Metatron is one of the most important angels in the Western tradition.

According to Johann Eisenmenger, Metatron represents the supreme angel of death, to whom God daily gives orders as to which souls will be taken that day. Metatron transmits these orders to his subordinates Gabriel and Sammael. He is further believed to be in charge of the sustenance of the world. In the Talmud and Targum, Metatron is the link between God and humanity. Among various missions and deeds attributed to Metatron is the staying of Abraham’s hand at the point of sacrificing Isaac, although this mission has also been imputed to Michael, Zadkiel, Tadhiel, and, of course, to the angel of the Lord. Metatron is thought to reside in the seventh heaven, and, with the possible exception of Anafiel, is the tallest angel in heaven. The Zohar computes his size as “equal to the breadth of the whole world,”which in rabbinic lore was the size of Adam before he sinned.Metatron is generally recognized as the heavenly scribe who records everything that happens in the ethereal archives. In the tale ofthe marriage of God and Earth, told in the Alphabet of Ben Sira, God demands from Earth the “loan” of Adam for one thousand years. Upon agreement to the loan, God writes out a formal receipt, which is on deposit “to this day” in the archives of Metatron.

Metatron is the first—and also the last—of the ten archangels of the Briatic world. In terms of seniority, he is actually the youngest angel in the heavenly host. He has been variously given the role of king of angels, prince of the divine face or presence, chancellor of heaven, angel of the covenant, chief of the ministering angels, and the lesser YHWH (the tetragrammaton, or Yahweh).

The meaning of the name Metatron is unclear. Rabbi Eleazar of Worms (Germany), an influential Hasidic leader and writer in the late twelfth and early thirteen centuries, thought it derived from the Latin metator (a guide or measurer). Hugo Odeberg asserts that the name Metatron originated in Jewish circles and “should be regarded as a pure Jewish invention, viz., a metonym for the term “little YHWH.”” Odeberg also interprets the name as “one who occupies the throne next to the divine throne.” According to Jewish historian Gershom Scholem, on the basis of The Apocalypse of Abraham the name might be a “vox mystica” for Yahoel (God).

According to one legend, Metatron was once the patriarch Enoch, who, when chosen by God to be the writer of truth, was transformed into a fiery angel with thirty-six wings and countless eyes. Most Talmudic authorities, however, do not identify Enoch with Metatron. TheTanhuna Genesis claims he was originally the archangel Michael. Metatron has also been identified as Satan; as the dark angel who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel (Genesis 32); as the watchman (Isaiah21); as the Logos; as Uriel; as the evil Sammael; as an angel of liberation; and as the Shekinah (the female principle of God in the world).

According to the Cabala, Metatron is the angel who led the children of Israel through the wilderness after the Exodus, whereas in occult writings he is depicted as the twin brother or half-brother of the angel Sandalphon. Metatron has also been identified as Isaiah’s suffering servant, the Messiah of Christian theology, and has been credited with the authorship of Ps. 37:25, according to TalmudYebamoth 16b. The Zohar speaks of Metatron as Moses’ rod “from oneside of which comes life and from the other, death.” In Jewish lore Metatron is the angel who caused another angel to announce, before the Flood, that God would destroy the world, whereas, according to Talmud Abodah Zarah 3b, Metatron is the teacher of prematurely dead children in Paradise.

~ From Angels A-Z by Evelyn Dorothy Oliver and James R. Lewis

Sources:

Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels Including the Fallen Angels. Reprint. 1967.

New York: The Free Press, 1971.

Liebes. Yehuda. Studies in the Zohar. Trans. from the Hebrew by Arnold Schwartz,

Stephanie Nakache, and Penina Peli. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New

York Press, 1993.

MacGregor, Geddes. Angels: Ministers of Grace. New York: Paragon House Publishers,

1988.

Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. Forbidden Mysteries of Enoch: Fallen Angels and the Origens

of Evil. Livingston, Mont.: Summit University Press, 1983.