The next major work that I will be looking at here is Princeton professor of religion, Martha Himmelfarb’s book entitled Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). This work is significantly influential in the study of the heavenly ascent phenomenon. In her study, Himmelfarb attempts to trace the history, development and nature of this type of visionary ascent to heaven as found in both Jewish and Christian apocalyptic writings.

Martha Himmelfarb

Her study covers eight Jewish and Christian ascent apocalypses written (as far as scholars can tell) between 200 BC and 200 AD: the Book of the Watchers (found in 1 Enoch 1-36), the Testament of Levi, 2 Enoch, the Similitudes of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71), the Apocalypse of Zephaniah, the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Ascension of Isaiah, and 3 Baruch.  Himmelfarb does not consider similar texts written after the second century nor the hekhalot texts as she sees them as separate and distinct genres with different concerns, focus, and modes of visionary experience.

Himmelfarb opens her book quoting from one of the most detailed and exciting ascent accounts, that of 2 Enoch. Enoch is taken up to the highest heaven and stands before the throne of God, where he undergoes an amazing transformation:

And the Lord said to Michael, Take Enoch and take off his earthly garments, and anoint him with good oil, and clothe him in glorious garments.  And Michael took off from me my garments and anointed me with good oil. And the appearance of the oil was more resplendent than a great light, and its ricness like sweet dew and its fragrance like myrrh, shining like a ray of the sun. And I looked at myself, and I was like one of the glorious ones, and there was no apparent difference (9:17-19).

The claim presented here, which Himmelfarb sees as the central point of these texts, is that human beings can become equal to the angels (Note: the text actually shows Enoch being set above the angels with his own throne). Before getting into the valuable substance of what she finds in these accounts, I must respectfully disagree with a number of her assumptions that she presents in her history of the heavenly ascent.

Himmelfarb starts Chapter 1 of her book by pointing out how 1 Enoch 14 (the earliest known account of a visionary ascending into heaven) departs from our traditional picture of ancient Jewish literature. She notes the stories’ similarity to biblical prophetic call visions, like that in Isaiah 6, where Isaiah sees God on his throne surrounded by angels. Even more similar is Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot throne, in which Himmelfarb sees many parallels with 1 Enoch. The major difference she sees, however, is that both Isaiah and Ezekiel remain on Earth, while Enoch actually ascends to Heaven, which, to her, is an innovation.

In Isaiah, the vision of God’s throne apparently takes place on Earth (see also Micaiah ben Imlah’s vision in 1 Kgs 22:19-21). From the description given in Isaiah 6 (or lack thereof)–with Isaiah’s reference to the “temple” and no mention of ascent, Himmelfarb assumes that this vision is taking place in the earthly Temple of Jerusalem.  In the First Temple period, the Israelites believed that God was, or could be, truly present on His cherubim throne in the temple. Himmelfarb notes that this coincides with the belief current among Israel’s neighbors that the god actually dwelt in the temple human beings built for him (p. 11). Another similar belief is that the gods dwelt at the top of a cosmic mountain that was the intersection of Earth and Heaven. Mount Sinai and, especially, Mount Zion were seen as cosmic/holy mountains where God dwelt and where man could meet God. The temple was built to represent the primordial holy mount.

For Himmelfarb, the story of Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot throne marks “the beginning of a trend to dissociate God’s heavenly abode from the temple in Jerusalem” (p. 11). This is most likely due to the defilement of the temple and destruction by the Babylonians. So the popular reasoning is that because there was no more temple, the Jews necessarily had to imagine God and His throne as being able to exist and travel on their own outside of the earthly temple, which is what Ezekiel sees in his “merkavah” (chariot throne) vision (Ezek 1). But Himmelfarb notes that what Ezekiel sees in vision corresponds to the contents of the temple (for more detail, see my post “Understanding Ezekiel’s Remarkable Merkabah Vision“). In addition, Ezekiel later identifies the “living creatures” of his first vision as cherubim (Ezek 10:20). Himmelfarb comments:

The text suggests that Ezekiel is able to recognize the creatures as cherubim because of his proximity to the sculpted cherubim of the temple. Clearly the heavenly originals are more awesome and wonderful than their earthly representations (p. 11).

painting by Rafael

Himmelfarb herself makes the observation that “[s]ometimes the earthly temple was understood to be modeled on the god’s house in heaven…” In light of this possibility, it is interesting to note that she persists in arguing that the belief in a God whose true home is in Heaven (and not in the earthly temple or holy mountain) is only a later development. She reasons that it was the Deuteronomic school who rejected the idea that God could dwell on Earth (or even come to Earth). I, personally, would suggest that the original belief was likely that God could be seen in His temple, but that there was an understanding that God truly lived in His heavenly temple. Like the Garden of Eden, the temple was a holy place where God could visit when he chose.  As Himmelfarb noted, the temple was only a model of God’s true house in heaven.

She goes on to argue that after the time of Ezekiel, the temple never regained its status as the house of God on Earth. She explains:

The Second Temple is never able to emerge from the shadow of the disengagement of the glory of God. The ark and the cherubim are gone. In the period of the Second Temple, under the influence of Ezekiel, those who are unhappy with the behavior of the people and especially its priests come to see the temple not as God’s proper dwelling, the place where heaven and earth meet, but rather as a mere copy of the true temple located in heaven. It is this desacralization of the earthly temple in favor of the heavenly that opens the way for Enoch’s ascent in the Book of the Watchers. The first ascent in Jewish literature is thus a journey to the true temple.

While I agree that the writers of the apocalypses did not see the Second Temple in the same light as the First (see, for example, my posts here and here), I believe that the worshippers in the First Temple would have known that it, too, was but a copy of the true heavenly temple. The reason why God was no longer seen in the Second Temple was because it was corrupt. The beliefs, rituals, and theology had been changed so that the Second Temple was a much different sanctuary of a markedly different religion. To me, this is why certain parties went off on their own (to Qumran, for example) and wrote stories about ancient seers ascending to the true Temple in Heaven–because they no longer could worship in a holy house that worthily and truthfully represented Heaven on Earth. The First Temple, in my opinion (and I think Margaret Barker and other scholars would agree with me), had ritualistically represented this ascent to Heaven, and prophets had visions there of God on His throne in Heaven. Alternatively, God could have appeared in the Holy of Holies, which was a sacred representation of His true throne in Heaven. Later visionaries (including Joseph Smith) would have similar experiences of seeing Heaven–but while they were in Heaven mentally or spiritually their feet were usually well-planted on the Earth (although maybe on a high mountain). Because of the wonder of the experience, sometimes they just couldn’t tell (“whether in the body or out”, 2 Cor 12:3; D&C 137:1).

In sum, although I really enjoy her subject matter in this book, I don’t really agree with Martha Himmelfarb’s initial history of the heavenly ascent genre of Jewish and Christian literature. Unlike her, I tend to believe that the heavenly ascent was not a postexilic innovation, but that it has ancient roots. While such is not well represented in the Old Testament, I believe that heavenly ascents were a very important part of the belief system of the First Temple. The basis for my opinion stems from my own LDS religious tradition, but also finds support in the writings of religious scholars such as Margaret Barker. I believe that this perspective will be become more and more popular–and it is one of my main goals to contribute to this trend.  Although I disagree with her on a number of points, I am excited to analyze more of Himmelfarb’s research, and will dedicate future posts to more of the positive insights she provides.

The Form of the Holy Spirit 

In my last post on the Ascension of Isaiah, I noted how in that document, Isaiah, while in the highest Heaven, sees a figure standing near God’s throne, which his angel guide informs him is “the angel of the Holy Spirit.” Isaiah sees him as a glorious standing figure comparable to the figure of the Beloved, Jesus. Later, Isaiah sees Him sitting down at the left hand of the Father’s throne (10:33). Isaiah apparently sees the Holy Spirit as a distinct individual in Heaven, with the form of a man/angel, and distinguishable from the Son and Father.

In light of this depiction, it is curious to note that the Holy Spirit is usually not depicted in this way, especially not in art, as can be seen in the icon accompanying this post. If anyone knows of a piece of Christian art in which the Holy Spirit is depicted as described in the Ascension of Isaiah, please let me know. 

Usually, the Holy Spirit is shown as a dove, based on the story of Jesus’ baptism found in the Gospels. Depicting heavenly beings as birds is an ancient custom. But was the Holy Spirit believed to be, in reality, a dove? No, that was just a symbol or temporary manifestation.

As the trinitarian doctrine developed, there were many arguments over the nature and role of the Third Person of the Trinity. Augustine (De Trin., I, iii, 5) said: “In no other subject is the danger of erring so great, or the progress so difficult, or the fruit of a careful study so appreciable.”

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the folowing finally became the belief of the Roman Church:

The Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
Though really distinct, as a Person, from the Father and the Son, He is consubstantial with Them; being God like Them, He possesses with Them one and the same Divine Essence or Nature.
He proceeds, not by way of generation, but by way of spiration, from the Father and the Son together, as from a single principle.

This doctrine declares that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, a separate Person from Father and Son, yet He is “consubstantial” with them, being of the same Divine Essence (a principle which I cannot yet fully comprehend). I have not been able to find a clear declaration regarding the form of the Holy Spirit in Catholic belief.

It is in those faiths which do not profess a fully Trinitarian belief which we find the idea that the Holy Spirit is synonymous with the Father, or with Christ, that He is the Spirit of God Himself, or that He is simply the Power or Active Force of God. We also find among these the idea that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one Person. Certainly, those Christians who wrote the Ascension of Isaiah and other such documents did not hold this view of the Godhead.

Latter-day Saints, following the teachings of Joseph Smith, believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons.

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22).

In the Book of Mormon, the “Spirit of the Lord,” generally understood to be the Holy Ghost, acts as Nephi’s angelus interpris, guiding him in his vision. Of this Spirit, Nephi says:

For I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.

In LDS belief, the Holy Spirit is a glorious spirit Personage that has the form of a human being. He would likely look much like other celestial spirits that could appear in this world.

Angelomorphic Holy Spirit

The identity of the Holy Spirit has been a difficult one for Christians. It is clear, however, that some of the earliest Christians saw the Holy Spirit as an angelic-type Being separate and distinct from the Father and Son, and often subordinate to them. The description of the Holy Spirit in angelic form (angelomorphic) not only appears in the Ascension of Isaiah, but in other documents such as the Shepherd of Hermas and the writings of Justin Martyr.  In the Shepherd of Hermas, in the section on the “Eleventh Commandment,” it says:

When, then, a man having the Divine Spirit comes into an assembly of righteous men who have faith in the Divine Spirit, and this assembly of men offers up prayer to God, then the angel of the prophetic Spirit, who is destined for him, fills the man; and the man being filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks to the multitude as the Lord wishes.

This idea has been discussed by J.R. Levison (“The Angelic Spirit in Early Judaism,” SBL. SP 34 (1995) 464-493; See also his “The Prophetic Spirit as an Angel According to Philo,” HThR 88 (1995) 189-207, and “The Spirit in First Century Judaism” (AGJU 29) Leiden et alii 1997. See also Charles Gieschen‘s discussion of “angelomorphic pneumatology” in Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence (AGJU 42) Leiden/Boston 1998, 114-119. See also Bogdan Bucur, who earned his PhD at Marquette University, here and here.

More on this topic later…

The Ascension of Isaiah is an early Christian document that is thought to have been written some time in the second century A.D., and is considered a Christian re-working of an older Jewish tradition. It resembles, in some ways, Isaiah 6, but details a much more elaborate vision, in which Isaiah is taken, in spirit, through the various levels of Heaven until he reaches the highest Heaven, where he is privileged to behold a vision of the Father, Beloved Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is on this last point that I wish to concentrate, although there are many great insights to be gained from studying this amazing text. To see further background info on Ascension of Isaiah, and to read the text (translated from the Greek version), please see http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ascension.html.

Starting in Chapter 6 of the text, Isaiah recounts the vision that saw in which a glorious angel comes to him, takes him by the hand, and leads him upwards into the heavens. The angel declares the purpose of this celestial journey:

When I have raised thee on high through the various degrees…You will see one who is greater than I…and his Father also who is greater you will see (vv. 7:4, 7-8).

The interpreting angel then takes Isaiah one degree at a time through the first six heavens. Each heaven has its own angels and guardian who sits on a throne. At each level, Isaiah notices that the angels and guardian are much more bright and glorious than the previous heaven. They soon become so glorious that Isaiah is tempted to bow down and worship them. His angel prohibits this, however, telling him:

Worship neither angel nor throne which belongs to the six heavens–for this reason was I sent to conduct you–till I tell you in the seventh heaven.  For above all the heavens and their angels is your throne set, and your garments and your crown which you shall see (7:21-22).

Isaiah learned that he was destined for a far higher glory than all that he had seen in the lower heavens. He soon began to notice that he, himself, was becoming more glorious as he ascended. He comments, “[F]or the glory of my countenance was being transformed as I ascended from heaven to heaven” (7:25).

In the sixth heaven Isaiah beholds an immense number of angels who “all had one appearance” praising “the primal Father and his Beloved, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.” As the angel leads him up to the seventh and highest Heaven, the guardian of the sixth tries to impede him in a manner that frightens Isaiah, but another voice overrules and permits his entry into God’s presence, reasoning that “his garment is here.” Isaiah questions the angel about what has just happened, and the angel responds:

He who forbade you is he who is placed over the praise of the sixth heaven, and he who gave permission is your Lord, God, the Lord Christ, who will be called Jesus on earth, but his name you cannot hear till you have ascended out of your body (9:4-5).

Upon entering the seventh Heaven, Isaiah sees a great light an innumerable angels. He sees “all the righteous from Adam” including Abel, Enoch, and all those who were with him. They were stripped of their garments of flesh and Isaiah “saw them in their garments of the upper world, and they were like angels, standing there in great glory.” He notices that they have their glorious garments, but not their thrones and crowns. He asks his guide why this is, and is told:

“Crowns and thrones of glory they do not receive, till the Beloved will descent in the form in which you will see Him descent [will descent, I say] into the world in the last days the Lord, who will be called Christ. Nevertheless they see and know whose will be thrones, and whose the crowns when He has descended and been made in your form, and they will think that He is flesh and is a man (9:12-13).

Isaiah is then told of the earthly mission of Christ and how all who believe in him will also inherit thrones and crowns in the highest Heaven. He then sees a glorious One whom Adam, Abel, Enoch and all the righteous begin to worship. Isaiah also begins to worship Him and is transformed into a glorious angelic being like the others. His angelic guide tells him that this is Christ, “the Lord of all the praise-givings which thou hast seen.”

Interestingly, Isaiah then sees another “Glorious One who was like Him,” standing to the left of Christ. The text says:

And I asked: “Who is this?” and he said unto me: “Worship Him, for He is the angel of the Holy Spirit, who speaketh in thee and the rest of the righteous” (9:36).

Then the spiritual eyes of Isaiah are opened and his is able to see “the Great Glory,” God the Father, who he had not previously been able to see due to the greatness of His glory.

And my Lord drew nigh to me and the angel of the Spirit and He said: “See how it is given to thee to see God, and on thy account power is given to the angel who is with thee.” And I saw how my Lord and the angel of the Spirit worshipped, and they both together praised God.  And thereupon all the righteous drew near and worshipped. And the angels drew near and worshipped and all the angels praised (9:39-42).

Isaiah is privileged to behold many other things, including witnessing the Father call Christ to descend to Earth to perform his sacred mission. 

This document is simply amazing. It is an authentic early Christian writing that details a Heavenly Ascent in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are seen as three separate and distinct individuals. Even the Holy Spirit, who is often relegated to being some type of Power or Influence or Love of God is seen as a distinct angelic figure, “the angel of the Holy Spirit.” Isaiah witnesses both the Son and the Spirit worshipping the Father–being obviously subordinate to Him. This document is a gem and very exciting for LDS readers. I will be sure to discuss more on the Ascension of Isaiah in future posts.

In the account that we have of this vision, we read of a whirlwind, fire, living creatures, wheels, a firmament, and other complex images. Attempts to depict what Ezekiel was seeing have been varied and rather amusing. Early Jewish and Christian writers were enamored with Ezekiel’s vision, and much time and effort was dedicated to pondering its mysteries (as can be seen in the Ma’asei Merkavah and the Kabbalah, for example). Looking past the imagery, many scholars have recognized in Ezekiel’s Merkabah the essential elements of Solomon’s Temple, which had been destroyed. If we are to understand what Ezekiel was seeing, we must look to the Temple!

Hebrew University’s Rachel Elior analyzes the similarity between the Merkabah imagery and the Temple setting. The winged cherubim of the Holy of Holies (1 Kgs 6:23–29, 8:6-7; compare Ezek. 1:5–11),  the stands in the Temple court with their copper wheels (I Kings 7:27–30, 33; compare 1:10, 13-16), the four threesomes of creatures facing all four points of the compass, the lions, oxen, cherubim, and ofanim (wheels)-all made of burnished bronze –

  

-became four sacred winged creatures, sparkling with that same bronze luster, with the faces of lions, oxen, eagles, and human beings. They stood on four wheels (Heb. ofanim) which had the appearance of “two wheels cutting through each other” and faced all four points of the compass (Ezek 1:4–11, 16–21), like their counterparts in the Temple. The gold-plated winged cherubim in the sanctuary, whose wings were extended and “touched each other”, and which stood on their feet, were transformed in Ezekiel’s vision into sacred, sparkling, winged creatures, “each of whose wings touched those of the other” (Ezek 1:9) and whose legs “were fused into a single rigid leg” (Ezek 1:7); their appearance was “like burning coals of fire…” (Ezek 1:13). There is thus a whole system of correlations between the ideal picture of the destroyed earthly Temple and the visionary Temple revealed in heaven (Rachel Elior, The Three Temples, trans. David Louvish; Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004).

Ezekiel saw the principal elements of the First Temple form a mobile unit which was not fixed in an earthly Temple but was a heavenly reality that could travel wherever God pleased. In essence, however, this is the vision of Isaiah (Isa 6)–Yahweh seated upon the cherub-throne in the Holy of Holies. Ezekiel was visited by this chariot-throne while in exile in Babylon, and then saw it return to the Temple in Jerusalem. In a time when the people had lost their city and their Temple but hoped to return and rebuild it again, Ezekiel’s visions gave them the assurance that God could and would be with them at all times and in all places.