16–17; EZ 12, 193; Nispahim 56; PRE 3 (here, in accordance with ARN, second version, 37, 95, should be read אורות צדיקים instead of ארחות צדיקים); comp. also vol. I, pp. 86, 262, 388; vol. IV, p. 234, with regard to the future light of the pious. On this light which is, however, not identified with the primordial light (but comp. 4 Ezra 6.40, which reads; lumen,…de thesauris tuis, which literally corresponds to the rabbinic אור הגנוז, since גנז = “preserved in the treasury”; see also the preceding note), comp. the Apocalypse of Baruch 51.3; Enoch 38.4 (numerous parallel passages are cited by Charles, ad loc.); 2 Enoch 66.3 and 9. Concerning Philo’s view on the primordial light, comp. De M. Opif., 8 and 18; Sachs, Beiträge, II, 34; Weinstein, Genesis der Agada, 38. For the further development of this light doctrine among the medieval philosophers and mystics, comp. Al-Barceloni, 18–22; Zohar I, 31b, 34a, 45b, and II, 158b.
20 The Hebrew word for heaven שמןם (for its etymology see note 16; BR 4.7 and parallel passages cited by Theodor) looks like a plural though it is really a singular (see Barth, Z.D.M.G., 42; 346), hence the conception that there are several heavens is already met with in the Bible. But the exact fixing of their number belongs to a more recent date. Comp. the following two notes.
21 The significance of the number seven in Jewish legend may be seen by referring to the Index s.v. Seven. PK 23, 154b–155a; Tehillim 9,87 (comp. the parallel passages cited by Buber); PRE 18 and Tadshe 6, 19–20, maintain that from the history of mankind and that of Israel, as well as from nature, one may prove that this number plays an important part. Similar discussions on the importance of “seven” are found in Philo, De M. Opif., 30–34 (in a very elaborate form), and in 4 Maccabees 14.17. Yezirah 4, which is the source for Zohar I, 15b and 38a, as well as for MHG I, 11, points out that everything physical is determined by seven limitations: above and below, right and left, before and behind, and its own individual form. Similarly Philo, All. Leg., 1.2. Zohar I, 38a, derives the conception of seven heavens, seven hells, and other “sevens” from this fundamental idea, and this view of Zohar deserves serious attention. On the seven heavens comp. further the following note. The dependence of Tadshe, loc. cit., on Philo is not to be assumed (against Epstein, R.E.J., XXI, 87, seq.), in view of the fact that the conception of the seven stages of man’s age, though of Greek origin, occurs not only in Philo and Tadshe, but also in Koheleth 1.2.
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