Where Is Paradise? (page 2)

This is a question that can be best answered by looking at contemporary Jewish beliefs about what happened to the Garden (= "paradise" in the Greek OT) of Eden. This was a place where God himself lived and walked throughout (Genesis 3:8-23), and yet God is not known to any longer walk on the earth and no such place was known to exist in the present-day earth....which had been drowned by Flood anyway in the days of Noah. The fact that God did not destroy the Garden of Eden or let it revert to wilderness after Adam and Eve had sinned but merely expelled them and placed cherubim as guards at its entrance (Genesis 3:24) suggested to Jewish interpreters that God still had further plans for the garden. According to the "Book of Parables" of 1 Enoch, the Garden of Eden as well as the Tree of Life were located on the edges of a flat earth and God intended the righteous after eschatological judgment to partake of the fruits of Eden:

"As for this fragrant tree, no flesh has the right to touch it until the great Judgment, in which there will be vengeance on all and a consummation forever. Then it will be given to the righteous and the pious, and its fruit will be food for the chosen. And it will be transplanted to the holy place, by the house of God, the King of eternity. Then they will rejoice and be glad and they will enter into the sanctuary. Its fragrances will be in their bones, and they will live a long life on the earth, such as your fathers lived also in their days, and torments and plagues and suffering will not touch them" (1 Enoch 25:4-6).

"From there I proceeded to the east of all these mountains, far from them to the east of the earth. And I passed over the Red Sea and departed far from it. And I crossed over the darkness, far from it. I passed by the paradise of righteousness, and I saw from afar trees more plentiful and larger than these trees, differing from those, very large and beautiful and glorious and magnificent, and the tree of wisdom, whose fruit the holy ones eat and learn great wisdom....This is the tree of wisdom from which your father of old and your mother of old, who were before you, ate and learned wisdom. And their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they were driven from the garden" (1 Enoch 32:2-6).

Within the "plot" of 1 Enoch, this tour of paradise and the rest of the earth occurred before the Flood and before Enoch was "taken". The later "Book of Parables" of the book goes on to have Noah report Enoch's translation to this paradise, "where the chosen and righteous dwell, where my great-grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam" (1 Enoch 60:8). The reference to "the chosen and righteous" suggests that Enoch was not the only one who would be taken into this paradise, but implies that God has purposed the garden to be the blessed abode of those who please God. This concept is strikingly similar to the paradise in the Gilgamesh Epic where Utnapishtim (the Flood hero) was placed by the gods at the eastern edge of the world, where he was sustained by the plant of life which gave him immortality (the connection with Gilgamesh is likely not a coincidence; in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Aramaic editions of 1 Enoch included a "Book of Giants" that mentioned Gilgamesh as one of the giants). Another vision similarly relates: "I saw the garden of Eden and its fruits and the source of the river flowing from it, and its trees and their flowering, making fruits, and I saw righteous men therein, their food and their rest" (Apocalypse of Abraham 21:6).

This view of a terrestial Garden of Eden, in the far reaches of the earth, was replaced with the idea that the original earthly paradise had been preserved in heaven (safeguarded from the Flood that drowned the earth), and thus the Edenic abode of the righteous was in heaven. This fit better with the Elijah traditions which posited an ascent to heaven in the flesh (2 Kings 2:11), just as Enoch was described as dwelling in heaven throughout the generations in the "Book of Parables" of 1 Enoch. Associated with this idea, especially in the chilliast tradition, would be that in the end-times the heavenly paradise would be restored to the earth and become an earthly paradise once more (tho in the present age, the paradise and the righteous within it reside in heaven). These concepts are expressed in such passages as the following:

"Michael turned the chariot and brought Abraham toward the east, to the first gate of heaven....This straight gate is the gate of the righteous, which leads to life, and those who enter it come into Paradise" (Testament of Abraham 11:1, 10).

"And he shall take from Beliar the captives, the souls of the saints; and he shall turn the hearts of the disobedient ones to the Lord, and grant eternal peace to those who call upon him. And the saints shall refresh themselves in Eden; the righteous shall rejoice in New Jerusalem, which shall be eternally for the glorification of God" (Testament of Dan 5:11-12).

"And he shall open the gates of Paradise; he shall remove the sword that has threatened since Adam, and he will grant the saints to eat of the tree of life. The spirit of holiness shall be upon them, and Beliar shall be bound by him... Then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will rejoice, and I shall be glad, and all the saints shall be clothed in righteousness" (Testament of Levi 18:10-12, 14).

"To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God....I saw the holy city, and the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven...Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb [in heaven] and flowing crystal-clear down the middle of the city street. On either side of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure of the pagans" (Revelation 2:7; 21:2; 22:1-2).

"If I has asked you, 'How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea, or how many streams are at the source of the deep, or how many streams are above the firmament, or which are the exits of hell, or which are the entrances of Paradise?' perhaps you would have said to me, 'I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into hell, neither did I ever ascend into heaven' " (4 Ezra 4:8-9).

"And the earth shall give up those who are asleep in it; and the chambers shall give up the souls which have been committed to them. And the Most High shall be revealed upon the seat of judgment and compassion shall pass away...Then the pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it the Paradise of delight. Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead, 'Look now, and understand whom you have denied, whom you have not served, whose commandments you have despised! Look on this side and on that; here are delight and rest, and there are fire and torments!' " (4 Ezra 7:32-38).

"This city [New Jerusalem] will be delivered up for a time, and the people will be chastened for a time, and the world will not be forgotten... It is that which will be revealed, with me, that was already prepared from the moment that I decided to create Paradise. And I showed it to Adam before he sinned. But when he transgressed the commandment, it was taken away from him, as also Paradise. After these things I showed it to my servant Abraham in the night between the portions of the victims. And again I showed it to Moses on Mount Sinai when I showed him the likeness of the tabernacle and all its vessels. Behold, now it is preserved with me, along with Paradise" (2 Baruch 4:1-6).

"For they will live in the heights of that world and they will be like the angels and be equal to the stars. And they will be changed to any shape which they wished, from beauty to loveliness, and from light to the splendor of glory. For the extents of Paradise will be spread out for them, and to them will be shown the beauty of the majesty of the living beings under the throne, as well as the hosts of the angels" (2 Baruch 51:7-11).

"After your mother and I had been driven from Paradise, while we were praying, Michael the archangel and messenger of God came to me. And I saw the chariot like the wind and its wheels were fiery. I was carried off into the Paradise of righteousness and I saw the Lord sitting and his appearance was unbearable flaming fire. And many thousands of angels were at the right and the left of the chariot...After I had worshipped the Lord, Michael the archangel took hold of my hand and ejected me from the Paradise of visitation and of God's command" (Life of Adam and Eve 25:1-3, 29:1).

A number of sources specifically place Paradise within third heaven, in a layered scheme of multiple heavens. In the Apocalypse of Moses 40:1, God tells Michael the archangel: "Go into Paradise in the third heaven and bring me three cloths of linen and silk" (cf. 37:5: "Lift him up into Paradise and into third heaven, and leave him there until that fearful day of my reckoning"). Paul relates a rapture "out of the body" or in the body to "paradise" which he placed in "third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:1-4), and heard sounds that could not be expressed in human language (i.e. angelic sounds). 2 Enoch narrates a journey through the seven heavens, describing the Garden of Eden as existing in "third heaven". In this case, Enoch is taken "in the body" in his heavenly tour:

"The ascension of Enoch to the first heaven. And it came about when I had spoken to my sons, those men called me. And they took me up onto their wings, and carried me up to the first heaven, and placed me on the clouds...They showed me a vast ocean, much bigger than the earthly ocean. They led me to face the angels who govern the stars, the rulers of the steller orders. And they showed me their movements and their aberrations from year to year. And they showed me the light the angels who govern the stars, the heavenly combinations. And they fly with their wings, as do the rounds of all the planets. And they showed me there the treasuries of the snow and the cold, terrible angels are guarding the treasuries....And they showed me the treasuries of the dew, like olive oil...And those men took me up to the second heaven. And they showed me and I saw a darkness greater than the earthly darkness. And there I perceived prisoners under guard, hanging up, waiting for the measureless judgment. And those angels have the appearance of darkness itself, more than earthly darkness. And unceasingly they wept, all day long. And I said to the men who were with me, 'Why are they tormented?' The men answered me, 'They are the evil rebels against the Lord, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord, but they consulted their own will.' And I felt sorry for them...And the men took me from there. They brought me up to the third heaven. And they placed me in the midst of Paradise. And that place has an appearance of pleasantness that has never been seen. Every tree was in full flower. Every fruit was ripe...And the four rivers were flowing past with gentle movement, with every kind of garden producing every kind of good food. And the tree of life is in that place, under which the Lord takes a rest when the Lord takes a walk in Paradise....And those men carried me to the northern region; and they showed me a very frightful place; and all kinds of torture and torment are in that place, cruel darkness and lightless gloom. And there is no light there, and a black fire blazes up perpetually, with a river of fire...And those men said to me, 'This place, Enoch, has been prepared for those who do not glorify God, who practice on the earth the sin which is against nature, which is child corruption in the anus in the manner of Sodom, of witchcraft, enchantments, divinations, trafficking with demons, who boast of their evil deeds, fornication, murder...' And the men lifted me from there and they carried me up to the fourth heaven. And they showed me there all the movements and sequences of the sun and moon and their rays of light. The sun has a light seven times greater than the moon. And I saw his circle and his wheels on which he always goes, going past always like wind with quite marvelous speed. And his coming and going give him no rest, day and night. And I saw the four great stars and angels going in front of the sun's chariot...And they showed me the gates through which the sun goes out according to the appointed seasons and according to the cycle of the months...And the men picked me up from there and carried me to the fifth heaven. And I saw there many armies and the Watchers. And their appearance was like the appearance of a human being, and their size was larger than that of large giants...And the men said to me, 'These are the Watchers, two hundred princes of whom turned aside and descended to earth and broke the promise on the shoulder of Mount Hermon to defile themselves with human wives.' ... And the men took me away from there and they brought me up to the sixth heaven. And I saw there seven angels, grouped together, brilliant and very glorious. And their radiance was like the radiance of the sun when it shines. They are the leaders of the angels and of celestial speech. And they make all celestial life peaceful, and they perserve the commandments and instructions, and sweet voices and singing every kind of praise and glory. And there are angels over seasons and years, and there are also angels over rivers and oceans, angels over fruit and grass, and of everything that breeds. And in the midst of them are seven phoenixes and seven cherubim, six-winged beings, having but one voice and singing in themselves...And the men lifted me up from there and they carried me up to the seventh heaven. And I saw a great light, and all the fiery armies of the incorporeal ones, archangels, angels, and the shining stations...And they do not leave nor depart, standing in front of the face of the Lord, and carrying out his will -- cherubim and seraphim standing all around his throne, six-winged and many-eyed, and they cover his entire throne, singing with gentle voice in front of the face of the Lord...And the Lord said to Michael, 'Go, and extract Enoch from his earthly clothing. And anoint him with my delightful oil and put him into the clothes of my glory.' And so Michael did, just as the Lord had said to him. He anointed and clothed me, and I looked at myself and I had become like one of the glorious ones, and there was no observable difference" (2 Enoch 3:1-22:10).

Note that in sixth heaven there was an emphasis on "celestial speech" and the singing of the angels, which seems related to the concept found in 2 Corinthians 12:4 of "inexpressible words". Another example of such a journey through the heavens is found in 3 Baruch which also appears to place both Gehenna and Paradise in third heaven (cf. 2 Enoch quoted above, Testament of Abraham 11:1-10, the Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 which places the two abodes in the same plane but separated by a "wide gulf," and especially 4 Ezra 7:36 which states that at the final judgment: "The pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of Gehenna shall be disclosed, and opposite it the Paradise of delight"). Thus we read:

"And the angel of hosts took me and carried me where the firmament of heaven is. And it was the first heaven, and in that heaven he showed me very large doors....There were men living there whose faces were those of cattle, with the horns of deer, the feet of goats, and the loins of rams...I said to the angel, 'Lord, who are these strangely shaped creature?' And the angel said to me, 'These are those who built the tower of the war against God. The Lord threw them out.' And the angel took me and led me to the second heaven and showed me large open doors and the angel said to me, 'Let us pass through them.' And he showed me a great prison, and there were strangely shaped creatures living in it, with the faces of dogs, the horns of deer, and the feet of goats. And I asked the angel of the Lord, 'Who are these?' And he said to me, 'These are the ones who planned to build the tower.' ...And I, Baruch, said, 'The Lord has shown me great things.' And the angel said, 'Come, and let us pass through these doors [of third heaven], you will see the glory of God.' And I passed through with the angel like the passing of 187 days....And he showed me Hades, and its apperance was gloomy and unclean...And, I, Baruch, said to the angel, 'Show me the tree which deceived Adam.' And the angel said to me, 'When God made the garden and commanded Michael to gather two hundred thousand and three angels so that they could plant the garden, Michael planted the olive and Gabriel, the apple; Uriel, the nut; Raphael, the melon; and Satanel, the vine. For at first his name in former times was Satanel, and similarly all the angels planted various trees.' And again I, Baruch, said to the angel: 'Show me the tree through which the sepent deceived Eve and Adam.'...And the angel said, 'Beware, Baruch, the tree still possesses its evil'...And taking me, he led me [to fourth heaven], where the sun goes forth. And he showed me a chariot drawn by four horses and fire underneath it. And upon the chariot sat a man wearing a fiery crown. The chariot was drawn by forty angels. And behold, a phoenix runs along before the sun, as large as nine mountains...And the angel of power took me and led me to the fifth heaven. And he showed me large gates, and the names of men were written on them, and they were closed...And the angel said to me, 'It is not possible to enter through them until Michael, the holder of the keys of the kingdom, comes. And the angel said to me, 'Wait, and you will see the glory of God.' And while we were waiting, there was a noise from the highest heaven like triple thunder" (3 Baruch 2:1-11:3).

A final example can be found in the Ascension of Isaiah which relates a temporary ascension to heaven quite reminiscent of that claimed by Paul: "And as he was speaking in the Holy Spirit in the hearing of all, he became silent and his mind was taken up from him and he saw not the men that stood before him though his eyes indeed were open. Moreover his lips were silent and the mind in his body was taken up from him....And the people who stood near did not realize, except for the circle of the prophets, that the holy Isaiah had been taken up" (Ascension of Isaiah 6:10-14). Note the allusion to an out-of-body journey by claiming that Isaiah's mind was "taken up from him," and the language is also similarly rapturous. The text then describes Isaiah's journey through the seven heavens:

"He caused me to ascend above the firmament: which is the first heaven. And there I saw a throne in the midst, and on his right and on his left were angels. And (the angels on the left were) not like unto the angels who stood on the right, but those who stood on the right had the greater glory, and they all praised with one voice, and there was a throne in the midst, and those who were out he left gave praise after them...And again, he made me to ascend to the second heaven. Now the height of that heaven is the same as from the heaven to the earth....And I saw there, as in the first heaven, angels on the right and on the left, and a throne in the midst, and the praise of the angels in the second heaven; and he who sat on the throne in the second heaven was more glorious than all (the rest). And there was great glory in the second heaven, and the praise also was not like the praise of those who were in the first heaven...And he raised me to the third heaven, and in like manner I saw those upon the right and upon the left, and there was a throne there in the midst; but the memorial of this world is there unheard of. And I said to the angel who was with me; for the glory of my appearance was undergoing transformation as I ascended to each heaven in turn: 'Nothing of the vanity of that world is here named.' And he answered me, and said unto me: 'Nothing is named on account of its weakness, and nothing is hidden there of what is done'....And again he raised me to the fourth heaven, and the height from the third to the height from the third to the fourth heaven was greater than from the earth to the firmament....And the praise and glory of the angels on the right was greater than that of those on the left. And again the glory of him who sat on the throne was greater than that of the angels on the right, and their glory was beyond that of those who were below. And he raised me to the fifth heaven. And again I saw those upon the right hand and on the left, and him who sat on the throne possessing greater glory that those of the fourth heaven. And the glory of those on the right hand was greater than that of those on the left [from the third to the fourth]. And the glory of him who was on the throne was greater than that of the angels on the right hand. And their praise was more glorious than that of the fourth heaven...And again he raised me into the air of the sixth heaven, and I saw such glory as I had not seen in the five heavens. For I saw angels possessing great glory. And the praise there was holy and wonderful....And again I asked him, and I said unto him: 'Why are there not angelic fellow servants (on the left)?' And he said: 'From the sixth heaven there are no longer angels on the left, nor a throne set in the midst, but (they are directed) by the power of the seventh heaven, where he who is not named dwells and the Chosen One, whose name has not been made known, and none of the heavens can learn His name. For it is he alone to whose voice all the heavens and thrones give answer. I have therefore been empowered and sent to raise you here that you may see this glory....I indeed say to you, Isaiah; No man about to return into a body of that world has ascended or seen what you see or perceived what you have perceived and what you will see. For it has been permitted to you to come into the Lord's presence.' And I magnified my Lord with praise, that I should come into his presence. And he said: 'Hear, furthermore, therefore, this also from thy fellow servant: when from the body you have ascended here by the will of God, then you shall receive the garment which you are looking at, and likewise other numbered garments laid up there you will see. And then you will become equal to the angels of the seventh heaven. And he raised me up into the sixth heaven, and there were none on the left, nor a throne in the midst, but all had one appearance and their power of praise was equal" (Ascension of Isaiah 7:13-14, 18-20, 24-26, 28, 30-36; 8:1-4, 6-8, 11-16).

No details about what Isaiah saw in third heaven, but his journey through the seven heavens is somewhat similar to that in 2 Enoch and 3 Baruch. Other examples appear in rabbinical literature. The most famous story is that of four rabbis who were temporarily taken up into the heavenly Paradise, and the experience of Eden was so awesome and indescribable that only one, Rabbi Akiva (c. AD 60-135), returned unharmed. The others either died or returned deranged (Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 14b). The Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 12a, b also goes into detail about the nature of the seven heavens. Paul's statement about being raptured "out of the body" (khóris tou sómatos) in 2 Corinthians 12:3 is also explained to some extent by the writings of Philo of Alexandria (first century AD) who believed that heavenly experiences require being out of the body because the strains of heavenly music would have such a quivering, body-shattering effect that the vistor to heaven, once returned to earth, would yearn for and crave the music and neglect such terrestial and fleshly yearnings like hunger and thirst and eventually would die from starvation. Thus, in his dicussion of Exodus 24:18, he claimed that Moses was in fact listening to heavenly music and "having laid aside his body, for forty days and as many nights he touched neither bread nor water at all" (On Dreams 1:35-36). The accounts in 2 Enoch and the Ascension of Isaiah also presume that one must attain heavenly glory in order to enter into the presence of God in the seventh heaven. Paul however is not certain whether he (or the person being described) was still in the flesh when he went on his heavenly journey.

Where Is Paradise?

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Doubtfully Yours

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