Engraved on the Throne of Glory

Insights from Dr. Andrei Orlov’s “The Face as the Heavenly Counterpart of the Visionary”

One of my main intentions when I decided to commence this blog was to share some of the great materials I have come in contact with as I have studied at Marquette University. I have had many great professors in the year I have been at MU.  One of the professors that I find I have most in common with, to the point that I chose him as my academic advisor, is Dr. Andrei A. Orlov.  I spoke of him previously and posted links to some of his groundbreaking research on 2 Enoch here.

Although well known for his work on Enoch, Dr. Orlov has published well over 30 articles (see www.andreiorlov.com) , many of which are on topics other than the Enoch tradition. Today I wanted to look at a few ideas from an article that he wrote on the Jacob tradition, entitled “The Face as the Heavenly Counterpart of the Visionary,” published most recently as part of his book From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 114; Leiden: Brill, 2007), pp. xii+481. $207.00. ISBN 90-04-15439-6.

The Ladder of Jacob

In this article, Dr. Orlov discusses the significance of themes found in a Slavonic pseudepigraphal text known as the Ladder of Jacob. Although its origins are obscure, this text was possibly written in the second century AD by Christians, and was based on Jewish traditions. It has many similarities to the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Odes of Solomon, the Gospel of Thomas, and other similar texts.

In Ladder of Jacob, we see a continuation/expansion of Jacob’s dream in Gen 28, where he sees a ladder connecting earth and heaven and sees angels ascending and descending on it and at the top of the ladder is the Lord.  In this text, Jacob seeks further explanation of this dream from the Lord by approaching him in prayer. An angel named Sariel is sent to give Jacob further details about his vision.

The Face as God’s Kavod

Although I won’t spend much time on this topic in this post, Orlov goes into great detail about how the Ladder of Jacob dwells significantly on the subject of the Face of God.  As Jacob ascends and reaches the top of the celestial ladder, he beholds a human face “carved out of fire” that was “exceedingly terrifying” (see p. 402, or p. 4 here).  This face is accompanied by shoulders and arms, a unit which Orlov calls “the fiery anthropomorphic extent, which serves as the embodiment of the deity…” (p. 402).  This Face, explains Orlov, should be understood to be
“related to the glorious celestial entity known in theophanic traditions as God’s Kavod” (p. 403). For a biblical example of this connection, see Exod 33:18-23, where Moses asks to see God’s Glory (kavod) and God responds by saying that Moses would not see his Face. Orlov reasons that when the visionary describes “the Face,” he is describing a vision of the Face of God, an anthropomorphic entity “seated on the fiery Throne of Glory” (pp. 404-405).

Jacob’s Heavenly Counterpart

In Genesis 32, we have the account of Jacob wrestling with a “man” until he is blessed and given a new name, Israel. In Ladder of Jacob, the “man” is the angel, Sariel, Jacob’s angelic guide. Orlov explains that there is likely a link between the angel Sariel and the angel Uriel/Phanuel of other traditions (such as 2 Enoch), who serves as angelus interpres.  The name Phanuel is quite possibly related to the Peniel/Penuel mentioned in Gen 32:30-31. He cites Targum Neofiti to Gen. 32:25–31, which reads:

And Jacob was left alone; and the angel Sariel wrestled with him in the appearance of a man and he embraced him until the time the dawn arose. When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh became benumbed in his wrestling with him. And he said: “Let me go because the rise of the dawn has arrived, and because the time of the angels on high to praise has arrived, and I am a chief of those who praise”. And he said: “I will not let you go unless you bless me”. And he said to him: “What is your name?” And he said: “Jacob”. And he said: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel, because you have claimed superiority with angels from before the Lord and with men and you have prevailed against them. And Jacob asked and said: “Tell me your name I pray”; and he said: “Why, now, do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel because: “I have seen angels from before the Lord face to face and my life has been spared”.

In Ladder of Jacob, Sariel/Phanuel does not wrestle with Jacob, but rather instructs him regarding the sacred secrets of Heaven. At the conclusion of this instruction, instead of simply being given the new name Israel, Jacob is introduced to his heavenly counterpart, the angel Israel.  Jacob, through the guidance of Sariel, is given the knowledge that he has a heavenly identity–that his celestial “self’ is truly a great luminous being who serves before the Face of God.

The imagery here is very similar to that of the Enoch tradition (1 Enoch 71 and 2 Enoch 22), where Enoch is taken up to Heaven by the angel Uriel, where he is transformed before the Throne of God into the powerful angel Metatron, with the titles (among others) Son of Man and Prince of the World. When Enoch returns to Earth, he tells his children that although they see him as the earthly, human Enoch, there is likewise an angelic Enoch that has stood in the Lord’s Presence (see p. 409).  The idea that a human can have a heavenly double appears to be an ancient Jewish belief that turns up in a number of documents.

As a note for LDS readers, it is very interesting to compare this idea to Joseph Smith’s teaching that the ancient patriarchs had a pre/post-mortal angelic identity–Adam=Michael, Noah=Gabriel, etc. In fact, every person on earth has a heavenly or spiritual identity. Doctrine and Covenants 107:54–55 is just one expression of this principle.

54 And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel.
55 And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.

Engraved in the Throne of Glory

As if this weren’t enough, Orlov’s discoveries get even more spicy! Not only does Jacob find that he is a celestial reality in Heaven, but that his “image” is fixed or engraved on the Throne of Glory. Dr. Orlov cites a comparable tradition from the Targums (see p. 407). In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen 28:12 the following description can be found:

He [Jacob] had a dream, and behold, a ladder was fixed in the earth with its top reaching toward the heavens … and on that day they (angels) ascended to the heavens on high, and said, Come and see Jacob the pious, whose image is fixed (engraved) in the Throne of Glory, and whom you have desired to see.

This, in itself, is an amazing idea to ponder. However, Orlov explains that there are further implications possible in this imagery.

Besides the tradition of “engraving” on the Throne, some Jewish materials point to an even more radical identification of Jacob’s image with Kavod. Jarl Fossum’s research demonstrates that in some traditions about Jacob’s image, his “image” or “likeness” is depicted not simply as engraved on the heavenly throne, but as seated upon the throne of glory. J. Fossum argues that this second tradition is original. Christopher Rowland proposed that Jacob’s image is “identical with the form of God on the throne of glory (Ezek. 1.26f.)” (p. 408).

In other words, when Jacob enters the Presence of God and looks at the Throne of Glory, instead of seeing the Lord, he sees himself sitting on the Throne! What an incredible tradition! I certainly don’t think that this was meant to be blasphemous in any way–to the contrary, I think it was meant to show God’s gift to man, his divine potential. This is the end result of deification/theosis. The pious individual has become one with the Glory of God.  As Dr. Orlov notes, Jacob seems to have become a servant of the Divine Face, and identified with it (see pp. 415-419).

I think this idea goes along well with what I presented in my last post, in the section about “throne-sharing.” The washing, anointing, naming, and crowning of the king (or high priest) resulted in his being identified with (or representing) Yahweh. We have the idea (seen in Rev. and elsewhere) of God-and-the-Lamb sitting upon the Throne of Glory. Looking at the grammar, it appears that this was one Figure sitting on the throne. Was it God or was it Christ? It doesn’t really matter, for the enthroned Christ is totally united with the Father and represents Him.  I quote again Margaret Barker’s insight into this principle:

In each case they are one, because in each case it is a human figure who has become divine…The Lamb is, therefore, a human being taken up to the throne and, as he is enthroned, he becomes divine, united with “him who sits upon the throne”. The Lamb is worshipped after he has stood in the midst of the throne (Rev 5:6). When Solomon was made king, there was an exactly similar sequence; it must have been the ancient temple ritual. Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king (1 Chron 29:23) (Barker, Temple Themes in Christian Worship, p. 91).

Although texts like Ladder of Jacob are obscure and somewhat ambiguous, I believe we can gain much from them that can give us background understanding for our modern beliefs, like faded pieces of the Gospel puzzle. There are some great principles that resemble the Plan of Salvation, our Divine Potential, and the teachings of the modern LDS Temple. I feel greatly indebted to Dr. Andrei Orlov for his excellent research on these ancient texts, of which I would hardly have any knowledge of through any other source.

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