Important to note that Yahoel makes his first appearance in the course of the dual theophany. Unlike the previously explored two powers accounts, here in the Apocalypse of Abraham the first and the second powers are manifested in two separate and distinctive theophanic modes: one as the ocularcentric, visible manifestation, and the other as the aniconic voice.
As mentioned above, Yahoel’s description in this dual theophany has long
puzzled even the most advanced experts of Jewish mediatorial traditions. This
is because the striking panoply of theophanic markers represents features that
until now were reserved exclusively for the apparitions of God.
Yahoel’s celestial shape represents an amalgam of theophanic elements of
several essential biblical depictions of God. The angel assumes both the
theophanic features of the Ancient of Days from Daniel 7 and the peculiar
details of the Kavod from the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel—two
formative accounts of divine apparitions in the Hebrew Bible. The Apocalypse of
Abraham 11:2–3 recounts the following portrayal of the angel’s form:
The appearance of the griffin’s body was like sapphire, and the likeness
of his face like chrysolite, and the hair of his head like snow, and a turban
on his head like the appearance of the bow in the clouds, and the closing of
his garments [like] purple, and a golden staff [was] in his right hand.
Andrei A. Orlov, The Glory of the Invisible God: Two Powers in Heaven Traditions and Early Christology (ed. James H. Charlesworth; vol. 31; Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies; London; New York; Oxford; New Delhi; Sydney: T&T Clark, 2019), 49.
Para-biblical Mosaic theophanies may also contribute to Yahoel’s
enigmatic profile. Scholars have noticed similarities with another two powers
theophany attested in the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian. According to
Fossum, “the sceptre which Yahoel has in his right hand recalls the sceptre
held by the phōs whom Moses saw upon the great throne in the drama of Ezekiel
the Tragedian.” In the light of these similarities, he infers that, in the
Apocalypse of Abraham, “Yahoel obviously is the Glory of God.”
Andrei A. Orlov, The Glory of the Invisible God: Two Powers in Heaven Traditions and Early Christology (ed. James H. Charlesworth; vol. 31; Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies; London; New York; Oxford; New Delhi; Sydney: T&T Clark, 2019), 50.
Another prolific expert of mediatorial traditions—Christopher
Rowland—also detects the transference of divine attributes to Yahoel, arguing
that there is “a strong indication that this angel is closely linked with God
himself.” He points out that “Revelation 1:13ff. and the angelophany in the
Apocalypse of Abraham show some affinities with developments of Ezekiel 1:26f.,
particularly as they are found in Daniel 10:5f. The result is a theology of
some complexity. Both works clearly think of the angelic figure as one who
possesses divine attributes.” Rowland notes that the striking embellishment of
the angelic mediator with the divine ocularcentric attributes coincides here
with the removal of the anthropomorphic features from the deity. He points out,
furthermore, that in both the Apocalypse of Abraham and the Book of Revelation,
the reluctance to use
anthropomorphic terminology in relation to God is matched by the development of
an interest in an exalted angelic figure with divine attributes, who is, of
course, given the form of a man. In the Apocalypse of Abraham we find that the
angel Yahoel is said to have God’s name dwelling in him, and in Rev 1:13ff. the
description of the glorified Christ derives in part from the description of the
angel who appears to Daniel in Dan 10:6, but he is also given attributes of God
himself derived from Dan 7:9.
Andrei A. Orlov, The Glory of the Invisible God: Two Powers in Heaven Traditions and Early Christology (ed. James H. Charlesworth; vol. 31; Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies; London; New York; Oxford; New Delhi; Sydney: T&T Clark, 2019), 50.
Another important cluster of Yahoel’s attributes evokes the memory of
the peculiar features of the Ancient of Days from the Book of Daniel. The
transferal of the deity’s attributes from the latter will play a prominent role
in a few other mediatorial streams; this includes various Jewish and Christian
depictions of the Son of Man in which the second power of Daniel 7 procures the
distinctive qualities of the first power. Several researchers have noted the
transference of the peculiar characteristics of the Ancient of Days to Yahoel.
Jarl Fossum contends that Yahoel’s hair being white as snow is a clear
reference to the representation of the Ancient of Days in Dan 7:9, 1 Enoch
46:1, and 1 Enoch 71:10. Although “it is perhaps astonishing that Yahoel in
this respect is modeled upon the Ancient of Days and not upon the Son of
Man,”187 such transference has all the hallmarks of legitimacy, since,
according to the aforementioned tendencies, in the aural structure of the text,
features of the ocularcentric deity, and not the second power, must be
transferred and emulated.
Andrei A. Orlov, The Glory of the Invisible God: Two Powers in Heaven Traditions and Early Christology (ed. James H. Charlesworth; vol. 31; Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies; London; New York; Oxford; New Delhi; Sydney: T&T Clark, 2019), 51.
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