Where are the orbs of the sun and the moon situated? They are in the second firmament, as it is stated: “God set them in the firmament of the heavens.” Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Abahu: There is an explicit verse, and the members of the Great Assembly elaborated on it: “You, the Lord, alone, You made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, and all their host…” (Nehemiah 9:6). Where is all their host situated?
It is in the firmament that is above the heavens. From the earth to the firmament is a distance of five hundred years’ walk, and the thickness of the firmament is a distance of five hundred years’ walk, and from firmament to firmament is a distance of five hundred years’ walk. See how high it is. And we learned, on the first day of the summer solstice, there is no shade for any creature,20The sun is directly overhead. as it is written: “Nothing can shelter from its heat” (Psalms 19:7).
The orb of the sun has a sheath, as it is stated: “In a tent within, He placed the sun” (Psalms 19:5), and there is a pool of water before it. When it emerges [from the sheath], the Holy One blessed be He mitigates its strength through that water so that it should not emerge and incinerate the world. But in the future, the Holy One blessed be He will strip it of its sheath and burn the wicked with it, as it is stated: “The day that is coming will burn them” (Malachi 3:19).
Rabbi Yanai and Rabbi Shimon both say: There will be no Gehenna [in the future];21On Judgment Day the wicked will not receive their punishment by fire in Gehenna. rather, there will be a [scorching] day that will burn up the wicked. What is the source? “For, behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace…” (Malachi 3:19). The Rabbis say: There will be a Gehenna,22An actual fire. as it is stated: “The utterance of the Lord, for whom there is fire in Zion…” (Isaiah 31:9).
Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai says: There will be neither a [scorching] day nor a Gehenna, but rather, a fire that emerges from the body of the wicked themselves and burns them. What is the source? It is as it is written: “Conceive stubble, give birth to straw, your spirit is a fire that will consume you” (Isaiah 33:11). Rabbi Yehoshua bar Avin said: “The heavens will declare His beneficence” (Psalms 50:6) – in the future, the heavens will relate the beneficence that the Holy One blessed be He bestowed upon His world, in that He did not situate them in the first firmament. Had He situated them in the first firmament, no creature could have withstood the fire of the day.