A voice came from the midst of the fire. "Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am."
"Consider the expanses beneath the firmament on which you are now placed, and see that on no single expanse is there any other but He whom you have sought, the One who has loved you."
While God was still speaking, the expanses opened beneath Abraham's feet, and the heavens unfolded below him.
He stood upon the seventh firmament and saw a fire widely extended, and light, and dew, and a multitude of angels, and a power of invisible glory hovering over the living creatures. But no other being was there. Only God's presence, alone and absolute.
He looked downward to the sixth firmament and saw a multitude of pure spirits without bodies, carrying out the commands of the fiery angels on the firmament above. These were the ministering angels, bodiless servants executing heaven's will.
God commanded the sixth firmament to be removed. Beneath it, on the fifth firmament, Abraham saw the powers of the stars carrying out their appointed commands, and the elements of the earth obeying them.
Layer by layer, the architecture of creation was being peeled back for Abraham to see. Seven heavens stacked like veils over the earth, each one populated by its own order of beings, each one governed by the one above it, and all of them answering ultimately to the voice from the fire.
The tradition records what dwells in each heaven. The seventh contains judgment, righteousness, the treasures of life, peace, and blessing, the souls of the departed righteous, the spirits and souls yet unborn, the dew with which God will awaken the dead, and God Himself on the Throne of Glory. Abraham was seeing it all from the top down.
And a voice came to me out of the midst of the fire, saying: “Abraham, Abraham!”
I said: “Here am I!” 1 And He said: “Consider the expanses which are under the firmament
on which thou art (now) placed, 2 and see how on no single expanse is there any other but He
whom thou hast sought, or who hath loved thee.”3 And w hile He 4 was yet speaking (and) lo!
the expanses opened, and beneath me5 the heavens. And I saw upon the seventh firmament
upon which I stood a fire widely extended, and light, and dew, and a multitude of angels, and
a power of invisible glory over the living creatures which I saw; but no other being did I see
there.6
And I looked from the mountain 7in which I stood7 [downwards] 8 to the sixth firmament,
and saw there a multitude of angels, of (pure) spirit, without bodies, who carried out the
commands of the fiery angels who were upon the ei ghth 9firmament, as I was standing
suspended over them. And behold, upon this firmament 10there were no other powers10 of
(any) other form, but only angels of (pure) spirit, like the power which I saw on the seventh
firmament. 11 And He commanded 12that the sixth firmament13 should be taken away.12 And
I saw there, on the fifth firmament,13 the powers of the stars which carry out the commands
laid upon them, and the elements of the earth obeyed them. 14
Cf. Ex. iii. 4, 4 Ezra xiv. 1 (K, + Lord).
Abraham is now presumably “placed” in the seventh heaven, and surveys from abov e what is
discl osed t o him as existin g in th e various firmaments below him , and in th e earth (the angels, celestial
bodies, and everythin g th at is movin g on th e earth).
? God is the sole controller of all these, and in this sense is the only reality.
5
A K this (voice).
A, them.
In Asc. Is. vii. 7 f. it is said that Isaiah saw in the seventh heaven “a wonderful light and angels
innumerable,” an d “ al l the righteous from the time of Adam” (including Abel and Enoch); in T. B. Hag.
12b th e seventh heaven (‘Araboth) c on t a in s judgement and righteousness, the treasures of life, peace,
and blessing, the souls of the departed righ teous, the spirits and souls yet unborn, th e dew with which
God will awake the dead, t he Seraphim, Ophannim, Hayyoth, and other angels of service, and God
Himself sitting on the Throne of Glory. No doubt the “dew” in our passage is th e r esurrection-dew. Fire
and light are much dwelt upon in this connexion. Possibly this mystical literature was in flue nced by the
cult of Mithra, who was especially the God of Light.
8
Lit. of my standing.
S omits.
10
eighth can hardly be righ t: read ? seventh.
So A; S, their powers were not.
In 2 Enoch xix. the seer describes what he saw in th e s ixth h eaven: legions of angels more
resplendent than the sun, the archangels set over the sun, star s , s e as o n s , rivers, vegetation, the living
things and the souls of men, w i t h s i x p h œ n i x e s, seven cherubim, and seven hayyoth in the midst, all
singing with a voice indescribably beautiful; cf. also Asc. Is. viii. 1 ff, 6 ff., where the sixth heaven is
described as full of hosts of angels utterin g pr ai s e. In our passage apparently th e angels of service
(ministering angels) are located in this heaven.
A K, the sixth firmament and it went away: S reads third for sixth.
Lit. surface.
In T. B. Hag. 12b th e sun, moon, and stars are l ocat ed in t h e second heaven; in 2 Enoch xi. 1-5
“the course of the sun” and the angels “which wait upon the sun” are located in the fourth heaven.
The Promise of a Seed (Chapter XX.).
