Editing Metatron (section)

== Talmud ==
The [[Babylonian Talmud]] mentions Metatron by name in three places: [https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.15a?lang=bi Hagigah 15a], [https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.38b Sanhedrin 38b], and [https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.3b Avodah Zarah 3b].

[https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.15a Hagigah 15a] describes [[Elisha ben Abuyah]] in Paradise seeing Metatron sitting down (an action that is not done in the presence of God). Elishah ben Abuyah therefore looks to Metatron as a deity and says heretically: "Perhaps there are, God forbid, two powers in Heaven!"<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Chagigah 15a:5 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Chagigah.15a.5?lang=bi&with=all |website=www.sefaria.org |access-date=10 June 2023}}</ref> The rabbis explain that Metatron had permission to sit because of his function as the Heavenly Scribe, writing down the deeds of Israel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scholem |first=Gershom |year=1974 |title=Kabbalah |url={{GBurl|6NIRAQAAIAAJ}} |pages=378–380 |publisher=Quadrangle |isbn=978-0-812-90352-2}}</ref> The Talmud states that it was proved to Elisha that Metatron could not be a second deity by the fact that Metatron received 60 "[[Pulsa diNura|strokes with fiery rods]]" to demonstrate that Metatron was not a god, but an angel, and could be punished.<ref name=Journal>{{Cite journal |author=Society for Jewish Study |year=1983 |title=The Journal of Jewish Studies Volumes 34–35 |url={{GBurl|O4nXAAAAMAAJ}} |page=26 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |publisher=Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies |access-date=5 March 2014}}</ref>

In [https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.38b Sanhedrin 38b], one of the {{transliteration|hbo|[[Heresy in Judaism|minim]]}} tells Rabbi Idith that Metatron should be worshiped because he has a name like his master. Rabbi Idith uses the same passage [https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.23.21 Exodus 23:21] to show that Metatron was an angel and not a deity and thus should not be worshiped. Furthermore, as an angel, Metatron has no power to pardon transgressions nor was he to be received even as a messenger of forgiveness.<ref name=Journal /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Herford |first=Robert Travers |year=1903 |title=Christianity in Talmud and Midrash |url=https://archive.org/details/christianityinta00herfuoft |pages=[https://archive.org/details/christianityinta00herfuoft/page/286 286–290] |publisher=Williams & Norgate |quote=Metatron christianity.}}</ref>

In [https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.3b Avodah Zarah 3b], the Talmud hypothesizes as to how God spends his day. It is suggested that in the fourth quarter of the day God sits and instructs the school children, but that before the [[destruction of the Temple]], Metatron may have taken God's place in this activity.

[https://www.sefaria.org/Yevamot.16b Yevamot 16b] records an utterance, "I have been young; also I have been old" found in [https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.37.25 Psalm 37:25]. The Talmud here attributes this utterance to the "chief angel" and "prince of the world", whom the rabbinic tradition identifies as Metatron.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Matt |editor-first=Daniel Chanan |year=2005 |title=The Zohar, Volume 3; Volume 2006 |url={{GBurl|siZFGe74jWMC|pg=PA86}} |page=86 | publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-804-75210-7}}</ref>