the third heaven. The original text (= a) of T Levi 2:7–10; 3:1–4 seems to have
conceived of the heavenly spheres as three in number, in the third of which
Levi found himself standing in the presence of the Lord and his glory. Later,
however, this material was re-worked to refer to a set of four additional
heavens, conforming the narrative to the common Jewish and Christian tradition
about seven heavens, as in Apoc Mos 35:2; 2 Enoch 3–20; b. Ḥag 12b; Ascension of
Isaiah; Apoc Paul 29, etc. For a review of Jewish speculation on the number
of heavens see Lincoln 1979:212–13. According to 2 Enoch 22[A] and the Gnostic
Apoc Paul (CG V, 2) 24,8 (NHLE, 241) there are ten heavens, while
in 1 Apoc Jas (CG V, 3) 26,2–19 (NHLE, 243) there are seventy-two. The
otherworldly journey is a common feature in ancient apocalyptic literature, and
numerous examples are surveyed in J. J. Collins, ed., 1979:36–43 (Jewish),
84–95 (early Christian), 136–39 (Gnostic), 161–65 (Greek and Latin), 190–95
(Rabbinic), 213 (Persian). For a more general discussion of the topic see Segal
1980. Paul’s brief remarks in these verses about his own journey became the
basis for later, more elaborate tales about his experience. From the second
century there is the Gnostic Apoc Paul (CG V, 2); see especially 18,21–24,9 (NHLE,
240–41). Another Apoc Paul is from the late fourth or early fifth century (in
HSW II:759–98); and one may also note the passage in Pseudo-Lucian, The Patriot 12 (tenth century), where
Triepho reports to Critias that he had recently been met “by a Galilean with
receding hair and a long nose, who had walked on air into the third heaven [es triton ouranon] and acquired the most
glorious knowledge.…” For a survey of Patristic and medieval fascination with
and commentary upon Paul’s account, see Mazzeo 1957. (Victor
Paul Furnish, II Corinthians: Translated
with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary [AYB 32A; New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2008], 525-26)
