Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is the earliest documented stream of Jewish mysticism, older than Kabbalah by roughly a millennium.
Imported citation, not independently checked: G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941)
religion · Shared topic · Revision 0
What Is Merkabah Mysticism?
What Is Merkabah Mysticism?
The current answer
Judaism's oldest mystical stream: a fiery throne seen over Babylon, a rabbinic gag order, and sages who claimed to walk through seven palaces of heaven.
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At Qumran, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (around the first century BCE) set angelic choirs praising the "structure of the chariot throne" in wording spun from Ezekiel 1 and 10 (4Q405).
Imported citation, not independently checked: Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, 4Q405
The Mishnah's rule is blunt: the chariot may not be expounded "before one person, unless he is a sage who understands of his own knowledge" (Mishnah Hagigah 2:1).
Imported citation, not independently checked: Mishnah Hagigah 2:1
Peter Schäfer's Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur (1981) undercut that confidence: printing the major manuscripts in parallel, it showed there are no stable "books" here, only fluid textual streams.
Imported citation, not independently checked: Peter Schäfer, Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur (1981)
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