ABSTRACT
This chapter pursue the developments present in the Hekhalot literature as it persistently blurs the boundaries of the divine and created, with an amorphous flurry of angelic and heavenly beings, many of which bear the Name of God. It also establishes that the multiple angelic stratifications which some scholars have seen as representing a severely compromised monotheism may also be read as a sophisticated onomatology. The majority of the Hekhalot literature dates from between the fourth and tenth centuries ce3 and comprises several major texts as well as some other tertiary pieces. The main texts are Hekhalot Zutarti, Hekhalot Rabbati, Ma'aseh Merkavah, Merkavah Rabbah and 3 Enoch. Beings appellate with the Tetragrammaton such as Zoharriel YHWH God of Israel and Totrosiai YHWH God of Israel seem to be cognates representing God,8 whereas the second strata is populated by beings such as Metatron, Suryah and the other 'princes'.
