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The Third Book of Enoch (Hebrew: ספר חנוך לר׳ ישמעאל כ׳׳ג), also known as The Book of the Palaces, The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest and The Elevation of Metatron, and abbreviated as 3 Enoch) [1] is a Jewish apocryphal book.
Numerous etymologies have been proposed to account for the name Metatron, but there is no consensus, and its precise origin is unknown. [15] [16]: 92–97 Some scholars, such as Philip Alexander, believe that if the name Metatron originated in Hekhalot literature and Merkabah texts such as 3 Enoch, then it may have been a magical word like Adiriron and Dapdapiron.
Some esoteric literature, such as 3 Enoch, identifies Enoch as Metatron, the angel which communicates God's word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature and the Rabbinic kabbalah of Jewish mysticism, as the one who communicated God's revelation to Moses, and, in particular, as the dictator of the Book of Jubilees.
Judging by the number of copies found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Enoch was widely read during the Second Temple period.Today, the Ethiopic Beta Israel community of Haymanot Jews is the only Jewish group that accepts the Book of Enoch as canonical and still preserves it in its liturgical language of Geʽez, where it plays a central role in worship. [6]
Sepher Hekhalot ("Book of Palaces", also known as 3 Enoch), which recounts an ascent and divine transformation of the biblical figure Enoch into the archangel Metatron, as related by Rabbi Ishmael. A fifth work provides a detailed description of the Creator as seen by the "descenders" at the climax of their ascent.
In Enoch I, he is a fallen watcher, resident of the nether realms, and commands 365,000 surrogate spirits to do his bidding. Among other duties, he instructs his fellows in astrology. Penemue "taught mankind the art of writing with ink and paper," and taught "the children of men the bitter and the sweet and the secrets of wisdom." (I Enoch 69.8)
In the fifth-century 3 Enoch, Azazel is one of the three angels (Azza [Shemhazai] and Uzza [Ouza] are the other two) who opposed Enoch's high rank when he became the angel Metatron. Whilst they were fallen at this time they were still in Heaven, but Metatron held a dislike for them, and had them cast out.
According to some sources, the book was passed on through the generations to Enoch (In 3 Enoch believed to have later become the angel Metatron), who may have incorporated his own writings into the tome. From Enoch, the archangel Raphael gave it to Noah, who used the wisdom within to build Noah's Ark. [8]