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Enoch Left Alone at the Edge of the Tenth Heaven

Enoch's angelic guides abandon him at the threshold of the tenth heaven. He falls to the ground in terror. Then God calls him to come closer.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Carried Up Like a Leaf
  2. The Face Like Iron Out of the Fire
  3. Michael Took His Clothes
  4. Sixty Days of Dictation

They had walked him up through seven heavens, and at the end of the seventh they stopped. "Thus far we were commanded to journey with you," the two men said, and then Enoch was looking at the place where they had been standing.

Enoch Left Alone at the Edge of the Tenth Heaven Click for full size

He went down on his face. "Woe is me," he said, to nobody at all. "What has happened to me?"

Carried Up Like a Leaf

The Lord sent one of the glorious ones down to him. Gabriel stood over the man on the ground and said, "Have courage, Enoch. Do not fear. Arise before the Lord's face into eternity. Arise, and come with me."

Enoch did not arise. His soul had gone out of him from terror and shaking, so what he called for instead were the two men who had brought him that far, since they were the ones he had been leaning on the whole way up. They did not answer, because they had been dismissed. So Gabriel took hold of him the way wind takes hold of a leaf and carried him.

The eighth heaven went past under them, Muzaloth, which changes the seasons and the drought and the wet and holds the twelve constellations of the circle of the firmament. Then the ninth, Kuchavim, where those same constellations keep their houses. Then Gabriel set him down at the tenth, Aravoth, and let go of him, so there was nothing at all between Enoch and the appearance of the Lord's face.

The Face Like Iron Out of the Fire

It looked like iron that has been left in a furnace until it glows, then pulled out into the air, throwing sparks, still burning. Around it stood the Cherubim and the Seraphim, six-winged and covered in eyes, because they never depart from that place. Their wings lay across the whole throne. They were singing while he stood there, in gentle voices that did not stop: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord Ruler of Sabaoth, heavens and earth are full of Your glory."

Enoch fell flat and worshipped, and the Lord spoke to him with His own lips. "Have courage, Enoch. Do not fear. Arise, and stand before My face into eternity."

Then He turned to His servants and tested them with it. "Let Enoch stand before My face into eternity." The glorious ones bowed down and gave their answer, that Enoch should go according to His word, and only after that did Michael come and lift the man off the ground and walk him forward.

Michael Took His Clothes

"Take Enoch out of his earthly garments," the Lord told Michael, "and anoint him with My sweet ointment, and put him into the garments of My glory."

Michael stripped him where he stood and put the oil on him. The ointment was brighter than the great light and it smelled like dew, and after it was on him it went on shining like a ray off the sun. Then Enoch looked down at himself.

The arms were not the arms he had carried up through seven heavens. Nothing on him was dust anymore, and nothing on him had been made in a house or on a loom. He was standing in the middle of the glorious ones looking like one of them, and he had not taken a single step to get there.

Sixty Days of Dictation

The Lord called up an archangel named Pravuil, whose knowledge was quicker in wisdom than the others and who had written down every deed the Lord ever did. "Bring out the books from My storehouses," He told him, "and a reed of quick-writing, and give it to Enoch, and hand him the choice and comforting books out of your own hand."

Then Pravuil talked and Enoch wrote. He gave him the works of heaven and earth and sea, and all the elements with their passages and their goings, and the thunderings of the thunders, and the sun and the moon, and the changes of the stars, and the seasons and the years and the days and the hours, and the risings of every wind, and the number of the angels and how their songs are put together, and every human tongue and every human life, until sixty days and sixty nights had gone by and the reed had not stopped once.

When the dictation ran out, Pravuil gave him one more instruction. "Everything I have told you, we have written. Now sit, and write all the souls of mankind, however many of them are born, and the places prepared for them to eternity, because all souls are prepared before the formation of the world."

So the man who could not get off the ground at the end of the seventh heaven sat down and wrote out every soul that would ever be born, with the place kept for each one, and when the writing stopped there were three hundred and sixty-six books stacked in front of him.

The Seraphim had not stopped singing the whole time.

EnochDivine ThroneMerkavahHeavenly AscentAngelsDivine GloryTransformation
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From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

2 Enoch 21-222 Enoch

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, trans. W. R. Morfill, ed. R. H. Charles (1896) · Public Domain

Cherubim and Seraphim surrounded the throne. Six-winged, many-eyed, they never departed, standing before God's face, doing His will, covering the entire throne with their wings as they sang in gentle, ceaseless voices: Holy, holy, holy, Lord Ruler of Sabaoth, heavens and earth are full of Your glory.

Then Enoch's guides spoke their final words: "Thus far we were commanded to journey with you." And they vanished.

Enoch stood alone at the edge of the seventh heaven. Abandoned. Terrified. He fell on his face and cried out: "Woe is me, what has happened to me?"

Then God sent the archangel Gabriel. "Have courage, Enoch. Do not fear. Arise before the Lord's face, arise, and come with me."

But Enoch's soul had departed from him in terror. He could barely stand. He called out for the men who had first led him upward, they were gone. Gabriel scooped him up like a leaf caught by the wind and carried him forward.

He passed through the eighth heaven, Muzaloth, the changer of seasons, home of the twelve constellations. Through the ninth heaven, Kuchavim, where the constellations have their celestial dwellings.

And then. The tenth heaven. Aravoth.

Enoch saw the face of God.

It was like iron heated in fire until it glows white, pulled from the furnace, emitting sparks, burning with a radiance that seared the eyes. The Lord's face was ineffable, marvelous and terrible, awesome beyond all comprehension. The throne was vast, not made by hands. Troops of Cherubim and Seraphim surrounded it. Their singing never ceased. The beauty of it was immutable, and no tongue could describe the greatness of His glory.

Enoch fell prostrate and worshipped. And God spoke to him directly: "Have courage, Enoch. Do not fear. Arise and stand before My face forever."

The archangel Michael lifted him to his feet and led him before the Lord. And God said to His servants: "Let Enoch stand before My face for eternity." The glorious ones bowed and answered: "Let Enoch go according to Your word."

Then came the transformation. God commanded Michael: "Take Enoch from his earthly garments. Anoint him with My sweet ointment. Dress him in the garments of My glory."

Michael obeyed. He anointed Enoch with oil that was brighter than the greatest light, fragrant as sweet dew, radiant as the sun's ray. Enoch looked at himself and saw that he had been transfigured, he looked like one of God's own glorious angels.

Then the Lord summoned an archangel named Pravuil, the wisest of all the archangels, the one who recorded every deed of the Lord. God said to him: "Bring out the books from My storehouses, and a reed of quick-writing, and give them to Enoch. Deliver to him the choicest and most comforting books from your hand."

A mortal man, dressed in divine glory, standing before the throne of God, about to receive the secrets of creation from the hand of heaven's own scribe. This was why Enoch had been taken. Not merely to see. But to write.

Full source
2 Enoch 232 Enoch

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, trans. W. R. Morfill, ed. R. H. Charles (1896) · Public Domain

For sixty days and sixty nights, Enoch wrote without stopping.

The archangel Pravuil, heaven's own scribe, the wisest of all the archangels, dictated to him the totality of creation. Everything. The workings of heaven, earth, and sea. Every element, every passage, every movement. The thunderings of thunder. The courses of the sun and moon. The changes of the stars. The seasons. The years. The days. The hours.

The rising of every wind. The number of every angel. The formation of their songs.

All human things, the tongue of every language, the pattern of every life, the commandments and instructions and sweet-voiced singings of heaven. Everything it was fitting for a mortal mind to learn, and much that was not.

When the dictation was complete, Pravuil gave Enoch a final command: "Everything I have told you, we have recorded. Now sit. And write all the souls of mankind. However many will ever be born. And the places prepared for each of them in eternity. For all souls are prepared before the foundation of the world."

Every soul that would ever exist, already accounted for. Already assigned a destination. Before the world was formed, before Adam drew breath, every human life had been mapped and measured and given a place in the architecture of eternity.

Enoch sat for thirty days and thirty nights, writing continuously, and produced three hundred and sixty-six books, a library of heaven's secrets, dictated by an angel, transcribed by a man who had been dressed in the glory of God.

Full source