For several reasons, we follow here the shorter recension (A text)
which contains seven heavens in contrast to the longer recension (J text) which
contains ten heavens. First, a possible reason for the expansion from seven to
ten heavens in the J text is a redactor’s attempt to harmonize the number of
heavens with the ranks of the heavenly armies and their corresponding ten steps
(see 2 Enoch 20). Andersen agrees and writes, ‘The tradition of ten
ranks of angels in the seventh heaven with corresponding lists has a better
claim to be authentic than the scheme of ten heavens’, OTP 1, p. 134,
note a. Second, in 27.3, there is a reference to the seven stars, each one
assigned to its own heaven. Third, Enoch’s proclamation that he ‘wrote down the
height from the earth to the seventh heaven, and the depth to the lowermost
hell, and the place of condemnation, and the supremely large hell, open and
weeping’ in 2 En. 40.12 (J text) provides further confirmation for an
original schema of seven heavens. Finally, the comparatively much shorter
descriptions of the eighth and ninth heavens confined to 21.6, also lend
support for an original cosmology of seven heavens. (M. Jeff Brannon, The
Heavenlies in Ephesians: A Lexical, Exegetical, and Conceptual Analysis
[Library of New Testament Studies 447; London: T&T Clark, 2011], 138 n. 64)
