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4. Use of the Plural, "Heavens"

The Hebrew plural "heavens" is represented in the great majority of instances by the singular in the Septuagint, this number being found also in the Apocrypha, except in the Wisdom of Solomon ix. 10, 16, xviii. 15. In Matthew, Paul, Hebrews, and II Peter the plural is more frequent than the singular; but in Mark the plural is found 'only in i. 10-11; xi. 25-26; xiii. 25; in Luke only in Acts ii. 34, vii. 56, and probably Luke x. 20, xxi. 26; John avoids the plural altogether in the Gospel and the Epistles, and uses it in the Apocalypse only in xii. 12. There is no distinction in meaning between the singular and plural, except in II Cor. xii. 2, where a "third heaven" is mentioned, this being glossed in xii. 4 as " paradise." This statement evidently rests upon a threefold division of heaven, into the sky, heaven in the reiig-

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ious sense, and the dwelling-place of God. The distinction between the physical heaven and the abode of the blessed is self-evident, and Heb. ix. 11 (R.V.) expressly states that the latter is " not of this creation." It is necessary, moreover, to dis tinguish between this heaven, where the majesty and goodness of God are manifested, and the abso lute divine supremacy, " ° dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see " (I Tim. vi. 16). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, in like manner, no stress can be laid on the variation between the singular and plural (ix. 24, xi. 12, xii. 26 as contrasted with i. 10, iv. 14, vii. 26, viii. 1, ix. 23, xii. 23, 25), nor does the author distinguish between the "heavens" and "heaven itself" (ix. 24), except in so far as the latter corresponds to the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (comp. x. 19-23). Jesus is accordingly described as "higher than the heavens" (vii. 26) and as having "passed through the heavens" (iv. 14, RX.), and thus as being exalted above all who are in heaven or who await admission there (xii. 23), therefore implying a distinction between God and heaven, but not between the "heavens." The parousia will shake heaven and earth, and crate a new cosmos, which will be " a kingdom which can not be moved " (xii. 27-28).

The fact that Satan and evil spirits appear in the presence of God in heaven according to I Kings xxii. 19-22; Job i. 6 sqq.; Zech. iii. 1 sqq.; and Rev. xii. 7-8 merely implies that they work only with the permission of God. The statement that the heavens are unclean in the sight of God (Job xv. 15), moreover, must be regarded as a hyperbole of Eliphaz the Temanite to bring Job to a realization of his sinfulness. This can not be paralleled with such passages as Heb. ix. 23, especially as the heavenly world is represented as "true" (Luke xvi. 11; Heb. viii. 2, ix. 24). It may also be noted that the view that "heaven" occasionally connotes "God," as in Luke xv. 18, 21, is clearly untenable from Matt. v. 34, vi. 10.

(H. Cremer†.)

Bibliography: H. Schultz, Afttestamentliche Theologie, 2 vols., Göttingen. 1888, Eng. transl., Old Testament The ology. Edinburgh, 1892; W. Beyschlag, Neutestamenlliiche Theoogie, 2 vole Halle 1895; Eng transl., New Testament Theology, Edinburgh,1896; the lmdoons of Cremer and Thayer, s.v. bvpav6vy C Craddock, The Heaven of as Bible, hiladelphia, 1897; R. Winterbotham, The Kingdom of Heaven here and hereafter, New York, 1898; and of. the sections in the works on systematic theology.

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