Andrei Orlov, «Moses’ Heavenly Counterpart in the Book of Jubilees and the
Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian», Vol. 88 (2007) 153-173
The paper provides conceptual background for the idea of the angel of the presence as the heavenly counterpart of Moses in the Book of Jubilees and the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian. The identity of the celestial scribe in the form
of the angel of the presence found in the Book of Jubilees and some other Second Temple materials might further our understanding of the enigmatic process of
mystical and literary emulation of the exemplary figure, the cryptic mechanics of which often remains beyond the grasp of our post/modern sensibilities. It is possible that in the traditions of heavenly counterparts where the two characters
of the story, one of which is represented by a biblical exemplar, become eventually unified and acquire a single identity, we are able to draw nearer to the very heart of the pseudepigraphical enterprise. In this respect, it does not appear to be coincidental that these transformational accounts dealing with the heavenly doubles of their adepts are permeated with the aesthetics of penmanship and the
imagery of the literary enterprise. In the course of these mystical and literary metamorphoses, the heavenly figure surrenders his scribal seat, the library of the celestial books and even personal writing tools to the other, earthly identity who now becomes the new guardian of the literary tradition.
168 Andrei Orlov
In 4Q377 2 vii-xii, the standing posture of Moses appears to be
creatively conflated with his status as a celestial being:
And like a man sees li[gh]t, he has appeared to us in a burning fire,
from above, from heaven, and on earth he stood (dm[) on the mountain
to teach us that there is no God apart from him, and no Rock like him
... But Moses, the man of God, was with God in the cloud, and the
cloud covered him, because [...] when he sanctified him, and he spoke
as an angel through his mouth, for who was a messen[ger] like him, a
man of the pious ones? (55)
Hindy Najman has previously observed that Moses here “plays the
role of an angel, having received revelation from the mouth of
Godâ€(56).
In light of the aforementioned Mosaic developments it is possible
that the idiom of standing so prominent in the depiction of the
servants of the presence in the Enochic tradition of the heavenly
double has Mosaic provenance. Already in Exodus and Deuteronomy
the prophet is portrayed as the one who is able to stand before the
Deity to mediate the divine presence to human beings (57). The extra-
biblical Mosaic accounts try to further secure the prophet’s place in
the front of the Deity by depicting him as a celestial creature. The
testimony found in the Exagoge, where Moses is described as
standing before the Throne, seems to represent an important step
toward the rudimentary definitions of the office of the angelic servant
of the Face.
3. The Idiom of the Hand and the Heavenly Counterpart
One of the constant features of the aforementioned transfor-
mational accounts in which a seer becomes identified with his
heavenly identity is the motif of the divine hand that embraces the
visionary and invites him into a new celestial dimension of his
existence. This motif is found both in Mosaic and Enochic traditions
where the hand of God embraces and protects the seer during his
encounter with the Lord in the upper realm (58).
(55) F. GARCÃA MARTÃNEZ – E. J.C. TIGCHELAAR (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls.
Study Edition (Leiden – New York – Köln 1997) II, 745.
(56) NAJMAN, “Angels at Sinaiâ€, 319.
(57) This emphasis on mediation is important since mediating of the divine
presence is one of the pivotal functions of the Princes of the Face.
(58) The later Merkabah developments about Jacob also refer to the God’s
embracement of Jacob-Israel.
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