30. Instead of three hundred and ten, Alphabetot of R. Akiba has three hundred and forty. In the same source, 29, the view regarding the distance between the angels and the Shekinah is very likely connected with the statement made in ‘Abodah Zarah 3b and Seder Rabba 4 concerning the eighteen thousands worlds. Comp. likewise note 97.
31 31 BR 6.6 and numerous parallel passages cited by Theodor. Comp. likewise Ascension of Isaiah 7.18; vol. II, p. 307; vol. III, p. III; vol. IV, p. 334. See also the sources cited in the following note.
32 Ta'anit 10a; Pesahim 94a; Yerushalmi Berakot 1, 2c. Comp. the material collected by Hirschensohn, Sheba’ Hokmot, 1–13, on the views of the ancient rabbinic sources concerning the extension of the earth and other physical-meteorological observations found in these writings. On the thickness of the heavens comp. BR 6.6, and the Greek Baruch 3.
33 Konen 27. Yalkut Reubeni on Lev. 2.13 quotes the following from an unknown Midrash: The world is divided into three parts: inhabited land, desert, and sea; the temple is situated in the inhabited land, the Torah was given in the desert, and salt from the sea is offered with every sacrifice. God’s power extends over all these three parts of the earth; He led Israel through the Red Sea, they wandered through the wilderness, and reached the inhabited land, Palestine; R. Bahya on Num. 10.35. According to 4 Ezra 42, a seventh part of the earth is water; but this bears no relation to Recognitiones 9, 26. This passage contains only the view that the world is divided into seven zones. Comp. the rabbinic parallel passages cited in note 28. The division into twelve zones, which is frequently found in non-Jewish sources (comp. Broil, Sphaera, 296, and Jeremias, AT AO 2, 50–51), is not unknown to rabbinic literature, where it is stated that according to Deut. 32.8 the earth consists of twelve parts corresponding to the twelve sons of Jacob. Comp. Seder Rabba di-Bereshit 4; Alphabet R. Akiba 24; Lekah, Gen. 1.14 (end, where it is said that the various zones correspond to the signs of the Zodiac). See further note 73 on vol. I, p. 173.—The view that paradise is situated in the east is based on Gen. 2.8. But מקדם in this verse was taken by very old authorities in the sense of “pre-existing” (comp. Excursus I). Thus many Rabbis assert that paradise was situated in the west, or to be more accurate, in the north-west.
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