Thursday, August 20, 2020

Metatron and Iaoel having the divine name "in" them

 

In b. Sanhedrin 38b, we find the following interpretation of Gen 19:24, wherein the second lord of this verse is not YHWH but Metatron, who bears the name of YHWH in him:

 

Rav Naḥman says: This one, i.e., any person, who knows how to respond to the heretics as effectively as Rav Idit should respond to them, but if he does not know, he should not respond to them. The Gemara relates: A certain heretic said to Rav Idit: It is written in the verse concerning God: “And to Moses He said: Come up to the Lord” (Exodus 24:1). The heretic raised a question: It should have stated: Come up to Me. Rav Idit said to him: This term, “the Lord,” in that verse is referring to the angel Metatron, whose name is like the name of his Master, as it is written: “Behold I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Take heed of him and obey his voice; do not defy him; for he will not pardon your transgression, for My name is in him” (Exodus 23:20–21).

 

One is reminded of Apocalypse of Abraham 10:3, 8 where Yahoel (alt. Iaoel [the name being a combination of YHWH and El]) also has the divine name "in" him:

 

And while I was still face down on the ground, I heard the voice speaking, "Go, Iaoel of the same name, through the mediation of my ineffable name, consecrate this man for me and strengthen him against his trembling" . . . I am Iaoel and I was called so by him who causes those with me on the seventh expanse, on the firmament, to shake a power through the medium of his ineffable name in me.

 

Interestingly, these parallel some important Christological passages in the New Testament where Jesus receives the divine name from the Father:

 

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. (John 17:11 [it appears Jesus is using prolepsis here])

 

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11)