think Scholem’s point stands. Generally speaking, the extended merkabah tradition develops in a context which includes ideas about “the world to come,” punishments of the wicked, eternal life for the righteous, and different levels of blessedness in the heavenly world (Paradise). The archaic notion of death as the end, or shadowy life in Sheol, does not predominate in Jewish circles into the first centuries CE. It would seem that a text like Hekhalot Rabbati should be read with that more general context in mind.
