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Heaven in Judaism
Shamayim (‫)שָׁ מַ יִ ם‬, the Hebrew word for "heaven" (literally heavens, plural), denotes one component of
the three-part biblical cosmology, the other elements being erets (the earth) and sheol (the underworld).
Shamayim is the dwelling place of God and other heavenly beings, erets is the home of the living, and sheol
is the realm of the dead, including, in post-Hebrew Bible literature (including the New Testament), the
abode of the righteous dead.[1]
Contents
Etymology
Description
Seven Heavens
Legends
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
Etymology
The Hebrew word shamayim is constructed of two parts: sham ( ַ‫ )שָׁ מ‬derived from Akkadian samu meaning
"sky" or "lofty", and Hebrew mayim (‫ )מַ יִ ם‬meaning "water". In Genesis 1:6 Elohim separated the "water
from the water". The area above the earth was filled by sky-water (sham-mayim) and the earth below was
covered by sea-water (yam-mayim (http://biblehub.com/text/genesis/1-10.htm)). The Hebrew word for the
sun is shemesh (http://biblehub.com/hebrew/8121.htm). It follows the same construction, where "shem" or
"sham" (Akkadian: samu) means "sky" and esh (http://biblehub.com/hebrew/784.htm) (Akkadian: ish)
means "fire", i.e., "sky-fire".
Description
The Biblical authors pictured the earth as a flat disk floating in water, with the heavens above and the
underworld below.[2] The raqiya (firmament), a solid inverted bowl above the earth, coloured blue by the
cosmic ocean, kept the waters above the earth from flooding the world.[3] From about 300 BCE a newer
Greek model largely replaced the idea of a three-tiered cosmos; the newer view saw the earth as a sphere at
the centre of a set of seven concentric heavens, one for each visible planet plus the sun and moon, with the
realm of God in an eighth and highest heaven, but although several Jewish works from this period have
multiple heavens, as do some New Testament works, none has exactly the formal Greek system.[4]
Seven Heavens
In the course of the 1st millennium CE Jewish scholars developed an elaborate system of Seven Heavens,
named:[5][6][7]
1. Vilon (‫ )וִילוֹן‬or Araphel (‫ )ﬠֲרָפֶל‬The first heaven, governed by Archangel Gabriel, is the closest
of heavenly realms to the Earth; it is also considered the abode of Adam and Eve.
2. Raqia (ַ‫)רָקִיﬠ‬: The second heaven is dually controlled by Zachariel and Raphael. It was in this
heaven that Moses, during his visit to Paradise, encountered the angel Nuriel who stood "300
parasangs high, with a retinue of 50 myriads of angels all fashioned out of water and fire".
Also, Raqia is considered the realm where the fallen angels are imprisoned and the planets
fastened.[8]
3. Shehaqim (‫שְׁחָקִים‬, Shechaqim): The third heaven, under the leadership of Anahel, serves as
the home of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life; it is also the realm where manna, the
holy food of angels, is produced.[9] The Second Book of Enoch, meanwhile, states that both
Paradise and hell are accommodated in Shehaqim with hell being located simply "on the
northern side".
4. Maon (‫)מָעוֹן‬: The fourth heaven is ruled by the Archangel Michael, and according to Talmud
Hagiga 12, it contains the heavenly Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Altar.
5. Makon (‫מָכוֹן‬, Makhon): The fifth heaven is under the administration of Samael. It is also where
the Ishim and the Song-Uttering Choirs reside.
6. Zebul (‫)זְבוּל‬: The sixth heaven falls under the jurisdiction of Sachiel.
7. Araboth (‫ﬠֲר ָבוֹת‬, Aravoth): The seventh heaven, under the leadership of Cassiel, is the holiest
of the seven heavens because it houses the Throne of God attended by the Seven Archangels
and serves as the realm in which God dwells; underneath the throne itself lies the abode of all
unborn human souls. It is also considered the home of the Seraphim, the Cherubim, and the
Hayyoth.[10]
Medieval Jewish Merkavah and Heichalot literature focused on discussing the details of these heavens,
sometimes in connection with traditions relating to Enoch, such as the Third Book of Enoch.[11]
Legends
In the 19th century book Legends of the Jews, Louis Ginzberg compiled Jewish legends found in rabbinic
literature. Among the legends are ones about the world to come and the two Gardens of Eden. The world to
come is called Paradise, and it is said to have a double gate made of carbuncle that is guarded by 600,000
shining angels.[12] Seven clouds of glory overshadow Paradise, and under them, in the center of Paradise,
stands the tree of life.[13] The tree of life overshadows Paradise too, and it has fifteen thousand different
tastes and aromas that winds blow all across Paradise.[14] Under the tree of life are many pairs of canopies,
one of stars and the other of sun and moon, while a cloud of glory separates the two. In each pair of canopies
sits a rabbinic scholar who explains the Torah to one.[15] When one enters Paradise one is proffered by
Michael (archangel) to God on the altar of the temple of the heavenly Jerusalem,[16] whereupon one is
transfigured into an angel (the ugliest person becomes as beautiful and shining as "the grains of a silver
pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun").[17] The angels that guard Paradise's gate adorn one in
seven clouds of glory, crown one with gems and pearls and gold, place eight myrtles in one's hand, and
praise one for being righteous while leading one to a garden of eight hundred roses and myrtles that is
watered by many rivers.[18] In the garden is one's canopy, its beauty according to one's merit, but each
canopy has four rivers – milk, honey, wine, and balsam[19] – flowing out from it, and has a golden vine and
thirty shining pearls hanging from it.[20] Under each canopy is a table of gems and pearls attended to by
sixty angels.[21] The light of Paradise is the light of the righteous people therein.[22] Each day in Paradise
one wakes up a child and goes to bed an elder to enjoy the pleasures of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old
age.[23] In each corner of Paradise is a forest of 800,000 trees, the least among the trees greater than the best
herbs and spices,[24] attended to by 800,000 sweetly singing angels.[25] Paradise is divided into seven
paradises, each one 120,000 miles long and wide.[26] Depending on one's merit, one joins one of the
paradises: the first is made of glass and cedar and is for converts to Judaism; the second is of silver and
cedar and is for penitents; the third is of silver and gold, gems and pearls, and is for the patriarchs, Moses
and Aaron, the Israelites that left Egypt and lived in the wilderness, and the kings of Israel; the fourth is of
rubies and olive wood and is for the holy and steadfast in faith; the fifth is like the third, except a river flows
through it and its bed was woven by Eve and angels, and it is for the Messiah and Elijah; and the sixth and
seventh divisions are not described, except that they are respectively for those who died doing a pious act
and for those who died from an illness in expiation for Israel's sins.[27]
Beyond Paradise, according to Legends of the Jews, is the higher Gan Eden, where God is enthroned and
explains the Torah to its inhabitants.[28] The higher Gan Eden contains three hundred ten worlds and is
divided into seven compartments.[29] The compartments are not described, though it is implied that each
compartment is greater than the previous one and is joined based on one's merit.[30] The first compartment is
for Jewish martyrs, the second for those who drowned, the third for "Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his
disciples," the fourth for those whom the cloud of glory carried off, the fifth for penitents, the sixth for
youths who have never sinned; and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah.[31]
See also
Biblical cosmology
Celestial spheres
Garden of Eden
Gehenna
Resurrection of the dead
Religious cosmology
References
1. Fretheim 2003, p. 201
2. Aune 2003, p. 119
3. Pennington 2007, p. 42
4. Aune 2003, p. 119
5. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1521&letter=A#4364
6. The Seven Heavens in the Talmud. (see Ps. lxviii. 5).
7. "Angelology" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1521&letter=A#4364).
JewishEncyclopedia.com.
8. The Legends of the Jews I, 131, and II, 306.
9. The Legends of the Jews V, 374.
10. Ginzberg, Louis. Henrietta Szold (trans.). The Legends of the Jews. Philadelphia: The Jewish
Publication Society of America, 1909–38. ISBN 0-8018-5890-9.
11. Scholem, Gershom. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition,
1965.
12. The Sacred Texts: Legends of the Jews, Chapter 1 (https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/loj10
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
16. The Sacred Page: Legends of the Jews, Chapter 1 (https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/loj10
4.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
3.htm)
Bibliography
Aune, David E. (2003). "Cosmology". Westminster Dictionary of the New Testament and Early
Christian Literature (https://books.google.com/books?id=nhhdJ-fkywYC&printsec=frontcover&d
q=Dictionary+New+Testament&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3Mn2TpmZBtKbiQeE4I2jAQ&ved=0CDgQ6A
EwAQ#v=onepage&q=cosmology&f=false). Westminster John Knox Press.
Fretheim, Terence E. (2003). "Heaven(s)". In Gowan, Donald E (ed.). The Westminster
theological wordbook of the Bible (https://books.google.com/books?id=obj6XCWIX1AC&pg=P
A202&dq=Heaven+is+unreachable+by+human+beings,+through+exceptions+are+made&hl=e
n&sa=X&ei=JPcdT9_lDMK0iQeXncXRDQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Heaven%20i
s%20unreachable%20by%20human%20beings%2C%20through%20exceptions%20are%20m
ade&f=false). Westminster University Press.
Pennington, Jonathan T. (2007). Heaven and earth in the Gospel of Matthew (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=EGTaBJDQoD0C&pg=PA42&dq=ancient+Israelite+ideas+about+the+heav
enly+realms&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A9X7Tu-gI5DomAXe7oWaAg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepag
e&q&f=false). Brill.
External links
Jewish Encyclopedia: Heaven (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7440-heaven)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heaven_in_Judaism&oldid=957468824"
This page was last edited on 19 May 2020, at 00:52 (UTC).
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Heaven in Judaism

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This page was last edited on 19 May 2020, at 00:52 (UTC).

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