Life of Adam and Eve: Read Online

THE Book, or rather Books, which bear the name of Adam belong to a cycle of legendary matter, of which the Jews were fond, and which the Christians took, and developed, from them. It is hard to tell how much belongs to the original Jewish kernel.

Ginzberg (Fewish Encyc. i. 179-81, ‘Book of Adam’), in reconstructing this, combines most of the matter to be found in the Greek and Latin versions of the story, even including those parts of the Latin which the editor of the Slavonic saw fit to omit.

The Book opens with the period immediately following the expulsion from paradise, which is treated as a garden of fruit-trees; not in Heaven, but separated only by a low wall from the earth (cf. Apoc. Mos. xvii. 1). If we endeavour to reconstruct the Greek ‘ Apocalypsis Mosis’ by the aid of the Slavonic Life of Adam, we shall be compelled to pass over the opening sections of the Latin ‘Vita’ and begin with the dream of Eve, which follows immediately on their departure to the west, where they sojourn eighteen years and two months, and where Cain and Abel are born. This dream foreshadows Abel’s murder which is then 26[2160. The parents are overcome with grief, but comforted by the appearance of Michael, who promises them another son. After this Seth is born.

The story then hastens at once to the death-bed scene where Adam is lying ill, surrounded by his sixty-three children, whom he intends to bless before he dies. Seth is distressed and surprised at his condition, for pain and sickness is to him a thing unknown. Adam tells the story of his fall and God’s curse upon him. Adam’s cries of woe rouse Seth to action, and at his father’s request he undertakes to go with Eve to the gate of paradise, there to pray God to give him oil from the Tree of Life to anoint Adam. On their way they are attacked by a beast (which the Vita wrongly calls a serpent and identifies with the devil); this is merely a sign of the beast’s revolt, which followed the Fall (Apoc. Mos. xi). Eve is powerless before it, Seth is bitten, Vit. xxxvii. 1, xxxix. 2 = Apoc. Mos. xii. 1-2 (A) x. 3, but succeeds in escaping by frightening it with God’s judgement. Their prayers for mercy are answered by a promise of a pure heart in the future, Apoc. Mos. xiii. 3-5. The Vita turns this into a prophecy of Christ (xlii. 2).

They are told to go back, as Adam will die ‘in six days’. On their return Adam abuses Eve, who has brought a curse on all mankind, and asks her to tell their children how she was deceived (the Vita evades this by adding ‘ after my death’), which she proceeds to do; cf. Apoc. Mos. x, xiv, with Vita xliv. Her fall is told in such a way as to suggest a double element in the source of the narrative. The devil sometimes appears as the inspirer, sometimes rather as the aézas of the serpent, Apoc. Mos. xvii. The story is brought down to the time of their expulsion from paradise, when they were comforted by a gift of perfumes, seeds for their food, and a promise of future resurrection, Apoc. Mos. xxviii. 4, xxix.

Thereupon Eve witnesses marvellous scenes accompanying Adam’s reconciliation, but falls asleep when God comes down to paradise before the burial of Adam.

In answer to the prayer of the angels Adam is pardoned, and his soul given to Michael to be cleansed in the Acherusian stream, Apoc. Mos. xxxvii-xxxix, and kept in paradise till the end of the times, when a resurrection is promised. His body is then buried by the archangels in the neighbourhood of the earthly paradise, Apoc. Mos. xl-xliii = Vita xlviii.

The book ends with a typical Jewish admonition given by Michael, Israel's guardian angel, to Seth not to mourn מס‎ the Sabbath day, Vita li, Apoc. Mos. xviii ; cf. Jubilees ii. 23, &c.

Chapters xxviii-xl of the Slavonic Vita are in reality a recension of the same subject-matter of the Latin Vita i-x. It deals with the penitence of Adam and Eve and the second temptation of Eve by Satan, and chapters xii-xvii of the Latin Vita explain the envy and fall of Satan.

The Vita also inserts before Eve’s death an account of her directions to Seth concerning memorials of her life, which are mentioned by Josephus. Lastly, this version expands in non-

1 According to the Slavonic, Adam dreams this dream before the birth of his children. 123

ascetic Jewish tone the story of Cain’s birth. Ginzberg (contrary to Israel Levi) seems to have established the Jewish nature of all these pieces. I have given elsewhere my reasons for believing they never formed one book with the rest of the Apoc. Mos.

Two more pieces remain. These are Vit. xxv-xxx—Adam’s vision of the future, seen after he ‘had eaten of the tree of knowledge’, and ending in a specifically Christian prophecy. The other in the Slav. Vit. xxxiii is strongly dualistic in tone, and is taken by Jagié to be a mediaeval inter- polation by a writer of the Bogomilian heresy.

For other versions of the story, see ‘ Ancient Versions,’ 6 4.

The title ‘ Apocalypsis Mosis’ (Tischendorf, 1866, Ceriani) is an erroneous one; it perhaps arose through a confusion with the book of * Jubilees’, which was a revelation to Moses through the Angel of the Presence (Jub. i. 29, Π. 1). Cf. heading to Apoc. Mos. (A B C D-Arm. slight variations only). See Fuchs in Kautzsch, Apok. und Pseud. ii. 507.

Still less can ‘ Apocalypsis Seth’ (Hort) be original. The ‘Sethite’ character of these books, . which is much exaggerated in the case of the Armenian by Preuschen, is reduced to a minimum in

Ἂν the case of the oldest text (cf. Kabisch Liechtenhan in 7V7W., Giessen, 1903, 1906). \._ ΤΕ is not the same as the ‘Apocalypsis’ = ‘Testament of Adam’ (M. R. James, Renan) in syeviac, Coptic, and Greek Fragment. atin and Russian versions simply ‘ Vita Adae et Evae’, to be carefully distinguished from ‘ Conic of Adam and Eve’ (in Ethiopic), Dillmann and Trumpp’s Adambuch des Morgenlandes.

Acctprding to Ginzberg (Few. Excyc. i, 179), the statement of Zunz, Gottesdienstliche Vortrage der Fudcn,xas to the mention of a Hebrew * Book of Adam’ in the Talmud, from Aboda Zarah 5 a, Gen. R. xxiv. 3, 15 incorrect, though such a book must have existed whatever its name. Moreover, Zunz mentions 4.150 Baba Mezia 86 a—Waijjikra rabb. 181 b, Midrash Koheleth 84a in support of a book of Adam at the beginning of the third century. Fuchs supposes that the original was the work of a Hellenistiis, Jew in language influenced by the LXX, Ginzberg would say in Aramaic.

The book in its med}aeval form, and connccted with a ‘Lignum Crucis’ (Holy Rood) legend,

had an extensive circulation .in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, not only in England, Germany, and Russia, but in btnlgaria, Italy, and Servia, &c., being translated into many languages. The original of these translations i's nearly always the Latin, not the Greek form of the story. The exception is the Slavonic version extanv in two recensions, which are probably composed out of two or more independent tales. See § 6.

δα. ΤΠΕ MSS.

1° Apoc. Mosis. Six MSS. are at present known of the Apoc. Mosis. A Venice. Thirteenth century. ~ B Vienna. Twelfth to fourteenth centuries. } Tischendorf. C Vienna. Twelfth to fourteenth cenrwiries.

D Milan. Eleventh century. Ceriani. ΕΙ Paris. _ Fifteenth century. 2 E? Montpellier. } Fuchs.

The names are those of Ceriani, Tischendorf, and Fuchs. I owe my knowledge of the different readings of 121 and E? to the great kindness of Dr. Fuchs, who pl.aced all his notes at my disposal. The knowledge of the other MSS. is derived from Tischendorf, Afi. Apocryphac, 1866,and Ceriani, Monumenta, ν. 1.

It will be observed that all these MSS. are more or less fragmentary with the exception of C. This, however, is often obscure. A, though nearly complete till xxxvr, is rightly regarded by Fuchs as very untrustworthy, and is much spoilt by glosses, Apoc. Mos. xvi. 2, xiv. 2, xxiv. 3, xxviii. 3, XXxii. 4, even while it preserves some good readings, especially xxii. 2 (‘judgement’), and retains Apocalypse in xiii, which I believe to be original, and elsewhere lost through influence of Latin version.

D, where it is to be had (i-xvi,xxxvi-xliv) seems the safest to follow ; but it appears, especially at the end, to aim too much at clearness and classical Greek, and I have often found myself suspecting that the less easy and more clumsy sentences of C had a closer affinity with the original text ; even though conscious that in so doing I have been compelled to depart from the precedent set by Dr. Fuchs, whose work marks an epoch in the study of this literature, and to whom I owe much.

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Besides D, like B, though to a less extent, is not above filling up the gaps from the Scriptures (cf. Apoc. Mos. ix. 2, &c.), and altering phrase or word to correspond with a biblical text (Apoc. Mos. viii. 1-2, &c.).

E, like B, is often redundant and diffuse. Its chief interest lies in its very near relationship to the Armenian Version, with which it often agrees against all the others; if not the source of that translation, it is very closely related to it.

In the following translation, I have taken D and C as the chief guides, but, where they are unsatisfactory, have often thought it wiser to follow one of the others. Cf. xxvi.4 (AB), xxix. 5 (E). I agree with Fuchs that the construction of the true text is ‘schwierig’ and largely guesswork, but

> have adopted no reading without comparing all MSS.

2 Vita Adae et Evae. Numerous MSS. and versions exist of the Latin Vita, which Meyer has divided into four classes.

Cod. Arund., 326. 10, which I have seen at the British Museum, seems to belong to Class II and contains the additional paragraph describing Solomon’s finding of the tables.

To Class 111, which contains ‘legend of the holy rood’ in an expanded form, belong most of the mediaeval versions, e. g. Deutsches Adam-Buch, ‘ Herlwin’, and others.

Meyer's text from which I have translated is based principally on Class 1, and omits all the additions in the other classes. Where I have departed from it, I have noted the fact.

Class IV. The text of the Paris MSS. of the eighth or ninth century, often abbreviated and corrupt, is interesting if it is, as Meyer believes, an autograph of the tutor of Charles Martel and shows the early interest taken in the book. It is occasionally used and forms one of the authorities for the text of the long interpolation in Vit. xxix.

1° Armenian. Besides those of the Latin Vita we have two others of the Apoc. Mosis. First, the Armenian (translated by Conybeare in 7QR., 1895, vol. vii; Preuschen, Armen.-Gnostische Adam-Schriften, 1904) is based on three MSS. in the library of Etschmiadzin. This has been published by Mechitarist Fathers at Venice, and contains an edited and expanded version of the tale. Most of the additions and verbal alterations, especially those not already found in E, are in a Gnostic direction, and their presence as well as that of other similar Gnostic works on Seth, &c., has led Preuschen to suggest a Gnostic origin for the whole Adam literature, which is an untenable hypothesis. The present Arm. text is from a Gk. MS. akin to E.

The names of herbs in xxix. 6 are transliterations of the Greek. Sea ‘not made with hands’ (ἀχειροποίητον) is a scribal emendation of (Apoc. Mos. xxxvii. 3) ᾿Αχερουσίαν; cf. * Hojil’ for * Jael’ in Apoc. Mos. xxix. 7.

2° Slavonic. The Slavonic has been edited with Latin and German translations by Jagi¢ from nine MSS. It presents longer and shorter (South Slav.) recensions of the same book. (Denkschriften d. Wiener Akad. Wissensch., Phil.-Hist. ΚΙ. xlii, Vienna, 1893). Jagié is convinced that these are from the same original. The present version is closely parallel to the Greek from which, like the Armenian (Kabisch), it is evidently translated ; but at xxxvii, Eve goes on to tell a tale of penance in the water on the lines of that described in Vita i—xii, though with many significant variations, e.g. ‘44’ for 637’ (Slav. Vit. xxxv. 3). The devil’s story of his own Fall, Vit. xii-xviii, is left out, but another incident of the devil claiming rule over man (Slav. Vit. xxxiii-xxxiv), strongly dualistic and perhaps connected with Bogomilian heresy, takes its place. The end of the book is very abbreviated and several passages are rudely Christianized by a phrase, e. ₪. xlvi. 1 (‘Christ’), xlvii. 3 (‘Sign of the Cross’), I. 1.

The misunderstanding of the old Hebrew name of Jah-El had led to the creation of a new and imaginary angel named ‘ Joel’ (see notes). While the beast who attacks the penitents is described not as a serpent but a ‘cotur’, which Vollmer (Deutsches Adam-Buch, 1908) would translate as felis = ‘a cat.’

The old Jewish ending in praise of the Sabbath (Apoc. Mos. xliii = Vita li) is obscured.

3° Christian and Gnostic. Besides these Christian editions of the Jewish original, numerous other versions of the Adam tales exist, to which a Christian or Gnostic author can definitely be assigned.

Such are the Gnostic ‘ Testament’ or ‘ Apocalypse of Adam ’—the two names belong to two recensions—in Syriac and Arabic, rightly mentioned by Renan as the piece referred to in Gelasius’ decree, ‘ Liber qui appellatur Penitentia Adae Apocryphus.’ Renan thinks its liturgy of ‘the hours’ became through Coptic and then Apost. Constitutions, viii-xxiv, a chief source for determining the ‘Canonical Hours’.

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It is probable that this book (which is mainly concerned with an elaborate breviary and angelology) has borrowed from the Apoc. Mos. xxxvi-xl its account of the gloom of sun and moon after Adam’s death and the funeral carried out by the ‘ virtues’ (cf. Vita Ad. xxi). It has been used in turn by the Ethiopic Adam Book, which follows it in bringing the story down to the prophecy of Christ, of whom Seth, not Adam, is regarded as the prototype (cf. Gloss in Slav. Vita, xlvi). This latter has taken largely from a Syriac work, The Cave of Treasure, translated by Bezold into German, Die Schatchohle. Hort supposed this might be derived from the Ethiopic, but this is very unlikely. Both these works are strongly Christian and plainly ascetic. In both, ‘sons of God’ (Gen. vi. 1) = ‘sons of Seth’. Holiness consists in celibacy.

All these later works differ from our books in making Adam’s life and death but a starting- point for further chronicles, prophecies, and expectations of later ages. In the last two, the point of Adam’s death lies in the history of the fortunes of his corpse in its progress to Mount Calvary. This is embalmed and placed in a cave with the treasures the Magi are to bring to the second Adam (this is the new version of the fragrant herbs for which Adam made request in the Apoc. Mosis xxix).

The Conflict’ is the latest and most elaborate, but this work and the Schatzhdlle are entirely Christian, and wholly unlike our works, though they employ very little new material.

Terminus ad quem, Frequently the principal means of ascertaining the date of ancient books is the nature of the ideas which appear in their pages. In the case of the Books of Adam as in the ‘ Odes’ of Solomon historical allusions are conspicuously absent. The chief, if not the only criterion of date, is the relation of religious notions to those of other works. Still we are in a position at once to place the composition both of the Apoc. Mos. and the Vita Adae before the appearance of the Ethiopic Adambuch (dated to seventh century by Dillmann and Malan ; fifth century by Charles, 2 En., Intro. § 5, p. xviii) which borrows largely from both; and also before the Armenian version which dates, perhaps, from a period before 360 (Preuschen). The mention of the Acherusian lake (Apoc. Mos, xxxvii. 3) is perhaps the original of the Apoc. Pauli xxii which was ‘revealed’ in A.D. 380 (Tisch.). Charles (Excyel. Brit. ii. 175) dates it A.D. 388 from internal evidence.

Meyer thinks the Vita Adae xlii (= Ev. Nicodemi xix of A. D. 405-50) was a later interpolation into the text of Vita which existed before. Bousset thinks that the interpolation in Vita xxix, ‘maior quam prius,’ is part of a Jewish Apocalypse to which a Christian has added a long piece (like a gloss). If so, he thinks it refers to Herod’s temple, which was built in the author's lifetime. For another view of this, see my note {2 Joc.

Only general considerations remain to fix the date more exactly, but they are the most important. We have ample evidence to prove (1) that the contents are Jewish; (2) that the tone and temper is earlier than the Golden Age of the Rabbis, e.g. it has no polemic against the Christians ; (3) that the Theology and Eschatology are that of the later Judaism and akin to that of the 2 Enoch.

There is little doubt that the author of the Apoc. Mos, is indebted to the latter book, or the school where it originated, for some of his most characteristic traits, e.g. its conception of the Tree of Life and of the sacred oil (cf. 2 Enoch viii. 3), the sin of Eve, and the lake of purification, the ‘seven Heavens’, &c. His relation to the older books of Enoch is more remote and his angelology is more developed than even that in the ‘ Parables’ (1 Enoch xxxvii-Ixxi). The Demonology outside the Vita xiii-xvii is of a pre-Christian type, and Kabisch may be right in claiming that 2 Cor. xi. 14 is quoted from our text or more likely from the source of our text. Of the angelology and the eschatology, especially the doctrine of the Heavens, the same is true. See §§ 7-9.

It is equally certain that the Book (apart from brief interpolations and possibly Vita xxv—xxix) is of purely Jewish origin. As Ginzberg, Kabisch, and Fuchs unanimously declare, there is absolutely nothing specifically Christian in the contents. Many of the cited Christian phrases, e.g. ‘son of wrath’ (Apoc. Mos. iii. 2), are Hebraisms and in accordance with Rabbinic usage. (Cf. Hort’s list with Ginzberg’s article, ‘Book of Adam, in Few. Encyc.) The complete absence of references,

* In Confiict, Bk. i, the following appear to be derived from the Apoc. Mos, and the Vita:—vi, xvii = Apoc. Mos. xxxvii (Acherusian lake); xxviii = Apoc. Mos. vi. 2, xxix. 3; Vita xxxi. 1; v. אא‎ = Apoc. Mos. xlii. 4; vi = Vita sill, xviii, xv. 35 cf Koran Sura ii. 30; xviii = Vita xxxvii-xl; 1x, xxi = Vita iii. 1; xvii = Apoc. Mos. xvi; xxxii, xxxill = Vita vi-x; xxxvii = Vita xxxvi. 2; Apoc. Mos. ix. 3; xxviii. 2 = Vita xlii = Evangel Nicodemi xix. 1; xlv. 9 = Apoc. Mos. x. 1-2, xi. 2; Vita xxxvii. 2, xxxviii. 2 ; xxxix = Vita iv. 2, v. 2.

The ‘water of life’ in Conjict is not referred to in Apoc. Mos. or in Vita (save interpolation in Vita xxix). It is Christian substitute for ‘oil of life? (Apoc. Mos. ix, xiii, xxviii; Vita xxxvi, -(111א-1א‎

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direct or indirect, to Christian notions of Incarnation, Redemption, even of Christian higher moral teaching, would make it impossible to assign to most of the work a Christian origin. The startling abruptness of Christian interpolations serves, as in the case of Test. Twelve Patriarchs passim, to clinch the argument from silence ; which is the stronger, since the doctrine of a future judgement and future resurrection is clearly taught (Apoc. Mos. x, xii, xili, xxviii, xx xvii, xli, xliii, Vita xxxix, xlvii, 11( ; even though the Messiah plays no part and no judge other than God is mentioned. The Resurrection is rather connected in both the Vita and the Apoc. Mos. with the weekly rest of the Sabbath. Cf. Apoc. Mos. xliii, Vita li with Jub. iii. 17. Nor can Preuschen’s theory of a Gnostic (Sethite) origin for these pieces be accepted, even in the case of the Armenian version (though we have sought to show in the notes how this version has been subsequently modified in a Sethite direction on the lines of ‘the Gospel of Seth’ and other Adam legends preserved only in Armenian, which have so largely modified Preuschen’s conclusion) ; see his Adam Books, ii-vii. See §9.

Terminus a quo. ort was ready to admit a date anywhere in the first three centuries for the Apoc. Mos. It seems certain that the whole material contained in our Adam Books belongs to a period not earlier than the first century A.D. or later than the fourth century; but the uniform absence of polemic against the Christians, the wide and tolerant view of the future of the Gentiles, the conception of Adam’s or rather Eve’s sin (so nearly akin to that in Paul and 4 Ezra), the old simple hopes of the future Resurrection, the glaring dissimilarity of the Christian interpolated passages (Vita xlii, xxix ; Apoc. Mos. xliii-end, xxxvi—end, A only) render the earlier date far the more probable for the bulk of the work. The absence of any Messiah in the future prospects (see § 9) is yet another link with the 2 Enoch, and points not obscurely to an author of ‘the Dispersion ’, perhaps in Alexandria. Since it is certain that both the Latin, the Slavonic, and the Armenian, are from a Greek original, though ultimately parts of the book may be based on Hebrew documents (see § 53), seeing that the text is strongly coloured by Hebrew words and phrases, a further proof is forthcoming that the author or authors were Jewish Hellenists. For the date of the several parts, or books, included in this material, and especially for the relation of the Greek Apoc. Mos. to the Latin Vita, see § 6.

Armenian. The MSS. in the library of Etschmiadzin were written by Mechitarist fathers in 1539- Preuschen ascribes the earliest translation in Armenian to an Archontic heretic Eutaktus in 360, but this is bound up with his view of the Gnostic character of these works. Conybeare would admit a date in fifth century.

Slavonic. Jagié ascribes the earliest of these MSS. to a date not later than the fourteenth century, but the existence of a second Bulgarian recension probably derived from it renders this date none too early. Both are from the Greek, much modified by similar tales in the Russian * Palaea’, the Bohemian ‘ Life of Adam’ (containing also parts of the Vita absent here), and other Polish and Slavonic Adam tales of the sixteenth century.

Syriac. ‘The Cave of Treasure.’ Bezold assigns the Schatshihle to sixth century. Un- doubtedly written in Syriac, which language it declares to be ‘ the queen of tongues’, the speech of paradise and of Heaven. Written not by S. Ephraem but by a Christian and one of his disciples. Hort thinks this and ‘ Conflict’ are based on fourth century traditions.

Syriac and Arabic. ‘The Apocalypse or Testament of Adam.’ Probably not later than fourth century. Decret. Gelasii-Liicke, Offenbarung des Fohannes, i. 232, referred to by Syncell. Chron. xviii, Cedren. I. In Syriac, Arabic and Greek fragment. Renan decides it is early Gnostic. Hort says not Gnostic but ‘lies outside Greek and Latin Christianity ’.

Ethiopic. ‘Conflict of Adam and Eve.’ From Ethiopic (Kraft’s) MSS. Since the author of the ‘Conflict of Adam and Eve’ criticises Syrians, Greeks and Hebrews, he was none of these (Hort). Dillmann assigns it to the seventh, Charles to the sixth century. The original was Arabic.

Gospel of Eve. A Gnostic work describing Eve’s seduction by Satan and the birth of Cain and Abel, sons of Satan (the Serpent). Epiphanius, adv. Haereses, xxvi. Date uncertain. Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepigr. Vet. Test.i.95. )1712.( :

Armenian Adam Books bound up תו‎ MSS. with Armen. Version of the Vita Adae, treated as one, by Preuschen, include ‘ Gospel of Seth ’, ‘Words of Adam to Seth’, ‘ Tale of the Sons of Adam ’, ‘Tale of the penance of Adam and Eve’, * Death of Adam’, ‘ Tale of the Creation of Adam and Eve’, ‘ Tale of the Expulsion of Adam and Eve.’ Compare Story of Satan’s trick in ‘ Tale of the Expulsion of Adam and Eve’ with Slav. Vita Ad. xxxi, xxxii.

All these are Christian, or Gnostic anti-Jewish pieces (in ‘Death of Adam’, Jerusalem is called * place of the fallen angels’), and are far more akin to the ‘ Conflict ’, especially in attitude to celibacy, than to the Armenian Version of Apoc. Mos. Probably this latter was modified to agree with them.

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Seth is here always the hero, Satan’s fall is narrated, and history brought down to Christ as in other Christian books. The Trinity is definitely and crudely taught. Preuschen’s derivation from Archontic heretics through Eutaktus A.D. 360 may be right. (Cf. Epiphanius, adv. Haer. κἰ--χὶνί.) They show a complete knowledge of the contents of the Apoc. Mos. and the Vita (except i-xii).

The Problems. Yt is plain at first glance, that the three versions with which we are here concerned, though exhibiting a great deal of unity, are also in some respects strikingly divergent. In § 1 we found that to the main narrative in Apoc. Mos. a number of separate pieces are attached both in the Slav. and Latin versions! of the legend. Before discussing the nature and origin of these, we must pause to justify the position. 1° That the Apoc. Mos. and not the Vita is the main narrative. 2°. That this story possesses a unity of its own which is disturbed by the addition of the separate legends referred to.

Both positions have been and will be challenged ; and it must be admitted that neither can be proved to demonstration. The defence of the first is based on Dr. Fuchs’ masterly essay in his introduction to these books. He seeks to show that (a) the material of the Apoc. Mos, was certainly before the editor of the Vita. It may further be urged (4) that the Vita was unknown or at least unemployed by the author of the Apoc. Mos.

(2) It is hard to see how any careful reader of the books can deny this first proposition. From xxix-li the Vita is little more than a condensed abstract of the picturesque and extravagant descriptions of the Apoc. Mos. To suppose that these represent a working up of the earlier simple language of the Vita seems to be a direct misunderstanding of the methods and style of Jewish Apocalyptic, as they appear in all the mass of literature which still remains. Moreover, if these phantasies are a later production, despite the countless parallels in Rabbinical and Apocalyptic literature, some few of which are adduced in our notes, how is it that they have received so faint a colouring from their presumably Christian authors? In ספ‎ it is intended to illustrate the purely Jewish nature of the theology which these sections exhibit even down to the fact that Jehovah still bears his ancient name; that marriage is still regarded as a holy thing, and not denounced as by the monks who wrote romances for Christians. Besides, the Vita, though it omits Eve’s tale (Apoc. Mos. xv-xxx) in its proper place, has incorporated practically the whole of the material therein con- tained; thus the division of paradise into two parts for Adam and Eve (Vita xxxii. 2) is taken from Apoc. Mos. xv. 2; Vita xi-xvii seems almost like an expansion of Apoc. Mos. xvi. 3 ; Vita xliv contains preface to Eve’s tale, only postponed by three additional words, ‘after my death’; but the most striking fact of all is that the account of their attempt to get food in Vita v does not prevent Vita xliii from taking Eve’s account in Apoc.

Mos. xxix; leaving out the ‘seeds for his food’ and delaying the events till after their quest for the oil of life, making this a sort of substitute for that which they were ‘not to receive now ’.

Lastly, the interpolation from Ev. Nicodemi replaces an obviously Jewish, if not original, Apocalypse, in this same section of the Apoc. Mos. Since this interpolation is found in Vit. xiii (eighth century) earliest MS. of Vita, it is of some age, though not, perhaps, in the first text.

(2) On the other hand, the present text of the Apoc. Mos. shows no trace of the special matter peculiar to the two other versions, though this matter is of Jewish origin, as Ginzberg has shown that it is cell known in other Fewish works. The long account of the devil’s fall, not in the Slavonic, but closely akin to the legends on which both the Slav. Palaea Historica, the Koran, and the Mandean Book of Adam are based, presupposes a wholly different demonology tothat in the Apoc. Mos. The nearest approach is in Apoc. Mos. xxxix. 3, but ‘those who have hearkened to him’ is most naturally taken of wicked men. The whole piece seems to be introduced through the second failure of Eve, which is omitted even in the Slavonic, and never hinted at in the Apoc. Mos. The elaborate Midrash on Cain’s birth (Vita xvii—xxii) has no parallel in the Apoc. Mos., though it is thoroughly Jewish and quite innocent of any doctrinal application, to which the author might have objected. The explanation of the way Adam and Eve obtained food from God (whose object is obscured by the new ending put onthe story to find room for Satan’s narrative) is not only different from, but inconsistent with, the story that Adam obtained this help from God by the angel’s prayers at the time of his expulsion, Apoc. Mos, xxix, a relic of which has, as we have seen, been retained by the Vita in a wrong connexion. The forty days’ fast in Jordan is entirely ignored in Apoc. Mos.,

1 Both these seem plainly translations from the Greek. For Slav. see §§ 4, 5. In the Latin Vita, apart from transliteration of Greek names of herbs (Vita xliii. 3) ‘cinnamomum et calaminthen et nardum’, there are many Graecisms, e.g. 2/4005 = πληγάς (Vita xxxiv. 1); plasma = πλάσμα (Vita xlvi. 3, cf. xxvii. 2); sindones byssinas (xlviii. 4), σινδύνας βυσσίνας.

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nor is fasting mentioned as a means by which Eve and Seth may induce God to grant them the Tree of Life. The fact that this tale is amplified in the Pirke Eliezer, where forty-nine days are assigned to it, does not even prove an early origin, for Israel Levi in QR, 1895, has shown that this work is subsequent to the Mohammedan movement and mentions the Mosque of Omar. Early or not, the story is ignored by the author of the Apoc. Mos., and its inclusion in the Slav. version tends to show rather the acquaintance of the Slav. editor with several Adam books, of which the original Greek form of the Vita may be one, for it comes very awkwardly after God has granted to Adam * the seeds for his food’ ; it contrasts alike with the heretical interpolation of xxxii—xxxiii, and the bald statement of the Vita xxii. 1 that God gave them ‘seeds for their food’ after Cain’s birth (a new version of the Apoc. Mos. xxix). Lastly, its triumphant conclusion in the Slav. version compels the alteration of Adam’s words to Eve at the close of her tale (Slav. Vita xl; Apoc. Mos. xxxi).

The final directions of Eve concerning the tables (though the story is as old as Josephus) are not represented in the Apoc. Mos., even though she tells her story to warn future generations (Apoc. Mos. xxx. 1).

Vita xxv—xxix, quite apart from the markedly Christian ending, which is probably a later gloss, is somewhat removed in tone, temper, and theology, from the rest of the Vita, and the whole of the Apoc. Mos. Adam and Seth are here glorified, despite a possible reference to Apoc. Mos. xxiv. I. Paradise is treated not as the garden of Eden, but as a celestial realm, the abode of God (Vita xxv. 3, cf. 2 Enoch viii) into which Adam is translated long before ‘the end of the times’ (Apoc. Mos. xiii) in contradiction to the whole tenor of both the Vita and the Apoc. Mosis.!

Still more astonishing is the new attitude towards knowledge and the Tree of Knowledge, the eating of which has brought, not death, but supernatural wisdom (xxix. 2, xxvii. 3).?

Besides these facts, the new names for God, ‘ Light,’ ‘ Life,’ ‘ Almighty,’ ‘ Power,’ &c., the new date for the ‘translation’® immediately after the expulsion, the abrupt entrance of the story into the narrative, no preface or attempt to soften the break, are comparatively insignificant, though sufficiently remarkable features. It seems possible that the author of this piece had both our works before him—e. g. xxv. 3 seems borrowed from the account of God’s coming to paradise in Apoc. Mos. xxii. 3, cf. xxxiii. z2—but he used them merely as ornament to his own wholly original vision, of which the ending seems to be lost. I confess it seems strange to me that the separate nature of this piece has not been more remarked.* It appears as if the editor of the Latin Vita put this and other pieces together with little regard to order or probability. His object was, perhaps, merely the collection of all the oldest legends relating to our ‘first father’.

The Apoc. Mos. is thus in our view the oldest document. This was then combined with other Jewish legends about Adam and Eve and translated into Latin. Possibly the translator incorporated xxv-xxix of the Vita, perhaps also xiii—xvii, from earlier Jewish sources. The addition of Christian touches, e.g. Jordan for Gihon (Vit. vi), &c., and interpolations, such as xlii, may have been made subsequently. Whether the Apoc. Mos. as it stands is a complete unity is a hard question. The text is at any rate much injured and disarranged, and the original hard to find. I have taken the liberty of altering the order in my translation of xxxix and xxxvii in deference to a suggestion in Dr. Fuchs’ edition.

I have attempted to show, in examining the date of these works, that the author of the original Apocalypsis Mosis, and very probably also the editor, who put together the other legends concerning Adam and Eve contained in the Latin Vita, was a Jew of the Dispersion writing between A. D. 60 and 300, and probably in the earliest years of this period.

The Greek text is full of Hebraic words and phrases, of which Fuchs (in Kautzsch, Afok. und Pseud. ii. 511) gives a fairly full list; most of these will be found mentioned in the notes with a few others, such as the constant use of καί, where we should expect ὥστε (Deissmann, Light from Ancient East, shows this use of ‘and’ was common in Greek popular dialect of N.T. times), and a very frequent use of cognates, ‘ die the death ’, * weep with tears’, &c., or plays on words, which are 80 frequent in the Old Testament and later Jewish books (see critical notes).

Perhaps the most striking of Dr. Fuchs’ examples, besides Jael (xxix—xxxiii), (Jahwe-Elohim)

* Since the Adam literature is dependent on 2 Enoch, the reference to the ‘ Paradise of Righteousness’ in this ren a gute | with its belonging to this literature. As regards Adam's /emforary translation see note 3. —{Gen. Editor.

Σ This idea is Judaistic and pre-Christian: cf. 1 Enoch xxxii. 6.—{Gen. Editor.]

* Adam is not here finally translated but only temporarily in order to receive the revelation, The same type of translation is found in the Books of Enoch and other Apocalypses.—[Gen. Editor.]

* The Vision in xxv-xxix is already referred to in the Apoc. Mos. iii.—[Gen. Editor.]

are ᾽Αλληλούια (xliii); λόγοι παρανοµίας (xxi) = * words of Belial’ דברי בליעל‎ (cf. Ps. Sol. iv. 11) and the strange names for Cain (Diaphotos or Barekhooh, or Adiaphotos I) and Abel (Amilabes see note on i. 1): σκεῦος ἀχάριστον (xxvi. 1), ἔλαιον τοῦ ἐλέον (I confess I do not understand why Fuchs says * nicht als ein Wortspiel zu beurteilen '( ; on the contrary, the parallel in Vita seems to prove this. The curious use of the relative and the article with the infinitive in conjunction with the preposition ἐν may stand for Hebrew ? or even 3, e. g. xvi. 1 ῥῆμα ἐν ᾧ, cf. τρόπον ἐν 6(xxx. i), ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ φυλάσσειν ἡμᾶς (xv. 9), ξύλον ἐν ᾧ ῥέει ἐξ αὐτοῦ (xiii. 2). Other Hebraisms may be exclamations such as Ἰδοὺ ἐγώ, ii. 2 cf. 1 Sam. iii. 4-5; (ῃ ὁ θεὸς ὅτι (xviii), cf. 2 Kings xi. 1. The obvious error in A. Μ. κχν. 1 ἐν µαταίοις (see note) is a strong evidence of a Hebrew source, also οὗ εἶπεν μὴ φαγεῖν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ (xxi. 3).

On the other hand, most of the quotations are from LXX (Fuchs, 511 f.), and for Hebrew conceptions such as ‘Gan Eden’, 51601, Gehenna; Greek words παράδεισος, ᾿Αχερουσία (or Axépovea) are employed, or phrases, 6. g. τὸν τόπον τοῦτον (Apoc. Mos. xxxix).

Dr. Fuchs seems to rest his faith on an Aramaic original from which his Hellenist has trans- lated; or a supposed ‘ Book of Adam’, containing all existing traditions on the subject. If such existed, it was probably not the work of a single author. For any nearer determination of the author’s place and time, our only guide is the author’s literary connexion with other works whose date is approximately known. Since a fuller treatment of the theology of this work is given in § 9, while its influence on subsequent writings is discussed in § 8, it must suffice here to point out some of the links connecting it with earlier literature. It is, as we have seen, a commentary on the ancient books of the Law written from a didactic standpoint. As such it belongs to a period when reflection on the Old Testament narratives had passed through a considerable process of develop- ment and reached some striking conclusions as to the real events connected with ‘the Fall’ and its consequences upon the race of men. The blessing of deliverance from this curse (not restricted as in the Palestinian 4 Ezra to the Jews, but extended to all men) is taught as a hope in the future, but it is not connected with a Messiah. (This omission is of course soon supplied by Christian interpolators in Slav. and Latin versions.) There is, therefore, no polemic in the book, though it moves in the circle of ideas familiar to readers of Paul and 4 Ezra (cf. 4 Ezra iii. 21, iv. 30, vii. 118), esp. Apoc. Mos. x. 2, xiv. 2 (cf. Rom, v. 12-14); but a ‘Christ’ as either the Jews or the Christians expected him is wholly ignored (whereas in 4 Ezra vii he is attacked); as he is in the 2 Enoch.

As in Paul, the mercy of God (quite unlike 4 Ezra and Apoc. Bar.) is repeatedly dwelt on, but God pities man ‘because he made him’ (Apoc. Mos. xxxvii. 2), not because * Christ died for him’; cf. Rom. iv. 25, 30.

(Only in Apoc. Mos. xxviii is a condition attached to the promise of Resurrection, ‘if thou shouldst keep thyself from all evil,’ but this is not to be compared with the doctrine of works of merit as it is taught in Apoc. Baruch; cf. esp. Apoc. Bar. xiv. 12.)

It is perhaps not without significance that sacrifice, though alluded to in Apoc. Mos. xxix. 3, iv. 2, is not treated as a cause of God’s pardon to Adam; which is due to God’s mercy and the angel’s prayers (Apoc. Mos. xxxv—xxxvii; cf. 2 En. Ixi. 4).

The resemblance to the Pauline teaching is the more remarkable since Everling (Paulinische Demonologie) and Thackeray (St. Paul and Contemporary Thought) have shown that the two appear to agree very closely in their estimate of Eve’s part in the fall of man. Cf. 1 Cor. xi. 10, esp. 1 Tim. ii. 14 and 2 Cor. xi. 3 and 13-15. (See Thackeray's note on pp. 53-4.) Cf. Apoc. Mos. xix. 1, 2, 3 with xvii. 1 = Vita ix and Apoc. Mos. xxv. 3; 2 En. xxxi. 1, Sir. xxv. 23; Apoc. Mos. ix, 2, .א‎ 2 = Vita iii. 2,v. 3. Cf. Philo, Quaestiones, 1-33.

2 Cor. xi. 14 reads almost like a quotation from Apoc. Mos. xvii or its prototype. It is of comparatively minor importance that Everling notices the close resemblance of Paul’s early concep- tion of the Parousia in 1 Thess. ii. 14 with that portrayed in Apoc. Mos. xxii; while ‘the Paradise in the Third Heaven’ of 2 Cor. xii. 2 is identical with that in Apoc. Μος. xl. 1, xxxvii. 5. These are common features in the Rabbinic writings, though Talmud (Ber. Rabb. vi, Chagiga 12 b) changed the order of the Heavens (see Charles, 2 En. xxxviii).

If Kabisch goes too far in identifying our Apoc. Mosis with the source used by St. Paul, it seems at least tenable that S. Paul and the author of the 2 Enoch were near contemporaries of the original author of Apoc. Mos. and moved in the same circle of ideas; profoundly modified in St. Paul’s case by his Christian convictions; in the case of 2 Enoch by the author’s interest in the Philonic and Platonic speculations, e.g. of Pre-Existence ; in the case of the author of Apoc. Mos. by his love of the picturesque and extravagant use of Jewish Haggada. In that case, we may assign the original nucleus of the Apoc. Mos., of which our Greek copy is a slightly revised version, to the middle or end of the first century A. D. and picture the author as a religious Jew of Alexandria.

+ If the author was an Alexandrian Jew, then he must have drawn on Hebrew or Aramaic sources, since the text in Certain passages presupposes mistranslations of a Semitic original.—[Gen. Editor.]

130

Some traditions included in the Latin version are not without early attestation. In the Vita L.,

cf. also Aboda Zara 8a, Conflict of Adam and Eve, I, xii; both appear to be of later origin. But the devil’s claim seems to have appeared in embryo form also in the original ‘ Assumption of Moses’ as reconstructed by Charles from later allusions (Charles, Ass. Mosts, p. τού).

The story of the serpent putting the poison of lust on the fruit (connected with Rabbinic teaching of yeser hara הָרָע)‎ 7¥:) 4 Ezra’s ‘evil seed’ in man) has been frequently dwelt upon in the Rabbis and in the Jewish Apocalypses (now Christianized), Slav. Bar. xcvii, Apoc. Abraham xxiii (cited by Ginzberg).

The glory of Adam and Eve before the Fall, the brightness they lost, the Resurrection that was promised to Adam, the nature of the serpent’s temptation, the limbs of the serpent, the kind of the tree of knowledge, the trumpet of Michael the guardian angel of Eve, the judgement of God coming with his angels, the mutilation of the serpent, all are enumerated in Rabbinic literature (see notes on Apoc. Mos, xvii, xviii, xx, xxvi, Xxxii-xxxvii, xxix, &c.).

Far from showing no repentance, Adam is regarded already in Jub. xix. 24 as a righteous patriarch, and the nature of his penance is described in Erubin 18b, Ab. Zara 18a, Ab. R. Nath. i (cited by Ginzberg). The sacrifice of fragrant herbs offered by Adam (xxix) and the failure of Cain to bury Abel (κ!) are both already known to the author of Jubilees. With the seventy-two ‘ plagues’ of God's curse on Adam in Apoc, Mos, viii. 2; cf. Mishna, Veg. i. 4 (Ginzberg), as also God’s words in Targ. Jer. iii. 9, with Apoc. Mos. viii. 1 (= xxiii, 1). The later scenes in God’s care of Adam’s soul and body after death are all to be found in the Rabbinic commentaries, very likely derived from this book. The‘ Apocalypse’ or ‘Testament of Abraham’, which according to James, Texts and Studies, and Kohler (20, 1895, 581-601), is in the main pre-Christian, Jewish, or Essene, and certainly dates before Origen, i.e. circ. A. D. 200, has taken much from our book for the material on which it is based ; concerning the nature of the Fall, the tree of which they ate, even the old Hebrew name of Jael for God, also the seventy-two kinds of death (cf. Apoc. Mos. viii. 2, seventy-two ‘ plagues’ or ‘strokes Ἰ.

With regard to the more general features of belief in angels, seven ‘ Heavens’, two abodes of Paradise, ‘ chariot of cherubim,’ revolt of the beasts, Acherusian lake, &c., see § 9, ‘ Theology.’ These, alike in Christian and Jewish Apocalypse, form a large body of common ground not derived from a single work, but the crystallized conceptions of generations. Cf. art. * Apocalyptic’ in Fewésh Encyc.

When we come to a consideration of Christian, Gnostic, and Moslem productions, the suspicion of a direct influence becomes more pressing, though it is still hard to decide in individual cases. It has already appeared that both Syriac Schatzhohle and Ethiopic Conjftict of Adam and Eve with Satan, and especially the latter, are full of comments on, and expansions of, the subject-matter of both the Vita and the Apoc. Mos. A reader of these works and of the Gnostic Armenian Tales of Adam and Seth, and the Syriac ‘Testament of Adam’, will be struck at once by the contrast of the tone and likeness of the events narrated in the two literary cycles. The most marked characteristic of these Christian and Gnostic books is the new part played by the ascetic life as such. Ascetic touches, e. g. division of paradise for males and females (Vita xxxii = Apoc. Mos. xv), Eve's ‘sin of the flesh’ (Apoc. Mos. xxv), the fasting in Jordan (Vita i-xii), the birth of Cain after the Expulsion from Eden (Apoc. Mos. i, Vita xix—xxi) are not wanting in our Adam books ; but they are far removed from the way of thinking presented by those products of the pious imagination of monks, where it is on account of their fasting and celibacy that the children of Seth are styled ‘Sons of God’, and live apart on a holy mountain; where the temptation of Adam is an incitement to marry Eve, where long years of separation between husband and wife are only brought to an end by the special command of God (even as Noah is only induced to take a wife against his will by the same command), where fasting is a constant practice, and celibacy a necessary mark of saintliness.

In the ‘Testament’ yet another feature of our books is taken up and enormously expanded. This is the old Hebrew notion of the sympathy of the elements, conceived almost as angels (so in 1 En. Ixxvi, ‘those stars’, also xxi. 3) in the sorrows of men. The prayers of the sun and moon for Adam (Apoc. Μος. xxxvi-xxxvii, condensed in Vita xlvi) and the darkness of the sun in the presence of God (Apoc. Mos. xxxvi = 2 En. xiv. 2 (Charles’ note), cf. Vita viii, Slav. Vit. xxxvii), are the basis of the elaborate poetical description of the combined intercessions of all the powers of

* This seems to be a late development of the myth found in Jubilees viii. 3. See my edition zz /oc.—[Gen. Editor.] 131 κ.

Heaven, of which we are told in this work. The arrangement into hours of day and night is perhaps based on Gnostic imaginations of the ‘aeons’ of the world, but serves to give a grandeur and com- pleteness to the representation. A more direct reference to the words of Apoc. Mos. xxxv is to be found possibly in the Dormitio Mariae xxxviii (Tisch.), a late Christian book, condemned in Decret. Gelasii vi. 28, and perhaps this account is copied from Apoc. Mos. Probably the censing by angels of Mary’s corpse in Dorm. Mar. xxvi repeats idea of Apoc. Mos. xxxiii. 4. -

The pleading of Seth and Eve for the oil of mercy is probably taken down by the author of the Ev. Nicodemi xix direct from our text (Apoc. Mos. xiii = Vita xli), though in a later form (but before Ethiopic ‘Conflict’, sixth century) of the Latin version his own statement of the promise has taken the place of the Jewish ‘ Apocalypse’ in Apoc. Mos. κ. 3-5; where its presence seems to me (with Fuchs, Kautzsch, Apok. and Pseud. ii. 509) to need no apology.

Similarly the Apoc. Pauli xxii seems to have taken the name ‘ Acherusian lake’, though not the thing, which is very old, from Apoc. Μος. xxxvii. 3 ; cf. Ovac. Sibyl. i. 302, ii. 341. Apoc. Pault xliv claims for Sunday rest and peace even in Hell, which Jews and Essenes ascribed to the Sabbath, as in Apoc. Mos. xliii = Vita li.

Nothing could more effectually demonstrate that the Apocalypsis Mosis originated -in a foreign city than the complete absence, outside the manifest insertion in Vita xxix, of any reference to the Jerusalem temple; unless ‘the place where he was accustomed to pray’, on which the Moslems learnt to build their reverence for the sacred Caaba, may be taken as a distant allusion (Vit. xxx. I = Apoc. Mos. ν. 1) to some specially holy place. This distinguishes it from the ‘ Assumptio Mosis’, the work of a Palestinian, a Pharisaic Quietist, without a Messiah. Nor, as we have seen, does the author follow his teacher, the author of 2 Enoch (xlii. 6, lix. 1, 2, xvi. 2), in giving prominence to sacrifice, which is here treated as entirely subsidiary, and plays no part in attaining the desired pardon. Yet the God he pictures, like the future he prophesies, is a naive and childlike conception only one step removed from the primitive figure in Genesis. Despite occasional higher flights, e.g. xxxvii, Eve’s prayers in xxxii. 2 and xlii. 4-8, the studied anthropomorphism is so marked as almost to suggest an antiquarian design. In this respect, he goes far beyond 2 Enoch. God not only speaks to Adam and Eve (Apoc. Mos. viii. 1, xxviii. 1, xxix. 5), comes to the garden in a chariot of his Cherubim (Apoc. Mos. xxii. 3), or as Slav. has it, ‘on their shoulders’, sits on a throne placed at the tree of life (Apoc. Mos. xxii. 4), rebukes the angels for being more merciful than Himself (Apoc. Μος. xxvii. 4; cf. Apoc.

Abraham xxviii), puts out his hand and lifts up Adam from the Acherusian lake after handing him over to Michael to be dealt with, comes down to supervise the arrangements for Adam and Abel’s burial (xxxviii. 3-5),and holds a conversation first with Adam's soul (xxxix),and then with his corpse (xli. 1, 3). Yet despite this curious humbling of the Almighty, the author shows manytraces of the newand transcendent view of His attributes, which was causing men to lift Him ever further and further out of reach. Though God often speaks to Adam, his appearance after the Fall is not described as in Gen. iii. 8, but heralded by the ‘trump of the archangel ’ (xxii. 1, cf. 1 Thess. iv. 16 of the ‘ Parousia’), and neither the expulsion, the funeral, nor the last injunctions are his direct work; they are entrusted to a host of subordinate beings. The two cherubim of Gen. iit. 24 are there (Apoc. Mos. xxviii. 3) but their efforts are now supported by a host of other angelic beings. The archangels (four of whom are mentioned by name, xl. 1, cf. Vita xlviii. 6) and the Seraphim, one of whom (xxxvii. 3) is given the task of casting Adam’s soul into the Acherusian lake, are the most important. Thus Michael’s special concern is with the care of men’s bodies (Apoc. Mos. xxxii. 3). This was a well-known conception of later Judaism (sce Notes). The other archangels (Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel) who carry out the funeral, are all names well known to readers of ‘Enoch’ and parallel works of Jewish Apocalyptic. The ‘virtues’, who support Eve in her hour of trial, Vita xxii. 1, and watched her once in Paradise, Vita xxxiii. 1 (perhaps the latter passage in the Vita borrows them from here, i.e. Apoc.

Mos. vii. 2) are the guardian angels of which Our Lord speaks (Matt. xviii. 10) and which are perhaps first mentioned in Jubilees xxxv. 17. In another respect the author follows the practice of the later Jews in ascribing great efficacy to the prayers not only of the righteous but of angels, for the departed (cf. Apoc. Mos. xxxv, xxxvi; Vita xxi. 2, ix. 3). In this case he opposes the teaching of 2 Enoch (liii. 1) who, unlike Philo, attacked this practice.

The doctrine of a Future Life corresponds very nearly to the notion entertained by the later Judaism. The teaching of a Resurrection and a Judgement is clear and emphatic, as also is the doctrine concerning the intermediate abode of departed souls in Paradise, the third of the seven Heavens (Apoc. Mos. xxxiii. 4, (A) Tisch.), (xxxv. 2), (xxxvii. 3, 5, xl. 2) and thus quite distinct from the original Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve dwelt before the Fall. (Apoc. Mos. i, vi, viii, xili, xvi, xxii, &c.; Vita xxxi, xxxii, xxxiii, xl, xlviii, &c.; Slav. Vita xxx, xxxi.)

132

Greek. Tischendorff, Apocalypses Apocryphae, 1866 (based on A, B, C, and beginning and end of D). Ceriani, Monumenta Sacra et Profana, ν. 21 sqq. (text of D). Latin, Meyer, in Adhandlungen der Miinchner Akademie der Wissenschaften, philos.-philol. K1., xiv, 1878. German. H. Vollmer, Deutsches Adambuch, 1908. Slavonic. Jagi¢, Denkschriften der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften, philos.-hist., ΚΙ., xlii, 1893. Armenian. Conybeare, Jewish Quarterly Review, 1895, vii. 216-35. Preuschen, Festschrift, 1900, * Armenische Gnostische Adam-Schriften.’ _ Syriac. Bezold, Schatzhohle, 1890. Renan, Journal Asiatigue, 1853, pp. 427-53. Ethiopic Adambuch. Dillmann, Adambuch des Morgenlandes, 1850. Trumpp, Abhandlungen der Miinchner Akademie, philos.-philol. ΚΙ., xv, 1879 (Eth. text).

J. H. Hort, Dictionary of Christian Biography, Art. * Books of Adam.’ Kabisch, Entstehungszeit der Apoc. Mosis, ZVZW, 1905, pp. 109-35. Μ. R. James, ‘Greek Apoc. of Adam,’ 702 and Studies, ii, iii, 1891. Renan, ‘Syr. Test. of Adam,’ Journal Asiatique, Ser. v, 1853.

Malan, Confiict of Adam and Eve, London, 1899.

Fuchs, ‘ Adambuch’ in Kautzsch, 4fok. und Pseud., ii, 506-28. Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvitern, 1899, pp. 63 sqq- Dreyfus, ddam und Eva nach Auffassung der Midrasch, 1894. Ginzberg, Jewish Encyclopedia, Art. ‘Book of Adam.’

Preuschen, Die apokryphen Gnostischen Adamschriften, 1900.

133

Penance of Adam and Eve, i-xi. 1 1 - When they were driven out from paradise, they made themselves a booth, and spent seven days mourning and lamenting in great grief.

But after seven days, they began to be hungry and started to look for victual to eat, and they 2 found it not. Then Eve said to Adam: ‘My

lord, I am hungry. Go, look for (something)

for us to eat. Perchance the Lord God will look back and pity us and recall us to the place in which we were before.’

And Adam arose and walked seven days over all that land, and found no victual such as they 2 used to have in paradise. And Eve said to Adam:

‘Wilt thou slay me? that I may die, and per-

chance God the Lord will bring thee into paradise,

for on my account hast thou been driven thence.’ 3 Adam answered: ‘Forbear, Eve, from such words, that peradventure God bring not some other curse upon us. How is it possible that I should stretch forth my hand against my own flesh ? Nay, let us arise and look for something for us to live on, that we fail not.’

And they walked about and searched for nine days, and they found none such as they were used to have in paradise, but found only animals’ 2food. And Adam said to Eve: ‘This hath the

Lord provided for animals and brutes to eat ; 3 but we used to have angels’ food. But it is just and right that we lament before the sight of God who made us. Let us repent with a great peni- tence: perchance the Lord will be gracious to us and will pity us and give us a share of some- thing for our living.’

lil, 1

Cod. Ar.+ ‘they went to the West’.

lil, I. seven days. Mishna Taanit i. 6 says he fasted seven days, see Introd. §§ 4, 5. \ - in paradise : eating beasts’ food was one of Adam’s curses in Ber. 13008 xx, Pirke Eliezer.

victual . . explains it as ‘ nettles’. 2. מס‎ my account.

Cod. Ar. has ‘after six days’

And we sat together before the gate of para- xxviii. dise, Adam weeping with his face bent down to the earth, lay on the ground lamenting.

And seven days passed by and we had nothing 2 to eat and were consumed with great hunger, and I Eve cried with a loud voice: ‘ Pity me, O ey My Creator; for my sake Adam suffereth thus!’

And I said to Adam: ‘ Rise up! my lord, that xxix. | we may seek us food; for now my spirit faileth me and my heart within me is brought low.’ Then Adam spake to me: ‘I have thoughts of 2 killing thee, but I fear since God created thine image and thou showest penitence and criest to God; hence my heart hath not departed from thee.’

And Adam arose and we roamed through all xxx. 1 lands and found nothing to eat save nettles (and) grass of the field. And we returned again to the gates of paradise and cried aloud and en- treated: ‘Have compassion on thy creature. 2 O Lord Creator, allow us food.’

And for fifteen days continuously we entreated. xxxi. 1 Then we heard Michael the archangel and Joel 2 praying for us, and Joel the archangel was commanded by the Lord, and he took a seventh part of paradise and gave it to us. Then the3 Lord said: * Thorns and thistles shall spring up from under thy hands; and from thy sweat shalt thou eat (bread), and thy wife shall tremble when she Iooketh upon thee.’

The archangel Joel said to Adam :‘ Thus saith אאא‎ the Lord ; I did not create thy wife to command thee, but to obey ; why art thou obedient to thy wife?’ Again Joel the archangel bade Adam 2 separate the cattle and all kinds of flying and creeping things and animals, both wild and tame; and to give names to all things. Then indeed 3 he took the oxen and began to plough.

; cf. Mishna Taanit i. 6.

Slav.

MSS. have doublet ‘quoniam propter me iratus est tibi dominus deus vis interficere me ut

moriar et forte introducet te dominus deus in paradisum, quia propter meam causam expulsus es inde’. 3. bring . . . some other curse. Cod. Ar. ‘curse us with some other curse’, Hebraism.

my own flesh = Gen. 11. 24. iv. 2. angels’ food: cf. Ps. Ixxviii. 25 (Fuchs).

Slav. Vita i marks this off from Heavenly ‘ Paradise’. Cf. Apoc. Mos. xliii. 4 (note).

contrast Christian version in Introd. § 5 a.

134

ADAE ET ΕΝΑΕ.‏ גו

And Eve said to Adam: ‘ What is pen‘tence? Tell me, what sort of penitence am I to do? Let us not put too great a labour on ourselves, which we cannot endure, so that the Lord will 2 not hearken to our prayers: and will turn away

His countenance from us, because we have not 3 fulfilled what we promised. My lord, how much penitence hast thou thought (to do) for 1 have brought trouble and anguish upon thee ?’

ν. 1

vi. 1 And Adam said to Eve: ‘Thou canst not do so much as I, but do only so much as thou hast strength for. For I will spend forty days fasting, but do thou arise and go to the river Tigris and lift up a stone and stand on it in the water up to thy neck in the deep of the river. And let no speech proceed out of thy mouth, since we are unworthy to address the Lord, for our lips are unclean from the unlawful and forbidden tree. 3 And do thou stand in the water of the river thirty-seven days. But I will spend forty days in the water of Jordan, perchance the Lord God will take pity upon us.’ vii 1 And Eve walked to the river Tigris and did zas Adam had told her. Likewise, Adam walked to the river Jordan and stood on a stone up to his neck in water. And Adam said: ‘I tell thee, water of Jordan, grieve with me, and assemble to me all swimming (creatures), which are in thee, and let them sur- 2 round me and mourn in company with me. Not for themselves let them lament, but for me; for it is not they that have sinned, but I.’

3 Forthwith, all living things came and sur- rounded him, and, from that hour, the water of Jordan stood (still) and its current was stayed.’

Then the devil approached and stood before xxxiii. 1

the oxen, and hindered Adam in tilling the field and said to Adam: ‘Mine are the things of 2 earth, the things of Heaven are God’s; but if thou wilt be mine, thou shalt labour on the earth; but if thou wilt be God’s, (pray) go away to paradise. Adam said: ‘The things 3 of Heaven are the Lord’s, and the things of earth and Paradise and the whole Universe.’

The devil said: ‘I do not suffer thee to till xxxiv. 1

the field, except thou write the bond that thou art mine.’ Adam replied: ‘ Whosoever is lord of 2 the earth, to the same do I (belong) and my children.” Then the devil was overcome with joy. (But Adam was not ignorant that the Lord 3 would descend on earth and tread the devil under foot.) The devil said: ‘Write me thy 4 bond.’ And Adam wrote : ‘ Who is lord of the earth, to the same do I belong and my children.’

Eve said to Adam, ‘ Rise up, my lord, let us xxxv. 1

pray to God in this cause that He set us free from that devil, for thou art in this strait on my account.’

But Adam said : ‘ Eve, since thou repentest of 2 thy misdeed, my heart will hearken to thee, for the Lord created thee out of my ribs. Let us fast forty days perchance the Lord will have pity on us and will leave us understanding and life’ I, for my part, said: ‘ Do thou, (my) lord, 3 fast forty days, but I will fast forty-four.’

And Adam said to me: ‘ Haste thee to the ,טאאא‎ 1

river, named Tigris, and take a great stone and place it under thy feet, and enter into the stream and clothe thyself with water, as with a cloak, up to the neck, and pray to God in thy heart and let no word proceed out of thy mouth.’ And 2 I said: ‘O (my) lord, with my whole heart will I call upon God.” And Adam said to me:3 ‘Take great care of thyself. Except thou seest me and all my tokens, depart not out of the water, nor trust in the words, which are said to thee, lest thou fall again into the snare. And 4 Adam came to Jordan and he entered into the water and he plunged himself altogether into the flood, even (to) the hairs of his head, while he made supplication to God and sent (up) prayers to Him.

I ef salveris: 11 sed salveris. ae I contradict? : 11 UI ddlicito et contradicto. Cor. .זז‎

penitence, for we expect another river of Paradise. Vili. 3. stood still. this lasted eighteen days.

I steterunt ex agua non agentes cursumt. Meyer gives singular as text. Katona’s text says

xxxiii-xxxv. Heretical interpolation by Bogomilian dualist (Jagi¢é). ‘Paradise’ here is the Heavem/y one, widely

separated from the earth. For this whole section cf. Pauline phrase ‘bond servants of sin’. MSS. of ‘ Solfernus’ and Polish and Bohemian Adam tales.

It occurs in all Slav.

In Latin Vit. vi, I has ‘thirty-seven’, 111 ‘thirty’ days.

135

εν "

And eighteen days passed by; then Satan was wroth and transformed himself into the brightness of angels, and went away to the river 2 Tigris to Eve, and found her weeping, and the

devil himself pretended to grieve with her, and

he began to weep and said to her: ‘Come out of the river and lament no more. Cease now from sorrow and moans, Why art thou anxious 3 and thy husband Adam? The Lord God hath heard your groaning and hath accepted your penitence, and all we angels have entreated on your behalf, and made supplication to the Lord ; 4and he hath sent me to bring you out of the water and give you the nourishment which you had in paradise, and for which you are crying 5 out. Now come out of the water and I will conduct you to the place where your victual hath been made ready.’

But Eve heard and believed and went out of the water of the river, and her flesh was (trembling) 2like grass, from the chill of the water. And

when she had gone out, she fell on the earth and

the devil raised her up and led her to Adam. 3 But when Adam had seen her and the devil with her, he wept and cried aloud and said: ‘O Eve,

Eve, where is the labour of thy penitence? 4 How hast thou been again ensnared by our adversary, by whose means we have been estranged from our abode in paradise and Spiritual joy?’

And when she heard this, Eve understood that (it was) the devil (who) had persuaded her to go out of the river; and she fell on her face on the earth and her sorrow and groaning and wailing 2 was redoubled. And she cried out and said:

‘Woe unto thee, thou devil. Why dost thou

attack us for no cause? What hast thou to do

with us? What have we done to thee? for thou

pursuest us with craft? Or why doth thy malice 3 assail us? Have we taken away thy glory and caused thee to be without honour? Why dost thou harry us, thou enemy (and persecute us) to the death in wickedness and envy?’

Ill >. IL IL plangitis: 1

And there, the angels came together and all , living creatures, wild and tame, and all birds that fly, (and) they surrounded Adam, like a wall, praying to God for Adam.

The devil came to me, wearing the form and , xxvii,

brightness of an angel, and shedding big tear- drops, (and) said to me: ‘ Come out of the water, Eve, God hath heard thy prayers and (heard) us angels, God hath fulfilled the prayers of those who intercede on thy behalf. God hath sent me to thee, that thou mayst come out of the water.’

XXVil.

But I (Eve) perceived that he was the devil yxxix, and answered him nothing. But Adam (when) he returned from Jordan, saw the devil’s footprints, and feared lest perchance he had deceived me; but when he had remarked me standing in the water he was overcome with joy (and) he took 2 me and led me out of the water.

Then Adam cried out with a loud voice: ‘Be yy ι silent, Eve, for already is my spirit straitened in my body; arise, go forth, utter prayers to God, till I deliver up my spirit to God.’

(Passage follows exactly parallel to Apocalypsis Mosis xxxii. seq., but in abbreviated form.)

With craft = do/ose Fuchs, Meyer, Katona: others dolore.‏ .2 .וא

Far greater than concise Latin account.

Cf. Rom. viii, 22. In Recension ii. Satan appears

twice—the first time as Adam. The ‘tokens’ of xxxvi. 3 are explained there. , a xxxix. 1. answered nothing. Here only, Eve is not deceived. Contrast ‘ Conflict’ of Adam and Eve, 1. xxxiii-

xl 1. Adam cried out, &c. Only here. Latin Vita xi perhaps inserted to link on story in xvi-xxiii.” Eve

deliberately compels Satan to come forward with his tale.

The Fall of the Devil, xii—xvii.

xi, 1 And with a heavy sigh, the devil spake: ‘O Adam! all my hostility, envy, and sorrow is for thee, since it is for thee that I have been expelled from my glory, which I possessed in the heavens 2 in the midst of the angels and for thee was I cast out in the earth.’ Adam answered, ‘What dost 3 thou tell me? What have I done to thee or what is my fault against thee? Seeing that thou hast received no harm or injury from us, why dost thou pursue us?’ xiii, 1 | The devil replied, ‘ Adam, what dost thou tell me? It is for thy sake that I have been hurled 2 from that place. When thou wast formed, I was hurled out of the presence of God and banished from the company of the angels. When God blew into thee the breath of life and thy face and likeness was made in the image of God, Michael also brought thee and made (us) worship thee in the sight of God ; and God the Lord spake: Here is Adam. I have made thee in our image and likeness.’ xiv. 1 And Michael went out and called all the angels saying : ‘Worship the image of God as the Lord God hath commanded.’ 2 And Michael himself worshipped first; then he called me and said: ‘ Worship the image of God 3the Lord.’ And I answered, ‘I have no (need) to worship Adam.’ And since Michael kept urging me to worship, I said to him, ‘ Why dost thou urge me? Ι will not worship an inferior and younger being (than I). I am his senior in the Creation, before he was made was I already made. It ishis duty to worship me.’ > 1,2 When the angels, who were under me, heard this, they refused to worship him.

And Michael saith, ‘Worship the image of God, but if thou wilt not worship him, the Lord God will be wrath 3 with thee.’ And I said, ‘If He be wrath with me, I will set my seat above the stars of heaven and will be like the Highest.’ xvii t And God the Lord was wrath with me and banished me and my angels from our glory; and on 2thy account were we expelled from our abodes into this world and hurled on the earth. And 3 straightway we were overcome with grief, since we had been spoiled of so great glory. And we 4 were grieved when we saw thee in such joy and luxury. And with guile I cheated thy wife and caused thee to be expelled through her (doing) from thy joy and luxury, as I have been driven out of my glory.’ גימ‎ When Adam heard the devil say this, he cried out and wept and spake: ‘O Lord my God, my life is in thy hands. Banish this Adversary far from me, who seeketh to destroy my soul, and give 2, 3 me his glory which he himself hath lost.’ And at that moment, the devil vanished before him. But Adam endured in his penance, standing for forty days (on end) in the water of Jordan.

Birth of Cain and Abel; Death of Abel; Book of Seth, xviii-xxiv.

‘vii, I And Eve said to Adam: ‘ Live thou, my Lord, to thee life is granted, since thou hast committed neither the first nor the second error. But I have erred and been led astray for I have not kept the commandment of God; and now banish me from the light of thy life and I will go to the sunsetting,

2 and there will I be, until I die’ And she began to walk towards the western parts and to mourn 3 and to weep bitterly and groan aloud. And she made there a booth, while she had in her womb offspring of three months old.

xii. 1. expelled I. ΤΠ] +6 alvenatus sum. Story closely parallel to Al Koran Suras vii-xi, Codex Nazaraeus 67: ‘The highest kings of light declared: ‘‘ Let the kings of fire serve Adam.” But one, the author of ill, did not follow the commands of the Lord and was hurled in chains.’ Cf. Rabbi Moses-Hadarschan: ‘When God made Adam, he said to the higher angels, ‘‘ Bow yourselves down !””

3- Ihave no (need) to = zon hadeo with infinitive.

three months old. So 111 43; 11 3.9. 1117 + ‘Cain’.

τοῦ

xix. 1 And when the time of her bearing approached, she began to be distressed with pains, and she 2 cried aloud to the Lord and said: ‘ Pity me, O Lord, assist me.’ And she was not heard and the 3 mercy of God did not encircle her. And she said to herself: ‘Who shall tell my lord Adam? I implore you, ye luminaries of heaven, what time ye return to the east, bear a message to my lord Adam,’ But in that hour, Adam said: ‘The complaint of Eve hath come to me. hath the serpent fought with her.’ 2 And he went and found her in great distress. And Eve said: ‘ From the moment I saw thee, my lord, my grief-laden soul was refreshed. And now entreat the Lord God on my behalf to 3 hearken unto thee and look upon me and free me from my awful pains.’ And Adam entreated the Lord for Eve. xxi, 1 And behold, there came twelve angels and two ‘ virtues’, standing on the right and on the left 2of Eve; and Michael was standing on the right; and he stroked her on the face as far as to the breast and said to Eve: ‘Blessed art thou, Eve, for Adam’s sake. Since his prayers and intercessions are great, I have been sent that thou mayst receive our help. Rise up now, and

xx, I Perchance, once more

3 prepare thee to bear.

And she bore a son and he was shining; and at once the babe rose up

and ran and bore a blade of grass in his hands, and gave it to his mother, and his name was

called Cain.

Vita ADAE ET EVAE.

they and all their generations might live.

3 For thereafter Eve conceived and bare a son, whose name was Abel ; and Cain and Abel used to stay together.

4 And Eve said to Adam: ‘My lord, while 1 slept, I saw a vision, as it were the blood of our son Abel in the hand of Cain, who was gulping it down in his mouth. Therefore I have sorrow.’

5 And Adam said,‘ Alas if Cainslew Abel. Yet let us separate them from each other mutually,

This is the story of Adam and Eve after they had i. 1 gone out of Paradise. And Adam knew his wife 2 Eve and went upwards to the sun-rising and abode there eighteen years and two months. And Eve 3 conceived and bare two sons; Adiaphotos, who is called Cain and Amilabes who is called Abel.

And after this, Adam and Eve were with one il, 1 another and while they were sleeping, Eve said to Adam her lord: ‘My lord, Adam, behold, 1 2 have seen in a dream this night the blood of my son Amilabes who is styled Abel being poured into the mouth of Cain his brother and he went on drinking it without pity. But he begged him to leave him a little of it. Yet he hearkened 3 not to him, but gulped down the whole; nor did it stay in his stomach, but came out of his

Not a Christian sentiment, but Jewish.

3. what time ... to the east. Cf. Test. Adam, describing the fourth hour of the night. i xx. 1. the serpent. Cf. Eve's tale in Apoc. Mos. xv-xxx. Also attack of beast in Vita xxxvii, Apoc. Mos. x-x1. 2. was fefreshed. refrigeravit Meyer: | infrigeravit. xxi. 1. virtues (or ‘powers’ Fuchs). Probably ‘guardian angels’ (Ginzberg). * principalities, thrones, powers’, &c. Name agrees in Test. Adam. and Michael ... right. II only. So Meyer. \ 2. on the face. I facéem 185: 11, 111 eam α facie. 3. Shining (/ucidus). Cf. Adiaphotos, Apoc. Mos. i. The ‘Incunabulum’ (see Meyer 215), the Deutsches Adam Buch and 11] say Eve was frightened and wished to kill Cain, Perhaps alludes to myth that he was Satan’s child. blade of grass...Cain. Better ‘reed.’ Play on words—Hebrew “J? (Kanth) and Pe (Cain). Some Rabbis say Cain slew Abel with a reed. 311. 4. Isaw. In Slav. Adam sees it before Cain’s birth. 5. separate ... mutually. Midrasch on Gen, iv. 2,

Cf. Apoc. Mos. vii. Like Pauline

i. All MSS. (ABCD and Arm.) give preface describing book as taught to Moses by Michael the archangel. Like the title, this is a later addition. Slav. describes subjection of all animals in first chapter (cf. beasts’ words in Apoc. Mos. xi. 1). 2. knew. ἔγνω (Gen. iv. 1) DE Arin.: AC ‘took’ (έλαβεν). went upwards (ἀνῆλθεν) AC: D ‘went out? (ἐξηλθεν). : . 3- Adiaphotos 12: other MSSt. Arm. * Anloys’ = ‘full of light’ Cf. Vita xxi. 3 /wcidus. The translator in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library, xvi, 1870, suggests διαφύτωρ or διαφυτεντης, ‘a planter,’ for Adiaphotos and µηλοβότης, *a keeper of sheep’ for Amilabes. Amilabes AD: CB corrupt. Arm. * Barekhooh’ = ‘ well-minded’ (Conybeare). ii. 2. went on drinking E: AC D has aorist (ἔπιεν).

138

וא

Vita ADAE ET ΕΝΑΕ.

and let us make for each of them separate dwellings.’

And they made Cain an husbandman, (but) Abel they made a shepherd; in order that in this wise they might be mutually separated. 2 And thereafter, Cain slew Abel, but Adam was

then one hundred and thirty years old, but Abel

was slain when he was one hundred and twenty- two years.

3 And thereafter Adam knew his wife

and he begat a son and called his name Seth. And Adam said to Eve, ‘ Behold, I have be-

gotten a son, in place of Abel, whom Cain slew.’

2 And after Adam had begotten Seth, he lived eight hundred years and begat thirty sons and thirty daughters; in all sixty-three children. And they were increased over the face of the earth in their nations.

APOCALYPSIS MOSIS. mouth. And Adam said, ‘Let us arise and go 4 and see what has happened to them. (I fear) lest the adversary may be assailing them some- where.’

And they both went and found Abel murdered jij, 1

by the hand of Cain his brother. And God 2 saith to Michael the archangel: ‘ Say to Adam: “Reveal not the secret that thou knowest to Cain thy son, for he is a son of wrath. But grieve not, for I will give thee another son in his stead ; he shall show (to thee) all that thou shalt do. Do thou tell him nothing.”’ Thus spake the arch- 3 angel to Adam. But he kept the word in his heart, and with him also Eve, though they grieved concerning Abel their son.

And after this, Adam knew Eve his wife, and iv. «

she conceived and bare Seth.

And Adam said to Eve: ‘See! we have be- 2 gotten a son in place of Abel, whom Cain slew, let us give glory and sacrifice to God.’

And Adam begat thirty sons and thirty v. 1 daughters and Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he fell sick and cried with a loud 2 voice and said, ‘ Let all my sons come to me that I may see them before I die.’

VitA ADAE ET ΕΝΑΕ.

Vision of Adam, xxv-xxix.

And Adam said to Seth, ‘Hear, my son Seth, that I may relate to thee what I heard and 2 saw after your mother and I had been driven out of paradise.

When we were at prayer, there

3 came to me Michael the archangel, a messenger of God. And I saw a chariot like the wind and its wheels were fiery and I was caught up into the Paradise of righteousness, and I saw the

Cf. Jub. iv. 10 (Charles’ note): Jub. says ‘nine’; ‘Conflict of A. and E.’ says ‘five’; Arm.

Paradise of righteousness. Heavenly Paradise, as in 2 En. and 1 En. (xxxii. 3).

Elsewhere in Vita either

garden of Eden on earth or ‘third Heaven’ (e.g. Apoc. Mos. xxvii, xl.1), not in presence of God, as here.

Let us arise and go C 15 D is better Greek (ἀναστάντες), but less original. what has happened A D: C ‘ what is this dream about our sons’: Arm. ‘to see about our sons ’.

assailing. ili. 2. archangel BC E Slav. : A D ‘angel’.

C prefixes ἐλθών = * has come and is assailing ’.

the secret. Arm. changes to ‘the secret of the vision ' (i.e. Vita xxv—xxix).

zon Of wrath. Eph. ii. 3. his stead (Gen. iv. 25).

Here not in Abel’s, but in Cain’s stead (Kabisch).

all that thou shalt do. Arm. alters to ‘all that I shall do’ (for same reason cf. Introd. 3, 4). A+‘to him’.

tell him nothing A C Arm. Tisch. 4. also Eve. E Slav. expand.

sacrifice’: Arm. ‘ praise and glory’.

Cf. ‘Conflict’, 1. ii—xi.

die C + ‘and he sent off his son Seth to all to tell them’. 139

XXVi.

χχν]],

XXviili.

Xxix.

Lord sitting and his face was flaming fire that could not be endured. And many thousands of angels were on the right and the left of that chariot.

1 When I saw this, I was confounded, and terror seized me and I bowed myself down before

2 God with my face to the earth. And God said to me, ‘ Behold thou diest, since thou hast trans- gressed the commandment of God, for thou didst hearken rather to the voice of thy wife, whom I gave into thy power, that thou mightst hold her to thy will. Yet thou didst listen to her and didst pass by My words.’

1 And when I heard these words of God, I fell prone on the earth and worshipped the Lord and said, ‘My Lord, All powerful and merciful God, Holy and Righteous One, let not the name that is mindful of Thy majesty be blotted out, but convert my soul, for I die and my

2 breath will go out of my mouth. Cast me not out from Thy presence, (me) whom Thou didst form of the clay of the earth. Do not banish from Thy favour him whom Thou didst nourish.’

And lo! a word concerning thee came upon me and the Lord said to me, ‘Since thy days twere fashioned}, thou hast been created with a love of knowledge; therefore there shall not be taken from thy seed for ever the (right) to serve Me.’

1 And when I heard these words, I threw myself on the earth and adored the Lord God and said, ‘Thou art the eternal and supreme God ; and all creatures give thee honour and praise. 2 ‘Thou art the true Light gleaming above all light(s), the Living Life, infinite mighty Power. To Thee, the spiritual powers give honour and praise. Thou workest on the race of men the

abundance of Thy mercy.’

3 After I had worshipped the Lord, straightway Michael, God’s archangel, seized my hand and 4 635% me out of the paradise tof ‘vision’} and of God’s command. And Michael held a rod in his hand, and he touched the waters, which were round about paradise, and they froze hard.

1 <And I went across, and Michael the archangel went across with me, and he led me back to 2the place whence he had caught me up. Hearken, my son Seth, even to the rest of the secrets

[and sacraments] that shall be, which were revealed to me, when I had eaten of the tree of the

3 knowledge, and knew and perceived what will come to pass in this age ; [what God intends to do

4 to his creation of the race of men. The Lord will appear in a flame of fire (and) from the mouth of His majesty He will give commandments and statutes [from His mouth will proceed a two-edged sword] and they will sanctify Him in the house of the habitation of His majesty.

5 And He will show them the marvellous place of His majesty. And then they will build a house to the Lord their God in the land which He shall prepare for them and there they will trans- gress His statutes and their sanctuary will be burnt up and their land will be deserted and they

6 themselves will be dispersed; because they have kindled the wrath of God. And once more He will cause them to come back from their dispersion ; and again they will build the house of God;

7 and in the last time the house of God will be exalted greater than of old. And once more iniquity will exceed righteousness. And thereafter God will dwell with men on earth [in visible form]; and then, righteousness will begin to shine. And the house of God will be honoured in the age and their enemies will no more be able to hurt the men, who are believing in God ; and God will stir up for Himself a faithful people, whom He shall save for eternity, and the impious shall be punished

flaming fire. Cf. 1 En. (xiii—xvii) for description of God’s dwelling, &c.

favour. I] gratia: | gratiae. 3. concerning thee = ¢uum (verbum). came upon me. | 2700007 11 5: incendit, ‘inflamed’ 11 17. were fashioned. +t/iguvantur (Meyer). All MSS. corrupt. love of knowledge. See Introd. § 6. xxviii, 2. Light . . . Life ... Power. Gnostic epithets. mighty. So Fuchs. MSS. corrupt. 11 5, III 2 magnitudinis: | matutine: 11 3 magna.

4- arod. אק‎ 11 (and so Fuchs): 1 tzsrtutes.

froze hard. Sea of ice round Paradise. Cf. 2 En. iii, 3; Rev. iv. 6, xv. 2; Test. Lev. ili. 2; Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrasch iv. 132. Perhaps = * Acherusian Lake’ (Apoc. Mos. xxxvii—xxxix).

3-10, In II (3, §, ο, 17), 111 (18 only), 1V. Interpolation. First part (3-6)—‘ what God . . . than of old ’—may be fragment of Jewish Apocalypse ; last part certainly Christian.

7. in visible form, &c. These phrases are certain marks of Christian origin. [Cf. Ps. Ιχκχὶν. 7, LXX Vulg. T. Zeb. ix. 8 where God is spoken of as being seen by men. There is no good reason for regarding xxix. 3-10 as Christian with the exception of a few words.—Gen. Editor.}

140

8 by God their king, the men who refused to love His law. Heaven and earth, nights and days, and

all creatures shall obey Him, and not overstep His commandment.

Men shall not change their

9 works, but they shall be changed from forsaking the law of the Lord. Therefore the Lord shall repel from Himself the wicked, and the just shall shine like the sun, in the sight of God. And

το in that time, shall men be purified by water from their sins.

But those who are unwilling to be

purified by water shall be condemned. And happy shall the man be, who hath ruled his soul, when the Judgement shall come to pass and the greatness of God be seen among men and their

deeds be inquired into by God the just judge.

After Adam was nine hundred and thirty years old, since he knew that his days were coming to an end, he said: ‘Let all my sons assemble themselves to me, that I may bless them before I die, and speak with them.’

2 And they were assembied in three parts, before his sight, in the house of prayer, where they used 3 to worship the Lord God. And they asked him

(saying) : ‘ What concerns thee, Father, that thou

shouldst assemble us, and why dost thou lie on 4thy bed?’ Then Adam answered and said: ΕΜΥ sons, I am sick and in pain.’ And all his sons said to him: ‘What does it mean, father, this illness and pain?’

Then said Seth his son: ‘O (my) lord, per- chance thou hast longed after the fruit of paradise, which thou wast wont to eat, and therefore thou liest in sadness? Tell me and I will go to the nearest gates of paradise and put dust on my head and throw myself down on the earth before the gates of paradise and lament and make entreaty to God with loud lamentation; per- chance he will hearken to me and send his angel to bring me the fruit, for which thou hast longed.’

2 Adam answered and said: ‘No, my son, I do

not long (for this), but I feel weakness and great 3 pain in my body.’ Seth answered, ‘ What is pain, my lord father? I am ignorant ; but hide it not from us, but tell us (about it).’

And Adam answered and said : ‘ Hear me, my sons. When God made us, me and your mother, and placed us in paradise and gave us every tree

I‏ .ואצ

9-10. purified by water, i.e. baptism.

And all assembled, for the earth was divided v. 3 into three parts. And Seth his son said to him: 4 ‘Father Adam, what is thy complaint ?'

And he saith, ‘My children, I am crushed by 5 the burden of trouble.” And they say to him, ‘What is trouble?’

And Seth answered and said to him: ‘Hast vi. 1 thou called to mind, father, the fruit of paradise of which thou usedst to eat, and hast been grieved in yearning for it ?’

‘If this be so, tell me, (and) I will go and 2 bring thee fruit from paradise. For I will set dung upon my head and will weep and pray that the Lord will hearken to me and send his angel (and bring me a plant from paradise), and I will Wes it thee that thy trouble may cease from thee.’

Adam saith to him: ‘Nay, my son Seth, but 3 I have (much) sickness and trouble!’ Seth saith to him: ‘ And how hath this come upon thee?’

And Adam said to him: * When God made us, vii. 1 me and your mother, through whom also I die, He gave us power to eat of every tree which is in

Meyer and

Kabisch find here origin of *Caaba’ legends (cf. Weil, Biévische Legenden der Muselmanner). See Introd. δὲ 1, 8,9.

‘Lit. § great disease oppresses me’. A BC D Slav. (πόνος πολὺς συνέχει pe). What is trouble? B+ ‘father’: A D+‘and sickness’.

dung. Arm. ‘dust’. , that. Lit.‘ and’ = vav conversive. 2 bring me a plant. Inserted for clearness—perhaps in original. B has ἐνέγκει (sic) pot ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου ἐν ᾧ ῥέει τὸ €Aqcs, 3. how... upon thee (πῶςσοι) AC E Arm. Slav.: D ‘how much’ (πόσοι).

tree (fvAov) C: AB D ‘plant’ (¢vrov): Arm. ‘fruits’.

Idie ACED: BArm. ‘we die’.

141

XXXiil.

אאא

3 unlawful and forbidden tree.

bearing fruit to eat, he laid a prohibition on us concerning the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which is in the midst of paradise; (saying) 2*Do not eat of it.’ But God gave a part of paradise to me and (a part) to your mother: the trees of the eastern part and the north, which is over against Aquilo he gave to me, and to your mother he gave the part of the south and the western part. 1 (Moreover) God the Lord gave us two angels to guard us. The hour came when the angels had ascended to worship in the sight of God; forthwith the adversary [the devil] found an opportunity while the angels were absent and the devil led your mother astray to eat of the And she did eat

Ww

and gave to me.

1 And immediately, the Lord God was wrath with us, and the Lord said to me: ‘In that thou hast left behind my commandment and hast not kept my word, which I confirmed to thee ; be- hold, I will bring upon thy body, seventy blows ; with divers griefs, shalt thou be tormented, beginning at thy head and thine eyes and thine ears down to thy nails on thy toes, and in every separate limb. These hath God tappointed for chastisementf. All these things hath the Lord sent to me and to all our race.’

1 Thus spake Adam to his sons, and he was

seized with violent pains, and he cried out with

a loud voice, ‘What shall I do? I am in dis-

tress. So cruel are the pains with which I am

beset.’ And when Eve had seen him weeping, she also began to weep herself, and said: ‘O Lord

my God, hand over to me his pain, for it is I

who sinned.’

3 And Eve said to Adam: ‘My lord, give me a part of thy pains, for this hath come to thee from fault of mine.’

1 And Adam said to Eve: ‘ Rise up and go with

w

nN

your mother.‏ .2 מוצאר

APOCALYPsIS MOSIS. paradise, but,concerning that oneonly, Hecharged us not to eat of it, and through this one we are to die. And the hour drew nigh for the angels 2 who were guarding your mother to go up and worship the Lord, and I was far from her, and the enemy knew that she was alone and gave to her, and she ate of the tree of which she had been told not to eat. Then she gave also to me to eat. 3

‘And God was wroth with us, and the Lord viii. 1

came into paradise and called me in a terrible voice and said: “ Adam, where art thou? And why hidest thou from my face? Shall the house be able to hide itself from its builder?” And he 2 saith to me: “Since thou hast abandoned my covenant, I have brought upon thy body seventy- two strokes; the trouble of the first stroke is a pain of the eyes, the second stroke an affection of the hearing, and likewise in turn all the strokes shall befall thee.’ ”

As he said this to his sons, Adam groaned ix. sore and said: ‘ What shall 1 do? I am in great distress.”

And Eve wept and said: ‘My lord 2 Adam, rise up and give me half of thy trouble and 1 will endure it; for it ison my account that this hath happened to thee, on my account thou

Incident from Eve’s tale in Apoc. Mos. xv.

confirmed. | 00/07/02 11 1.

Lin margin mandavi.

seventy Apoc. Mos. viii. 2 ) BC). The ‘Cant’ (see Meyer 211) has ‘ sixty and two’.

all our race. Read ΟΗΕ genus nostrum with 11 111 : Meyer ‘all our generations’ (omnes nostras generationes).

that one only DBEC.

Lord. C adds ‘as their fashion (τύπος) was’; a gloss.

and I was far from her. C only. of which ...nottoeat. C only.

Adam... thou. D adds gloss from Gen. ili. 12.

builder. This saying occurs in Targ. Jer. on Gen. iii. 9. > D.

seventy-two D E, Slav., Mishna Weg. i. 4, but ‘seventy’ A Β C, Vita; latter is common symbolic number,

probably a correction.

142

2

2

my son Seth to the neighbourhood of paradise, | art beset with toils and troubles.’ But Adam 3 and put dust on your heads and throw your- | said to Eve,‘ Arise and go with my son Seth selves on the ground and lament in the sight of | near to paradise, and put earth upon your heads God. Perchance He will have pity (upon you) | and weep and pray God to have mercy upon me and send His angel across to the tree of His | and send his angel to paradise, and give me of mercy, whence floweth the oil of life, and will give | the tree out of which the oil floweth, and bring it you a drop of it, to anoint me with it, that I may | me, and I shall anoint myself and shall have have rest from these pains, by which I am being | rest from my complaint.’

consumed.’

Then Seth and his mother went off to- Then Seth and Eve went towards paradise, x, 1 wards the gates of paradise. And while they | and Eve saw her son, and a wild beast assailing were walking, lo! suddenly there came a beast | him, and Eve wept and said: ‘Woe is me; if 2 [a serpent] and attacked and bit Seth. And as | I come to the day of the Resurrection, all those soon as Eve saw it, she wept and said: ‘Alas, | who have sinned will curse me saying: Eve hath wretched woman that I am. I am accursed | not kept the commandment of God.’ And she 3 since I have not kept the commandment of God.’ | spake to the beast: ‘ Thou wicked beast, fearest

3 And Eve said to the serpent in a loud voice: | thou not to fight with the image of God? How

iii, 1

2

2

| -

*Accursed beast! how (is it that) thou hast not | was thy mouth opened? How were thy teeth feared to let thyself loose against the image of | made strong? How didst thou not call to mind God, but hast dared to fight with it?’ thy subjection? For long ago wast thou made

The beast answered in the language of men: | subject to the image of God.’ Then the beast 4 “15 it not against you, Eve, that our malice (is | cried out and said: directed)? Are not ye the objects of our rage? ‘It is not our concern, Eve, thy greed and thy xi. 1

Tell me, Eve, how was thy mouth opened to | wailing, but thine own ; for (it is) from thee that eat of the fruit? But now if I shall begin to | the rule of the beasts hath arisen. How was thy 2 reprove thee thou canst not bear it.’ mouth opened to eat of the tree concerning

which God enjoined thee not to eat of it? On this account, our nature also hath been trans- formed. Now therefore thou canst not endure it, 3 if I begin to reprove thee.’

Then said Seth to the beast: ‘God the Lord Then Seth speaketh to the beast, ‘Close thy xii. 1 revile thee. Be silent, be dumb, shut thy mouth, | mouth and be silent and stand off from the image accursed enemy of Truth, confounder and de- | of God until the day of Judgment.’ Then saith 2 stroyer. Avaunt from the image of God till the | the beast to Seth: ‘ Behold, I stand off from the day when the Lord God shall order thee to be | image of God.’ And he went to his lair. brought to the ordeal.’ And the beast said to

χχχν]. 2. oil of life. Cf. Apoc. Mos. ix. 3 (note). xxxvii. 1. [a serpent]. A gloss to connect with tale of Fall. Originally this passage was midrash to explain beasts’ revolt. bit Seth proves work is not Se¢Azte. Seth here is weak and fallible. Arm. version >. 3. how is it that, &c. 11+ (νι A D of Apoc. Mos. x) ‘how were thy teeth made strong ?’ xxviii. 2. the fruit. I+‘ which the Lord commanded thee not to eat’. reprove. frobationem 11 111: Meyer comprobationem )* ordeal’). begin ... bearit. Meyer 11 3.9: I>. xxxix. 1. confounder and destroyer (confusio perditionis). A Hebraism.

and troubles. A omits. D adds gloss from Gen. iii. 3. earth AC: Arm. Slav. D ‘dust’. the tree, i.e. the Tree of Life described in 1 En. xxiv. 3, 4; 2 En. viil. 3; Apoc. Paul. xlv; Test. Lev. xviii. 11 ; Rev. xxii. 2. Naturally conceived as an ‘ olive’—the great wealth of Mediterranean peoples. See Ramsay, Paz/ine Studies, on ‘Wild and tame olives’. oil of pity: Latin Vita xli. 3. Cf. Apoc. Mos. xiii. 1. A play on words in Greek—éAauos, ἔλεος. Cf. Bousset, Religion des Judenthums, 327; 2 En. xxii. 8,9; Ps. Clem. Recognitions 1. 45 ; 4 Ezra ii. 12. have rest AD: C ‘will be redeemed from (λυτρωθῶ ἐκ) the trouble’: A B+‘ 1 will show you the manner in which we were deceived in the former case ’—~a gloss. x. I. a wild beast. This passage is a midrash on Gen. 111. 15. Vita xxxix+‘a serpent’, and implies it was Satan ὑοαῖς. 1). Slav. calls it ‘Cotur’ or ‘Gorgo’, and adds it pursued him ‘ to devour him’. Eve saw. C+‘from afar’. 2. Resurrection AC D: B ‘ Judgement’: Slav. ‘ Second Advent ’. xi. 2. transformed C כ[‎ : Arm. Slav. expand. Cf. Sanh. 106 b, Pesikt. 44 b (Ginzberg). xii. 2. lair C (κοίτην): A BD E ‘tent’ (σκηνήν).

143

Vira ADAE ET EVAE.

Seth: ‘See, I leave the presence of the image of God, as thou hast said.’ Forthwith he left Seth, wounded by his teeth.

But Seth and his mother walked to the regions of paradise for the oil of mercy to anoint the sick Adam: and they arrived at the gates of paradise, (and) they took dust from the earth and placed it on their heads, and bowed themselves with their faces to the earth and began to lament and 2 make loud moaning, imploring the Lord God to pity Adam in his pains and to send His angel to give them the oil from the ‘tree of His mercy’,

But when thcy had been praying and imploring for many hours, behold, the angel Michael ap- 2 peared to them and said: ‘I have been sent to

you from the Lord—I am set by God over the

3 bodies of men—I tell thee, Seth, (thou) man of

God, weep not nor pray and entreat on account

of the oil of the tree of mercy to anoint thy

father Adam for the pains of his body.

‘For I tell thee that in no wise wilt thou be able to receive thereof save in the last days.’

2 [When five thousand five hundred years have been fulfilled, then will come upon earth the most beloved king Christ, the son of God, to revive the body of Adam and with him to revive

3 the bodies of the dead. He Himself, the Son of God, when He comes will be baptized in the river of Jordan, and when He hath come out of the water of Jordan, then He will anoint from the

4 oil of mercy all that believe in Him. And the oil of mercy shall be for generation to generation for those who are ready to be born again of

5 water and the Holy Spirit to lifeeternal. Then

the most beloved Son of God, Christ, descending

on earth shall lead thy father Adam to Paradise to the tree of mercy. |

* But do thou, Seth, go to thy father Adam, since the time of his life is fulfilled. Six days hence, his soul shall go off his body and when

χι. 1

xh, 4

xhi, 1

xh, τς

Originally ‘ guardian angel of Israel’ (Dan. xii).

7

APOCALYPSIS Μοςις.

And Seth went with Eve near paradise, and xiii. 1 they wept there, and prayed God to send his angel and give them the oil of mercy.

And God 2 sent the archangel Michael and he spake to Seth: ‘Seth, man of God, weary not thyself with prayers and entreaties concerning the tree which floweth with oil to anoint thy father Adam. For it shall not be thine now,

but in the end of the times. 3 Then shall all fiesh be raised up from Adam till that great day,—all that shall be of the holy people. Then shall the delights of paradise be 4 given to them and God shall be in their midst. And they shall no longer sin before his face, for 5 the evil heart shall be taken from them and there shall be given them a heart understanding the good and to serve God only.

But do thou go back to thy father. For the 6 term of his life hath been fulfilled and he will live three days from to-day and will die. But

Cf. Midrash Konen. in 21 7%

Cf. 2 Kings vi. 6, 60. Jewish trait.

Nicodemus, xix (Greek work). king I. 11 WI >.

there ABC: D>.‏ .1 .זוא

oil of mercy A GArm.: Slav. >: E B ‘mercy of mercy’ (ἔλεος ἐλέου): (ἔλεος ἐλαίου) D * mercy of oil’; probably

not dittography, as Fuchs supposes, but play on words.

it shall not B C+‘ for’ (γάρ).

3-6. Then shall ... God only AB, Tisch., Fuchs).

original.

This short Apocalypse certainly Jewish, perhaps

Cf. Apoc. Mos. xxviii. 3, 4 and cf. Jubilees xxiii. 26-9; Ezek. xxxvi. 27; 1 En. v.4; Bamidbar rabba

17; Schem rabba 41; Weber, /iidische Theologie, 381, 400; Volz, Jiidische Eschatologte, 359. 5. evil heart (yeser hara (379 .((יִצַר‎ Prominent feature in later Jewish theology, as in St. Paul and 4 Ezra.

See Introd. §$ 1,5, 6, 9.

144

xliv.

xv.

Vita ΑΡΑΕ ET ΕΝΑΕ.

it shall have gone out, thou shalt see great marvels in the heaven and in the earth and the

2 luminaries of heaven. With these words, straight- way Michael departed from Seth.

3 And Eve and Seth returned bearing with them

APOCALYPSIS Μοςις. when his soul is departing, thou shalt behold the awful (scene of) his passing.’ Thus spake the angel and departed from them. xiv. And Seth and Eve came to the hut where Adam was laid. And Adam saith to Eve: ‘ Eve, what 2

herbs of fragrance, i.e. nard and crocus and cala- mus and cinnamon. 1 And when Seth and his mother had reached Adam, they told him, how the beast [the serpent] 2 bit Seth. And Adam said to Eve: ‘ What hast thou done? A great plague hast thou brought upon us, transgression and sin for all our genera- tions: and this which thou hast done, tell thy 3 children after my death, {for those who arise from us shall toil and fail but they shall be 4 wanting and curse us (and) say, All evils have our parents brought upon us, who were at the 5 beginning].’ When Eve heard these words, she began to weep and moan.

hast thou wrought in us? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is death, [lording it over all our race}.’. And he saith to her, ‘ Call all 3 our children and our children’s children and tell them the manner of our transgression.’

Eve's Account of her Fall.

Then saith Eve to them: ‘ Hear all my children and children’s children and I will relate to you‏ ז how the enemy deceived us. It befell that we were guarding paradise, each of us the portion‏ 2 allotted to us from God. Now I guarded in my lot. the west and the south. But the devil went to‏ 3 Adam’s lot, where the male creatures were. [For God divided the creatures ; all the males he gave‏ to your father and all the females he gave to me.]‏ And the devil spake to the serpent saying, "Είδε up, come to me and I will tell thee a word‏ ז whereby thou mayst have profit.” And he arose and came to him. And the devil saith to him:‏ 2 “I hear that thou art wiser than all the beasts, and I have come to counsel thee. Why dost thou eat‏ 3 of Adam’s tares and not of paradise ? Rise up and we will cause him to be cast out of paradise, even‏ we were cast out through him.” The serpent saith to him, “I fear lest the Lord be wroth with‏ 35 4 5me.” The devil saith to him: “ Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through thy mouth‏ words to deceive him.”‏

Cf. Apoc. Mos. ,טאאא‎ xxxvi. 3. herbs of fragrance.

From Eve’s tale in Apoc. Mos, xxix = Slav. Vit. xxv—inconsistent with Vita x—xii; Slav. Vita xxviii-xxx. 111+ Christian gloss from /ignum crucis legend. xliv. 2. tell. Il 9 refer: III referent filiis nostris: Meyer suggests refert.

after my death. Insertion. Contrast Apoc. Mos. xiv. 3. _It shows intention of editor to omit E-ve’s tale (Fuchs). 3. toil and fail. Play on words in Latin: suffictant ...deficiant, Perhapsa gloss. 4. All. MS. prefixes guoniam ; perhaps for ὅτε = ‘that’. Cf. xlil. 1 (note).

awful scene of his passing (τὴν ἄνοδον αὐτῆς φοβερά) ABD: C >. xiv. 2. what hast thou wrought. Cf. Apoc. Mos. xxxii, Vita xviii. 1. With St. Paul (2 Cor. xi. 3, 1 Tim. ii. 14) and 2 En. xxx. 18, our author makes Eve primary cause of sin; 4 Ezra iii. 21 lays guilt on Adam. which is death ABCDE,,,: Arm. >. Cf. Rom. v. 14, 4 Ezra iv. 30. {lording it over all our race] C >. Probably an interpolated gloss. xv. 1. Then saith Eve. In Arm. E, Eve blames herself; in Slav. she is asked to tell her tale by her sons. 2. the portion allotted. Cf. Vita xxx11. \ 3. where the male creatures. Both Hebrew (M3) and Greek (ὄφις) words for ‘serpent’ are masculine. {For God .. . to me.] AD only have this explanation. Cf. Β. C is corrupt. Arm. >. your father ABE: ‘our father’ C D. xvi. 1. to the serpent. Cf. ‘Conflict of A. and E.’1.17; Ber. rabba, xix; Weber, /7. 219-20. art beloved before God, Eve will believe thee’. mayst have profit A B E (ὀφεληόῃε). 2. [hear ABD: C ‘I learn’: Arm. ‘I behold’. counsel thee C: AD ‘I consort with thee’ (ὁμιλέω): Arm. ‘unite with’: A B+ ‘yet dost thou worship the less!” Cf. Vita xiv. 3. A gloss from Vita. 3. out of paradise. A B+‘ through his wife’ (a gloss). 5. deceive him C: A ‘deceive them’. 1108-2

Slav. + ‘thou

145

xvii, 1 And instantly he hung himself from the wall of paradise, and when the angels ascended to

2 worship God, then Satan appeared in the form of an angel and sang hymns like the angels. And I bent over the wall and saw him, like anangel. But he saithtome: “ Art thou Eve?” And I said

3 to him, “I am.” “ What art thou doing in paradise?” And I said tohim, ‘God set us to guard and

4 to eat of it.” The devil answered through the mouth of the serpent: “ Ye do well but ye do not eat

5 of every plant.” And I said: * Yea, we eat of all, save one only, which is in the midst of paradise, concerning which, God charged us not to eat of it: for, He said to us, on the day on which ye eat of it, ye shall die the death.”

xviii, 1 Then the serpent saith to me, ‘“‘ May God live! but I am grieved on your account, for I would not

have you ignorant. But arise, (come) hither, hearken to me and eat and mind the value of that tree.”

2, 3 But I said to him, “I fear lest God be wroth with me as he told us.” And he saith to me: “ Fear

not, for as soon as thou eatest of it, ye too shall be as God, in that ye shall know good and evil. 4 But God perceived this that ye would be like Him, so he envied you and said, Ye shall not eat of 5,6 it. Nay, do thou give heed to the plant and thou wilt see its great glory.” Yet I feared to take of the fruit. And he saith to me: “ Come hither, and I will give it thee. Follow me.”

2 mind and 1 will not give thee to eat until thou swear to me to give also to thy husband.” (And) I said, “What sort of oath shall I swear to thee? Yet what I know, I say to thee: By the throne of the

3 Master, and by the Cherubim and the Tree of Life, I will give also to my husband to eat.” And when he had received the oath from me, he went and poured upon the fruit the poison of his wicked- ness, which is lust, the root and beginning of every sin, and he bent the branch on the earth and I took of the fruit and I ate.

2 eousness with which I had been clothed (upon), and I wept and said to him: “Why hast thou

3 done this to me in that thou hast deprived me of the glory with which I was clothed?” But I wept also about the oath, which I had sworn, But he descended from the tree and vanished.

4 And I began to seek, in my nakedness, in my part for leaves to hide my shame, but I found none, for, as soon as I had eaten, the leaves showered down from all the trees in my part, except the fig-

5 tree only. But I took leaves from it and made for myself a girdle and it was from the very same plant of which I had eaten.

2 1 will show thee a great secret.” But when your father came, I spake to him words of transgression 3 [which have brought us down from our great glory]. For, when he came, I opened my mouth and

xvii. 1. he hung. E reads ‘the devil inside the serpent hung’, as Moslem fable in Weil, B. Z. der MM. when. A B prefix ‘ about the (‘ ninth’ B) hour.’ form of an angel. Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 14. Points to old idea of a literal seduction; cf. Gen. vi. 1-6; 1 En. vi-xii, Ixxxvili-xc ; Sota ΙΧ. 9: Ber. rabba xxiv ; Jalk. Schim. Ber. xlii. 2. Slav. reads ‘I thought him an angel since he came from Adam’s district ’—emphasizing this feature throughout ; Arm. weakens it. 4. every plant BC D. ‘all plants’ A. 5- die the death. A Hebraisin; lit. ‘die with death’ (θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε). xviii. D breaks off here till xxxvi. 1. 1 would not have youignorant, Arm. ‘I desire not your ignorance’: A B-+‘for ye are as beasts’; a gloss: ABCE Slav. ‘since ye understand nothing’. 3. ye.-.as God 6. 4. God perceived ... envied you. With Tisch. AB: C >. 5. eh Am. alters this Midrash on Gen. iii. 6 to ‘the glory of the Highest’ (Gnostic?): AB+long gloss (Gen. iii. 6). xix. 1. opened. C Arm.: E >: B ‘he opened’: Arm.+Gnostic gloss to the effect that Eve is without paradise —first brought in by the serpent. 2. What sort of oath (ποῖον ὄρκον) C: A Β E Arm.+‘ I know not’. 3. poured upon. So Tisch. emends MSS. the rootand beginning of every sin C: AB‘head’. Fuchs thinks this is play on words in Hebrew (ἐόν = ראש‎ and κεφαλή = ראש‎ = ‘head’). Idea is common among Rabbis, e.g. Aboda Zara 22b; 1 En. Ixix. 6; Slav. Bar. xc. 7; Apoc. Abraham xxiii; Gen. Rabb. xix. 6; Ab. R. Nathan v.6. Cf. James i. 15. he bent E Arm.: ABC ‘1 bent’. I ate (Gen. iii. 6) C E Arm. Slav. xx. I. clothed (npon) (ἐνδεδυμένη) A B Tisch. Cf. 2 Cor. v. 2; Isa. 0. 3. which I had sworn C E. 4. my part AB: Ct. 5. very same plant ABC Slav.

Ber. rabba xv; 56312010 ; Test. Adam. agree with our author that this was a fig-tree. Apoc. Abraham xxiii calls it ‘a grape’; Beresch. xl. 8 ‘barley’; Samuel Ben Isaac ‘a date’. xxi. 1. secret (µυστήριον) C: Arm. Slav. miratilia, 2. [which have ... glory]. Only AB Arm. A gloss. 146

the devil was speaking, and I began to exhort him and said, “Come hither, my lord Adam, hearken to me and eat of the fruit of the tree of which God told us not to eat of it, and thou shalt be as 4a God.” And your father answered and said, “ I fear lest God be wroth with me.” And I said to

5 him, “Fear not, for as soon as thou hast eaten thou shalt know good and evil.” And speedily I persuaded him, and he ate and straightway his eyes were opened and he too knew his nakedness.

6 And to me he saith, “ O wicked woman! what have I done to thee that thou hast deprived me of the glory of God?”

2 the angels and saying: “ Thus saith the Lord, Come with me to paradise and hear the judgement with which I shall judge Adam.” .

3 And when God appeared in paradise, mounted on the chariot of his cherubim with the angels pro- ceeding before him and singing hymns of praises, all the plants of paradise, both of your father’s lot

4and mine, broke out into flowers. And the throne of God was fixed where the Tree of Life was.

xii, x And God called Adam saying, “ Adam, where art thou? Can the house be hidden from the presence

2 of its builder?” Then your father answered ; “ It is not because we think not to be found by thee, Lord, that we hide, but I was afraid, because I am naked, and I was ashamed before thy might,

3 (my) Master.” God saith to him, “ Who showed thee that thou art naked, unless thou hast forsaken my

4 commandment, which I delivered thee to keep (it).’ Then Adam called to mind the word which I spake to him, (saying) “ I will make thee secure before God "; and he turned and said to me: “ Why

5 hast thou done this?” And I said, “ The serpent deceived me.”

xiv, 1 God saith to Adam: “ Since thou hast disregarded my commandment and hast hearkened to thy wife, cursed is the earth in thy labours,

2 Thou shalt work it and it shall not give its strength: thorns and thistles shall spring up for thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. [Thou shalt be in manifold toils; thou shalt be crushed by bitterness, but of sweetness shalt thou not taste.]

3 Weary shalt thou be and shalt not rest; by heat shalt thou be tired, by cold shalt thou be straitened : abundantly shalt thou busy thyself, but thou shalt not be rich ; and thou shalt grow fat, but come to no end.

4 The beasts, over whom thou didst rule, shall rise up in rebellion against thee, for thou hast not kept my commandment.”

2 a deaf ear to my commandment, thou shalt be in throes of travail and intolerable agonies ; thou shalt bear children in much trembling and in one hour thou shalt come to the birth, and lose thy

3 life, from thy sore trouble and anguish. But thou shalt confessand say: ‘Lord, Lord, save me, and

4 1 will turn no more to the sin of the flesh. And on this account, from thine own words I will judge thee, by reason of the enmity which the enemy has planted in thee.”

xvi 1 But he turned to the serpent [in great wrath] and said: “Since thou hast done this, and become a thankless vessel until thou hast deceived the innocent hearts, accursed art thou among all beasts. 4. my lord Adam. Aboth. R. Nathan i. 6 (Ginzberg) says Eve always addressed Adam as ‘lord’. 6. what have 1 done C: Arm. A ‘what hast thou done ?’. that = «ai, ? for ναν conversive: Slav. reads ‘why’. See Introd. § 7. xxii. 1. [with his trumpet] interpolation: in A Arm. only. To soften anthropomorphisms in Genesis. Cf. ז‎ Thess. iv. 16; 1 Cor. xv. §2; cf. Bet ha-Midrasch ii. 61 (Jellinek). 2. judgement . . . judge (κρίµατος κρίνω) A Arm. )? Hebraism): for κρίµατος C has ‘word’ (ῥήματος): Slav- sententiam et quale tudicium. 3. and mine. Slav. contradicts—plants in Eve's part were withered. 4. was fixed (ἐστηρίζετο) C. Cf. Targ. Jer. on Gen. vi. 9. This statement modifies 2 En. viii. 3 ‘that place on which | God rests’. A Arm. E slight variants (e. ₪. εὐτρεπίζετο). xxii. 1. ‘ where art thou’ C. ‘ where art thou hidden’ A. 3. forsaken E A Tisch. (ἐγκατέλειπες): Arm. ‘trangressed.’ 4. secure AC E Arm. (ἀκίνδυνον). 5. 1 said A+‘ remembered the word of the serpent and’. xxiv. 1. in thy worke E Armm.A: C ‘for thy sake’. 2. Thou shalt be . . . taste AC; from Gen. iii. 18. 3. Only in A (gloss). xxv. 1. throes of travail. So Fuchs emends fron AC ‘empty pains’ (ἐν µαταίοις) : E ‘empty toils’, In Hebrew הבל‎ was misread for an. 2. trembling (τρύµοις). Tisch. emends from τρύποις (‘ ways’) C A: Arm. E ‘with great sorrow’. 3. סב‎ more E (otxér:) C ‘not’. sin of the flesh A: BCE ‘thy flesh’: Arm. ‘against my body’! 4. in thee.

AB + * And thou shalt turn to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.’ xxvi. 1. turned...andC. AB >. בו‎ thankless vegsel (oxetos ἀχάριστου) ABE: Arm. ‘offspring of wickedness’, perhaps = Hebrew בלי בליעל‎ = ‘instrument of Belial’ (Fuchs). Cf. xvi. 8. innocent hearts (παρειµένους τῇ xapdia) AC: B παρισταµένους: Arm. ‘the upright in heart.’ E >. 147 πω

.-

.1 טאאא

XXVill.

I.‏ .אוצא

ואצצא

2 Thou shalt be deprived of the victual of which thou didst eat and shalt feed on dust all the days of

3 thy life; on thy breast and thy belly shalt thou walk and be robbed of hands and feet. There shall not be left thee ear nor wing, nor one Jimb of all that with which thou didst ensnare them in

4 thy malice and causedst them to be cast out of paradise; and I will put enmity between thee and his seed : he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel until the day of Judgement.”

2 Thus he spake and bade the angels have us cast out of paradise: and as we were being driven out amid our loud lamentations, your father Adam besought the angels and said: “Leave me a little (space) that I may entreat the Lord that he have compassion on me and pity me, for I only

3 have sinned.” And they left off driving him and Adam cried aloud and wept saying: “ Pardon me,

4 © Lord, my deed.” Then the Lord saith to the angels, “ Why have ye ceased from driving Adam from paradise ? Why do ye not cast him out? Is it 1 who have done wrong? Or is my judgement

5 badly judged?” Then the angels fell down on the ground and worshipped the Lord saying, “ Thou art just, O Lord, and thou judgest righteous judgement.”

1 But the Lord turned to Adam and said: “ I will not suffer thee henceforward to be in paradise.”

2 And Adam answered and said, “ Grant me, O Lord, of the Tree of Life that I may eat of it, before

3 I be cast out.” Then the Lord spake to Adam, “ Thou shalt not take of it now, for I have com- manded the cherubim with the flaming sword that turneth (every way) to guard it from thee that

4thou taste not of it; but thou hast the war which the adversary hath put into thee; yet when thou art gone out of paradise, if thou shouldst keep thyself from all evil, as one about to die, when again the Resurrection hath come to pass, I will raise thee up and then there shall be given to thee the Tree of Life.”

2 Thusspake the Lord and ordered us to be cast out of paradise. But your father Adam wept before the angels opposite paradise and the angels say to him: “ What wouldst thou have us to do,

3 Adam?” And your father saith to them, “ Behold, ye cast me out. I pray you, allow me to take away fragrant herbs from paradise, so that I may offer an offering to God after I have gone out

4 of paradise that he hear me.” And the angels approached God and said: “JAEL, Eternal King, command, my Lord, that there be given to Adam incense of sweet odour from paradise and seeds

5 for his food.” And God bade Adam go in and take sweet spices and fragrant herbs from paradise

6 and seeds for his food. And the angels let him go and he took four kinds: crocus and nard and calamus and cinnamon and the other seeds for his food: and, after taking these, he went out of

7 paradise. And we were on the earth.

1 Now then, my children, I have shown you the way in which we were deceived; and do ye guard yourselves from transgressing against the good.’

+ And when Eve had said this in the midst of her sons, while Adam was lying ill and bound to die

2 after a single day from the sickness which had fastened upon him, she saith to him: ‘ Howis it that

3 thou diest and I live or how long have 1 to live after thou art dead? Tell me.” And Adam saith to her: ‘ Reck not of this, for thou tarriest not after ine, but even both of us are to die together.

The serpent = (Satan) has limbs in Apoc. Abrah. xxi; Targ. Jon. on Gen. iii; Ber. Rabb. xix, xx; Jalk. Schim. ix. 11. Cf. Wisd. ii. 26: 2 En. xxxi. 3; and cf. Jubilees iii. 23 (Charles’ note).

of it A 12 Arm.+‘ and be immortal for ever’ (Gen. 111. 22).

xxix, 3. Behold AB: C ‘since’.

so that = ὅπως with future indicative (C). Cf. ‘Conflict’ I. xxiv. Slight variations in A BC Arm. Slav.

4- Jael (A B) = ‘ Jah-El’ (יהחאל)‎ , Hebrew for * Lord God’: C >. Arm. has * Hojil’: E Slav. * Joel’, confused with angel in xxxii and xliv, Apoc. Abraham x. 20, xvii. 22.

5. and seeds for his food E; cf. Slav. Vita xxv. 4, xxviii. Arm. omits the request, but says they were given: \C says God let him take ‘fragrant herbs for his food’ (cf. Mishna Taanit i. 6): B says ‘for sacrifice’ only; cf. Jub. iii. 27: E seems to preserve original.

transgressing (παραβαίνειν) C. A B ‘forsaking,’ xxxi. 2. have I to live 12: C ‘do 1 desire to live’ (θέλω): A >. 148

And fshe shall lief in my place. But when I die, anoint me and Jet no man touch me till the

4 angel of the Lord shall speak somewhat concerning me. For God will not forget me, but will seck

His own Creature ; and now arise rather and pray to God till I give up my spirit into His hands

who gave it me. For we know not how we are to meet our Maker, whether He be wroth with us, or be merciful and intend to pity and receive us.

And Eve rose up and went outside and fell on the ground and began to say: ‘I have sinned, O God, I have sinned, O God of All, I have sinned against Thee. I have sinned against the elect angels. I have sinned against the Cherubim. I have sinned against Thy fearful and unshakable Throne. I have sinned before Thee and all sin hath begun through my doing in the creation.’

3 Even thus prayed Eve on her knees ; (and) behold, the angel of humanity came to her, and _ raised 4 her up and said : * Rise up, Eve, (from thy penitence), for behold, Adam thy husband hath gone out of his body. Rise up and behold his spirit borne aloft to his Maker.’ xi, ז‎ And Eve rose up and wiped off her tears with her hand, and the angel saith to her, ‘ Lift up thy- 2 self from the earth.’ And she gazed steadfastly into heaven, and beheld a chariot of light, borne by four bright eagles, (and) it were impossible for any man born of woman to tell the glory of them or 3 behold their face—and angels going before the chariot—and when they came to the place where 4 your father Adam was, the chariot halted and the Seraphim. And I beheld golden censers, between your father and the chariot, and all the angels with censers and frankincense came in haste to the 5 incense-offering and blew upon it and the smoke of the incense veiled the firmaments. And the angels fell down and worshipped God, crying aloud and saying, ‘JAEL, Holy One, have pardon, for he is Thy image, and the work of Thy holy hands.’

And I Eve beheld two great and fearful wonders standing in the presence of God and I wept for 2 fear, and I cried aloud to my son Seth and said, ‘ Rise up, Seth, from the body of thy father Adam,

and come to me, and thou shalt see a spectacle which no man’s eye hath yet beheld.’

Kil, 1, 2

ADAE ET ΕΝΑΕ,‏ גוז xlv.1 And just as Michael the archangel had fore-‏

APOCALYPSIS MOSIS. Then Seth arose and came to his mother and xxxv. 1

2 told, after six days came Adam’s death. When Adam perceived that the hour of his death was at hand, he said to all his sons: ‘Behold, I am nine hundred and thirty years old, and if I die,

3 bury me towards the sunrising fin the field of yonder dwelling.’ And it came to pass that when he had finished all his discourse, he gave up the ghost.

touch AC: ‘see’ Arm.

to her he saith: ‘What is thy trouble? Why weepest thou?’ (And) she saith to him: ‘Look 2 up and see with thine eyes the seven heavens opened, and see how the soul of thy father lies on its face and all the holy angels are praying on his behalf and saying: “ Pardon him, Father of All, for he is Thine image.”’ Pray, my child 3 Seth, what shall this mean? And will he one day be delivered into the hands of the Invisible Father, even our God? But who are the two 4

So again in xxxiv. 1.

our Maker A Β Arm.: C ‘him’ (αὐτόν).

pity us C: A >: B Arm. ‘turn to pity us ' (ἐπιστρέψῃ τοῦ ἐλεῆσαι ἡμᾶς).

SoC. EAB Slav. expand. Cf. Luke xv. 21.

his Maker C: A B+‘to meet Him’: Arm.+ ‘to be before Him’.

with her hand Arm. E: A B C * set her hand on her face’.‏ .1 .ואצ Cf. Acts vil. 55.‏

Slav. >.

notes on Test. Levi ii, iii.

Χχχ]ν. 1. wonders (μυστήρια). α]ν. 2. tin the field of yonder dwelling.+

יו

Lit. ‘ secrets’ C: Arm. Slav. ‘wonders’: A+‘ standing in the presence of God’, IL ΠΠ én agro habitationis illius.

I magnunt.

holy angels A: C > ‘holy’. even our God A >.

149

(Then) was the sun darkened and the moon xlvi. 1 and the stars for seven days, and Seth in his mourning embraced from above the body of his father, and Eve was looking on the ground with hands folded over her head, and all her children wept most bitterly. And behold, there appeared 2 Michael the angel and stood at the head of Adam and said to Seth: ‘ Rise up from the body of thy 3 father and come to me and see what is the doom of the Lord God concerning him. His creature is he, and God hath pitied him.’ And all angels blew their trumpets, and cried : ותווצ‎ 1 * Blessed art thou, O Lord, for thou hast had pity on Thy creature.’

Then Seth saw the hand of God stretched out holding Adam and he handed him over to 2 Michael, saying: ‘Let him be in thy charge till

the day of Judgement in punishment, till the last

years when I will convert his sorrow into joy. 3 Then shall he sit on the throne of him who hath been his supplanter.’

APOCALYPSIS MosIs. negroes who stand by at the prayers for thy father Adam ?’

And Seth telleth his mother, that they are xxxvi. the sun and moon and themselves fall down and pray on behalf of my father Adam. Eve saith 2 to him: ‘And where is their light and why have they taken on such a black appearance?’ And 3 Seth answereth her, ‘The light hath not left them, but they cannot shine before the Light of the Universe, the Father of Light ; and on this account their light hath been hidden from them.”

Now while Seth was saying this to his mother, xxxvii. lo, an angel blew the trumpet, and there stood up all the angels (and they were) lying on their faces, and they cried aloud in an awful voice and said : ‘Blessed (be) the glory of the Lord from 2 the works of His making, for He hath pitied Adam the creature of His hands.’ But when the 3 angels had said these words, lo, there came one of the seraphim with six wings and snatched up Adam and carried him off to the Acherusian lake, and washed him thrice, in the presence of God.

And God saith to him: ‘Adam, what hast xxxix. thou done? If thou hadst kept my command- ment, there would now be no rejoicing among those who are bringing thee down to this place. Yet, I tell thee that I will turn their joy to grief 2 and thy grief will 1 turn to joy, and I will trans- form thee to thy former glory, and set thee on the throne of thy deceiver. But he shall be cast 3 into this place to see thee sitting above him, then he shall be condemned and they that heard him, and he shall be grieved sore when he seeth thee sitting on his honourable throne.’

sun darkened, &c. Abbreviated from Apoc. Mos. xxxvi—ordinary setting to Jewish ‘ Apocalypse’. Cf. Matt.‏ .1 וטוא

hands folded over her head. Fuchs compares 2 Sam. xiii. 19 for this attitude in mourning.

her head.

alvil. 1. blew their trumpets. xlvii. 2. Judgement = disfensation’s Meyer 11 1. 3. his supplanter.

11 9 Meyer + ‘and leaning her head on her knees.’ most bitterly. Lit. ‘ wept with most bitter weeping’

Lit. ‘ sang and spake with the trumpets ’.

I defensionist.

Ul gui supplantavtt, 111 seduxit, 1 plantavi cum +; Vita x\vii = Αρος, Mos. xxxix.

, a Hebraism.

Father of Light D Arm. only; cf. James i. 17.

A ends here. \ xxxvil. 2. Adam C Arm. Slav.: D >. 3. carried him off D: C >.

Acherusian. hands’. stream’ of 1 En. xiv. 19 seq., xxiii. 2.

E Arm. add gloss *1 send him into the Gehenna of fire.” 2. transform theet ... glory. SoI read with Arm.:

So Tisch. EC: D * Agerusian’: Slav. docum gerusi: Arm. ἀχειροποίητον = (sea) ‘not made with Cf. Apoc. Pauli xxxi; 2 En. x. 2; ‘ Conflict’ 1. vi. 17; Plato, Phaedo, 173 a.

Cf. Greek Acheron, and ‘fiery

D ‘to thy beginning’: C t.

Cf. Isa. xiv. 12-18; Matt. xi. 23, xxili. 12; Vita Adae xv, xvi.

150

νι,

And the Lord said again to the angels Michael and Uriel: ‘Bring me three linen clothes of byssus and spread them out over Adam and other linen clothes over Abel his son and bury Adam and Abel his son.’

And all the ‘powers’ of angels marched before Adam, and the sleep of the dead was 6 consecrated. And the angels Michael and

Uriel buried Adam and Abel in the parts of

4

לצ

APOCALYPSIS Μοςις,

And he stayed there three hours, lying down, xxxvii. 4

and thereafter the Father of all, sitting on his holy throne stretched out his hand, and took Adam and handed him over to the archangel Michael saying: ‘ Lift him up into Paradise unto 5 the third Heaven, and leave him there until that fearful day of my reckoning, which I will make in the world.’ Then Michael took Adam and left 6 him where God told him.

But after all this, the archangel asked concern- xxxviii.

ing the laying out of the remains. And God 2 commanded that all the angels should assemble in His presence, each in his order, and all the angels assembled, some having censers in their hands, and otherstrumpets. And lo! the ‘ Lord 3 of Hosts’ came on and four winds drew Him and cherubim mounted on the winds and the angels from heaven escorting Him and they came on the earth, where was the body of Adam. And 4 they came to paradise and all the leaves of para- dise were stirred so that all men begotten of Adam slept from the fragrance save Seth alone, because he was born ‘according to the appoint- ment of God’. Then Adam’s body lay there in 5 paradise on the earth and Seth grieved exceed- ingly over him.

Then God spake to the archangel(s) Michael, x1, τ

(Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael): ‘Go away 2 to Paradise in the third heaven, and strew linen clothes and cover the body of Adam and bring oil of the ‘oil of fragrance’ and pour it over him. And they acted thus did the three great angels and they prepared him for burial. And God said: ‘Let the body of Abel also be 3 brought.” And they brought other linen clothes and prepared his (body) also. For he was unburied 4 since the day when Cain his brother slew him ;

5- thesleep. 9ο 11 111. I has dormitatio =‘resting-place’. According to Schatzhéhle (Christian), Ibn Ater, Abdul Serag, Adam was buried at Jerusalem; according to Jews, e.g. Ber. Rabba 58, Erubin 53a, Pirke R. Eliezer, and Vit.

Adae (III and Slav.), at Hebron. Cf. Fabric. i. 10. powers = virtutes. See xxi. 1. 6. [and no one else] I >. A gloss.

my reckoning C D: Arm. ‘day of renewal’: Slav. ‘my resurrection ’.

Paul xviii. 2; Test. Levi iii; Chagiga 12 b.

(MSS, 111 +‘in a place called Calvary’; Christian.)

Cf. 2 En. viil. 1; 2 Cor. xii. 21 Apoc.

6. left him (ἀφηκεν D) Ὁ 15 Slav.; C t κατηλειψεν (κατηλιψεν). told him. D + ‘and all the angels sang an angels’ hymn marvelling at the pardon of Adam.’ .וטא‎ 1. laying out of the remains C: D corrupt and obscure. 3. Lord of Hosts (κύριος στρατιῶν) C: D ‘mighty lord,’ κραταιὸς κύριος. 4. born according to the appointment of God C (διὰ τὸ γεννηθηναι καθ’ ὅμον τοῦ θεοῦ): D ‘he was there’ (ἐγένετο ἐκεῖσε): Charles emends to καθορᾶν (‘ to behold’ God). Arm. characteristically reads ‘ for the Lord wished to show him

a marvel.’ 5. Then Adam's body .. .

over him C only. May be right, as it leads on to xl (to glorify Seth).

infinitive mood.‏ כ[

| יו

151

VITA ADAE ET EVAE. ΑΡΟΟΑΙΥΡΡΙ5 Μοςις. ‘Just as ye have seen, in like manner, bury | for wicked Cain took great pains to conceal (him) your dead.’ but could not, for the earth would not receive

him for the body sprang up from the earth and a voice went out of the earth saying: ‘I will not 5 receive a companion body, till the earth which was taken and fashioned in me cometh to me.’ At that time, the angels took it and placed it on a rock, till Adam his father was buried. And 6 both were buried, according to the commandment of God, in the spot where God found the dust, and He caused the place to be dug for two. And God sent seven angels to paradise and they 7 brought many fragrant spices and placed them in the earth, and they took the two bodies and placed them in the spot which they had digged and builded.

And God called and said,‘ Adam, Adam.’ And xli. 1 the body answered from the earth and said : ‘Here am I, Lord.’ And God saith to him: ‘I told 2 thee (that) earth thou art and to earth shalt thou return, Again I promise to thee the Resurrec- 3 tion ; I will raise thee up in the Resurrection with every man, who is of thy seed.’

ViTA ADAE ET צאט‎ Eve's directions as to the Memorials of her life.

xlix. 1 Six days after, Adam died; and Eve perceived that she would die, (so) she assembled all her sons 2and daughters, Seth with thirty brothers and thirty sisters, and Eve said to all: ‘Hear me, my children, and I will tell you what the archangel Michael said to us when I and your father transgressed the command of God. κ. 3 Onaccount of your transgression, Our Lord will bring upon your race the anger of his judgement, first by water, the second time by fire; by these two, will the Lord judge the whole human race. _ 1.1 But hearken unto me, my children. Make ye then tables of stone and others of clay, and write 2 on them, all my life and your father’s (all) that ye have heard and seen from us. If by water the Lord judge our race, the tables of clay will be dissolved and the tables of stone will remain ; but if by fire, the tables of stone will be broken up and the tables of clay will be baked (hard).

1. 2. baked hard. Well-known Jewish fable. Cf. Josephus, 42/0. 1. x1; Bousset in ZNTW, 1902; Manetho, Syncell. Chron. xl; Jubilees, viii. 3 (Charles’ note). Egyptian derivation has been suggested 2110 for 606 (Thoth.) ; doubtful (?). Probably all accounts are Parallel, not dependent. = ath : /

In III (3, 5, 14, 17) and Jean is added the story of Solomon finding ‘the tables’, with a conclusion announcing the coming of Christ to judge the world. Of Greek origin (e. g. /abudas achiliacas = ἀχειροποιήτους). All MSS. explain this differently. Monkish scribes here knew but little Greek.

| |

152

Vita ADAE ET EVAE. APOCALYPSIS Mosis.

3 When Eve had said all this to her children, After these words, God made a seal and sealed xlii. 1 she spread out her hands to heaven in prayer, | the tomb, that no one might do anything to him and bent her knees to the earth, and while she | for six days till his rib should return to him. worshipped the Lord and gave him thanks, she | Then the Lord and hisangels went to their place. 2 gave up the ghost. Thereafter, all her children | And Eve also, when the six days were fulfilled, 3 buried her with loud lamentation. fell asleep. But while she was living, she wept

bitterly about Adam’s falling on sleep, for she knew not where he was laid. For when the Lord came to paradise to bury Adam she was asleep, and her sons too, except Seth, till He bade Adam be prepared for burial; and no man knew on earth, except her son Seth. And Eve prayed (in 4 the hour of her death) that she might be buried in the place where her husband Adam was. And after she had finished her prayer, she saith: ‘ Lord, 5 Master, God of all rule, estrange not me thy handmaid from the body of Adam, for from his inembers didst thou make me. But deem me 6 worthy, even me unworthy that Iam and a sinner, to enter into his tabernacle, even as I was with him in paradise, both without separation from each other ; just as in our transgression, we were 7 (both) led astray and transgressed thy command, but were not separated. Even so, Lord, do not 8 separate us now.’

But after she had prayed, she gazed heaven- wards and groaned aloud and smote her breast and said: ‘God of All, receive my spirit,’ and straightway she delivered up her spirit to God.

fi, 1 When they had been mourning four days, And Michael came and taught Seth how to xiii, 1 (then) Michael the archangel appeared and said | prepare Eve for burial. And there came three

2to Seth: ‘Man of God, mourn not for thy | angels and they buried her (body) where Adam’s dead more than six days, for on the seventh | body was and Abel’s. And thereafter Michael 2 day is the sign of the resurrection and the rest of | spake to Seth and saith: ‘Lay out in this wise the age to come; onthe seventh day the Lord | every man that dieth till the day of the Resur- rested from all His works.’ rection.” And after giving him this rule; he 3

3 Thereupon Seth made the tables. saith to him: ‘Mourn not beyond six days, but

on the seventh day, rest and rejoice on it, because

xlii. 1. sealed the tomb. Slav.+‘and made the sign of the Cross’. 2. their place C: ‘the heaven’ D Arm. (an explanation). : 3. for she knew not. Motive for Eve's grief same in all versions. except Seth C: D says ‘all slept’. Cf. Apoc. Mos. xxxviii, which contradicts Vit. xlviii. 4. prayed C +‘ in the hour of her death *. 5. rule (dpx7s) D: C ἀρετῆς (‘ virtue’), thy handmaid. C only. didst thou make me. Cf. Gen. ii. 23; 1 Cor. xi. 12. 6. enter into his tabernacle D.C ‘ be buried with his body.’ 8. C adds ‘and straightway she delivered up her spirit to God’: D >. | xlili. 1. Michael came. C expands—makes Michael present at her death. 2. the Resurrection. Arm.+‘and Advent’ (Christian gloss).

153

There follows in the following MSS.: 11 3, 5, | on that very day, God rejoiceth (yea) and we 19, 17, Jean; and Ar. 210, a long story of Solo- | angels (too) with the righteous soul, who hath mon finding * tabulas achiliacas.’ passed away from the earth.’ Even thus spake 4

the angel, and ascended into heaven, glorifying (God) and saying: * Allelujah.’

[Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, in the glory of 5 God the Father, for to Him it is meet to give glory, honour and worship, with the eternal life-giving spirit now and always and for ever. Απιεπ.]

[Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. To - whom be glory and power for ever and for ever. Amen.]

[Then the archangel Joel glorified God; saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, heaven and earth are full of thy glory.’]

154

יו