Metatron: The Messenger with the Eternal’s Name
Metatron, a central figure in Jewish mysticism, holds a unique hierarchical position over other spiritual entities. Some sources (Gevurot Hashem 55:9) describe Metatron as a unique angel who is superior to all other angels, having great power but being utterly subservient and far inferior to the Eternal. This angel (Metatron) is a created being. The primary texts of Kabbalah, the Zohar and Pardes Rimonim, describe Metatron as a servant of the Eternal. Yet, despite his exalted status in heaven, bypassing even the highest angels, Metatron has limits of his authority and cannot forgive sins. In Judaism, he is not viewed a mediator between the Most High and men, who have a unique opportunity to connect directly with Him, without the intermediation of angels like Metatron.
Metatron is identified as a Messenger (an angel) of the Eternal whose name is like the name of the Creator. Bearing the Name of the Eternal however raises theological questions and may open the door for heresy. In the Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b, Rav Idit responds to a certain heretic who attempted to challenge him on monotheism. For this reason, it is said there by Rav Nachman: “Any person, who knows how to respond to the heretics as effectively as Rav Idit should respond to them, but if he does not know, he should not respond to them”.
It is not in the scope of this study to explore and delve into all views of the rabbis. Here, however, we will study a reference to this Messenger, Metatron, in the Book of Exodus. There (Exodus 23:20) the Eternal proposes to send a messenger who will guard and lead the people by the way to the Promised Land, warning them to obey him. The medieval commentary Daat Zkenim identifies this agent of the Eternal as Metatron.
In the following, we would like to posit another way to look at the Torah, specifically in reference to the Messenger of the Eternal: Metatron. The matter will become clear once we understand how to read Torah on a deeper level, where we may find him. The following is a continuation of the subject of Metatron, which we studied in other articles. The reader has to expect that the subject of Metatron is a matter of debates, since he is not directly referred to in Torah or Tanach. For the purpose of this study, we will focus on verses in Exodus and Deuteronomy to which we now turn.
Mosheh’s Book
The first book Bereishit (Genesis) covers the Biblical account from Creation to Ya’akov’s going down to Egypt. Bereishit is a narration by the messenger of the Eternal to Mosheh, for he could not have possibly had knowledge of the creation and history of the world. Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), and Bemidbar (Numbers) are personal revelation of the Most High and His direct words to His servant Mosheh. Mosheh received the Covenant written with the finger of the Most High on two tablets of stones, the laws of the Torah and put them in writing. Thus, Mosheh became the chosen recipient for the Word of the Eternal. Devarim (Deuteronomy), however, is Mosheh’s book, his work. Devarim (Words) is not mere conclusion of Torah, nor its repetition, but personal expression of the first four books in Mosheh’s words, hence Devarim. Instead of speaking through Mosheh’s mouth, in Devarim the Eternal spoke to the people through Mosheh’s heart. So, if we use the Hebrew names of the five books of the Torah and arrange them in a sentence, we read: “In the beginning (Bereishit), the Eternal called (Vaikra) the names (Shemot) and the words (Devarim) in the wilderness (Bemidmar)”.
And this is how the Book of Devarim begins, the book of Mosheh: “These are the words which Mosheh spoke to all Israel”. Wherever a paragraph in the Tanach is introduced with the word: אֵלֶּה, elleh “these”, it is not to be considered as continuation of what has preceded it but as a separate account, as opposed to וְאֵלֶּה ve’elleh, “and these”, which is used to add something to the former subject (See Exo 21:1). And what follows after “these are the words” is the commandments which he will teach Israel in the entire book beginning with the Ten Commandments in Chapter 5. However, the last chapters’ authorship is traditionally attributed to Mosheh’s disciple Yehoshua (See Jos 8:32-35 and Jos 24:26), while the people were still on the east side of the Yarden River, and he finalized it later when the nation crossed the river.
The Words of Mosheh spans the last days of his life written as his last will. Knowing that he would soon die, he understood that the time had now come for him to say his good-bye. But before that he wanted to reprove the people for their misdeeds, in order that they might repent and be ready to begin the next stage of their life in a new land as a united nation with renewed dedication to their purpose under the leadership of his successor: Yehoshua. The rabbis have noticed that Ya’akov also waited until he was close to the end of his life before reproving those of his sons who deserved it (Genesis 49). Yehoshua also waited until he was close to death before he rebuked the people (Joshua 24). Sh’muel was also close to death when he challenged the people to tell him if they had any complaints against him (1Sam 12:2-3). David also waited with telling his son Sh’lomoh who needed to be rebuked (1Kings 2:1).
In the land of Mo’av, Mosheh began to declare the Torah in the words of the Eternal which He spoke at Mount Horev earlier,
You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and set out on your way, and go into the mountains of the Amorites, and to all the neighboring places in the desert plain, in the mountains and in the low country, and in the Negev and on the seacoast, to the land of the Kana‛anites and to Levanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. (Deu 1:6-7)
And then Mosheh relayed the words of the Eternal which will become the subject of our study,
Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which the Eternal swore to your fathers, to Avraham, to Yitschak, and to Ya’akov, to give to them and their seed after them. (Deu 1:8)
These words are the words of the Eternal, yet on the surface, there is a difficulty. The Torah’s use of words is never incidental, which compels us to ask questions. And these are questions to be asked here: What is the reason for Him to use the third person “Which the Eternal swore”, rather than the first person, “I swore”, which would be more appropriate, since He is the speaker here? Remarkably, this expression is similar to that in Exo 24:1, wherein we read, “And to Mosheh He said, “Come up to the Eternal”, rather than: “Come up to Me”, which would be the natural way for the Scripture to say it. There in Exodus, Rabbi Nachman (Ramban) explained its meaning to which we now turn.
In Exodus, to Mosheh the Eternal said,
Come up to the Eternal, you and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall bow yourselves from a distance. And Mosheh shall come near to the Eternal … (Exo 24:1-2)
And Mosheh, Aharon, Nadav, and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, went up and they saw the Supreme One of Israel. And there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone, and the like of the very heaven (Exo 24:9-10). A magnificent picture which the prophet would see much later in details (Ezekiel 1).
Up to here in Exodus 24 is the Book of the Covenant and all the commandments given to the nation following the Revelation at Mount Sinai. The Eternal then said to Mosheh, “Come up to the Eternal, you and Aharon”. The question raises itself: Who is speaking here? Who is he who said to Mosheh, “Come up to the Eternal”? It should rather have stated: “Come up to Me” and “Mosheh shall come near to Me”. It will be evident to the reader that some details of the language employed in the verses suggest that the text carries an enigmatic charge. And for since Scripture found it necessary to say this way, we are coming to the point where we will need help from the commentaries on the verses.
The Sages and the Metatron
In Sanhedrin 38b, Rav Idit explains that “Come up to the Eternal” refers to a celestial being called “Metatron”. In the words of Rav Idit: “The term, “the Lord” (in Hebrew, the Tetragrammaton) in that verse is referring to the angel Metatron, whose name is like the name of his Master, as it is written: “Behold I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Take heed of him and obey his voice; do not defy him; for he will not pardon your transgression, for My Name is in him” (See Exo 23:20-21). Then Rav Idit warns that this angel is not to be equated with the Eternal, nor is he to be worshiped, as if he were the Eternal Himself. The rabbi further warns against replacing the Eternal with him, as it is said: “Do not defy [תַּמֵּר tammer] him”, which alludes to the word play: “Do not replace Me [temireni] with him”.
And indeed, the peoples of the world began to worship the angels even though they admitted that the supreme and infinite power belonged only to the Eternal. Closely related to this kind of idolatry was the worship of humans as gods. When people saw that their leader had great power, they thought that by accepting his worship upon themselves, his star in heaven would also descend upon them. Such “gods” were Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nevuchadnetsar, and Roman emperors. Thus, in the Second Commandment of the Covenant, the Eternal prohibits all kinds of worship, except to Him only (See Exo 22:19). It is for this reason that He prohibits, “You shall not have the gods of the others upon My Face” (Hebrew, al panai), which is a reference to the worship of the angels. We explained this commandment in another place. We should recall that Mosheh himself did not accept the angel of the Eternal even as a guide for the journey to the Land, as he said to the Eternal: “If Your Presence does not go with me raise us not up from here” (Exo 33:15). Thus, Mosheh told the Eternal that if He does not lead Israel, they will not travel to the land of Kana’an.
Rabbi Chizkiah ben Manoach (Chizkuni) supports this reading of Exodus 24:1, saying: “According to the plain meaning of the text, an angel had said this to Mosheh at this time; the text is abbreviated, and is one of many such verses in the Torah”. The language of the verses fits in well with the rabbis’ explanation.
Rabbi Mosheh ben Nachman (Ramban) in his comments on Exodus 24:1 however offers an alternative interpretation from a slightly different perspective. In the words of Ramban: “Come up to the Eternal” refers to Metatron, whose name is even as the Name of his Master. That is to say, “And to Moses He” — the Divine Name mentioned at the beginning of this subject, namely, “And the Eternal said to Mosheh” (Exo 20:19)— said, come up to Metatron, for My Name is in him”. The meaning is thus: “Come up to the place of the Glory where the great angel is”, and the intention was that Mosheh should come into the midst of the cloud where the Glory of God was, but he should not come right up to the Proper Divine Name, “for man shall not see Me, and live” (Exo 33:20). His argument is not without merits, as we will address this in our commentary at the end.
Ramban further says that all the Rabbis have said in Sanhedrin concerning the matter of the great Metatron and his secret, and all their words are true. In other words, while the Sages in Sanhedrin 38b attest that it was Metatron who said, “Come up to the Eternal”, Ramban’s opinion is that the Eternal said to Mosheh, “Come up to Metatron”. So, what happened at the mountain? Who is speaking in Exodus 24:1? And who is correct: the Sages in Sanhedrin 38b, who stated that it was Metatron who said to Mosheh: “Come up to the Eternal”, or Ramban’s reading that the Eternal said: “Come up to Metatron”? The final decision of the Law (by the Sages) is that the opinion of a single Sage is not accepted against the opinion of the majority [of the Sages]. In this case, we tend to agree and accept the opinion of the Sages in Sanhedrin 38b, who stated that it was Metatron who said to Mosheh: “Come up to the Eternal”, especially in the light of the argument Rabbeinu Bahya brings in. He says that the words, “Come up to the Eternal” cannot obviously mean that Mosheh was to ascend to the region of the Eternal, that is to say, to heaven, but that he was to ascend to the level of the angel Metatron. In the words of Rabbeinu Bahya: “The angel whom we have already described as the Sar HaPanim, “the Minister of the Interior” (literally, “the Minister of the Face”), is the angel to whom God normally entrusts the running of His universe”. Rabbeinu Bahya says that this is also what the Sages in Sanhedrin 38 meant when they said that the reason this angel is called Metatron is because Metatron is “the guide of the road” and “the custodian of the world on behalf of God. Metatron in rabbinic sources is also known as Shomer Israel, the guardian of Israel”, seeing that he is the master of all that is below him in rank, from all the heavenly hosts to those on the earth. But above the Metatron is the One who has given him this authority.
With all that said, we now understand why the direct speech in Exodus 24:1 was changed from second person singular (“Come up to the Eternal, you …”) to third person singular in verse 2 where it is said: “And Mosheh shall come near to the Eternal”. We must assume therefore that, according to the Sages, these words in verses 1 and 2 were not spoken by the Eternal Himself but by someone else, namely, by the angel Metatron to approach him (the angel) in the thick cloud. Yet, Ramban’s reading that the Eternal said, “Come up to Metatron”, cannot be dismissed because he is in minority. If Ramban is correct, then the speaking one in Exodus 24:1-2 is the same one who gave the laws of the Covenant in Exodus chapters 21, 22, and 23, and the same one who uttered the words of the Covenant in Exodus 20 before the whole nation at the summit of the mountain. Then the speaking one, that is the Eternal, said to Mosheh, “Come up to Metatron” to receive from him [the angel] further instructions. Ramban’s interpretation thus has consistency throughout the text: from Chapter 20 through 24. But if the Sages are correct in Sanhedrin 38b that it was the Eternal who said, “Come up to the Eternal” referring to Metatron, then the speaking one in Exodus 20 is the Eternal; in Exodus 21, 22, and 23, which is introduced by וְאֵלֶּה ve’elleh, “and these”, which adds the three chapters to Chapter 20 and thus it makes the speaking one in them the Eternal again, and in Chapter 24, the speaking one is changed to Metatron, who said to Mosheh: “Come up to the Eternal”. The use of the Tetragrammaton in this case is not in variant with the context, because the Eternal Himself said that His Name was in him (the angel). Anyway, Hebrew allows either reading, which makes the interpretations of the rabbis variants, not errors.
It is impossible to decide with certainty between these two views, for both views are much in harmony with the context, since what is there spoken of is the fact that there is another actor in the story besides the Eternal. And the Sages are in agreement. Therefore, regardless of the variant the studious readers may adhere to, they have been introduced to a new reading of the Torah that brings them to a deeper level of understanding. In this study, we continued to expose the readers to the concept in Judaism of a celestial being whom the Sages called “Metatron”. The Sages however have never assigned a name to the messenger Metatron. The identity of Metatron in the rabbinic sources is complex and regrettably inconsistent. The medieval Torah commentary Daat Zkenim, however, attempted to reconcile different rabbinic sources that reference the angel Metatron, for this celestial being has never been mentioned [directly] in the Tanach much less mentioned by name. It would be therefore advantageous for the reader to study what we had to say regarding the Messenger of the Eternal: Metatron.
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