In post-biblical Judaism
In 1 Enoch , the seer is transported on two journeys of the created order.11I am deeply grateful to Professor James C. VanderKam of Notre Dame University for providing English transliterations of the Ethiopic (Ge ‘ez) phrases cited from 1 Enoch 26:1 and Jubilees 8:12,19. He describes a transition that occurs during his second journey.
And from there I went into the center of the earth (Eth:mā ‘kala medr;
Gk: εἰς τὸ μέσον τῆς γῆς) and saw a blessed place, shaded with branches
which live and bloom from a tree that was cut. And there I saw a holy mountain; underneath the mountain, in the direction of the east, there was a stream which was flowing in the direction of the north” (1 En 26:1-3)(Isaac, trans., 1983, p. 26.). 22The parenthetical inserts and italics in this section are mine.
The key feature at the center of the earth is “a holy mountain,” which would be recognized by an ancient Hebraic audience as a reference to Mount Zion, the location of Jerusalem (Ps 3:4; etc.). Undoubtedly, the “blessed place” (Eth: makāna buruka ; Gk: τόπον ηὐλογημένον ) at the center of the earth would have been recognized as Jerusalem.33Cf. Nickelsburg, 2001, p. 318. “Jerusalem is described as the center of the earth already in Ezek 5:5 and 38:12 (there טבור, lit. ‘navel’), and the idea is explicit in Jub 8:12, 19. The phrase expresses in geographical terms Israel’s self-understanding as God’s special, chosen people.” Cf. also Jeremias,1969, pp. 51-52.
In Jubilees , a second century B.C.E. retelling of Genesis and Exodus accounts, we finally come to the apportioning of the earth among the sons of Noah: Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Of interest is the portion recorded in a document and given to Shem the biblical ancestor of the Jews.
And the lot of Shem was assigned in the document as the
center of the earth (Eth: mā‘kala medr ) which he would take
for his possession and for his sons for eternal generations from
the midst of the Rafa mountains (Jub 8:12).
As the account continues, Noah rejoices over the portion of the earth given to Shem because it contains the garden of Eden, Mount Sinai, and Mount Zion.
And he knew that the garden of Eden was the holy of holies and the dwelling of the Lord. And Mount Sinai (was) in the midst of the desert and Mount Zion (was) in the midst of the navel of theearth (Eth: mā ‘kala henbertā la-medr) (Jub 8:19, Wintermute, trans., 1985, pp. 72-73). 44For the Ethiopic script see VanderKam,1989, pp. 52-54.
The terms “center of the earth” and “navel of the earth” are synonymous and they refer to the future site of Jerusalem on top of Mount Zion. Already, in widely known literature prior to Matthew we see a strong tradition of Jerusalem or Mount Zion as the axis mundi .55See Charlesworth 1985,720, note i. Here Charlesworth comments on verse 8 “You who sit upon the mountain of holySinaios ” (my adapted spelling). He says, “This statement is significant because Jews usually depicted Jerusalem, not Sinai, as theaxis mundi . Jub 8:19 refers to three holy places: the Garden of Eden, Mount Sinai, and Mount Zion (see Jub 1:2, 28). Ezek 38:12 calls Jerusalem ‘the navel of the earth.’ 1En 26:1 portrays Jerusalem as both the middle of the earth and the ‘holy mountain’ (see also LetAris 83)….”