Metatron Comes Out as Trans: Sefer Hekhalot §§ 4-6: Part 1

Metatron Comes Out as Trans: Sefer Hekhalot §§ 4-6

Text, Translation, and Discussion of §4

Text (V228; M40 adapted from Schaefer, Synopse zur Hekhalot):

אמר ר׳ יאשמעאל באותה שעה שאלתי את מטטרון מלאך שר הפנים אמרתי לו מה שמך 

אמר לי יש לי שבעים שמות כנגד שבעים לשונות שבעולם וכולם על שמו של מ׳מ׳ה׳ אבל מלכי קרא אותי נער

Translation:

R. Ishmael said: in the same hour/time I asked Metatron, angel of the prince of the presence, saying to him: “what is your name?”  

He said to me, I have seventy names corresponding to the seventy tongues that are in the world and all of them are [based] upon his name of the King of the King of Kings but my King calls me “Youth.”  

Variants: no significant variants

Translation notes: No major translation issues to report here.

Discussion:

What’s in a name?  A name is important. Naming is both relational and substantive.  It tells us how we relate to others and indicates who were are.  For Metatron, it turns out, his name is not simply “Metatron.” He has seventy names for all the seventy languages of the world.  Each language can, it would seem, call him by their name for him.  He, therefore, has a relational name that connects him to all humanity.  But all of his names, ultimately, derives from the divine name, the “King of the King of Kings.”  It, therefore, binds him relationally to the divine principle.  By his 70 names, Metatron stands in relation both to all humans and to God.  But there is more: God has a pet name for Metatron and, as we find out in the next section, the angels also call him this: “Youth.”  But Metatron is more powerful than all of the other angels – why would his King and all the other angels call him “Youth,” a name that suggests a lower status?  This is the topic of the next section, in which, to answer the question, Metatron has to come out to R. Ishmael.