The climax of Maaseh Merkavah (the Divine Chariot) is the mystic's arrival in the seventh palace—the throne room of God. After passing through six gates, surviving the challenges of the angelic guards, and crossing rivers of fire, the mystic finally beholds the Kisei HaKavod (כסא הכבוד), the Throne of Glory. What follows is one of the most overwhelming passages in all of Jewish mystical literature.
The throne is not a static object. It is alive. It pulses with light of seven colors—each color corresponding to one of the seven heavens below. The Chayot HaKodesh (חיות הקודש), the Holy Living Creatures first described in (Ezekiel 1:5-14), support the throne on their backs. Each Chayah (the living essence of the soul) has 4 faces, 4 wings, and 65,536 eyes—a number the text derives from the repeated doubling of the number 4 across 8 iterations. Every eye watches a different part of creation simultaneously.
The Ofanim (אופנים), the Wheel-Angels, spin beneath the Chayot. Their rims are covered in eyes as well (Ezekiel 1:18), and their rotation generates a sound that the text describes as the roaring of many waters—the same image used in (Ezekiel 1:24) and (Psalms 93:4). Above the Chayot and the Ofanim, the Seraphim hover in a circle around the throne, each one with six wings (Isaiah 6:2)—two covering the face, two covering the feet, and two for flying.
The angelic chorus is deafening. Every angel in all seven heavens joins in the Kedushah (קדושה)—"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3). The sound is so intense that the mystic's body shakes. The text says the foundations of the palaces tremble. The rivers of fire boil. The very fabric of heaven vibrates with the force of the praise.
And at the center of it all—God. The text does not describe God's appearance directly. It cannot. Instead, it describes the light emanating from the throne—a light that makes all other light in creation look like darkness. The mystic sees not God but God's glory—the Kavod (כבוד), the radiant presence that fills the throne room with a brightness beyond any human capacity to process. The mystic weeps. The mystic falls. And then, transformed by the vision, the mystic begins the long descent back through the seven palaces, carrying the memory of what was seen—a memory that will illuminate the rest of a human life.