Book of Moses Evidence: Enoch’s Right to God’s Throne

In the Book of Moses, Enoch declared unto the Lord, “I know thee, and thou hast sworn unto me, and commanded me that I should ask in the name of thine Only Begotten; thou hast made me, and given unto me a right to thy throne, and not of myself, but through thine own grace; wherefore, I ask thee if thou wilt not come again on the earth” (Moses 7:59).

Relevant Biblical Passages

The potential for mortals to eventually attain a heavenly throne is not absent from the Bible. Several passages mention or imply that righteous individuals can obtain thrones or seats of privilege and power in a heavenly context. For instance, we learn in Matthew 8:11 that “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”1 Likewise, Christ told his apostles that “when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). John’s Revelation also emphasizes that righteous individuals can receive thrones in the heavens (Revelation 3:21; 4:4; 20:4).

On the other hand, the sparse information about Enoch in the Bible doesn’t say anything about Enoch in relation to God’s throne. Overall, few named individuals are associated directly with heavenly thrones in the biblical corpus, and, other than Christ himself, no individual ever personally claims to have a right to God’s throne as Enoch does in the Book of Moses.

Extrabiblical Sources

In contrast, the theme of Enoch’s enthronement looms large in extrabiblical traditions. This idea appears to be hinted at in 2 Enoch. After Enoch took a tour of the heavens and wrote down his acquired knowledge, the Lord declared to him, “‘Enoch, sit to the left of me with Gabriel.’ And I did obeisance to the LORD.” In a manuscript variant of this passage, Enoch explained that “the Lord called me; and he placed me to the left of himself closer than Gabriel.”2 As interpreted by Andrei Orlov, this statement constitutes an “early possible testimony to Enoch’s enthronement near Deity,” as he is placed even closer than the angel Gabriel and “in a location next to God.”3

The theme of Enoch’s enthronement is much more explicit in Jewish sources belonging to the traditions of Hekhalot (involving heavenly realms akin to earthly temples or palaces) and Merkabah (involving heavenly chariots or thrones). In one such text, called 3 Enoch, the angel Metatron (Enoch in his glorified angelic state) escorts an initiate known as Rabbi Ishmael on a visionary tour of the heavens.

To his mortal companion, Metatron related that “the Holy One … brought me into the great palaces in the height of the heaven of ʿArabot, where the glorious throne of the Šekinah is found …. He stationed me there to serve the throne of glory day by day” (3 Enoch 7:1).4 In another Jewish text, the Lord declared, “I took him; i.e., Enoch b. Yared, from among them and brought him up …. I appointed him to be over all My treasuries and storehouses in each level of heaven, and I handed over into his charge the keys to each one, and I made him ruler over all the (angelic) princes. I made him an attendant to the Throne of Glory.”5

Thus, Enoch-Metatron became a special servant or attendant intimately connected with the throne of God. As pointed out by Orlov, “Several passages found in the Hekhalot literature depict Metatron and other princes of the Face as attendants who serve the divine Presence in the closest proximity to the Throne, and have the right to enter the immediate presence of the Lord.”6 This notion of Enoch holding a special throne-related privilege is also suggested in the wording of Moses 7:59: “thou hast made me, and given unto me a right to thy throne, and not of myself, but through thine own grace.”7

Several chapters later in 3 Enoch, a new and significant development arises. Metatron reported that “the Holy One, blessed be he, made for me a throne like the throne of glory, and he spread over it a coverlet of splendor, brilliance, brightness, beauty, loveliness, and grace, like the coverlet of the throne of glory, in which all the varied splendor of the luminaries that are in the world is set” (3 Enoch 10:1).8  

What did Metatron do upon this glorious throne? “At first I sat upon a throne at the door of the seventh palace, and I judged all the denizens of the heights on the authority of the Holy One, blessed be he” (3 Enoch 16:1).9 Again, notice the “authority” or right by which Enoch carried out this activity. Much later in the text, the Lord explained, “I set him as a prince over all the princes, and made him a minister of the throne of glory. … I magnified his throne from the majesty of my throne. … I bestowed on him some of my majesty, some of my magnificence, some of the splendor of my glory, which is on the throne of glory, and I called him by my name, ‘The lesser YHWH, Prince of the Divine Presence, knower of secrets’” (3 Enoch 48c:3–9).10

“Like the Holy One himself,” observes Philip Alexander, Metatron “has a throne and presides over a celestial law court.”11 Metatron, in fact, so resembled the qualities of deity that he became rather frightening.12 When one individual “set eyes upon me, he was afraid and trembled …. when he saw me seated upon a throne like a king” (3 Enoch 16:2).13 As understood by Joseph Dan, “Metatron sits on it as God sits on His Throne,” leading to the conclusion that Metatron is “almost a miniature version of God Himself.”14

Similar enthronement imagery is connected to Enoch in other Jewish texts as well. According to Bereshit Rabbati, “The Sages say (that) Enoch was the first of the righteous ones. … What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He removed him from human society and renovated him, (giving him) a body of fire, and renamed his name Metatron and fashioned for him a fiery throne corresponding to His own fiery throne.”15 An incantation bowl written in Aramaic makes a reference to “Metatron, the great prince of the throne.”16 A text from the Jewish Zohar goes even further: “In Enoch is contained the form of the hidden world. He is the throne of his Lord.”17 Thus, the theme of Enoch-Metatron being an attendant on God’s throne and of him sitting on a replica version of God’s throne is both pervasive and unequivocal.

Enthronement Imagery in 1 Enoch

It should be emphasized that none of the sources listed above were likely available to Joseph Smith in 1830, either because they hadn’t been discovered by Western scholars or were obscure and hadn’t been translated into English. The one prominent Enochic text that could have influenced the young prophet was 1 Enoch. Although there is ongoing debate about the plausibility of him ever accessing this work (or portions of it), it was potentially available at the time, having been translated into English by Richard Laurence in 1821.18 Thus, assessing its use of enthronement imagery is in order.

Discussions of thrones are certainly present throughout 1 Enoch, but they consistently fall within the generic categories of biblical throne imagery mentioned previously.19 For instance, in one passage a heavenly being declared concerning the righteous that “I shall … seat them each one by one upon the throne of his honor” (1 Enoch 108:12).20 This mirrors the enthronement language found in the book of Revelation, where heavenly thrones await the faithful.

Several passages in 1 Enoch also describe a divine figure with various titles sitting upon a throne. In one of his vision of the heavens, Enoch saw “a lofty throne” and a figure described as “the Great Glory was sitting upon it” (1 Enoch 14:18–20).21 In another, Enoch saw the “Antecedent of Time, while he was sitting upon the throne of his glory” (1 Enoch 47:2).22 In yet another, he witnessed the “Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory” (1 Enoch 62:5).23  

In recent decades, some scholars have concluded that one particular verse—namely 1 Enoch 71:14 (“You, son of man, who art born in righteousness and upon whom righteousness has dwelt”)—indicates that Enoch himself became identified with the Son of Man figure spoken of previously throughout this literary unit (known as the Book of Parables or Similitudes).24 If accepted, this understanding could, by logical extension, cast Enoch as an enthroned figure throughout 1 Enoch. However, this interpretation is based on modern scholarly analysis of literary patterns, intertextual relationships, and parallel features that would almost certainly have gone unnoticed by any lay reader of the early 19th century.25 Even in light of modern scholarship, the passage has still been described as both “ambiguous and puzzling.”26

More importantly, Laurence’s 1821 translation of this verse would have deterred any such equivalence, as it avoids using the Son of Man title altogether: “Thou art the offspring of man, who art born for righteousness, and righteousness has rested on thee” (1 Enoch LXX:17).27 Consequently, even under the already doubtful scenario of Joseph Smith accessing this text and coming across this particular passage, there would be no apparent reason for him to identify Enoch with the enthroned Son of Man figure.28 In fact, there is nothing in the version of 1 Enoch available to Joseph Smith that states or clearly implies that Enoch himself ever sat on a throne or had a right to a throne, as is found in other Jewish traditions and the Book of Moses. It follows, then, that Laurence’s translation of 1 Enoch wouldn’t have been any more useful than the Bible itself in generating conclusions about Enoch’s enthronement.

On the other hand, with the aid of modern scholarship and more accurate translations, 1 Enoch can potentially be seen as yet another ancient source affirming Enoch’s enthronement. Orlov writes that “in the Similitudes, for the first time in the Enochic tradition, the patriarch is depicted as a preexistent enthroned figure.”29 This literary unit suggests, perhaps, that Enoch became an ideal representation of the Son of Man.30

Conclusion

Multiple scriptural passages suggest that heavenly thrones await the righteous in the afterlife and that some prominent figures (e.g., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Twelve Apostles) will obtain such thrones. Thus, the general concept of a righteous individual being placed upon a throne of glory is not without precedent. On the other hand, as a named individual who qualified to receive such a throne, Enoch is in rare company. And as a mortal being who personally claimed to have a right to God’s throne, he is truly unique. Other than Christ himself, no other individual makes any such a claim in all of scripture, whether in the Bible or in Joseph Smith’s modern revelations.

It is therefore remarkable that this peculiar detail is amply corroborated by a variety of extrabiblical sources. These texts repeatedly draw attention to Enoch’s special status as a servant who attends God’s throne, as well as to Enoch’s placement on a throne similar to God’s own. Joseph Smith certainly could not have derived this specific idea from the Bible, and it seems highly unlikely that he obtained it from any Enochic source available in his day.

Enoch’s right to God’s throne, as recorded in Moses 7:59, can therefore be viewed as legitimate evidence supporting the antiquity of the Book of Moses. It appears, in fact, that at least one mainstream Enoch scholar found it to be quite significant. In his Pearl of Great Price lecture series, Hugh Nibley once reported a conversation he had with non-Latter-day Saint scholar Matthew Black, who had published Enoch-related studies in academic presses such as Oxford and Brill.31 After commenting on this matter in Moses 7:59, Nibley remarked, “This is the one that really knocked Professor Black over. … Here it is. When he saw this here, it really staggered him.”32