Submitted by Angelis on
Metatron is perhaps the greatest of all the angels when considered in context of the constellation of non-scripture writings that pertain to the Abrahamic religions. Formerly a man, he was chosen by God to become an angel. As an angel, his form was larger than the whole of the earth. He had 72 wings, each one larger than the earth, and he had hundreds of thousands of eyes, each one brimming with God’s glory.
In the aggregate, when considering all of the auxiliary non-canonical works, here meaning works that pertain to the Abrahamic religions but aren’t scripture, many believe Metatron is presented as the greatest of all the celestial servants, greater even than archangel Michael and second only to God in power. The etymology of his name is a matter of some debate; Eleazar of Worms, a Jewish Rabbi of the late 12th and early 13th centuries CE, claimed it was based on the Latin word metator, which meant guide or measurer, and Hugo Odeberg, a Swedish professor and theologian, claimed the name was purely of Jewish origin, and that it was a metonym for the epithet ‘little Yahweh, meaning something like “one who occupies the throne next to the divine throne. This supports the notion of Metatron residing in the 7th heaven, the uppermost tier in which God resides. In Traditions of the Jews II, written by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, a 17th century scholar who studied rabbinical literature, Metatron is described as the Angel of Death. Daily instructions are given to him by God as to which souls were to be reaped. And just as he was God’s delegate in this matter, so did Metatron operate through his deputies, Sammael and Gabriel. Another story that presents eminent angels as subordinate to Metatron is told in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a voluminous series of chronicles compiled by Eleasar ben Asher, who is thought to have lived during the 14th century. Jannes and Jambres, two Egyptian sorcerers who managed to ascend to heaven through use of their black arts, were so formidable that archangels Michael and Gabriel were unable to expel them. As the story goes, it wasn’t until Metraton intervened and exerted his own power that these two sorcerers were cast out of the divine domain.
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