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The struggle between the ‘image of God’ and Satan in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2008

Rivka Nir
Rivka Nir*
Affiliation:
Open University of Israel, 108 Ravutski Street, PO Box 808, Raanana 43107, Israelrivkani@openu.ac.il
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Abstract

According to a tradition in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (GLAE), Seth and his mother Eve were confronted by a wild beast that attacked Seth. This article asserts that Seth's battle with the beast should be understood as a struggle between the ‘image of God’ and Satan, and viewed in a Christian context. The claim is based on three aspects of the story: how the beast is described, why it attacked Seth and only he could control it, and why the beast was confined to its dwelling place until the Day of Judgement. The struggle between Seth and the beast/Satan should be seen as a link in the chain of struggle between the image of God and Satan. It begins in Paradise between Adam, the image of God, and Satan, as recounted in the story of Satan's fall from heaven, continues on earth between Seth, Adam's descendant, and Satan, and will culminate with the final victory of Jesus, the ultimate image of God, over Satan at the end of times.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , August 2008, pp. 327 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 2008

In the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (GLAE), on their way to Paradise to fetch the ‘oil which flows from the tree’ for Adam, lying on his deathbed, Seth and his mother Eve are confronted by a wild beast which attacks Seth. Eve, realising her culpability, weeps and says, ‘Woe is me! For when I come to the day of resurrection ($\utau{\grave{\ueta}}\unu\,\,{\ccc}\hskip-4pt\ueta\umu{\acute{\uvarepsilon}}\urho\ualpha\unu\,\,\,\utau{\f{\ueta}}\uvarsigma\,\,\,{{\hbox{'}}{\ualpha}}\unu\ualpha\usigma\utau{\acute{\ualpha}}\usigma\uvarepsilon\uomega\uvarsigma$), all who have sinned will curse me, saying that Eve did not keep the commandment of God’. And she rebukes the beast and says, ‘O you evil beast, do you not fear to attack the image of God ($\utau{\grave{\ueta}}\unu\,\,\,\,\,{\bbb}\hskip-8pt\uvarepsilon\uiota\ukappa{\acute{\rm O}}\unu\ualpha\,\,\,\utau{\rm O}\,{\a{\uupsilon}}\,\,\,\utheta\uvarepsilon{\rm O}\,{\a{\uupsilon}}$)? How was your mouth opened? How did your teeth grow strong? How did you not remember your subjection, for you were once subjected to the image of God?’ But the beast blames Eve for the loss of human authority over the animals; because she ate from the forbidden tree, the animals’ nature changed, thus enabling the beast to rebuke her. Then Seth says to the beast, ‘Shut your mouth and be silent, and keep away from the image of God until the day of judgment (${\ccc\hskip-5pt{\uvarepsilon}}\uomega\uvarsigma\,\,\,{\ccc}\hskip-4.5pt\ueta\umu{\acute{\uvarepsilon}}\urho\ualpha\uvarsigma\,\,\,\utau{\f{\ueta}}\uvarsigma\,\,\,\ukappa\urho{\acute{\uiota}\usigma\uvarepsilon\uomega\uvarsigma}$)’. And the beast says to Seth, ‘See, I stand off, Seth, from the image of God’, and it flees to its dwelling place, [leaving Seth wounded] (GLAE, 10–12).Footnote 1

This tradition is usually interpreted as a realisation of the curse of God upon the serpent (Gen. 3:14–15), according to which an enmity will exist between it and the woman, and between their offspring, or as an aetiological story which recounts the moment at which the animals were released from their status of subjugation to humankind, conferred on Adam and Eve after their creation (Gen. 1:28).Footnote 2 Its main concern is ‘how to keep the wild animals from wreaking havoc on the human race’.Footnote 3

According to this interpretation, it is generally agreed that the beast in the GLAE was not intended to represent Satan. Most scholars refute the Latin Life of Adam and Eve (LLAE) and the Armenian recension's identification of the beast as a symbol of Satan, arguing that these are secondary versions and incompatible with the original concern of this episode. Because they regard this tradition as a narrative based on biblical themes, they understand it as a Jewish tradition rooted in a biblical Jewish background.Footnote 4

In this paper, I will endeavour to establish that the battle between Seth and the beast can also be perceived as a struggle between Seth and Satan, and that the whole tradition should be viewed in a Christian context. In order to reveal the tradition's full meaning, three questions must be addressed. (1) Who is the beast? (2) Why did the beast attack Seth and why could only he control it? (3) Why did the beast have to wait in its dwelling place until the Day of Judgement?

Who is the beast?

The indeterminate beast ($\utheta{\acute{\ueta}}\urho$) in the GLAE, which is identified with the serpent in the LLAE,Footnote 5 is described as wild (huge)Footnote 6 and evil, with strong bared teeth, and capable of speech. It rebukes Eve and blames her for the loss of human authority, it is unafraid of attacking Seth and even dares to wound him. Only Seth can fight and defeat the beast. He banishes it to its dwelling place, where it would remain until the Day of Judgement.

This description is generally based on the vision of the four beasts in Dan. 7:7–26 where the fourth beast is described as ‘dreadful, terrifying, and exceedingly strong’ with great teeth of iron and a mouth from which pompous words pour forth. It makes war against the Holy Ones of the Most High, but is defeated and doomed to be judged on the Day of Judgement. This became the model on which the image of the Antichrist was based in Christianity.Footnote 7 Thus, in Rev. 13 the beast ($\utheta{\acute{\ueta}}\urho$), which ascended from the sea, is described as possessing power, a throne, authority and a belief in its own invincibility: ‘Who is like unto the beast? And who can war with him?’ (13:4). As in the GLAE, so in Revelation, the beast has been given a mouth which utters haughty and blasphemous words. In both sources the beasts open their mouths and blaspheme God (or the image of God), both can make war on the saints and almost overcome them and both are destined to be judged on the Day of Judgement. The early Christian tradition indeed identifies the beast from the sea in Rev. 13 with the Antichrist.Footnote 8

The LLAE and the Armenian version offer parallel traditions of the struggle between Seth and the beast. These traditions are identical in almost every detail to the story in the GLAE, differing only in how Seth addresses the beast. In the LLAE (39:2), Seth calls the beast ‘cursed enemy of truth, chaotic destroyer’ (maledicte inimice veritatis confusio perditionis), designations which usually represent SatanFootnote 9 and the Armenian version goes further by mentioning the very name of Satan. Thus Seth rebukes the beast, ‘Close your mouth, O Satan’ (38:3).Footnote 10

Although there is agreement that the traditions preserved in both the Armenian and Latin versions are secondary to the GLAE,Footnote 11 this fact does not automatically invalidate their interpretations. According to Johannes Tromp,Footnote 12 the traditions about Adam and Eve were primarily transmitted orally, and consisted of a series of brief tales which might have had their original context in everyday discourse, and served either as exempla of moral truths, or as explanations for the facts of life. At some point these traditions were set down in writing so as to create the GLAE, but it is clear that this earliest written form did not contain all the oral traditions known to its compiler. The author knew more stories than he used for his document and he deliberately chose to restrict himself to his selection. Thus, he decided to refer to some stories only in passing, as for instance the story of the Devil being cast out of Paradise,Footnote 13 because he assumed that the readers would know them as part of their common cultural heritage. This author or storyteller not only chose different forms of the oral tradition, but he could clarify and explicate the ambiguities and allusions in the Greek version.Footnote 14

There is, therefore, a reasonable possibility that the other versions of the Life of Adam and Eve, albeit their later written forms, might preserve ancient oral traditions selected by other authors, who were thoroughly cognisant with all the various stories about Adam and Eve, because they found them more suitable for the situation of their communities. In summary, the fact that this beast is identified clearly by the Latin and the Armenian versions of Adam and Eve as Satan should be taken into account in our evaluation of the meaning of this tradition.

In what follows, I will attempt to prove that the identification of the beast as Satan in the GLAE is evident not only from its description in this version itself, and not only from its comparison with the parallel versions, as I have shown above, but can be understood from the prominent role played, in this tradition, by the idea of Seth as an image of God, and from its eschatological aspect.

Why did the beast attack Seth and why could only he control it?

This tradition, with its comparatively small body of literature, stresses four times that Seth is the image of God, and expresses wonder as to how he, as an image of God, could be attacked by the beast. The author not only expresses this wonder through Eve and in Seth's reproach of the beast, he also stresses it by making the beast itself admit publicly and clearly that Seth is the image of God: ‘Then the beast said to Seth, See, I stand off, Seth, from the image of God’ (12:2).

The idea that Seth possessed the image of God is based on Gen. 5:3: Seth is the son of Adam and was born ‘in his own likeness, in his own image’. Since Adam was created in the likeness of God (Gen. 1:26, 27, 5:1), Seth is also an image of God. The fact that Adam was the symbol of the image of God is a very important idea in the GLAE. Footnote 15 According to this composition, Adam was created by God's own hand (37:2). Because he was made in the image of God, he was pardoned by God through the mediation of the angels and was exalted (33:5, 35:2, 37:2). This is why he received the promise of resurrection (28:4), and the oil from the tree of life ‘at the end of times’ (ch. 13).Footnote 16

According to this tradition, the fact that Adam was created in the image of God is the very reason for his struggle with Satan in the Garden of Eden, which eventually leads to the sin itself and to Adam and Eve's expulsion. The most complete tradition describing Adam's enmity with Satan is found in the story of the fall of Satan that has been passed down to us in three versions of Adam and Eve: Latin, Armenian and Georgian (12–17).

At the heart of the narrative is Satan's refusal to worship Adam, the image of God. According to the narrative, Satan was expelled from heaven and deprived of the glory he once possessed because he refused to obey Michael's command that the angels should prostrate themselves before Adam who had been created in the image of God. Satan responded, ‘Why do you compel me? I will not worship one inferior and subsequent to me. I am prior to him in creation. Before he was made, I was already made. He ought to worship me’ (LLAE, 14). It was this refusal to worship the image of God that resulted in the expulsion of Satan and his angels from heaven to earth. According to this tradition, this was the source of their enmity and of Satan's envy of Adam, and the reason he deceitfully assailed Eve: ‘And we were pained to see you in such bliss of delights. So with deceit I assailed your wife and through her caused you to be expelled from the joys of your bliss, as I have been expelled from my glory’ (LLAE, 12–16).Footnote 17

Although this story has no direct counterpart in the GLAE, it appears to have been familiar to the author of this composition, as the story of the fall of Satan is alluded to twice. In the first instance, the evil one, trying to seduce the serpent, says, ‘Rise and come and let us cause him to be cast out of Paradise through his wife, just as we were cast out through him’ (GLAE, 16:3).

The second allusion is God's promise to Adam to establish him in his dominion above the throne of his seducer who will be cast down to earth: ‘I will establish you in your dominion on the throne of your seducer. But that one shall be cast into this place, so that you might sit above him. Then he himself and those who listen to him shall be condemned, and they shall greatly mourn and weep when they see you sitting on his glorious throne’ (39:1–3).Footnote 18 From these two allusions it is clear, as Marinus de Jonge concluded,Footnote 19 that the Greek author seems to know this story in some oral or written form, and to suppose that his readers will know it too.

But according to this tradition, the struggle between Adam and Satan did not end with Adam's victory and Satan's expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Satan did not concede defeat; on the contrary, he sought to deceive man and to lead Adam and his wife astray even on earth. The struggle between Adam, the image of God, and Satan in the Garden of Eden continues, therefore, in the struggle between Seth, the image of God, and the beast outside the garden, on the way leading to it.

The theme of Satan trying to bar the way which leads to paradise, and needing to be conquered in order to reopen it, is a known Christian tradition. According to J. Daniélou, this idea underlies exorcisms which are combined in the baptismal rites.Footnote 20 Thus Cyril of Jerusalem notes that these exorcisms are an expression of the conflict which is being waged between Christ and Satan around the faithful soul.

Great is the Baptism that lies before you . . . a chariot to heaven; the delight of Paradise; a welcome into the kingdom; the gift of adoption! But there is a serpent by the wayside watching those who pass by: beware lest he bite thee with unbelief. He sees so many receiving salvation, and he is seeking whom he may devour. Thou art coming in unto the Father of Spirit, but thou art going past that serpent. How then mayest thou pass him? Have thy feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; that even if he bite, he may not hurt thee. Have faith indwelling, steadfast hope, a strong sandal that thou mayest pass the enemy, and enter the presence of thy Lord.Footnote 21

This theme appears also in connection with martyrdom. Thus during an ecstasy, Perpetua saw ‘on a ladder that mounted to heaven, a dragon lying, of an extraordinary size, who sets ambushes for those who climb the ladder’.Footnote 22 The demon is presented as also trying to bar the way to heaven to the souls of the dead. St Anthony sees in a vision ‘an enormous being, reaching to heaven, who stretching out his hands, prevents the souls from rising up. He understood that this was the “enemy”’.Footnote 23

This theme might also underlie Jesus’ symbolic struggle with Judas Iscariot. In referring to the scene between Judas Iscariot and Jesus, which according to John 18:1–2 occurred in the ‘garden’, F. MannsFootnote 24 interprets the ‘garden’ as the Garden of Eden, and explains the entire scene as a struggle between Judas, the tool of Satan, and Jesus: ‘Judas, en qui est entré Satan, ne peut continuer son oeuvre de mort. Judas avait voulu arrêter et écraser Jésus. En réalité les rôles sont inverses: c'est Judas qui est écrasé. Devant le Jardin est executé l'ordre de mort dont Yahveh avait menacé le serpent. Après la manifestation de la Gloire de Jésus, le Prince de ce monde est jeté dehors.’Footnote 25

This struggle with Satan near the gates of the Garden of Eden is also described in Tes. Levi 18:10–12: ‘And he shall open the gates of Paradise, and shall remove the sword that has threatened since Adam. And he will grant to the saints to eat the tree of life, the spirit of holiness shall be upon them. And Beliar shall be bound by him.’Footnote 26 In both traditions, Seth and Levi are prototypes of Jesus; both are able to remove the sword and bind the beast (Beliar in the Testaments). As in the Testament of Levi, Seth's battle with the beast is the means by which he can enter the Garden of Eden and obtain the ‘oil which flows from the tree’ in order to bestow eternal life upon Adam. But both were promised that only in the future would they be able to eat from the tree of life.Footnote 27

The struggle of Seth with the beast/Satan should be understood in this Christian context. The emphasis placed by this tradition on the idea of Seth as the image of God explains why he was attacked by the beast,Footnote 28 and why only he could overcome it. As the image of God, Seth (like his father Adam), is the prototype of Jesus, and his life foreshadows that of Jesus, the ultimate and complete image of God.Footnote 29 This connection between Adam, Seth and Jesus is expressed clearly in The Armenian Commentary on Genesis attributed to Ephrem the Syrian: ‘As for Adam, because he was born according to the image of the form of God, so that the origin of the first would be the image of the second Adam, the image of this first Adam was transferred in the second generation to Seth.’Footnote 30

Seth's unique status as the image of God and the prototype of Jesus is the basis for his appearance in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke (3:38). Likewise, his struggle with the beast at the gates of Paradise in the story of Adam and Eve should be understood as a prefiguration of the battle that Jesus will conduct with Satan at the gates of the Garden of Eden at the end of times. The story's emphasis on Seth being the image of God, and the public confession made by the beast that Seth is the image of God, seem to point to the main tendency of this tradition; although by seducing Adam and Eve to sin, Satan succeeded in bringing about their expulsion from the Garden of Eden and, in spite of the loss of human dominion over animals as a result of that sin, Seth, Adam's descendant, is still the definitive and indisputable image of God.Footnote 31 The struggle between Seth and the beast/Satan is only one link in this chain of struggle between the image of God and Satan. It begins in Adam's lifetime in the Garden of Eden, continues on earth in Seth's lifetime outside the Garden of Eden, and will culminate with the victory of Jesus over Satan at the end of times and the establishment of the new Garden of Eden.Footnote 32

This story as a whole is based on the battle of Jesus and Satan described in Rev. 12:1–17. Like Satan in the GLAE, who was expelled from Paradise because Adam was born and given the image of God, and who continued to deceive Seth, Adam's descendant on earth, the ‘great dragon, the ancient serpent,Footnote 33 who is called Devil and Satan’ in Revelation, was cast down from heaven after Jesus, ‘the man child’,Footnote 34 was born and ascended (was caught up ${\`}\ueta\urho\upi{\acute{\ualpha}}\usigma\utheta\ueta$) to God's throne. Knowing that his time on earth was brief, Satan pursued the followers of Jesus, ‘the remnant of her [the woman's] seed’, on earth.Footnote 35 As we shall see in the following section, the destiny of the beast in the GLAE and Satan in Revelation will also be the same.

Why did the beast have to wait in its dwelling place until the Day of Judgement?

The perception of the beast as a symbol of Satan is also derived from the eschatological aspect of this tradition. Seth rebukes the beast and drives it to its dwelling place until the ‘day of judgement’. How should this expression be interpreted?

Gary A. Anderson points out that there is a degree of ambiguity in this formulation because it is unclear whether the reference to the Day of Judgement is merely a neutral, and somewhat mundane, demarcation of a unit of time – stay apart from humankind until the moment of the final judgement – or whether these words imply the idea of the final judgement of the beast itself – stay apart from humankind until the time when God brings you to final judgement. Anderson chooses the first option, relying on the Slavonic version (rather than its Latin, Armenian or Georgian counterparts), where the notion of final judgement has been obscured, which dovetails with his efforts to deny any possible reference to Satan in the primary and original tradition of the life of Adam and Eve. He perceives the Day of Judgement as a moment of justice, a point at which the animal world will again reside in peace under the watchful eye of a redeemed humanity in accordance with traditions like those found in Isaiah (11:6–9) and with other Jewish writings from the Second Temple period.Footnote 36

Unlike Anderson, I believe that the second option he raises is more compatible with the whole meaning of this tradition. On the basis of the vision of the four beasts in Dan. 7:9–11, the apocalyptic literature anticipates a final judgement at the end of days ‘when all creation visible and invisible, as the Lord created it, shall end, then every man goes to the great judgement’ (2 Enoch 65:6). ‘It will be in the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come, in which corruption has passed away, sinful indulgence has come to an end, unbelief has been cut off, and righteousness has increased and truth has appeared. Therefore no one will then be able to have mercy on him who has been condemned in the judgement, or to harm him who is victorious’ (4 Ezra 7:113–15).Footnote 37

This will be the day of ‘dispensing punishment’ (LLAE 47:3) when God will bring down the wrath of his judgement upon the human race: The sinner will be condemned and the righteous will be rewarded. But the demons, in particular their leader, Azazel, will also receive their rightful punishment and be judged and cast down into the fire.Footnote 38

‘The Day of Judgement’, until which time the beast must wait in its dwelling place, refers to the final judgement following the appearance of the Messiah and the end of days. This point can be confirmed by a comparison between the Greek, and the Georgian and Armenian versions. According to the GLAE, when Eve sees the beast attacking Seth, she says, ‘Woe is me! For when I come to the day of resurrection, all who have sinned will curse me’ (10:2). But instead of ‘the day of resurrection’, the Georgian and Armenian versions use the term ‘the day of judgement’ (Mahé, p. 242).Footnote 39 From this interchange, we can assume that in this tradition the ‘day of judgement’ parallels ‘the day of resurrection’, namely that it refers to the time after the appearance of the Messiah at the end of days.

The final judgement, for which the beast in the GLAE must wait, is an integral part of the eschatological aspect of this composition. This is apparent from the Georgian recension, according to which the beast must wait in its dwelling place not until the Day of Judgement, but ‘jusq'au jour où Dieu te fera comparaître’.Footnote 40 According to a tradition in the Pseudepigrapha, one sign of the approach of the end of days and the messianic era is the appearance of the old beasts, Behemoth and Leviathan, kept until that time. Such a tradition appears, for example, in The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch: ‘And it will happen that when all that which should come to pass in these parts has been accomplished, the Anointed One will begin to be revealed. And Behemoth will reveal itself from its place, and Leviathan will come from the sea, the two great monsters which I created on the fifth day of creation and which I shall have kept until that time.’Footnote 41

The fate of these beasts – one which ascended from the sea (13:1–10) and one which emerged from the earth (13:11–12) – is described in the Book of Revelation. Both will be cast into the lake of fire (19:20), but the dragon, which embodies Satan, the Diabolos and the Antichrist, will be cast down into the abyss and chained there for a thousand years (20:1–3). At the close of this millennium it will be released from its prison, battle with the saints, and be defeated and thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented for eternity (Rev. 20:1–11).

The ‘day of judgement’ referred to by Seth is the eschatological judgement, according to which the beast will be decisively defeated.Footnote 42 Like the beast in Revelation, the beast that attacked Seth will wait in its dwelling place until the end of times, when God will make it reappear, only to be defeated forever by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Seth, as an image of God, could defeat the beast in front of the gates of Paradise and banish it to its dwelling place until the Day of Judgement, but only Jesus, the ultimate image of God, can defeat the beast forever, remove the guarding sword, reopen the gates of Paradise, and establish a new Garden of Eden.

Thus, the struggle between Seth and the beast in the GLAE is deeply entrenched in Christian speculation about the final battle between Jesus and Satan at the end of times. J. Tromp suggests that the GLAE is a compilation of stories which may have their original context in everyday discourse, serving as answers to the ethical and existential questions of a certain audience.Footnote 43 This tradition might well reflect the feelings of Christians who accepted seriously the warning of 1 Peter's author: ‘Keep sober and alert because your enemy the devil is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8). Accordingly, they regarded their lives as an endless struggle with Satan and, seeing themselves all as images of God,Footnote 44 hoped for release through his final defeat by the Messiah.Footnote 45

Footnotes

Ibid.

References

1 Johnson, M. D., ‘Life of Adam and Eve’, in Charlesworth, J. H. (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2 (New York: Doubleday, 1985), pp. 273–5Google Scholar. For a critical text, see Tromp, J., The Life of Adam and Eve in Greek (Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp. 132–4Google Scholar. See also Levison, J. R., Texts in Transition (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000), pp. 58–61Google Scholar.

2 This rebellion of the animals is mentioned clearly in GLAE, 24:4; in the Slavonic version, the beast declares that its intention was not simply to harm Seth, but to destroy Eve and all her children (11–15). The rebellion is a clear symbol of the loss of Edenic life; see The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, 73:5, which describes the future Paradise where the animals will again be subjugated to humans. Anderson, G. A., ‘The Penitence Narrative in the Life of Adam and Eve’, Hebrew Union College Annual (HUCA) 63 (1992), p. 30Google Scholar; Bertrand, D.A., La Vie Grecque d'Adam et Eve (Paris: Librairie Adrien Maisonneuve, 1987), p. 24Google Scholar; Ginzberg, L., The Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1908–38), p. 201Google Scholar; Jonge, M. de and Tromp, J., The Life of Adam and Eve and Related Literature (Sheffield: Academic Press, 1997), p. 54Google Scholar.

3 Anderson, ‘Penitence Narrative’, pp. 34–5.

4 Ibid., p. 34; Johnson, ‘Life of Adam and Eve’, p. 274, n. 39.

5 See also J. P. Mahé, ‘Le Livre d'Adam Georgien’, in R. Van den Broek & M.J. Vermasern (eds), Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions (Leiden: Brill, 1981), p. 242: ‘Cette bête ne peut être, evidement, qu'un serpent’.

6 Thus the Slavonic recension: 11:5.

7 On the basis of the identification of the $\ubeta\udelta{\acute{\uvarepsilon}}\ulambda{\rm u}\ugamma\umu\ualpha\,\,\,\utau{\f{\ueta}}\uvarsigma\,\,\,{\hbox{'}}\hskip-3pt\uvarepsilon\urho\ueta\umu{\acute{\uomega}}\usigma\uvarepsilon\uomega\uvarsigma$ in Dan. 11:31 with the Antichrist: Mark 13:14; Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4–12. On the similarities of wording and content, see Charles, R.H., The Revelation of St. John (International Critical Commentary 1; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920), p. 345Google Scholar. Collins, A. Y., The Myth in the Book of Revelation (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1976), p. 162Google Scholar; Aune, D. E., Revelation 6–16 (Word Biblical Commentary 52B; Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publication, 1998), pp. 743–6Google Scholar.

8 Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. (5.28.2) who compares 2 Thess. 2:10. with Apoc. 13:5. Swete, H. B., The Apocalypse of St John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1968), pp. 161–5Google Scholar. See also Ephraem des Syrers, Hymnen de Pharadiso 13.5 (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Scriptores Syri, 78; Louvain: Secrétariat du Corpus SCO, 1957), p. 55: Satan, who seduced Adam, is described as a beast: ‘David wept for Adam at how he fell from the royal abode to that abode of wild animals. Because he went astray through a beast he became like the beasts’ (אתויחל הימד אוה אעט אתויחבד) On this identification see: Lichtenberger, H., ‘The Down-Throw of the Dragon in Revelation 12 and the Down-Fall of God's Enemy’, in Auffarh, C. and Stuckenbruck, L. (eds), The Fall of the Angels (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 2004), pp. 119–47Google Scholar.

9 ${\hbox{'}}\hskip-3pt\uvarepsilon\uchi\utheta\urho{\acute{\rm o}}\uvarsigma$ is a designation for the Devil: Matt. 13:39; Piñero, A., ‘Angels and Demons in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve’, Journal for the Study of Judaism (JSJ) 24 (1993), p. 203Google Scholar; Johnson, ‘Life of Adam and Eve’, p. 274, n. 39: Eve's words to the beast, as well as its identification as a serpent, reveal that the Latin text views the beast as Satan; Anderson, ‘Penitence Narrative’, pp. 25–34.

10 See Anderson, G. A. and Stone, M. (eds), A Synopsis of the Books of Adam and Eve (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1999), 43EGoogle Scholar.

11 It is agreed that the GLAE, represented by manuscripts DSV (K) PGB, was the foundation of all subsequent development of the writing in its various recensions. The extant GLAE represents the oldest traceable stage of this process, accounting for all other versions. See de Jonge and Tromp, Adam and Eve, p. 30. The Armenian–Georgian versions are seen as the first stage in the development of this tradition and predate the Latin recension. See Jonge, M. de, ‘The Literary Development of the Life of Adam and Eve’, in Anderson, G. A., Stone, M. and Tromp, J. (eds), Literature on Adam and Eve (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 246Google Scholar; Anderson, ‘Penitence Narrative’, pp. 3, 34, n. 60. In contrast, Piñero (‘Angels and Demons’, p. 192) maintains that the Latin recension is the oldest of the other major recensions: Slavonic, Armenian, and Georgian.

12 Tromp, J., ‘The Story of our Lives: The qz-Text of the Greek Life of Adam and Eve, the Apostle Paul, and the Jewish-Christian Oral Tradition concerning Adam and Eve’, New Testament Studies 50 (2004), pp. 218–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tromp, Life of Adam and Eve in Greek, pp. 67–70.

13 See below.

14 Jonge, M. de, ‘The Christian Origin of the Life of Adam and Eve’, in Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament as Part of Christian Literature (Leiden: Brill, 2003), p. 181Google Scholar; idem, ‘The Christian Origin of the Greek Life of Adam and Eve’, in Literature on Adam and Eve, p. 347.

15 Bertrand, La Vie Grecque, p. 59.

16 In the Armenian version, Adam is even referred to as God: ‘Come bow down to god whom I made’. Anderson and Stone, Synopsis of the Books of Adam and Eve, 16E.

17 This story, based on Isa. 14:12–15, appears in numerous Christian and apocalyptic texts: see e.g. 2 Enoch 11:73–5, 29:4, 31:3. On the tradition in 2 Enoch, see Stone, M.E., ‘The Fall of Satan and Adam's Penance: Three Notes on the Books of Adam and Eve’, Journal of Theological Studies 44 (1993), pp. 146–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rev. 12:9; Gospel of Bartholomew 4:51–60 in James, M. R., Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 178–9Google Scholar; Tertullian, De paenitentia 5.7; Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 4.40.3: ‘Because the (bad) angel is an apostate and enemy of the Lord, since he was envious of man’ (plasma dei); ‘The Son of Zebede’, in Wright, W., Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1968), p. 13Google Scholar; Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Book of the Cave of Treasures (London: Religious Tract Society, 1927), pp. 55–6Google Scholar; Anderson, G. A., ‘Ezekiel 28, the Fall of Satan, and the Adam Books’, in Anderson, et al. , Literature on Adam and Eve, p. 141Google Scholar; idem, ‘The Exaltation of Adam and the Fall of Satan’, ibid., pp. 83–5; Aune, Revelation, pp. 6–16, 695–6. Altmann, A. (‘The Gnostic Background of the Rabbinic Adam Legends’, Jewish Quarterly Review 35 (1945), pp. 371–9)CrossRefGoogle Scholar argued for the Gnostic origin of this tradition. See indeed the Gnostic tone of Satan's words in the LLAE 15:3: ‘I will place my seat above the stars of heaven and I will be like the most High’. In the Armenian version Adam is referred to as God: ‘Come bow down to god whom I made’. An exegetical Gnostic and anti-Jewish line, recorded by Irenaeus, also ascribes to the Demiurge a strong feeling of envy towards the first man because he was made as a likeness of God and contained a spirit of which the Demiurge was deprived. See Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 1.30.6–7.

18 See on this tradition Stone, ‘Fall of Satan and Adam's Penance’, pp. 153–6.

19 De Jonge, ‘Literary Development of Life of Adam and Eve’, p. 245; Tromp, ‘Story of our Lives’, p. 220; Aune, Revelation, p. 696.

20 Daniélou, J., The Bible and the Liturgy (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1956), pp. 23–4Google Scholar.

21 Cyril of Jerusalem, Procatechesis, 16 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 7; Peabody, MA: Hendrikson, 1995), p. 5.

22 The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas 4, in The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, tr. H. Musurillo (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), pp. 110–11.

23 Athanase d'Alexandrie, Vie d'Antoine, 66, tr. G. J. M. Bartelink (Source Chrétiennes 400; Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1994), pp. 308–9.

24 Manns, F., ‘Le symbolism du jardin dans le récit de la Passion selon St. Jean’, Liber Annus 37 (1987), pp. 74–5Google Scholar.

25 For Judas as a symbol of Satan, see ‘The Act of Judas Thomas’, in Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, p. 172.

26 Kee, H. C., ‘Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs’, in Charlesworth, J. H (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1, p. 795Google Scholar; Manns, ‘Le symbolism du jardin’, p. 75: Jésus comme le prêtre-sauveur du Testament de Lévi 18 ouvre les portes du jardin et enchaine Béliar qui est entré en Judas.

27 Stanley, D. M. and Robinson, B. P., in Brown, R.E., The Gospel According to John (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970), p. 806Google Scholar.

28 According to the Georgian version, it was not Seth who was attacked, but one of Eve's descendants. But this does not correspond with the beast's words to Seth at the end of this tradition: ‘Alors aussi la bête dit à Seth: Voici donc que je m'écarte de toi, l'image de Dieu, l'éclat éblouissant de Dieu’ (Mahé, p. 243). In my opinion, this change from the overall tradition and its meaning points to the Georgian version's effort to retain Seth as a real image of God who cannot be wounded by a beast.

29 Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 11:7, 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18, 4:4; Col. 3:10.

30 The Armenian Commentary on Genesis, attributed to Ephrem the Syrian, tr. E. G. Mathews (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 573, Scriptores Armeniaci 24; Louvain: Aedibus Peeters, 1998), p. 58; idem, Hymns on the Nativity 1.41, 48 (Éphrem de Nisibe, Hymnes sur la Nativité (Sources Chréiennes 459; Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2001), pp. 37, 38; ‘History of the Fathers, 28’, in Stone, M. E., Armenian Apocrypha Related to Adam and Eve (Leiden: Brill, 1996), p. 194Google Scholar.

31 Levison, J. R., Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988), p. 167Google Scholar.

32 Bertrand, La Vie Grecque, p. 55.

33 This is the serpent that deceived Eve: Swete, Apocalypse of St John, p. 149; Harvey, A. E., A Companion to the New Testament (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 813CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 The ‘man child’ is Christ: Swete, Apocalypse of St John, p. 151.

35 See Lichtenberger, ‘Down-Throw of the Dragon’, pp. 119–21

36 Anderson, ‘Penitence Narrative’, pp. 34–5.

37 The apocalyptic literature includes ample descriptions of the Day of Judgement, such as in LLAE 47:2–3, 49; 2 Baruch 24:1, 25:1, 30; 1 Enoch 18:15–16, 19.

38 1 Enoch 10:6, 41:1–2, 55:3–56:4; 2 Enoch 7:1–3, 18:7. See Russell, D. S., The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic (London: SCM Press, 1964), pp. 379–85Google Scholar.

39 See Tromp, J., ‘Literary and Exegetical Issues in the Story of Adam's Death and Burial (GLAE 31–42)’, in Frishman, J. and Rompay, L. Van (eds), The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian Interpretation (Louvain: A. Peeters, 1997), p. 33Google Scholar, in reference to the Day of Judgement in GLAE 37:5 and the day of resurrection in 10:2.

40 Mahé, ‘Livre d'Adam Georgien’, p. 243. On the priority of the Georgian version over the Latin, see Anderson, ‘Penitence Narrative’, pp. 1–3; De Jonge, ‘Christian Origin of Life of Adam and Eve’, pp. 182–3.

41 The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, 29:3–4; see also 4 Ezra 6:49–52; 1 Enoch 60:7–9, 24–5, 62:7–16. On the entire topic, see Nir, R., The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Idea of Redemption in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), pp. 133–7Google Scholar.

42 Piñero, ‘Angels and Demons’, p. 210. See also Ignatius of Antioch, ad Phil. 11:3; Gospel of Bartholomew 4:37–44; James, Apocryphal New Testament, pp. 176–7.

43 Tromp, ‘Story of our Lives’, p. 218; idem, Life of Adam and Eve in Greek, p. 67.

44 The Epistle of Barnabas, 6:12: ‘For it is concerning us that the scripture says that he says to the Son “Let us make man after our image and likeness, and let them rule the beasts of the earth”’.

45 Tromp, ‘Story of our Lives’, p. 216.