Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Michael F. Bird on Jesus and Angelic Beings on Heavenly Thrones

  

It is true that picturing angelic beings on heavenly thrones was common enough in Israel’s sacred literature (Ezek 1.26-28; Dan 8.9; 11Q17 5 8; Rev 4.4; 11.6; 20.4; Apoc. Zeph. A; 3 En. 16; Ascen. Isa. 7.18-33; 8.7-10), and there were types of angel veneration known to Chrisitan authors (Col 2.18). Yet there was a concern that an enthroned angel could potentially become a second deity and compromise monotheism. For example, in one strand of Jewish tradition, the angel Metatron was seated on a heavenly throne like the throne of glory (3 En. 10.1), which caused Rabbi Elisha ben Avuya (disrespectfully called “Aher” for “other”) to wrongly believe that Metatron was a second power in heaven, for which Metatron was scourged to remove any doubt about the heavenly hierarchy (3 En. 16.5; b.ag. 15a). However, John’s apocalypse shows no such aversion to the co-regency and worship of the exalted Jesus because, despite his angelomorphic traits, Jesus does not belong to the angelic orders. (Michael F. Bird, Jesus Among the Gods: Early Christology in Greco-Roman World [Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2022], 267-68)