The Jewish Quarterly Review. weeping and tearing his hair in distress at the sight of the multitude going through the wide gate, and again smiling and exulting at the sight of the few entering the narrow gate. “For the one leads to destruction, the other to eternal bliss, and against seven thousand that walk on the road of perdition, there is hardly one soul that walks on the path of righteousness without blemish to find salvation.” The writer , probably himself entranced as he opens his vision, continues, as if relating in the name of Abraham : “While I was still speaking, behold, there were two angels of fiery face and fierce looks, who drove before them ten thousand souls through the wide gate to perdition, while a single soul was led by one angel. Following the many through th e gate, we beheld a man of marvellous stature and sun-like appearance, resembling a son of God sitting on a throne of crystal, and before him stood a table of crystal inlaid with chrysolith and beryl”—the reading of th e corrupt text is conjectural!—“with a scroll of six cubits ’ length and ten cubits’width, while two angels held paper and ink and pen in their hands ; and on the other side sat one angel of light with a pair of scales in his hand, and one angel of fire of relentless mien, holding a vessel with fire to probe the sinners. The man upon the throne judged th e souls that approached, and pronounced their fate, the two angels opposite weighing and testing them, and th e two other angels recording the verdict, the one the righteous acts and the other the sins.” “This, O holy Abraham,” says the heavenly captain Michael, “is the judgment and the retribution . ” The one that pronounces the judgment is the first saintly martyr, Abel, the son of Adam. “Man shall be judged by man” (cp. Genesis ix. 6, and Targ. Jerush.), saith God ; “therefore the power was given to him until the time when God himself will come and give the final judgment, which is everlasting and un­ changeable. For each man having sprung forth from the first created , all are first judged here by his son, and after the second appearance of the great Ruler t o ” — I adopt here 154

DOI link for The Jewish Quarterly Review. weeping and tearing his hair in distress at the sight of the multitude going through the wide gate, and again smiling and exulting at the sight of the few entering the narrow gate. “For the one leads to destruction, the other to eternal bliss, and against seven thousand that walk on the road of perdition, there is hardly one soul that walks on the path of righteousness without blemish to find salvation.” The writer , probably himself entranced as he opens his vision, continues, as if relating in the name of Abraham : “While I was still speaking, behold, there were two angels of fiery face and fierce looks, who drove before them ten thousand souls through the wide gate to perdition, while a single soul was led by one angel. Following the many through th e gate, we beheld a man of marvellous stature and sun-like appearance, resembling a son of God sitting on a throne of crystal, and before him stood a table of crystal inlaid with chrysolith and beryl”—the reading of th e corrupt text is conjectural!—“with a scroll of six cubits ’ length and ten cubits’width, while two angels held paper and ink and pen in their hands ; and on the other side sat one angel of light with a pair of scales in his hand, and one angel of fire of relentless mien, holding a vessel with fire to probe the sinners. The man upon the throne judged th e souls that approached, and pronounced their fate, the two angels opposite weighing and testing them, and th e two other angels recording the verdict, the one the righteous acts and the other the sins.” “This, O holy Abraham,” says the heavenly captain Michael, “is the judgment and the retribution . ” The one that pronounces the judgment is the first saintly martyr, Abel, the son of Adam. “Man shall be judged by man” (cp. Genesis ix. 6, and Targ. Jerush.), saith God ; “therefore the power was given to him until the time when God himself will come and give the final judgment, which is everlasting and un­ changeable. For each man having sprung forth from the first created , all are first judged here by his son, and after the second appearance of the great Ruler t o ” — I adopt here 154

The Jewish Quarterly Review. weeping and tearing his hair in distress at the sight of the multitude going through the wide gate, and again smiling and exulting at the sight of the few entering the narrow gate. “For the one leads to destruction, the other to eternal bliss, and against seven thousand that walk on the road of perdition, there is hardly one soul that walks on the path of righteousness without blemish to find salvation.” The writer , probably himself entranced as he opens his vision, continues, as if relating in the name of Abraham : “While I was still speaking, behold, there were two angels of fiery face and fierce looks, who drove before them ten thousand souls through the wide gate to perdition, while a single soul was led by one angel. Following the many through th e gate, we beheld a man of marvellous stature and sun-like appearance, resembling a son of God sitting on a throne of crystal, and before him stood a table of crystal inlaid with chrysolith and beryl”—the reading of th e corrupt text is conjectural!—“with a scroll of six cubits ’ length and ten cubits’width, while two angels held paper and ink and pen in their hands ; and on the other side sat one angel of light with a pair of scales in his hand, and one angel of fire of relentless mien, holding a vessel with fire to probe the sinners. The man upon the throne judged th e souls that approached, and pronounced their fate, the two angels opposite weighing and testing them, and th e two other angels recording the verdict, the one the righteous acts and the other the sins.” “This, O holy Abraham,” says the heavenly captain Michael, “is the judgment and the retribution . ” The one that pronounces the judgment is the first saintly martyr, Abel, the son of Adam. “Man shall be judged by man” (cp. Genesis ix. 6, and Targ. Jerush.), saith God ; “therefore the power was given to him until the time when God himself will come and give the final judgment, which is everlasting and un­ changeable. For each man having sprung forth from the first created , all are first judged here by his son, and after the second appearance of the great Ruler t o ” — I adopt here 154