Steve Watson

The Names and Order of the Seven Heavens

The theory of Seven Heavens is derived from astrological speculation on the 7 visible regularly moving celestial objects. In the 2nd C BCE the Greeks developed the “Chaldean” order for these objects: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which generally replaced the older Babylonian and Egyptian orderings. These objects were assumed to be each in its separate heaven. (D. Merkur, 1993, Gnosis (Albany:SUNY Press) p. 119.) The order and names of the Heavens (and their functions) do not however, seem to reflect this history very well.

In the Jewish tradition, the order and names of the Seven Heavens are given by Rabbi Shimon ben Laqish in Bavli Hagiga 12b (see also Ps. lxviii. 5.) (Refs: Jew. Enc. and R. Graves & R. Patai, 1963, Hebrew Myths, London:Arena, pp. 33ff.)

1. Wilon [Latin, velum, “curtain”], which is rolled up and down to enable the sun to go in and out; according to Isa. xl. 22, ‘He stretched out the heavens as a curtain’;
2. Raqi’a [firmament], the place where the sun, moon, and stars are fixed [Gen. i. 17];
3. She?aqim [clouds/grindstones], in which are the millstones to grind [sha?aq] manna for the righteous (Ps. lxxviii. 23; comp. Midrash Tehillim to Ps. xix. 7
4. Zebhul [dwelling], the upper Jerusalem, with its Temple, in which Michael offers the sacrifice at the altar [Isa. lxiii. 15; I Kings, viii. 13];
5. Ma’on [residence], in which dwell the classes of ministering angels who sing by night and are silent by day, for the honor of Israel who serve the Lord in daytime [Deut. xxvi. 15, Ps. xlii. 9];
6. Makhon [emplacement], in which are the treasuries of snow and hail, the chambers of dew, rain, and mist behind doors of fire [1 Kings, vii. 30; Deut. xxviii. 12];
7. ‘Arabhoth [plains], where justice and righteousness, the treasures of life and of blessing, the souls of the righteous and the dew of resurrection are to be found. There are the ofanim, the seraphim, and the ?ayyot of holiness, the ministering angels and the throne of glory; and over them is enthroned the great King.

But the functions and contents of these heavens are very different even in different Jewish traditions. See, for example, 2 Enoch 3-9. In any case, it doesn’t seem very obvious how the planetary/cosmological origins are related to the developed functions of these heavens; in fact, the locating of the Sun and Moon in the same sphere (and the stars there too) indicate that the astrological origins were overwhelmed by later elaboration and semantic accretions. The example of 2 Enoch just mentioned suggests that amongst those accretions are the identifications of heavens with stages of ascension and the identification of those stages with degrees on the mystic path of enlightenment.

Update 24/02/20012

To this I can now add the following remarks from Adela Yarbro Collins (1995) ‘The Seven Heavens in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses’ in J.J.Collins & M.Fishbane, Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys, Albany:SUNY Press, p. 86

There is no clear indication that in the early Jewish and Christian apocalyptic writings that there is any connection between the seven heavens and the seven planets. Such a connection first becomes visible in Hermetic texts, Mithraic monuments, and Celsus’s discussion of Mithraic mysteries. The connection is clearly made under the influence of Greek astrology. The motif of seven heavens was probably borrowed from Babylonian tradition by Jewish apocalyptic writers. The reasons for adapting this motif probably included the magical properties of the number. The tradition of the Sabbath and the motif of the seven archangels may also have reinforced the choice of this motif.

So the received wisdom of the origin of the seven heavens is an error, presumably due to the history of scholarly studies in this area being founded instudies of the religions most important and accessible to early European scholars, and there is no mystery about the failure of some descriptions of the heavens to acknowledge their planetary relations. Oh well.

End Update

In the Shii’te Islamic tradition the names of the seven heavens are given in a hadith of Imam Ali (al-Burhan fi-Tafsir al-Qur’an. V. 5. pp. 415.)

1. Rafi‘, the lowest heaven
2. Qaydum
3. Marum
4. Arfalun
5. Hay’oun
6. Arous
7. Ajma’

And are these heavens identical to the ‘worlds’ described in the entry on Tazkiyat an-Nafs? I have no idea, but again, they don’t look obviously astrological.