Commenting in the interpretation of Dan 7 in Gedullath Moshesh, Munoa writes:
The sixth-century Jewish text, Gedullat Mosheh, is another
variation on Daniel 7.
Ged. Mos. 5: I saw
further the fiery river Rigyon, which comes out before God, from under
the throne of glory, and is formed from the perspiration of the holy Creatures
who support the throne of glory; and out of dread of God's majesty perspire
fire. This river is meant by the saying 'a fiery steam issued and came forth
before him, thousand thousands ministered before him, and ten thousand times
ten thousand stood before him, the judgment was set and the books were opened'
(Dan. vii. 10). The Almighty sits and judges the ministering angels, and after
the judgment they bathe [sic] in that river of fire . . .
This text, with decidedly apocalyptic and mystical interests,
quotes Dan. 7.10 and interprets it as part of a judgment scene. The author
appears to have identified the Ancient of Days, who is not mentioned by name in
the passage, with God, who is called 'Almighty' and sits enthroned judging the
angels. The reading is quite similar to the fifth-century text, 3 En.
35.3-5, and may be a development of that portion. Gedullat Mosheh goes
on to detail the judgment scene it has based upon Daniel 7. In its description
of God judging the angels, the text identifies an assistant who is enthroned
and judges with God. After referring to Michael, Gabriel, and Iefefiyah
as angels who stand before God's throne, the angel Metatron's position is
given: 'he sits and judges all the heavenly hosts before his master. And God
pronounces judgment and he [Metatron?] executes it.' Given the setting of
Daniel 7 around which this scene is developed. Metatron appears to be an
interpretation of 'one like a son of man'. The two thrones of God and Metatron
match the 'thrones' of Dan. 7.9. Like his counterpart in Daniel 7, Metatron has
been granted a special status in heaven as God's agent. (Phillip B. Munoa, III,
Four Powers in Heaven: The Interpretation of Daniel 7 in the Testament of
Abraham [Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 28;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998], 68-69)
Elsewhere
Munoa notes that:
Even the late Gedullat Mosheh, with its account of God and
Metatron as judges, has much in common with these ancient interpretations
[those of Testament of Abraham (A) chapter 11 and Apocryphon of John 1:24-25]
since its candidate for the 'son of man' figure, the angel Metatron, was
formerly the patriarch Enoch (3 En. 4.1-5). The Gedullat Moshesh
shows an interpretation of Daniel 7 which is similar to that of the Testament
of Abraham. (Ibid., 70)
With respect
to the 3 Enoch texts Munoa references, here they are reproduced in full for
those curious:
3 Enoch
4:1-5
4 1 R. Ishmael said:
I said to Meṭaṭron, “Why are you called by the name of your
Creator with seventy names? You are greater than all the princes, more exalted
than all the angels, more beloved than all the ministers, more honored than all
the hosts, and elevated over all potentates in sovereignty, greatness, and
glory; why, then, do they call you ‘Youth’ in the heavenly heights?” 2He
answered, “Because I am Enoch, the son of Jared. 3When the generation of the
Flood sinned and turned to evil deeds, and said to God, ‘Go away! We do not
choose to learn your ways,’ the Holy One, blessed be he, took me from their
midst to be a witness against them in the heavenly height to all who should
come into the world, so that they should not say, ‘The Merciful One is cruel!
4 Did all those multitudes of people sin? And even if they sinned, what
sin did their wives, their sons, and their daughters commit? And what of their
horses, their mules, their beasts, their cattle, and all the birds of the world
which the Holy One destroyed with them in the waters of the Flood—what sin did
they commit that they should have perished as well?’ 5 Therefore the Holy
One, blessed be he, brought me up in their lifetime, before their very eyes, to
the heavenly height, to be a witness against them to future generations. And
the Holy One, blessed be he, appointed me in the height as a prince and a ruler
among the ministering angels. (P. Alexander, "3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of)
Enoch) (Fifth-Sixth Century A.D.): A New Translation and Introduction," in
James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols.
[New York: Yale University Press, 1983], 1:258)
3 Enoch
35:1-5
1 R. Ishmael said: The angel Meṭaṭron, Prince of the Divine
Presence, said to me:
The Holy One, blessed be he, has 496,000 myriads of camps in the
height of the heaven of ʿArabot, and in each camp are 496,000 angels.
2 Every angel is as the Great Sea in height, and the appearance of their
faces is like lightning; their eyes are like torches of fire; their arms and
feet look like burnished bronze, and the roar of their voices when they speak
is as the sound of a multitude.
3 They all stand before the throne of glory in four rows and
mighty princes stand at the head of each row. 4 Some of them say “Holy”
and some of them say “Blessed”; some run on missions and some stand and serve,
as it is written,
A thousand thousand
waited on him,
ten thousand times ten
thousand stood before him.
A court was held
and the books were
opened.
5 When the time comes to say “Holy,” a storm wind first goes
out from the presence of the Holy One, blessed be he, and falls on the camps of
the Šekinah, and a great storm arises among them, as it is written,
Now a storm of the
Lord breaks,
a tempest whirls.
(Ibid., 288)
