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The Apocalypse of Abraham places dew among the wonders of the seventh heaven. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah echoes this detail by locating the dew that revives the dead there, placing Abraham’s glimpse within a fuller account of heaven.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Abraham 19:4
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
4 And while He was yet speaking (and) behold! the expanses opened, and beneath me the heavens. And I saw upon the seventh firmament upon which I stood a fire widely extended, and light, and dew, and a multitude of angels, and a power of invisible glory over the living creatures which I saw; but I saw no other being there. 5 And I looked from the mountain in which I stood [downwards] to the sixth firmament, 6 and saw there a multitude of angels, of (pure) spirit, without bodies, who carried out the commands of the fiery angels who were upon the eighth firmament, as I was standing suspended over them. 7 And behold, upon this firmament there were no other powers of (any) other form, but only angels of (pure) spirit, like the power which I saw on the seventh firmament.
Chagigah 12b:12
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
Aravot, skies, is the firmament that contains righteousness; justice; righteousness, i.e., charity; the treasuries of life; the treasuries of peace; the treasuries of blessing; the souls of the righteous; the spirits and souls that are to be created; and the dew that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will use to revive the dead. The Gemara proves this statement: Righteousness and justice are found in heaven, as it is written: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne” (Psalms 89:15); righteousness, as it is written: “And He donned righteousness as armor” (Isaiah 59:17); the treasuries of life, as it is written: “For with You is the source of life” (Psalms 36:10).
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... in T. B. Hag.
12b the seventh heaven (‘Araboth) contains judgement and righteousness, the treasures of life, peace,
and blessing, the souls of the departed righteous, the spirits and souls yet unborn, the dew with which
God will awake the dead, the Seraphim, Ophannim, Hayyoth, and other angels of service, and God
Himself sitting on the Throne of Glory. No doubt the “dew” in our passage is th e resurrection-dew. ...”
Box, G. H., with J. I. Landsman
The Apocalypse of Abraham
(p. PDF 41) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1918
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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