59 ELIJAH LORE and the ENOCH METATRON NARRATIVE of 3 ENOCH I – INTRODUCTION the Enigmatic Enoch/Metatron Narrative, Included I
ARAM, 20 (2008) 59-76. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.20.0.2033120D. ARBEL 59 ELIJAH LORE AND THE ENOCH METATRON NARRATIVE OF 3 ENOCH Dr. DAPHNA ARBEL (University of British Columbia) I – INTRODUCTION The enigmatic Enoch/Metatron narrative, included in 3 Enoch of the Hekhalot and Merkavah literature, draws together threads inherited from a broad range of previous sources to weave a new narrative in which the human/ angelic figure Enoch/Metatron plays a central role. 1 Among these sources two central streams of traditions are pivotal: early Enochic traditions concerning Enoch, and rabbinic traditions, concerning the angel Metatron. Key studies have analyzed thematic and conceptual connections between these early Enochic and rabbinic traditions and 3 Enoch, as well as the channels through which the authors of 3 Enoch came to know them.2 In contrast, not much scholarly attention has been paid to the ambiguity inherent in the new literary construction of the Enoch /Metatron narrative, and the manner in which it characterizes its main protagonist. The narrative integrates, alters, and harmo- nizes themes and images rooted in the early Enochic and rabbinic traditions in a way that seems neither predictable nor traditional. Hence, questions related 1 3 Enoch or Sefer Hekhalot, is included in P. Schäfer, Synopse zur Hekhalot Literatur in col- laboration with M. Schlüter and H.G. von Mutius (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1981) sections 1- 79. A German translation of 3 Enoch with text-critical notes has been provided by P. Schäfer and K. Herrmann, Übersetzung der Hekhalot-Literatur, vol. 1:1-82 (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1995).
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