The name that is above every name

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Joseph D. L.
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The name that is above every name

Post by Joseph D. L. »


Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, said to me:

(1) By reason of the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loved me more than all the

children of heaven. He made me a garment of glory on which were fixed all kinds of lights, and He

clad me in it.

(2)And He made me a robe of honour on which were fixed all kinds of beauty, splendour, brilliance

and majesty.

(3) And he made me a royal crown in which were fixed forty-nine costly stones like unto the light
of the globe of the sun.

(4) For its splendour went forth in the four quarters of the Araboth Raqia', and in (through) the
seven heavens, and in the four quarters of the world. And he put it on my head.

(5) And He called me THE LESSER YHWH in the presence of all His heavenly household; as it is
written (Ex. xxiii. 21): "For my name is in him".


(1) "I seized him, and I took him and I appointed him" that is Enoch, the son of Jared, whose name
is Metatron

(2) and I took him from among the children of men

(5) and made him a Throne over against my Throne. Which is the size of that Throne? Seventy

thousand parasangs (all) of fire.

(9) I committed unto him 70 angels corresponding to the nations (of the world) and I gave into his

charge all the household above and below.

(7) And I committed to him Wisdom and Intelligence more than (to) all the angels. And I called his

name "the LESSER YAH", whose name is by Gematria 71. And I arranged for him all the works of

Creation. And I made his power to transcend (lit. I made for him power more than) all the

ministering angels.


(1) Alephl I made him strong, I took him, I appointed him: (namely) Metatron, my servant who is
one (unique) among all the children of heaven. I made him strong in the generation of the first
Adam. But when I beheld the men of the generation of the flood, that they were corrupt, then I went
and removed my Shekina from among them. And 1 lifted it up on high with the sound of a trumpet
and with a shout, as it is written (Ps.xlvii. 6): "God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound
of a trumpet".

(2) "And I took him": (that is) Enoch, the son of Jared, from among them. And I lifted him up with
the sound of a trumpet and with a tera'a (shout) to the high heavens, to be my witness together with
the Chayyoth by the Merkaba in the world to come.

(3) I appointed him over all the treasuries and stores that I have in every heaven. And I committed
into his hand the keys of every several one.

(4) I made (of) him the prince over all the princes and a minister of the Throne of Glory (and) the
Halls of 'Araboth: to open their doors to me, and (of) the Throne of Glory, to exalt an arrange it;
(and I appointed him over) the Holy Chayyot to wreathe crowns upon their heads; the majestic
'Ophannim, to crown them with strength and glory; the; honoured Kerubim, to clothe: them in
majesty; over the radiant sparks, to make them to shine with splendour and brilliance; over the



flaming Seraphim, to cover them with highness; the Chashmallim of light, to make them radiant
with Light and to prepare the seat for me every morning as I sit upon the Throne of Glory. And to
extol and magnify my glory inthe height of my power; (and I have committed unto him) the secrets
of above and the secrets of below (heavenly secrets and earthly secrets).

(5) I made him higher than all. The height of his stature, in the midst of all (who are) high of stature
(I made) seventy thousand parasangs. I made his Throne great by the majesty of my Throne. And I
increased its glory by the honour of my glory.

(6) I transformed his flesh into torches of fire, and all the bones of his body into fiery coals; and I
made the appearance of his eyes as the lightning, and the light of his eyebrows as the imperishable
light. I made his face bright as the splendour of the sun, and his eyes as the splendour of the Throne
of Glory.

(7) I made honour and majesty his clothing, beauty and highness his covering cloak and a royal
crown of 500 by (times) 500 parasangs (his) diadem. And I put upon him of my honour, my majesty
and the splendour, of my glory that is upon my Throne of Glory. I called him the LESSER YHWH,
the Prince of the Presence, the Knower of Secrets: for every secret did I reveal to him as a father
and all mysteries declared I unto him in uprightness.

(8) I set up his throne at the door of my Hall that he may sit and judge the heavenly household on
high. And I placed every prince before him, to receive authority from him, to perform his will.

(9) Seventy names did I take from (my) names and called him by them to enhance his glory.
Seventy princes gave I into his hand, to command unto them my precepts and my words in every
language:

to abase by his word the proud to the ground, and to exalt by the utterance of his lips the humble to
the height ; to smite kings by his speech, to turn kings away from their paths, to set up(the) rulers
over their dominion as it is written (Dan.ii. 21): "and he changeth the times and the seasons, and to
give wisdom unto all the setwise of the world and understanding (and) knowledge to all who
understand knowledge, as it is griten (Dan. ii. 21): " and knowledge to them that know
understanding", to reveal to them the secrets of my words and to teach the decree of my righteous
judgement,

(10) as it is written (Is.Iv. n): "so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not
return unto me void but shall accomplish (that which I please)". 'E'eseh' (I shall accomplish) is not
written here, but "asdh' (he shall accomplish), meaning, that whatever word and whatever utterance
goes forth from before the Holy One, blessed be He, Metatron stands and carries it out. And he
establishes the decrees of the Holy One, blessed be He.


Seventy names has Metatron which the Holy One, blessed be He, took from his own name and
put upon him. And these they are:

YeHOEL, YaH, YeHOEL, YOPHIEL and Yophphiel, and APHPHIEL and MaRGeZIEL,
GIPpUYEL, Pa'aZIEL, 'A'aH, PeRIEL, TaTRIEL, TaBKIEL,'W, YHWH, DH, WHYH, 'eBeD,
DiBbURIEL, 'aPh'aPIEL, SPPIEL, PaSPaSIEL, SeNeGRON, MeTaTRON, SOGDIN, ADRIGON,
ASUM, SaQPaM, SaQTaM, MIGON MITTON, MOTTRON, ROSPHIM, QINOTh, ChaTaTYaH,



DeGaZYaH, PSPYaH, BSKNYH, MZRG, BaRaD.., MKRKK, MSPRD, ChShG, ChShB,
MNRTTT, BSYRYM, MITMON, TITMON, PiSQON, SaPhSaPhYaH, ZRCh, ZRChYaH, B',
BeYaH, HBH BeYaH, PeLeT, PLTYaH, RaBRaBYaH, ChaS, ChaSYaH, TaPhTaPhYaH,
TaMTaMYaH, SeHaSYaH, IRURYaH, 'aL'aLYaH, BaZRIDYaH, SaTSaTKYaH, SaSDYaH,
RaZRaZYAH, BaZRaZYaH, 'aRIMYaH, SBHYaH, SBIBKHYH, SiMKaM, YaHSeYaH,
SSBIBYaH, SaBKaSBeYaH, QeLILQaLYaH, fKIHHH, HHYH, WH, WHYH, ZaKklKYaH,
TUTRISYaH, SURYaH, ZeH, PeNIRHYaH, ZIZ'H, GaL RaZaYYa, MaMLIKYaH, TTYaH,
eMeQ, QaMYaH, MeKaPpeRYaH, PeRISHYaH, SePhaM, GBIR, GiBbORYaH, GOR, GORYaH,
ZIW, 'OKBaR, the LESSER YHWH, after the name of his Master, (Ex. xxiii. 21) "for my name is in
him", RaBIBIEL, TUMIEL, Segansakkiel ('Sagnezagiel' / 'Neganzegael), the Prince of Wisdom.

Paul thus identifies Jesus as Metatron/YHWH Hakatan
andrewcriddle
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Re: The name that is above every name

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This is from 3 Enoch which is a very late source (probably after 500 CE) Parallels with the NT may reflect a Babylonian Jewish response to Christianity.

Andrew Criddle
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neilgodfrey
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Re: The name that is above every name

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Any quest to identify the "name above all names" ought to consider the contribution of the classicist John Moles.

The pdf link is at https://research.ncl.ac.uk/histos/docum ... r11782.pdf (On Histos: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/histos/Histo ... s2011.html)

I discussed his article in two blog posts:

Gospel Puns on the Name Above All Names

Creativity with the Name of Jesus the Healer in the Gospel of Mark

Hint: the name is Jason/Jesus
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: The name that is above every name

Post by Joseph D. L. »

andrewcriddle wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:13 pm This is from 3 Enoch which is a very late source (probably after 500 CE) Parallels with the NT may reflect a Babylonian Jewish response to Christianity.

Andrew Criddle
I don't know of a reason excluding an earlier date, to be honest. But that's just me.
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: The name that is above every name

Post by Joseph D. L. »

neilgodfrey wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:36 pm Any quest to identify the "name above all names" ought to consider the contribution of the classicist John Moles.

The pdf link is at https://research.ncl.ac.uk/histos/docum ... r11782.pdf (On Histos: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/histos/Histo ... s2011.html)

I discussed his article in two blog posts:

Gospel Puns on the Name Above All Names

Creativity with the Name of Jesus the Healer in the Gospel of Mark

Hint: the name is Jason/Jesus
I'll definitely look over these posts. Right now I'm of the mind that the name above all names is Yahoel. That Paul/Marcion calls him Isu maybe an indication that this same angelic entity was the same angel that wrestled with Jacob, was revealed to Abraham, and was the angel that appeared in the pillars of fire and smoke. "Iseous" is just a convenient redirection within Jewish Christian circles who wanted to make him out to be another Joshua. But Ish/Yahoel was the original.
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Re: The name that is above every name

Post by andrewcriddle »

Joseph D. L. wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 12:37 am
andrewcriddle wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:13 pm This is from 3 Enoch which is a very late source (probably after 500 CE) Parallels with the NT may reflect a Babylonian Jewish response to Christianity.

Andrew Criddle
I don't know of a reason excluding an earlier date, to be honest. But that's just me.
See here for a discussion of the date of 3 Enoch.

Andrew Criddle
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: The name that is above every name

Post by Joseph D. L. »

andrewcriddle wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 1:40 am
Joseph D. L. wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 12:37 am
andrewcriddle wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:13 pm This is from 3 Enoch which is a very late source (probably after 500 CE) Parallels with the NT may reflect a Babylonian Jewish response to Christianity.

Andrew Criddle
I don't know of a reason excluding an earlier date, to be honest. But that's just me.
See here for a discussion of the date of 3 Enoch.

Andrew Criddle
This really doesn't add anything, and Charlesworth seems to argue the fifth and sixth century date out of guess work. (His language says as much). He even concedes that the texts draws upon older traditions (and really, that's all I'm interested in. The text itself doesn't mean anything to me), and we have other sources that maintains that these traditions were believed in early Rabbinical periods.
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DCHindley
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Re: The name that is above every name

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This really doesn't add anything, and Charlesworth seems to argue the fifth and sixth century date out of guess work. (His language says as much).
Joseph,

When you say "Charlesworth seems to argue for a fifth and sixth century date out of guesswork," where are you finding this?

The translator of 3rd Enoch in Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (vol 1, 1985, 2009) was P. Alexander (see Andrew Criddle's link above). You can read his translation along with exceptionally detailed textual and critical notes and see that he gives very specific reasons for his rejection of certain scholar's interpretations about date and acceptance of those he adopts. I don't see any "guesswork."

Are you referring to one of Charlesworth's other publications? The Pseudepigrapha and Christian Origins (2008)? The Pseudepigrapha and Early Biblical Interpretation (1993)? The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament (1985, 1998)? The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research (1976, 1981)? Charlesworth himself is, IMHO, somewhat of an an apologist for mainstream Christianity, which comes across as wishful thinking when he evaluates the contributions of others with whom he disagrees.

DCH
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: The name that is above every name

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DCHindley wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:02 am
This really doesn't add anything, and Charlesworth seems to argue the fifth and sixth century date out of guess work. (His language says as much).
Joseph,

When you say "Charlesworth seems to argue for a fifth and sixth century date out of guesswork," where are you finding this?
Maybe guess work was the wrong way of putting it. My mind was elsewhere.

Charlesworth makes it apparent that he doesn't have an definitive time or date for it, even agrees that it is dependent upon earlier/older sources, and that it's final redaction and not origin was during the fifth or sixth centuries. I don't see how this supports Andrew Criddle's reliance on it proving that it was from the fifth century. It only proves that the set date is unattainable. The only other book from Charlesworth I've read was John and Qumran way back during my Eisenman days, and which I thought at the time was pretty good. I don't have anything against him.
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DCHindley
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Re: The name that is above every name

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Joseph D. L. wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:37 am
DCHindley wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:02 am
This really doesn't add anything, and Charlesworth seems to argue the fifth and sixth century date out of guess work. (His language says as much).
Joseph,

When you say "Charlesworth seems to argue for a fifth and sixth century date out of guesswork," where are you finding this?
Maybe guess work was the wrong way of putting it. My mind was elsewhere.

Charlesworth makes it apparent that he doesn't have an definitive time or date for it, even agrees that it is dependent upon earlier/older sources, and that it's final redaction and not origin was during the fifth or sixth centuries. I don't see how this supports Andrew Criddle's reliance on it proving that it was from the fifth century. It only proves that the set date is unattainable. The only other book from Charlesworth I've read was John and Qumran way back during my Eisenman days, and which I thought at the time was pretty good. I don't have anything against him.
P. Alexander goes through the datings offered by various authorities (The book itself claims the times of Rabbi Ishmael, ca 132 CE; L. Luntz, ca 7th-11th centuries; H. Graetz, ca. 9th century CE; H. Odeburg, a core to ca 1st century CE with parts being later, before Islamic times in the 7th Century CE; G. Scholem, ca 5th or 6th century CE; J T Milik, oldest parts ca 9th or 10th century CE, with the bulk of the material from 12th to 15th centuries CE.

Alexander critiques all these position in detail, then concludes "All things considered, then, though 3 Enoch contains some very old traditions and stands in direct line with developments which had already begun in the Maccabean era, a date for its final redaction in the fifth or the sixth century A.D. cannot be far from the truth."

At least attribute the 5th - 6th century CE date to P. Alexander, not J. Charlesworth.

DCH :confusedsmiley:
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