Said Rabbi Ishmael: I saw the cosmic King seated on the high and exalted throne,
[accompanied by] a single troop that stood [reaching] from earth to heaven.
Its name is Sandalphon. At the time when He seeks—Rozey YHWH the God of Israel—to swear by His tefillin and to cast an oath by His hand,
He takes the tefillin from His head and He nullifies decrees from the earth.
Rabbi Ishmael said: The angel Metatron, prince of the Divine Presence, the glory
of highest heaven, said to me:
At first I sat upon a great throne at the door of the seventh palace, and I judged all
the denizens of the heights on the authority of the blessed Holy One. I assigned
greatness, royalty, rank, sovereignty, glory, praise, diadem, crown, and honor to all
the princes of kingdoms when I sat in the heavenly court. The princes of kingdoms
stood beside me, to my right and to my left, by authority of the blessed Holy One.
But when Aher came to behold the vision of the chariot and set eyes upon me, he
was afraid and trembled before me. His soul was alarmed to the point of leaving him
because of his fear, dread, and terror of me, when he saw me seated upon a throne
like a king, with ministering angels standing beside me as servants and all the
princes of kingdoms crowned with crowns surrounding me. Then he opened his
mouth and said: "There are indeed two powers in heaven!" Immediately a divine
voice came out from the presence of the Shekhinah and said, "Come back to Me,
apostate sons—apart from Aher!" Then 'Anafiel YHWH, the glorified, beloved, won
derful, terrible, and dreadful Prince, came at the command of the blessed Holy One,
and struck me with sixty lashes of fire and made me to stand on my feet.
The blessed Holy One fashioned for me a majestic robe, in which all kinds of
luminaries were set, and He clothed me in it. He fashioned for me a glorious cloak in
which brightness, brilliance, splendor and lustre of every kind were fixed, and He
wrapped me in it. He fashioned for me a kingly crown in which 49 refulgent stones
were placed, each like the sun's orb, and its brilliance shone into the four quarters of
the heaven of 'Aravot, into the seven heavens, and into the four quarters of the world.
He set it upon my head and He called me "The lesser YHWH" in the presence of His
whole household in the height, as it is written: "My name is in him." (Ex. 23:21).