The First Book of Adam and Eve
Part 5
Chapter XXXVII
Forty-three days of penance do not redeem one hour of sin (v. 6).

1 Then Adam said to Eve, "Do you not see these figs and their leaves, with which we covered ourselves when we were stripped of our bright nature? But now, we do not know what misery and suffering may come over us from eating them.

2 Now, therefore, O Eve, let us restrain ourselves and not eat of them, you and I; and let us ask God to give us of the fruit of the Tree of Life."

3 Thus did Adam and Eve restrain themselves, and did not eat of these figs.

4 But Adam began to pray to God and to beseech Him to give him of the fruit of the Tree of Life, saying thus: "O God, when we transgressed Your commandment at the sixth hour of Friday, we were stripped of the bright nature we had, and did not continue in the garden after our transgression, more than three hours.

5 But in the evening You made us come out of it. O God, we transgressed against You one hour, and all these trials and sorrows have come over us until this day.

6 And those days together with this the forty-third day, do not redeem that one hour in which we transgressed!

7 O God, look at us with an eye of pity, and do not avenge us according to our transgression of Your commandment, in Your presence.

8 O God, give us of the fruit of the Tree of Life, that we may eat of it, and live, and turn not to see sufferings and other trouble, in this earth; for You are God.

9 When we transgressed Your commandment, You made us come out of the garden, and sent a cherub to keep the Tree of Life, lest we should eat thereof, and live; and know nothing of faintness after we transgressed.

10 But now, O Lord, behold, we have endured all these days, and have borne sufferings. Make these forty-three days an equivalent for the one hour in which we transgressed."

Chapter XXXVIII
"When 5500 years are fulfilled. . . ."

1 After these things the Word of God came to Adam, and said to him: --

2 "O Adam, as to the fruit on the Tree of Life that you have asked for, I will not give it to you now, but only when the 5500 years are fulfilled. At that time I will give you fruit from the Tree of Life, and you will eat, and live forever, you, and Eve, and your righteous descendants.

3 But these forty-three days cannot make amends for the hour in which you transgressed My commandment.

4 O Adam, I gave you the fruit of the fig-tree to eat in which you hid yourself. Go and eat of it, you and Eve.

5 I will not deny your request, neither will I disappoint your hope; therefore, endure until the fulfillment of the covenant I made with you."

6 And God withdrew His Word from Adam.

Chapter XXXIX
Adam is cautious -- but too late.

1 Then Adam returned to Eve, and said to her, "Get up, and take a fig for yourself, and I will take another; and let us go to our cave."

2 Then Adam and Eve took each a fig and went towards the cave; the time was about the setting of the sun; and their thoughts made them long to eat of the fruit.

3 But Adam said to Eve, "I am afraid to eat of this fig. I know not what may come over me from it."

4 So Adam cried, and stood praying before God, saying, "Satisfy my hunger, without my having to eat this fig; for after I have eaten it, what will it profit me? And what shall I desire and ask of you, O God, when it is gone?"

5 And he said again, "I am afraid to eat of it; for I know not what will befall me through it."

Chapter XL
The first Human hunger.

1 Then the Word of God came to Adam, and said to him, "O Adam, why didn't you have this dread, or this fasting, or this care before now? And why didn't you have this fear before you transgressed?

2 But when you came to live in this strange land, your animal body could not survive on earth without earthly food, to strengthen it and to restore its powers."

3 And God withdrew His Word for Adam.

Chapter XLI
The first Human thirst.

1 Then Adam took the fig, and laid it on the golden rods. Eve also took her fig, and put it on the incense.

2 And the weight of each fig was that of a water-melon; for the fruit of the garden was much larger than the fruit of this land*.

3 But Adam and Eve remained standing and fasting the whole of that night, until the morning dawned.

4 When the sun rose they were still praying, but after they had finished praying, Adam said to Eve: --

5 "O Eve, come, let us go to the border of the garden looking south; to the place from where the river flows, and is parted into four heads. There we will pray to God, and ask Him to give us some of the Water of Life to drink.

6 For God has not fed us with the Tree of Life, in order that we may not live. Therefore, we will ask him to give us some of the Water of Life, and to quench our thirst with it, rather than with a drink of water of this land."

7 When Eve heard these words from Adam, she agreed; and they both got up and came to the southern border of the garden, at the edge of the river of water a short distance from the garden.

8 And they stood and prayed before the Lord, and asked Him to look at them this once, to forgive them, and to grant them their request.

9 After this prayer from both of them, Adam began to pray with his voice before God, and said; --

10 "O Lord, when I was in the garden and saw the water that flowed from under the Tree of Life, my heart did not desire, neither did my body require to drink of it; neither did I know thirst, for I was living; and above that which I am now.

11 So that in order to live I did not require any Food of Life, neither did I drink of the Water of Life.

12 But now, O God, I am dead; my flesh is parched with thirst. Give me of the Water of Life that I may drink of it and live.

13 Of Your mercy, O God, save me from these plagues and trials, and bring me into another land different from this, if You will not let me live in Your garden."

* This is substantiated by Genesis 3:7 whereby the leaves of the fig tree were large enough that Adam and Eve could fashion garments from them.

Chapter XLII
A promise of the Water of Life. The third prophecy of the coming of Christ.

1 Then came the Word of God to Adam, and said to him:--

2 "O Adam, as to what you said, 'Bring me into a land where there is rest,' it is not another land than this, but it is the kingdom of heaven where alone there is rest.

3 But you can not make your entrance into it at present; but only after your judgment is past and fulfilled.

4 Then will I make you go up into the kingdom of heaven, you and your righteous descendants; and I will give you and them the rest you ask for at present.

5 And if you said, 'Give me of the Water of Life that I may drink and live' -- it cannot be this day, but on the day that I shall descend into hell, and break the gates of brass, and bruise in pieces the kingdoms of iron.

6 Then will I in mercy save your soul and the souls of the righteous, to give them rest in My garden. And that shall be when the end of the world is come.

7 And, again, in regards to the Water of Life you seek, it will not be granted you this day; but on the day that I shall shed My blood on your head* in the land of Golgotha**.

8 For My blood shall be the Water of Life to you at that time, and not to just you alone, but to all your descendants who shall believe in Me; that it be to them for rest forever."

9 The Lord said again to Adam, "O Adam, when you were in the garden, these trials did not come to you.

10 But since you transgressed My commandment, all these sufferings have come over you.

11 Now, also, does your flesh require food and drink; drink then of that water that flows by you on the face of the earth.

12 Then God withdrew His Word from Adam.

13 And Adam and Eve worshipped the Lord, and returned from the river of water to the cave. It was noon-day; and when they drew near to the cave, they saw a large fire by it.

* This phrase indicates that the bleeding will take place in an elevated position above the populace. This is believed to be a reference to the cross whereby Christ bled profusely above the people below.

** Golgotha (goal-goth-uh) was the hill outside the walls of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. Its exact location is not precisely known, but the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is believed to have been constructed on this hill.

Reference: John 6:25 and 7:38

Chapter XLIII
The Devil attempts arson.

1 Then Adam and Eve were afraid, and stood still. And Adam said to Eve, "What is that fire by our cave? We have done nothing in it to cause this fire.

2 We neither have bread to bake therein, nor broth to cook there. As to this fire, we have never known anything like it, neither do we know what to call it.

3 But ever since God sent the cherub with a sword of fire that flashed and lightened in his hand, from fear of which we fell down and were like corpses, have we not seen the like.

4 But now, O Eve, behold, this is the same fire that was in the cherub's hand, which God has sent to keep the cave in which we live.

5 O Eve, it is because God is angry with us, and will drive us from it.

6 O Eve, we have again transgressed His commandment in that cave, so that He had sent this fire to burn around it, and to prevent us from going into it.

7 If this be really so, O Eve, where shall we live? And where shall we flee from before the face of the Lord? Since, in regards to the garden, He will not let us live in it, and He has deprived us of the good things thereof; but He has placed us in this cave, in which we have borne darkness, trials and hardships, until at last we have found comfort therein.

8 But now that He has brought us out into another land, who knows what may happen in it? And who knows but that the darkness of that land may be far greater than the darkness of this land?

9 Who knows what may happen in that land by day or by night? And who knows whether it will be far or near, O Eve? Where it will please God to put us, may be far from the garden, O Eve? Or where God will prevent us from beholding Him, because we have transgressed His commandment, and because we have made requests of Him at all times?

10 O Eve, if God will bring us into a strange land other than this, in which we find consolation, it must be to put our souls to death, and blot out our name from the face of the earth.

11 O Eve, if we are further alienated from the garden and from God, where shall we find Him again, and ask Him to give us gold, incense, myrrh, and some fruit of the fig-tree?

12 Where shall we find Him, to comfort us a second time? Where shall we find Him, that He may think of us, as regards the covenant He has made on our behalf?"

13 Then Adam said no more. And they kept looking, He and Eve, towards the cave, and at the fire that flared up around it.

14 But that fire was from Satan. For he had gathered trees and dry grasses, and had carried and brought them to the cave, and had set fire to them, in order to consume the cave and what was in it.

15 So that Adam and Eve should be left in sorrow, and he should cut off their trust in God, and make them deny Him.

16 But by the mercy of God he could not burn the cave, for God sent His angel around the cave to guard it from such a fire, until it went out.

17 And this fire lasted from noon-day until the break of day. That was the forty-fifth day.

Chapter XLIV
The power of fire over man.

1 Yet Adam and Eve were standing and looking at the fire, and unable to come near the cave from their dread of the fire.

2 And Satan kept on bringing trees and throwing them into the fire, until the flames of the fire rose up on high, and covered the whole cave, thinking, as he did in his own mind, to consume the cave with much fire. But the angel of the Lord was guarding it.

3 And yet he could not curse Satan, nor injure him by word, because he had no authority over him, neither did he take to doing so with words from his mouth.

4 Therefore the angel tolerated him, without saying one bad word, until the Word of God came who said to Satan, "Go away from here; once before you deceived My servants, and this time you seek to destroy them.

5 Were it not for My mercy I would have destroyed you and your hosts from off the earth. But I have had patience with you, until the end of the world."

6 Then Satan fled from before the Lord. But the fire went on burning around the cave like a coal-fire the whole day; which was the forty-sixth day Adam and Eve had spent since they came out of the garden.

7 And when Adam and Eve saw that the heat of the fire had somewhat cooled down, they began to walk towards the cave to get into it as they usually did; but they could not, by reason of the heat of the fire.

8 Then they both began crying because of the fire that separated them from the cave, and that came towards them, burning. And they were afraid.

9 Then Adam said to Eve, "See this fire of which we have a portion in us: which formerly yielded to us, but no longer does so, now that we have transgressed the limit of creation, and changed our condition, and our nature is altered. But the fire is not changed in its nature, nor altered from its creation. Therefore it now has power over us; and when we come near it, it scorches our flesh."

Chapter XLV
Why Satan didn't fulfil his promises. Description of hell.

1 Then Adam rose and prayed to God, saying, "See, this fire has separated us from the cave in which You have commanded us to live; but now, behold, we cannot go into it."

2 Then God heard Adam, and sent him His Word, that said: --

3 "O Adam, see this fire! How different the flame and heat thereof are from the garden of delights and the good things in it!

4 When you were under My control, all creatures yielded to you; but after you have transgressed My commandment, they all rise over you."

5 God said again to him, "See, O Adam, how Satan has exalted you! He has deprived you of the Godhead, and of an exalted state like Me, and has not kept his word to you; but has, after all, become your enemy. He is the one who made this fire in which he meant to burn you and Eve.

6 Why, O Adam, has he not kept his agreement with you, not even one day; but has deprived you of the glory that was on you -- when you yielded to his command?

7 Do you think, Adam, that he loved you when he made this agreement with you? Or that he loved you and wished to raise you on high?

8 But no, Adam, he did not do all that out of love to you; but he wished to make you come out of light into darkness; and from an exalted state to degradation; from glory to abasement; from joy to sorrow; and from rest to fasting and fainting."

9 God also said to Adam, "See this fire kindled by Satan around your cave; see this wonder that surrounds you; and know that it will encompass about both you and your descendants, when you obey his command; that he will plague you with fire; and that you will go down into hell after you are dead.

10 Then you will see the burning of his fire, that will be burning around you and likewise your descendants. You will not be delivered from it until My coming; just like you cannot go into your cave right now because of the great fire around it; not until My Word comes and makes a way for you on the day My covenant is fulfilled.

11 There is no way for you at present to come from this life to rest, not until My Word comes, who is My Word. Then He will make a way for you, and you shall have rest." Then God called with His Word to the fire that burned around the cave, that it split itself in half, until Adam had gone through it. Then the fire parted itself by God's order, and a way was made for Adam*.

12 And God withdrew His Word from Adam.

* Reference: Exodus 14:21,22 and Joshua 3:15-17

Chapter XLVI
"How many times have I delivered you out of his hand . . ."

1 Then Adam and Eve began again to come into the cave. And when they came to the way between the fire, Satan blew into the fire like a whirlwind, and caused the burning coal-fire to cover Adam and Eve; so that their bodies were singed; and the coal-fire scorched them*.

2 And from the burning of the fire Adam and Eve screamed, and said, "O Lord, save us! Leave us not to be consumed and plagued by this burning fire; neither require us for having transgressed Your commandment."

3 Then God looked at their bodies, on which Satan had caused fire to burn, and God sent His angel that stayed the burning fire. But the wounds remained on their bodies.

4 And God said to Adam, "See Satan's love for you, who pretended to give you the Godhead and greatness; and, behold, he burns you with fire, and seeks to destroy you from off the earth.

5 Then look at Me, O Adam; I created you, and how many times have I delivered you out of his hand? If not, wouldn't he have destroyed you?"

6 God said again to Eve, "What is that he promised you in the garden, saying, 'As soon as you eat from the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you shall become like gods, knowing good and evil.' But look! He has burnt your bodies with fire, and has made you taste the taste of fire, for the taste of the garden; and has made you see the burning of fire, and the evil of it, and the power it has over you.

7 Your eyes have seen the good he has taken from you, and in truth he has opened your eyes; and you have seen the garden in which you were with Me, and you have also seen the evil that has come over you from Satan. But as to the Godhead he cannot give it to you, neither fulfil his speech to you. No, he was bitter against you and your descendants, that will come after you."

8 And God withdrew His Word form them.

* At this time, the garments that the Lord had given them in Genesis 3:21 were burned off so that Adam and Eve were again naked. Reference chapter L whereby Adam and Eve seek garments with which to cover their nakedness..

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Table of Contents / Prologue
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10