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In the Apocalypse of Abraham, Abraham sees humanity's history in a heavenly picture. In 3 Enoch, Ishmael sees it on God's curtain, giving the visitor a view of events that people on earth can know only as they unfold.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Abraham 21:1
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And He said to me: "Look, now, beneath your feet at the firmaments — and understand the creation foreshadowed in this expanse, the creatures existing on it, and the age prepared according to it." 2 And I saw beneath [the surfaces of the feet, and I saw beneath] the sixth heaven and what was in it, 3 and then the earth and its fruits, and what moved upon it and its animate beings; and the power of its men, and the ungodliness of their souls, and their righteous deeds [and the beginnings of their works], and the lower regions and the perdition in it, the Abyss and its torments.
3 Enoch 45:6
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
And all the rest of all the leaders of the generations and all the works of the generations both in Israel and in the nations of the world, both what is done and what will be done hereafter to all generations until the end of time, (all) were graven on the Curtain of MAQOM. And I saw all these things with my eyes; and after I had seen it, I opened my mouth in praise of MAQOM (the Divine Majesty) (saying thus, Eccl. viii. 4, 5): "For the King's word has power (and who may say to him: What are you doing?) Whoever keeps the commandments shall know no evil thing". And I said: (Ps. civ. 24) "O Lord, how manifold are your works!"
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Notes and References
“... Indeed, in 3 Enoch 4520 the translated seventh antediluvian hero reveals to
R. Ishmael the heavenly entity on which this visionary, like Abraham, is able
to see the whole span of the human history.21 3 Enoch 45:1–6 reads:
R. Ishmael said: Metatron said to me: Come and I will show you the curtain
of the Omnipresent One, which is spread before the Holy One,22 blessed be
he, and on which are printed all the generations of the world and all their
deeds, whether done or to be done, till the last generation. I went and he
showed them to me with his fingers, like father teaching his son the letters of
the Torah; and I saw:
Each generation and its potentiates;
Each generation and its heads;
Each generation and its shepherds;
Each generation and its keepers . . .
And I saw:
Adam and his generation, their deeds and their thoughts . . .
The Messiah the son of Joseph and his generation, and all that they will do
to the gentiles . . .23 ...”
Orlov, Andrei
Heavenly Priesthood in the Apocalypse of Abraham
(p. 162) Cambridge University Press, 2013
* 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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