Can Ascension to Heaven happen physically or only in a vision? And does the New Testament serve as a link between earlier biblical thought on Heavenly Ascent and later rabbinic and mystical thought?
This idea was originally introduced and raised by the experiences of Enoch and Elijah, who were both described as having been taken to heaven (see Gen. 5:24, and 2 Kings 2:1-11).
1 Enoch
Yet the idea of heavenly ascent takes on a whole new meaning with the introduction of the Book of Watchers, as preserved in 1 Enoch:
And it was shown to me thus in a vision: Behold! Clouds were calling me in my vision, and dark clouds were calling out to me; fire-balls and lightening were hastening me on and driving me, and winds, in my vision were bearing me aloft, and they raised me upwards and carried and brought me into the heavens (1Enoch 14:8).
This account draws heavily upon the prophetic accounts of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel and others (esp. the famous merkavah account in Ezek. 1) in which the throne room of G-d is described in detail.
What makes Enoch’s experience unique is that he is described as having ascended to heaven to experience the celestial throne room and the manifest presence of G-d. The continuity with the earlier prophets is that his ascension is still described as having taken place in a vision: “And it was shown to me thus in a vision.”
2 Corinthians
This is not all that different from an experience described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:
I have to boast. There is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in union with the Messiah who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the third heaven; whether he was in body or outside the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that such a man – whether in the body or apart from the body I don’t know, God knows – was snatched into Paradise and heard things that cannot be put into words, things unlawful for a human being to utter (CJB, vs. 1-4).
Paul describes his experience of ascending into paradise and having witnessed things that are impossible/unlawful to recount. Although we do not have the throne room vision in Paul’s account as we do in Enoch, the connection of ascension to heaven is clear.
However, Paul notes something that sets his experience apart from Enoch’s in that he specifically mentions he cannot explain whether his ascension was strictly in a vision, or whether it actually took place bodily. Enoch’s experience was clearly a vision, because he says so.
It seems to me that this reference, in connection with other citations of bodily translation preserved in the New Testament (for example, Phillip’s being snatched away after his encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:39), highlights another transition in Jewish Ascension thought – that heavenly ascent could happen bodily or within a vision. Paul’s mention of the possibility that it could have taken place bodily did not discredit his account.
Due to the fact that there seems to be some type of a transition in ascension thought to include the possibility of the event taking place bodily, Paul’s account could well indeed serve as a link between older Jewish ascension texts (like 1 Enoch), and stories preserved in rabbinical sources (like the Four Rabbis Who Entered Pardes), and the later Merkavah and Heikhalot mystical texts.
One of my favorite Midrashim, from parashat Beraishis, says that 9 tzadikkim entered Gan Eden alive. (According to other versions, seven [Kalla Rabbasi], or thirteen [Yalkut Shimoni Yechezkel])
-Enoch
-Eliezer, the servant of Avraham
-Serach, the daughter of Asher
-Basya, the daughter of Pharaoh
-Eliyahu
-Mashiach
-Eved Melech Hakushi (who saved the prophet Yirmeyahu from the pit)
-Chiram, the king of Tzur (who assisted Shlomo in building the Temple)
-Yaavetz, the son of R. Yehuda Hanassi
It elaborates that our chachamim say that Mashiach was born when the Temple was destroyed, but Hashem took him to Gan Eden in order to conceal him until the time of the final redemption.
That's a cool midrash, Jeff.
I'm curious: is there a connection between the Greek word παράδεισος (paradeisos, from which we get the word Paradise) and the Hebrew word for orchard, Pardes?
When Yeshua said to the thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in paradise," what word might he have used (in Hebrew or Aramaic) for Paradise?
Jeff-
That is a very similar quote to the one I alluded to in the article (the 4 who entered paradise):
Four men entered paradise [pardes] — Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher [that is, Elisha], and Akiva. Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants; Akiba entered in peace and departed in peace.
(Tosefta Hagigah 2:3-4, b. Talmud Hagigah 14b, j. Talmud Hagigah 2:1)
Thanks for the comment!
Yahnatan-
Thanks for your comment. Although I am not sure of the exact etymology of the two words, I do believe the two are related.
In regard to your question about which word may have been used in the verse: "Today you will be with me in paradise," three different versions, including Delitzsch's all use Gan-Eden (literally the "Garden of Eden" - but a common rabbinic allusion to Paradise).