identification of this angel with Metatron in the mystic literature of the gaonic period is not found in talmudic sources. In Ascension of Isaiah 2.4 “the ruler of the world” is Satan as the prince of the world in the New Testament.
76 Jub. 2.7; BR 11.9, 12.5, 15.3, 21.9; 2 Enoch 21.1. The prevalent view in the rabbinic sources is that paradise was created before the world; comp. Excursus I. In Konen 25 paradise is differentiated from its plants, presupposing that paradise is pre-existent, while the plants were created on the third day. This is an attempt to harmonize two different views.
77 On this gold, comp. Yoma 45a; BaR 11.3; Tan. B. IV, 33; Tan. Naso 9. In all these passages it is stated that this gold bears fruit. In this and in other accounts of paradise the description of the future Jerusalem and the temple by the prophets is transferred to paradise; for later on paradise was identified with the heavelny Jerusalem. Alphabetot 96–97 contains many points which are analogous to the description given in the text, with this essential difference that the reward of the pious is postponed for the future world. As to the site of the earthly paradise, comp. vol. I, p. 11. The old rabbinic sources hardly contain anything definite on the earthly paradise; but in the pseudepigraphic literature, particularly in the Books of Enoch (comp. Charles’ edition, index, s.v.) and in later haggadic works a good deal is said about it.
78 According to Baba Batra 75a and PR 38, 163a, there are seven “canopies” given to each pious person.
79 These four streams are frequently mentioned in the legends; comp. 2 Enoch 8.5; PR 38, 163a; Aggadat Shir 4, 83–84; see also vol. I, p. 132; vol. II, p. 315; Visio Pauli 23; Koran 47.16–17. While in the Koran the stream of oil is replaced by a stream of fresh water, it is just this stream of balsam which is frequently alluded to in rabbinic literature; BR 62 (beginning); Ta'anit 25a; Yerushalmi ‘Abodah Zarah 3, 42c; Tan. B. II, 131; Bacher, Agada der palastinensischen Amorder, II, 102, note 7; Jeremias, Babylonisches im NT, 47. On the wine preserved for the pious, comp. Sanhedrin 99a and Matthew 26.29; Targum Eccl. 9.7, where the Midrash given in the text was very likely made use of.
80 This picture is mentioned in the Talmud, Baba Mezi'a 48a, with reference to the beauty of R. Johanan, upon which our source is based; comp. PK 1, 3b.
81 I.e., the branches of this tree extend to the farthest ends
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