Smelik Mystical JSJ

ON MYSTICAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS INTO LIGHT IN JUDAISM*

BY

WILLEM F. SMELIK

Kampen

I. The Question According to early Jewish interpretation of the intertestamental

age the righteous awaited a mystical transformation into light in the hereafter. 1 This particular concept of what may be termed the apotheosis of the righteous is shared by Paul in his letters to the Corinthians2 and by the Apostolic Fathers.3

However, according to common opinion the mystical aspects of the transformation were played down in rabbinic literature. In his vast anthology of parallels to the New Testament in rabbinic literature Billerbeck4 voiced the opinion: "Die altjcidische Literatur kommt auf die Verwandlung der Lebenden selten zu sprechen".5 5

* Parts of this paper were read at the International Meeting of SBL, Leuven, 7-11 August 1994. I thank prof. dr. Johannes de Moor for his illuminating comments in connection with this paper. 1 The following abbreviations will be employed: LAB = Pseudo-Philo, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum; GenR = Genesis Rabbah (etc); MT = Masoretic Text (BHS); PesR = Pesikta Rabbati; PT = Palestinian Targum; Tg = Targum; TJN = Targum Jonathan of the Prophets; TO = Targum Onqelos; TPsJ = Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; WisSol = Wisdom of Solomon. 2 See esp. 1 Cor. 15:35-55 and 2 Cor. 3:18. Furthermore: Rom. 2:7, 10; 5:2; 8:17, 21, 30; 9:23; 1 Cor. 2:7; 15:43; 2 Cor. 4:17; Phil. 3:21; Col. 1:27; 3:4; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 2:14; 2 Tim. 2:10. See also: Matt. 13:43; 17:2ff; Hebr. 1:3; 2:10; 1 Petr. 1:7; 4:10; 5:1; 2 Petr. 1:3; Rev. 21:23ff; 22:5. Cf. P.W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs. An introductory survey of a millennium of Jewish funerary epigraphy (300 BCE-700 CE). Kampen 1991, 137ff.

3 G.M. Schurr, "On the Logic of Antenicene Affirmations of the 'Deification' of the Christian," Anglican Theological Review 51 (1969) 97, 99; S.J. Beggiani, Early Syriac Theology. With Special Reference to the Maronite Tradition. Lanham 1983, 73ff. For references to Intertestamental literature, see the next note and below, note 15. 4 H.L. Strack, P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch. Bd. III. Mnchen 1926, 479f.

5 Indeed, the examples he adduced for this tradition are not drawn from rabbinic literature, but from 1 Enoch and the Apocalypse of Baruch. Similarly, according to Kittel, Theologisches Wrterbuch zum Neuen Testament, vol. II, 250, "sind

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And in his monograph about light and darkness Sverre Aalen6 6

observed: "Auch die Gerechten werden des Lichtes und Glanzes in der Vollendung teilhaftig werden. Aber die Vorstellung ist nicht

eigentlich die, dag sie an der Gott eigenen Herrlichkeit und seinem

personlichen Licht teilhaben werden. Sie werden den Glanz der Schekina schauen, aber sie werden ihn nicht besitzen." Accord-

ingly, relevant scriptural passages were interpreted in a

metaphorical rather than mystical way. At the same time the distinction between God and men was safeguarded, and the luminaries deposited.

Yet vestiges of the mystical interpretation are still to be found in rabbinic literature. In this paper I intend to bring the traditions of the

"shining righteous" into more relief with particular reference to the motif of "sevenfold shining" of both God and the righteous. In my opinion these heptadic traditions imply the notion of a

mystical union in the hereafter with God as the source of all light. The interpretation of some of the traditions I shall discuss

depends on the question whether they should be understood in a

metaphorical or mystical way. In addition, it is necessary to take notice of the reception of astral immortality and apotheosis in Ancient Judaism. Obviously, the rabbinic reluctance to articulate the concept of mystical transformation is inextricably bound up with the designation of the righteous as gods. It is no doubt not the transformation itself they feared but the impact of apotheosis. Similarly the comparison or identification of the righteous with

angels, evoked by their supernatural state of being as light, would become suspect, even though it was never completely abandoned. It appears, therefore, that we should study the traditions of the

"shining righteous" against the background of the question of

mysticism versus metaphor as well as the reception of angelology and apotheosis.

II. Metaphor and Mysticism

Metaphors may easily be understood in a literal and therefore often mystical fashion, especially if a literal interpretation is sup-

ausdrckliche Aussagen ber Teilhaben an Gottes Glanz sehr selten." Cf. R. Mach, Der Zaddik in Talmud und Midrasch. Leiden 1957, 203. 6 S. Aalen, Die Begriffe 'Licht' und `Finsternis' im Alten Testament, im Sptjudentum und im Rabbinismus. Oslo 1951, 319f.

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ported by extra-biblical traditions. For this reason I believe the reception of cosmological metaphors in early and in ancient Israel to have always oscillated between metaphor and mysticism. In fact, sometimes it is not clear at all whether a given tradition was intended as metaphorical or not. Dan. 12:3 is a case in point. There the prospect of shining like the stars in heaven is hold out to the wise men, but commentators disagree whether this statement should be taken literally or not.' 7

The sun has long been recognized as a particularly adequate image to express essential aspects of the highest deity in the Ancient Near East. Judgement and salvation, justice and revivification were linked to the rising sun which in itself combined the character- istics of omnipresence and transcendency. Beyond the veneration of the celestial bodies as deities, solar images have consciously been utilized as metaphorical descriptions of the divine.8 Recently the conviction has grown that despite the obvious deposition of the luminaries as deities in the MT, solar language was yet applied to God in a way clearly reminiscent of the great cultures surrounding Israel.9 9

On the whole, however, Biblical tradition is extremely cautious with respect to the luminous transformation of the faithful in the hereafter, notwithstanding some notable and well-known excep-

7 Cf. J.E. Goldingay, Daniel. Dallas 1989, 308f; cf. G.W.E. Nickelsburg, Resur- rection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism. Cambridge/London 1972, 26 and L.F. Hartman, A. di Lella, The Book of Daniel. Garden City 1978, 309f. Contrast K. Spronk, Beatific Afterlife in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Neukirchen-Vluyn 1986, 338-343 and G. Maier, Der Prophet Daniel. Wupper- tal 1982, 414f.

8 For Ugaritic parallels M.C.A. Korpel, A Rift in the Clouds. Ugaritic and Hebrew Descriptions of the Divine. Mnster 1990, 560-577. For the general religio-historical background of the concept see O. Bcher, "Licht und Feuer", TRE. Bd. 21, Berlin 1991, 83-90.

9 H.P. Sthli, Solare Elemente im Jahweglauben des Alten Testaments, Freiburg 1985; B. Janowski, Rettungsgewissheit und Epiphanie des Heils, Bd.1, Neukirchen 1989, 105ff; B. Lang, Gott als "Licht" in Israel und Mesopotamien: Eine Studie zu Jes. 60:1- 3.19f. Klosterneuburg 1989; J.C. de Moor, The Rise of Jahwism: The Roots of Israelite Monotheism. Leuven 1990, 42ff, 63ff, 101ff; M.S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the other Deities in Ancient Israel. San Francisco 1990, 115f; Idem, "The Near Eastern Background of Solar Language for Yahweh," JBL 109 (1990) 29-39; O. Keel, "Wer Zerstrte Sodom?", Theologische Zeitschrift 35 (1979) 17; O. Keel, Ch. Uehlinger, Gttinnen, Gtter und Gottessymbole. Neue Erkentnisse zur Religionsgeschichte Kanaans und Israels aufgrund bislang unerschlossener ikonographischer Quellen. Freiburg 1992, esp. 282-298.

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tions. 1 Similarly, the Biblical application of solar language to God is no doubt devoid of mystical implications. Its remarkable rationality, though not completely out of pace with religious developments in the Umwelt, may well be due to apologetic tenden- cies within a world generally holding the luminaries in highest esteem.

In the nature of things, that very same world might easily influence the reception of metaphors. The dangers of solar metaphors would soon become apparent and may often not have been avoided in daily religion, even when metaphors were consciously used as such." I

It is significant that prophets of the YHWH-alone movement had to denounce a sun worship in which even temple priests were involved.'2 Palestinian seals from the monarchic period, as well as altars and literary references attest to solar worship as an undercur- rent throughout Israel's history. 13 In the Byzantine period Helios would turn up in synagogue mosaics as well as in magic practices.

The remarkable boom of angelology in the last prechristian centuries seems to be in debt of many older folk traditions. 14 The association of the righteous with angels, stars and light became well attested and widespread. 15 Take, for example, 1 Enoch 104:2ff:

You shall shine as the lights of heaven ... and the portal of heaven

10 Spronk, Beatific Afterlife, 258-269 and passim. 11 Cf. Korpel, A Rift in the Clouds, 77-87. 12 Ez. 8:16; cf. 2 Kgs. 23:5, 11; Job 31:26-28. In 1 Kgs. 8:12 a plus in the LXX connects the glorious presence of God with the sun. 13 M. Smith, "Helios in Palestine," Eretz Israel 16 (1982) 199-214, esp. 204. 14 M. Mach, Entwicklungsstadien des jdischen Engelglaubens in vorrabbinischer Zeit. Tbingen 1992. 15 E.g. LXX Job 4:18 (9:7); WisSol 5:5; 1QH I,8-12; III:19-23; 5Q511 35:3-4; 2 Bar. 51:1-10; 54:21; 4 Ezra 7:97; 1 Enoch 39:7; 50:1; 104:2; 108:11-13; Apocalypse of Adam 7:52ff. For Sirach, see: P.W. Skehan, A. di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, New York 1987, 285. Furthermore Y. Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness. Oxford 1962, 240ff; M. Hengel,

Judaism and Hellenism. Studies in their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period. London 1974, vol. I, 196f, II, 131; P. Schfer, Rivalitt zwischen Engeln und Menschen: Untersuchungen zur rabbinischen Engelvorstellung. Berlin 1975, 24; J.H. Charlesworth, "The Portrayal of the Righteous as an Angel," in: G.W.E. Nickelsburg, J.J. Collins, Ideal Figures in Ancient Judaism. Chico 1980, 135-151; M.J. Davidson, Angels at Qumran: A Comparative Study of 1 Enoch 1-36, 72-108 and Sectarian Writings from Qumran. Sheffield 1992, 316ff; Mach, Entwicklungsstadien, 173ff.

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shall be opened to you ... You shall have great joy as angels of heaven ... You shall become companion of the hosts of heaven. 16

This highly developed expectation is reminiscent of the Canaanite concepts of deification and a heavenly host," though as a rule it was not conceived of as contradicting monotheism-not even when angels and righteous were designated "gods" .18 Apparently it did not seem to affect God's position as the Sole One. So if lines 103- 104 of the Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides bluntly describe the transformation of the departed as coming to the light and deification, we may understand this in the same vein.'9

16 In the translation of A.F. Segal, Two Powers in Heaven. Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism. Leiden 1977, 186. 17 Cf. Is. 14:13ff; Spronk, Beatific Afterlife, 213ff; J.C. de Moor, An Anthology of Religious Texts from Ugarit. Leiden 1987, 169 n.8, 262 n.241-242; M.S. Smith, "Biblical and Canaanite Notes to the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice from Qumran," RdQ 12 (1987) 585-588; P. Hayman, "Monotheism-A Misused Word in Jewish Studies?," JJS 42 (1991) 1-15; Korpel, A Rift in the Clouds, 560-577.

In rabbinic literature the connection between the heavenly host and the polytheistic pantheon is still discernible. In Midrash Tanhuma 5, for instance, the host is conceived as divine '( ) by application of Ps. 86:8 and Ex. 15:11.

18 LAB 64:6; Midrash Petirat Moshe Rabbenu in: A. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash. Bd. I, Leipzig 1853, 119: "And also: I am God and you are God, as it is written: See, I make you God to Pharaoh (Ex. 7:1)." Tanhuma 37b: "But Israel are called by the Name ( ) of the Holy One, blessed be He. He is called God, and He called Israel Gods, for it is written, 'I have said: 'You are Gods.', "; GenR 79:8: "He [Jacob] said to him: You are God among the heavenly creatures and I am God among the earthly creatures."; Sifr 306; LevR 11:1. is particularly frequent in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1Q,M, 1QH, QL and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice; and the designation is ambiguously applied to either God or angels. See C. Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition. Atlanta 1985, 23ff, 293-295, 299-300. For further references, see note 19 below and: M. Hengel, Der Sohn Gottes. Die Entstehung der Christologie und die Jdisch- hellenistische Religionsgeschichte. Tbingen 1975, 67-89. 19

"For in fact we hope that the remains of the departed will soon come to the light again out of the earth. And afterwards they become gods." Translation quoted from: P.W. van der Horst, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides. With Introduc- tion and Commentary. Leiden 1978, 185ff. Others deliberately shunned such bold language. In 1 Cor. 15:35-58 the transformation of the faithful resembling the celestial bodies is preceded by: , "that God will be everything in everyone" (1 Cor. 15:28). Elsewhere Paul explicitly leaves God's incommensurable nature untouched: "who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light"; 1 Tim. 6:15-16. Cf. Phil. 2:5ff. On the spiritual climate, see also P.S. Alexander's comments in his article: "Comparing Merkavah Mysticism and Gnosticism: An Essay in Method," JJS 35 (1984) 1-18, spec. 12 n.27.

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In the first centuries C.E. the Sages went against this tide. They did not deny the existence of angels and a blissful hereafter, but they restrained excessive expectations in this respect. It is unclear what their reasons were for adopting this policy. Perhaps early Christian and gnostic movements made them wary of esoteric speculation, magic and mysticism.2 Whatever the reason may be, such traditions were no longer regarded as compatible with (rabbinic) Judaism; foremost the Enoch Traditions,2' and the Fallen Angels of Genesis 6: 1-4,22 "R. Papias interpreted: 'behold, man is become like one of us' (Gen. 3:22): as one of the ministering angels. R. Akiba said to him:

'Enough, Papias!' "23 Within this climate the apotheosis of the righteous had to become suspect24 and this directly affected the concept of the shining of the righteous. It was no longer a real shining, but merely a beholding and reflecting of God's Glory.25

But how successful were the Sages? Hardly ever they simply silenced older ideas when new ones emerged. Rejected traditions often went underground only to emerge again as soon as cir- cumstances changed. The interpretation of the '3D of Gen. 6:4 as "angels", for instance, was no longer tolerated in the course

20 E.E. Urbach, The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs. Jerusalem 1975, 18, 122f, 209, 660f; Mach, Entwicklungsstadien, 208, 279ff, 331 and passim. 21 Urbach, The Sages, 335. For the downgrading of Enoch in Christian traditions, see: J.A. McGuckin, The Transfiguration of Christ in Scripture and Tradition. [Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity, 9] Lewiston/Queenston 1986, 52. 22 P.S. Alexander, "The Targumim and Early Exegesis of 'Sons of God' in Genesis 6," JJS 23 (1972) 60-71. For the angelology of rabbinic literature, see: Schfer, Rivalitt zwischen Engeln, 50ff; A. Shinan, "The Angelology of the 'Palestinian' Targums on the Pentateuch", Sefarad 43 (1983) 181-98; E. Levine, The Aramaic Version of the Bible. Contents and Context. Berlin 1988, 65ff. 23 Mekhilta 7 (ed. Lauterbach). Parallel versions: Mekhilta deRabbi Simeon ben Jochai 14:29 (ed. Epstein, Melamed, Jerusalem 1954, 68); GenR 21:5. Cf. D. Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot. Early Jewish Responses to Ezekiel's Vision. Tbingen 1988, 164ff. 24 For a reminiscence of the tradition: Strack, Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, Vol. IV, 887, 940ff. Cf. Kittel, Theologisches Wrterbuch zum Neuen Testa- ment, vol. II, 248ff. 25 For instance: Midr. Qoh. R. I,3; I,7; PesR 23:6; LevR 28,1; 30,2; Sifr Deut. 10; 47. Time and again Jdg. 5:31 (and similar passages) could be applied to righteous people (bHag. 12a); to the appearance of the high priest (J. Maier, "Die Sonne im religisen Denken des antiken Judentums," ANRW II 19,1 (1979) 360); to those who suffer: bShabb. 88b; cf. bYom. 23a; bGitt. 36b; to reliable judges: bB.B. 8b.

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of the second century C.E.26 But a marginal gloss in TN betrays that "angels" must have been the more original reading. And

though TPsJ contains the translation "noble ones", the co-text mentions the fallen angels Shamhazai and Azael. Thus "noble ones" was most probably derived from (proto-) TO, imbedded in what actually is a different interpretation. In Tg Psalm 82:6 the clause "you are Gods" is indeed translated with

"behold: you are conceived of as angels. "2'

But this interpretation is a palliation as well, because earlier Psalm 82:6 served as a proof-text for deification, as in a fragment of the War Scroll: "I am reckoned with the gods and my dwelling is

among the holy assembly ... I am reckon(ed] with the gods [and] my glory is with the sons of the King.

'28 These changes in the

targumic tradition are comprehensible only if there was a real

danger of a literal interpretation. Half-hearted self-censoring may also explain why some works

appear to adopt conflicting attitudes towards the question of

mystical transformation. At first sight, it seems to be absent from Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum. The idea of intercession by the ancestors on behalf of the Israelites is explicitly rejected,29 as is astrology3 or worship of the luminaries.31 The righteous will be illuminated by torches or precious stones from paradise, they are not said to shine forth themselves.32 If the stars fighting from heaven have been retained, they merely are natural phenomena under God's control. 33 Yet in other cases, notably in the story of Deborah, the stars have a personality and are identified with the

26 So Alexander, "Early Targumim," 60-71. For the Greek versions, see: S.P. Brock, "To Revise or Not to Revise: Attitudes to Jewish Biblical Translation," in: G.J. Brooke, B. Lindars (eds.), Septuagint, Scrolls and Cognate Writings: Papers Presented to the International Symposium on the Septuagint and its Relations to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Writings (Manchester, 1990). Atlanta, Georgia, 318ff. 27 Contrast Tg Psalm 82:1. The interpretation "angels" kept circulating: Tg Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Tg Psalms 8:6; 29:1; 89:7; Midrash Aleph Beth 4:2; Prayer of Joseph, in the quotation of Origen, see: E. Schrer, Millar, Vermes, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. Vol. III. 2, Edinburgh 1987, 799. Note that Jacob is presented as an angel in this text; Charlesworth, "Portrayal," 140. 28 4Q491 fr. 11, col. 1, lines 14, 18; so Hayman, "Monotheism," 9. For the impact of Ps. 82:1, see: 11 QMelch. ii 10; mAv. III:6; bSanh. 39a. 29 LAB 33:5; cf. LAB 19:16, 28:9. 30 LAB 4:16.

31 LAB 11:6; 34:1-5. 32 LAB 23:6; 26:13. 33 LAB 13:7; 18:5; 23:10; 30:5.

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heavenly host and the angels." Moreover, the prospect of becom- ing "like the stars of heaven which have manifested themselves

among you now" is hold out to the righteous." Here the identification of the righteous with the stars is not smoothed out completely. A similar case is the account of Saul's consulting of Samuel through the medium of Endor. Evoking the spirit of Samuel she describes him as being among the gods, accompanied by angels.3s

The same mixed attitude towards mystical transformation is observable in the Targums. Generally they avoid to set too much store by stars and angels,37 with the sole exception of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan .18 The targumists disposed of the heavenly host in Jdg. 5:20, obscured its celestial character in Is. 24:21, 23 and historicized the delusive boast of the King of Babylon in Is. 13:1- 14:23.39 Every thought of astral immortality has been banished from the present text of the Targum. And yet some targumic traditions bear out the resemblance between angels and the righteous. According to TPsJ Gen. 28:12 (par. TN, FT), the angels on high have relations with the angels down below (when they speak about the image of the pious Jacob, 40 engraved upon the throne of glory). Both the

"myriads of holy angels" and the Israelites are called "holy ones" in TPsJ Deut. 33:2f (par. TN), but even in TO: "and with him were myriads of holy ones ... yea, he loved them, the tribes; all his holy ones, the house of Israel." This description is not coincidental, as may be inferred from TPsJ Num. 25:12 where

14 LAB 31:2; 32:13-14. 35 LAB 33:5. 36 LAB 64:6; taking MT as a plural. For magic in LAB, see also: H.

Jacobson, "Samuel's Vision in Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum," JBL 112 (1993) 310-311. 37 A telltale insertion in the targumic account of the heavenly ascent of Elijah in 2 Kings 2:1-18 shows how much more prayer was held in high esteem than occupation with heavenly appearances: "My master! My master! His prayer was better for Israel than chariots and horsemen." (MT: My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen.") The same equation of MT and TJN is found in 2 Kgs. 13:14. 38 See 22 above. In TPsJ the seventy sons of God known from the Ugaritic pantheon are still present (TPsJ Gen. 11:7,8; Deut. 32:8), though they have become angels (cf. TN, TPsJ Gen. 32:2f). 39 Which articulated the Canaanite astral conception of afterlife; Spronk, Beatific Afterlife, 213ff. 40 So also TJN Ez. 1:26 in MS Montefiore H.116; Tg 1 Chron. 21:15; Gen. R. 68:12.

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Phinehas is said to be transformed into an eternal angel .4 His was not the first case: Enoch ascended to the firmament and was called Metatron the Great Scholar according to TPsJ Gen. 5:24, a statement mitigated or flatly denied in other Targums.42 When the Witch of Endor described her vision as coming up (M'5Y) from the earth, namely Samuel's spirit,'3 the Targumist avoided the idea of divinity by rendering: "I saw the angel of the Lord who came up from the earth." So is represented by RD,45n here. Hence Samuel was thought to have been changed into an angel: "And Saul knew that he was Samuel." A Tosefta-Targum to 1 Sam. 17:43 describes the patriarchs as angels in heaven.4

The famous story of the four rabbis who "went into Pardes" presumably attests to the shift from metaphorical to mystical interpretation. Halperin and Schafer argued the story was originally not a description of the Merkavah experience.45 But in the Tosefta and the Babylonian Talmud the original version was reinterpreted in a mystical sense. Such examples show that the mystical interpretation was never fully abolished. According to Pesikta Rabbati 11:7 the Israelites will become fire like God who is fire. Here the mystical interpretation is apparent.46 Note also Pesikta Rabbati 11:5: "Even

41 Compare the (Pharisaic) belief in the interim state of the faithful as an angel or a spirit; D. Daube, "Critical Note. On Acts 23: Sadducees and Angels," JBL 109 (1990) 493-497. 42 Compare also LAB 1:16. FT formulates cautiously: "we do not know what ultimately became of him" (in the translation of M.L. Klein, The Fragment- Targums of the Pentateuch: According to their Extant Sources. Vol. II: Translation, Rome 1980, 9). TN has an ambiguous reading, see: M. McNamara, Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis. Edinburgh 1992, 70 n. 11. TO simply denied that Enoch ascended to heaven in Gen. 5:24: "because the Lord caused him to die."

43 1 Sam. 28:13. Usually adduced as proof that the Israelites once venerated their dead as gods: Spronk, Beatific Afterlife, 40, 51f, 163, 255. Cf. Is. 8:19. 44 E. van Staalduine-Sulman, "The Aramaic Song of the Lamb," in: J.C. de Moor, W.G.E. Watson, Verse in Ancient Near Eastern Prose. Neukirchen-Vluyn 1993, 271f. 45 P. Schfer, "New Testament and Hekhalot Literature: The Journey into Heaven in Paul and in Merkavah Mysticism," JJS 35 (1984) 19-35; Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot, 31ff. 46 Cf. C.R.A. Morray-Jones, "Transformational Mysticism in the Apocalyptic-Merkabah Tradition," JJS 43 (1992) 18. Contrast however: Aalen, Die Begriffe 'Licht' und 'Finsternis', 319 n. 7. A variant reading in other editions ("they shall be existing [by themselves] and resembling [the Lord]") is no doubt intended to avoid the mystical connotation; see W.G. Braude, Pesikta Rabbati. Discourses for Feasts, Fasts, and Special Sabbaths. New Haven/London 1968, vol. I, 215.

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as the stars shine in the firmament, so will they [Israel] shine in the time-to-come." A parallel passage in DeutR 1 :12 (in the edition Wilna 1878) is followed by other expositions in the same vein: presupposing transformation into the likeness of God as well as a close association with the angels. According to PesR 35:2 the righteous will be able to endure divine fire in the world to come, like the angels.

Resuming, biblical metaphors were easily understood in a literal fashion, in accordance with popular religious concepts deeply rooted in the ancient world, but vice versa mystical descriptions could be redressed into metaphorical ones in keeping with the paucity of clearly mystical notions in the canonical MT itself. The reception of angelology and apotheosis kept pace with these shifts of understanding.

III. The Sevenfold Light

Against this background I call attention to a particularly interesting motif that is connected to the mystical transformation of the righteous. This motif is the "sevenfold shining" of both God and the righteous in the hereafter, sometimes accompanied by luminaries and angels, which suggests a likeness in supernatural being. As I am about to demonstrate, in this case too there was a tendency to interpret these heptadic traditions in a metaphorical vein though traces of the older interpretation are still discernible. In dealing with the astral and mystical overtones of these traditions, some questions commend themselves: (a) Do the traditions go beyond the biblical sources and if so, which are the driving forces then? (b) How significant are the parallels, and are they of a metaphorical, mystical, or esoteric nature?

The sun was known as a metaphor for God's Glory. In the words of Ben Sira, "As the shining sun is clear to all, so the Glory of God fills his works. '47 This equation also sheds light on the famous depiction of the sun-god Helios in the Zodiac panels of four ancient Jewish synagogues in Palestine.48 According to some the Zodiac

47 42:16; cf. Is. 58:8 and, by implication, IQH 4:5-6. According to Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 6 the name of God is engraved in the sun. 48 Hammath-Tiberias, Na`aran, Beth-Alpha and Husifa. See: R. Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art and Archeology in the Land of Israel. Leiden 1988, 301-309.

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panel has a calendric function and the sun-god is nothing but the cosmic sun itself.'9 Various alternative interpretations have been advanced.5 However, the identification with the Shekhinah seems more plausible in the light of an interesting passage in Deuteronomy Rabbah which describes first the Shekhinah, and then the Glory as the centre of the Zodiac panel-that is, in the position reserved for Helios.51 Such an artistic representation of the Shekhinah may have become admissible after the Christian victory over the sol invictus in the Byzantine Era.52

Rabbinic literature does not support the identification of the sun- god with the Shekhinah in any straightforward manner. Abelson once tried to define the Shekhinah as light, but his thesis did not meet with general approval. 53 Probably the rabbinic opposition to pagan or magical associations with the sun-god accounts for this reticence. The word was even largely avoided, and nmn chosen instead, with conflicting gender constructions as a result.55 Yet the equation is supported by Tg Qoh. 11:756 which translates "to see the sun" as: "to behold the glory of the face of the Shekhinah of the Lord, which will brighten the faces of the righteous by the splendour of his Shekhinah, that their beauty may

49 Suggested (though rejected) by G. Hanfmann, The Season Sarcophagus in Dum- barton Oaks. 2 vols. Cambridge 1951, vol. I, 194; R. Hachlili, "The Zodiac in Ancient Jewish Art: Representation and Significance," BASOR 228 (1977) 61-77, 72ff.

50 See: J. Gutmann, "Early Synagogue and Jewish Catacomb Art and Its Rela- tion to Christian Art," ANRW II 21,2 (1984) 1313-1342, esp. 1336f. Of course, different contemporaneous interpretations of the motif cannot be excluded. See on this subject also E.P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice & Belief 63 BCE-66CE, London 1992, 245ff. 51 On Deut. 1:10: "behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude"; M.L. Klein, "Palestinian Targum and Synagogue Mosaics," Immanuel 11 (1980) 33-45, esp. 43f; Gutmann, "Early Synagogue and Jewish Catacomb Art," 1337. 52 Cf. J. Maier, "Die Sonne," passim. 53 J. Abelson, The Immanence of God in Rabbinical Literature. London 1912, reprint: New York 1969, 82-97. He was followed by Aalen, Die Begriffe 'Licht' und 'Finsternis'. See, however, A.M. Goldberg, Untersuchung ber die Vorstellung von der Schekhinah in der frhen rabbinischen Literatur. Berlin 1969, 6; Urbach, The Sages, 44f. , 60.

54 The Book of Secrets contains a Greek hymn for Helios (in Hebrew char- acters). 55 See J. Maier, "Die Sonne," 359f and passim. 56 L. Dez Merino, Targum de Qohelet. Edicin Principe del Ms. Villa-Amil n.5 de Alfonso de Zamora. Madrid 1987.

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be like the sun." Significantly, this interpretation of Qoheleth has little to do with the original text. It is however supported by the targumic interpretation of Jdg. 5:31 which contains the same equation of sun and glory.57 Whereas MT only reads: "May his lovers be like the sunburst in its strength," TJN runs:

...and his (righteous)58 lovers will be destined59 to shine in the splendour of his glory a three hundred and forty three times more, as the sunburst in its strength .60

343 is 7 to the third power. This expansive translation consists of two parts, following the standard procedure of the "extended simile":6' the first translation being more interpretative, often followed by 3 plus a literal translation. The first translation equates

to and to r to ' 62 with supplements:

57 Perhaps the Essenes even identified the sun with YHWH; Smith, "Helios in Palestine," 202f. mSukk. 5:4 rejects praying headed to the sun, with reference to the light of the Shekhinah. Despite the apparent reluctance of the rabbis solar language continued to be applied to the Shekhinah in rabbinic literature; cf. Aalen, Die Begriffe 'Licht' und 'Finsternis', 317. In Helios and YHWH are separated by two heavens, yet they liken each other very much. To quote Smith (p. 210), "Both are gods of fire, the most conspicuous attribute of each is light, both have the gift of prophecy, and both are seated in chariots." 58 In some manuscripts of Western provenance. In addition to Sperber's testimony: MS Poc. 184 (Bodleian Library, Oxford), MS hbr. 18 (Bibliothque Nationale, Paris), MS El. f.6 (Universittsbibliothek, Jena) and Cod. Heb. A10 and Cod. Heb. A11 (Kaufmann Collection, Budapest); and the Vorlage of Midrash Tanhuma 6. 59 TJN . J. Ribera Florit, "La funcin modificadora de 'atid en arameo," AO 5 (1987) 146-149; M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period. Ramat-Gan 1990, 422. 60 Translation based upon: A. Sperber, The Bible in Aramaic Based on Old Manu- scripts and Printed Texts. Vol. II: The Former Prophets According to Targum Jonathan. Leiden 1959. 61 F. Bhl, "Der erweiterte Vergleich im Targum," FJB 18 (1990) 23-44; A. van der Kooij, Die alten Textzeugen des Jesajabuches: Ein Beitrag zur Textgeschichte des Alten Testaments. Gttingen 1981, 176. Cf. below PT Zech. 4:2. 62 The prepositions point to a chiasmus in which case "sun" and "Glory" belong together. However, the reverse is equally possible. Cf. the equation of MT Hab. 3:4

with . Nevertheless, the equation boils down to understanding the sunlight as the mediation of the Glory.

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In MT the comparison of the righteous to the sunburst in its strength presumably refers to the fatal blow which Israel's enemies will experience. In Egypt the rising sun represented both redemp- tion of the faithful and destruction of the wicked, the enemies of the sun-god.63 In a similar way the MT makes the righteous function as God's instruments of judgement.

The targum of Jdg. 5:31 chimes in with the translation of TJN Is. 30:26 and 2 Sam. 23:4,64 though the MT of these three passages has little in common. In these passages the sun will shine a 343 times more, which confirms the equation of the Glory and the sun. Moreover, in 2 Sam. 23:4 the glory is that of the righteous themselves, which points to an identification of the righteous with the Glory of God. We have to stress here that the three new elements in TJN-the introduction of the Glory, the shining of the righteous and the strength of shining (343 times)-are not born out by the Hebrew of any of these passages, not even by their alignment. At this juncture it is interesting to point to a well attested variant reading in TJN Is. 60:5: j'7fi3ml "and you will shine" instead of pii1Jnm "and you will be lightened." Since it is clearly the light of the Glory of God which is involved here (see Is. 60:1-2, 19-20), this tradition allows the faithful of Israel to share actively in the revelation of his eschatological splendour whereas the alternative reading of TJN mitigates this by using the passive stem.65

The translation of Jdg. 5:31 is elliptic because TJN does not pro- vide the information necessary to understand the multiplification. The element of comparison is the primeval light of the creation week, derived from Isaiah 30:26:

Then the light of the full moon will be as the light of the glowing sun, and the light of the glowing sun will be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days, in the day when the LORD will bind up the hurt of his people, and heal its inflicted wound.

63 Janowski, Rettungsgewissheit und Epiphanie, 105ff; spec. 156, 169, 174; Smith, "Solar Language," 36f. 64 P. Churgin, Targum Jonathan to the Prophets. New Haven 1927, 95, 125; P. Weisz, Az aggada Jnthn ben 'Uzzil targumban, Budapest 1931, 29; R. le Daut, La nuit pascale, Rome 1966, 251; L. Smolar, M. Aberbach, Studies in Targum Jonathan to the Prophets. New York, 1983, 169-187, 223; Komlosh, 291 f. 65 Compare also NumR 11,5; Sifre Num., 41 (ed. Horovitz, 44); Sifre Sut, 6 (ed. Horovitz, 247); Jellinek, Beth ha-Midrasch, Bd. 3, 154.

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The targumist is assumed to have multiplied the dualis understood as 7x7, with the factor of the resulting in the mysterious number 343,66 but this explanation is not entirely satisfactory. The Hebrew reads "as (D) the light of the seven days", and the translators do not deviate from that. So the addi- tional factor is obscure, and in fact 7 x 7 is not that obvious either since traditionally the primeval light shines only sevenfold .67 In the version of TJN:

And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be about to shine three hundred forty-three times more, as the light of the seven days, in the day when the LORD will restore the exiles of his people and lift up the sickness of its affliction.

The eschatological light is put on a par with that of the seven creation days, which for that very reason cannot have been the light of the celestial bodies. These were only created at the fourth day. This

primeval light was understood as the Glory of God in TJN Hab. 3:4. The same light is thought of as God's sevenfold shining in the

Thanksgivings Hymns from Qumran Cave 1: And I have shone forth with a sevenfold li[ght] with [the light which] Thou [hast establi]shed for Thy Glory. For Thou art unto me an [ever]lasting illumination and Thou settest up my feet in [righteousness].68

As the reference is in the present to either the light of creation or the eschatological light, it implies a mystical notion. Moreover, the co-text contains esoteric descriptions of illumination 69 and hence the expectation of sevenfold shining does not need to be merely metaphorical. Indisputably eschatological is the co-text of 1 Enoch 91:16:

66 So Rashi in his commentary of Jdg. 5:31; see: M. Cohen (ed.), , Joshua, Judges. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1992. 67 In a separate short note I intend to put forward a different solution for the mysterious number 343. 68 1QH 7:24-25 in the translation of: M. Mansoor, The Thanksgivings Hymns. Translated and Annotated with an Introduction. [Studies on the Text of the Desert of Judah, 3]. Leiden 1961, 151. For a slightly different reconstruction, see: Holm- Nielsen, Hodayot, 130f; B. Kittel, The Hymns of Qumran. Chico 1975, 126. 69 Contrast: Mansoor, Thanksgivings Hymns, 90 (cf. 65ff) and Kittel (Hymns of Qumran, 136) who understand 1QH 7:24-25 in an eschatological sense due to the wider co-text.

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The first heaven shall depart and pass away; a new heaven shall appear; and all the powers of heaven shall shine forever sevenfold. 10

That these "powers" may include the righteous is, I believe, con-

firmed by the longer recension of 2 Enoch 66:7:

Blessed are the righteous, who shall escape the great judgement of the Lord, because they shall shine forth a seven times more than the sun. 71

Apparently the identification of the righteous with divine, primeval light was not yet offensive to the author of this composition presumably dating from the first century C.E.'2 Some may have associated the righteous with luminous angels as well, as is apparent from 2 Enoch 19:1:

And I saw there seven bands of angels, very bright and glorious, and their faces shining more than the rays of the sun.'3

'

The beatific righteous will shine much more strongly than the sun. This is also true of the "sunlike man" coming down in the Testa- ment of Abraham (long recension) 7:2-5, flashing "more than seven suns" .'4

The number seven is especially important in the Semitic world. However, inspiration to attribute special importance to the number seven may also have been found in the Hellenistic culture. Aristobulus, for example, believed the cosmos to be ordered by the number seven and to him the "sevenfold logos" was the source of all the light." An indication of possible influence of such speculative thinking comes from a telling gloss in 2 Sam. 23:4 in some manuscripts of Targum Jonathan, in fact providing an

70 In the translation of E. Isaac in: J.H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 1. London 1983, 73. 71 Based upon the translation in: Mach, Entwicklungsstadien, 165. Compare: W.R. Morfill, R.H. Charles, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch. Oxford 1896, 82. Cf. 65:8.

72 Schrer, History of the Jewish People, Vol. III.2, 748; cf. M.E. Stone (ed.), Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period, Assen 1984, 406. 73 Morfill, Charles, The Book of the Secrets, 23. 74 Cf. WisSol 7:25-8:1; LAB 12:1; 4 Ezra 7:122-125; 2 Enoch 32:8ff; 4 Mac- cabees 17:4-5.

75 Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism, I, 166ff; D. Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Garden City, 1979, 36f. Note that in the Graeco-Roman world the sun-god is sometimes adorned with seven rays: C.F. Burney, The Book of Judges. London 1918, 404 n.

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amalgam of two alternative identifications of the primeval light (the gloss is printed in italics):

...you will shine forth in the splendour of your glory like the light of dawn that grows stronger and stronger and like the sun that will shine forth in the splendour of his glory a three hundred and forty-three times in the light of the seven stars of the seven days. 16

The seven stars or planets consisted of the moon, sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and they evoked much interest in the Hellenistic world." According to certain Jewish traditions the primeval light of the first creation days, when the sun, moon and stars had not yet been put into the firmament, had been "sevenfold" . 78 Apparently there existed another tradition which identified the sevenfold shining with the seven planets. This prompted the question which light was described as shining. This question is answered by the gloss putting "the splendour of his Glory" on a par with the seven stars.

The association of planets and the son(s) of God, attested in Job 38:7 (morning stars/sons of God) and in 4Q246 (in the singular, for the eschaton) '71 is related to the concept of astral immortality. In an epitaph of a city-councillor God is said to have "placed us in the sphere of the planets. "8 The connection between the seven luminaries, the seven creation days and the righteous occurs with respect to the menorah too, for example in Targum Pseudo- Jonathan of Ex. 40:4:

16 MS Or. 2371 and the London Polyglot (P. Humbert, "Le Messie dans le Targum des Prophtes," Revue de Thologie et de Philosophie 43 (1910) 420-447, 44 (1911) 5-46, here: 431f.); the latter has the same plus in TJN Is. 30:26. In the Ant- werp Polyglot this variant is recorded among the "rejected readings" in vol. 7, p. 29. 77 L. Yarden, The Tree of Light: A Study of the Menorah. The Seven-branched Lamp- stand. Uppsala 1972 (revised version; first published London 1971), 50f; Maier, "Die Sonne," 370. Cf. the Heptadic verses in: P.W. van der Horst, Joods- hellenistische pozie. Kampen 1987, 85. 78 bPes. 68a ( = bSanh. 91b); ExR 18:11; 50:5; GenR 3:6 by implication; and a poem of Jose ben Jose (4th century C.E.), quoted by J. Maier, "Die Sonne," 405. Cf. GenR 3:4. For 49 times, see: ExR 15:21; Yalqut Shim'oni ad Zech. 4:2, 4; PesR 42:4 (cf. PesR 8:4); Midrash Konen 26 (ed. A. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrasch. Bd. II, Leipzig 1853); cf. 3 Enoch 12:3. 79 Fitzmyer, "The Contribution of Qumran Aramaic to the Study of the New Testament," NTS 20 (1974) 391ff; E. Puech, "Fragment d'une apocalypse en Aramen (4Q246 = Pseudo-Dand) et le 'Royaume de Dieu'," RB 99 (1992) 98- 131 : "Comme les comtes de la vision, ainsi sera leur rgne!" 80 CIJ 788; so Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 123f.

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...and you shall light its seven lamps corresponding to the seven planets which are likened to the righteous who enlighten the world through their righteousness.

The representation of the luminaries by the menorah lamps, in the wake of Zechariah's fifth vision and Mesopotamian astronomy, was current in the days of Philo and josephus.81 The light may have symbolized God himself,82 as it would later on in the Kabbalah.83

The seven stars prominently figure in Revelation 1:12-20 describing the vision of "one like a son of man" in the midst of seven golden lampstands, holding seven stars in his right hand, whose face was shining as "the sunburst in its strength." This clearly evokes TJN Jdg. 5:31. The figure says:

As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

McNamara points to TPsJ Ex. 39:37 and 40:4 to explain the vision8 and particularly the nature of the angels. He concludes that the angels symbolize the just and therefore represent "the human representatives of the community" or "those in charge of them. 1185 This may be true, but his conclusion that the just are on earth is premature, because the heavenly ascent of the just is not suppressed in this particular targum as we saw earlier. Moreover, the seven angels continue to play a part in Revelation, along with the number seven, which recalls the importance of the number seven in various

81 E.R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, vol. IV, New York 1954, 71-98; M. Smith, "The Image of God," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 40 (1958) 473-512; Yarden, Tree of Light, 49ff. 82 Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, vol. 4, 82ff; Yarden, Tree of Light, 55; Smith, "Helios in Palestine," 208. Cf. PesR 8:4. In pagan representations of the Zodiac panel the seven planets may take the place of the sun-god Helios. On a sun dial found during the Temple Mount excavations in Jerusalem a seven branched menorah has been incised; figure 2a in: Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art, 239. In a fif- teenth century manuscript the picture of a menorah is made up by the words of Psalm 67 with an esoteric play on the numerical value of the letters finally resulting in the word See A. Schimmel, The Mystery of Numbers. New York/Oxford 1993, 134. 83 Yarden, Tree of Light, 57f. 84 M. McNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch. Rome 1966, 192-199. The latter passage is translated differently by McNamara (198): "that shine unto eternity in their righteousness. See, however, PT Zech. 4:2. 85 McNamara, New Testament and Palestinian Targum, 198f.

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Dead Sea Scrolls, especially in connection with the celestial abode.86 In addition, a new fragment of the Palestinian Targum to Zechariah 4:2 sheds fresh light on this issue. It is worthy of a lengthy quotation because it preserves three interpretations of the Hebrew lclause: "I saw, behold, a menorah all of gold". 87

I saw and behold, Jerusalem, her splendour was as the splendour of her glory from one end of the world to another, and the sanctuary house was built in its midst and the temple was built in the midst of the sanctuary, the altar was established in the midst of the temple and behold, the priests, the sons of Aaron were bringing sacrifices before the Lord and offering incenses of spices to be received with delight. And I was looking a second time and I saw and behold, a company of scholars was coming: king David at the head of seven good leaders and eight princes, one for each (of them). These seven good leaders were Adam, Seth, Methusalem at his right hand, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses at his left hand and eight princes: Jesse, Saul and Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Hizkia and Elia and the King Messiah. A third time I was looking and I saw and behold, a menorah all of gold and a basin on top of it and seven lamps on it; these are the seven lamps: seven classes of righteous ones, by whose righteousness the world is preserved which was created in seven days.

Three traditions, all of which are introduced as visions of the menorah, have been interlaced here: the menorah as ( 1 ) the light of the heavenly Jerusalem with its sanctuary, (2) king David at the head of deceased ancestors and (3) seven classes of righteous ones which seem to fulfil a heavenly function distributed over the seven creation days. In the latter tradition the righteous function like stars, or their guiding angels. 88

86 Rev. 3:1; 4:5; 5:1, 5, 6; 8:2, 6; 10:3, 4; 11:13; 12:3; 13:1; 15:1, 6, 7, 8; 16:1; 17:1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 10, 11: 21:9. Cf. Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath, 31ff; Yadin, Scroll of the War, 157, 165; and the seven crowns of the priestly vestment in 11QNJ: M. Kister, "Notes on Some New Texts from Qumran," JJS 44 (1993) 282. 87 The text was published by: R. Kasher, "The Targumic Additions to the Haftarah for the Sabbath of Hannuka," Tarbiz 45 (1975/76) 27-45. 88 For astrological elements, see: Levine, The Aramaic Version, 71ff; Urbach, The Sages, 275ff. In PT Zech. 4:7 the rise of the Messiah in the World to Come coin- cides with the fall of a planet. If we accept the proposal of E. van Staalduine- Sulman, "The Aramaic Song of the Lamb," 279, that the Tosefta-Targum to 1 Sam. 17:8 is a (defective) acrostich reading

, this would be direct support for the astral interpretation.

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Finally, the expression "the splendour of her glory" is pleonastic. Since "her glory" serves as an element of comparison, it is strange to assume the suffix refers to Jerusalem. It may either refer to the menorah, or elliptically to the Shekhinah. The latter is

suggested by two manuscripts reading i1iP\ "the glory of the Lord", or simply, but no doubt with the same intention, e7p', "the Glory. 1189

The seven classes of righteous are often alluded to in rabbinic literature, though nearly as often devoid of celestial speculation.10 It is difficult to trace the origin of the tradition about the seven classes of righteous wise men. The targumic fragment quoted above calls them "scholars". It seems apt to cite the "seven pillars of the world who were able to please the most just God" according to Ps- Clementine (Homilies 18:14).9' They may go back to a Mesopota- mian tradition about the seven antediluvian sages apkallli.11 Interestingly, several of these sages were said to have ascended to heaven. This Babylonian tradition was known in the Hellenistic world through the work of Berossos93 and in the Jewish world through the Enoch literature.94 Because it has been established that these traditions were also taken over by the Canaanites,95 it is not too far-fetched to suppose that the concept of the Seven Sages reached rabbinic teaching either through literary channels or through the channels of folk religion.

Later on the rabbis seem to have dropped the "astral" interpretation of the menorah. They even forbade the manufacture of

89 That was often identified with God's Glory is presupposed by the gloss under the heading in Codex Reuchlin 3 (Karlsruhe), TJN Is. 10:16. Cf. Kister, "Notes on Some New Texts," 286. 90 Take, for example, LevR 30:2 in which the rabbinic restraint has exercised its influence decisively. Cf. TestLev 8:2; B. Grossfeld, The Two Targums of Esther. Translated, with Apparatus and Notes. Edinburgh 1991, 110; and further Smith, "The Image," 498. 91 Winston, Wisdom of Solomon, 211f and esp. Smith, "The Image," 498. 92 H.S. Kvanvig, Roots of Apocalyptic. The Mesopotamian Background of the Enoch Figure and The Son of Man. Neukirchen-Vluyn 1988, 202ff. See also K. van der Toorn, "De mens kan niet ten hemel klimmen, noch afdalen naar het dodenrijk". Utrecht 1988, 13-14. 93 Cf. W.G. Lambert, "A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis," JThS 16 (1965) 287-300. 94 Cf. J.C. VanderKam, "1 Enoch 77,3 and a Babylonian Map of the World," RdQ 11/42 (1983) 271-278. 95 J.C. de Moor, "Ugaritic Lexicographical Notes I," UF 18 (1986) 258; Idem, An Anthology, 165, n.58.

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menorahs with seven branches.96 Archeological finds indeed show a marked decrease of seven branched candle-sticks for the Tan- naitic period, though in the third century C.E. the seven branched menorah reappears .97 In later rabbinic literature the comparison of the seven planets with the menorah turns up again,98 just as the concept that the light of the menorah will shine sevenfold for Israel in the Messianic Age.99

IV. Conclusions

The survey of the heptadic traditions bears out that the use of the motif of sevenfold shining was closely related to astral symbolism. An astral interpretation, i. e. the notion of a mystical union with God as the source of all light, accounts best for the modifications in TJN (Jdg. 5:31, 2 Sam. 23:4, Is. 30:26, 60:5).100 The concept of astral immortality was known to Hellenistic Judaism. It appeared to be a concept deeply rooted in ancient Near Eastern religious tradition. Esoteric teaching in connection with the creation light was not unknown to the Sages either.101 However, we observed a tendency among the rabbis to eliminate or mitigate passages in which the beatific faithful were depicted as luminaries in their own right sharing in the divine light.

In TJN the sunlight shines forth from God himself 71I'iD) by the equation of "his glory" and MT imi, but the righteous themselves shine forth as well."" The righteous, the sunlight and the Glory are simply put on a par, without distinction or distance.

96 Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, vol. IV, 88; A.-M. Goldberg, "Der siebenar- mige Leuchter," ZDMG 117 (1967) 232-246, esp. 236. 97 Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art, 251ff. 98 In addition to TPsJ Ex. 39:37; 40:4; NumR 15:4, 7; Tanhuma 5; Yalqut Shim'oni ad Jdg. 5:31, 59. 99 ExR 50:5.

100 When Goldberg, Schekhinah, 527 acknowledges that a true unification of man with the Shekhinah is meant, yet rejects the idea of an unio mystica, this seems to be a matter of terminology. 101 Urbach, The Sages, 209. 102 See next to the targumic variants discussed above, Tg Psalm 57:3: "so that I [David] may pass before the Lord into the Garden of Eden to see by the light of the righteous the web (that was made) on my behalf." Antwerp Polyglot, vol. 7, under the "rejected readings"; cf. 56:14 (ed. E. White, A Critical Edition of the Targum of Psalms: A Computer Generated Text of Books I and II, PhD McGill Univer- sity, Montreal 1988).

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God's glory (e7p') will be their glory his eternal light will be their light TJN Is. 60:2,3,5,19-20).

Exactly the circumstance that this concept was partly removed from the official Targum may point to its antiquity. By way of contrast, rabbinic literature tends to differentiate between man and Shekhinah-it is merely the latter's brightness which the righteous behold.

The sun will not be diminished or outshined by the light of God's s own Glory in the version of TJN. In rabbinic literature sun and moon may be blinded by the splendour of the Shekhinah,103 and in bPes. 8a (cf. 68a) the light of the righteous is only a little lamp in comparison to that of the Shekhinah. It is therefore noteworthy how the Targumist resolved the contradiction between Is. 24:33 (dull luminaries), 60:19 (God is the light instead of sun and moon; cf. Rev. 21:23) and Is. 30:26 (multiplification of sunlight). In bPes. 68a ( = Sanh. 91b) this contradiction is solved by distributing the two alternatives over two periods: the messianic age and the world to come. In TJN another solution is offered. Is. 24:33 is applied to the worshippers of the sun and the moon, and Is. 60:19 "The sun shall be no more your light by day" is modified into: "and you shall no more need the sun for light by day." In this way the targumist avoided to pass on the idea that the sun's brightness would be diminished. 104 Apparently the idea that the sunlight would be abolished was unacceptable. This seems to antedate the rabbinic restraint with respect to the sun and may well be related to the close association of the luminaries with God's Glory.

If the sun would not be diminished, it should at least be outshined and that is probably why rabbinic traditions of a sevenfold, or seven times seven, shining came into existence. But not more:

Then if the sun, which is but one of the countless myriads of the ser- vants of the Holy One, blessed be He, shines on the whole world, how much more the Shekhinah of the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself! 105

103 LevR 31:9; cf. bMen. 86b. 104 The same effect seems to be achieved in TJN Jer. 4:23 and Am. 8:9, though not in Joel 2:10; 3:4; 4:15. 105 bSanh. 39a. Cf. bHull. 59b. Also bBB 75a: "In a similar category is the following: 'And you shall put of your Glory upon him,' but not all your Glory." (Num. 27:20). An apologetic distinction between sun and Shekhinah recurs in DeutR 4:3; LevR 31:9.

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Thus the 343-traditions could not gain a firm foothold in rabbinic tradition.

In TJN there is no mention of either the face of the Shekhinah or that of the righteous, nor is there a clash of metaphors, both of which would tend to render the tradition purely symbolical-as, e.g., in Tg Qoheleth 11:7 (see above). If we juxtapose Sifre Deuteronomy 10 and 47 on the one hand, and the heptadic traditions quoted thus far on the other, it seems as if the former emphatically advocate a metaphorical interpretation (10):

Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai said: The faces of the righteous resemble seven joys ill the time to come: sun,106 moon, firmament, stars, lightnings, lilies' 07 and lamps.108

and the parallel version in 47, with a telling interpretation of the proof-text:

"As the days of heaven on (!) the earth" (Deut. 11:21), when the faces of the righteous will be like the sun and thus it says: "And its lovers (will be) like the sunburst in its strength." (Jdg. 5:31). Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai said: "For seven joys will the faces of the righteous receive the face of the Shekhinah in the time to come, ...

The images of corporality (faces), of cosmology, nature, and household utensils surely convey a notion of bliss. However, some connotations in the passages quoted are by now familiar to us and suggest an underlying polemic. The sevenfold joy reminds us of the seven classes of righteous in heaven which in turn cannot be explained satisfactorily without having recourse to the astral symbolism of the seven planets. Indeed, the seven classes recur in 10, just before the passage quoted above: "From this they say: "There are seven classes of righteous ones in the Garden of Eden, one above the other.' " Interestingly, in the manuscript tradition the mystical interpretation intruded in 47: another MS reads 7'fi3fib "to shine forth" instead of "to receive the face of the Shekhinah". "Shining" was one of the three extras of TJN, as we saw above.

106 . This word often denotes "sun"; see Maier, "Die Sonne," 360. 107 The inclusion of lilies is based upon Psalm 45:1; Smith, "The Image," 499.

Cf. Matt. 6:28f and Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, vol. III, 192. 108 Translation based upon the edition of: L. Finkelstein, Siphre ad Deuteronomium. Berlin 1939, 105.

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The apotheosis of the faithful to the Glory of God as angels of light, found in the New Testament and intertestamental literature alike, cannot have been unknown to the Sages. It may even have been shared by them initially until it had to be suppressed to counter heretics who stuck to the light-mysticism which entailed the

danger of veneration of angelic beings visibly represented by the stars. We have increasingly become aware of the strong attraction popular magic and mysticism'9 exerted on Jewish life in the age of the rabbis.

TJN's version of sevenfold shining may still have included the light-mysticism that once also pertained to the menorah. The

representation of the light of creation by a multiple of seven and the participation in the splendour of the Shekhinah by identifying the number "seven" with the righteous and with the increase of light seem to indicate a transformation of the righteous that goes far beyond metaphorical descriptions of material bliss. It is a tradition that does not really fit well into the general picture of TJN. Any attempt to retouch the passages involved may simply not have been successful because the idea was so popular, both with regard to the hereafter and the World to Come.

109 No clear-cut distinction is possible, cf. Alexander, "Comparing Merkavah Mysticism," 8.

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Smelik Mystical JSJ