Book of Moses Evidence: Wide as Eternity

In Moses 7:29–41, we encounter a series of related elements that culminate in a description of Enoch’s heart being stretched out to cosmic proportions:

29 And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?

30 And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever;

36 Wherefore, I [God] can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.

41 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.1

53 And the Lord said: Blessed is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith—I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity

Significant themes and motifs in this span of passages include the following elements:

1. Enoch wept in the similitude of God’s own weeping (Moses 7:29, 41).2
2. Attention is drawn to the vast scope of God’s creations, the particles of which “man could not number” (Moses 7:30).
3. Forms of the term “stretch” are twice used in connection to God’s expansive creations and once in connection to Enoch. This language is echoed by Enoch’s heart which “swelled” as wide as eternity (Moses 7:30, 36, 41).3
4. The phrase “I [God] can stretch forth mine hands” in connection to his creations is specifically mirrored by the description of Enoch who “stretched forth his arm” (Moses 7:36, 41)
5. The mention of God’s “bosom” in relation to the expansiveness of his creations is paralleled, to some extent, in the description of Enoch, whose “heart” swelled wide as eternity (Moses 7:30, 41).
6. The description of the Messiah as the Rock of Heaven which is “broad as eternity” (Moses 7:53) is mirrored by Enoch’s heart which swelled “wide as eternity” (Moses 7:41)

When viewed together, it becomes clear that Enoch’s weeping was in the similitude of God’s own weeping, and that the stretching of Enoch’s arms and the swelling of his heart is meant to mirror the expansiveness of God’s own person and creations. This series of images is fascinating, since several ancient and medieval traditions depict Enoch’s body (or body parts) as filling the expanse of the universe in similitude of God’s own body or creations.

Enoch’s Enlargement in Extrabiblical Traditions

The earliest known development of these concepts may be found in 2 Enoch 39, in which Enoch, when speaking to his family members, repeatedly compared his own body parts to those of the Lord’s. The imagery culminates in a description of the Lord’s right hand “filling heaven” and of his scope being “without limit … and to which there is no end”:

For you hear my words, out of my lips, a human being created exactly equal to yourselves; but I have heard from the fiery lips of the LORD. … But you, my children, see my face, a human being created just like yourselves; but I am one who has seen the face of the LORD, like iron made burning hot by a fire, and it is brought out and it emits sparks and it is incandescent. But you gaze into my eyes, a human being equal in significance to yourselves; but I have gazed into the eyes of the LORD, shining like the rays of the sun and terrifying the eyes of a human being. But you, my children, see the right hand of one who helps you, a human being created identical to yourselves; but I have seen the right hand of the LORD, helping me and filling heaven. But you see the scope of my activity, the same as your own; but I have seen the scope of the LORD, without limit and without analogy, and to which there is no end. (2 Enoch 39:5–6)4  

This passage doesn’t explicitly state that Enoch himself filled the heavens or was without limit or end. Nevertheless, according to Andrei Orlov, “It is significant that, through the analogical descriptions introduced in Chapter 39 for the first time in the Enochic tradition, a significant bond was established between the immense body of the Lord and Enoch’s body.”5 Specifically, “Enoch’s body seems to serve as the measure and the analogy through which the patriarch conveys to his children the immeasurability of the Lord’s stature.”6

Enoch’s enlargement, in similitude of God’s expansive form, is made much more explicit in the Book of Moses, as each figure is specifically described as being as “wide” or “broad” as eternity:

The bodily enlargement of Enoch (in his capacity as the angel Metatron) is likewise clearly portrayed in 3 Enoch. The text first comments on the extent of the heavenly treasuries that were opened to Enoch-Metatron, each of which contained 300,000 gates associated with different virtues or qualities, such as “understanding,” “love,” and “reverence” (3 Enoch 8:1).7 This gives the impression that his good attributes reflected the expansiveness of heaven itself, as symbolized by the multitude of its gates. We then read that in “addition to all these qualities, the Holy One, blessed be he, laid his hand on me and blessed me with 1,365,000 blessings. I was enlarged and increased in size till I matched the world in length and breadth” (3 Enoch 9:1–3). Orlov writes, “Here, just as in the Slavonic account [i.e., 2 Enoch], the hand of the Deity signifies the bond between the seer’s body and the divine corporeality.”8

It should also be noted that, as reported later in 3 Enoch, God’s “right hand”—the same hand that is described in 2 Enoch 39 as “filling heaven”—is connected to the theme of weeping and the shaking of the entire cosmos: “Then the right hand of the Omnipresent One wept, and five rivers of tears flowed from its five fingers, and, falling into the Great Sea, made the whole world quake” (3 Enoch 48A:4).9 A similar set of ideas arises in Moses 7:41: “wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.” It doesn’t seem accidental that Enoch’s “stretched forth … arms” in this passage echoes the Lord’s earlier statement: “Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made” (Moses 7:36). We therefore encounter a related complex of ideas among all these passages (weeping + hand/arms + expansiveness of the cosmos + cosmic shaking).10

Other rabbinic sources likewise comment on Enoch’s physical expansion. “In the Merkabah materials,” writes Orlov, “the divine corporeality is labeled as the Stature/Measure of the Body (שיעור קומה). The same terminology is often applied to Enoch-Metatron’s body. According to one of the Merkabah texts, ‘the stature (קומתו) of this youth [i.e., Metatron] fills the world.’”11 These sentiments parallel a description in the Testament of Abraham, in which “a very enormous man” is identified as “the teacher of heaven and earth and the scribe of righteousness, Enoch.”12 A text from the Jewish Zohar holds a particularly close parallel to Moses 7:41, as demonstrated in the following chart:13

Rabbinic sources also comment at length on God’s own corporeal expansiveness. In one text, known as Shi'ur Qomah, the angel Metatron conveys heavenly wisdom to Rabbi Ishmael (which is similar to Metatron’s role in 3 Enoch). Rabbi Ishmael then gives all sorts of specific descriptions and measurements of God’s physical form, involving his height, soles, knees, calves, thighs, neck, beard, cheeks, nose, tongue, eyes, shoulders, arms, fingers, palms, toes, and eyebrows.14

As shown in the following excerpts, these measurements are all very large, usually numbering in the millions: “The height of [God’s] soles is 30 million parasangs. … From [God’s right] sole to the ankle is 150 million parasangs. … From [God’s right] thigh to the neck is 240 million parasangs” and so on.15 The text then clarifies: “Each parasang is three mils, and each mil is ten thousand cubits. Each cubit is two spans of [God’s] spans. And one of [God’s] spans fills the entire world/universe.”16 In other words, the cosmic dimensions of God’s bodily form are nearly unfathomable unto man. This resonates with the incomprehensible measure of God’s creations in Moses 7:30: “And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still.” As noted by Orlov, one of Enoch-Metatron’s names is the “Measurer of God.”17

One measurement given in Shi'ur Qomah is of particular interest. The text states, “On God’s heart are placed seventy names. Tzatz, Tzedek (‘Righteousness’), Tzachi’el, Tzur (‘Rock’), Tzvi (‘Deer’), Tzaddik (‘Almighty’).” The list goes on and on, rendering each name. In Jewish mystical texts, Enoch-Metatron is also sometimes said to possess 70 names, as seen in 3 Enoch 4:1: “[Ishmael] said to Metatron, ‘Why are you called by the name of your Creator with seventy names?”18 Thus, in the context of the measurements in Shi'ur Qomah, it seems that Enoch-Metatron may be implicitly associated with God’s heart. If so, it may also be relevant that God’s “bosom” is mentioned multiple times in Enoch’s record throughout Moses 7 and that it is specifically Enoch’s own “heart” in Moses 7:41 that “swells wide as eternity,” in similitude of God’s own weeping.19  

Relevant Language in Biblical Texts

The concept of a heart that expands or enlarges is not exclusive to Moses 7:41. Related imagery can be found in several biblical texts, as seen in the following examples: 

• “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore” (1 Kings 1:4)
• “The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses” (Psalms 25:17)
• “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart” (Psalm 119:32)
• “Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” (Isaiah 60:5)
• “O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged” (2 Corinthians 6:11)

We also get some similar language in Alma’s writings and the D&C:

• “Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love” (Alma 5:9)
• “if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul” (Alma 32:28)
• “for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls … and your mind doth begin to expand” (Alma 32:34)
• “By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile” (D&C 121:42)

Conclusion

At first glance, the statement that Enoch’s “heart swelled wide as eternity” in Moses 7:41 may not seem especially significant. Although not very prevalent, other passages in biblical and Restoration texts likewise describe the heart or soul as being expanded or enlarged in some manner.

However, when looking closer at the details in Moses 7:41 and reading them in context, the text’s use of this imagery becomes much more significant. It seems clear that Enoch was weeping in the similitude of God and that the “stretched” and “swelling” language parallels nearby descriptions of God’s physical form and innumerable creations. It must also be noticed that Enoch’s heart didn’t just swell but that it specifically swelled “wide as eternity.” The expansion of this bodily organ thus takes on an aspect of cosmic measurement (width) and temporal significance (eternity).

While these elements do not arise together elsewhere in the scriptural canon, they are corroborated on various levels by extrabiblical Enochic sources. Such texts emphasize that Enoch’s physical features mirrored the expansive aspects of God’s corporeal form. Moreover, much like the emphasis Enoch’s stretched out “arms” and his swelling “heart” in Moses 7:41, extrabiblical sources point to the immense dimensions of God’s various body parts. We also get the language of “millions” of parasangs used in these divine measures, comparable to Enoch’s use of “millions” (a scripturally rare term) to describe the innumerable scope of God’s creations in Moses 7:31.20 The fact that Enoch was known as the “Measurer of God” in some traditions provides additional validation.

All in all, the nuances of these details in the Book of Moses come across as plausibly authentic on multiple levels. Not only do they not arise together as a set of ideas in other scriptural passages, but they certainly don’t show up in this manner in the Bible’s sparse information about Enoch. They therefore provide a valid line of evidence to support the antiquity of the Book of Moses and the validity of Joseph Smith’s prophetic claims.