THE formative stages of Jewish mystical thought in antiquity and the transition from those early stages, in the late Second Temple period, to later developments in the first centuries ce, still await thorough investigation. Scholars concerned with pseudepigraphic, apocalyptic, and Qumran literature have occasionally pointed out verbal affinities between those literatures and Heikhalot and Merkavah literature; while some students of Jewish mysticism have noted the conceptual continuity between the Heikhalot literature of the first centuries CE and apocryphal and Qumran literature, written in the last centuries bce. However, the actual relationship between the basic features of the diverse mystical literatures of late antiquity has yet to be determined and the meaning of those affinities explained.

This study is based on two underlying assumptions: (1) The early Jewish mystical literature associated with the tradition of the Merkavah, the divine Chariot Throne, was composed in three distinct but clearly interrelated stages, with reference to three destroyed or desecrated temples, and to three priestly classes, which were barred from performing their sacral duties for a variety of reasons—historical, political, social, and religious. (2) An uninterrupted line can be drawn from the mystical and liturgical literature of the last centuries BCE, associated directly and indirectly with the Merkavah tradition, to the mystical works of the first centuries CE known as Heikhalot and Merkavah literature. Many of the literary corpuses that make up this large body of literature were written by members of the abovementioned priestly classes who, unable to serve in the Temple, replaced the earthly Temple with a heavenly Merkavah and heavenly sanctuaries—Heikhalot, creating a super-temporal liturgical and ritual relationship between the priests performing the sacred service and the ministering angels in the supernal sanctuaries.

The last decades of the twentieth century saw the publication of scrolls and manuscripts that throw new light on Jewish history in late antiquity. The Dead Sea Scrolls (also known as the Judaean Desert or Qumran Scrolls), written in the last centuries bce, and the Heikhalot and Merkavah traditions, dating from the first centuries ce, have finally seen the light of day thanks to the co-operative work of numerous scholars in all parts of the world. This rich literature, which reveals the complexity of the Jewish spiritual world over a long and stormy period, dictates a re-examination of much conventional wisdom in the field of historiography and Jewish studies in general.