contrast, another aqadah--this one in Bemidbar Rabah 16:1--in which the kinship of priests and anqels appears quite real and consequential. This source elaborates on the Israelite spies' visit to the house of Rahab, in Jericho.

The two spies sent by Joshua are

typically identified in aqadah as Pinchas and Caleb, and as Rahab moves to hide the two men from the soldiers of Jericho, this midrash places the followinq demure in the mouth of Pinchas: 'NJW C,~K"1n"1 1"1wnJ O,Ji1~i11 li1~ ,JN OTTJ9 i1"1 1nN li1,gn 1w~~, i111n1 nu1 11nw, li1~ ,ngw ,~ (l ,~N"1n) 1 J ,N Wj2~n i1N1 J Wj2ln 1N"1ni1 1 N 1i1 n1K~~ 'i1 1M"1n , ~ 1,1~ ,J,Kl lil~ ,JN CTTJ9 i1"1 1nN 1~,9"1 ••• i1N1J ll,Nl li1,J9"1 ln1D ,JNl ,1lTT l"1~"1 ,J,ntJi1 l,ntJi1"1 i1nWD lJ1 ,nlK l,M11

Pincbas said to her: I am a priest, and the priests are likened to the angels as it is said, "for the lips of the priest shall quard knowledge, and they


253

shall seek the law at his mouth, for he is an angel of the Lord of hosts• (Mal.2:7); and an angel, if he so wishes, can be seen, and, if he so wishes, can be invisible ••• 297 Pinchas therefore said to Rahab: I am a priest, and I do not need to hide. Hide Caleb, and I will stand right before them and they will not see me. And so she did. The language that Pinchas uses to identify himself with the angels is the language of parable

(O,~N7n7

17wnJ

O,J~~~),

and

yet the effect of the correlation in the midrashic narrative is

anything

but

allegorical.

Pinchas

actually

becomes

invisible.

7wn in an account of

This usage of the parlance of

ontological convergence seems to illustrate what Beate Ego has termed

(with

regard

to

metaphor

in

pre-rabbinic

Jewish

literature) Urbild-Abbild-Denken--a convergence of signifier and signified (Einheit von Bild und Sache) • 298

That is to

say,

ontological

there

is

consequence,

a

in

dimension midrashic

correlations of agadah. figuratively,

or

of

actuality,

wordplay

and

of in

the

semantic

If a thing is found to be literarily,

symbolically

compelling--as

is

the

correspondence of Jacob's angels to the priesthood in Bereshit Rabah 68:12--it is not far from being considered actually so-as in the account of Pinchas is Bemidbar Rabah 16:1. following words,

from Jon Levinson's discussion

The

(in terms

almost identical to Ego's) of the convergence of the heavens 297

The intervening teat at thi• point i• an interpoaed proof that prophet• too are like angel•, and we will deal with that pa••age in a ••parate •egment on prophet•, below. 298

Ego, 1989.


254

and the Temple in the sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah, apply equally well to the phenomenon we see in our midrash concerninq Pinchas and the anqels: "The difference between the earthly antitype [Abbild] and the heavenly archetype [Urbild] disappear:

iconoqraphy becomes the reality it symbolizes"

(Levinson 1985 54). The midrash about Pinchas and Caleb in Bemidbar Rabah 16:1 is occasioned by a peculiar scriptural turn of phrase-the word

1J9~n1,

which reads as if sinqular--"she hid him"--

althouqh the biblical narrative concerns both of the two spies.

Considered from this linquistic anqle, the purpose of

the midrash is to explain away an apparent inconsistency or irreqularity of scriptural wordinq.

Pinchas is conveniently

allowed anqelic invisibility to remove him from the purview of a verb, as much as from the qaze of Jericho's soldiers.

Does

that diminish the ontoloqical claim the midrash seems to make about the priesthood?

Not at all, for the midrash would have

absented Pinchas in some other way, or simply have iqnored the passaqe altoqether, had the thouqht of Pinchas' beinq anqellike not been aqreeable and appealinq in and of itself.

Odd

scriptural phrases often suqqest wondrous possibilities, and the

authors

of

aqadah

are

audacious

embracers

of

such

opportunities to enrich the biblical leqacy; but their work is not haphazard.

The associations they make depend upon the

beliefs they hold and the arquments they wish to advance.


255

The images and ideas that agadic interpretations develop should not be reduced to mere wordplay, nor even to virtuoso turns of exegetical daring for their own sake. midrash,

seem

to

consequential.

have

regarded

Fiqure

and

their

fact

The framers of

work

as

far

more

converge

in

midrashic

literature in such a way as to create a landscape of actuality whose

features

are

often

determined

by

cleverness of sportive scriptural readings.

the

compelling

The ontological

enterprise of agadah seems to rest upon the conviction that the landscape revealed through the application of the art of midrash to the scriptures is not merely an imaginary and homiletically useful fantasy,

but is the most actual and

deeply true reality of the world. turn

to

further

agadic

sources

With this in mind, let us on

the

theme

Israel.


of

angelic

251

2'be

Allge~ic

Identity o~ tile First

OW~

11n,o

M~n

11WN1~

1~

~il~,

CiN nN

'1

11WN1~

o"~~o

su-n CiN

Beings

~T

N1~W oUW~

Nl~

,,~

N11ll Cl,M

1~ UWlo, ,~1 l~lJ C~lUo ~J

"Terrible and awesome is he"--This refers to the first man. R. Yehudah bar Simon in the name of R. Yehoshua b. Levi: When God created the first man he filled all the world. 499 Vayikra Rabah 18: 1

In

the

observed creature.

a

previous theme Also,

of

chapter, man's

on

beinq

in that chapter,

the an

pseudepiqrapha, oriqinally

we

anqelic

we saw evidence of

a

pervasive and essential theme, in those same sources, in which the covenant between God and the Israelite line enables the elect amonq Adam's descendants to retain or reqain somethinq of the oriqinal anqelic nature of the first human beinq.

We

shall now see that a concept of Adam as oriqinally anqelic pervades classical rabbinic literature as well, and that this concept of Adam is connected with a conception of humankind as sharinq in the nature of the anqels. First of all, we should note the commonplace in classical midrashic literature that the soul of man300 has its oriqin

499

The rejoining text adda the additional interpretation that the firat huaaan being fi.lled the entire apace, or cavi.ty, of the univerae cn~lD ~~ ,~~n), according to Paa~ 139 ·~J9J ,~D nwn1•. 300

I uae the word •man• adviaedly here; I ahall come to the problem of woman and angelic identity in the rabbinic aourcea in due courae (and, I aay •problem• adviaedly aa well, in view of tho•• aourcea).


257

on high and is thus in nature distinct from the body, which has its origin below. 301 the

human

soul

is

The supernal, even cosmic nature of

made

especially

poignant

in

a

brief

tradition attributed to R. Shimon b. Lakish in Bereshit Rabah 8:1 (Albeck): DIM7W liTl1 lT n9IT1n D,~7N IT11l W,~7 1~ llDnW '1 1nN DIM ~:lT DN '~ IT11 l,7ll ~ITJl 1nN nNI 1,~ 11WM1~ 17 D,1nlN 1M7 DMl n1w~ ,~N7n7 nn1~ ~nM )7 D,1nlM 1n1i1 ~l~T

R. Shimon b. Lakish (said] "And the spirit of the Lord hovered [on the face of the waters]" (Gen.1:2)--That is, the soul of the first man, as you say, "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him" (Isa.11:2). If a man is meritorious, he is told, You· preceded the ministering angels; and if not, he is told, The gnat preceded you. 302 According to a well-known talmudic presentation of the issue, it is not only the supernal soul of the first man that is breathed into an earthly body by God; the conception of each subsequent human being recapitulates the animation of Adam, except that the corporeal mass to be animated comes from the parents rather than the earth:

Vayikra Rabah 4:8 contain• a long diacour•e on the a~ilarity of the •oul to God, mo•tly by way of analogy between the •oul in the body and God in the world, but al•o with regard to the •oul '• uniquene••, invi•ibility, longevity, freedom from phy•ical need•, and purity. 301

302

In the Vilna edition, the spirit of the Lord hovering over the face of the water• i• •aid to be the •pirit of the Me••iah 17n 7w 1rr1, rr,wnn. That ver•ion, a• a. Chanokh Zundel note• in hi• commentary Etz Yo•ef, i• clo•er to the contextual •en•e of the prooftext from I•a.ll, which •peak• of the ••hoot of the •tock of Je••e;• but the •urrounding pa••age• in Bere•hit Rabah 8:1 are entirely to do with the fir•t human being, a• i• the aaidra•hic rejoinder to the quoted verse, •o that an original reading of •fir•t aaan, • a• cho••n by Albeck, rather than •aae••iah•, i• mo•t likely.


258

[Xn a man] the white is from the male, out of which brain and bones and sinews are formed; and the red is from the female, out of which the skin and the flesh and the blood are made; and the spirit and the life and the soul are from the Holy One, blessed be He. Thus all three have a share in him. yKilayim 8:4 (31c) This Yerushalmi source portrays a tripartite formation of each human

being.

Earthly

parents

being

absent

from

Adam's

conception, the prototypical midrashic account of the first man's genesis, and of his nature, is dual: 1n

~,,~,,

o,Jlnnn~

1n

~,,~,

n,,,~,

,nw

,~,,,

o,J,,'nm

"And He formed (,~,,, -- with two letters 'yud')" [indicates] two formations--a formation [in the nature] of those below and a formation [in the nature] of those on high[ ••• ] Bereshit Rabah 14:3 The midrash just quoted is based on the verb featured

in Genesis'

,~,

second creation account.

(form),

A similar

midrash, in Bereshit Rabah 12: 8, where it is anonymous, and in Vayikra Rabah 9:9, in the name of R. Shimon b. Chalafta (a Tana of the time of the Mishnah's compilation), builds on the verb featured in the first creation

account--N,~

(create).

The passaqe is framed as a homily in praise of peace, and represents Adam's creation as a reconciliation of the heavens and the earth. n,Jlnnn'2

The midrash begins, nN

n,J1,'2U~

l,J. C1'2W

~wu

~"~i7~

lnJ.W:JW 01'2W '21il

ln'21U--"Great is peace, for

when the Holy One Blessed be He created His world, He made peace between the realm on high and that below."

The account

goes on to enumerate the creations of each of the six days,


251

alternately identifying the creations of each day as heavenly or earthly (the heavenly firmament on the second day, gathering of the waters on the third day, and so on).

the This

progression leads to a problem on the sixth day: lU 1n1M M11~ ,JN OM 1UM DiM n1M1~~ M~ ,WW~ OM nrrM nM,1~ D,Jlnrrnn lU 0,~1 D,ll,~Un ,,n ~u o, ~, o, Jlnnnn , 1n o, Jlnrrnn tn 1n1M i"nn D,J1nnnn 1n1 D,l,,~un 1n 1M1~ nwu nn nrrM nN,,~ D,Jlnrrnn 1n1 nniMn 1n 19U DiMn nM o,n~M •n ,~,,, o,J,,~un 1n o,,rr nnwl ,,9M~ rrg,,

D,ll,~Dn M11~ ,JM o, Jl, ~un

on the sixth day, when He came to create man, he said: If I create him from the realm on high, the ones on high will be more numerous than those below. If I create him from the realm below, thos• below will be more numerous than those on high. What did He do? He created him from the realm on High and from that below. Thus it is said, "And God fashioned the man, dust from the earth"--from the realm below--"and blew in his nostrils the breath of life"--from the realm above (Gen.2:7). Man,

in this conception,

is a creature caught between the

heavenly and the earthly realms.

By nature he partakes of

both. In the midrashim above, the human soul is set apart as a heavenly being. of R.

Levi.,

Similarly, in Vayikra Rabah 4:2, in the name

a man and his soul are likened to a townsman

married to a royal daughter: ll,M ou DiN n~un~n

~ug,w

M,nw

nn

nn~

~3

13

1n~1rr

D,3~n

,i,

M,nw

n~

M~,,

D~lD

~3

,liUn

,g~

nn~

n~,3NUW

1n~1rr

,i,

9"UM M~,,

ll,M 1W9l--"He might feed her

all the dainties of the world and yet never fully discharge his obligation (to sustain her]. royal daughter.

Why not?

Because she is a

So too, as much (good] as a man does with his


210

soul be never fulfills his obliqation.

Why?

Because she [the

soul] is from above." The notion of a heavenly soul instilled in an earthly body does not on its own indicate a concept of anqelic Israel. Other sources havinq to do with man's nature,

while still

presentinq him as pulled between to opposite poles of oriqinal identity, are sliqhtly more holistic, so to speak, in their conception of man's partial, or potential anqelic character. Bereshit Rabah 14:3,

for example,

repeated midrash on Gen.1:27 Rabah itself,

in

a: 11)

continues with an oft-

(reduplicated within Bereshit

enumeratinq four anqelic and four

animal aspects in Adam: ll~11 ~~, 1J Ml,Jn ,~1 cwJ ~,nrrJ 1~ nw1~, ,~1 ,ron'1n ~D~1M1 ~'1llll'1n n1,1~ DJ1M ,~ N1~ ,1nM M"1 D,'1'1l '1,Ull1 ,~n~J~ ~~11 ~19 ,~n~~~ ~n1W1 '1~1M 1J1n ,n1w~ ,~M'1n~ 1n1u ,~'1un'1n ,~n~~J nn1 ,~n~~~ ,~N'1n~ ~M111 ,n1W~ ,JM'1ll~ nD1 1~ W, ,n1W~ ,~M'1ll~ ow~

n1w~

R. Yehoshua b. Nehemiah in the name of R. Chaninah b. Yitzhak and the Rabbis in the name of R. Eliezer say: He created in (Man] four 'creations' [in the nature of] those on hiqh and four [in the nature] of those below. He eats and drinks like a beast, reproduces like a beast, defecates like a beast, and dies like a beast; (yet,] (in the nature] of those on hiqh, he stands like the ministerinq anqels, speaks like the ministerinq anqels, there is understandinq in him as in the minister inq anqels, and he sees like the ministerinq anqels. After a brief, interpolated, anonymous remark, distinquishinq hWDan from animal seeinq,

the text in Bereshit

Rabah 14: 3

continues as follows: n11li~1

D'1~J

1M1Jl D,l1,•nm MITM '1 CWJ ,Mi9n '1 ,D,J11 0,19 O,J1nnni11 1,J11 1,19 1l,M1 n1n1J1 o'1~~ 1n1M N11J ,l,1i1 i1"~~i1 1nM ,n1n1~1 o'1~~ 1M1~l

M'11


2&1

,,

,O,Jlnnn~ 1n ~~,, ~,9 ,O,Jl,7D~ 1n 1n lnlM ,JN M,l~ OM~·~~~ ,nM ,,nM MITM M7M ,,rr lJ,Ml nn Ml~ c,Jlnrrn~ 1n ,nn lJ,Ml ,rr n1n, Nun, oM c,Jlnrrn~ 1n1 c,J,,7n~ 1n 1n1M M,,~ ,JM ~,n, Mt:Jn, M7 OMl ow~

,Mi9n

,~,

Ml~ O,Jl,7D~ ,,~

R. Tifdai in the name of R. Acha said: The ones on high [the angels] were created in the [divine] image and likeness, and do not reproduce, and the ones below [the animals] reproduce and were not created in the [divine] image and likeness. Said the Holy one Blessed be He: I shall now create him (man] in the [divine] image and likeness, (in the nature] of those on high, and let him reproduce, [in the nature] of those below. R. Tifdai in the name of R. Acha said: Said the Holy one Blessed be He: If I create him [in the nature] of those on high he shall live and not die; if [in the nature] of those below he shall die and not live. Rather, I shall create him [in the nature] of those on high and of those below; if he sins he will die, and if not he shall live. This continuation of themidrash, especially the second of its segments attributed to R. Tifdai, further develops the very angel-like identity of the first man. he was intended,

from the beginning,

Despite the fact that to reproduce as the

animals do, had he not transgressed, he might have enjoyed the eternal life of the angels in addition to his other angelic attributes. against sin,

Certainly this midrashic segment is a homily but

it

is also a

divinely intended nature of man.

statement concerning the In brief: man is intended to

be an angel of the earth--a standing, speakinq, understanding, seeing creature of the divine will, enjoyinq the possibility of eternity, although he is shaped from the elements below; however, should he fail in his adherence to the divine will, he will revert to the earthly aspect of his nature.


2'2

The same contingent angelic identity of man is expressed in the Sifrei on Deuteronomy (piska 306), although in more starkly dualistic terms--and there the contingt=nt angelic identity is also more clearly generalized beyond the first Adam: DW9J C 1 nWi1 1n 1M1~Jw n1, 1~ 7:J 1n1 M , ,n,c '1 i, il 09111 CW9J p1Mi1 1n 1M1~JW n1 1 1~ 7J1 C 1 nWil 1n 09111 p1Mi1 1n 19111 D1 nwil 1n 1W9JW ilT CIMn p1n p1Mil 1n M1il 1 1il D 1 0W~W 1 1 ~M 11~1 ilWD1 il11n CIM ilWD OM l:J 1 97 D1 il7M ,n1nM 1 JM (1 ~g D1 7iln) 1nMJW il7Dn 7w n1,1~:1 1 1 ~M 11~1 ilWD M71 il11n ilWD M7 D:J7:J 11 1 7D 1 J~1 CnM 1JM (T ~g C 1 7iln) 1nMJW ilon 7w n1,1~:J M1il 1 1il c,nw~w .11n1nn DIM:J

R. Simai [elsewhere called 'the most holy'] said: All created beings that were created from the earth, their soul and body are from the earth, except man, whose soul is from heaven and his body from the earth. Therefore, if be observed the Torah and did the will of his Father in heaven, he is like the beings [of heaven] above, for Scripture states, 'I said: Ye are godlike beings, and all of you sons of the Most High' (Ps.82:6). But if he did not observe the Torah nor do the will of his Father in heaven, he is like the creatures of [earth] below, as it is said, 'Nevertheless you shall die like men.' Not all of Adam's descendants, according to this midrasb, but those possessed of God's Torah, are able to be like the angels above, for they best employ their souls which are from the angelic realm above. I

emphasize the

"like"

in the

Sifrei-passage above,

because we must constantly reconsider the possibility of mere analogy,

simile,

or imitation when examining the rabbinic

likenings of man to the angels.

Reduction of the theme of

angelic Israel to a matter of imitation and analogy seems to be one of the ways in which nascent rabbinism absorbed and


213

tamed the potentially radicalizing notion of Israel's being an angelic elect and creatures of the heavens.

At the same time,

it is clear that the " ••• J" that we translate to "as" or "like" can express antic identity--a possibility considered by the early rabbinic exegetes themselves, with regard to the biblical text and in connection with our theme, especially in connection with Gen. 3:22.

There God observes that the first

man has become "like one of us," and Bereshit Rabah 21, which treats that verse, opens as follows: :PnJ

1 111 1Jnn "TnNJ i1,i1 tliNi1 lil O,i17M 'i1 1nM,1 inN 1nM,1 1~in W1i~ inM UnWN1 (n 7M,Ji) O"TN i1T ,,n,J97 o7,~u 011,n [ ••• ] '1l1 1~"Tni1 ,J1n797 n1wi1 ,JM7nn o,J97 1n~,nn i1n,i1w 11WM1il 1

W1i~

"Then God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us ••• " It is written, "Then I heard a holy one speakinq; and another holy one said to that certain one (lepalmoni) who spoke ••• " (Dan.8:13). [ ••• ] Akilas interpreted it: [He spoke to] the one who was farther inward (lepenimi), which was Adam, whose partition was inward of that of the ministering angels. This midrash embraces and expands upon the apocalyptic vision of Daniel 7 and 8, adding Adam to that vision's retinue of heavenly ministers, and adding him in a cardinal position, more proximal to God than the angels.

This midrash attaches

celestial significance to the ancestral Adam; it speaks to the ultimate importance of the human beinq among all of God's servants; and perhaps it holds out the possibility of heavenly reward to Adam's worthy descendants. that,

Yet one might arque

by itself, this midrash from Bereshit Rabah 21 says

little about affinity between living human beinqs and the


angels.

The souls of the departed and the as-yet-unborn are

frequently to be found hovering around the divine throne in apocalyptic literature, as we have seen.

one might suggest

that the heavenly abode of the unborn and departed souls indicates a distance and a gulf between the livinq and the angels that shall

~an

discuss

only be traversed at birth and death. further

in a

different seqment,

(As we

a

midrash

attributed toR. Aba in Deuteronomy Rabah 12 promises that the partition of the riqhteous in the world to come will be more inward

than

that

of

the

ministerinq

angels--an

exact

recapitulation of Adam's celestial status, but one which seems to remove normal human life, in the present world, from the equation.) On the other hand, we do not have to look far afield from Bereshit Rabah 21:1 to find rabbinic claims that the newly created Adam enjoyed angelic status during his earthly life. A series of interpretations in Bereshit Rabah 21:5 explores the possibilities of the divine remark that the man "is become as one of us" to the loftiest extreme.

Let us examine the

midrashim in Bereshit Rabah 21:5 piece by piece.

The seqment

begins: n1w~

1111

,~M~nn

D,,~

inM~

1Jnn

inM~

1Jnn irrM~ ~,~ 111 0,~11 ,JW

~,~

CiM~

1~

0199

,~1

w11

0199 1,,, D"1 ~"M DiM~ 1~ c,,~n ~nM ~n ~"M 1,J9~ D1~n~ 17 1nJW ~"M n1nM 111 1~ 11,~1 n1n~

R. Papos interpreted: "Lo the man is become as one of us" (Gen,3:22)--as one of the ministering angels.


215

R. Akiba said to him: Enough, Papos! He said to him: What then do you make of "Lo the man is become as one of us•? He said to him: [It means] that the divine placed before him two paths--the path of life and the path of death, and he chose the other path. R. Akiba's cautionary rebuke suggests an effort to quell the equation of Adam with the angels; but, as we shall see, R. Akiba's silencing interjection is entirely undermined by the even more audacious interpretations that follow after,

so

that, literarily, the inclusion and placement of R. Akiba's stern hushing only gives the entire question and sequence of interpretations a fascinating air of danger and esotericism. R. Akiba's own alternate interpretation, which is much less literal

than the

reading of R.

Papos,

might be stronger

evidence for a countertradition seeking to subdue speculation on the angelic Adam.

In any event, the interpretations next

in line (both based on the scriptural words 1Jnn iiTNJ "as one of us") undercut R. Akiba's apparent caution: c,,~i)

Wl~~

,nNJW

iiTN W1 N

c~lD

~w

~J~l

(1

~

1

~1

1i 1 IT 1 J ,nN 11n,o 1~ ~il~, ,~, iiTN '~ 1J 1 ~~N '~ ~N,W 1 DnW {1 ~N 1 Ji) ,nNJW ~N,,~lJ ,,nN lJ~,

~,J,n ~ 1 Wl~~i

N~n~

l

1

l~J

,C 1 i~~

R. Yehudah bar Simon said: As the Unique One of the Universe, as it is said, "Hear o Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. " The Rabbis say: As [the angel] Gabriel, as it is said, "And one man in the midst of them, clothed in linen" (Ezek.9:2)--like a snail, whose garment is part and parcel of its body. R. Yehuda bar Simon's contention is that Adam shares in an affinity of nature with God Himself.

The opinion attributed

to the Rabbis suqqests that what miqht seem merely an outward


angelic aspect in man is actually a

true likeness to the We have

highest angels that is essential to man's being.

already seen in earlier sources, and we will continue to see in this chapter, the importance of the robe or garment as a sign of angelic identity.

The analogy to the snail in the

passage above--whose 'garment' is integral to its self--seems to express the notion that man's ability to seem angelic is more

than

a

masquerade

or

imitation;

it

is

rather

an

expression of his integral identity, his actual nature. Finally, with regard to Bereshit Rabah 21:5, we should take note of the last opinions in the sequence:

cuo cuo

,~,~NJ 1nN NJ,Jrr ,~, cw~ ~,J,~ ,~, n1n cno c1uo~ ,,N, ~,~ N~ ~T ~N n1n ~,~w 1nr ~J 1nNT l,Jrr ,~, cw~ ~,J,~ ,~,T ~,nuT N,~ D11 ~10 nUT~ lnU~~ lJnn ~~OJW ll,Jl TITNJ ~,~ CTN N~

~T

~n

R. Berachiah in the name of R. Chanina said: Like Elijah. Just as this one [Elijah] did not taste death, so too the other [Adam] was fit not to taste death. This accords with the view of R. Berachiah in the name of R. Chanin, who said: so long as there was [only] Adam, he was as the One; and when his rib was taken from him, it was "to know good and evil." All of the comments in the sequence in Bereshit Rabah 21:5, with the exception of R. Akiba's have a common force:

All of

these interpretations tend toward the view that man enjoys--or enjoyed--an actual kinship and ontological affinity with the inhabitants of the heavens. We should note that, in the last midrash from Bereshit Rabah 21:5 quoted above, the existence of woman is seen as compromising

the

angelic

identity of man--originally


and

217

continually.

By contrast,

some aqadot that we shall see

ascribe anqelic identity to both members of the oriqinal human pair.

Still, the tradition above resonates with a frequently

repeated

midrash

(whose

earliest

version

is

probably

in

Pesikta Rabati) in which the three commandments principally associated with women--chalah,

nidah,

and the liqhtinq of

sabbath and festival liqhts--are interpreted as punishments for woman's corruption of the first man, who was intended to be the blood, the liqht, and the pure meal-offerinq of the world.

Women, who diapered our midrashists when they were

infants, who fed them, and who, as wives, cohabited with them sexually, were perhaps in the best position to know just how far short of the anqelic ideal their menfolk fell.

At least

we can suppose that this was an apprehension on the part of some midrashists,

and we can see that the female was not

forqiven by them for it. A qreat many midrashim concerninq the first human in the Garden of Eden demonstrate quite clearly that early rabbinism included in its thouqht the concept of the oriqinal Adam's beinq an anqelic creature.

I have already mentioned susan

Niditch's writinq on the •cosmic Adam"--the fiqure of the first human beinq stretchinq from the earth to the heavens or from one end of the cosmos to the other, which appears in


218

several midrashim. 303

Niditch notes that Alexander Altman

and Louis Ginzberq believed this motif to be influenced by gnosticism. 304

she

"Yet,"

writes,

"when

one

looks

carefully ••• the gnostic connection quickly fades. " 305 Having considering gnostic parallels, she observes: "[The Rabbis'] Adam

owes

nothing

to

that

of

the

gnostics

and,

more

importantly ••• descriptions of him have great relevance for understanding the Rabbinic world-view itself, quite apart from any anti-gnostic polemic. " 306

Niditch concludes:

It would seem therefore most fruitful to study the world-spanner within its own Rabbinic context. In fact, it belongs to a larger symbol system which reflects the Rabbis' sense of themselves, their conflicts, and their problems. The image of the world-spanner contributes to, and creates, a certain view of the world's order and helps those for whom it was meaningful to deal with the "ambiguities puzzles and paradoxes" 307 of existence. Indeed, to know the first man is to learn about the nature of all men. " 308

303

Niditch (1983). The midrashim in question include Bereshit Rabah 21:3 in the name of R. Yehoshua b. R. Chanina and R. Yehudah b. R. Shimon in R. Eleazar• s name, where prooftaxta are given to show that Adam extended from Baat to Weat and from North to South, and "filled the hollow spaces of the world." These midrashim alao include Vayikra Rabbah 14:1, 18:1. 304

Niditch, pp. 137-138.

305

Niditch, p. 138.

306

Niditch, pp. 138-139.

307 Here Niditch is quoting Geertz, in "Religion as a CUltural Syatem", The Ineerpreeaeion of Culeur•• (New York: 1974) p. 108. 308

Niditch, p. 139.


211

Niditch' s interpretation of the rabbinic interest in a cosmosspanning-Adam is, to a large extent, a fiC)Urative reading.

In

her interpretation the cosmos-spanning Adam is "a symbolic bridge between oppositions of this world and the world to come, "

a

"temporal and ethical mediator of certain human

possibilities. " 309 Man can span two worlds; he can link the present and the future, the other-worldly and the thisworldly. He is thus the Levi-straussian intermediary who partakes of each side of a dichotomy, thereby rendering bearable the tension between them. " 310 I would not deny that Nidditch's formulation expresses thoughts that are fundamental to classical rabbinism--perhaps even deep and driving reasons for the absorption of the image of the cosmos-spanning Adam into various midrashim.

Still I

think we must be wary of too much abstraction, or at least be careful

to

acknowledge

that

abstraction

satisfied all the tradents of our texts. have thought--like their

forbears

would

not

have

Many of them seem to

of the apocalyptic and

Qumran-works--in terms of real possibilities of experience and in terms

of

anticipated changes

and outcomes

in worldly

events.

309

Hiditch, p. 142.

310

Hiddich, p. 140. lfidditch al•o ob•erv•• that, in the rabbinic conception, •thi• po•itive and de•irable form of mediation i• dependent upon what (man] doe• about the very paradox of hi• nature; that i•, hi• potential to choo•e the good and the bad• (p. 140).


270

The tradition in Bereshit Rabah 8:1 (and quite a

few

parallel sources 311 ) that God set up the first human being as a

lifeless, giant golem,

heavens,

and

stretching from the earth to the

then breathed

into him

the soul,

certainly

appeals to symbolic interpretation; but stretching the first man up to the heavens also provides a way, in concrete terms, around the disinclination of some early rabbis to say that God ever

descended

into

the

earthly

world. 312

Even

this

exegetical move, however, would be untenable were there not comfort with the notion of mankind's being, species of angel. 313

originally,

a

Such comfort comes across quite clearly

in a rather blunt and straightforward exegetical statement about Adam's first offspring in Bereshit Rabah 24:6: n11~1n D,J1WM1~

1,M1

n11~1n

l,~M

DIM

n11~1n

n1~~M

190 1~

~T

~n1

This is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen.S:l)-These are the toledot (the ones geraerated in the usual fashion) , while the first ones were not toledot. What were they? Divinities (elobot, celestial beings)!

311 The tradition ia repeated thrice in Bereshit Rabah, as well as in bChaqiqah, bSanhedrin, and Midraah on Psalms. 312

aeveral

We will obaerve thia reluctance to say that God descended in concerning Sinai)

midraah~

313

We ahould alao note a further tradition about Adam as a gole18 that appear• right after a repetition of the cosmoa-apanning motif in Geneaia Rabbah 24: 2. In thia midraah Adam ia granted aupernatural knowledge of future eventa. There ia a notable aimilarity between thia account of the future revealed to Adam and aimilar account• of God • • revelation of the future to lloaea in the context of midraah~ that feature lloaea• heavenly journey and manifestation of angelic attributea, aa we ahall • - · In view of what we have already aeen in apocalyptic literature, we may alao obaerve that ace••• to knowledge of the future can be a aign of admiaaion to the company of angela.


271

The angels themselves shared the impression of Adam as a divine

being,

according to a

tradition

attributed to R.

Hoshaia in Bereshit Rabah 8:10: ,~M~n 1D~ 11WN1o DiM o"~~o M1~W oDW~ N,DWlo ,~1 1nN ,,~w D1~19N1 1~n~ ~wn Wli~ ,,Jg~ 1n1~ 1w~~, n1w~ N~l 1J,n1i 1~n~ 1n1~ 1,w~~n ~J,ino ,J~ ,,~, 1,~,,~~

p1TT

1N,~1~1

19TTi

1~no

~WD

~n

l~T,N

1,Di1,

,,~

o"~~~ N1~W ~DW~ 1~ D1J19,N Ml~W ~J~ 1Di,1 1,~11~~ l,Jg~ 1n1~ 1W~~1 n1W~ ,JM~n 1~ 1D~ 11WN1~ DiM nN ~~~ 1Di, 1 ~ni1n 1 ,~D ~,g~ ~·~ Wli~~ ~WD ~n Wli~ CiM~ 1n OJ~ l~iTT {~ ~,DW,) ~,n~i Ml~ Mi~ DiM Ml~W Ml~

~WTTJ

~n~

,J

19M~

~nWJ

1WM

Said R. Hoshaia: When the Holy One Blessed be He created the first man, the ministering angels mistook and wished to say before him, "Holy!" An analogy may be drawn to a king and a governor who sat in a chariot {1,J11~~) and the people of the land wished to say before the king, "Domino! [the sovereign! ] " but did not know which one he was. So too, when the Holy One Blessed be He created the first man, the ministering angels mistook and wished to say before him, "Holy!" What did the Holy One Blessed be He do? He cast a deep sleep upon him, and then all knew that he was a man. Thus it is written, "Cease ye from man, in whose nostrils is breath, for as what is he accounted?" {Isa.2:22). The closing doubly.

prooftext of this

midrash

seems to

function

on the one hand, it corrects the error of the angels

and reminds of the fragility of earthly man--as what, after all, is he to be reckoned?

On the other hand, in view of the

angels' mistake, the prooftext also reads as though it said, "Do not disparage man, for, after all, as what great being may he, divinely soul-endowed, be reckoned!" The angels might well be forgiven their overestimation of Adam in view of a tradition attributed to Yirmiyah b. Ilai in


272

Vayikra Rabah 11:1.

His coJDJDentary on Wisdom's invitation in

the ninth chapter of Proverbs runs as follows: DiN i1T N1j2n iPn111ll iln~W [ ••• ] ,Nll~N 1J. il,n,, '1 nli1~N 1n1N N1i21 i1"J.i2i1 lO,Oi1W n1i2 ,n11n ,91 ~u ,i11nl n,i1~N~ nn,,il, i"i1i1

R. Yirmiyah b. Ilai interpreted ( ••• ] "She hath sent forth... she calleth her servants" (Prov.9:11)--This alludes to Adam and Eve. "On the winq of the heiqhts of the city" (Prov.9:11)--this means that the Holy One, blessed be He, enabled them to fly and desiqnated them divinities, as it is written, "And you shall be as God" (Gen.3:5) In its context, in Vayikra Rabah, this midrash functions as a preamble to a tradition in the name of Bar Kaparah (in 11:3) that

attributes

exactly the

same

ability

exactly the same words, to Israel at Sinai.

and

status,

in

We will deal with

Israel's reqaininq of anqelic status at Sinai at lenqth in a separate section.

At this point, it is important to note that

the application to Israel at Sinai of the very same words and Wisdom-prooftexts just applied to Adam helps make the point that human anqelic identity is conceived as continqent upon access and adherence to the divine will. At Sinai, the sin of the Golden calf brinqs an end to Israel's realization of anqelic identity, as we shall see.

In

the qarden, of course, the snake is to blame, but the turns of phrase and the prooftexts in the continuation of Vayikra Rabah 11:1 aqain almost exactly parallel the scene at Sinai in 11:3.


273

lnDi

~w

1rr,J~

1~ ~1nM ~~ 314

1~

110, ,ng ,n ~T~ rr~w~ ~~ 1rrM wrrJ ~w lnDi lrrM 1~~~, ~·~~~ ~nM 19D ,~ (l /n,WMl~/ DW)

~l~

1~ ~,~w~ .~1wn 19D ~Ml

1orr

After all this exaltation, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here" (Prov.9:4)--They forsook the will of God and went after the will of the snake. 315 For this reason, "She said to him: "One who lacks understanding," (midrashic reading of Prov.9:16), "You are dust and to dust you will return" (Gen.J:19). The

rejoining

exposition

in

11:1

suggests

that

the

mortality decreed for Adam need not be the fate of all his progeny

(at least not of his elect descendants,

Israel) •

Elsewhere in Vayikra Rabah a midrash attributed to R. Yehudah suggests

that

Adam's

original,

angel-like

status

is

perennially available to be realized fully by the rare mortal who can prove worthy of it: llWMl~ DiM N~rr M~ l~NW 1~~ ~nM 1~ 11nM D~lD~ D~1D~

1~ 1nN, DN lnlM ~il~, '1 D,~l ,rr ~,~ pD~ lnlMn ~~Ml

DiN

D,~l

,rr

Nl~

N~rr

M~W

l~,~N

~,~

R. Yehuda says: If a man tells you that the first man, had he not sinned and eaten from that tree, would have lived and endured forever, you answer him that there has already been the case of Elijah, who did not sin, and he lives and endures forever. Vayikra Rabah 27:4 This

midrash

seems

immortality and his

to

suggest

elevation

that to

Elijah

the

achieves

heavens

not

his

by an

extraordinary divine dispensation, but rather by virtue of an

314 ~M,W,

11n1nn

The para1lel in 11:3, •et at Sinai, read•

l,~~M

~~M

(~~ n1~)

n~M3

13M

(~9 n,~~)

~lD~

1~

l,nMl ~·~~~ ~W ~,nK 1J ~,~w~.

lnD~

,~mn)

liT,l~

~T~ rr~~ ~3 lnM

~l~

us In 11:3, after the golden calf.


,,0,

,09 ,n (0

274

oriqinal, immortal human nature that he is able to realize or retain by remaininq free from sin. Two more midrashim that make their first appearances in Bereshit Rabah are particularly fascinated with the anqelic or divine stature of Adam. words

of

Gen. 3:22 in

a

are

manner

turned that

lost

In Bereshit Rabah 21:2 the

once more aqqrandizes

(possibly Adam's

by R.

oriqinal

stature: DIM~

1~

C,~~M

'~

1nM,1

1,~D

ll1~n

.1Jnn IITJ

~,nn~

~1~

1IT~WW

11,J

,1Jnn IITMJ

~,~

Once (God] had sent him out (of the Garden] He beqan to bewail him--"And the Lord said, Lo the man was as one of us." Adam's lost stature is also the subject of a Bereshit Rabah

11:2,

attributed

to

R.

Ami

in

midrash in the

Vilna

edition, but in other versions to R. Asi and R. Yosi: CDC ~n , 1nll 111 J.J 1~ M~ 11WM1~ CIM ,nM '1 1nM1 , 1n1J n1n~J.J ~wnJ 1 ,~, ~J. ,~,J. CIM1 (en c,~~n) 1Jnn ~u,J nJ.w ,M~1n1 ,1nu 111J.J 1~ ,,nM 1JJ.11 liD lln 11101

,,,T

R. Ami said: the glory of the first man did not stay the night with him. How do we know? "But man does not abide (lit. 'overnight'] in honor, he is like the beasts that perish" (Ps.49:13). But the Rabbis say: His glory did overnight with him, and at the close of the Sabbath his radiance was taken from him and (God] drove him out of the Garden of Eden. 317

316

It i• unclear whether or not the midra•h in que•tion i• the continuation of an expo•ition attributed to R. &una. 7 l1 In •ame locu• R. Shimon b. Yehudah mention• the luminarie• were •poilt (n1,1Mnn ,,~,~l) on the eve of the fir•t •abbath becau•e of the fir•t man•• tran•gre••ion, and were ami.tten ( 1i2,) at the clo•e of the Sabbath.


275 (i1~~)

Glory

and radiance (1,T), often used in connection with

God and God's sbelchinab, suqqest that the status Adam loses in this passaqe is divine, or at least anqelic.

It is also worth

notinq especially that the Sabbath mitigates aqainst Adam's loss of qlory and radiance in this midrash.

Elsewhere we

shall see a rabbinic opinion that the Sabbath can bestow upon its observers an anqel-like aura. Lookinq toward themes to be explored below, we should also note that Adam is also considered to have been deprived of radiance in the frequently repeated aqadic theme of the seven thinqs that were taken from the first man after his transqression.

The

version

in

Bereshit

Rabah

12:6

is

attributed to R. Yudan in the name of R. Avin and lists the six thinqs n111Nn1,

as:

l'PNi1

n1191

['1Ni1

n1191

1nn1i71

1,

,n,

1, T

"his lustre, his life, his stature, the fruits of the

earth, the fruits of the tree, and the luminaries. nlls

The

fruits mentioned in this tradition seem mundane (man havinq been condemned to toil for his sustenance), but life, lustre, and stature seem more preternatural, and dominion over the luminaries certainly bespeaks celestial status.

Bemidbar

Rabah

will

13: 12

asserts

that

these

same

six

thinqs

be

returned by the Messiah--another indication that the exalted

ns The tradition appear• i.n &are•hit Rabah 12: 6; Bemidbar Rabah 13:12; Ruth Rabab 8:3; Ya1kut Bere•hit 17, Shofet~ 59, and Ruth 609.


status

Israel

awaiting

in

the

is

world-to-come

a

recapitulation of Adam's angelic status in the garden. 319 Finally, in this segment on Adam, we should examine one more midrashic source havinq to do with the creation of the first man, included in Bereshit Rabah 2:2.

This aqadah is

based upon the second verse of Genesis, and takes the tohu vavohu

of

the

primordial

"confused and confounded."

earth

to

mean

something

In this midrash,

like

a perplexity

experienced by the earth upon seeinq the disparity between humankind and the anqels on hiqh seems almost to indict God for

an

injustice,

for

denyinq

humankind

its

riqhtful

privileqes and place amonq the celestials: 1-,n-, -,wn 1nN lil::lN '1 11n,o 1:1 ilili, '11 lil::lN '1 inN -,D nnN ,n,O::ll nnN ,llD::l Oil,JW O,i::lD '::l ,-, ilJ~W -,JlNl Dl, il,il,W 1Tl inN -,Dl ll,n,on llT,l il,il,W 1Tl llT,l ilT nnN ,n,O::l ll,lW 1nN Nill::ll Nilln lnlN ,-, ::lW, Nilln p1Ni1 il::lW, lJ -,JlN ,l,N Dl, ,l,N ON ,lNl ll,ncn nnN n::l::l 1N1::lJ D,llnnnill O,ll,-,Dil i11nN Nill::ll O,Dl, Ol,N ON O,llnnnil ill,JWil l,Tn l,llT,l O,ll,-,Dil ,-, ill~w 1-,n-, 1nN 11n,o 1:1 ililil, 1 NilnnN o,_,JlN oJ,N TlTn N-,w 1Tl nnN -,u nnN ,n,c::ll ,llD::l lil,nw n1n9w '::l Nilln iln9W ilnlN il-, il::lW, l,i11,C 1Tl nnN -,Dl l,C-,9n ilN~l, ill,N lT nnN ,n,O::ll nnN ,llD::l ll,lW i11nN Nill::ll Nilln p1Nil il::lW, 1J l,i11,0 1Tll ,_,lll 1,l:J-,9n ilTTl nnN n::l::l 1N1::lJ D,llnnnill O,ll,-,Dil i11nN Nill::ll lilln iln,il p1Ni11 lJ,g-, o,nn D,Jlnnnill o,,n o,J,,.,Di1 lil::ll

R. Abahu and R. Yehuda b. Simon parables]: R. Abahu said: The matter to a king who purchased two slaves, same impoverished situation and decreed that the one should be

(each offered may be likened both from the station. He fed from the

319

In connection with the world-to-come, it is intriguing to note the tradition of God's granting Adam a number of splendid canopies (mgm) in the Garden of Bden--thirt-n according to Vayikra Rabah 20:2, ten according to Pirkei Derabbi Bli.ezer ll. Multiple canopies are also promi.sed to the righteous in the world to come.


277

treasury, and he decreed that the other toil for his food. The latter sat confused and confounded, and said, Both of us are of the same station, but this one is fed from the treasury while I must toil for my food. So too the earth sat confused and confounded, and said, The ones on high and the ones below were created all at once, (yet] the ones on high are sustained by the radiance of the sbekhinah while the-ones below, if they do not toil do not eat. R. Yehudah b. Simon said [the matter can be likened] to a king who purchased two maidservants, both from the same impoverished situation and station. He decreed that one not move from the palace, and he decreed harsh labor for the other. The latter sat confused and confounded, and said, Both of us are of the same station, but this one does not move from the palace, while harsh work has been decreed for me. So too the earth sat confused and confounded and said, The ones on high and the ones below were created all at once, yet the ones on high live while the ones below die. Therefore, "the earth sat confused and confounded (tobu vavobu)." The

indicting

narratives impartial

bewilderment

expressed

in

is displaced onto the earth, Yet

bystander.

the

these

agadic

as an apparently

midrashim

seem

rather ...to

represent the pathos of an angelic species condemned to live an earthly existence.

The inequitably treated slave and

maidservant rail against the injustice of their fates.

So

too, the midrashists behind this agadah seem to decry their own

lots.

exaltation;

These

sages

are

blessed

with

a

taste

for

they feel affinity with their counterparts on

high; yet, incomprehensibly, as though a cosmic error had been made, they find themselves condemned to the ignominy of life upon the earth.


278

Ada.' s Heirs: !'be

~~Dn~

1n1,i

Allge~ic

Patriarchs oL

N~nw C~1D~ n1~N

1W~~

Israe~

l~,N

OITJ9

,~1

1nN

l,~,J,

,,~

R. Pinchas said: Had the patriarchs desired their abode to be in heaven, they could have had their wish. Midrash on Psalms 16:2

In Bemidbar Rabah 18:21 we find the following midrash: ~nNWJ ~JW T"n~ ~~D, ~JW 9"~ ~rr~, p1N~ c,nw l~~n 1J1 c,Jw ,nw1 ~JW

~JW ~·u~ C~1JN ,n, ·~ N~nJ 1~~1J

n1Nn

The days of Abraham amounted to one hundred and seventy-five years, those of Isaac to a hundred and eighty years, and those of Jacob to a hundred and forty-seven years. If you add them all together, the total is five hundred and two. This is also the distance between heaven and earth. Just as the giant Adam spans the heavens and the earth in midrashim

we

have

seen,

so

too

the

lives

of

Israel's

patriarchs constitute a conceptual bridge between the world on high and the world below.

This particular,

sounding agadah is quite abstract. focus

primarily

widespread

upon

concept

midrashic

of

Israel's

rather late-

In this segment we shall sources

that

progenitors

indicate as

a

actually

expressing, in their natures and their lives, heavenly as well as earthly realities. we

have

just

seen

that

classical

rabbinic

midrash

preserves the notion of an Adam who is first created as an earthly anqel, so to speak.

He is a beinq made from elements


271

below,

but,

nonetheless in the likeness of God, and he is

possessed of marvelous attributes, so as to be akin, and by some accounts even superior, to the celestials.

We have seen

Adam depicted as a radiant, gigantic, awesome being, capable of flight, and knowledge of the future, and impressive to even to the heavenly angels themselves. accounts,

as we have seen,

The classical rabbinic

see Adam diminished

original, angelic status after his transgression. investigation

of

pseudepiqraphic

texts

and

from his Still, our

of

Qumran's

literature should lead us to expect that a rabbinic concept of 'angelic

rsrael'

would

involve a

theme

of Adam's

having

bequeathed something of his innate, angelic identity, at least in potential, to his descendants--or, at least, to the elect line of Israel.

Indeed, just as we might expect, a number of

midrashim portray the patriarchs of Israel--especially Abraham (the

line's

first

progenitor)

and

Jacob

(the

eponymous

ancestor)--as partaking in various aspects of Adam's angelic stature and abilities. Similarities notwithstanding, we should note, first of all,

one

remarkable discrepancy

between

the pre-rabbinic

themes that we have seen and the rabbinic framing of Adam's angelic

legacy.

In Qumran's

literature

and

in

various

pseudepiqraphic texts, we saw a common narrative pattern in which the elect of Israel, as an earthly, angelic line, were pitted

against

an

opposed

faction

originating

with

the

rebellious fallen angels, who cohabited with human women and


280

introduced pernicious sciences and tendencies into earth1y affairs.

We must note that, by contrast, classical rabbinic

literature consistently and quite resolutely eschews the theme of

heavenly angels cohabiting with earthly women.

This

avoidance requires the explicit biblical account in the sixth chapter of Genesis to be exegetically deflated.

The earliest

evidence of this countertradition, so to speak, can be found in Genesis Rabah 26:5, where we read the following sequence of midrashim: , J :1

1 i1 '7

N1 i1

, Nrr 1 ,

1 :1

1 1lJDW

'1 0, i1 '7 Ni1

, J J.

1N1 , 1 N,J,,i N,i1'7N ,J:l 11i1'7 N1j11 1ND '7J'7 '7'7i1D ,Nrr1, 1:1 11lJDW '1 D,'711li1 1D i1J,NW i1~19 '7J ,Nrr, 1:1 11lJDW ,:11 ,Jn NJ,Jn ,:11 0,~'7Ni1 ,J:l 1n1N N11j1 i1D'71 ••• ~~19 i1J,N 1ll~ N'7:l o,n, 1:11i1W 1,1nN 11i1,11n W,i1'7 1:1 11nnw ,:111 '7lJ 11DlJ'7 ,iJ 1DN ,01, ,:11 OW:l NJn ,:11 1,110, N'7:11 '7W1 li1'7W 1'7o,w ,,J 1,1nN 1J:l1 n1J1:1wrri1 '7n1 n191i1ni1 Oi1,1rrN O,N:li1 n1111

"That the sons of God saw [the daughters of men ••• ]" {Gen.6:2). R. Shimon b. Yochai called them 'the sons of judges.' [Furthermore,] R. Shimon b. Yochai cursed all who called them the sons of God. R. Shimon b. Yochai said, if transgression does not proceed from the leaders, it is not real transgression •••• Now why are they called 'the sons of God?' R. Chanina and Reish Lakish said: because they lived a long time without trouble or suffering. R. Huna said in the name of R. Yosi's: This was so that men might understand [astronomical] cycles and calculations. The Rabbis said: This was so that they might receive their own punishment and that of the generations after them.

Vis a vis the biblical narrative of the D,i1'7N ,J:l in Gen 6:2, the reinterpretation given in the names of R. Chanina and Reish Lakish is unconvincingly mundane.

One is tempted to say


281

that the views

attributed to R.

Huna

and to the Rabbis

(presumably the rabbis of R. Huna's day) preserve shades of the

pre-rabbinic

respectively,

the

traditions theme

of

punishment due a whole line.

inasmuch astronomy

as and

they the

involve, notion

of

On the other hand, the position

attributed to R. Shimon b. Yochai quite clearly bespeaks early rabbinic opposition to the inherited narrative of corrupting, fallen angels. 320 Even in the absence of an opposed faction of

fallen

angels, however, classical rabbinic literature does preserve and develop a theme of Israel's ancestors as something like an angelic

line.

Moreover,

there are striking similarities

between the images and ideas of this rabbinic theme and those of the pre-rabbinic sources that we have seen, in which the proqenitors of Israel are angelified.

Let us now consider, in

turn, the ancestors of Israel as they appear in the relevant rabbinic sources.

Before turninq to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we should note a tradition concerning Shem that reminds quite remarkably of imaqes we have encountered in the pseudepiqrapha.

The

tradition, in Bereshit Rabah 26, reads as follows: Ml~

ng,

Ml~WJ

M~~,

i~lll

ng, nMl ,j1,i~

on

~,~W

nM ow nM o,J~ ~w~w rrJ W11i ~nM ~~rm~ M'2M

320

i~,,,

'21il~

R. Shimeon b. Yochai • • interpretation al•o evidence• an important conflation of e~o~ with legal experta--that i•, with rabbi•.


282 nN~-,

i,nn

1n1nn~

Cil1::1NW1 , ,-,D lnW il"::li2il iTP ,Wl , -,liln Wii2nil n,::1 ill::llWl il-,lil illli13::l wnww ,llnn

"Noah gave birth to three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japbeth" -- Surely Japeth was the eldest! But you may learn [from the order] that [Shem] was a righteous man; and that he was born circumcised; and that the Holy One, blessed be He, united His name particularly with him; and that Abraham was destined to arise from him; that he served in the high priesthood; and that the Temple was built in his territory. This agadah of Shem points toward several concepts that we will see developed in the sources of this chapter, and it harks back to pseudepic;rraphic themes as well. there

is

wonder

associated

with

Shem's

First of all,

birth,

and

his

congenitally circumcised state (like Adam) seems to indicate the entrance of a perfect or especially pure being into the world.

God "unites His name with Shem," and we shall see that

a theme of union between God's name and the names of the patriarchs

is

angelification.

elsewhere

connected

with

statements

of

Finally, the distinctiveness of Shem, in this

midrash, culminates with mention of the priesthood and the Temple, both of which figure prominently in the angelification of Israel

in rabbinic sources that we shall see.

Thus,

although this source in Bereshit Rabah does not explicitly angelify Shem, its similarity to pseudepic;rraphic accounts of the

wondrous

births

of

angelified

patriarchs,

and

its

indications of particulars that we shall see involved in the greater theme of angelic Israel, are remarkable enough that the passage cannot be ignored.

In view of what is to follow,

we might say that this source indicates that the angelic


283

legacy of Adam does not disappear entirely in the interval between the first man and Abraham, at least in this particular rabbinic retelling.

Tbe ADqelia Abrabaa In connection with Abraham, the idea of angelic humanity re-emerges in the rabbinic literature in force (although only with Jacob-Israel will it become fully fledged) •

A midrash in

Bemidbar Rabah 2:12 seems to speak directly to the seeminq hiatus in human- angelic identity between Adam and Abraham: Cil:l i,i1 N-,1 11i 0,1tml linll 0-,lllil nN il":li1i1 N1:1Ui:J il":li1i1 i19~ 11i c,1tmJ 1nN ill i1,i~ ciln inll N.,, n.,u1n W,W 1nNn il":l~i1 1nN1 ••• -,::1::1 p1N:l 11nJ il,ilW Cil1:1N nN 1nw Wi,~1 WNi1 lW:lJ-, 1n1N 1J,-,WilW ll,J ilnD-, nJ 1::1 ,-, i1J:l ,nN-, il":l~i1 l:l1,j7 i,n lJl,CJ:l inDl i1":li1il -,W n1,1:li1 nN C,JJn il,ill C,:lWl C,1:11D lT il,i11 ~iJ19il nN 1nJ1 C-,lD:l il":l~il -,W lil:lJ D,ilill ilJ,JWil ,9JJ nnn C,JN-,nJ il":li1il 0~ -,ll lnW

When the Holy one, blessed be He created the world, twenty generations came and went and no good was found in them, neither did a single righteous man rise up among them. Beyond the twenty generations, the Holy One, blessed be He, espied Abraham, deposited in the land of Babylon ••• The Holy One, blessed be He, thought, 'Can one be certain that he will have the power to endure?" When he was cast into the fiery furnace and sanctified the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and thus stood his test, the Holy One, blessed be He, immediately brought him to the land of Israel where (Abraham] built an inn for himself, gave food to wayfarers, and brought God's creatures under the wings of the Shelchinab, making known the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, throughout the world, and causing his own name to bear a resemblance to the name of the Holy one, blessed be He, like the angels. At the end of this passage, the renewal of human piety that Abraham represents is expressed in terms of a convergence of


284

the patriarch's reference

to

name with the name of God--presumably a

the

addition

of

tetraqamaton, to the name Abram. name becomes

anqel-like

midrashic conclusion.

is

the

letter

he,

the

The assertion that Abraham's

not an

obvious

or

(When anqelic names 1

rabbinic literature, resemble God's name, inclusion of the suffix el.)

from

inevitable

in classical

it is usually by

Thus this passaqe seems to

represent an especially deliberate desire to find commonality between Abraham and the anqels.

More to the point,

the

messaqe of the passaqe seems to be that by rediscoverinq the latent

riqhteousness

realizes

the

celestials.

possible

potential

in humanity 1

affinity

between

Abraham

mankind

alone

and

the

Like the anqels 1 Abraham sanctifies God's name

and makes God's qlory manifest and thereby comes to merit anqelic nomenclature.

The suqqestion of martyrdom in the

passaqe is also important to note; and certainly martyrdom is one rabbinic route to holiness.

On the other hand, Abraham's

anqelification appears less as a reward for passinq throuqh the fire than as a natural consequence of his more mundane acts of riqhteousness after that test.

The passaqe is less

remarkable for its reference to Abraham's miraculous trial by fire than for his discovery of anqelic potential in quotidian piety--a rather surprisinq suqqestion 1 that one miqht achieve anqelic

identity

throuqh

riqhteous

devotion

affairs.


to

earthly

285

There

is

another midrashic

tradition

concerninq the

addition of a divine letter he to Abraham's name, which we find scattered throuqh the seqment of Bereshit Rabah devoted to the story of Abraham's miqration to Israel.

The tradition

seems at first to emphasize the supernatural and supernal in describinq the exalted identity that the patriarch achieves; but

it

ultimately

devotion.

In

proves

3 9: 11,

also

the he

to

be

about

his

added to Abraham's

earthly name

is

revealed to be none other than the letter with which God created the world, and in 43:7 it is explained that Abraham can be said to be in possession of heaven and 1'1Nl--(Gen.14:19) 321

because

God

has

earth--~Jl~

decided

to

c,nw

reqard

Abraham as a partner in the creation of the universe, inasmuch as Abraham has made God's name known to His creatures. 322 Similarly, in the continuation of 39: 11, God is interpreted as sayinq to Abraham in Gen.12:2, "Hitherto I had to bless my world;

henceforth

the

blessinqs

are

entrusted

to

you:

whomsoever it pleases you to bless, bless." These midrashic passages enqender a sense of Abraham's beinq made a co-regent of God or, at least, a principal divine deputy or viceroy.

On the other hand, the emphasis throuqhout

321

Contextually, in Gen .14: 19, the phrase must be understood as describing God--1'1Nl o,nw ~Jl~ ll,~D ~N--but here the verse is read, 1'1Nl o,nw ~ll~ ••• D1~N 111~, "Blessed is Abraham ••• creator of heaven and earth." 322 It i• worth noting here the frequently repeated midraahic tradition aaaigning the creation of the angela to daya other than the firat day of creation apecifically ao that it would not be aaid that God had a partner in creation.


these same portions of Bereshit Rabah is on Abraham's earthly piety.

In 43:7, for example, we read:

1 , ilutr.l 1 D, ~Wil nN 1 D, 1 ~ 1Dil nN ., ~j1n i1, i1 j1T'r.P 1 "N iln ,., D,1n1N li11 1~1l lil' 1n1M il,il l,n1W1 D,.,~1N 1.,Uin 1l.,~NW D.,1D .,M 111l 11nN Dil., 1n1M M1i11 1nNJ ,n,N n1~i1l ,n,,,l., ,~,J ,nw il,il M., ,JM il"~i1il '"M .,w 1nM,,~~ ,nn ~n1w ilnM ,.,,M~ l,.,n ,JM il.,nn ,n,,,~~ ?1N1 D,nW ill1j1 i"ilil D.,1D Said R. Isaac: Abraham used to entertain wayfarers, and after they had eaten he would say to them, 'Say a blessing.' 'What shall we say?' they asked. 'Blessed be the God of the Universe of whose bounty we have eaten,' he replied. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'My name was not known among my creatures, and you have made it known among them. I will regard you as though you were associated with Me in the creation of the world. Hence it is written, "who (sc. Abraham] created heaven and earth." What we see in such passages is a rabbinic effort to retain the

powerful

theme

of

angelic

or

divine

humanity

while

separating it from strivings toward celestial and supernatural experience.

These

passages

ingeniously manage

to

exalt

Abraham supremely while keeping him firmly planted upon the earth and involved in the quotidian details of God's law. parlance of

ange~ic

identity is used to express

of piety in earthly, human life.

The

va~orization

Counterintuitively, in such

midrashim, the proper abode for an angelic human being is on the earth, and it is through earthly activity that the human being can realize angelic identity. subtle

polemic

here

There may well be a

against extravagant strivings

toward

angelic experiences in the heavens.

By contrast, other early midrashim about Abraham focus more fully upon the supernatural in exploring the patriarch's


287

affinity with the anqels.

For example, Abraham's circumcision

in Gen.17 is interpreted in Bereshit Rabah 48:9 as a passport allowinq Abraham access to anqelic company: l,WJD C,M~ C,~1D CiM ,l~ ,,~ ~n~n N~W iD ~"~R~ ~"M M1,1 l,l,D MW,l i"~~ l,~D C,~ll ,~W M,~ng ,l~l ,JM C,JM~n~ M1,1 ~l,JW~ M1,1 ,,~D C,~~l D,WJM ~W~W ~l~l

Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to [Abraham], 'Before you were circumcised, uncircumcised mortals visited you. Now I and My retinue will appear to you.' Thus it is written, "And he lifted up his eyes and looked" (Gen.18:2)--he saw the Shekhinah, he saw the anqels. Similarly, in Bereshit Rabah 50:2 the disparate references to Abraham's visitors as anqels

(D,JM~n)

and as men (D,WJN) is

explained as follows: "To Abraham, whose strenqth was qreat, they looked like men; but to Lot they appeared as anqels." That

is,

to Abraham,

the

visitors appeared

less

awesome

because he perceived them to be beinqs like himself. In a similar vein, a midrash in the name of R. Isaac in Bereshit

Rabah

45:7

addresses

the perplexity

of

Haqar's

apparently takinq the appearance of heavenly anqels in stride, without astonishment, while, by contrast, the midrash notes, in the narrative of Judqes 13, Manoah fears for his and his wife's lives upon recoqnizinq an anqelic beinq. ~w

1n,~

,J~

C~~

~n,~

n1M1i

n1J,~~

~~,11

~,g,~

~n,~l

(M~

1,~

,,wn)

0,91~

~~,

D~1~M

1"M

ll,~M

R. Isaac quoted: "She sees the ways of her household." (Prov.31)--Abraham's household were tsofim, so [Haqar] was accustomed to seeinq [anqels]. The word

0,91~

in this aqadah--literally, "watchers"--rinqs a

bell, and one wonders whether the term is a hold-over from


288

pre-rabbinic angelic narratives (1 Enoch and its "Book of the Watchers" in particular) where the term denotes a particular group of heavenly angels.

If that is the connotation of

"watchers" here, then we should wonder whether the sense of the passage is that the members of Abraham's household were themselves angelic.

Alternately,

the meaning may be that

celestial angels were frequent visitors--and in that sense, n,~

,l~--with

Abraham's

earthly

household.

It

is

also

possible that the term is not used here to mean angelic "watchers," as in 1 Enoch at all, and that the meaning here is rather that, because Abraham and his household were seers, angels were more manifest in their midst than elsewhere, visible among them, even to handmaids such as Hagar.

In any

case, this somewhat mysterious passage broadens the concept of Abraham's camp as a point of contact between the angelic and the human realm.

A propos Abraham's being a seer, we should note that a theme

of

angel-like

experience

is

patriarch's knowledge of the future.

connected

with

the

In Bereshit Rabah 44:12

and 48: 6, God's promise to Abraham of progeny numbering as the stars is associated with a heavenly journey of sorts. 44:12, the account is given as follows: ,J1

,,~

M~M

~~1~ 1n1M M~1,1 ~1nJ~ 1nMW 1M,~1~ C~1D~ ,n1~1rr1 ?1M ~wn M~ in M"in~ M,nw ,~~1w ~,~

1nM

,n,~,~

~on~

,~1

OW~

ng,Jn

~~nn~n

l,lJOi

~~Dn~

M~N

DW1~,

1n1N l,N

~o~~

"And he brought (Gen.15:5).

him

~~n~

,~1

~~1~

1n1M

M~1,1

llrr,, ,, cw~ ~i1~, NJ o~~ ~,~ 1nNi

~n,nw~

out,

outside

?1ITD ,,rrN ,~,

N1~

(~~1~)"


In

281

R. Yehoshua of Siknin in the name of R. Levi: Does it mean that He took him outside of the world when it says, "and he brought him out, outside?" Rather, He showed him the streets of heaven 323 , as you read, "While He had not yet made the earth and the outer spaces (n1~1n)" (Prov.8:26). Said R. Yehuda b. Simon in the name of R. Yochanan: He raised him up above the dome of the sky. This is why He said to him, "Look now (U~~) upon the heavens." Looking (expressed with u~~] can mean only looking down from above. In Bereshit Rabah 48:6, the narrative is similar, although the text exposited is Isaiah 33: ~-,ll~

,~1

llTTl,

DW~

l,lTT

,~1

CW~

llll,O

,~1

1~

~n,nw~ MJ u~~ .,"M Ml~l Ml~ ll,~,~ n9,3n ~-,lln., ,~,llW,) ~en., ~.,lln.,n M.,M u~~ 1n1-, 1,,w

(l".,

,,n,n 1,9,~

,"1 1n1M ll,M

1n,J 1nrr., 11~3 ,Jlll ,.,M 1~1wn c,ll_,o n11~n 1-,ll (/l"., ~,llW,/) ,D,ll Ullll Nl TT~, D,lllMJ .M1llll ,ll-,N~ '~ ,,-,M M1,1 1,l,ll ~l,TTTn

R. Yehudah b. R. Simon in the name of R. Chanin, in the name of R. Yochanan (said]: [God] raised [Abraham] above the dome of the sky, as He said to him, "Look (U~~) now toward the heavens" (Gen.lS:S). It is appropriate to say, "look now" (U~~) only in speaking of looking down from above. "(He shall dwell on high;] His place of defense shall be the fortress of rocks" (Isa.33:16)--that (refers to] clouds of glory. "His bread shall be given, his water shall be sure" (ibid) (corresponds to] "Let a little water be taken" (Gen.18:4). "Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Isa.33:17) [corresponds to] "And the Lord appeared to him at the terebinths of Mamre" (Gen.l8:1). In

this

midrashic

passage,

the

clauses

of

Isa.33

are

interpreted so as to transform the narrative of Abraham into something

of

a

classic

apocalypse.

The

patriarch

is

translated to the heavenly realm, and his interactions with

323

Rotably, we •hall • - in a later •egment that the idiom ~l"'TXD ,i2i11W (the •tr-ta, or marketplace•, of heaven) i• u•ed to de•cribe firat-hand rabb~c experience of the heaven• a• well.


290

the visiting angels and with God are made to seem intertwined with this celestial journey. 124 So far we have seen a theme of angelic and quasi-divine nomenclature used to describe Abraham's earthly piety; we have seen

a

theme

of

Abraham's

keeping

company

with

angels,

especially connected to his circumcision; and we have seen a theme of celestial experience wherein Abraham looks down upon the sky and learns the future.

Still, although Bereshit Rabah

50:2 suggests that Abraham recognized angels as beings like himself, we have yet to see a midrashic source in which the angels return this recognition. Perhaps, in view of the midrashic traditions concerning Adam and the angels that we examined in the previous seqment, we may go so far as to say that angelic recognition of a human being as a peer (or angelic mistaking of a human being for a divinity) can be something of a litmus test for the suggestion of actual kinship between human and celestial beings.

So,

before taking leave of Abraham, it is essential that we note the following account in Bereshit Rabah 48:14, whose basis is a

reconciliation of Gen. 18: 1,

in which Abraham espies his

three visitors "standing over him," and Gen 18:8,

in which

Abraham "stood over them. "

124 I •hould al•o note a third parallel, in a..idbar Rabbah 2:12, in which Abrabaa'• heavenly journey (de•cribed in the •ame term. of God'• removing the patriarch to a point above the vault of the •ky) i• ca•t a• a divine refutation of Abrahaa •• previou• a8troloqy, by which he had predicted that he would remain childle••·


211 1~~~1

C~,~D

,~ll

C,~~l

c~,~u

n~n1n

,

M1~1

1nM nM M~~ ,C~,~D in1D M1~1 M"1W iD M~M 1,"1D C,:l~l 1nM 1nn,M ,c~,~u inlD M1~1 c~,i, M~,w 11,~ nn,,n ~M,1:ll nn,,n ~M~,n in1D

0~,i,

M~,

"And he stood by (or over) them" (Gen.18:8). Here, you say "he stood over them," but earlier it says "standing over [Abraham] (Gen.18:1). [Understand from this that] until they had discharged their mission, they stood over him; once they had discharged their mission, he stood over them--his fear was cast upon them, Michael trembled, Gabriel trembled. Here we find a recognition of Abraham by the principal, named angels as

a

similar and even superior being.

Abraham's

superiority is no mere abstract matter; the angels Michael and Gabriel

quake

poignantly generalized

in

his

delivered beyond

presence. message

Abraham

in

At

the

of

this

a

manner

same

time,

passage that

the

can

be

encourages

earthly, human devotion and piety among his descendants, as follows: It is a midrashic commonplace that angels are creatures of the divine will, but, as such, they are often limited, in the rabbinic conception, to one particular command in each of their

earthly

missions. 325

It

is

also

understood

that

Abraham, in Gen.18, is engaged in the divine commandment of entertaining quests.

By combining these two ideas, Bereshit

Rabah 48:14 transforms angelic rank into a continuum or scale, measuring occupation with God's will.

On this scale,

325

a

Abraham'• angelic vi•itor• are the paradiCJID of thi• concept--one came to heal Abraham (Raphael) , one to foretell the birth of I•aac (Michael), and one to overthrow SodOIIl (Cavriel)--one angel wa• required for each •eparate expre••ion of the divine will.


292

commanded human being (here, Abraham) can locate himself so highly that be might be awesome even to the permanent angels of God's retinue, at least when those angels are idle between missions.

We should note, once more, that Abraham's pious

actions are decidedly earthly ones, albeit they place him in rank above the anqels.

We have yet to see many essential

midrashim on our theme, but I would venture to say that this one represents an ultimate rabbinizing of the concept of angelic Israel. The Angelic Iaaac In the line of Israel's patriarchs made angel-like in classical rabbinic literature, Isaac bas the fewest relevant traditions

associated

with

him.

Isaac

is

neither

the

progenitor of the line (as Abraham) nor the eponymous ancestor (as Jacob) and seems, consequently, to get the short shrift of the middle child: he is the patriarch least expanded upon in midrasbic literature.

On the other band, it is important to

note that the midrashic traditions concerning Isaac, although less expansive than the traditions concerning his father and his son, do include angelifying themes. In Bereshit Rabah 60:15, Rebecca's first encounter with Isaac is interpreted as an encounter with the patriarch and his quardian angel: ~~W~ 1~1~~ ~T~~ W,N~ ,n i~D~ ~N 1nNTI1 1nN TINT on~ 11io lTIN TIN1 ,1~N N,,n '1 OW~ o,~,~ N1o 'nN 1,l~1 ,(U, T~ n,WN1~) N~ ~T~o n1n1~~ ~D~ oT 1,~N ~T~o ,1]10~,91

'1

1lTIN1~~

~J~


293

"And she said to the servant, Who is that man (ba~azeb) who walks in the field to meet us?" (Gen. 24: 65) • R. Berakhiah in the name of R. Chiyya his father: She saw that he was handsome, as you read, "Here comes that dreamer (~T~~)" [viz. Joseph, known for his handsomeness] (Gen.J7:19). The Rabbis say: It [refers to] his [angelic] attendant--balazeb meaning elav zeh ("this one is for him," or "this is his celestial one"). In the midrash on Psalms, compiled much later, the narrative of this same encounter is expanded considerably with the inclusion of additional elements that glorify the patriarch himself and, moreover, extend the possibility of a similar glory to his latest descendants. 326

For the sake of seeing

how the added elements hang together, it is best to quote the entire segment, from the Midrash on Psalms 90:18, at length: ~T 1nM M11 n '1 CUl~ ~ 1 ::J1J. '1 1 1 ~D9 1 1 1~D ~M ~M1 1 M~ 1 1 1nMJUl ~~~11 ~~, ~T C~ 1 JJ. ~D 111~1 ~1W1 C~1~M ~nM1Ul l1 1 J1 1TD 1 ~M CD ~MJ. ~~J.1 ~n,~1 ~1WJ. n1w~ ~~, ~nM1 ~~~1 1n1M c,~~M 1M~nJ 1n1n11 ~J1 T1~~ 1nJ 111~ ~T~~ 1 1 1J.D ~M ~M1 1 1nMJW 1n~D

n,~,~J. ~u1un1 W1J.~ 1n1,~ 111~ 1 Mn ~T~~ W 1 M~ ,n 1TD,~M~ ~1nM

1n1M

n1::JTJ.1 1 1 J.M n1JT~ ~n~ 1::J \ 1 M1 C~,J~ ~D 111~1 1 1 ~D9 11~1 11~ 1nMJW 1~W 11~~ ~n11~ 111~ n 1 ~U M~M 111~ ~n11 n~Jn ,,Mn '1 cUlJ. 1nM1 n 1 M1 ~,~rn '1 1nM1 nwJ.~ n1J~ 1 M1 n1J~,M~ c,n11 C 1 ~WD1 C 1 lWD~ ~n11 c,1 c,~ ~M1n::J 1nMJW n1ni~ nw~1 nw~~ ~l1J1 ~l1J~ D 1 ~11 D 1 ~1~ M1~ J.,lC ~l1J~ ~M1n 1J OWl~ 01 1 ~ lJD~ ~,~, 1WM nw~~ 1 1 C::Jnn ~M1W 1 W tnT~ ~,~Tn '1 1nM '~ 11~J n1n1 ~M1n 1J M~M 1 1 W~1~ 1~ n~Jn MnUl 1 1 11~0 1,~, M~ n,~,~~ 1~ 1 ~D ~J 1 JW 11~ 1~ 1 M::J n,~,~J. 1 ,~::Jnon ~M1W 1 1 ,~, 1 1~ ~-~~~~ 1n1M M~M 1nMJ M~ Cn1M 1n1M Cn 1 M11 1nMJW c~,J~

~u

111~1

"Let Your work appear unto Your servants ••• " (Ps.90:16) R. Berakhia said in the name of R. Chiya: That refers to Abraham and Sarah; "and your splendor (hadarkba) upon their children," (Ps.90:16)--that is Isaac and Rebekah, as it is said, 'And Isaac went out to meditate in the field.' (Gen.24:63) Just then Rebecca was coming 326

Cf. alao Sifrei Shelach piaka 115.


214

with Eliezer, and when she saw (Isaac], and saw him most splendidly attired, adorned and wrapped in the fringes, and his appearance like the angel of the Lord, she said to Eliezer: who is that particular man (haish halazeh)? What is the meaning of 'that particular one (halazeh)'? [It means] the one who is resplendent like That One. And how can it be so to such an extent? By virtue of his father and by virtue of himself, as it is said 'Let Your work appear unto Your servants and Your splendor upon their children.' Now there is no 'splendor' but a splendid fringed shawl (talit hadur) , which is like unto Your own splendor, as it is said, 'Majesty (hod) and splendor have You donned' (Ps.104: 1), and, as R. Chezekiah said, and there are those who say it in the name of R. Meir: 'Tekhelet [upon the fringes] is similar to the sea, and the sea to the qrasses, and the grasses to the trees, and the trees to the firmament, and the firmament to the brilliance (noga), and the brilliance to the rainbow, and the rainbow to the Likeness, as it is said, 'as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on a day of rain, thus was the appearance of the brilliance round about; that was the appearance of the likeness of the Lord' (Ezekiel 1:28). Said R. Chezekiah: When Israel contemplates the fringes, they ought not imagine that they are wearing (mere] tekhelet, but rather they ought to contemplate the fringes as though the very splendor of the Shekhinah were upon them, as it is said, 'And you shall see it [in the masculine]' (Num.15:39). It does not say, '[see] them' [i.e. the fringes], but '(see] Him,' in reference to the Holy One, blessed be He--that is [the meaning of] 'and Your splendor upon Your children.' The glorifying interpretation of the fringes that appears at the end of this midrash is a frequently repeated passage that occurs

in a

large number of anthologies;

and

in earlier

collections it is not linked, as here, with the narrative of Isaac. to

R.

That is to say, the portions of our midrash attributed Chezekiah

(and

to

Rabbi

Meir)

were

originally

independent of the segment attributed to R. Berakhiah in the name of R.

Chiya.

The midrash elaborating upon Rebecca's


295

first sight of Isaac,

taken on its own,

asserts that the

patriarch, in and of himself, was a God-like apparition to his bride.

A later redactorship understands this God-like glory

of Isaac in terms of the blue fringes. 3 l 7 On the one hand, the suggestion that the angelic aspect inheres not in the patriarch himself but in his garment might be construed as a genealogy.

move away

angelic

on the other hand, Isaac is a rightful wearer of

this distinctive mantle, Bereshit

from the notion of

Rabah

identity).

21: 5,

so to speak

whose

garment

(like the snail, is

essential

to

in its

The interpretation of Isaac's heavenly glory in

terms of his ritual garment suggests that the same angelic glory that overwhelmed Rebecca might be equally accessible to any Jew who dons a fringed shawl.

The Angelic Jacob-Xarael With the patriarch Jacob the theme of angelic Israel becomes fully fledged in the classical rabbinic literature. We have seen that the original Adam is understood in many midrashim as an angelic being; and we have seen that his heirs,

the

recapitulate capacities.

early aspects

patriarchs of

Adam's

of

the

Israelite

celestial

splendor

line, and

We have also seen some indications that the glory

327

The link between the glorification of I•aac and the lllidra•h the blue fringe• i• e•pecially under•tandable in view of the tradition we have . . .n in Bere•hit R&bah 21:5 in which Adam'• being •a• one of u• • i• ~terpreted by analogy to the •nail who•• di•tinctive gar..ene i• part and parcel of it• body. concern~g


211

associated with these early ancestors might be generalizable to include their descendants, at least in principle.

With

Jacob-Israel the message of angelic Israel becomes loud and clear: Israel, as a nation, enjoys an actual and realizable kinship with the heavenly host. A midrash in Bereshit Rabah 78 seems to make the point that the angelic nature of Israel, the people, is not firmly established until the arrival of Israel, the patriarch. that midrash,

In

spun on Genesis 33, Jacob's reunion with his

brother Esau comes in the wake of an encounter between Esau's host an angelic fore-guard that goes before the camp of JacobIsrael: ~~,~~ 1n1N ~J ,nWl9 ,,~, n111~n n111~n1

1WN ~T~ ~Jnn~ ~J 1~ ,n 1nN,1 n1nJ n1nJ n1w~ ,JN~n 1WDJ lWUi 1,~N~ 1,Ul19 "And he said, What do you mean by all this camp that I met?" (Gen.33:8) All that night the ministering angles grouped into groups and banded into bands and kept on confronting Esau's troops.

In the continuation of this midrash, when Esau' s soldiers say, "We from Esau" they are still attacked by the heavenly host, and likewise when they say, "We are from Isaac's son," and "Abraham's grandson," but when they say, "we are from Jacob's brother," the response of the angels changes dramatically: 11~~w

1,1nN

11~

1JN

~~u,,

,,nNi 1n ,,nN 11~1 11,J 11J,N 1,,, 1n 11~~

As soon as they said, We are from Jacob's brother, [The angels] said: Let them alone, they are of ours. The idiom 1,,, 1n is more directly translatable into the German, or Yiddish, "von unsere."

That is to say, the midrash


297

suggests

a

familial

compatriots.

or tribal

recognition,

a

meeting of

At the very least, Jacob's name emerges here as

a password that gains his brother's band acceptance among the angelic host.

What is-more, we can note that identification

with Jacob alone suffices to elicit recognition from the angels,

whereas

identification

with

Abraham

(father

of

Ishmael) and with Isaac (father of Esau) proves insufficient. More

remarkable still than the

affinity between the

servants of Jacob's brother and the angels in Bereshit Rabah 78

is Jacob's immoderate self-aggrandizement in a

midrash

found both in Bereshit Rabah 79:8 and 80: 4, which expands upon events in the wake of Jacob's nocturnal struggle and change of name: ,~7M

,JMl

7M 17

N1~,,

C,J,,7,D~

rr~rn

~17M

ow~~,,

~nM

17 1nN

nng (J

w,~7

l7

1~

11nnw ,, 7M1W,

n,WM1~)

o,Jlnnn~

~17M

R. Shimon b. Lakish 328 opened his discourse: "And he erected there an altar, and called it (or, rather "him"] 'God, the God of Israel' (Gen.33:20)-(Jacob] declared to Him, 'You are the divinity in the heavenly realm, and I am the divinity in the earthly realm.' In both occurrences of this midrash, a tradition attributed to R. Huna in the name of R. Shimon b. Lakish follows, in which God rebukes Jacob, saying, "Even the synagogue superintendent cannot assume authority on his own, but you take authority to yourself!"

Consequently, this tradition continues, Jacob's

daughter Dinah was dishonored.

Despite the reprisal,

328

the

The attribution i• not found ill the Vilna edition but in Theoclor Albeck'• edition, where the pa••age occur• in 80.


298

midrashic account of Jacob's self-conception is remarkable; and we should note that the tradition of God's reproving Jacob for

this

self-agqrandizement

is separated

from the first

narrative element by a different attribution.

(The difference

of attribution suggests that the account of Jacob's god-like self-esteem may initially have been a tradition unto itself without mention of divine censure.)

Also, it is worth noting

that, even in R. Huna's rejoinder in the name of R. Shimon b. Lakish, God does not exactly contradict Jacob, although God does

demonstrate that Jacob

cannot

protect

even his

own

household if God wills otherwise. 329 If God is jealous of His unique divinity in the final seqment of Bereshit Rabah 79:8 (and 80:4), He is more generous in ascribing a supernal identity, or alter-eqo, to Jacob in a number of midrashim having to do with the divine throne. mysterious statement themselves

the

~~~,n~

divine

1~

1~

chariot"

nl~N~--"The

(Bereshit

The

patriarchs are Rabah

69:3

is

probably its earliest occurrence)--is particularly famous for its elaborations in later Jewish mysticism, particularly in the Zohar; but the theme is developed to some extent even within the classical connection with Jacob.

rabbinic sources,

and especially

in

In Bereshit Rabah 68:12, for example,

we find the following tradition:

The pattern of thi• midra•h, then, i• •omewhat •~ilar to that of the later «erkavah-narrative in which Metatron •eat• h~•elf upon the divine throne and mu•t afterward• be la•hed to demon•trate hi• •ubordination to God. 329


299

'l ~W ND1J1n 1nN W,~~ W,1 nN 1nM ,1~ '1 DW~ l,lJDi

~N1~ D,~l1

DW~

~l1

DW1~,

M1~

,l1n~W

,~1

,~1

,1~

,w,~w

R. [God] R. said:

Salmoni in the name of Reish Lakish said: showed (Jacob] a chair with three legs. Yehoshua of Siknin in the name of R. Levi (God] said: You [Jacob] are the third leg!

The sense of this statement seems metaphorical--Jacob is an essential

support

in

the

sovereignty over the world.

structure

expressing

God's

More actual than metaphorical in

flavor is the notion that Jacob's image is somehow figured upon,

or under, God's throne.

Even within Bereshit

Rabah

68:12, there is an indication that the connection of Jacob with the divine throne is meant literally and graphically as well as metaphorically.

The segment of 68:12 in which God

reveals to Jacob that he is the third leg of the chair appears as an elaboration on Jacob's dream of a ladder of angels.

The

illllllediately previous interpretation of the dream addresses itself to a difference of opinion between R. Chiya the Elder and R. Yanai, one of whom opines that the angels ascended and descended upon the ladder, while the other reads the angels' ascent and descent,

1~

D,,.,,,1

D 1 ~1D,

up and down upon Jacob himself." "qoinq up and down on Jacob"

in Gen.28:12, as "going

This reading of the angels

(as thouqh he were a bridge

between the heavens and earth) is itself reworked in meaning aqain in a midrash in Bereshit

Rabah 68: 12,

in which the

anqels see Jacob much as they once saw Adam in Eden, as a divine being, but are astonished to find him asleep.


Here,

300

the •going up and down upon Jacob" becomes an angelic goading and prodding, extolling and disparaging: 1nNi 1Nn1 1~ D,T9N D,~1D ~~DD~ ~~l~n l~W l,ll~,MW Nl~ nN ,1N9nN 1~ 1WN 1n1N D,N~1n1 ~en~ D,i11,1 1~W l,ll~,N D,N111 ~~Dn~ c,N~1n1 ,~~,o~~ c,~,u li1 ~w,, ~,~w 1~n~ ~wn ,1w, lW, 1n1N D,N~1n1 i1119~ l,N~1,1 li 1n1N 1~

D,i,11n1 D,~Dn ~~~D,~ D,i11,1 (Cn ~,DW,) 1nNlW ,1~ D,Ul1W

~N1W,

D,~1D

1~ D,T9~

As to those who say •ascending and descending" upon Jacob himself, •ascending and descending• means extolling and disparaging him--sporting on him, jumping on him, scoffing at him--as it is said, "Israel in whom I shall glorify Myself"--You are the one whose image is engraved on high! They would ascend and see his image, and descend below and see him sleeping. A parable may be told of a king would sit in judgement: When one goes up to the palace one finds him judging, but when one goes out to the outskirts one finds him asleep. In this midrash, Israel is alternately built up and knocked down,

so to

speak,

by the angels who

are

both awed and

unimpressed by the sleeping figure of the image of God.

While

the anqelic goading seems intended to remind Israel of his exalted identity, the angels seem to quote their verse in an astonishment of disappointment, as though saying,

•can you

really be 'Israel in whom I [God] shall glorify Myself?'"

The

homiletic message of this midrash is powerful: Israel, as the image of God, is asleep and inactive in the world, needing to be urged into action and fulfillment of almost

limitless

potential. What is more, this midrash suggests that God seems to be inactive in the world because Israel is asleep. it is homiletically driven,

For all that

this passage also reflects an

important dualism included in the rabbinic ontology of Jewish


301

identity.

The duality is not strictly one of soul and body

(although the body might be blamed for sleep). dualism of

this

midrash

is

one

of

Rather, the

fulfillment

fulfillment of divine mission and potential.

and

non-

Israel, when

awake to the fullness of his identity, might realize himself as an awesome extension of divinity into the world below--at least, he might be tantamount in aspect to the vision of God's throne, through which God expresses His glory and sovereignty. On the other hand, when not awake to this identity, Israel is earthbound, dull, and disappointing. midrash below

We might argue that this

(like the midrash of Abraham alternately standing

and

above

the

angels)

expresses

a

characteristic,

rabbinic notion: that Israel, when awake to the divine call, rightfully belongs among the creatures on high and may even be greater than any angel.

Although he can also fall to base and

earthly status, Israel does not lose this inherent potential, even when asleep. Another instance quasi-divine self-esteem on the part of Israel is implied in Bereshit Rabah 96:5, in connection with Jacob's desire that he not be buried in Egypt: M1W

ll

1

~M ~~U 1 W~~ ~n

••• 0

1

~~1~

l9n M"i ,D 1 1~n~ 1 l~1~n Ml 1M nil~U 1n1M lWU 1 M1W D 1 1~n~ 1~~, 1

"Do not bury me in Egypt" Another interpretation: Why did Jacob our father ask that he not be buried in Egypt? so that they would not make him an object of idolatrous worship. Jacob's worry in this midrash that he might be revered as an object of idolatry (here the idiom is "star-worship") perhaps


302

conveys the idea that the patriarch would have made an awesome and perhaps otherworldly impression upon the Egyptians. Similar, and even more remarkable, in terms of Israel's sense of his own stellar identity, is the flash of recognition that Bereshit Rabah 68:10 and 84:11 place in the patriarch's mind when Joseph recounts his dream- vision of the stars, sun, and moon (his brothers, father, and mother) bowing down to him: wnw~

~J~l

~01,

1nNW

wnw

~DW~

,nww

,'lll 1ITN Cl~IT ilD Cl~IT,l 1~ ~~,l ,n ~~n, 1nN n1,~,

"And he dreamt yet another dream ••• " (Gen. 3 7 : 9) • When Joseph said, "And lo, the sun and the moon ••• " Jacob exclaimed, 'Who revealed to him that my name is "Sun?"' This midrash suggests esotericism in connection with Israel's true identity.

Joseph, in his dream, hits upon a hidden name

and aspect of Jacob that the patriarch is surprised to hear invoked.

Along the same lines, but perhaps even more extreme,

and more surprising, is God's own revelation of a secret about Jacob in a passage in Vayikra Rabah 36:4: ~~u,

1N11~

1n~1n~ 11~,

'~

~"~~~

~~D,

1nu 1nN

1N1~

~J

~nu1

l~1N1

~~D,

,n

'1

i"~~

~~n,

,n,1~

cw~

1N1~ ~N1W,

onJg '1 ,n 1~ 1n1N

11~,1

~~D,

nN ,n1JT1

~N1W,

11~,,

,n~lD 1N11~

,n~lD ~lnJW

"And I shall remember my covenant with Jacob"--This is as it is written: "And now, thus says the Lord, he that created you, Jacob, he that formed you, Israel." (Isa.43:1) R. Pinchas in the name of R. Reuven said: The Holy One, blessed be Be, said to his world, 'My world, my world, shall I tell you who created you, who formed you? Jacob created you, Jacob formed you, as it is written: "Be that created you, Jacob, he that formed you, Israel."'


303

This passaqe is not expanded upon in Vayikra Rabah except that it is followed by a series of traditions tellinq that the world,

or various of its elements,

were created only on

account o:f the merit of this or that patriarch or leader. 330 Our passaqe, naminq Jacob as the world's creator, miqht be meant in a similar same sense; but its wordinq is dramatically different and, surprisinq as the face- meaninq is (after all, in other midrashim, the anqels themselves were not created until after the first day so that it would not be said that God had assistance in creation), we must ask what emboldened

the author of this midrash to drive his theme toward this most audacious expression.

In the first place, one can easily see

how

itself

the

prooftext

presented

an

irresistible

hermeneutical possibility. At the same time, the midrashist's confidence in pluckinq this particular fruit may well be the result of an ancient interpretational leqacy of aqqrandizinq and anqelifyinq Jacob. We have seen, in the above midrashim, a close affinity, even a converqence, between Jacob-Israel and the Holy one, blessed be He. ·This converqence is expressed quite readily by the framers of these aqadot in terms of anqelification, or admittance and recoqnition amonq the anqels; but it would be diminishinq the Jacob of midrashic lore to say only that he is

330

Intere•tingly, the•• tradition• al•o include the •tatement that Abraha. wa• •aved from the fiery furnace only by the merit of Jacob--a further indication that the identity of I•rael, the people, i• not fully actualized until the arrival of the eponymou• ance•tor.


angelified.

Jacob-Xsrael can attain an identity still more

exalted, even if the route toward that identity begins with angelification.

We see this once more in a pair of midrashim

in Bereshit Rabah 78:6, expanding upon Gen.J2:29: DU nwru1lnl ~~1n1 n,WJM DU1 D,~~M DU n,1W ,~ Dll D~~ n~lJ, 1 D, J 1nrm~ Dll1 D~~ n~l~, 1 D, J 1 ,~U~ lWU ~T D~~ n~1~,1 D,J1nTm~ DU •••lN~n~ ~T D,Jl,~U~ l~W 1,J1~,NW N1~ nN D,~~M DU n,1W ,~ N"i 1,91~M1 ~~nun~

"For

~~1~rr

you

have striven (sarita) with celestials and with men and have prevailed" (Gen.J2:29)--You have struggled with those above, and were able to overcome them, and with those below and were able to overcome them. With those above--that is the angel ••• 331 With those below, and were able to overcome them--that is Esau and his chiefs. Another interpretation [of "sarita im elohim"]: You are he whose fiqure is enqraved on high.

(elohim)

Xn the second of these paired midrashim, Jacob is interpreted as ruling alongside, rather than struggling with, Elohim, read as God.

The link from that interpretation to the fiqure of

Jacob enqraved on high suggests that Jacob's heavenly image, said

to

be

ornamental.

enqraved

on

God's

throne,

is

hardly

just

Once more the reality described by the midrash is

determined by a compellingly clever reading, in this case of Gen.J2:29,

D,~~N

cu

n,1w

,~--a

reading that again, in view of

rabbinic audacity, seems irresistible to the point of being

331 I have oaaitted an interpolated •egment in the pa••age above, between the clearly connected explanation• of •tho•• above• and •thoae below,• in which a. Chama bar Chanin& identifie• the angel with wboaa Jacob atruggled •• •••au•• angel• (1WD ~w 11W) and u••• thi• identification to account for Jacob'• calling hi• encounter with B•au •like •-ing God• (Gen.33:10), adding that both encounter• al•o involve a countenance of judg. . .nt and nece••ary offering•.


305

inevitable.

Once more,

thouqh,

the audacity involved in

qrasping the exegetical opportunity must depend upon a lonqstanding comfort with the notion of Israel's belonging among the angels, which we see reflected in the first midrash of the pair above.

That is, the elevation of the f iqure of Jacob to

such a prominent position in the heavenly panoply and to such a god-like rank seems tolerable only in combination with an accepted

tradition

of

Jacob's

achievinq

parity

with

the

angels. X say "panoply," with reqard to the heavenly realm of these midrashim, not to say "pantheon," althouqh both Bereshit Rabah 78:3 and Vayikra Rabah 36:4 portray God as seeminqly compromisinq divine uniqueness and sole authorship of the world in order to admit Jacob-Xsrael as, if not a co-reqent, something of an alter eqo--creating the world, manifest on God's throne.

Xn this liqht, Jacob's own divine pretension in

Bereshit Rabah 79:8 seems warranted, or at least excusable-which is to say that we can perceive in these several sources a

more or less consistent theme of Jacob's preternatural

aqqrandizement almost to the point of divine identity. The special affinity between Jacob-Xsrael and the divine is expressed aqain, terms, in

but in a

completely different set of

Bereshit Rabah 69:2 (Albeck Edition) in a petichta

on Gen.28:13, "And behold the Lord stood by him": 1 T~ ,~WD) ~~,,,~ M~N

~T1~ ,~j2lP

'JW ~T

111 iiT, niinnD

~T1~~ ~T1~ nng Ml,JIT '1~ 1,~0 l,K Nl,JIT '1~ Mnrr '1

11,~~ N~K rr~wn

W,M1

, (OW 'CW)

o~rr

'111

i,n~n

iiT,

Nnrr '1 1nK (T,

l,K 1~ ~n1~rr~w W,M1 , iiT, ~T1~~


,,~D

~in,nJW

,Jg in, W,N ~~D, .'lll ,,~D ~~J ,.,

1~D1

inDW 11,~ 'JW ~l,~W~

ll,~N ~J~l

R. Chama b. R. Chanina opened his discourse: "Iron sharpens iron" (Prov.27:17). Said R. Chama b. R. Chanina: A knife cannot be sharpened except on the edge of its mate. So too a scholar is improved only by his colleague, as it says, "Iron sharpens iron, and a man sharpens [the countenance of his fellow]". "A man"--that is Jacob. As soon as our father Jacob arose, [the verse was fulfilled,] "A man together with [another sense of in,] the countenance of his Fellow"--in that the Shekhinah attached itself to him, as it is said, "And lo, the Lord stood by (or 'upon') him." As iron improves iron, partners in rabbinic discourse improve one another--and so too Jacob and God?

The intimation of this

proem's combined midrashim on Prov.27:17 seems to be that this ultimate pair enjoys a similar interaction as well.

If that

be so, this midrash goes almost as far as to say that God and Jacob-Israel are alike in substance.

At the very least, God

finds in Jacob an affinite human being, and perhaps one worthy of sharing in divinity. In Bereshit Rabah 65:21, the words

~~D,

~1~

~1~~,

"the

voice is the voice of Jacob" (Gen.27:22) is read to mean

those

below. "

The

adjoining

midrash

in

65:21

1~1~

turns

to

Ezekiel's vision and to the question of why Ezekiel mentions that the angels "stand" as they let down their wings, sitting being unthinkable for these straight-legged servants. with

a

reinterpretation

of

OinD~--"when

they

stood"--the

midrash returns to Israel and Israel's voice: ~N1W,

DnW 0,1n1N

~N1W,W ~DW~

Oi OD

N~ OinD~ N,~ ~n1 1,~n1w n,~N~n~


Then,

307

What is meant by "when they stood?" When the nation [viz Israel] comes, they become still. When Israel recites, "Hear o Israel," the anqels fall silent. The anqels' makinq liturqical room for Israel's declaration does not

in and of itself elevate the nation to anqelic

status, althouqh it does suqgest that Israel has a part to play in the hiqhest divine service.

on the other hand, the

first

65:21

portion

of

the

midrash

in

divinizing at least Israel the patriarch.

comes

close

to

The inclusion of

Israel in the imaqinal context of Ezekiel's throne-vision calls

to

mind

merkavah-excursions.

Yet

this

particular

combination of midrashim seems to present an at once more radical and more qeneral conception of Israel's relation to the heavens--one,

we miqht say,

that both encourages and

discourages extraordinary angelic experience.

The voice of

Jacob is inherently able to make the celestials fall silent, so influential is Israel among those who dwell on hiqh; yet no scaling of the heavens is necessary for this to be so.

All

Israelites who participate in the liturqical declaration of God's unity in earthly synagogues participate naturally in this power over the anqels. In Bemidbar Rabah 4:1, on the other hand, Jacob seems to serve as a prototype for the visionary voyaqer who sees God surrounded by the angelic host.

The passaqe is a commentary

on God's command to Moses to number the firstborn of Israel,


308

and it interprets the command in light of Isa.43:4, "Since you are precious in my sight ••• " 332 ,J,D~

17,7

nN 1~, ~~1~ ~~D,7 ~"~~~ 1nN 'lll lnN~~ lnN1~7 lN~, ,,W n1W~ ,JN,nl

N,7n91

17n~

~N1

n1~, 1WNn ,JN 71J,~JW ••• D1N l 197 lJW ~WN 117, ,1WN N,DWl~ '1 1nN lnlN D,1nwn1 ,,,D D,~~J 17W

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jacob, 'You are exceedingly precious in My sight, for, as it were, I and my ministering angels came out to meet you when you set out for PadanAram ••• R. Hoshaya said: Happy is the mortal who beheld such a thing, the King and His entourage standing over Him and guarding Him.

Joaepb In concluding this section on Israel's patriarchs, we should note briefly several midrashim in which the figure of Joseph is preternaturalized in angelic directions.

While not

many in number, these sources do indicate that the theme of angelic Israel is sustained throughout the midrashim on the nation's patriarchal line. According to Bemidbar Rabah 14 : 5, Joseph, like Jacob, was born circumcised.

We have already seen that, although it is

a siqn inscribed in the flesh, circumcision, and especially innate circumcision, often corresponds with belonging in the company

of

angels.

No

bright

light

fills

the

house of

Joseph's birth in this particular midrash, as happens in other narratives of patriarchal birth, but among the many ways in

332 4: 1 begin• by ••yinq that I•rael i• very preciou• in God' • •iqht becau•e hi• tmaqe i• fiqured on the divine throne and becau•e the anqel• prai•e God with I•rael'• n..a.


301

which Joseph is likened to Jacob in Bemidbar Rabah 14:5 is the observation that

both were accompanied at some point by

anqels. Even more indicative of an affinity between Joseph and the anqels is a tradition, in the same section of Bemidbar Rabah (14:5), statinq that the anqel Gabriel added one letter from God's name to the name of Joseph, a reference to the appellation

~01~,

in Ps.81:6 (bSotah 31a also identifies the

added letter as cominq from God's involvement of Gabriel).

name,

but without the

This midrash reminds one of the

statement, in Bemidbar Rabah 2:12, that, throuqh the addition of a he, Abraham's name came to resemble God's name as the names of the anqels do. Gabriel,

It is also noteworthy that the anqel

in this midrash, not only adds a divine letter to

Joseph's name but also teaches him seventy lanquaqes--perhaps a

suqqestion that Joseph is to be heir to his

father's

position as divine viceroy over the entire world of humankind. Finally, we should note that a makinq

God's

qlory

manifest

is

tradition of Joseph's

woven

toqether,

also

in

Bemidbar Rabah, with two other midrashic passaqes that are important to the theme of anqelic Israel, appears Bemidbar

in several other connections. Rabah

14 : 3

comment

upon

the

each of which

The midrashim completion

of

in the

tabernacle in the wilderness and, by extension, upon Solomon's completion of the Jerusalem Temple.

These expositions are all

based upon Psalm 24 and its theme of God enterinq as the


310 ll~J~ 1~n

"qlorious kinq,"

throuqh

D~lD

,1DW--"ancient," or,

in the rabbinic interpretation, "worldly qates. " 333 The first of the anqelifyinq midrashim in Bemidbar Rabah 14:3 is a now familiar likeninq of the blue of the frinqes--by way of the sea and the sky, and the cloud, and the throne of God-to the divine qlory itself, interpretinq "the kinq of qlory" to mean:

,,N,,~

ll~J ~~lrr Nl~W 1~n~,

qlory to those who fear Him." fear Him

tekbe~et,

"the Kinq who apportions

"God apportioned to those who

which resembles His own qlory," says this

particular midrash.

We have already seen a version of this

same passaqe connected with Abraham in the Midrash on Psalms 90: 18,

and we will encounter this theme aqain in a

section.

In its version in Bemidbar Rabah 14:3, this midrash

concludes: " 'And

let

il~J~

1~n N~,,

,,~ n~Jn

them place on

tekbelet' --that is, midrash

later

suqqests

the

~,ng ~JJ~ n,~,~

corner

fr inqe

a

~D

llnll--

thread

'Let the Kinq of Glory enter. '"

that

by

wearinq

tekhelet,

the

of The

earthly

faithful walk about representinq God's heavenly qlory, makinq that qlory manifest in the world. The second of the relevant midrashim in Bemidbar Rabah 14:3 also interprets "the Kinq of qlory" to mean "the Kinq who

apportions of his qlory to those who fear Him."

The midrash

observes that, while one would not dare sit on the throne of an earthly kinq or borrow his qarments or use his scepter, the

333

We will have occa•ion to examine two of the miclra•him that occur in Beaai.dbar Rabah 14: 3 in later •ection• of thi• chapter.


311

Holy One, blessed be He, allows various biblical heroes to partake in these trappings of His glory. Following these two midrashic segments, extend divine qlory and splendor to

both of which

elect human

beings,

Bemidbar Rabah 14:3 turns back to Joseph and to Gen 39, in which Potiphar observes that God is with Joseph. says of God's dealings with Joseph, c,~,M~

nM M,,

~,~w

'u

~'rr

Ml~W

~,i~~ ~0,,, il~J--"God

The midrash

il~J~

1'n

M~,,

apportioned glory

to Joseph the righteous because he was godfearing."

God

becomes manifest to Potiphar through Joseph in this midrash. We do not find Joseph angelified in the classical midrashic sources to anythinq like the extent that we have seen in pseudepiqraphic sources (most notably Joseph and Asenath).

On

the other hand, it is clear that Joseph is not left out of the sequence of

patriarchs who are elevated to preternatural

status and who acquire the angel-like ability to represent God's glory to other beings (at least in Bemidbar Rabah).


312

Levi, Aaron, 'tile

Ange~ic

Priest:bood, and t:be

f'e•p~e

1nNJW D,lo~~ N~N ll~n l,N ll~n NloW~ ~N1W, D,~,~rr c,ll ~,n c~~ 1nN, 1J,o~N ,n1wn 1M1~n 'o ,Jo~ cnM1 l,M llJn MloW~ tl,Jo~ l,:J,~n ,,n,nn tli1~J:J1 1~JMTI nu• 11nw, loJ ,ngw ,J 'MJW n1wo ,JM~n~ M~M llJn M1o n1M:J~ '~ lM~n ,J ,~,gn 1w~~, o11n1 Dear are Israel, for when [God] calls them by a byname, He calls them 'priests,' as it is said, "You shall be called 'Priests of the Lord,' and 'Servants of our God," shall be said to you; you shall eat the wealth of nations and revel in their glory" (Isa.61:6). Dear are the Priests, for when [God] calls them by a byname, He calls them 'ministering angels,' as it is said, "For the lips of the Priest shall guard knowledge and they shall seek the Law at his mouth, for he is the messenger [or 'angel'] of the Lord of Hosts" (Mal.2:7). Sifre Bemidbar 119

Perhaps the most famous suggestion of affinity between the priesthood and the celestial realm is aqadic anecdote in which Alexander the qreat falls prostrate at the feet of the High Priest, Simeon the Just, the great king explaining to his astonished minions, "When I go into battle, I see his image and am victorious."

The High Priest in that narrative is, at

the very least, made out to be an image of the angel of the Lord.

In a lesser known midrash, the sense of reflected imaqe

vanishes and the Hiqh Priest seems actually to assume the hiqhest angelic office, at least temporarily. question appears in Pesikta Rabati 4 7,

The passage in

in the course of a

discourse delivered to Job by God, and it reads as follows:


313 N~l,~ 0~1D~ n1,1~~ il~~ ,n~~,n N~W 11~N 1n ~nN ~lil C,Wi~~ ,Wi~ n,~~ CJJJ1 Wil~ ,Wl~~ ~JnW Wl~~ ~,~W 1~ ~~N~ ~,~, N~ OiN ~Jl ,1,J9~n C,n11~ n1W~ ,JN~n1

nlnil

C~,J9 c,n,,~, ilnD~

il~J

o,J~J~

n1W~ ,JN~n l~,N 1~ c,~~1n ,,~w l~J,

N~l

n,~~

(T", T"tJ N1~, 1) iDln 'N ~N~Tn,) CiN ,J9

(',

N~n

~,~

,i,~Jl

,1,J9~n

(N",

'n 'N O,J~n) '~ il~J N~n ,J lJD~ , J9n n1W~ ,il~J nN ~~0n1 [il~J] 1~ ~~1n ,n,,~ OJJJ Nl~W 1nT~l 1WJ ~,~l, 1,9 ~DON ~l,N 1nNW Nl~ C,~l1J~ ,JW l,~n ~,~ln ~~~~~~ ~,~ 1,9 ~D NnlnJn ,, 1nN (T"J tJ"~ ~l,N) 11~N ~w 1no,JJ~ o,~,,J~ ,Jw [l,~n] (1,~) lil~J nN (N", ~~~~ C,1~i) ll~ 1,D, 1WJJ ~~~~~~ ~T 1WJ ~,~l, [~il~nl D~O lW ~D] lJl~n,l llJW, D~O lJ~ 1,D, ,Jl (,WN1) 0,1n ,n,,~W 9 11 DN (n"Jl /T"J \:1 11 ~/ OW OW ~l,N) 1Tln ~,~ N~l, ~,~wn lJW, D~O N~N lnO,JJ~ ,il~J .n,~~ nN N~nn1

[Said God to Job:] You are even greater than Aaron, to whom I apportioned glory as to no other creature in the world--for he wore eight garments of holiness and entered the chamber of the Holy of Holies, and the ministering angels would flee before him [as it is said] 'And no man shall be in the Tent of Meeting' (Lev.16:17), [which speaks of] the ministering angels [of whom it is said] 'and their faces, the face of a man' (Ez.1:10), and they would give him glory and flee before him, and My glory would fill the House, 'and the priests would not be able to stand and serve for the cloud for it was full of the glory of God' (1Kgs. 8:11). And when he entered, I [myself] would give glory to him and remove my glory from between the two cherubim. It was of this that Job said, 'Does the eagle soar at your command?' (Job 39:27). R. Tanhuma [explained]: "At your command"--the Holy One, blessed be He, would lift up His glory from between the cherubim when Aaron entered; "does the eagle soar"-- [refers to] the Holy One, blessed be He. "Building his nest on high," (Deut. 32:11, parallel to the rejoinder in Job.39:27) 'And shall he build his nest on high? He shall dwell and lodge in the rock, '(a reading of Job 39:27 and part of 28). Even though I would lift up my glory when he entered, still [according with] 'dwell and lodge in the rock,' once he exited I would return and fill the House. Standing in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest occupies the place normally inhabited by God's own


314

glory.

our

midrash seems to push this idea toward its most

extreme possible implication.

The angels depart from Aaron's

path, not because Aaron is unfit to be in their presence, but rather in deference to his auqust approach.

If God's removing

of His own glory from between the two cherubim follows this same narrative trajectory,

then we come to the remarkable

possibility that God momentarily allows the High Priest to assume the place of God's own glory in the sanctum.

If this

is the sense of the midrash, then the high priestly role is conceived here not only in terms of apotheosis, but in terms of something like hypostasis as well.

That is to say, Aaron,

in the inner sanctum, does not only appear as an angel-like minister, approaching God.

At least temporarily, he himself

also becomes the representational figure of God's glory in the Temple's holy of holies, the entity through whom God projects, reciprocally, outward toward humanity. 334 In Vayikra Rabah 21: 12 a

transformation of the high

priest, during the same service,

is quite explicit.

This

midrash is an exegesis of the prescription in Lev.16:17, that "no man shall be

in the Tent of Meeting"

during Aaron's

service, which it reads to mean that the priest himself, in the course of that service, could no longer be termed 'man.' N1~~~ N~N ~,~ OiN ,,Jg ,,~ ,,~n ,,,w nni 11nw, 1~~ ,ngw ,~ c~ 1

1 1nNi

n11n1~

N~

~1il

Wi1~~

,~N~n)

1~~1

rr11

1~~N

~,~w

i"~~

'1 1nN orrJg

~nw~

,,~n

c,i,9~J • I

334 !'letcber-Loui• arrive• at a Prie•tly role in Daniel (l997b).

1l 1

•imilar conception of the Bigb


315

Said R. Abahu: The High Priest himself was not a 'man' [at that moment], but rather, as R. Pinchas said: When the Holy Spirit was resting upon him his face flamed as torches on him. 335 Of this it is written, "For the lips of a priest shall guard knowledge ••• " (Mal.2:7). The

quoted

prooftext,

the

beginning

of

Mal.2:7,

should

certainly be understood as pointing to the verse's end: Ml~ nlM~~

'n

lM~n,

,J

which can easily be read to mean, "for he

is the angel of the Lord of Hosts. " 336

An angelification of

the Hiqh Priest could scarcely be stronger or more direct.

If

the Temple and the Heavens converge, in rabbinic thought, then the High Priest himself, in these midrashim, is the focal and most bivalent point of the convergence.

335

An intriguing parallel to this passage exists in Vayikra Rabah 1:1 where, in a discussion of the biblical Pinchaa, we read 11n,o ,~, ,nN C,T,97~ nl,Dl~ l,l9 l,n 1,7D ,,,~ WTl~n ITl, ~n,~W ~DW3 OITl9. Some manuscripts of 1:1 attribute that statement to R. Pinchae, so that the opening reads crrJg ,~, ,nM. The statement is integral to ita context in 1:1, which we can therefore confidently call ita origin&~ home. There seem to be two possibilities with regard to these parallel sources and their attributions: l) The tradition was actually received from R. Pinchaa, and, when integrated into the present midraah, it was adapted to apeak generally of •the high priest, • the original reference to the biblical Pinchaa being left out. 2) The attribution to R. Simon in moat MSS of 1:1 is correct; when the tradition was integrated into the present midraah and generalized, it was incorrectly remembered as having been attributed to R. Pinchaa rather than referring to the biblical Pinchaa; and the mistaken attribution toR. Pinchaa, having become an accepted part of this present midraah, was then transferred back into some versions of 1:1, in lieu of R. Simon, as the attribution for the camment on the biblical Pinchaa. I am inclined toward the second possibility, especially because there is no apparent reason for the attribution of the tradition in 1:1 to have been changed from R. Pinchaa to R. Simon, whereas this possibility explains a change from R. Simon to R. Pinchaa. 336

As opposed to, •for he is a messenger of the God of Boats.• It is not uncommon in midraah for the first clause of a verse to be quoted when a later part of the verse is actually moat relevant. Here this convention has the effect of an esoteric circumlocution. Rather than identifying the High Priest as the Angel of the Lord of Boats, point blank, the quotation of the first part of the verse causes the identification to take shape in the listener•• mind as an unspoken and secret reality.


311

A further indication of the High Priest's manifesting God's glory can be seen in the following warning in the Talmud Bavli's tractate Chagigah 16a: w,,i i1,Jn111nn , ,JnrrJ ,~,~ i1ili, ,~, W1i ,nWj7~ :nli1J l,l,D C,1~i i1W~W~ ~JnOni1 01,~ llD~ i1,i1, 1WN nWj7i1 i1N1n:J ~,n:Ji nWj7~ .O,li1J~l 1~in~+ ~,n:Ji N,WJ~ ,'i1 il~J nlni i1N1n Nli1 OWli1 Wii7ni1 n,~w 1nt~ c,Ji1J~ ~Jnoni1 _,,~u lili1n nnJl +T"J OW~ ~N1W, nN 1,J1~n1 ll:Jli ~D l,inlD 1,i1W ,D,,i7 W1 1~Jni1 ~J

:W,i7~

,N,Wl~l

R. Judah son of R. Nachmani, the meturgeman of Reish Lakish exposited: Whosoever looks upon [these) three things, his eyes become dim--upon the rainbow, upon the chieftain, and upon the priests. Upon the rainbow, for it is written, 'Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord' (Ezek.1). Upon the prince, for it is written, 'And you shall bestow of your splendor upon him' (Num,27). Whosoever looks upon the priests--[that is] when the Temple stood and they would stand upon the platform and bless Israel with the explicit name. As bearers of God's name, the priests manifest a glory similar to that of the rainbow of Ezekiel's vision and similar to the radiance that Moses transfers from himself to the chieftains. The use of Ezekiel's vision in this midrash makes it clear that the hazard in gazing upon the sights mentioned is the danger of contemplating God's own glory. The statement that the High Priest was not a man when he served in the holy of holies,

in Vayikra Rabah 21: 12,

is

immediately preceded by another tradition that seems to point to

a

convergence

of

priest

and

angel.

The

passage

is

paralleled in the Talmud Yerushalmi in tractate Yoma 42c, where the tradition is more clearly formulated:


317

i1lUJ:l 1 i1.,1"Tl i1l1i1::l~ jPi~i1 11ll1JW UinUl i1JW 'D,ll~1M i1nM l::l,i1n ,., 11nM nn ,nM nMTi1 i1JUl~ 1i1., 1nM i1J11nMi1 Ul"Tlj1 n,~., Ol:JJ ,n,,i1Ul i1JW1 i1JUl .,:J li1., 1nM llil, ,nn Ol:Jl 'D,l~., ~1nn1 'D,J~., Wl~., inN li1T i1,i1 'D,Wij1i1 ,nn ~, M.,, ,nn OJ:JJ 1Ti1 i1JUl~1 ,nn M~,,

Forty years Sillleon the Just served in the High Priesthood, and in the last year he told them, This year I shall die. They said to him, How do you know? He said to thea, Every year, when I entered the holy of holies, an old man clothed in white and wrapped in white would enter with me and come out with me. This year he entered with me and did not come out with me. Recalling that no man should be in the tent or temple while the High Priest is in the holy of holies, R. Abahu suggests, in an explanation attached to both the Yerushalmi's version of this agadah and Vayikra Rabah's, that the mysterious figure was none other than the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself.

On

the one hand, the narrative itself seems rather to indicate some sort of angelic alter ego who, in the last year of the High

Priest's

life,

rejoins

the

heavenly

world,

passing

through the portal of the holy of holies, as it were, leaving the mortal counterpart to finish out a final year of earthly on the other hand, R. Abahu's explanation, that the

life.

figure is God, indicates a rabbinic comfort with the notion of a close intimacy between the High Priest and the manifest Divine. We have seen already that knowledge of the future is a privilege that patriarchs.

figures

in the angelification of

Israel's

The High Priest, too, at least at the culmination

of his service on the Day of Atonement, receives revelations of the

future

according to

Pesikta Rabati

47.


In that

318

midrash, God says of the High Priest, ~,rr,7

,JN

~n

17

~7ln

,n,,~

nlWD7 ,,nu--"I would reveal to him what I would do in

the distant future."

This tradition is represented in Vayikra

Rabah as well, but there the High Priest divines the future by watching the column of smoke ascend from the altar, whereas in Pesikta Rabati the revelation seems more in the nature of an intimate confidence between God and the High Priest. We have seen Adam in the Garden of Eden aggrandized by midrash in terms of his "partition"

(~~,nn)

being inward of

that of the ministering angels.

A similar parlance is used in

connection with Aaron's sons,

Nadav and Avihu,

in Pesikta

Rabati 47, where God has Moses tell Aaron that his sons' death has come as a result of their having been stationed nl~,nn~--"inward

The expression

7~n

C,J97

of all the partitions"--even that of Moses. is explained graphically,

in terms

of the

physical scheme of Israel's encampment, but the inwardness of the priestly camp remains preternaturally charged in view of Nadav and Avihu's fiery death. A

scattering

of

passages

throughout

Bemidbar

Rabah

maintains a theme of Levi's exaltation in ways that indicate a particular link between the priestly tribe and the heavens. Just

as

a

miraculous well

is

said to have

followed

the

Israelites through the desert on account of Miriam, clouds of glory accompany Israel on account of Aaron in Bemidbar Rabah 1:2 and 13:20 (and in Vayikra Rabah 27:6).

Bemidbar Rabah

19:20 explains Israel's vulnerability to Amalek, in the wake


311

of Aaron's death, in terms of the removal of these clouds, and also has the Israelites expressinq disbelief at Aaron's death, inasmuch as he was "a man who withstood the anqel of death and had restrained him," referrinq to Aaron's avertinq of the plaque in Num. 17: 13 •

In Bemidbar Rabah 1: 12, the exclusion of

the house of Levi from the national census is explained by way of the parable of a king who tells his chief of staff, "Go and number the leqions except for my own personal one," implyinq that the children of Levi constitutes God's personal quard. Bemidbar Rabah 3 : 1 applies the reference to the cedars of Lebanon

in

Ps. 92:14

to

the

tribe

of

Levi,

calling

them

"qreater than all Israel," and goes on to say that God "chose only the sons of Levi alone to serve as His ministers. " Bemidbar Rabah 6:10, considering the provision, in oeut.18:7, for Levites from outlying towns to minister "in the name of the Lord" with their brethren in the Temple, asks, "What is the kind of ministerinq that can be described as being 'in the name of the Lord' song.

(Deut.18:7)?" and answers that i t must be

Sonq in and of its self is not enough to indicate

identification

with

the

celestials,

although

principal occupation of the ministering angels.

sonq

is

a

However,

Bemidbar Rabah 15:11 adds to the equation that the Levites would "sing in the presence of Him at Whose Word the World was created," a description that corresponds exactly to the office of the ministerinq anqels.


320

We have already seen the addition of a

letter be to

Abraham's name interpreted as an angelification, and we have seen

the

addition

of

a

he

to

Joseph's

name

in

Ps.81:6

interpreted as having been effected by the angel Gabriel when he qave Joseph knowledge of seventy languages. Rabah 6:8 the appellation

,nn~n

In Bemidbar

nngwn (rather than

nn~

,J~)

for the levitical sons of Kohath, in Num.4, is explained as follows: cnnu 1nw

n"J~n ~,,~ 111Mn nJ,DO ow~ n,n oJ,Jnw ,g~ n", ,,n 1910J i"l,l 1WN1~ M"n l~J, M~W ,iJ

Because their assignment was to bear the ark, the Holy One, blessed be He, combined His own name with theirs to save them from beinq consumed. He placed a be at the beqinninq of the name and a yod at then end of it, thus makinq Yah. Apparently, the sons of Kohath perform an office which would be deadly to human beinqs unprotected by a certain deqree of

affinity with the divine. The notion that an ability to tolerate divine fire is required

for

service

in the Temple appears aqain

in the

Midrash on Psalms (15:2): 'n DlNJ n~ n,nM ,JN1 ~1nJn 1nNw nr l,~nMJ 11l, ,n o,J9Jn nJ1nJ n,nM i1JJ~1 p1n~n ~,~o ~,~o WM nn1n n11w~ ~,J, ,n o,Jg~n il~J1 p1n:1n WN nn1n DN ili 1nN 17nMJ 11l, ,n 1n1M ,,n nJlnJ "Who shall abide in Your tabernacle?" (Ps.l5:1) This is to be considered in liqbt of what scripture says elsewhere: "Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls ••• For I, says the Lord, will be for her a wall of fire round about"--that is, in the area outside the walls--•and I will be the qlory in the midst of her" ( Zecb. 2: 8-9) --that is, in the area inside the walls. David said, If there is a wall of fire in the area outside, and the qlory is in the area inside, bow can anyone bear to abide in


321

Jerusalem? That is to say, Your tabernacle?"

"Who shall abide in

It is not surprising that serving

in the Temple

is

thought of in classical rabbinic literature as officiating in the immediate and dangerous presence of God. famously

promises

to

dwell

upon Mount

After all, God

Zion,

and

in

its

sanctuary, and God conspicuously takes up residence in the wilderness-tabernacle and in the Temple in several biblical accounts.

The very notion of God's dwelling in the Temple

renders the priestly and levitical offices analogous to the roles of the angels who serve in the heavenly throne room where God is also manifest. More remarkable, and beyond mere analogy, are rabbinic sources that preternaturalize the earthly Temple, making the Temple

continuous

with

the

heavens,

thus

raising

the

participants in the Temple's rites above mundane existence to a station for which only angels can serve as paradigm.

Very

much as we have seen in the literature of Qumran, the angels in heaven can appear as place-holders, in such a scheme, for the human priesthood, which would perform angelic functions and be preferred by God if all were right with the world. In Bereshit Rabah 3:9, the elevation of Israel and its priestly sanctum to cosmic preeminence is essential to the plan of creation.

The world is not complete, according to

this midrash, until the construction of the tabernacle.

The

midrash is built upon the cardinal, rather than ordinal naming of creation's first day:


322 ~w 1n,,,~ n~nnn ,nN ,~ ~N1nw 1"N ON 1W9J ~n O,J1nnn~ n19n1W n1WD~ ,JW 1 1WN1 1N ~W~W O,JW inN N~N 1n,n~ 1,1~ ~,~ ~"~~~ 0~~ D19 ,nn,N N~nnN ,W,~W ,JW inN NnW ,W,~Wl 01,~ ~,,~n~ ,~,, (T ,~in~) 1nNJW 1~wn~ nn~~~ 1~~~ ~"~~~ 1nN O~lD ~W 1n,,,~~ 1 1WN1 1J~1~ nN 1 1WN1~ ,n~lD nN ,nN1~ 01, lnlN~ l~,N~ ~"~~~

N~

~1Nnl

11~~

o~1D

1,lD~

Said R. Shemuel b. ADlP 37 : From the beqinninq of the creation of the world, the Holy one Blessed be He yearned to make a partnership with those below. 338 For, as a matter of reckoninq, the text ouqht to read "one, two, three" or "first, second, third;" whereas at "one, second, third" I should be astonished! When did the Holy One Blessed be He make it up to them [i.e. restore the missing "first" 1? Further on, in the [account of 1 the raisinq of the tabernacle, as it is said, "And the one who sacrificed his sacrifice on the first day ••• "--the first day of the creation of the world. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: It is as if, on that day, I created my world. The intended order of the world, according to this midrash, is not achieved until Israel fashions below, on earth.

a

throne-room for God

Accordinq to Bemidbar Rabah 12: 12 the world,

before the buildinq of the tabernacle, was like "a camp-chair with only two leqs that cannot stand erect and wobbles, but when they make for it a third leq it becomes steady and stands firm."

The metaphor is familiar to us from God's revelation

to Jacob that he is the "third leg of the chair." there

is

structure

that of

Israel

the

is

integral

cosmos--and,

in

and this

The message

essential account,

to

the

Israel's

337

In the parallel in Bealidbar Rabah 13: 6 the attribution i• to Sh.auel bar Ab&. 338 In the parallel in Bealidbar Rabah 13: 6 r o,Jlnnn3--•to dwell among tho•• below.•

the text read• r


1 JW'l

323

essential contribution to the order of the world is the levitical sanctum. Bemidbar Rabah 12: 13 qoes on to amplify the importance of the

earthly

temple,

siqnificance. nN, which,

aqain

qivinq

the

structure

cosmic

The midrash seems to be based on the particle

beinq comprised of the first and last letters of

the Hebrew alphabet suqqests the totality of the world: CW~ 7~N ,11~W C71D~ ilJJ 71~W Nl~W 1Jwn~ nN ' l l l c,~7N N1~ n,w~n~ J.,nJ i:~PJ 7~N ,,1~

n 1 D, 1 ,

n, tmJ 1

J., n~

1 JumJ. 1

1ITN 1~i 1Jwn~w

iln, 1 , ~ c, nw iln 1 J J., n~ 1 ' l l l 1Jwni1 7D 7i11N7 C,TD

Another exposition: The expression "et the tabernacle" denotes that its importance was equal to that of the world, which is called 'tent,' even as the tabernacle is called 'tent.' How can the statement be supported? It is written, "In the beqinninq, God created the heaven" (Gen.1:1), and it is written, "Who stretches out the heaven like a curtain" (Ps.104:2), while of the tabernacle it is written, And you shall make curtains of qoats hair for a tent over the tabernacle. This midrash qoes on to correlate the particulars of the temple to the elements of creation: the veil to the firmament, the laver to the waters, the candelabrum to the stars, and so forth.

That is, the tabernacle is entirely symbolic of the

cosmos--and it is equally as important,

accordinq to this

midrash. Bemidbar Rabah 4: 13 similarly correlates the features of the

tabernacle

to

the

heavenly throne-room. seems

furnishinqs

and

phenomena

In this midrash, however,

qradually to qive way

to

a

notion

of

of

the

symbolism

ontoloqical

correspondence, and to the idea of an actual openness of the


324

heavens to the earth at the locus of the Temple. relevant

passages

begin

with

a

importance, attributed toR. Natan: ~~Dn

~w--"Precious

statement

of

The most the

ark's

i1~~~ NO~~ 111N~ ~mnn ~,~rr

[in God's sight] was the construction of

the ark as that of the throne of glory on high." then goes on to frame a

The text

correlation of the heavenly and

earthly sancta, as follows: 1l J ~ 11 1N~ 1 i1~un ~w W1i7ni1 n, ~ i l J ~ 111 ~n Wii7nilw ~Dnn 0,1n1n D~W D,91W~ n119~ 1Jn,~ il~Dn~ i1WD NO~il i1,i1W ?1N1 D,nw ilJ~ D,~,~IT D~W 0,~11~ ,JW 1~ i1WD 1~ DW~1 '1l1 i1Tn i1~j7n 1ITN 11~ 'NJW il"~i7il ~W 1~W1n D~~ 11~1N nN 1~ 'i1 ITn9, 1nNJW ?1N~ 11~1N nN ITn19 D,nWilW c,~,,~i1 '~n i1~un~ i1J1nJ i1J,JW~ 1~ c,nwil nN ~1tJi1 W,N D~,J91 1nNJW i1T~ i1T O,J11Jn Oil i1Tn1 ilTn 1,J1nJW 11,~n 'NJW il"~i7i1 ilJ~ 111Jnw 11~~il NO~ 1lJJ 1,ITN ~N n,91il o,il~N ,g,, ~~~n The position of the [terrestrial] sanctuary corresponds with that of the heavenly Temple, and the (position of the] ark with that of the heavenly throne. He made a cover above [the ark] to symbolize the seraphim which stand above Him. He made two cherubim, which were precious, corresponding to the heavens and the earth, upon which was the seat of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it says, "One cherub at the one end and one cherub at the other end" (Ex.25:19). And just as the heaven opens its treasure for the earth, as it says, "The Lord will open for you His good treasure, the heaven, to give the rain of your land" (Deut.28:12), so the Schekhinah was placed above the two cherubim that were placed on either side. They were placed facing one another, as it says: "With their faces one to the other" (Ex.25:20), corresponding to the throne of glory, which was placed vis a vis the Holy one, blessed be He, as it says: "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth" (Ps.50:2) This midrash seems to perch in ambivalence between symbolism and actuality, even as the tabernacle it describes seems to quaver between heavenly and earthly realities.


On the one

325

hand, the seraphim of the heavens are paralleled by the woven ark-coverinq, and the two facinq cherubim symbolize the facinq heavenly

and

Shekhinah

earthly

actually

realms.

sits

On

between

the these

other

hand,

fiqured

God's

cherubim,

accordinq to this midrash, and God's qlory actually shines forth from the Temple in Zion, the treasury of the heavens open to the earth throuqh the speculum of the sanctum. The correlation of the tabernacle with the hiqher reaches of the cosmos is more on the fiqurative end of the spectrum in a

frequently

repeated

midrashic

correlation

of

the

tabernacle's "boards of acacia wood standinq up" (Ex.26:15) and the seraphim who stand in God's heavenly court in Isa.6:2. The connection seems entirely fiqurative (especially in view of a

tradition attributed to R.

Chiya,

which

immediately

follows in the versions in Shemot Rabah 35:5, Shir Hashirim Rabah 3: 2,

and Pesikta Derav Kahana 1,

and Yalkut Shimoni

Terumah (369), accordinq to which the qolden clasps of the tabernacle resemble the stars in heaven). a

parallel text

in Shemot Rabah

35:6

On the other hand, finds

the heavenly

symbolism of the Temple sufficient to invite a transposition of God's presence from the anqelic court into the earthly sanctum: ~w ,~w 11a,~~Jo n,Jn ,JM ~an~ ~~un ~w ~n1M~ ~wun eM c,in1D n,g,w l~Dn~ ~n ~an~ o~,l,~ ,nJ,~w ~,wn, ~~nn 1~ 1un~ ,M n,~~,~ ~~un~ ~n n,in1D n,aw ,~u ~un~ ,M

If you make somethinq like what is on hiqh below, then I will forsake my heavenly senate and cause my shelcbi.nab to dwell amonq you below. Just as above •seraphim stand," so below "boards of acacia wood


321

stand. " below. 339 In

Just as above there are stars,

Beaidbar

Rabah

15:4

and

15:10,

so too

when

Moses

has

difficulty understanding the instructions for the fashioning of the tabernacle's furniture, God points to the objects with a finger {15:4) or shows Moses a firey exemplar {15:10), as though the details of the sanctuary to be built below already surround God in the heavens {and as though Moses were in the heavens to see them, a theme to which we shall return). Bemidbar Rabah

15:4,

God

finally

assures Moses

In

that the

earthly candelabrum will take shape of its own accord in the furnace;

but

accordinq

to

R.

Levi

candlestick came down from heaven."

in

15:10,

"A

pure

The notion of a heaven-

sent candelabrum adds an element of actual continuity between the

heavenly

and

earthly

actually contains a

sancta.

The

tabernacle

piece of heaven's furniture,

below

in this

interpretation. 340 A convergence of

the

terrestrial

sanctuary

and

the

heavens occurs also in Vayikra Rabah 6: 3 , where the dimensions

339

In Bemidbar Rabah 12:8 God makes Koaea the same promise, with a alight change in wording: ~~w tlo~~~Jo n~Jn ~lM oun~ o~un~m on ~WlD ~nM oM ~on~ o~~l~~ ~nl~Jm o~3M1 l1M1 ~~Dn ~w--•If you make (something like) that which ia above below, I will leave my senate on high and come down and concentrate my Shekhinah between them below. • The odd plural at the end of this veraion--~on~ o~~l~~ (among eh . . below) ia probably a result of this passage's being borrowed directly from Vayikra Rabah 29:4, where God ia said to leave his heavenly senate to concentrate Ria presence among the rabbinic elders below who intercalate the calendar: 1~w 1 ~a~~~lo TP ln ~un~

o~~l~~

1n1~Jm 03n~1.

340

According to the iaiDediately preceding midraah at the end of 15:9, it was in the light of this seven-branched lamp that God constrained himself to dwell.


327

of the doors of the earthly Temple are correlated with the size of the flyinq scroll that fiqures Isaiah's vision of God's heavenly throne-room (Isa.6). the expression

,n,J~ ~JJ

In Bemidbar Rabah 14:3,

(I have surely built) in IKi.8:13 is

interpreted, in a tradition ascribed to R. Judah b. Ezekiel, as meaninq, "I have built a house already built," a notion that we miqht better understand in view of the declaration, attributed to R. Shimeon b. Yochai in Bereshit Rabah 69:7, that the celestial Temple hovers, like a heavenly template, only eiqhteen mil above its terrestrial counterpart.

Had the

heathen been able to break into the heavens, says the Midrash on Psalms (64), they would have done so, but, since they could not, they tore down the sanctuary on earth. We should also take note of the tradition, attributed to R. Berakhia in the name of R. Yitzchak in Bereshit Rabah 3:4, that the liqht of the world was created from the place of the Correspondinqly,

Temple.

in

Vayikra

Rabah

31:7,

the

architecture of the Temple is described in terms of its beinq the source of liqht: w•~n~ n,J~ ,,~ n1J1~rr NJ,Jrr 1"N WlPl (TN C,J~n) 1nNJW C~lD~ n1~,rr1n1 c,Jg~n n1J,tJi2n ,,~ nlnHJN n15Jli7W c,nHJN ~JJW l~n~ ~wn ,,~ 1"N C~lD~ ~11N N,~,~~ ,IJ fliT~n N~,,

~11N ~n,~

0,5Jl~W

,Jl~IT

n1~,rr1n1

c~n1

n,~~

flrr~n

n,~ ~w n1J1~rr flrr~n n1~,rr1n1

nlJ,c~n

,,nlJl~rr

~wu1

1,~~10

1~

'1~M ~~,n~ ~11N o,JJ~'1 ,~~ c,Jg~n o,Jg~n n1J,Oi2n N~N 1~ ,,~ N~ Wlj2n~ [ ••• ] ~'11il ~11N N,~1~'1 ,~~

Said R. Chanina: There were windows in the Temple, and from them liqht would qo out to the world, as it is said, "And for the house he made windows broad and narrow• ( lK. 6: 4) • They were narrow within and broad without, so as to let liqht out to


328

the world. Said R. Levi, a parable may be told of a kinq who built a hall and made its windows narrow outside and wide within, so as to brinq liqht in; whereas the windows of the Temple were not so, but were narrow within and wide without, so as to let out qreat liqht. Both Bereshit Rabah 3:4 and Vayikra Rabah 31:7 include a tradition statinq that God qave light to the world by wrappinq Himself

in a

radiant garment.

To the perplexity of his

colleaques--who find explicit reference to God's wrappinq Himself in light in Ps.104:2--R. Shemuel b. Nachman relates the

idea

in

danqerous. 341

a

whisper,

as

though

it

were

esoteric

and

In both sources, the tradition is followed by

this passaqe: 1W9N il,il M'7 D,:J1:J j1mi, '1 ilW11W ,'71'7M il,J1:J 1"M ,, cw:J il,J1:J 1"M 1,1n1M lllil iln lJ 1n ,ni11 il1n1M'7 l"ilil c'71D'7 nN~,, i111M own W"Ti7nil n,J Dli7nn i7mi, D,lj1i1 111n M:J '7N1W, ,il'7M 11JJ i1Ji11 (ln '7Mi7TTP) lll:JJ l,Nl lll:JJn i11,Mil p1Mi11 D,:J1 D,n '71j7J 1'71j71 D11n llJJ NOJ (T, il,n,,) 1nN nMI ilnJ Wlj1ni1 n,:J M'7M .1JW"Tj1n Dlj1n 11WM1n

Said R. Berakhiah, if R. Yitzhak had not exposited the same in public, it would be impossible to say (out loud]. And before that (i.e before R. Yitzhak's exposition], what would they answer (to the question of where liqht oriqinated]? Said R. Berakhiah in the name of R. Yitzchak: From the place of the Temple, from thence light would qo out to the world. Thus it is written, " (Ezek.43:2) "And behold, the qlory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East, and his voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His qlory" , and "His qlory• can mean only the Temple, as you say, "A qlorious throne, exalted from the first, is the place of our Temple." (Jer.17:12)

341

R. Shemuel b. Racbman explain• h~aelf by •ayinq, •since I heard it in a whiaper I relate it in a whi•per.•


321

This depiction of the Temple as,

not only God's earthly

residence, but also the source of the world's light, certainly preternaturalizes the Temple in a heavenly direction. Bereshit Rabah 70:8, and in Pesikta Rabati

(Piska 1) ,

In the

Temple is also portrayed as the place through which rsrael imbibed the divine spirit, a form of sustenance that we have seen associated with the angels in heaven. The midrashim that we have just seen are important to the theme of angelic Israel in that they liken the tabernacle or Temple to the heavens, and sometimes depict the heavenly and earthly realms as converging or connected at the locus of the Temple.

Beyond

the

sources

we

have

seen

that

angelify

rsrael's priesthood explicitly, these ones suggest that human beings

who

serve

in

the

sanctuary

inhabit

and

enact

a

celestial reality. We should note that the rabbinic theme of rivalry between angels and human beings, identified and explored especially by Peter

Schaefe~ 42 ,

Psalms (8)

emerges quite clearly in the Midrash on

in connection with the divine relocation to the

Temple.

rn the Midrash on Psalms,

complain,

"Master of the Universe,

the

angels

not only

'what is man that you

should be mindful of him?'" but even jealously and petulantly pelt stones at rsrael in fulfillment of Ps.68:13, "Kings of heavenly hosts cast (yidodun), they cast," as if the angels were immature and envious siblings. 342

P. Schafer (1975).


330

Also important to the theme of angelic Israel is the notion that the construction of the tabernacle,

and God's

leaving the heavenly court to take up residence below,

is

actually a return to an original state of affairs in which God resided in Adaa's realm.

We have already seen the agadic

notion that God initially intended to have an earthly abode, and to be surrounded by human ministers.

In Bemidbar Rabah

12:6, a midrash attributed to R. Shimon b. Yochai interprets the

,~,,

("and it came to pass") of Num.7:1, referring to the

day of the tabernacle's completion, as follows: ~nN lJW ~, mll n1nJ'2 1 T1n1 i1C9 1 ~, ~ 1J. 1 1nN , "J.Ul1 w"nJ o,J,nnnJ. ~l,JW~ ~n1Ul c'21n '2w 1n,,,J. n'2nnn N~ln ~i1'2nOlW ll,Jl 'lll llJ. 1'2~nn D,~'2N '~ '21i1 nN lDnW,l 1Jwn~ Cj11~W iD ~11, N'2 J.1W DiN N~nUl nnJ. ~l,JW~

R. Shimon b. Yochai said, it was something that, having already been in existence, had ceased, and now returned to its previous state. You find that from the beginning of the world's creation the Shekhinah had dwelt in this lower world, as it says: "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden" (Gen.J:S); but once the Shekhinah departed, at the time when Adam sinned, it did not descend again until the Tabernacle had been erected. The original lot of humankind, according to this midrash, is one of intimate, not to say angelic, proximity to God.

The

same idea is expressed also in Bemidbar Rabah 13:2, where the parable is told of a king who became angry with his lady and drove her away--i.e.

Israel was originally intended to be

intimate with God.

God's willingness to be present and

receive sacririces in the earthly Temple, instead of merely enjoying their fragrance in the heavens,

is the token of


331

affection that entices the king's lady--that is, Israel--back to fidelity in this agadah. 343 Bemidbar Rabah 13:2 goes on to include a rather famous agadah, first witnessed in Bereshit Rabah 19:7, in which God dwells, rea~,

first of all in the created world,

in the earthly

retreating into the first heaven, and then the second,

and so on to the seventh, only with each successive sinful generation of human beings.

By contrast,

the righteous,

beginning with Abraham and culminating with Moses, draw God's presence back down through the heavens, dwells in the tabernacle on earth,

until finally God

as in the beginning. 344

This midrashic assertion that an earthly habitation is natural to God also amounts to an assertion about what is natural, or at least attainable, in human nature.

Human beings, if they

are careful, can constitute a fit entourage or court for God. Finally, in this segment, we must examine two apparently conflicting midrashim in Vayikra Rabah that speak of the celestial consequences of the Temple's destruction.

The first

is an interpretation of Ezekiel's heavenly vision in Vayikra Rabah 2:8:

343

BeiDJ.dbar Rabah 13:2 pre•ent• the •ame concept in a different formulation. According to thia miclraah, when Adam dwelt in the Garden of Bden, he wa• •in the camp of the Shekhinah,• an appellation u•ed al•o of the tabernacle•• vicinity and of Jeru•al. . with it• Temple. When Adam •in•, in thi• tradition, he i• bani•hed from God•• •partition•--,n~,nnn. S~ilarly, in the Miclraah on P•allll• (11:3), the two clau•e• of Pa.ll:4 are under•tood a• being •eparated by I•rael•• •infulne•• and the de•truction of the earthly Temple. 344


332

1J"'llN 1 ,'7D i1·nnw 011 1W::l 1'1ll'1 i 11 illl'7 OTN 1::1 N11 T rr'1w 1N~n 1rrN'1 p1n'1 1N,~1i11 1n,::1n 19rrT1 TllD ,1,J::l1 ,n,::l 1N1N1 N::l ,l1'79 1::1 1'7 1llN i1'7~Nll TnN 1::1 N,::lil1 ,nJ1~w1 ,,1::1J nn,g 01'1~ 1llNll p1rr ,'1 w,w ,nJ1JW n,::11 1i1~i1 ,T1::l 1::1 '1N~Tn,'7 i1llTJ 1~ p1n::1n nTll1D 1lJNW 9 11 DN Win'7 i1Wlln::l ,D,::l1::l i1JW O,W'7W::l ,il,1 (N '7N~Tn,) 1llNJW Mli1 i1,JW::l1 i1J1WM1 i1l:,W 1T 1 i1 1::1T i1,i1 (N '7Nj1Tn,) 1nNll 1 19~i1 1ll ilN::l i11DO n11 i1Ji11 (M '7Nj1Trr,) 1ll1N ,ni1::lli1W ,T1::1J lilT OIM 1::1 1'1 1llN i1::1~1lli1 '7~ 1ilN1i1W ,nJ,~w n,::11 ,,1~~ nn,g 01'1~ 0'71Di1 n1n1Nn i1'7Dn'1 o~nM n111~ 1WD 1WN '1Jll 1ll'1~l ON1 (lll '7N~Tn,) 1llNJW 0~'7 ,ll ,'7 1 ,M 1llNn MllW 1 ,M1::lll1 1 ,N~1ll1 1nl 1~n1 n,::lil 0,9'1N i1WW1 O,Dwnl nlNll 'I ,J9'7 ,'1 W, 1::1J ,n1M T::llDW 01, '7J::l '71Tlil ,nw O,WTj1ll1 O,TlllD OilW n1Wi1 ,JM'1ll '1W Wlij1) 'i1 'i1 1 j1 D,1lllMl i1nD,j1W TDl illlrri1 nM,~,ll T,lln Tl::lJ 111::1 0,1lllN1 i1nN,~, TDl i1llrri1 nD,i1Wll (Wlij1 Wlij1 O,WlD OnN illl ,l9ll p1N::lW 11W'1 'D '1"~ l,Nl llllj1llll 'il O~nN O,O,D~ll 1,1N1 1l,NW 0,1::1T 0,1Dl~lli1 0,1::1T ,llW 1Dll'1 ilWlD ,J,1i1 i1WDN i1ll '7::1N OJ,'7D O,M::lil 1,110,::1 ,nw 1Dll'1 WDNl ('0 J '7Nj1Tn,) 'NJW OJ,'1D N1j1JW '7lilil .'lll '7ni1 ,n'1::1'1

•son of man ••• " (Ezek. 2: 1) , to what may this be compared? To the case of a king of flesh and blood whose wife children rebelled against him, and he rose up and thrust out of his house and banished them outside. Afterwards he sent and brought one [of his children] from [where his wife was]. He said to him: son of that one, come and X shall show you my house and my court that X have without your mother. Have my glory and my court diminished at all, even though your mother stand outside? So it appeared to Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest, as it is said, "Xt came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month ••• the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi" (Ezek.1:1,3) This was the first [vision], and in the second, it says, •and behold, a storm wind, coming from the North" (Ezek.1:4). once He had shown him all the chariot He said to him: Son of man, this is my glory, that X raised you above the nations of the world. Have my glory and the house of my Shekhinah diminished for you, as it is said, •are they are ashamed of all that they have made--the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits and entrances?• (Ezek.43:11). And lest you say that X have no one to serve me, see how already X have before me ninety and four hundred and six thousand ministering angels who stand before me and sanctify my great name every day, always, from the rising of the sun until its setting, and say, Holy, holy, holy; and fro• sunset until sunrise, and say,


333

Blessed is the glory of God from His place ( Ezek. 3 : 12) , not to mention the seventy tongues [i.e. nations] of the earth. Why, then, are you doing unworthy and unseemly things, rebellinq against the tribulations that come upon you? But how shall r act? Lo, r will act for the sake of my great name that is called upon you, as it is said, "And r shall act for the sake of my name, that it be not profaned" (Ezek.20:14). In this midrash, God's heavenly household remains unchanged with the Temple's destruction, taunts Ezekiel with the fact.

and God reproves and even

By contrast, in Vayikra Rabah

31:6, God's angelic court undergoes a noticeable change in the wake of the Temple's destruction: ~~M 1n1N lnN ~1n~1 1,l1ll~ 19on w,~ 1n1N lnM ~1n~ 101~~ ~,~ Wl~n~ n,~ ~1n N~W lD N~N ~,JlwnW, 1,9~N ~u,n ~1~,~~ Wl~n~ n,~ ~1nw 11,~ c~wn ~~1u ~·~~~ ~w 1

01'7~

Ni1 1 W 1 ,l~ ll ,N

i1"~~i1

1nNl

1'7W N,'7n9 i1"~i7il i1,uw 1n~ u'71D

~~1u

One verse reads, "Is there any number to his armies?" (Job.25:3) and one verse reads, "A thousand thousands served Him" (Dan.7:20). [It would seem contradictory,] except that until the Temple was destroyed the praise of the Holy One Blessed be He would ascend in complete form. Once the Temple was destroyed, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be diminished his entourage, and the Holy One Blessed be He said: It is not fitting that my praise should ascend as it used to ascend. Here the destruction of the Temple results in a diminishing of the ranks of God's ministering angels. 345

The midrash does

not say that Israel itself is the missing cohort of anqels. At the same time, the reduction in God's entourage suggests, at least, a correspondence between rsrael and the angels, and 345

The • - idea i• pre•entec:l anonymou•ly in bChagigah llb. On the •ame page a tradition attributed to R. Chananel in the n - of Rav •tate• that when the Temple wa• de.troyed the wing• of the heavenly creature• (with which they produce •ong) ware di.lllini•hed.


334

the midrash does convey the message that the service of Israel is essential to the celestial praise of God. To review, we have seen a variety of midrashim in this segment suggesting that association of Israel with the angels remained an important theme in rabbinic thought concerning the Temple and the priesthood.

It is not possible to speak in

generalities of a single rabbinic concept, since the midrashim we have seen range from ones which explicitly preternaturalize the human priest in angelic directions to passages that merely indicate a correspondence between the service below and the office of the ministering angels on high.

On the other hand,

we can say that the angelic realm consistently functions as a paradigm

for

conceptions,

the Temple

and

its

priesthood

in

and we can say that some voices

rabbinic in aqadic

literature take the correspondence of heavenly and earthly ministers and sancta to be much more than symbolic.

For some,

the priesthood in its sanctum epitomizes angelic Israel, much as we have seen in earlier sources.


335 Israe~

at Sinai

w,w nn 7N1W,7

N1~1

D,nw~

nN

n"~~n u1~

n11n 1nn Dl,~ n7llll7

On the day of the qivinq of the Torah, the Ho1y one, blessed be He, tore open the heavens and showed Israel what there is on hiqh. Devarilll Rabah (Lieberman) , Parasbat vaetcbanan

Like Garden of Eden, and like the tabernacle and Temple, Mount Sinai figures in many rabbinic imaqininqs as a locus at which Israel achieves somethinq like anqelic identity.

Also

like the Garden of Eden, and like the tabernacle and Temple, Sinai not only represents a point of intimate conqress between God and humankind, but also a moment of perfection precedinq human corruption.

Israel's brief moment of fidelity at Sinai,

before the buildinq of the qolden calf and the shatterinq of the tablets, shines throuqhout rabbinic literature as a beacon of the possible; and in quite a few rabbinic conceptions, the possibilities represented by Sinai are framed in anqelic and celestial terms. Two

contiquous

passaqes

in

Pesikta

Rabati's

first

pislca346 express a lonqinq to recapture the possibilities of Sinai,

and do so specifically in terms of an ontoloqical

converqence between Israel and the divine:

346

Part of the •YelUidenu-•ource• of Pe•i.kta Rabati ( cf. Strack and St.-berger, p.299), which .ay well date to about 400 CB (ibid, p.JOO).


331

,JntJlDW 'li1"1Ni1 i1nHt 11TTTJ1Ul:J tPi1"1N"1 ,W9J i1Nn~ N"i OnN Q,i1"1N ,n1nN ,JN ,J,O~ p~i1 ~1~i1 ,l,O~ ntll~"1Ul OWJ ,,~"1N 1W~"1nw O,i1"1N"1 N"i i1nJ p1Ni1 "1J "1D 1"1n"1 ,", i1,i1, 1n"11u~ 1n1i1"1N irr,,n, 1"1 1n, O,ntlli1 "11m ,,i1"1Ni1 1"1 1n,1 ~~U,~ W1li Nli1W nli1"1N Another interpretation: "[My soul thirsts] for Elohim"--that is, my soul thirsts for the time when that godlike quality which You bestowed on me at Sinai will return; [as referred to in the verse,] "r have said: You are elohim" (Ps.82:6). Another interpretation: "[My soul thirsts] for Elohim"--that you clothe (rsrael] with divinity as you clothed them at Sinai. Bring them near the time of redemption, that thereby may the oneness of your divine power be acknowledged throughout Your world, "When the Lord shall be king over all the earth" (Zech.14:9), in accord with what is exposited in connection with Jacob: "So let Him bestow upon you Elohim, a portion of the heavens" (Gen. 27: 28) 347 [that is,] bestow upon you divinity. Both of these extremely audacious readings, of Gen.27:28 and Ps.82:6, reinterpret elohim as a quality bestowed upon Jacob at Sinai.

The easy manner in which both agadic segments seem

to take a divinization of rsrael at Sinai for granted suggests that the notion is a long-established tradition. of

these midrashic

lines

evoke

The speakers

Sinai with confidence

in

rsrael's divine glory there, so as to project a like moment into the future.

The capacity of these midrashim to convey a

compelling eschatoloqical hope depends upon a ready acceptance of their concept of rsrael' s di vinization in the past,

at

Sinai.

347 The contextual aenae of the verae, of courae, is •so God qive you of the dew of the heaven•, • but in thia interpretation, Blohbll ia interpreted aa the object of the verb, and the word lllieal i• under•tood a• an Aramaic infinitive of the verb nel, •to take.•


337

Quite a number of aidrasbia decorate the already vivid biblical narratives of Sinai with hosts of angels.

A midrash

found in Pesikta Rabati 21:8, Tanchuma Tzav 12 and Pesikta deRav Kahana

12:22,

is representative of

the

angeloloqical

embellishment of the epiphany at Sinai: 1,~0D ,~n, ,lo ,Dilno 1TD,7N 1~ 1TD7N ,~, ~,nn ,97N o,n~,,

1nN ,J,O

1~

o,o ,~N7n

~,Tnn ,,~~

1

11

~,1TD 1~ 1TD7N 1 1 o,~7N ~~, ~109 1,io~

,Dilno 1TD,7N ,~17 ~,1TD ,n9N 11N~ ,J,07 1nN ••. ~,7

R. Elazar b. Azariah and R. Eliezer of Modi' im were engaged in interpreting the verse, "The chariots of God, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, [the Lord among them, Sinai in holiness]" (Ps. 68: 18) • R. Elazar b. Azariah said asked R. Eliezer of Modi'im: But could Mount Sinai hold them? He said to him ••• [God] said to Sinai: Lengthen yourself, enlarge yourself, receive my angels. 348 In some midrashim the angels at Sinai appear merely to amplify the fanfare and spectacle of the revelation; but in others the angels participate more essentially in the mediation of the law.

As Chernus has suggested, the mere presence of so many

angles at Sinai is mystically suggestive. 349 presence of angels

implies a

That is,

the

convergence of heavenly and

earthly realms, which beckons toward heavenly experience, and

348

Chernu• (p.l) write• of thi• midraah'• lemma, Pa.68:18, "This particular ver•e fraaa P•alm• came to be an important crwc for the influence of e•oterica on amoraic aaic:lra•him on Siani. • Of thi• particular ..Uc:lra•h, he write•, •&ere, however the •iqnificance ia merely the •ugge•tion of the clo•e proximity of the angel• to the Iaraelite•l •uch proxiaaity i•, of cour•e, a daaainant feature of Merkabah my•tici.... In fact it ha• been •ugge•ted [by Johan Maier, in Vo. .Ku~tu• zur Gno•i•, p. 134) that the tradition of a•cending to the Merkabah may have begun with Temple prie•t• who •joined with [the recitation of hymn• in) the liturgy of the angelic world.• Here, however, rather than huaaan• a•cending to join the angel•, we find the idea that angel• de•cended to join the

human•.• 349

s..

the previou• note.


338

thus suggests an experiential convergence of Israelites and angels as well. In the Mekhilta Derabbi Yishmael,

(Bachodesh 3),

the

angels appear in order to gird, crown, and clothe Israel in wondrous ornaments. (Vaera 9),

The same idea is repeated in Tanchuma

and in Bemidbar Rabah 16:24,

in the following

passages: C::J'7,:lUtl ,ni1, C,::JN'7n '71ll n1:1:11 ,:111 C,9'7N ,9'7N.:l 11l1IT iiTN. D,::JN.'7n 1 :1 D::Jn iiTNl iiTN '7::J'7 1Cln ,n,,~l 1WN1:l ~1Ull 1n1J 'N.l ll,,T C~'7 1DN C,llT 1nN 1,19,~i ~11~, ,:11 ,,'7u ~1~rr lll119n~ cw1 11ll,:l'7~ N.1,9119 1n1N ,N.n,o ,:111 lN'7n N'71 D~:l Dl1l D1 1:li ~,~ N'7 Ci,:l ~,~W C,n,~ '7J1 1ITN 1:li D'71 n1n~

I came down on your account with thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads of angels and presented to each of you two angels: one to gird every Israelite with his weapons, and one to put a crown on his head. R. Yehudah of Sepphoris said: He girded them with cuirasses. R. Simai said: He clothed them with royal cloaks. The explicit name was engraved on them and as long as they possessed it no evil thing could touch them, neither the Angel of Death nor anything else. 350 It is important to note that these midrashim appear in a context whose theme is backsliding, the lema of the larger segment of Bemidbar Rabah being Num.l4:2, "How long will this people despise me?"

Israel loses its angelic garments with

350 The notion of I•rael'• exclu•ion fro. the purview of the angel of death i• expanded in Vayikra Rabah 18:3, where, in a tradition a•cribed to a. Yochanan in the name of R. Blieaer the Galilean, God in•truct• the angel of death after I•rael ha• pledged obedience at Sinai: •sven though I made you a univer•al ruler over earthly creature•, you have nothing to do with thi• nation. Why? Becau•e they are my children. •


339

the sin of the golden calf, when Moses commands, "Put off your ornaments" (Ex.33:5). We have already seen that a midrash in Vayikra Rabah 11:1, attributed to R. Yirmiyah bar :Ilai, claims that God enabled the first human beings in the Garden of Eden, before their transgression,

to fly,

and called them elohim.

A

parallel passage in 11:3, attributed to Bar Kapara, applies the same prooftexts to Israel at Sinai, to the same effect, and the passage also describes a

diminishment of stature

subsequent to :Israel's transgression exactly parallel to that of the first human beings: ,~M1W, l~M M1~n ~,n11uJ ~rr~w ( ••• ] 1ng M19~ 1~ n1~~M 1n1M M1~1 ~"~~~ lU,O~W n1~ ,n11n ,9l ~T~ rr~w~ ~J 1ITM '1l1 cnM c,~~M ,n,nM ,JM (~9 c,~~n) ~"~~~ ~w 1nui 1rr,J~ 1~ ~J~ 110, ,ng ,n ,~wn) 10IT lJ ~,~W~ ~M1W, l,~~M ~~M (~~ n1nW) ~lU~ 11nM1 .11n1nn CiNJ lJM (~g c,~~n) 1~ ~1nM ~~ ~u

1nNJW

cu

Bar Kapara interpreted [ ••• ] "She hath sent forth her maidens; she calls ••• " (Prov.9:3)--This refers to :Israel. " ••• upon the highest heights of the city" [,91--being read midrashically here as 'wings']--The Holy One Blessed be He caused them to fly and called them gods (nl~~M), as it is said, ":I have said, you are gods (CnM c,~~M)" (Ps.82:6). After all this exaltation, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here" (Prov.9:4)--They forsook the will of God and said to the calf, "This is your divinity, o :Israel!" For this reason, "She [that is, the Torah] said to (:Israel]: "One who lacks understanding!" [a midrashic reading of Prov.9:16], "Indeed you shall die like men" (Ps.82:7). As in the case of Eden, :Israel's angelification at Sinai is represented as a consummation.

possibility lost,

a

forfeited moment of

On the other hand, rabbinic fascination with

that moment, and with the details of Israel's transformation,


340

suggests that Sinai remains a spiritual objective and an ideal paradiqm in rabbinic self-conception. Of all the midrashic themes that can be grouped under the heading of 'angelic Israel,' the theme of Israel at Sinai is perhaps most reminiscent of the collective angel if ication that we have observed in the sources of Qumran. settlement in the imagination of its sect,

Like the Qumran Sinai seems a

beachhead of the angelic world in the earthly realm, a point at which a divine order seems poised to spread throughout the earth with the elect of Israel as its wondrous champions. What's more, the notion, in Bemidbar Rabah 12:3, that God gave to every

Israelite at Sinai a

weapon engraved with the

explicit divine name, coincides remarkably with the images of similarly emblazoned implements of war in Qumran's War Scroll. Two passages in the Midrash on Psalms are also quite suggestive of a kinship between Israel and the angels at Sinai.

A midrash attributed toR. Berachiah in the Midrash on

Psalms (68:10) says that the number of angels that descended on Sinai was equal to the number of Levites in the camp.

In

68: 7, God instructs the angels to help Israel endure the impact of the revelation with the command, "Go down and help your brothers. " Finally, it is important to note that in Vayikra Rabah 20: 10, and in Bemidbar Rabah 2:25, the fifty elders who ascend Sinai are said to have fed on the radiance of the Shekhinah. According toR. Yochanan

(in

both parallel sources) the elders


341

"derived actual nourishment, as it is said: 'In the light of the king's countenance is life' (Prov.16:15)".

We have seen

angels described as being nourished in this way, by contrast to human beings (e.g. in Bereshit Rabah 2:2); so the elders seem to be angelified in this conception. Israel's angelic identity at Sinai is fleeting in almost every midrashic retelling.

The angelic accoutrements and

abilities that Israel acquires during the revelation vanish at the worship of the golden calf.

Not only are the Israelites

at large diminished by the sin, but, according to a tradition in Bemidbar Rabah 11:3, even Moses' especial quasi-anqelic stature is reduced by his people's backsliding. traditions

The series of

in Bemidbar Rabah 11: 13 can serve as a

bridge

between our consideration of Israel's angelification at Sinai and an examination of the angelification of Moses at Sinai in The

particular.

passages

in

question

follow

a

remark

attributed to R. Shimon b. Yocbai, which says that so long as a man refrains from sin be is an object of awe and fear, yet when he sins he becomes subject to awe and fear.

The first

proof for this idea is derived from Adam in the Garden of Eden; then follow these traditions: 1oo 1T~

WN1~ n~~1N WN~ 'o i1~~ ~N1nl ~N1W, n1001~ 1,o WN ~W n1~,nn U~W Nl~~

1T

11 ,~1 N1,1

O,ingnn ~~no~~

N~1

1,~1~,

11,~1

11o,~~n

~wn

N~W iU N~N 1"N

1~

O,N1,nn 1,~

n1N~~

,Jgn O,N,,nn

N~1 O,N11 ~N1W, 1 ,~1 11o1oo ,Jg 1~,gN 1Ntlnw ~wn nN ~N1W, ,l~ ~~1 111~N 1,Jn 1"M 1,~N 1"~ onJg '1

M~

'111 11~ ~l~1 1n oonu w11nn 1101oo ~N 11i1i, N,~N~ni

1NUIT

n1N~~ ,~~n 1~u~w ,~~n 1~,N '1 ow~

1,~

~N,1~l

1~,9N

~uw~

1i1,

~N~,n


~uw ,~1

,,9N

342 ,~

i"~~

~~no~~~,~,

~wn

~,~

N~

c~~w

~n~1

l,,,~,l~ ~N~

,Jgn

lNUnW

,n,,l,

Before Israel sinned, "The appearance of the qlory of the Lord was like devourinq fire on the top of the mountain." (Ex.24:17) 351 R. Aba b. Kahana said: Seven partitions of fire were consuming one another and Israel looked on undaunted and undismayed. As soon as they had sinned, however, they could not even look at the face of the interaediary; "When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face sent forth rays, and they were afraid to come near him" (Ex.J4:JO). R. Pinchas b. R. Avin said in the name of R. Chanin: Even the intermediary felt the consequences as they did, from time to time. Previously "Kings of hosts flee" (Ps.68:13). R. Yudan in the name of R. Aibu expounded ,~~n n1N~~ (Kinqs of hosts) as the Kings of Angels, namely, even Michael and even Gabriel were afraid of Moses. But as soon as [Israel] sinned, Moses could not look even at the weaker amonq them; hence it is written, "For I was in dread of Af and Chemab" (Deut. 9: 19) • 352

351

Thi• fir•t •egment i• po••ibly the continuation of a tradition attributecl to R. Avin. The entire •erie• of lllidra•hial i• paralleled in Shir Ba•hirilll Rabah 3 and Jtohelet Rabah 9. 352

Here •Anger• and •wrath• are apparently per•onified a• two de•troying angel•, preaumably inferior to Michael and Gabriel.


343

rile

ADge~ic

nM

•oses

~wn1

~wn1

~wn

1nMJW

M~

DiM

c,J,nnn~

,J,o

1~

tnJ

,J~~

f1M~, ~~~ c,nw o,nw~ nM1 c,J,,~n~ c,J,nnn~ i,,, 'lll c,~~M~ ~M ~~n

c,J,,~n~

~n

'~

"The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has qiven to the sons of Adam" (Ps.115: 16) --Moses came and made the terrestrial realm celestial, and the celestial realm terrestrial, as it says: "And Moses ascended to God" (Ex.19:3), "And God descended upon Mount Sinai" (Ex.19:20). Devarim Rabah 10:2

If

Sinai

in

classical

rabbinic

literature

often

represents a converqence of heaven and earth throuqh which Israel attains, at least momentarily, somethinq like anqelic identity, then the f iqure of Moses, who ascended from the camp toward

the

heavens

to

receive

the

Law,

epitomizes

converqence and the possibility of anqelification.

the

Moses'

forty days and niqhts on Sinai are often interpreted as involvinq at least an imitation of the anqels, in part because Moses did not eat or drink durinq this time: M~nn

,,Mn

,~,ow~

11~M

,,,

1rn~M

,, c1wn MnlrrJn

~,nw1 ~~,JM l,MW ~~nn~ ~o1n,J~ 1~~ Mn1~~ 01, D,D~1M 1~~ ~WMl 1nMJW ~JM M~l 011n~

,n,nw

M~

C,n1

,n~JM

M~

CIT~

~~,~

n~n ~wn

,~,

1nM ~~lJ

D,D~1M1

R. Tanchuma in R. Elazar's name and R. Avun in R. Meir' s name said: The proverb runs, 'When you enter a town, follow its customs.' Above there is no eatinq and drinkinq; hence, when Moses ascended on hiqh he appeared like them as it says, "Then I abode in the mountain forty days and forty niqhts;


344

did neither ( Deut. 9 : 9 ) • 353

:I

eat

bread

nor

drink

water"

Bereshit Rabah 48:14 Correspondingly, in the Ta1mud Bavli's tractate Yoma 4b, we find the following interpretation of Ex.24:16 ("And the qlory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days, and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud"): i1 1 nW1

i1-, 1 :lN

j21n-,

N-,N

l1n:li1 Nl N-, 1n1N 1nJ 1 11 n1wi1 1 JN.,nJ 1n1w., ,,nn1w

R. Natan says: The verse comes only [to indicate that sufficient time was given] to eliminate the food and drink in his innards, to make him as the ministering anqels. 354 Moses' fast is, at least, an imitation of the anqels in this talmudic tradition; but the idea, attributed to R. Hoshaya Rabah in Shemot Rabah 3:1, that Moses was nourished by the radiance of the Shekhinah, implies a chanqe of Moses' nature more than a mere masquerade.

Also with reference to Moses'

abstention from food and drink,

a sequence of passages in

Bemidbar Rabah 21:16 seems to establish a commonality amonq the natures of Moses, the anqels, and God:

w,

1 J1 i1., 1 JN ,,Jg-, ,nn., ,Jl1i1 nN 1,nJ i1TT3, , , 1nN , , l 1 J1T 1 J lJ,iln 'Oil,., ,,n,um W"i1nn i1n., il,nw1 1 J9 11Nl 1nNJW l,J1T 1 J Dil i1J 1 JWi1 1 1 Tn j2TT3 1 ,"N li1 1 c, ,n 1-,n

wN

353

We •hould note that thi• pa••age i.lmnediately follow• the tradition of Abrahaa being awe•ome even to Gabriel and Michael, which we have exami.ned above. 354

Th.i• tradition i• paral.leled in Avot Derabi Ratan, Nuacha A, chapter I, (lema ai"Ti2J1l i'IUirl) and al•o in the addition• to Nuacha A, chapter I (lema M~nl ~), and the attribution i• the •ame in the•• paral.lel•.


345

1nMn OM ,l,O ,~,,

1~

'lll

~JM

~,nJ

1,nn

1~~ ~,lWD~ ~n ~M, ~won

1n~

on7

~~,~

O,D~1M1

~nlWl

7J1M

~,~

M~

n~lD ~,nw,

01,

~,nWl

~,nJ ~·~W1 ~7,JM ,Jg~

C,D~1M

~~,JM

'~

,Jg~

1nM

w,w

CD OW

~,~

l~M

R. Yitzchak said: It is written, "My food which is presented unto me" (Num.28:2); but is there such a thing as eating and drinking for Rim? You can learn the answer by analogy with the ministering angels, of whom it says, "His ministers are flaming fire" (Ps.104:4). Whence do they derive their sustenance? R. Yudan in the name of R. Yitzchak said: From the radiance of the Shekhinah they derive their sustenance, as it says, "In the light of the king's countenance is life" (Prov.16:15) R. Shimon b. Lakish said: It is written, "A continual burnt offering, which was offered on Mount Sinai" (Num.28:6). If you assume that I [God] eat and drink, you may learn the contrary from Moses. See what is written of him: "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water" (Ex.34:28). Now if I ate and drank he would have done the same. Moses' ascent into the cloud of Mount Sinai is commonly interpreted

as

an

ascent

into

the

heavens.

In

the

continuation of Yoma 4b, for example, a tradition attributed to R. Eleazar states:

llD~

1M,~~,

~wn~

Ml~

111~

W11~~

109n--

"God caught hold of Moses and brought him into the cloud."

In

Bemidbar Rabah 12:3, "He that dwells in the covert of the Most High" (Ps.91:1) is interpreted to mean Moses when he entered the

cloud

of

Mount

Sinai.

We

have

already

noted

the

traditions in which God points out to Moses-- apparently in the

heavenly

throne-room--the

details

replicated in the earthly tabernacle.

that

are

to

be

A somewhat similar

heavenly show-and-tell takes place In Vayikra Rabah 13: 4 where, in the course of explaininq the dietary laws, God shows


341

Moses

T1~:Ji1

MO:J nnnn ••• WM

-,w

n-,1-,1 1 ,n:J--"something like a

fiery [animal's) skull under the throne of glory"--and points out the defects that would render the animal unfit to be eaten.

In Bemidbar Rabah 15:4, God similarly shows Moses the

position of the Moon at the beginning of new months. In Shemot Rabah 3:1, nearby the statement that Moses was nourished by the radiance of the Shekhinah,

we find the

tradition, attributed either to R. Yehoshua b. Karcha or to R. Hoshaya, 355 that had Moses not hidden his face at the burning bush, God would have showed him i1n1 i1,i1W i1n1 i1Un-, i1n1 i1-,nn-, i1n n1,i1-, T,nuw--"that which is above, and that which is below, and what was, and what is yet to be."

The resemblance of this

line to the areas of speculation censured in the Mishnah's Chagigah 2:1 is quite striking, and esoteric knowledge of the heavens is also ascribed to Moses in the Midrash on Psalms 24 in which Moses, "who had gone up to heaven," is said to have known "the upper as well as the nether worlds."

Knowledge of

the future is expected of a prophet, but rabbinic sources go to

lenqths

to

give

Moses

knowledge

of

the

cosmos,

and

especially of the heavenly realm (which does not figure in the scriptural narrative of Moses as it does in the commissioning and visions of later prophets).

355

•••

,nut Fill

lmt


347

Moses' hidinq his face at the burninq bush is deemed, in Midrash

Tanchumah 16

(Buber) 356 ,

to

lead to God's makinq

Moses awesome, Godlike, and able to see God.

The tradition,

apparently attributed to R. Yehoshua b. Karcha, 357 reads as follows: 1nNJW i1~~ 1~ ~~1n ,JN i1~~ ,~ n~~n l,,rr ~"~~~ ~"N N1, ,~ nN1, ~nN '111 ~Uln ,l9 nN ~N1W, ,J~ 1N11 n1~T~ ,,~N nw1n 1M,,,, 1nMw 1n~ ~tu1n ,lM l,,n n,~~n u,~, '~ nJ1nn1 u,~~n The Holy One, blessed be He, said to [Moses], 'You qave me honor; by your life, I shall qive you honor,' as it is said, "And the children of Israel saw Moses' face [that the skin of Moses' face it sent forth rays]" (Ex.34:35). 'You feared--"for he was friqhtened of seeinq" (Ex. 3: 6) --and by your life I shall do as it is said, "And they were afraid to come near him" (Ex.34:30).' By the merit of "[friqhtened] of seeinq,"--"he sees the imaqe of God" (Num.l2:8). Here Moses is made awesome to human beinqs, and able to see God, which miqht well be called anqelic attributes.

In Shemot

Rabah 12:3, God shares even more qrandiose preroqatives with Moses.

Accordinq to the tradition there,

'111

c,nw~ ~n

qave

[Moses]

li,

~uJ

~wn ~N '~

permission to

Ul~W~

1nN,, 1nNJW c,nw rule

over

n1w1

1~

1nl

~tunn~--"(God]

the doinqs

of

the

heavens, as it says, "God said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the heavens. "

The same portion of Shemot Rabah also

356 The ver•ion in the War8aw edition (19, lema ~wn 811100ther, but probably -nded to be 80. 357

lnM,l)

i• much

There i• 80.. di•tance between the attribution and thi• particular pa••age, 80 that, although the •ubject i8 continuou•, it i• difficult to •ay whether we are dealing with the continuation of a •ingle trac:U.tion or an appended 8ource.


348

contains a tradition that emphasizes the blending of heavenly and earthly realms at Sinai: '~

pgrr 1WN ~J •"~n n,nw~ ~u 11, nuJ ~wn ~N '~ 1nN,, D,nul D,nw~ ~"~i2~ 1T1W 9"DN ill 1nN 1 111 ~tml 1nN1 1r1w 1~n~ ~n11 ,~~~ ~n~ ~wn DiN ,l~~ 1nl p1N~1 lJ ,n11~ l~D, N~ M,11D ,l~l M,11D~ 111, N~ ,n11 ,J~ p1N~1 ~~~ D,nw D,nul~ 1nN1 1T1 D~1Dn nN ~"~i2~ N1~WJ 1nN1 ~l1WN1 ~1,T1 ~U~ ~11n~ 1n,~ Wj2~WJ DiN ,l~~ lnl ,JN1 D,llnrrn~ 111, D,J1,~D~1 D,ll,~D~ l~D, D,llnnnn 1nN ~wn ~Nl J,nJ1 ,J,o 1~ ~u 'n , , , , 1nNJW ~,rrnnn '111 p1N~1 D,nw~ ~WD '~ pgn 1WN ~J ,,~ '~ ~N ~~D 'n~

"And God said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sky." This is as it is written, "All that He desires, God does ••• " Said David: 358 Even though the Holy one, blessed be He decreed "The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of Adam" (Ps.115:16), the matter may be likened to a king who decreed and said, 'Romans shall not go down to Syria, and Syrians shall not go up to Rome.' Likewise, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He decreed and said, 'Those below shall not ascend to those on high and those on high shall not descend to those below.' When He desired to give the Torah, He annulled the first decree and said, 'Those below shall ascend to those on high and those on high shall descend to those below, and I shall go first!' Thus it says, "And God descended upon Mount Sinai" (Ex.19:20), and it says, "And unto Moses He said, ascend unto the Lord" (Ex. 24: 1) • Behold, "All that God desires, He does in the heavens and the earth." According to this midrash the giving of the Torah entailed a dissolution of the boundary between the heavens and the earth, not only to allow the divine to become manifest below but also to enable those below--Moses initially--to ascend.

Torah, in

this midrash, enables or entails a bridginq of celestial and terrestrial realms and, apparently, also a transcendence of mundane hwaan status. 358

That ia, the Paalaliat.


349

Another passage in Shemot Rabah 45:2 presents a quite graphic and surprising narrative of God's moving from the heaven1y to the terrestrial realm in order to be with Moses: nK IT,J~W ~wn~ ~·~~~ ~~ITW 11~~ ~M1 1nK 1"~ ~11~, '1 1n 1 ~ l, M~ n1W~ , ~K~n 1, ~ 1 ~wn ~~M M:l1 C, J 1 , ~ll~ rr,,,~, wnw~ 1~1 ~um ~~K 11nJ M,~, ,,Jg-, l1Jn,~ 1,M~~ nM~~ n1W1 ~10,~1 l,Jg~ n11rrnw~-, C,M~ 0,~~~~1 ,,~ K-, 0,1rrnwn1 n1W1 1,-,UlJ l~W ,~1-,,MW C~1ll-, M19M nl,IT~ 1~NW 0,1rrnwn 1-, C,nw~ M~~1 1nNJW l,M~l, 1nNJW M1~ l~W l,Jn ~wn -,~N 1~-, ~"M 11~~~ MC~ Ml~ ~~ w~~n N~M ~,n~ l,N ~wn w~~n '~ w~~n -,~ ~,~,

R. Yehuda b. Rabbi said: See what honor the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Moses, in that He left the celestial& and came to be with Moses; and the ministering angels came to sing their hymn before Him, but He was where Moses was. And also the Sun and the Moon and the stars came to bow before Him and to receive permission to go out and illumine the world--for if they did not receive permission and bow they could not go out, as it is said, "The host of heaven bows to you" (Nech.9:6). They asked the (celestial] creatures, 'Where is the throne of glory?' They answered, 'Go look where Moses is.' How do we know that it was so? For it says: "And it came to pass that all who sought the Lord (went out to the tent of meeting]" (Ex.JJ:7). It does not say, "all who sought Moses," but "all who sought the Lord." This is a rather late-redacted and late-sounding midrash, but its heavenly setting and cast of celestial characters cal1 to mind pseudepiqraphic sources,

and the agadah reinforces a

concept that is already familiar to us from other rabbinic sources.

That concept is that Israel--or, at least, Israel's

elect, here Moses--might constitute appropriate company for God, so as to rival the angelic retinue.

In this midrash,

Moses seems to become God's chief chamberlain,

and God's

throne of glory itself is transposed to the place where Moses is.


350

We

have

already

taken

some

note

of

the

frequently

repeated midrashic tradition in which the appellation 1'7n il~J~--"the

King of Glory"--is interpreted as

1i1~Jn ~'71rr Ml~W

1, M1, ~--"the King who apportions of his own glory to those who fear Him."

Among the proofs for this concept in the versions

of this midrash that appear in Tanchuma Behaalotecha 15 and Bemidbar Rabah 15:13, is the fact that God allowed Moses to be called "Elohim," referring to Ex.7:1 ("Behold I have made you

elohim to Pharaoh") •

In a very similar list of proofs for the

notion that God shares of His own glory with those who fear Him, in Bemidbar Rabah 14:3, God is said to have lent Moses His own scepter, in the form of the staff which Moses took "from before the Lord."

This same segment of Bemidbar Rabah

also contains the statement that God gave honor to Moses by speaking to him in Moses' own voice; and it also interprets the title "King of Glory" with reference to the blue of the corner-fringes, as we have seen before, linking the fringes-by way of the grasses, the seas, the firmament, the rainbow, the cloud, and the throne--to the image of God's own glory, in which wearers of the blue fringes partake.

This midrashic

context for the narrative of Moses' sharing in God's own glory implies that Moses

is not only a

uniquely qualified and

angelified figure, but is also exemplary of an identification with

the

divine

glory

that

might

be

enjoyed

by

other

Israelites who share in the fulfillment of God's will. Among the passages preserved in the classical rabbinic


351

literature that establish an angelic identity for Moses, the one that is most strikingly suggestive of a preservation of pre-rabbinic traditions of angelification is the following tradition in Shemot Rabah 1:20 on Ex.2:2 ("And she saw that he was good"): ~,n~ ~11N nN D,~~N

~1~n N1~W~ i~1JW D,1n1N D,1ITN 1~1J n,~~ N~nnJ ~wn i~1JW ~nw~ ,,nN 1J~11 N1,1 en~ ~,n~1 N1~ ~10 ,~ 1n1N N1n1 N~~ ~10

,~

11N~

Others say: (Moses] was born circumcised The Rabbis said: When Moses was born the whole house filled with light. It says here, "She saw that he was good," and elsewhere it says, "And God saw the light, that it was good." The midrash reads as though its substance were lifted directly Shemot Rabah

from pseudepigrapha that we have seen.

is

sufficiently late a compilation that we cannot speak with confidence about the route of this tradition's entry into its anthology.

We have noted that authors as diverse as Philo,

Eusebius, and the author of the Testament of Moses aggrandize Israel's law-giver along angelic lines, and so it is possible that this particular tradition of Moses' reentered Jewish tradition from without. traditions classical

angelifyinq rabbinic

Moses

literature

are

so

that

lustre at birth At the same time,

ubiquitous we

cannot

in doubt

the a

preservation of the general theme from an earlier time by the rabbinic authors.


352

twbe ADge~ic Propbets

Q,~M~n

Q,M,~l~

1M1~l

l~~W

~M

n,~n

Said R. Yochanan: As a genus, called angels.

1JIT1,

1nM

,~1

the Prophets were Vayikra Rabah 1:1

Moses is not the only prophetic f iqure given angelic aspect in classical rabbinic literature. of

importance

the

celestial

We have seen the

narratives

of

prophetic

commissioning& and visions to angelic self-conception in prerabbinic sources.

To some extent, a concept of the prophets

as angels remains a fixture in early rabbinic thought as well. Despite

the

supersedes important

frequent the

in

suggestion

prophetic

agadic

that

tradition,

literature

as

rabbinic the

authority

prophets

exemplars

of

remain fiqures

entirely engaged in the fulfillment and expression of the divine will--as are the angels. The entire opening of Vayikra Rabah 1: 1, leading up to R. Yochanan's comment on prophets,

as a genus,

being called

'angels,' seems to represent another instance of fluctuation between

semantic

or

ontological identity.

symbolic

identification

and

actual,

In this regard, the small collection of

midrashim is worth examining as a whole: '~

eN ~J

nM

1~1~ IT19 ,M~,JIT 1n QliTJn ,~1 ~wn ~M M1~,1 1~1n ~ 1n~~ i1n~ '1 l 1 1 1~1 ,tolD rr~ , 11 ~l 1, ~M~n 'i1 nN 1J1l 1'DNl 1lJ N'7i11 1~1n l1nJi1 C,l1,'7D~

1i1W ,,, '7D C,J1,~D Q,llnnn~ N'7M 1~in ll,M Mi1 l,M~~ '~ nM 1~11 11nMJ ~·l~i1 ~w ,,,,~gn~ 11nD'7 1,~,~,

~J


353 1,i,~9n~

ilnD~

,,~N~n ~~

N~l

1,~1~,

,,~N~n

ll,NW ,"D C,llnnn ~~N l,N~~ '~ nN ,~,~ 1nNJ 1~~ ~"~~~ ~w

llN,~l,l lM~n l~W,l i"~~ C,~N~n C,N,~J~ 1N1~J N"i N11~ ~n~1 ~,~ ~wn N~~, ~,~ lM~n ,~, 'lll c,1~nn

~,nll~il C,JN~n C,N1~J C,N,~J~W lMJn N~N lM~n N~~, ~,~ lM~n ,J, c,~,~~ ~N ~l~l~ 1n '~ lM~n cnJg 11n,c ,~, 1nM N~N lN~n 1n1M N11~ ~n~1 ~,~ n11u1~

,Jg

,,~

,,~u

~11w

Wil~~

n11

~n,~w

1n1N ~n,,

onJg ~nw~

c,·pg~J

w,N Nl~W

~J~

o,~N~n

in~

n1nut

~n,~

~n

n1Jn

~w

1~ ~11~0~ O,~~N lN~n ~N1n~

~nN

c,N,~J~

J"D

N~

1N1~J

'~

1nwN ,,nN

1~~w

~N

n,~n

n1~N~n~

'~

lM~n

c,~N~n

ll~,,

l~N1n1 ,~N N~ C,~~N lM~n M~N 1J,N1 N,~J

c,N,~J~

lJITl, ,~, 1nN ,ln 1nM,, i"~~ 1N1~J

~N

n,~nw

"And the Lord called unto Moses" (Lev.l:l). R. Tanhum b. Hanilas opened [his discourse with the verse]: "Bless the Lord, His angels, valiant of strength, who fulfill His word." (Ps.l03:20). Of whom does the scripture speak? If the scripture speaks of those on high, has it not already been said, "Bless the Lord, all His hosts?" (Ps.S:21) Thus [our verse] can only be speaking of those below. [To] those on high, because they are [all] able to fulfill the charges of the Holy One Blessed be He, it "Bless the Lord, all His hosts." But [to] those below, because they are not [all] able to fulfill the charges of the Holy One Blessed be He, it is says, "Bless the Lord, His angels," and not "all His angels." Another interpretation: The prophets were called 'angels.' Thus it is written: "And He sent an angel and took us out of Egypt" (Num.20:16). was this an angel? Surely it was Moses; and why does it call him an angel? From this we learn that the prophets are called angels. Similarly: "Then the angel of the Lord went up from the Gilgal" (Jud.2: 1). Was this an angel? Surely it was Pinchas; and why does it call him an angel? Said R. Simon: When the Holy Spirit rested upon Pinchas, his face burned like torches. And the rabbis say: The wife of Manoach, what did she say? "Lo, a Man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an Angel of God" (Jud.l3:6). She thought he was a prophet when in fact he was an angel. Said R. Yochanan: As a genus, the Prophets were called angels. Thus it says: "Then said Chagai, angel of the Lord in the angelic service of the


354

Lord ••• " Thus you learn that the prophets, as a genus, were called angels. The

series

interprets

of

agadot

opens with

,,JN~n--"His

a

midrash

that

readily

angels"--as a plausible appellation

for God's faithful on earth.

According to this same midrash,

those below who are able to endure and fulfill God's commands are appropriately addressed as angels.

As ever,

we must

wonder whether this identification is a matter of ontology or of mere semantics; but by now it should also be clear that there

is

scarcely

classical midrash.

such

a

thing

as

'mere

semantics'

in

There are always ontological implications.

The midrash identifying Moses as the "angel" referred to in Num.20:16, which follows next in the sequence, certainly appears to incline more toward nomenclature than ontology. God's messenger of redemption to Israel in Eqypt was a man; he is once called an angel by scripture; 'angel'

can mean

'prophet. '

thus we learn that

on the other hand,

we have

already seen that the angelification of Moses is no mere matter

of

semantics,

and

the

midrash

on

Pinchas

that

immediately follows in our series here, although it begins as an

apparently

identical

semantic

syllogism,

ends

in

a

statement about actual radiance and divine spirit, indicating that much more than terminology is at stake.

The midrash

asks, why can scripture be read as calling Pinchas an angel? We expect the formulaic answer: because prophets are termed 'angels;' yet the answer we hear this time is that Pinchas was actually angelic in aspect.


355

The segment concerninq the appearance of the Anqel of the Lord to the wife of Manoah and her account of the visit, in Judq.l3 :2-6, which follows next in the series, presents a supposition that the Anqel of the Lord miqht be mistaken for a

prophet.

With

the

inclusion

of

this

midrash,

the

compilation moves decidedly away from mere nomenclature and toward a qenuine ontoloqical confusion. not

misspeak,

misapprehends

or the

use

obscure

nature

of

Manoah's wife does

sobriquets, her

she

visitor,

actually

although

she

certainly does not fail to recoqnize his wondrous appearance. The midrash thus makes the claim that it is difficult to distinguish between a •very terrible" Anqel of the Lord and a prophet discharqinq a divine command. With the midrash attributed to R. Yochanan, by contrast, this

collection

of

midrashim

reverts

decidedly

semantics and sylloqisms of nomenclature.

back

to

Haqqai was a human

prophet; he is called Anqel of the Lord; therefore prophets can be termed anqels.

Here we have an entirely sound, not to

say mundane, philoloqical exeqesis, attached to the name of an early Amara. The

vacillation

compilation, ontology, exeqetical

of

between

this

mere

qroup

of

terminoloqy

midrashim, and

as

a

aqqrandizinq

seems to reflect a diversity of conceptual and inclination

amonq

the

early

rabbis.

The

compilation also reflects a redactional decision, on the part of the compilers of Vayikra Rabah, to encode this rabbinic


ambivalence by juxtaposinq these several traditions.

No part

of the sequence is verbally linked to the lema, the first verse of Leviticus, and none of the contrasting explanations are joined together in the form of actual dialoque.

The

assembly

The

of

the

pieces

is

entirely

redactional.

compilation is certainly not haphazard.

On the contrary, an

active editorship seems to have decided to begin Vayikra Rabah with a carefully synthesized discussion or disputation on the nature of prophecy and on the question of whether prophecy was actually

an

anqelifyinq

definitively

resolved.

office.

The

Despite R.

philological exegesis at the end,

question

Yochanan's

is

not

soberinqly

the possibility of the

prophets' sharinq in the nature of the angels is still held out as actual and consequential. Another midrash in which the angelic visitor to Manoah and his wife is mistaken for a prophet appears in Bemidbar Rabah 10:5.

There too, the mistake does not entail a failure

to note the visitor's angelic aspect: ~~M ~l~N~ ~,~

,~~W

1Jntn ~~N,W

~,~ 1~

1~~ Nl~

1n1N 1J,N

'~

lM~n

lN~n

,~

IT1Jn Dl, N~ Dll, ~,~ l~N ~~Dn~ ~~,JN l,NW

~,~W

~DW~ In~ nN lN~n 1~ 1~,~ N~ ~n~1 w11~~ rr11 ~"~~~ ~w 1n1rr,~w~ c,~~,~ c,N,~J~ ,,~w D~,N11 ,J,U~ ~n,N D~~ ~Jn1J ~n,~ D~,~U ~11W ~n,~w c,~N~n~

c,n11

,,~w

c~n

c,N,,nn

~~~w

"Manoah did not know that he was the Anqel of the Lord" (Jud.l3:16)--and for this reason he invited him to eat. If, however, he had known that he was an anqel he would not have invited him to eat, for he knew that there is no eatinq in heaven. But why did he not recoqnize him? From this you may infer that when the prophets went on an errand of the Holy one, blessed be He, the Holy Spirit which rested upon them gave them an awe-inspirinq


357

appearance in the eyes of those that saw them, so that all were afraid of them, for they looked like anqels. Here, once more we see the notion that a human beinq entirely occupied with discharqinq the divine will is tantamount to an anqel, not only in deed, but in awe-inspiring aspect as well. By wholly acceptinq the charqe to be an instrument of God's will,

the prophet,

in this rabbinic conception,

seems to

recapture something of the oriqinal, angel-like nature of the first

human

beinq

before his

sin,

or

the

nature of

the

Israelites at Sinai before theirs. The wondrous nature of at least one prophet is explicitly indicated as a recapitulation of Adam's oriqinal attributes, in Vayikra Rabah 27:4.

There, R. Judah is quoted as arquinq

that the example of Elijah--"who did not sin, and lives for ever"--renders easily acceptable the idea that Adam, had he not sinned, would also have lived forever.

The continuation

of Vayikra Rabah 27:4 contains the statement, attributed toR. Acha in the name of R. Eliezer b. Chalafta: "All that the Holy One, blessed be He, intends to perform in the Time to Come He has already partly performed in anticipation in this world through the instrumentality of His riqhteous prophets."

In

this conception, the preternatural wonder that attaches to the prophets not only harks back to the nature of the first human beinqs, but provides a foretaste of the wonders of the world to come as well.


358

We have seen the sugqestion that the awesome appearance of the Angel of the Lord miqht be the very imaqe of a human prophet enqaqed in his mission.

We have also seen the notion

that the holy spirit miqht rest on someone charqed with a divine mission so that his face would shine like torches. Radiance and the converqence of heavenly and human appearances also f iqure in a

midrash concerning prophets in Tanchuma

(Chukat 6:6) 359 : ~w 1rrJ ~lil lil, ,~, 1nM ,,Jg ,,Mn DiM nnJrr nnWMl 1nMJW DiM n11~~ ~~nn ~w ~11~1 n1ni l,ninw MJ~n 1nM 11n,D ,~1~ ~il~, ,~11 ,~1M 1 ,~ DiM ~~nn~n ,,~n DiM ~M1nJ n1ni MOJ~ n1ni

D,M,~J

~,~ ~Ul

"A man's wisdom makes his face shine" (Eccl.S:l). R. Yudan said: Great is the power of the prophets, for they liken the imaqe of the Almiqhty on hiqh to the form of a man, as it says, "And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai" (Dan.8:16). R. Yehudah b. R. Shimon infers it from this verse: "And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above" (Ezek.l:26). on the one hand, this midrash seems to read its startinq verse to mean that prophetic wisdom casts liqht upon the visaqe of God, renderinq the divine describable.

on the other hand, the

notion that the prophets are particularly able to liken God to man

seems

inextricable

from

the

idea

that

the

prophets

themselves represent the celestial aspect of humanity. is,

inasmuch as this midrash makes prophecy a

likening divine and human imaqes,

That

matter of

its openinq verse still

resonates with the meaning it has in context in Ecclesiastes: 359

Paralleled in ~dbar Rabah 14:4, Pe•ikta Rabati (Friedman) 14, Pe•ikta de-Rav Kahana 4:4 and Midra•h Zuta on Eccle•ia•t•• 8:1.


359

the wise man's own face is luminous.

In any event, Bemidbar

Rabah 14:4 suggests something like a familial recognition of God by the prophets: they are able to perceive God as a being like unto themselves, at least in appearance. A further indication that the prophets of Israel share an angel-like familiarity with God occurs in Bereshit Rabah 52:5 and 74:7.

A tradition in those places,

attributed to R.

Issachar of Kefar Mandi, contrasts God's manner of encounter with Balaam with the divine speech heard by the prophets of Israel.

According to this interpretation, the word 1 i1, 1 , used

of God's appearance to Balaam, recalls the term

~~,~ ~1i1n,

in

Deut.23:2, thus evokinq the connection of impure, nocturnal emissions and indicating that impurity attaches to the foreiqn seer despite his prophetic character.

To the prophets of

Israel, by contrast, accordinq to this midrash, God speaks 1n1M

l,O~i1n n1w~ ,JN~nw 11w~~ ~W1ii1 11w~l ~~,n 11w~~ o~w ,,~~~

W1ii1 1nN1

~T

~N

~T

N1j11--"in full speech,

in a lanquaqe of

love, in a lanquaqe of holiness, in the lanquage in which the ministering anqels praise Him--'and one called to the other, Holy!'"


Allgelic: Israel in 'tbe Wilderness

Cl~Wl 1Mn~

en C~ CM ~M1W, ••• M1,T 1 1 CW~ 11Dnw 1 1 1nM 1nMJW c,u11 c,nM cnlM M11~ Ml~ ~J1nnn~ ~l1in~ 1~ Cl~W Ml ~1~iM ,D11 ,nM

R. Shimon said in the name of R. Zera ••• Even when the children of Israel are, God forbid, most degraded, God continues to call them His brothers and friends, as it is said: "For the sake of my brothers and friends I will speak peaceably of you" (Ps.22:8). Midrash on Psalms 4: 3 360

In the previous segments we have seen certain special individuals

or

groups

classical midrashim.

within

Israel

made

angel-like

in

The present segment will demonstrate

that this theme of angelification extends beyond particular Israelite

heroes

to

become

an

important

aspect

of

the

conception of Israel at large in classical rabbinic thought. Certain of the passages that associate the entire nation of Israel with the celestial realm are more in the nature of similes than assertions of actual, preternatural identity. Once again, however, the theme qoes beyond mere symbol and alleqory.

The

following midrash

in Devarim Rabah

1:14,

provides an example. ~n c,~~,~~ cn1M 11~ ~n~ 'lll c~nM ~~,~ c~,~~M '~ n1~nn ~M1W, 1~ lJ n1~un ,~l ~u n1~un 1~~~ c,~JlJ~ M~l 1~n M~ c~~ 1 ,M 1~~~ c,~Jl~~ ~n n1~un ,~l ~u

360

In the Kidra•h on P•alm• 4: 3, God i• •aid to refer to him•elf •• I•rael•• kin (~M,W, ,~,,~) on the ba•i• of Deut 4:7.

,w


311

D,J.J1Jil

ilD

l,Jn M'71 1j2TT 'Oi1'7 l,M '7M1tu, l:J l,Jn '7M1tu, l:J 191'0 iDl D'71Dil ~l'Dn 'D,C'71W

"The Lord your God has made you multitudinous (and behold, you are today like the stars in heaven in greatness 161 "--Why did God bless them as the stars? Just as the stars (are arrayed in] ranks upon ranks, so too Israel [are arrayed in] ranks upon ranks. Just as the stars have no end and no number, so to Israel has no end and no number. Just as the stars rule from one end of the world to the other, so too Israel. 362 For the most part this midrash seems a matter of symbolic comparison,

and not to make Israel celestial. 363

However,

the very end of the passaqe hints at a supernatural qrandeur actually inherent in the nation. The statement, in Shir Hashirim Rabah 8:6, '7W 11,T i,nD i1J.Jil N'DJ nrrnn WMJ

M~,,

n1,i1'7 7M1tu,--"The radiance of Israel

will, in the future, shine forth from beneath God's throne of qlory"--involves the nation in the workinqs of the heavens; however this is an imaqininq of the ideal future and does not speak directly about Israel in the world as it is.

By the

same token, thouqh, the future radiance of Israel is often expressed in terms of the nation's moments of qlory in the

361

Usually translated "in number,• but "in greatness• seams to be the aenae in which the verse ia read in this midrash. 362 A similar midrash ia included in Bemidbar Rabah 2:13. Also, in Bereahit Rabah 100:9 Joseph tells hia brothers, "You are like the stars, and who can extinguish the stars?• 363 Similarly, the linking of the twelve tribes of Israel with the twelve aiqns of the zodiac, the twelve hours of the day and of the night, and the twelve months of the year, in Pesikta Rabati (Piaka 4)--a connection made to support the assertion that God created the realm on high aa well as the realm below for the sake of Israel--does not in and of itself suggest an affinity of natures between Israel and the celestial luminaries, even if Israel ia of cardinal importance.


3,2

distant, but this-worldly past.

A widely repeated midrashic

argument disputes whether the booths in which Israel dwelt upon leaving Egypt were wnn n 1~ 1o--actual booths--or , J J D i 1J.~--clouds of glory; and a midrash on Ps. 48: 13-14 sees Israel's shining future in terms of this imagined past: -,D

D~nN

DWJ

NWM 1 1nNJW tlNWJ 1 D9, j2ill i 1 J.J , J JDJ -,N1W, nN il 11 J.j2il -,tlJW

Di1., nltml., i,nD Nli1

1~

D,1WJ

,9J~--"Just

as the Holy one,

blessed be He, took Israel up in clouds of glory, and wrapped them around, and bore them, as it says 'I bore you on eagles' wings' (Ex.l9:4), so will He do to them again." We have already seen how Israel at Sinai is angelified, upon receipt of the Torah, with angelic weapons, cloaks, and crowns, and exclusion from the purview of the angel of death. Even though many of the same midrashim that bestow these accoutrements and privileges upon Israel at Sinai also imagine them revoked with the worship of the golden calf, still Israel in the divinely prescribed marching order of the nation's wilderness days is imagined as something like an angelic host in several midrashim, the following tradition in Devarim Rabah 7:9 being a particularly dramatic example: llDi1 ilnD 1-,iln i1,i1 1J.lnJ. -,N1W, l,ilW~ il,~1J. '1 1nN ,JW l,ill il-,lD n11C~il lWDl i1~1Dn lWD il,ill Dil,l9-,n l,91ltJJ l,ill ll1Nil ,lJ. ,JW l,J.n l,N~l, WN -,Ill l,i2li2,T DnlN D,Nl1 D-,lDil nlnlN l,ill D,J1j2Dil nNl D,WITJi1 nN WNJ. N-,N ll,N lW,nllln -,~ J"N nlill-,N D,1nlN1 Said R. Berachiah: When Israel were in the wilderness the pillar of fire would go before them, and the smoke of the altar and the smoke of the incense would ascend, and two rays of fire would go forth fro• the two poles of the ark and burn up all the snakes and scorpions, and the nations of the


313

world would see and say, 'These are divinities, all of their implements are of fire!' This vivid passage, for all its supernatural imagery, speaks of Israel as perceived by other nations, and so perhaps does not,

strictly speaking,

assert an actual likeness between

Israel and the angels.

On the other hand,

the order of

Israel's marching and encampment in the wilderness is more unequivocally made a matter of commonality with the angels elsewhere. According to Bemidbar Rabah 2 : 3 , God organized Israel under banners, just like the ministering ,

JN~TlJ

n1Wi1. 364

angels--c,~li

CNWD

The same midrash goes on to recount Israel's

impulse to emulate the angels in their marching order: ~"J lTlD 1i1, ,J,O 1i1 ~D il"~~il il~lJW ilDW~ ,JliN] lNJW ,9~N o,n1~1 C,il~M ~J1 1TlNJW C,JM~Tl ~lli 1TlNJW C,~li C,~li C,,,WD C~lJ ,,ill (Wil~~ ,J,O C,~li C,~li l,,,WD CilW ~N1W, 1n1N 1U1W ll,J i1~~1Tl C,~li C,WUJ lJN lJ ,Nl~N 11TlN C,~li~ C,lNnTl l~,nnil 1n1nJ ~W C~

n1~~1

When the Holy one, blessed be He, revealed Himself on Mount Sinai twenty two myriads of angels descended with Him, as it is said "The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them, Sinai in holiness" (Ps.68:18), and they were all arrayed under banners, as it is said, "Marked out by banners from among myriads" (Song. 5: 10) When Israel saw them arrayed under banners they began to long for banners and said, o that we could also be arrayed under banners like them! This

wish

is

apparently

granted,

subsequent passages in Bemidbar Rabah.

according

to

several

An exegesis of

~D

w, N

364 The Mi.dra•h on P•alm• ( 22: 12) al•o •••ert•, i.n the n - of R. J:li.ezer, that the chi..ldren of I•rael were arrayed under •tandard• l.ike the ai.ni.•teri.ng angel•--o,,JT o,,JT o,TnlDn n1wn ,JK,nJ.


3,4 l~li--"every

2:5 reads,

man by his banner" (Num.2:2)--in Bemidbar Rabah

,~ o,n~w1n1

o,M,,

o~w n1w~

,JM~n

lnlNJ--"like those

ranks of ministering angels who fear me and are wholeheartedly Bemidbar Rabah 2: 6 combines this angelic

devoted to me. "

theme of banners with even more clearly celestial imagery and makes the angel-like ordering of the Israelite encampment an occasion

for

divine

terrestrial realm.

movement

from

First of all,

the

heavenly

them. "

19,~i1W--"that

the

this midrash interprets

li1JJ.J.O,--"He compassed them about"--in Deut.J2:10, ilJ.J ,JJDJ.

to

to mean

God set clouds of glory all around

The midrash qoes

on to

rephrase God's

promise,

accompanying the command to build the tabernacle, as follows: Oi1,J,J. 1J1Wl .,,,,

o,J,,~n~

nM rr,Jn ,JM 71J,J.J--"I shall, as

it were, leave those on high and descend to dwell with them." Immediately following this passage, the midrash turns to the instruction

to

array

Israel

under

banners,

rephrasing the scriptural command: onlM 1

~wn

~WD7

this ~"J.~i1

time 1nM

JJ. o~w i1n~ ,nw~ o,7li--"Said God to Moses, Array them under

banners in my name.

Why?

same midrash goes on to

Because they are my children. " include a

declares, ,nw7 o,7li onlM i1WDM

,nlMJ.~

passage

The

in which God

1i1W ,971--"and because


315

they are My hosts I

shall array them under banners in My

name. "365 In

Bemidbar Rabah 1: 9

the

phrasing of

the

biblical

command to number the nation WN1 nN lNW--literally, "lift up the head--is interpreted thus:

~,,~ ,n~~,rr

N7 7N1W,7

~"~~~

,7 W,W DWJW ,7 OJnN ,n,n,11 WN1 ,17n DJ7 ,nnJ 1J7 DJn n1,~7

,n,WU DJ7 lJ

~7111~

'~

17 1nNJW

D71D~

,N~

1nN

~1,n,

7J 7D WN1 ,17n

WN1 ,,7n DJ7--"Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Israel, I have never cherished any creation more than you, therefore I have conferred exaltation upon you and have likened you to Me, for as I am exalted over all mankind, as it is said 'Yours, o Lord, is the greatness' (IChron.29:11), so have I done to you that you might have exaltation."

The clouds of glory, the

relocation of God's presence from the heavenly court to the earthly encampment, the divine arrangement of the encampment in angel-like ranks, and the interpretation of the numbering of

Israel as

an exaltation toward God's

own status,

all

combine to give the impression that the Israelite camp is transformed into an angelic assembly, designed to replicate the heavenly host so as to facilitate and fittingly conform to the transposition of God's presence from the celestial realm into the earthly world.

365

In Bemidbar Rabah 2:19 the nWDberinq of Israel by tribes and by faailiee ie interpreted •• an expression of divine love in these terms: 1n1Jn1 ~3111 1,n1K~3 1,~ u~w--•for they were Hie host and Be desired to count tb... • The same ~draeh qoee on to place these words in the mouth of God ,l131 D,W1DW ,n11D~ ,1m, n1K~3 1~ •so many hoate have I in my world who do my will.•


311

If this interpretation of Israel's bannered encampment seems reminiscent of what we have seen to be the Qumran coJDlllunity's self conception--that of a military outpost of the heavenly realm upon the earth--the resemblance is especially stronq where Bemidbar Rabah turns to the Israelite encampment as an army.

Bemidbar Rabah 7: 3 ,

a segment whose startinq

point is the command to send out every leper from the camp, describes

Israel as

God's own f iqhtinq force,

by way of

several analoqies to "the army of a kinq of flesh and blood," with various ranks and offices.

On the one hand, there is no

explicit anqelification of Israel in these proofs.

On the

other hand, the very absence of the anqels from connections in which one would most expect them--e.q.

"Just as a kinq of

flesh and blood has qenerals, so too the Holy One, blessed be He"--seems

to

suqqest

that

Israel,

marchinq

and

campinq

accordinq to the divinely prescribed order, is all the host God needs. portions

The emphasis on the sanctity of the camp in these of

Bemidbar

Rabah--excludinq

bastards (9:7), adulterers (9:7), and

all

lepers

(7:3),

~Wli~~ M~W C,i~ll,

"any

whose birth is not in sanctity" (9:7), as well as all lewdness (9:7), so as to ensure that God's presence remain in the camp-also reminds of

the fascination with the purity of the

military encampment

in

the

texts

of

Bemidbar Rabah shares with Qumran a

Qumran.

Of

course

scriptural basis for

fascination with holiness of the Israelite camp;

but the

midrash also seems to share with the earlier sectarian texts


a readiness and a zeal for conceiving of Israel as a pure, angel-like host. Surely it is in terms of such an understanding of the wilderness encampment that we must read an anonymous and probably rather late midrash toward the beginning of Bemidbar Rabah (2:10) that connects each of the compass-points and the tribes that encamped in each direction with the named angels who surround God's throne: l,lC lJ

~N C,~li

~N911

' i lilJJl n1n11 ' i

~"l~~

N1lW CWJ '1 lNCJ~ 11lllW ~llWl ~NJ,n lnUl N1~J ~n~ lllN1 ilJJ lJ,n,l nN c,,ow ,n 'lll 11nJ ,n ~1,Ull ~Wn rr.ng c,l ~N1W, ~NJ,n ,,~ ~NJ l,N 11nJ ,n ll11Ul, ~NJ l,N 1nN ~11n~ lnUl N1~J i1n~ 119~l Nl~Ul li ilJJ l~Nnwn ~N,11N ,,~ll 19Jn ~"l~~Ul C,llnJl C,N,lJ ~11n ~,lWl ~N,11N ilil 111N Nl ,J ,11N ,nl~ 1nNJUl ~N1W,~ 1~~ 1,Nnl lWN ,J 1nlN Nl~ lJl ~N,11N ,,~ lJ~ 1N,l '~ ~N 1nN ~wn1 ~11~, nlJ~n ilJJ ,,J9~n ~N,1ll ,~ 11N 1Ullnl l,nJ ~ili1,l ~N,1ll 1nw N1~J ~n~1 n1rnJ ,,~w 11~Nl ~wn ~N N1~,1 l,nJ ~uJnll 'lll l,ITNl 1ll ~il~, ,J ~N91 ~N,1ll ,1i1 1ll,l ~N plll, N~9 lnUl N1~,1 l,nJl ~W 11lW nlN91~ ,iJ ~N91 lnUl N1~J ~n~l C,19N ilJJ ,1i1 i1~ NJ N91 NJ ~N l1llnl Nl~Ul C,19Nn N~,W Clll1, ~NJ,n

~N,11Nl

~N,1lll

~NJ,n

C,JN~n

~N91

Just as the Holy One, blessed be He created four directions and four banners corresponding to them, so too around His throne are four angels: Michael and Gabriel and Uriel and Raphael. Michael on His right, corresponding to Reuven. Why is his name Michael? When Israel passed through the sea, Moses began his song, "Who is like you (mi kamocha)?" The one who finished the Torah said, "There is none like the God (ein kael) of Jeshurun." Hi kamocha, ein kael--thus, Michael. Uriel on His left corresponding to Dan, who camped to the North. Why is his name Uriel? In reference to the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, through which God effects atonement for Israel and shines light for them, as it is written, "Rise and shine, for your light (orecb) bas come." And David said, "El is the Lord and shall give light for us"--thus, Uriel, and likewise it says, "Though I sit in darkness the Lord is a Light unto me." Gabriel before Him,


correspondinq to the kinqdom of Judah and Moses and Aaron, who camped to the East. And why is his name Gabriel? It is written of Judah, "For Judah prevailed (gavar) above his brothers," and of Moses it is written, "God called to (el) Moses," and it is written, "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Miqhty God (el gibor)"--thus, Gabriel. Raphael, corresponding to Ephraim. And why is he called Raphael? In order to heal that which Jeroboam broke, who came out of Ephraim, who camped in the East. "Please, o God (el na) heal (refa) her"--thus, Raphael. The most remarkable feature of this midrash is its claim that the names of the anqels who surround God's throne refer to the respective tribes of Israel.

In this way, not only is Israel

represented symbolically in the court of heaven,

but the

angels themselves stand for the personalities of Israel and their histories, as though these angels were heavenly alteregos of the earthly tribes or place-holders for them. Such correspondence of Israel with the angels helps to make sense to the following midrash in Sifre Bemidbar 42 366 : ~~N

1n1N inN

~,llwnW,

~lnJl

l,ilil~

190n

1,9~N ~~N 0~1Nn ~N1W,

~~nn

~w

W,~

1nlN iiTN

l~lwn ~,llWDW,

~,~ng

~ounnl

~lnJ 1,9~N

~,J,~J

One verse says, "Is there any number to his troops" (Job 25:3), while another verse says, "A thousand thousands ministered to Him" (Dan 7: 10). When Israel were exiled from their land, "A thousand thousands ministered to Him"--the heavenly retinue was, as it were, diminished. Israel certainly corresponds to at least a certain contingent of the angelic host in this agadah. redacted source,

In a parallel, earlier

in Vayikra Rabah 31:6 (which we have seen

once before, above) the number of anqels in the heavenly host


311

appears to depend upon, or at least to be divinely determined in proportion to the praises that Israel directs toward God:

inN ~1n~1 1,i1il~ 19on w,~ 1n1M inN ~1n~ ,,nN ll~11 Wi~n~ n,~ ~1n M~W iD N~M ~,J1wnW, 1,9~M ~~M 1n1M Wi~n~ l,i~

n,~

1l,N

~1nw 11,~ o~wn ~-~~i1 1nN1 l~W

~~1u ~·~~~ ~w 101~~ ~,~ N,~ng i1"~~i1 'OlPn ~1~,~~

1~11N 01~, M~ ,n ~D1 ~~lD i1,~W 1n~ ~~1D ,01~~ Mi1,W N~1 01,~ ~nn ,~ 1,M~ M~ 1n1M1 0~1D ,M~ ~~n M~ ,n ~~~1 O,J1nnn~1 O,ll,~D, 1,Mn i1nM ~~,~~ill~~ ,~ 1,M~ ,l~ nM 1~ i"~~ ~N1W, ~W 111M~ i11Mnn ~nM1 0~1D ,N~

.,M1W,

The Rabbis say: One verse reads, "Is there any number to his arlllies?" (Job.25: 3) and one verse reads, "A thousand thousands served Him" (Dan.7:20). [It would seem contradictory,] except that until the Temple was destroyed the praise of the Holy One Blessed be He would ascend in complete form. Once the Temple was destroyed, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be diminished his entouraqe, and the Holy One Blessed be He said: It is not fittinq that my praise should ascend as it used to ascend. "And upon whom does His liqht not arise?" (Job 25:3) Who, of al1 that enter into the world, can come and say: 'The sun has not qiven me liqht by day, nor has the moon qiven me liqht by niqht." You qive liqht to those above and those below and to all who come into the world, yet You desire Israel's liqht. Hence it is written, "Command the children of Israel (that they brinq you pure oil of beaten olives for liqhtinq" (Lev.6:1). The suqqestion here is of a sudden absence from the heavenly court of those anqels who represent or correspond to Israel. Since the nation itself, arrayed around its shrine according to God's will,

is likened to an anqelic host,

it is not

difficult to comprehend the notion that, when this order is disrupted and Israel is displaced, the number of God's anqels is decreased.


370

The

Midrash

compilation,

on

Psalms,

another

relatively

late

gives an explanation of the garments worn by

Israel in the wilderness that harks back to a description we have seen applied to the first human being.

To the question,

attributed to R. Eliezer, Whence did Israel's clothing come all those forty years? R. Shimon is quoted as answering: n1w~

,:JN'1n

DlW,J.-,~W--"From

ministering anqels."

~nn

garments qiven to them by the

Then, lest we think that the ministerinq

angels merely provided mundane garments, R. Shimon goes on to say that the children of Israel did not outqrow their anqelqiven

clothes,

because,

like

clothinq qrew as they did.

the

shells

of

snails,

the

We have seen the image of the

snail used before to make the arqument that garment and person can be one (in Bereshit Rabah 21:5). garment

seems

Israelite. midrash,

to

become

integral

Here too, the anqelic to

the

person

of

the

What's more, accordinq to the R. Shimon of this

the garments were kept clean by the cloud that

encompassed the people (a kind of celestial dry-cleaning) and R. Eliezer's rejoining question, 1,91WJ

,,~

N-,1, "And were the

garments not then burnt?" qives us to understand that we are not speaking of mere vapor but of a cleansinq cloud of fire or glory surroundinq the Israelites. The Midrash on Psalms also imagines somethinq like a loss of angelic status correspondinq to the eventual destruction of the Temple.

Here aqain, the terms are reminiscent of Qumran

and especially its War Scroll:


371 1WN

~nn~n~

l,N~,,

,,mu

,~J

nN

w11gn~

~on

cw

,ll~ ~T

~N1W,

~nn~n~

,~~N ,~J

'~

l~T,N

1nN

~J

tlJi,~

ll,Jl l,NJlW~ l,~glJl ~nn~n 1,tu1n ,,~ N~l ~nn~n~ '1 l~,NJlW i,~ l,~glJ ,,~ n,~~ ~~1n1 nlJlD~ 1D1lW tlW~ nN l,g~~n ,,~ tl,JN~n~ 1nN l~,,N '1 1l~1l l~,,N ~~~J ~,~ 1n~nn 11nN lJ~,, 1~,~D ~,~w

"Thus says the Lord, God of Israel, Behold I will turn back the implements of war that are in your hand" (Jer.21:4)--What 'implements of war' are meant? The explicit divine name. For, formerly, when Israel went out to war, without their even making war, their enemies would fall, but once sin brought about the destruction of the Temple Israel would fall before their enemies. R. Aibu and the Rabbis differed on this point: R. Aibu said: The angels scraped off the divine name that was upon [the weapons]; and the Rabbis say: It scraped itself off. Reading

this

midrash,

one

can

almost

picture

the

divine

lettering described on all the banners, weapons, and machines of Qumran's War Scroll, fading or falling away--the conception of Israel's army in its full glory in this text seems so similar.

In any case, the conception of the Israelite host of

old, in this agadab and in Bemidbar Rabah, is of an assembly representing and manifesting divine glory, arrayed in ranks as a ministering entourage, wondrous to the other inhabitants of the earth. 36 .,

The paradigm is certainly angelic.

367

The Midraah on Paalaa 22: 19 aaaerta that at every aong and praiae of rarae1, God ia enthroned in their lddat; and, in 2:17, it ia foretold that when, in the future, the nation• will deaire to aing a aong of hOID&ge to God, Be will tell th. ., •ao aing it to rarael. Bad it not been for th. . , the world would not have endured for a aingle hour.•


372

!'be Rigllt:eous and tile !'Die to co.a n1,~~

n,~,i~

~"~~~

WiU

~w

i,nu

1n~,nn

n1~~~ ~n D~~

Nl~~

i,nu~

l,~NlW 1~1 nlW~

N~N

,, 1nN

,~N~nn D,Jg~ Dl,~

Said R. Aba: In the time to come, the partition of the righteous is destined to be inward of that of the ministerinq anqels, and the anqels will have to ask the righteous, What laws did the Holy One, blessed be He, expound today? Devarim Rabah 1:12 (yShabbat 8d368 )

A considerable number of classical midrashim envision the righteous in the time to come as celestial and angelic, and it is important to take stock of such midrashim in this study of the various sources can be grouped under the heading, "Angelic Israel. " There is a within

the

larger

sense in which this particular theme

trope

of

Anqelic

Israel

is

the

interesting of all for the purposes of this study. has

been

to

show

that

classical

rabbinic

least

The aim

sources

often

conceive of the nature of Jewish humanity as angelic, approachinq angelic.

or

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of

these conceptions is that they are usually applied to human beings in this world (albeit often in the distant past) rather than

in the

next world or

beyond death.

We

368

have

been

The addraah in Devarilll Rabah ia a alight reworking of the tradition found in the Yeruaha~i, which reada, I have uaed the veraion from Devarilll Rabah aa epigr.a for thia aegment becauae it moat clearly repreaenta the rabbinizing of the heaven• on the model of the houae of atudy. 0,~,~3 ~m ln3,nn n1mu~ ~·J~~ ~,nD MJ~J ll MJM ,Jl OWl ~,Jll ,Jl n1wn ,JM~ ~m ln3,nnn o,l9~.


373

particularly concerned with the ways in which rabbinic sources portray Israelites as partaking in angelic identity while still alive in the earthly world.

such portrayals amount to

what we might call an angelic anthropology of Israel, and that is the primary focus of this study. It is less remarkable that the classical rabbinic sources imagine the righteous in the world to come as akin to the angels.

Teleoloqy and eschatoloqy tend to obviate the qreat

paradox that gives rise to the theme of angelic Israel--human spirituality confined to earthly life and mortal form--by respectively freeing the soul from the demands of the body and by turning the entire world into the kingdom of heaven.

In

such circumstances, what would the righteous be but angelic? Still,

inasmuch

as

eschatoloqy

epitomizes

idealizations,

directs endeavors, and is informed by the most exalted moments of this-worldly life, rabbinic envisionings of the righteous in the time to come are inseparable from the this-worldly anthropology of angelic Israel. The quotation at the beginning of this segment,

from

Devarim Rabah 1:12, comes in a larger passage which begins with

the

following,

exegetically

derived

and

supported

promise:

1nM '111 ,~JlJJ 01,~ DJJ~l DJnM ~~1~ DJ,~~M '~ D,i,nD onM ~,~ M~~ i,nn~ ~~M o,~JlJJ onM 01,~ ~,nJl ~~JM WM l,~~M '~ ,J lMJ ~,nJ i~,J OJ~1~ l,nli ~~~~~ 1Wli~1 WM~ ~M1W, 11M ~,~1 Ml~~ i,nD~ ~M1W,~ Ml~ ,,~ o,~JlJ nil~D i~lDW ,n ~n1 Mnn 1~ ,,~ ,, 1nN i~lDW ,n '111 D~,WlD ~J ,,~, D~lnJ 1nMJW 1n1nJ 1n1nJ ~,~,w lJW ~J M~ ~·~~~~ l~~

n1,~~


374

"The Lord your God has made you multitudinous and lo you are today as the stars [of heaven in magnitude369 (larov) "]--He said to them, Today you are like stars, but in the time to come, larav--you are destined to be like your Master (lerabcbem). How so? It is written in one verse "The Lord your God is a consuming fire," and it is written of Israel in the time to come, "The light of Israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame" (Is.10:17). R. Levi said: Just as he who worships idols becomes like them, as it is said, "Like them shall be their makers" (Ps.115:8), he who worships the Holy One, blessed be He, how much the more so will such a person be like Him! Israel,

according to these agadic passages,

resemble God Himself in the time to come. that,

according to this midrash,

resemblance

to

encountered. 370

the

stars--a

In the

tt is worth noting

Israel already enjoys a

theme

time to

is destined to

that

come,

we

the

have

already

resemblance of

Israel to the celestials is to be magnified in the extreme. The idea is an early one in rabbinic literature.

Vayikra

Rabah 28:1, in a midrash attributed to the Sages, also invokes celestial radiance in connection with the righteous: ~T~ D~lDl D,llC D,WDnll n1~n~ l,~lln l,l~lNl 1nNJW ilnTTil ~l~lJ Cil,J9 WlTm

D,~,l~~W ~n il"l~ilW 1n11Jll wnw~ nN~J

1,,1

In return for the utmost that the righteous achieve in this world in the performance of commandments and good deeds, it is enough for them that the Holy

369

aidraah

Literally, • in n\llllber, • the verae.

but thia ia the aenae in which the

~terpreta

370

It ia worth not~g in thia connection that the righteoua are alao UJcened to the atara ~ Peaikta Rabati 11, ~aamuch •• both atara and righteoua ahare honor and coexiat with one another in peace. a..idbar Rabah 2: 13 alao drawa thia aame connection and emphaaizea the time to come ~ likening Iarael to the atara The aame midraah alao aaya: •Aa any one of the atara can burn up the whole world, ao too the righteoua.•


375

one, blessed be He, renews their countenance like the disc of the sun, as it is said, "They that love Him are like the sun when it goes forth in its might" (Jud.S:31). Like its prooftext, this midrash may be only figurative; but the association of the righteous with heavenly radiance is rendered quite literal in other midrashim, most notably in the Midrash on Psalms, where (in 11:6) reference is made to seven cohorts of the righteous that are destined to give light to

Their faces are to be like the sun, the moon, the firmament, the stars, lightnings, lilies (C,lW1W), and torches (0,1,97), each resemblance supported by proof texts. 371

Essentially

the same tradition is attributed to R. Shimon b. Yochai in the Sifre on Deuteronomy (10). 372 The midrash on Psalm 72 (5) also turns a figure of speech into an imagined actuality, interpreting Isa.60:3 ("Nations shall walk by your light") to mean 1, 1, Mn TT1, il 1 Uillu1ilw DWJ

and moon shine in this world will the righteous shine in the world to come."

371

The Midraah on Paalm 16:11 alao refer• to theae aeven cohorta, reading 1,1g nK n1~ D~~-·Pul1n••• of joy in Your preaence• aa •seven (D~W) joyoua companiea in your preaence.• The aame midraah deacribea the righteoua arrayed in the pattern of the Temple'• candelabrum, with thoae in the right-hand branch, atanding to God'a right, more preferred. 372

Rabbi Simon b. Yochai aaid: The face• of the righteoua re•emble aeven joya in the time to coma: aun, moon, firmament, atara, lightning•, liliea, and lampa.


371

In the midrash on Psalm 11 (1), the context in which the enumeration of the radiant elect in the time to come occurs makes quite clear that the righteous will have been admitted by God into the company of the celestials.

Reminiscent of the

tradition in Devaria Rabah 1: 12, which likens the righteous to God Himself, the segment in the Midrash on Psalms begins by arguing--on the basis of Ps.11:7

~~N n1~1~

'~ ~,~~,

"The Lord

is Righteous, He loves righteousness"--that the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like other artisans, who hate fellow practitioners of their craft.

Rather--on the basis of the

scriptural rejoinder, 1n, Jg

1W,, "the upright will behold

His

face",

and

its

1TTP

unusual

possessive

form

( 1n, Jg) --the

midrash goes on to argue that the righteous will see 17W

~,7n91,

~J,:JW

,Jg

"the face of the Shekbinah and God's retinue" in

the time to come.

Not only will the righteous see this host,

according to the midrash, but, following the enumeration of the seven shining, righteous cohorts, the midrash goes on to say that the greatest of the companies that will stand before God in the time to come will be the company of the righteous: C,1W, n:J 1T

~J,:JW

,Jg

n7~~n

N,~W

l~lW

~71Dn~

n:J~

1T,M1--"And

which will be the most distinguished cohort among them, which will receive the Shekbinah? The cohort of the upright."

This

passage reminds once more of Devarim Rabah 1:12, in which the righteous in the time to come stand inward of the angels with respect to the divine throne.


377

"On that day, i1DW

i1nlM~

linD

where will the riqhteous stand?" 1J,i11

c,~,l~o,

asks the Midrash on Psalm 46 1 with

reqard to the seeminqly eschatoloqical cataclysm described

cleavinq to the throne of qlory 1 Shelchinab."

under the winqs of the

Similarly, the midrash on Psalm 45: 3 accounts for

the well-beinq of the righteous in the time to come in terms of their imbibinq the radiance of the divine presence without

We should note that the admission of the righteous into the company of the anqels is not only an aspect of the world to come in the Midrash on Psalms and in other midrashim. Accordinq to a passaqe in 30:3 1 attributed to R. Hiyya the Great, (which parallels passaqes in Pesikta Rabati 2 1 Bemidbar Rabah 11:7 and bKetubot 104a)

1

three qroups of anqels care for

the riqhteous as they depart this world.

Accordinq to R.

Hiyya b. Yose, in another passaqe in the same seqment of the Midrash on Psalms, the righteous dead, although they can no lonqer speak, are still able to sinq praises to God (as do anqels) because He stores their souls in the bundle of life

373

The cloaene•• of the righteoua to the divine preaence ia repreaented in a different way in the midraah on Paalm 9, where God ia aaid to inacribe upon Ria purple robe the name of each righteoua peraon whom the nation• put to death.


378

A frequently repeated aqadic statement, usually leadinq into the declaration of Isa.25:9, "This is our God for whom we have hoped," promises that the Holy One, blessed be He will, in the time to come,

prepare a

feast or a dance for the

riqhteous in the Garden of Eden at which the riqhteous will be able to point with their finqers presidinq in their midst.

at the divine presence

The theme appears at the end of the

Babylonian Talmud's tractate Ta'anit, in Bemidbar Rabah 13:2, in the midrash on Psalm 48, and a related imaqe appears in Vayikra Rabah 11: 8 and Shemot Rabah 5: 5, where the convocation is not a feast but a judicial assembly, convened to judqe the nations 1,1

(WN1~ ~Wl,

Nl~l

n,~ ~NJ C~lJ--"The

111lJ

~N1W,

,l~T

nN

~,Wl~~

~·~~~

l,nD

Holy One, blessed be He will qather the

elders of Israel around as at a threshinq floor, and he will sit at the head of them all as the president of the court.") A passaqe riqhteous

in

assembled

bBava in

Batra

the

time

75b374 to

also come,

describes and

here

themselves are the focus of adulation: 11lJ Wll~ l~,l9~ C,1Tl1NW C,~,~~ l,l,nD 1TD~N 1"N 1nlli11 ll,~:l 1NWli1 il,ill 1TlNJW il"~i'il ,l9~ C,1Tl1NW 1~ 1TlN, Wll~ D,~W11,~ R. Elazar said: There will come a time when 'Holy!' will be said before the riqhteous as it is said before the Holy One, blessed be He, for it is said, 'And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called Holy.' (Isa.4:3)

374

Paralleled i.n the Yalkut Shimoni. 299.


the they

379

on the one band,

this midrash involves

a

rather

literal

readinq of its prooftext in rsaiah; but, on the other,

its

interpretation of the desiqnation "holy" as indicatinq the formula of anqelic worship before God (as in rsaiah 6) amounts to quite an astonishinq assertion of a quasi-divine status and situation of the riqhteous in the future.

The passaqe reminds

of Bereshit Rabah 8:10, in which the anqels mistakenly set out to say "Holy!" before Adam in Eden.

Here the sanctification

is not a mistake, and yet it may very well be that the anqels are meant once more as the speakers of the "Holy!".

Who else,

after all, would be left to offer the praise? A tradition attributed to R. Sifre on Numbers (92)

Shimon b.

Yochai in the

takes similar advantaqe of an Isaian

prediction concerninq the vindicated inhabitants of Zion in the time to come: 01~n~ 1~ N~~ i,nu~ ~Nw l,Jn 1n1N ,Nnl, 1~ 11nnw ,~, 1~n ,~ ~nnn ~Wl~l ~J~~~ ~19IT1 'JW D,J~T~ il~~ ~~liT ilJ il~~ l,J~T ilJl C~Wl1,~1 ll,~ 1~~ nlN~~ 'il il~~ l,J~T ilJl N~N 1nNJ N~ l,N,~J ilJ ,,~N~n

R. Shimeon b. Yochai says: How do we know that even in the time to come it will be so, namely that the omnipresent pays respect to the elders? 375 As it is said, "Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of Hosts will reiqn on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his elders will manifest His qlory" (Xs. 24:23) rt says not "before His anqels," nor "before His prophets", but "before His elders." As

in

the

settinq

of

Eden,

at

the

end

of

bTaanit

and

parallels, God is present and manifest amid the riqhteous in 375

The previou• •egment of the text di•cu••e• Gocf•• honoring of the •eventy elder• at Sinai.


380

this passage in a manner more readily associated with angels and with prophets.

Once more, the righteous in the end of

days seem to take up the position of God's closest entourage. The message of these narratives of Eden and the time to come can perhaps be read in view of the other sources that we have seen as a reversal of the relative position of Israel and the angels in the present world.

In this world, the angels

constitute the inner court of God, while Israel exists on the outskirts of heaven. 376

In the world to come the righteous

of Israel will take the innermost positions and the angels will have to look over human shoulders to discern the business of the divine academy.

376

Th.i• i.mage of inner court and outski.rt• is borrowed from the parable in Bere•hi.t Rabah 68112. Therer a• we have •eenr the angel• are •urpri.•ed to fi.nd Jacob a•leep, becau•• when they a•cend on high they encounter hi.• ilaage l'lld 1, l li1,Mr that i.•r God, enthroned in judgement. The mi.dra•h goe• on to draw an analogy to an earthly ki.ng who i• found •i.tti.ng i.n judg-nt when one vi.•i.t• the palace, but asleep when one vi.•i.t• the out•ki.rt• of hi.• realm. In the same veinr the Ki.dra•h on P•al.ma 19:3 •ay•r by way of a parabler with reference to the heaven•, that only the i.nhabi.tant• of the province i.n which the ki.ng li.ve• can declare hi.• wealth and gloryr whi.le tho•• who li.ve many para•ang• removed cannot.


381 f'lle

Allqe~ic

,~,:U.IlJ

Baqes li.Dd the AcadeJIY

ll,j21

,~,J.Utl

NJN lli,

O.D

Biqb

NJ.N 1J.

~NlnW

'1 1nN Nlli1i1J

R. Shemuel b. Aba said: I know the lanes of heaven as well as I know the lanes of Nehardea. Berakhot 58b377 The same midrash on Psalm 16 that enumerates the seven companies of the righteous whose faces will be radiant in the time to come, and describes their assembly as standing in the pattern of the Temple's candelabrum, goes on to present a difference of opinion between "two Amoraim" as to the kind of men who will stand at the right hand of God in that assembly. According to one they will be distinguished by strength in Torah (i11lni1 rrJn NJW i1T) and according to the other they will be scrupulous

"scribes and teachers of

1n,nN~

,in~nl).

nli21J,n

children"

(0,1910

The two classifications correspond

roughly to two sorts of distinction in rabbinic learning that are recognized in bBerakhot 64a: 0,1i1 1i21ll, the "uprooter of mountains," able to perform great feats of exegesis; and ,J,O, "Sinai,"

the prodigious human

tradition.

The ostensible dispute between the "two Amoraim"

in the midrash on Psalm 16 question:

storehouse and purveyor of

leaves one conclusion beyond

Either way, God's right hand men, so to speak, in

the time to come, are to be rabbinic sages. 377

Cf. Kiclra•h

Oil

P•alm• 19:4.


382

This eschatology of a divine inner court of rabbinic saqes, as well as the notion of a heavenly academy ~~Dn

or D,i11i

evidenced

Mn~ ,nn),

rabbinic

is

continuous with a

self-conception

identification with the heavenly host. that

many

classical

nationally, anqels.

rabbinic

ancestrally,

and

(~W ~~,w,

pervasively

that

involves

We have already seen

sources

associate

eschatoloqically,

Israel, with

the

In this seqment, examininq sources in which the saqes

themselves are, to varyinq deqrees, described as anqelic, we will see that those themes of anqelification subserve a selfidentification of the rabbis with the anqels in the present. That is to say, the anqelification of the Patriarchs, of Moses and the Prophets, of Israel at Sinai, and of the riqhteous in the time to come, amounts to an anqelic anthropoloqy of Jewish humanity that includes the rabbinic proponents of the theme themselves as well. We have already encountered the image of the elders of Israel gathered around, "as at a threshinq floor," in a court over which God presides, in the time to come.

We have also

seen the idea that, in the future, the angels will have to ask Israel's righteous, who will be stationed closer to the divine throne, to report on the balakhot expounded by God. imaqes of the world to come are,

of course,

These

akin to the

"heavenly academy,• imaqined in many sources as beinq already extant in the heavens above this world and as the destination of

rabbinic

saqes

beyond

death.

The

idea


that

God's

383

occupation in the present world is the presidency, as it were, of a qreat bei t midrash in the sky, in and of itself bespeaks a belief that terrestrial rabbinic activity is continuous with the business of heaven. The famous near-death vision of an "inverted world" D71n 119~,

attributed to the ailinq R. Yosef, son of R. Yehoshua b.

Levi, in bPesachim soa and bBava Batra lOb--in which "those [formerly] above are now below and those [formerly] below now above,"

~7nn7

n,J1nnn1

~un7

n,J,,7n--describes the rabbinic

saqes as beinq just the same in that world as they are in this one:

R. Yehoshua b. Levi asks his son,

how are we there?" and is told, 1J,n,N nn~,

nn~

,J~

"Just as we are here are we there."

,J,~

NJ~

1JN1, "And

ln,NI

,J,~

,J

What's more, R.

Yosef qoes on to say, he heard a voice there proclaiminq, ,lWN 11,~

111n7nl 1NJ7

N~W

,n--"Happy is he who comes here with his

[rabbinic] learninq in hand," and also DIN l,N n1J7n 1n~,nn~

,lll~

llnD7 71J,--"As for those put to death by the [Roman]

qovernment, no man can stand in their partition!"

Alonq with

the qlory of martyrdom, the point of this account seems to be the centrality and continuity of rabbinic activity, which qoes on unchanqed amid the cosmic inversion of the vision. A different imaqe, attributed to R. Yehuda b. R. Simon in Vayikra Rabah 19:3, on the other hand, seems to describe the vindication of the rabbinic saqes in terms of a transformation of aspect in the time to come.

The midrash is one of several

that are presented as responses to Lev.15:25, havinq to do


384

with impure discharge from the female body, and, by extension, as responses to the problem of the Torah's including matters that seem disgusting: 1ITM

,, 11IT~ 11J~~J 1~M1n 1n1M 1ITM ~lnJl ~11DJ n111rrw 1n1M l~M M~M 1~~11, 0,~1~J C,1,g~J 1~,M1n ~,nJl C,T1MJ ~~M ~Til O~lD~ 0,11ITW1 0,11DJ 1,M1J 1i1W i111n ,J~ ~lnJ

n,nrrrr

,,,n~n~

M1~

1ng 11n,o

n,,,g~J

1"~

~,,~,

1~,M1n

M~~

,,nu~

R. Yebudah b. R. Simon explained the verse as having to do with the disciples of the wise, thus: One verse says, "Black like a raven," while another says, "His appearance is like Lebanon [from lavan, white] excellent as cedars," and it is written, "Their appearance is like torches, like flashes of lightning they dart." All of these verses refer to the sons of Torah, who appear ungainly and black in this world, but in the world to come, "their appearance is like torches." The image of human faces shining like torches is,

by now,

already familiar to us from many other midrashim in this study.

Likewise, the black and ungainly appearance of the

sages in this world belongs to a well-known theme: the earthly toil with which they must support their studies. 378 the images of this agadah bespeak a activity

is

a

constant

in

the

transition,

midrashic

While

rabbinic

formula.

The

essential occupation of the Sages does not change, only their appearance does--the radiant aspect of the

rabbinic

life

becomes apparent. According

to

attributed to R.

Vayikra

Rabab

11:8,

in

a

tradition

Ishmael b. R. Bibi and R. Shimeon and R.

378

A proximal addraah, in Vayikra Rabah 19:1, speaks of the toil neceaaary to aupport Torah-atudy.


385 1~wn C,l~T--"The

appoint

His

own

Holy One, blessed be He will, in the future, assembly

of

elders.•

The

prooftext

is

Isa.24:23, speakinq of God's eventual sovereiqnty on Mt. Zion outshininq the sun and the moon, and especially the phrase il~~

,,l~T

illl--"before His elders shall be qlory.•

same midrash qoes on,

quotinq R.

This

Avin in the name of R.

Yishmael b. R. Yehoshua, to describe the judicial 'threshinqfloor,' 111l, of the time to come, with the riqhteous arrayed around God like the Sanhedrin around its president.

:It is

true that anqels do not fiqure explicitly in these traditions, but it is equally evident that the saqes have taken the place of the anqelic inner court of God in these visions.

Vayikra

Rabah 11:8 qoes on to quote the mishnaic description of the Sanhedrin seated in the formation of a threshinq-floor (cf. msanhedrin

4:3),

and

ends

in

a

rather

mysterious

(and

mysteriously attributed) tradition, quotinq Solomon (possibly the kinq)

as sayinq: Oi1, J, :l

c~n1~n

i1,n,nn , JN--":I saw Him

manifest concentratedly in the midst of them." The reference to God confined or concentrated

(c~nl~n)

in

the midst of the earthly court corresponds to another account in Vayikra Rabah 29:4, in which the sense of the statement is more fully explained: 'il i1ll11n ,llil, Cllil ,,WM ('09 c,~i1n) rrng llW1i1, ,, CilW C,l~T ilwnn~ M1~ 1ng 1i1:lM '1 ll~~il, l,Jg 11N:l l~W N,O,~~lC n,ln i1W1ll i1":l~il iln i1JWil nM 1:lll~ C,OJ~J c,1n1M w•iln 1un~n Ci1,J,~ lnl,~W c~n~n1 i,,,, l~lln~n OW) 1~ :lln~W ,n Ni1~N Nil Nil~N Nil cp~n Ni1 9.,~n Nil 1,o,~~JO n,ln i1~1 c,Wli~ i10~ p1llJ ~N (/'0"9 c,~iln/ 1Dtl CMW iln~ 1~ ~~ iltln~ Cil,l,:l lnJ,JW C~n~nl l~W ll~~il, l,Jg 11M~ i"ilil Cil,l9 1,Nn i1":l~i1 i1~~il 1:li:l


381

R. Yehoshua opened his discourse: "Happy is the people who know the sound of the [shofar's] blast; they walk, o Lord, in the light of Your countenance" (Ps.89:16). R. Abahu interpreted this verse as having to do with the five elders who enter to intercalate they year. What does the Holy One Blessed be He do? He leaves His senate on high and descends and concentrates his Shekhinah among those below. The ministering angels say, This mighty one, this mighty one, this God, this God, the one of whom it is written, "An exalted God in the great council of the holy ones" (Ps.89:16); he leaves His senate and concentrates his Shekhinah among them below? Why does he do this much? So that if they err in a matter of law, the Holy One Blessed be He illumines their faces. Thus it is written, "They walk in the light of Your countenance." This version of the narrative, in Vayikra Rabah, sets up the Sanhedrin as a rival court, as it were, over and against the angelic retinue of the heavens. 81:4,

the exegesis of Ps.89:16,

In the Midrash on Psalms "Happy is the nation that

knows the sound of the [shofar's] blast," is recast to similar effect: l,Dil,W 1,1i~JD 1nM 11J,~~, l,Jg

l~M

~Dl1n

,Di1,

DD~

,1WM 1ITM

1~i

11M~ '~ ~11n ~w ~nn11n~ 1n,~, M~,~ ~J~~~ c~,Jg ,,Mn1 o~nu c,Jon ~·~~~w ,~~M ,,

Blessed are the members of the Sanhedrin who know to discuss in the joyful sound of Torah," and, in the name of R. Abahu, the biblical rejoinder, "they walk in the light of Your countenance" is read as: "the Holy One, blessed be He, conforms to their decisions and makes their faces shine with the radiance of Torah Very much as in the midrash of the sleeping Jacob, beset by astonished angels,

in Bereshit

Rabah 68: 12,

the angels of

these accounts seem surprised and even dismayed at the evident continuity between heaven and earth where Israel is concerned. This midrashic theme conveys the idea that the elders of


387

Israel, assembled for sacred deliberations, are to some extent interchangeable with the celestial synod as an appropriate abode

for

angelified

God's in

presence.

these

The

sources

so

rabbis much

as

are

perhaps

not

angels

are

the

rabbinized, made out to constitute a heavenly Sanhedrin; but that

is no less a

suggestion that rabbis and angels are

somehow interchangeable and to some extent alike. Still other agadot suggest that the particular members of the heavenly and earthly courts might be quite compatible one with the other. and

rabbis

Academic congress between principal angels

figures

in

two

rather mysterious,

cryptic passages in the Talmud Bavli, Berakhot 4la. Yishmael is quoted as reporting: 10 7N,110 ,, rro D,Jg~--"Three

brief,

and

First, R. 0,1~1

~w7w

things Suriel the Minister of the Countenance

related to me."

curiously,

the three angelic admonitions

concern rather quotidian hazards (such as passing a cup of asparagus-broth to someone other than the person from whom it was received), but, according to the heavenly source, a band of harming angels lies in wait for a person to be cauqht in such pitfalls.

Immediately following this passage we find a

similar quotation of R. Yehoshua b. Levi, saying,

0,1~1

~w7w

n1n~

rrN7n ,, rro--"Three things the Angel of Death related to

me."

These passages are extremely tantalizing, as they say

nothing more about the contact between these rabbis and the respective angelic figures.

Just about all we can say is that

the talmudic redactors seem to have taken very matter-of-


388

factly the notion that early rabbinic sages might have held practical

conversations

with

principal

members

of

God's

angelic entourage. The Midrash on Psalms 19:10 presents a quite poignant passage in which rabbinic intellectual activity is cast in ,

quite cosmological terms, although the action involved is one of calculation and not a mystical scaling of the heavens. C,il 1n 1,'1tJ1J 11J.lli1 ilC l,llil,l '1N1tlP ,Jj2T iltJn'1 CilWJl 01,'1 1,Jn1J1 i1'1,'1i1 1n 1,'1n1J1 i1~,~'1 1,Jn1J1 C,JW ,WN11 C,WiiT ,WN1 lllJ.i2W 1ITN'1 illllil n,J.n l,N~l, N~, p1Nil '1JJ. i,n nlilllnil nN 1Ji2nl ilJWil nN 11J.,lll il~j2J.l nlilllnil ,nnll ilJWil WN1 ,nn,N C,1n1N ~JilW Cli2 n191j2nJ. ilnJJ. WilrrJ. ilnJJ. i1T'1 ilT 1,'1N1WW Ci1,'1n '1J.n

Below are the elders of Israel, who know the secret of calendrical intercalation; they take from the day and give to the night and from the night and qive to the day, and when they come out from the place of assembly, havinq fixed the new moons and new years and intercalated the calendar and fixed the appointed times, then "Their line is gone out through all the earth" (Ps.19:5), for all say, When is the new year? When are the festivals? "And their words to the end of the world" (Ps.19:5), for all ask one another, What day of the month is it? What point in the season is it? The calendrical authority of the sages is cast here in terms that evoke actual heavenly potency, and the midrash applies to the sages prooftexts, from Psalm 19, which in their context speak of the heavens and the firmament expressing divine qlory.

Thus, although the subject is calendrical calculation,


389

this midrash associates the rabbis with the heavens as thouqh the saqes had real power in that realm. 379 Preternatural elements in narratives of the deaths of certain saqes suqqest an easy transition between the world of the rabbis and the celestial realm.

Vayikra Rabah 3 0: 1

relates the story that, when R. Hoshaya of Tiriya died, his bier was seen to soar in the air

1,1N~

~IT19W

1nun 1N1.

In a

narrative in the Talmud Bavli, Bava Metsia 86a, a note falls from the heavens in Pumbedita bearinq the message: "Rabba b. Nachmani has been requested in the heavenly ~7Dn

7W

~~,W,~ W~~nl

,JnrrJ.

academy"--1~ ~~1

And on the previous paqe (85a),

we find the followinq sequence of two narratives, which are quoted here in full: ,Trr :,~n110 1~ N~,~rr ~1 ,7 ,nnwN :N~,~r. ~1 1nN 11,9W 11~ N19~7i ,~,~l 1~,7N IT,JW ~1~i ll~1n N1~~ ,Nn :~,7 ,1nN .N11J~ l,7~,niJ l,,ni Nn11N71 ,~,J,D ,~70 ,J ll~1 ,7 ,1ITN :1~,7N7 ~,7 1nNi :,7 1nN1 ?,N~ 1~7 ,1~~ ,71JnoN n,~n 1~71J~ :,7 1nN ,D,~1i Nn~,nn7 ?1~,,Jn,o ,Nn .~,~ 7Jnon N7i N,,rr ,~1i N~1~11n ,~1i N~1~11n 1~7 ,,nnJ1 ,~7o ,J ,JN7n ,7TN 1~71J~ , ,NW9JN Nn~1N7 ,N~n N7 .n,TTJ 1 ~,70 ~,W9Jni N, ,IT N1~l N1~~7 1~1,TTn1 N11Ji ,U,U1~ ,1n 1nN ~~~ ,7JnON :NJ,nN ,~,n1DnN ,TTUnWN ,7TN 1TTn7 .~,.J,U7 1~J,n01 Nn~,nn~ TT,JW ~1~ ,~,7N .,NonN1 ,NJ,Jnn 1ni Nn,,Jnn 1nN .NnN N71 ~,7 ~ll ,~1~ NTT1, W,1 iTT Nn1, ,,~1i NJn,~1NiN =~,7 1nN ?1n7 ~,7 ~lJ Nnnu ,Nn :~,7 ~~~,7 1J1 .~,7 Nl,Jln1 ,,7~n1 ~,i, NJ,wn1 C~1~N7 ,g~n :,1~o !,ii~ ,i~~ 1~.J,n~171 -~~n,7 1J1 w,1 =~,7 1nN - .~,JnT N7~ rr,wn7 ~,7 ,n,,n1 ,,nrr1~ .l,J~1 N,,n ,~1 ,NJ,N :~,7 1nN- ?~T~ C71D~ 1nn11i

~,7

379

Siailarly, in Midra•h Tehili.JD 4: 4, R. Bo•haiah i• quoted a• •aying, with reference to the •age'• calendrical activity, that God conform• to the deci•ion of the elder• of I•rael and approve• whatever they enact, and .in a differently dramatized pre•entation of the same th. . . , .in Pe•ikta Rabati 15, the angel• in heaven come before the throne of glory to a•k the date of the new year, only to be told that both they and God mu•t go to go li•ten to the decree of the •age• of I•rael on the matter.


390

1nN .l,J~l N,,n ,~,, l~J,nnN ,Nn,Jnn ,~, 1Tl ,J ,M1~,n NnMl - CWl~ i,11n 1nM ,M~,T ~~Wll - IT11~ lMn :ND,~1~ ,,nM .Nn7D Wl1 - c,nn~ ~,nn ,n,n7 Non ,1~,7M7 li11,nN .1~,7N :,1nN ?Nn7D~ N,T1 ,7l ,N11Ji N~liJ 1~7 ,ni,N NnN .N11li ,0719 1,nw l~l,nn .l~J,i1~1 l~,,J,~ 7D

~,wn

Said R. Chaviva: R. Chaviva b. Surmakai lectured me [as follows] : Do you see this rabbi who was frequently visited by Elijah, whose eyes this morninq were fine and this eveninq are as if they had been charred in the fire? I said to him: What is this? And he said to me: That one [that is, I] said to Elijah: Show me the rabbis as they ascend to the Academy of Heaven. He said to me, You may qaze upon all of them, except for the chariot of R. Chiya, upon which you are not to qaze. [I asked): What is its distinquishinq feature? [He answered]: All the rest are accompanied by anqels who ascend and descend, exceptinq the chariot of R. Chiya, which ascends and descends of its own accord. I could not restrain myself and I looked at it. Two sparks of fire came and struck that man [i.e. me) and blinded his eyes. The next day I went and prostrated myself at [R. Chiya's) tomb. I said, the mishnayot of the master are [correct) mishnayot, and I was healed. Elijah [the prophet) was a frequent visitor in the Academy of Rabbi. One day, it was New Moon and he tarried and did not come. [Rabbi] said to him: For what reason did the master tarry? [Elijah] said to him, By the time I raised up Abraham and washed his hands and he prayed and I laid him down, and thus aqain for Isaac, and thus aqain for Jacob... [Rabbi said,] You ouqht to have raised them up all at once! [Elijah replied,] I reasoned that they would be so stronq in their prayers as to brinq the Messiah before his proper time. [Rabbi] said to him, Have we ones like them in this world? He replied: Indeed, R. Chiya and his sons! [There havinq been no rain,] Rabbi declared a fast. He made R. Chiya and his sons to qo down before the Ark [to lead the prayers). [R. Chiya) recited 'Who maketh the wind to blow, ' a wind came! He recited 'And maketh the rain to fall, ' the rain came! When he came to say 'Who quickeneth the dead,' the earth shook! In heaven they said: Who has revealed this secret on earth? They answered: Elijah! They brouqht in Elijah and lashed him with sixty straps of fire. [Elijah then] went and appeared to [the


rabbis] as a fiery bear, went among them, distracted them [in their prayers].

and

The first seqment of this narrative sequence in bBava Metsia 86a speaks of the rabbis beyond death, entering the yeshivah on high.

The suggestion that R.

needs

angelic

no

aid

on

its

dangerously awesome to behold, angel if ication

of

Chiya's chariot

journey, reads

that particular

and

as

(Mi11i11l)

it

is

something of

an

sage.

that

He

is

no mere

passenger or visitor to the heavenly realm, but a celestial diqnitary in his own right. The

awesome

aspect of

R.

Chiya

after

his

death

remarkable enough as an indication of rabbinic hopes participation in the world of angels.

is for

The adjoining narrative

seqment, concerning R. Chiya and his sons, although not set in the heavens, is perhaps even more noteworthy, for it suggests that

rabbinic

sages might

hold

considerable

sway

celestial realm even during their earthly lives.

in the Elijah's

being lashed for revealing the secret of these sages' true stature

reminds

of

Enoch/Metatron's

being

lashed

for

inadvertently misleading a mortal into wondering whether there might be two powers in heaven.

certainly, the admonition

given Elijah leaves the impression that the distinction of R. Chiya and his sons is a matter secret and celestial,

and

perhaps best left unknown to those on earth. Once more the angels in heaven become place-holders for Israel's elite--this time in the mold of rabbinic jurists. The heavens are rabbinized, and the world of the rabbinic beit


392

midrash is rendered quasi-celestial.

God deliberates upon

halalcha in the heavens, recites the dicta of the rabbinic sages, occasionally sUDUDons them to take seats in the heavenly

yeshivah, and sometimes transposes Himself from the heavenly court into the earthly one, making the terrestrial rabbis themselves His inner circle, in a foretaste of the time to come. When Moses ascended to heaven, according to R. Acha in the name of R. Chanina in Bemidbar Rabah 19:7, he found God engaged in study of the scriptures concerning the red heifer ~19 nw19~

~OlDl

~Wl,,

and reciting an apposite ruling in the

name of its rabbinic proponent a ruling of R. Eliezer.

~1n1N DW~

~~7~,

in this case,

Similarly, in bChagigah 15b, God is

reported (by Elijah the Prophet to Rabah b. Shila) to recite teachings

in the name of

their rabbinic tradents.

Such

accounts of God's reviewing the dicta of the sages make the case that the business of the rabbinic beit midrash is also the business of the highest heavens.

The creation of a

heavenly paradigm for the rabbinic house of study suggests that rabbinic learning is also conceived as an imitation of activity in the celestial world.

on the basis of Bereshit

Rabah 1: 1, in which God "looks into the Torah and creates the world"

D71D~

nN

N11~1

~11n~

c,~n,

we might say hat the very

act of Torah-study is considered by at least some rabbinic


393

minds

as

an imit;at;io dei,

a

playing with

the

fires

of

creation. 380 A characterization of the rabbinic sage as a player with divine fire certainly seems to be the message of the following agadah in Vayikra Rabah 16:4: 11nM ,,n,~,~o n~~~n WM~1 w1111 ~w,, ~,~ ,MTll 1~ T,1nn M~M 1M~ 1~~ 1nM ~01ll ~nM ~~~1n ,110~ MnW 01,~ 1,nnw ~11n ,,~i1 c,~,n~~ c,M,~J1 c,M,~J~ ~11n 1D1~ 1~~1 i"~~ 1Jn,J WM~ 1nl,nJ ,~,n ,J,c~ 1nJ,nJ ~,~

,1~i

WM~

Ben Azai was sitting and expositing and fire was flashing all around him. They said to him, Perchance you are dealing with matters of the chariot? He said to them, No, I was merely stringing words from the Torah to the Prophets and from the Prophets to the writings, and these words of Torah were joyous as on the day they were given at Sinai. They were given at first in fire; thus it says, "And the mountain burned in fire" (Deut.4:11). 381 This passage reminds of the narratives of merkavah- exegesis in bChagigah 14b, and especially of the account there in which the angels congregate,

in a rainbow-suffused assembly,

listen to the expositions of R. Yehoshua and R. Yose.

to In

380 According to thia miclraah, God usea the primordially created scripture• like an architect•• plan. •aeginning• n,wM, is read as Torah, on the baaia of Pa.lll:lO, thua the first scriptural quideline is: •with Torah God created,• and so God createa. In Bereshit Rabah 17:5, R. Avin ia quoted aa adding two itema to a liat of experienced phenomena that correapond to realitiea beyond normal human life. (The original three itema on the liat are: aleep aa a d~inutive form of death, clreaming aa a leaaer form of prophecy, and the Sabbath aa a ahade of the world to come.) The addition to thia liat reada, i1'7Nn '7m il,lN n'nll 1,n,n llD cpom l":lM ":1, il,ln i1'7Dn ~ iln~n n'7:lll ilnn '7l'7l--•R. Avin adda two: the derivative of the heavenly light ia the diac of the aun1 the derivative of heavenly wiadom ia Torah.• In thia view, juat aa the inhabitant• of the earth partake to aome extent in the radiance of heaven, by way of the aun, ao they may partake in celeatial wiadom by way of the Torah.

A a~lar acene ia depicted, in Ruth Rabah 6:4, at the circ:umciaion cer.aony of the aage Bliaha, where R. Eliezer and R. Yehoahua become engaged in rapturoua acriptural expoaition. 381


314

bChaqiqah 14b, the imaqe of the anqels qathered around to bear exeqetically derived descriptions of their own realm seems to suqqest that the rabbinic knowledqe of that realm that miqht be attained throuqh study of the scriptures is not inferior to

the first-hand familiarity of that realm's own denizens.

The

account of Ben Azai's exeqesis in Vayikra Rabah 16:4 suqqests that esoterica and heavenly speculation are not the only means by which

to

realize

the preternatural

power

inherent

in

rabbinic activity--even more run-of-the-mill rabbinic exeqesis is cbarqed with divine fire. The brief narrative of Ben Azai's exeqesis in Vayikra Rabah

16: 4

can easily be read as

somethinq of a

polemic

aqainst heavenly speculation and esoteric mystical strivinqs combined

with

an

effort

to

retain

some

associated with that kind of activity. 382

of

the

potency

The fire that laps

around Ben Azai is borrowed from the thematic environs of the merkavah in order to promote more quotidian immersion in the Torah as a means to the same wondrous spiritual satisfaction. At the same time, much as in the central Europe of Rabbi Chaim

382

By way of analogy, the idea, in the account of Ben Azai, that normal rabbinic exegetical atudy might auffice aa a meana to divine radiance, remind• aomewhat of what we aight call the 'devekut of normal Torah-nudy' propounded in the ninet-nth century by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin over and againat the ecatatic and eaoteric allure of Baaidiaa and Kabali. . . Immanuel Btkaa, Rabbi Iarael Salanter and the Kuaaar Kov. . .nt: Seelting the rorah of !'ruth, JPS, 1993, pp.33-36. Of Rabbi Bayyim Volozhin'a effort to •reatore the poaition of Torah atudy •• the higheat religioua value• through an ideological ayatem •woven out of concept• and idea• borrowed froa kabbaliatic literature,• Btkea writea, •xn effect, Rabbi Bayyim aaaigna to the acholarly elite the coaaic taak that had hitherto been reatricted to the kabbaliatic elite. Thua, the lomda, whoae aain activity ia Torah atudy, fulfill a univeraal aiaaion of the higheat order ••• • (pp. 33-34).


315

Volozhin's

day,

there

seem

to

have

been

competinq

sensibilities in the circles of classical rabbinism where the intersection of earthly and heavenly experience was concerned. At least some amonq the early rabbis seem to have been interested in the kind of exploration of and participation in the heavenly world that fiCJUres in pseudepiqraphic literature. A well-known and apparently tanaitic narrative in bBerakhot 7a exemplifies that interest: 1,l:Jj7i17 ,nOJJJ nnN Oll9 llW,7N l l 7NllnW, 1"N ~PJn Nli1W nlNJ~ 'i1 i1, 7N,1nJN ,n,N11 O,J971 ,J97 n11l:Jj7 ,n1nN ,JJ1J ,JJ 7NllnW, ,., 1nN1 NWJl 01 NCJ 71l JWl, 7n 1,nrr1 ,.,,l,, lOllJ nN 1,nrr1 lWJJ,W l,J97n 1"i1, ,., c,J97 ci17 DJJnl c,nn1i1 ninJ l,JJ en li1Jnn1 1,n11n 1WN1J ,., llJllJl 1,1i1 n11Uln

It was tauqht, R. Ishmael b. Elisha said: I once entered [the innermost part of the Sanctuary] to offer incense, and I saw Akatriel Yah, the Lord of Hosts, that He was seated upon a hiqh and lofty throne, and He said: Ishmael, My son, bless Me. So I said: May it be Your will that Your mercy conquer Your anqer and that Your mercy overcome Your (other] attributes and that You deal with Your children accordinq to the attribute of mercy and be lenient with them. Thereupon He nodded His head. This narrative calls to mind the sixth chapter of Isaiah, where too the Temple seems to serve as conduit to the vision of God enthroned in the court of heaven.

Here, in the quise

of Hiqh Priest, R. Ishmael b. Elisha takes up the office of anqelic minister before God's manifest presence.

There is a

certain archaism to this rabbinic passaqe, not only because of its settinq in the Temple, but also because its vision of the divine throne, and the human beinq ac:lJDitted before it, smacks so of Isaiah and Ezekiel.


39&

It is instructive to contrast the narrative above, from bBerakhot 7a with a tradition in Vayikra Rabah 10:2 that takes up the sixth chapter of Isaiah explicitly, but to quite a different end.

This agadah seems to reveal a

competing

tendency in some rabbinic thought--the tendency away from heavenly experience and speculation:

1nN

~,DW,~

~"~~~

~w

1n9 11n,0 1~ ~i1~, ,~1 DW~ ~,1TU '1 ,nunw1 ,i1n~n n,~~ ,n,,~ ~,,on ~,uw, 1l~ 1~, ,n, n~wN ,n nN (1 ~,uw,) n1n1N

~,,~

1~1~

R. Azariah in the name of R. Yehuda b. Simon interpreted the verse with reference to Isaiah. Isaiah said: I was at leisure in my house of study and I heard the voice of the Holy one Blessed be He saying, "Whom shall we send and who shall go for us?" (Isa.6:8). This agadic passage takes a biblical story set in the divine throne-room and recasts it as a narrative of the rabbinic house of study.

In its scriptural context, the divine call of

Isa.6:8 comes amid winged seraphim and calls of "Holy, holy, holy," in the heavenly setting of God's throne. Rabah,

In Vayikra

the moment of Isaiah's commissioning is reinvented

entirely, as though the prophet's call were brought about not by service in the Temple and a vision in the heavens, but by deep immersion in rabbinic study.

Very much

like the

account of Ben Azai, expositing the Torah amid flashes of fire,

this revision of Isaiah's experience seems directed

against the urge to scale the heights of the divine realm. an alternative,

As

the passage promotes devotion to earthly

rabbinic activity.

No special feat of heavenly journeying is

requisite in this passage, just as no special contemplation of


317

esoterica is necessary in the account of Ben Azai. unpretentious,

even leisurely study of the Torah leads to

choice

God's

Simple and

of

rsaiah

from

amonq

all

possible

representatives, just as apparently unprepossessinq midrashic activity, in the case of Ben Azai, leads to that Saqe's being cauqht up in a wondrous light that suggests the merkavab to his peers.

Both the account of Ben Azai and this narrative of

rsaiah manage to retain some of the power of the very heavenly themes

that

they

also

obscure.

Seemingly

unremarkable

rabbinic activity becomes the path to the fire of the chariot and to the divine invitation of the sixth chapter of rsaiah.

A number of agadic sources suggest that at least some among the early rabbis thought of common customs of rabbinic piety in terms of self-association with the heavenly realm and self-identification with the angels. R.

Yehudah b.

For example, the Tana,

rlai is described as attaining a powerfully

anqelic aspect through his preparations for the Sabbath in a brief passage in bShabbat 25b: c,N,~n

cttJDnn1

n~w

~1n

1,~111

n1N~~

'~

,Nn~N

1,1, 1N~n~

,~

~~1~,

1,Jg 1'TT111 ~0111

,~,

~w

l,OTT

1,~,,1~0~

1l~Jn ~~n

~,~

1~

~~,1D

1~

l,l,IO~

~W1,1

R. Yebudah said in the name of Rav: This was the custom of R. Yehudah b. rlai: on the eve of the Sabbath they would bring him a basin of warm water, and he would wash his face, hands, and feet, and


318

wrap himself, and sit in fringed sheets, and he would resemble the Angel of the Lord of Hosts. 383 R. Yehuda b. Ilai's angelic appearance in the passage above calls to mind the dicta that declare the Sabbath to be a diminutive form of the world to come and Torah to be a diminutive form of heavenly wisdom.

Taking into account as

well the tropes of heaven as a divine beit midrash, and the theme of God surrounded by the elders of Israel in judicial assembly in the time to come, we should not be surprised that a great sage washed and cloaked in Sabbath finery should be the talmudic image of the Angel of the Lord of Hosts.

A

frequently repeated agadic tradition having to do with ritual fringes

(n,~,~)

suggests that the fringes mentioned in the

description of R. Yehuda b. Ilai's Sabbath trappings might be essential to his angelic aspect.

According to this tradition

God shares the blue of the fringes

(n~Jn)

with Israel as an

apportioning of His own glory, the color being associated, by way of various resemblances, to the heavenly throne of glory and God's own appearance in Ezekiel's vision. occasion for this midrash is the interpretation of in Ps.24 as

~,M,,~

lil~Jn ~~1nw l~n--"the

of His glory to those who fear Him."

The usual il~J~ 1~n

King who apportions The concept, as it

relates to the fringes, is most fully developed in the Midrash on Psalms 90:18.

We have already seen the portion of that

383 a. Yehuda b. Ilu'• •eated po8ture in th.i• image .incline• - to tran•late nnt::t~ 'il lM'ln •• •the Angel of the Lord of Bo•t•, • •ugge•t.ing the part.icular, •upr- angel.ic off.ice, rather than •an angel of the Lord of Bo•t•.•


311

midrashic segment in which Rebecca is said to have appreciated Isaac as angelic in appearance on account of his fringed garment

1n1ni1

(1M~n3

c,~~N--"She

n,~,~~ ~u1un1

Wl~~

1n1,~

11i~

1n1N

~nN1

saw him exceedingly splendid, garbed and wrapped

in fringes, and his appearance was like an angel of God"). The text also includes the following passages: c,~

n~3n

,,Nn '1

nlJ~,Nl

nlJ~,N~

~nli

D,~,~

nw~ ,,nNi n,N, ~,~rrr ,, 1nNT D,nli C,~WDl O,lWD~ ~nli D,l

1nNJW n1ni~ nw~1 nw~~ ~l1J1 ~l1J~ n,~,, l,lC ~llJ~ ~N1n 13 DWl~ Cl,l llD~ ~,~, 1WN 1,03nn ~N1W,w 1nTJ ~,~rrr ,, 1nN '~ i1~3 n1ni 13 N~N 1,Wl1~ 1~ n~3n NnW 1,11~0 ,,~, N~ on,N11 1nNJW 1~,~u ~J,3W 1i~ ,~,N~ n,~,~l 1,~~non ~ll 11i~1 , 1~ ~"l~~~ 1n1N N~N 1nNJ N~ On1N 1n1N

nw~~

~N1n3

~N1n Nl~ n,~,~l ~N1W, ,,~,

o~,Jl

For R. Chizkiah said, and some say it in the name of R. Meir: Sky-blue resembles the sea and the sea resembles the qrasses, and the grasses resemble the trees, and the treed resemble the firmament, and the firmament resembles the brightness (nogab), and the brightness resembles the rainbow, and the rainbow resembles the (divine) likeness, as it is said, "like the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud on a day of rain, that is the appearance of the brightness round about; that is the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord' (Ezek.l:28). Said R. Chizkiah: When Israel covers up with fringes, let them not think that they are (merely] wearing sky-blue dye (tekhe~et). Rather thus should Israel contemplate the fringes--as though the beauty of the Shekhinah were upon them, as it is said, "And you shall see Him384 " (Num.l5:39). It does not say "them" (the fringes], but rather "Him"--meaning the Holy One Blessed be He. That is the meaning of "and your beauty upon their children." Once more, we see the path to heavenly glory identified as quotidian rabbinic behavior--here, the wearing of the fringed 384

In •criptural context. •it• (ma•culine), with reference to the comer-fringe.


400

shawl.

This account of the fringes

does not

involve an

Enochic transformation of a human being into an angel, yet we can safely say that the participant in the custom is urged to see himself as angelic in aspect and as partaking in God's own radiant glory even as envisioned by Ezekiel. We have already mentioned that

the rabbinic

liturgy

evidences a strong interest in the world of the angels.

Not

only

is,

the various

permutations

of the kedushah--which

explicitly, an emulation of the angels and a participation in their service--but also the yotzer-li turgy of the morning blessings of the Shema invokes God's celestial servants, the angels and the luminaries, apparently as paradigms for the worshipper.

It is remarkable how much of the yotzer-liturgy

is phrased in the third person plural, naming and describing the heavenly beings that glorify God.

That is to say, the

dawn-prayer of classical rabbinism is a liturgy descriptive of the heavenly host.

This focus can be explained in part as a

celebration of the wonder of renewed light each morning, but the

use of descriptions

of God's heavenly

servants

as a

mandatory liturgy for the recitation of human beings must also be appreciated as urging those human beings to conceive of themselves and their worship along heavenly and angelic lines.

A tradition in pBerakhot 1: 1 is perhaps the earliest rabbinic textual witness to the idea that a reciter of the Eighteen Benedictions should adopt an angelic posture:


401 ,,~

,~1

1Mnl •••

1,M1lnN 1,1n ,,~l1 nK nllW~~ 1,1~ lnlDW l~T D,l~JJ 1nN 1n1 n,JN~nJ 1nK 1n 11n,o ,~,, ~1W, ~l1 D~,~l11 D,JK~nJ 1nNI

The one who stands [in prayer] must put his legs toqether. Two Amoraim, R. Levi and R. Simon [disaqree on this point], one saying 'like the angels, ' and one saying, ' like the priests' • • • The one who says 'like the angels' invokes the verse, "their legs were a straight leg." According to one of the two Amoraim of this passage,

the

participant in the statutory rabbinic prayer must make his body conform to the appearance of the heavenly angels.

The

same view is echoed by R. Yosi b. R. Chanina in the name of R. Eliezer b.

Yaakov later on the same page,

with the same

prooftext.

Even the opinion that the worshipper should adopt

the posture of the priests is not quite a negation of the idea of emulating the angels according to another dictum included on that same page: ~J1~~ nOJJ~ n,~~ O,l~J~ nN 1J1~ ~,,JW~ l,JN~n '~ ,,wun ~J '~ nN

nN nN

~Nl1W ~T Nll~ 1 1 1nK 1J1~ 1n1~ 1,1~ ~l1WN1 1J1~ n,w,~w~ ,,N~~ ~J ~~

Said R. Huna, One who sees the priests in the synagogue--at their first blessing must say "Bless the Lord, His angels," at their second blessing, "Bless the Lord, all His hosts," at their third blessing "Bless the Lord, all His works." rn view of this passage, and in view of the many traditions we have seen that associate the priests with the angels,

the

disagreement between the two Amoraim earlier on the page seems somewhat less substantial.

An emulation of the priests in


402

prayer is also an emulation of the anqels, albeit one imaqinal step removed. 385 Midrash Tanhumah (Tsav 13) bases the custom of risinq up on one's Ezekiel's

toes

durinq

the

recitation

of

the

description

of

heavenly

the

kedushah

creatures,

includes the phrase, "And with two he would fly."

on

which on this

basis, accordinq to the midrash, "the Saqes established that a man should fly up on his feet when the leader of prayers says, 'Holy holy holy!'"

Here we have another indication of

the statutory prayer as an occasion for a kind of anqelic role-play, an effort by the worshipper to pass as a celestial beinq. 386 A passaqe in the Midrash on Psalms 87:2, in its stylized form and clever construction perhaps epitomizes the absorption of the theme of anqelic Israel into the ethos of rabbinic learninq and reflects the easy association of the Saqes and the anqels in rabbinic thouqht: 1~ N~N ,, cw~ n,3,~ ,, 1nN 1,n1wnw i3i~ ,nn~1 ,,n n~ ,,nNl ~N,1~l1 ~N~,n u,~,~ ,~N~n ,,n n~ ,1,~9 cnw 1nN irr M,,rr ,, ,l~ n,~rrr1 niln, M~1Dn~ ,N11nN ,nnw1 ,,n 1 1 i~l l,i~ ,,n,~ n"~~n 1nN ngw, 1nN irrl 1,n1wnw i13i~ NJn~

"And X shall make your luminaries kadlcod" (Xsa.54:12). R. Berachiah tauqht in the name of R. Abba bar Kahana: As to the meaninq of kadkod, two

385

The . . . . page al•o contain• a dictum forbidding eating i.all.-diately before prayer, an idea that remind• of Mo••• • fa•ting on Sinai, through which he became angel-like. 386

We •hould al•o note that in the Midra•h on P•alm• { 17) the •reader of the •ynagogue• nDl~~ n,~ ttn, holding the •croll of the Torah i• •aid to be •like an angel of God. •


403

angels in heaven, Michael and Gabriel--and some say two AJDoraim in the West, namely Yehudah and Chezekiah, the sons of R. Hiyya--differed in opinion: One said kadkod means 'onyx,' the other said 'jasper.' Thereupon the Holy One, Blessed be He, declared, "It will be as this [one says], and as this [other one says] (kadein vecbadein)" Hence, "I shall make your luminaries kadkod" (the consonants kdkd being an acronym for kadein vechadein, "like this one and like that one"). The ostensible confusion of attribution in the passage above, between principal angels in heaven and the ADloraic sons of

a

storied

Babylonian

literary device. 387

rabbi,

is

clearly

a

deliberate

The alternate attributions--to angels

and to rabbis--convey a veiled statement about the nature of rabbinic identity.

The wordplay on kadkod, as an acronym for

"like this one and like that one," allows us to be certain that

we

are

dealing with

the

stylized composition

redactor (really an author in his own right)

of

a

who read the

consonants kdkd in this cryptic sense and then sportively wove together an early amoraic difference of opinion and a divine affirmation of both sides of the dispute to play upon his reading

(and

also

upon

the

classic

rabbinic

motif

of

contradictory rabbinic rulings simultaneously confirmed as divine truth, as in the famous instance of the Hillelites and Shamaites).

In a brilliantly formed circle of mystery, the

~ The Kidra•h on P•alm• ~. a relat~vely late corpu•. The pre•ent readi.ng of th~• pa••age pre.uppo•e• that •uch a late opu• not only •trag• together earl~er parcel• of rabb~n~c trad~t~on, ~n wh~ch attr~ut~on• of opa~on• to •pec~f~c •age• are made ~ good fa~th, but al•o adopt• the tecbn~cal convent~on• of the earl~er •ource•--oppo•ed opa~on• and alternate attr~t~on•, for exampl-a• •tyl~•t~c tool•, as way• of malting contr~ut~on• of •ub•tance and mean~ng. 3


404

very word over which the two sons of Rabbi Hiyya argue turns out to siqni:fy that both of them are right.

That much alone

is a clever work of midrashic creativity; but the componist of this passage goes one step farther, giving us some insight into his conception of rabbinic identity. Our midrashic passage is entirely about ontic ambiguity. Kadkod, in connection with luminaries, is an obscure noun, which invites a rabbinic determination.

The divine response

to the respective opinions of R. Hiyya's sons, makes the eventual actuality of Jcadkod dependent upon the differing conclusions of the two Amoraim, as thouqh a sinqle thing could be simultaneously onyx and jasper on account of the scriptural interpretations of two qreat sages.

The divine declaration

affirming both conclusions indicates the determining power of midrashic creativity.

The alternate, angelic attribution of

the dispute suggests that, in their knowledqe, influence, and mediation of mysterious divine realities, rabbis might easily be confused with angels.

One miqht even suqgest that the

repetition of the lema as a prooftex at the end of the midrash plays doubly upon the supposed acronym in Jcadlcod to aggrandize the rabbinic luminaries--"I shall make your heavenly lights like this sage and like that one." An easy shift of attribution between angels and rabbis

occurs also in bNedarim 20a-b.

On 20a, R. Yochanan b. Dahabai

reports that the ministering angels shared with him the causes of certain congenital deformities.

(The deformities are each


405

associated with unconventional sexual behavior on the part of the parents.)

Further along, on 20b, the Sages are cited as

rejecting the view of R. Yochanan b. Dahabai. AllleJDar,

is

then

quoted,

and

he deduces

The Amora,

that the

Sages'

rejection of R. Yochanan b. Dahabai's tradition indicates that heavenly ministering angels cannot have been meant as the source of the rejected tradition.

After all, he contends, the

angels must have superior knowledge conception,

and

inforaation.

the Sages

would not

the mysteries

of

have overruled such

Who then are the "ministering angels" cited by

R. Yochanan b. Dahabai, asks responds,

of

ll~1--the

Ameaar--?n1W~

Rabbis!

,~M1n

lMn--and he

The next question in the text

(possibly added by a later redactor) is "Why are they called ministering angels?" and answer given is

n1w~ ,~M1n~ ,l,,~n•--

"For they are distinguished like the ministering angels," with no further explanation provided. !ll~1

?n1w~

,~M1n

Rabbis!"--sounds isolation,

The question and answer,

lMn--"Who are the ministering angels? particularly

and we must

be

definitive

careful

to

and

exciting

remember

that

The in the

argument is made in the duress of talmudic give-and-take, in which

far-fetched

possibilities

are

often

entertained

in

defense of embattled positions or to tie up the loose ends of a debate.

We should also recall that even grader sobriquet,

elohim is applied by talmudic tradition to the ordained Sages of the land of Israel

(an interpretation of Ex.22:8 first

vitnessed in Tosefta Shevuot 3 : 8) •

Nevertheless, this naming


•o• of the Rabbis, attributed to Amemar, is a further indication that, at least in some rabbinic minds, the categories of Sage and anqel were readily interchangeable.


Cone~ usion

We have seen that the theae of angelic Israel, which flourished Qumran,

so

dramatically

in

the

pseudepigrapha

and at

is also well attested in classical rabbinic agadah.

What is more, where we might have expected a dramatic revision of the theme, or stronger ideological countercurrent&, we find reaarkable consistency with earlier Jewish sources. To be sure, we have seen some notes of rabbinic reticence and caution where the conflation of Israel and the angels is concerned.

We have also seen that rabbinic sources eschew the

cosmic narrative of good and evil as opposed angelic factions that pervades pseudepigrapic sources.

However, on the whole,

familiar lines emerge anew and are given new life and force. Humankind is described as originally angelic.

The line of

Israel's

Adam's

patriarchs regains,

angelic identity, legacy.

to some extent,

lost

and passes that possibility onward as a

The Temple in Jerusalem remains a reflection of the

heavenly court, and even a gateway to it.

The priests, and

Moses, and the other prophets, and Israel at large, are all imagined as partaking in an inherent affinity with the host of heaven. took

To this extent we can say that classical rabbinism

into its repertoire of tropes the theae of angelic

Israel.


408

As in virtually any theme, the rabbinic sources reflect a variety of interests and agendas in the theme of angelic Israel.

Dramatic approaches to the divine throne, involving

transformations of human beings into angels can still be found, most notably in connection with the priestly service of the Temple and with Moses' ascent on Sinai.

Even the concept

of Israel as a bannered and wondrously armed angelic host persists in relatively late midrashic compilations.

There is

fuel to be found, in classical rabbinic literature, for the fires of mystical ascent and militant pursuit of the eschaton. On the other hand, the rabbinic sources, on the whole, bear witness to a calming of the bellicose and cataclysmic tendencies

associated

with

earlier Jewish traditions.

Israel's

angelic

identity

in

True, the nations round about are

regarded as akin to the beasts, while Israel alone realizes the angelic aspect of mankind. aspect is largely divorced,

Yet the realization of this

in the rabbinic sources,

dire, immediate, and violent vindications.

from

The righteous in

the time to come enjoy an angelic station--even a station inward of the ministering angels--but the sources that say so do not describe warlike ways in which that time to come might be hastened. For the most part, the rabbinic sources that speak of angelic Israel do so to encourage fidelity and meticulousness in the practice of rabbinic piety.

The sources we have seen

encourage the practitioner of rabbinic ways to develop an


401

anqelic self-concept, and to act accordinqly. required is consistently earthly,

concept heavenly.

The action

the corresponding self-

Anqelic identity is achieved and enjoyed

throuqh devout participation in the rabbinic life. This is not to say that the qrandeur or actuality of anqelic Israel is diminished in these sources.

The call of

anqelic identity remains a call to be orders of maqnitude qreater than one's self, to comprehend the infinite within the particulars of one's own life.

Correspondinqly, the wondrous

imaqes familiar from pre-rabbinic sources--the divine throne, heavenly fire, shininq visaqes, and proximity to the divine presence--fiqure anqelic Israel.

still

throuqhout

the

rabbinic

theme

of

At the same time, perhaps more effectively

than any other sources we have

seen

in this

study,

the

rabbinic aqadot encouraqe Israel to recoqnize anqelic identity as a reality within reach. essence--it

remains

only

The pious Jew is an anqel in for

that

identity

to

discovered by the Jew, and fully diqnified.


be

fully

410

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NOTE ON TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

The Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls contained in this study follow The Dead Sea Scrolls study Edition, edited by Florentino Garcia Martinez and Eibert J.c. Tigchelaar (Leiden, Brill, 1997, 1998). The translations here also largely follow that edition, with some changes made. Translations of Talmudic and Midrashic texts are mine, and I have occasionally followed the Soncino English editions. Quotations from the Pseudepiqrapha follow the translations in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth (New York, Doubleday/Anchor Bible, 1983, 1985).


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