The Silence of Angels: Reflections on the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (original) (raw)

THE SILENCE OF ANGELS: REFLECTIONS ON THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE jQShirotjQShirot 'Olat Ha-Shabbat (4QShir Shabb), the fragmentary ΊΓ liturgical text from Qumran cave 4, is largely a lengthy account of the angelic priesthood and its various activities in the heavenly temple. In it the titles of the angels, their several divisions, their priestly duties, their marvellous attributes, and many other particulars are ail revealed, and in great détail. (1) One particular, however, is conspicuous by its absence. Although one reads over and over again that the angels offer praise to God,(2) not once does our text divulge the content of their praise. That is, not once does the reader learn exactly what it is that the angels say. This is a striking and surprising fact. In other ancient Jewish and Christian documents the angelic songs of praise are at the center of depictions of heaven and its activities. In Isaiah 6,1-5, for instance, the record of the prophet's vision includes the memorable words which the Seraphim call to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." Similarly, when the author of Révélation Révélation is fîrst taken up to heaven (in chapter 4), he is permitted to hear not only the praise of the four living creatures-"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to corne"corne"-but also the adoration of the twenty-four elders-"Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create ail things, and by thy will they existed and were created" (4,8.11). (3) It is the same in the Apocalypse of (1) On the angelology of the Sabbath songs see C. Newsom, Songs of Ihe Sabbath