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Renton405

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A mysterious figure, Metatron is identified with the term "lesser YHVH", which is the Lesser Tetragrammaton, in a Talmudic version read by the Karaite scholar Kirkisani. The word 'Metatron' is numerically equivalent to Shaddai (God) in Hebrew gematria; therefore he is said to have a "Name like his Master".

The Talmud records an incident in which Elisha ben Abuyah, also called Aher ("another", as he was an apostate), entered Paradise and saw Metatron sitting down (an action that in heaven is permissible only to God Himself). Elishah ben Abuyah therefore looked to Metatron as a deity and said heretically, "There are indeed two powers in heaven!" The rabbis explain that Metatron was allowed to sit because of his function as the Heavenly Scribe, writing down the deeds of Israel (Babylonian Talmud, Hagiga 15a). The Babylonian Talmud mentions Metatron in two other places: Sanhedrin 38b and Avodah Zarah 3b. Yevamot 16b describes in the amoraic period the duties of 'prince of the world' being transferred from Michael to Metatron.

"... the Talmud states, it was proved to Elisha that Metatron could not be a second deity by the fact that Metatron received 60 'strokes with fiery rods' to demonstrate that Metatron was not a god, but an angel, and could be punished." - [1]

Metatron is also mentioned in the Pseudepigrapha, most prominently in the Hebrew/Merkabah Book of Enoch, also called 3 Enoch or Sefer Hekhalot (Book of [the Heavenly] Palaces). The book describes the link between Enoch son of Jared (great grandfather of Noah) and his transformation into the angel Metatron. His grand title "the lesser YHVH" resurfaces here. Metatron says, "He [the Holy One]… called me, 'The lesser YHVH' in the presence of his whole household in the height, as it is written, 'My name is in him.'" (12:5, Alexander's translation). The narrator of this book, supposedly Rabbi Ishmael, tells how Metatron guided him through Heaven and explained its wonders. Here Metatron is described in two ways: as a primordial angel (9:2–13:2) and as the transformation of Enoch after he was assumed into Heaven.[2] [3]

"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." —Genesis 5:24 NIV.

"This Enoch, whose flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to flashes of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and whom God placed on a throne next to the throne of glory, received after this heavenly transformation the name Metatron." - Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) p. 67. Extract of 3 Enoch.

However, this latter viewpoint is not shared by many Talmudic authorities. There also seem to be two Metatrons, one spelled with six letters (מטטרו&#1503, and one spelled with seven (מיטטרו&#1503. The former may be the transformed Enoch; the latter, the Primordial Metatron.

According to Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, Metatron transmits the daily orders of God to the angels Gabriel and Sammael. Metatron is often identified as being the twin brother to Sandalphon, who is said to have been the prophet Elijah.

The Zohar calls Metatron "the Youth" a title previously used in 3 Enoch, where it appears to mean "servant"[3]. It identifies him as the angel that led the people of Israel through the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt, and describes him as a heavenly priest.

VM Samael Aun Weor identifies Metatron as the Prophet Enoch, the Angel who provided humanity with the 22 Hebrew letters and the original Tarot, stating that the Angel lives in the superior worlds in the region Aziluth (The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah).


The Babylonian Talmud says:

"What is the meaning of 'Aḥer cut the root'? Scripture refers to him (Ecclesiastes 5:5, Avodah Zarah 6) when it says: "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin." What does this signify? In heaven Aḥer saw Metatron seated while he wrote down the merits of Israel. Whereupon Aḥer said: 'We have been taught to believe that no one sits in heaven, . . . or are there perhaps two supreme powers?' Then a heavenly voice was heard: '"Repent, O wayward children" (Jeremiah 3:14), with the exception of Aḥer.'"

According to R. Tsadok HaKohen of Lublin, ben Abuya became a heretic because after having had a direct encounter with God, he believed he no longer needed to obey the law (this story may thus be a rebuke to Christian claims that grace relieves one of the obligation to obey the law).


I find this ending interesting because of Abuya claims that the grace he has.. It is interesting because Elisha ben abuyah was finally considered a heretic by his people at the end..

All in all metatron seems to be a very very mysterious angel many don't know about..
 

Davidnic

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Although from wikipedia the info is basically correct as far as is known.

Metatron is one of those figures that not much is known about and yet there is alot of info.

There is stuff from the Talmud. Folklore. Midrash. The book of Enoch. Alot in Kabbala. Some sources more reliable than others.

Sources also indetify him at times with Michael. There is much confusion when we pull together sources on Angels.

My thoughts...it is an interesting scholary exercise to look through these things. But a grain of salt and a pound of caution are needed.

Like the old legend that the Angel Gabriel is told by God what a child needs to know for their life on earth. Important things about who they are and what God wants of them. And he places his finger to the child's lips to seal the secret and that is where we get the little cleft below our nose.

It's nice. It does not bear upon salvation to believe or not believe it. But maybe it serves that if I look in the mirror and once every thousand times I look at myself I see upon my face the sign that God crafted me special. Loving...unique. My purpose in His will to be carried out by me. A sign on my face that I am His in all I do.

But you'll see that legend around the internet on sites that really are about angel worship in a new age way. That is the wrong way for it to be taken.

Metatron is an interesting one though.
 
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King of the Nations

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Well spoken.

Greg
 
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