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In the Apocalypse of Zephaniah, a sea of fire is mistaken for water during his apocalyptic tour. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah warns the sages who entered paradise not to call its gleaming marble water, sharing the danger of misinterpretation.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Zephaniah 6:2
Pseudepigrapha
1 Again I turned back and walked, and I saw a great sea. 2 But I thought that it was a sea of water. I discovered that it was entirely a sea of flame like a slime which casts forth much flame and whose waves burn sulfur and bitumen. 3 They began to approach me. 4 Then I thought that the Lord Almighty had come to visit me.
Chagigah 14b
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
§ The Sages taught: Four entered the orchard [pardes], i.e., dealt with the loftiest secrets of Torah, and they are as follows: Ben Azzai; and ben Zoma; Aḥer, the other, a name for Elisha ben Avuya; and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva, the senior among them, said to them: When, upon your arrival in the upper worlds, you reach pure marble stones, do not say: Water, water, although they appear to be water, because it is stated: “He who speaks falsehood shall not be established before My eyes” (Psalms 101:7). The Gemara proceeds to relate what happened to each of them: Ben Azzai glimpsed at the Divine Presence and died. And with regard to him the verse states: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His pious ones” (Psalms 116:15). Ben Zoma glimpsed at the Divine Presence and was harmed, i.e., he lost his mind. And with regard to him the verse states: “Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you become full from it and vomit it” (Proverbs 25:16). Aḥer chopped down the shoots of saplings. In other words, he became a heretic. Rabbi Akiva came out safely.
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... When he first sees the sea, Zephaniah thinks that it is a sea of water, but he quickly discovers that it is really a sea of fire and slime. Immediately after, Zephaniah mistakes two different angels for God. An echo of a similar incident is preserved in the famous passage in the Babylonian Talmud, Ḩagigah 14b: ‘Our rabbis taught: Four entered paradise, and they are ben Azai and ben Zoma, Aḥer, and Rabbi Aqiba. Rabbi Aqiba said to them, “When you arrive at pure marble stone, don’t say, ‘Water, water,’ as it is said, ‘None who speaks lies shall come into my presence’” (Psalms 101:7).’ ...
Himmelfarb, Martha
Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature
(pp. 153-154) University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983
* 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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