Levi’s Initiation into the Angelic Priesthood

10/07/08

This post will cover our class discussion of the Testament of Levi, an important apocalyptic document. I will not go into an overview of all that the document contains of theological interest–there is a vast number of details that could potentially be interesting to the LDS reader. For a great overview of the relevant content in Levi to LDS interests, especially concerning temple themes, I highly recommend Bryce Haymond’s commentary over at www.templestudy.com. Bryce covered all of the most exciting points of the document, so I will just add some insights I gained from Dr. Orlov’s class.

Provenance

The Testament of Levi is found among the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a collection of apocryphal/pseudepigraphical apocalyptic stories that were apparently popular in medieval times They were included in the Armenian Orthodox Bible of 1666. Although it is not known exactly when, or by whom, the testaments were written, they were known to early Christians and are mentioned by Origen and possibly Tertullian. Some suggest a late second century date. 

Although there are many apparently Christian features, many scholars suggest that they were originally written by a Jewish author(s). This claim is substantiated by the discovery of versions of the Testament of Levi in the Cairo Genizah (a discovery of thousands of Jewish texts from the Middle Ages stored in Cairo) and, more interestingly, a number of fragments dubbed Aramaic Levi from the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. A Greek manuscript that matches Aramaic Levi was also found at Mt. Athos, the famous monastic center. Although there are many differences among these versions, they are all comparable to T. Levi.

Parallels with Dead Sea Scrolls

The terminology and themes presented in T. Levi are quite similar to the sectarian texts found at Qumran, especially the Damascus Rule, the Community Rule, and War Rule. Some interesting points of similarity:

• use of the term Beliar (from Belial) for top evil being
• The Two Ways and the Spirit of Truth vs. Spirit of Error
• Focus on priestly Messiah and Davidic/royal Messiah
• The coming of a Messiah of Aaron and a Messiah of David

One of the most important themes in T.Levi is the depiction of the priestly initiation. It joins other Qumran texts in carrying on the idea that when priests received their initiatory rites, they became priests of the heavenly temple, to serve among the angels. Their temple service becomes part of the angelic liturgy in the presence of God.

This theme is most strongly understood in the enigmatic Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q400-407, 11Q17, Mas1K) . These Qumran texts are very important for our understanding of heavenly priesthood–and the relation of the earthly priesthood to it.

The Songs of the Sabbath sacrifice are very fragmentary, but seem to be structured like the psalms. (For the importance of the psalms for our understanding of the temple, see my earlier post here).  The Songs purport to describe the Sabbath worship and sacrifice carried on by the angels in the heavenly temple. There are similarities between this description and that of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. There are 13 songs, corresponding to the number of Sabbaths in the first quarter of the year.

In the songs, the use of the numbers 7 and 3 are employed often, and not coincidentally. They correspond to how the heavens are structured. Dr. Orlov asked: why do we have 3 heavens in some material and sometimes 7? It is because the Heavenly Temple is reflecting the earthly temple (or vice versa)–thus, we have a three-fold structure in heaven. So the heavenly temple was envisioned as being similar in structure to the earthly temple. Sometimes, however, there are 7 heavens–possibly making a parallel to the outer gates and courts of the temple. There is also a likely parallel here to the 7 days of Creation.

For latter-day saints, this is very natural, as Joseph Smith explicitly outlined three degrees of heaven (glory). A seven-fold heaven is not a stretch either, as Joseph Smith also set out three degrees within the highest heaven, plus multiple degrees in the lower two heavens (D&C 76 and 131).

Apparently, the songs were used as part of an actual liturgy, in which the priests involved were part of a dramatic representation in which they saw themselves as angels in the heavenly temple, participating in the worship of God. The leader of the group represented the head archangel, calling the others to praise God. For more on this, please see Crispin Fletcher-Louis, “The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,” in: C. Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ, 42; Leiden: Brill, 2002) 252-279.

This idea of the human priest representing an angelic priest in dramatized ritual is quite certainly related to the idea of Levi becoming an angelic being as he goes through his initiation in heaven. The fact that Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice regularly refers to the angelic beings as elohim (gods) is also very interesting. So the endowment of heavenly clothing and divine attributes can be seen as a process of deification. (It is also interesting to note that the Lord, distinguishable from the Most High, declares himself to be “the angel who intercedeth for the race of Israel”).

I now turn to the actual text of T.Levi (8:2-10) to further expound in this theme of inititation.

And I saw seven men in white raiment saying to me, Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate of understanding, and the garment of truth, and the diadem of faith, and the tiara of miracle, and the ephod of prophecy. And each one of them bearing each of these things put them on me, and said, From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, thou and thy seed for ever.

 Levi is given seven articles of clothing comparable to the priestly garments designated for Aaron in the Old Testament. Each of these items carries with it some type of moral/spiritual quality. It seems as if Levi is being endowed with these attributes as he puts on the items of clothing.  After he has been dressed in these garments, the story seems to repeat this sequence, with some changes and additional details.

And the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to me the rod of judgment. The second washed me with pure water, and fed me with bread and wine, the most holy things and clad me with a holy and glorious robe. The third clothed me with a linen vestment like to an ephod. The fourth put round me a girdle like unto purple. The fifth gave to me a branch of rich olive. The sixth placed a crown on my head. The seventh placed on my head a diadem of priesthood, and filled my hands with incense, so that I served as a priest to the Lord.

 While I won’t go into the details of the rich royal imagery presented here, we see here Levi  being made a king and a priest of the angelic priesthood, ready to officiate in priestly ordinances before the Lord. But why the two different investitures?

Dr. Orlov took note of this oddity in class. He commented that there seem to be two sets of clothing and proposed that this could indicate a transition between two different realms–the earthly and the heavenly (or we could say, between the terrestrial and the celestial). He further commented that perhaps what we are seeing is Levi being endowed with certain godly attributes on earth in preparation to receive their full realization in heaven. Very interesting!

Enoch as the angel Metatron

Prevalence in Second Temple Literature

The theme of the human priest becoming an angelic priest (and numbered among the elohim) emerges as a common theme throughout Second Temple (especially apocalyptic) literature. In these texts, ascending to heaven to become a priest in God’s presence almost always involves a transformation/transfiguration from mortal to divine (at least temporarily). The following is a partial list of documents that demonstrate this theme:

• 1 Enoch 14-36 (The Book of the Watchers)–While transformation isn’t explicit, Enoch is taken into heaven and becomes a heavenly priest and participates with angelic beings.
• 1 Enoch 71 (Similitudes of Enoch)–Enoch is transformed into the heavenly Son of Man. The transformation is not explicit, but does indicate a change to a divine/angelic status.
• 2 Enoch 22-24–Enoch prostrates himself before God in the 7th heaven. Michael removes Enoch from his earthly garments, anoints him, and dresses him in heavenly robes. After this process, Enoch notes that a transformation has taken place and that he now resembles “one of the glorious ones; there was no observable difference” (22:10). God then reveals secrets (of creation) to him never revealed before, not even to the angels (ch. 24). Enoch is asked to sit down by God on a throne even closer than Gabriel’s.
• 3 Enoch 9-12 (Sefer Hekhalot)–This is a later text, but it continues, and strengthens, this idea of transformation. The angel Metatron tells the visionary, Rabbi Ishmael, that he was once the man Enoch and that he had been transformed by God into the great archangel. He was given a glorious throne in heaven–a copy of God’s own throne. He is also dressed in heavenly robes–8 garments, which likely represent the priestly clothing.  Enoch/Metatron is not merely an angel, but is the “lesser Yahweh.”
• The Ascension of Isaiah–Isaiah is taken up through the seven heavens and notices that he becomes more and more glorious in his appearance as he ascends each degree. When he reaches the seventh heaven, he is fully equal to the angels that he sees. He is told of the glorious robes reserved in heaven for the righteous dead.
• The Apocalypse of Zephaniah–the visionary has died and ascends to heaven where he puts on angelic robes and joins the angels in their praise of God.
• The Apocalypse of Abraham–details Abraham’s journey to heaven, where he participates in the song of the divine creatures. He is shown the heavenly garments (formerly belonging to Azazel) that he will inherit.

Glorious Robes of Azazel/Lucifer

This is by no means a complete listing of the instances in which this imagery appears. For more on this, please see M. Himmelfarb, “Revelation and Rapture: The Transformation of the Visionary in the Ascent Apocalypses,” in Mysteries and Revelations, 79-90.

In conclusion, The Testament of Levi is important to our understanding of the priesthood and temple as they were understood in non-mainstream Second Temple literature. Much of this literature (pseudepigrapha, apocalyptic), if scholars like Margaret Barker are correct, preserves the older traditions of the First Temple that have become marginalized in mainstream Jewish thinking. One of the major themes that these texts preserve is the idea that earthly priests were seen as equivalent to the heavenly priests–the angels. The temple initiation of priests was seen as their transformation into divine beings who could then participate in the divine council. These ideas are important to our understanding of the temple and of deification.

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