Monday, July 29, 2024

Andrei A. Orlov, "The Attribute of the Divine Seat"

 

 

Attribute of the Divine Seat

 

As one may recall in the passage from Hagiga Bavli, Metatron’s possession of the seat in heaven served as a pivotal point in the story, as it became the main stumbling block for the infamous visionary. The angel’s sitting there, without a doubt, is read as the crucial attribute of the deity that would grant Metatron a divine status. Such an attribution, in its turn, rests on the ancient theophanic tradition rooted in biblical accounts, in which the deity was repeatedly depicted as the one who possesses the seat in heaven. Already in prophetic literature, this portrayal of the besited Glory of God constituted the conceptual center of the ocularcentric ideology.

 

In Metatron lore, this portentous theophanic marker of the Kavod ideology might even be “embedded” in the angel’s name, which some scholars derive from the Greek word for “throne” (θρόnος,). Thus, reflecting on various etymologies of the name “Metatron,” Daniel Boyarin notices that “what is decisive ... is the strong association of the figure with a throne, the throne, or a second throne, on which he sits, either alongside of YHWH or even as his appointed regent in place of YHWH ... This strong and crucial association of the figure with the throne and the frightening heresy of Two Powers in Heaven as associated with sitting on the throne makes the otherwise philologically plausible derivation from μετά and θρόnος, entirely likely, if not quite provable.”

 

Boyarin’s suggestion here is not entirely novel, but rather an affirmation of one of the most popular etymological options. For a long time the scholarly community has entertained the possibility that the name of the angel may represent the merging of the two Greek words, μετά and θρόnος, which in combination, μεταθρόnος, can be understood to mean “one who serves behind the throne,” or “one who occupies the throne next to the throne of Glory.” This hypothesis has been supported by a number of scholars, but was rejected by Scholem, who argued that “there is no such word as Metathronios in Greek and it is extremely unlikely that Jews should have produced or invented such a Greek phrase.” He noted that in the Talmudic literature the word θρόnος is never used in place of its Hebrew equivalent, and therefore an etymology based on the combination of the Greek μετά and θρόnος has no merit. Yet, other scholars suggested that the name may be derived from the Greek word, σύnθροnος, in the sense of “co-occupant of the divine throne.” Hugo Odeberg criticizes this etymology, arguing that “there is not a single instance in any known Jewish source of Metatron being represented as the co-occupant of the divine throne.” Saul Lieberman, however, in his reexamination of the etymologies of the name, provides some new reasons for accepting this option. Peter Schafer, following Lieberman’s insights, affirms the plausibility of the derivation of the great angel’s name from the Greek word for “throne.” He observes that “most probable is the etymology of Lieberman: Metatron = Greek metatronos = metathronos = synthronos; i. e. the small ‘minor god,’ whose throne is beside that of the great ‘main God.’” (Andrei A. Orlov, Yahoel and Metatron: Aural Apocalypticism and the origins of Early Jewish Mysticism [Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 169; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017], 164-65)

 

  

Another important feature that the “Lesser YHWH” shares with the deity is the attribute of the celestial seat, an important symbol of authority. The Aramaic incantation bowl labels Metatron as איסרא רבא דכורסיה – the Great Prince of God’s throne. (C. Gordon, “Aramaic Magical Bowls in the Istanbul and Baghdad Museums,” Archiv Orientalni 6 (1934) 319–334 at 328.) He is the one who is allowed to sit in heaven, a privilege denied to angels. In the Aher story this attribute becomes the main feature that signals to the infamous visionary Metatron’s “divine” status. (Ibid., 159)

 


 

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