Friday, November 13, 2020

3 Baruch 11: Angels Carrying Prayers to God and a High Theology of Michael

 

We read the following in 3 Baruch (1st-3rd century AD), as translated by H.E. Gaylord, Jr.:

 

11 And the angel of power took me and led me to the fifth heaven.

And he showed me large gates, and names of men were written (on them), and they were closed. And I said, “Lord, will these gates open so that we can enter through them?” And the angel said to me, “It is not possible to enter through them until Michael, the holder of the keys of the kingdom, comes.” And the angel said to me, “Wait and you will see the glory of God.”

And while we were waiting, there was a noise from the highest heaven like triple thunder. And I Baruch said, “Lord, what is this noise?”

And he said to me, “Michael is descending to accept the prayers of men.”

And then a voice came, saying that the gates should open, and they opened. And there was a great noise, greater than the first.

And Michael came, and the angel who was with me met him and bowed to him.

And I saw him holding a very large receptacle, and its depth was that from heaven to earth, and its width that from east to west.

And I said, “Lord, what is Michael holding?”

And he said to me, “This is where the prayers of men go.” (James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments [New York: Yale University Press, 1983], 674)

 

In a footnote for verse 4, Gaylord noted:

 

These he apparently offers on the altar of the heavenly temple, which is mentioned in TLevi 5:1 and elsewhere. See also b.Ḥag 12b: “In it (the fourth heaven) is Jerusalem and the temple and an altar constructed and Michael, the great commander, stands and offers sacrifices on it.” On the rabbinic sources for this idea, see V. Aptowitzer, “The Heavenly Temple in the Agada,” Tarbiz 2 (1931) 137–53, 257–77. TLevi 3:6 mentions “a reasonable and bloodless offering.” On prayer and good deeds as the proper sacrifice at Qumran, cf. CD-A XI 20-21., 1QS IX 4-5. Cf. also the words of R. Johanan ben Zakkai in ARN A ch. 4.

 

This is an important text as it (1) presents a very high theology of Michael (cf. D&C 78 in the Latter-day Saint tradition) and (2) shows that Michael (and other angels) carry prayers to God, but these prayers are directed to God, not to or through Michael et al, contra the common eisegesis of Rev 5:8 and 8:3-4 (cf. Rev 15:7; 16:1 where the living creatures give the angels bowls full of the wrath of God--they were hardly the recipients of such wrath!). On this, see Jewish Traditions of Angels Bringing Prayers to God.