The OTHER Ancient Story of Adam & Eve….

Adam and Eve are undoubtedly some of the most important characters in the entire Bible and yet the Bible tells us so little about them just three little chapters that can be read in under 10 minutes that’s all we get well it seems the biblical account in the Book of Genesis was just not enough for at least one first century Jew who decided to write another version of the story of Adam and Eve but this time with a plethora of breathtaking details in this video we will explore a little known ancient story called The Life of Adam and Eve. The life of Adam and Eve is an ancient pseudepigraphical text which means it was written under a false name the text is said to have been written by Seth Adam and Eve’s third son in a cryptic and completely undecipherable language for thousands of years this text remained a mystery until finally King Solomon translated it under the guidance of the Archangel Michael this is obviously not what really happened as is often the case with these pseudepigraphical writings the actual author is completely unknown and the text was likely written much much later than the story would have you believe but what is fascinating about this story is that it was likely originally written in Hebrew around the same time as when the gospels were being written so let’s dive deep into the ancient story of the life of Adam and Eve but before we do so you should probably know that there are two versions of this story a Greek transmission and a Latin transmission now these two versions of the story are very similar but there are some interesting differences so let’s look at each of them individually starting with the Latin version of the story which has a Latin name it’s known as the Vita Adae et Evae or just the Vita for short the Vita begins where Genesis left off with Adam and Eve having just been recently kicked out of the Garden of Eden now living in the harsh reality of the post paradise World Adam and Eve find themselves living in a tent where they weep in sorrow for seven straight days because of the punishments God had recently given them but on the seventh day their weeping ends due to extreme hunger Adam walks around the land for days searching for food but finds nothing all he can do during this time is reminisce about the abundant food he and Eve used to enjoy in the Garden of Eden when Adam finally returns to Eve with no food Eve asks Adam are you trying to kill me because I’m the one who brought about this suffering Adam assures Eve he is not trying to kill her then he says to her let us not question such things but rather let’s rise and search for food so we might live and not weaken so they begin their search for food yet again but this time after searching for nine straight days they still come up empty only finding food that animals were created to eat Adam and Eve lament that they used to eat the food of angels in the garden but now they are reduced to eating the food created for the beasts Adam and Eve realized they need to repent by doing

Penance for themselves Adam says Rise Eve and go to the Tigris River when you arrive you shall take a stone and stand on it in the water until the river reaches your neck then you must be silent for 37 days the entire time not speaking a single word I will do the same for 40 days in the Jordan River and then perhaps the Lord God will pity us Adam and Eve go to their respective rivers and begin the long process of repentance while Adam was in the water the current stood still and fish began to gather all around him lamenting with him on his behalf which as we will see all throughout this story it’s not just humans that are cursed by the fall but animals are cursed as well while Adam had the comfort and the reassurance of all of the fish lamenting with him Eve on the other hand wasn’t so lucky on the 18th day of her Penance Satan transforms himself into the brightness of the angels whatever that might mean and he came again to Eve in the Tigris River and found her weeping Satan wept with her for a while pretending to share in his contrition then Satan speaks to her Eve please step out of the river and cry no more because God has heard your sighs and has accepted your repentance God has sent me to you to bring you food from the Garden of Eden so you can regain your strength Eve being tricked by Satan again comes out of the water and leads Satan to Adam Adam sees Eve with Satan and Adam begins to cry out saying Eve Eve where is the work of your penance how have you been seduced by the enemy again by he who has robbed us of our dwelling in paradise and stripped us of spiritual joy after hearing Adam’s cries Eve realizes that she was tricked by Satan yet again and she falls on her face and tearfully asks Satan what have we done to you to make you relentlessly pursue us even unto death then we hear Satan’s response to Eve which is absolutely wild it’s the story of how Satan fell from heaven along with his fellow angels but this time the story is told from Satan’s perspective Satan tells Adam all my hatred and envy and sorrow are because of you it’s because of you that I have been expelled and deprived of my glory which I had in the heavens in the midst of angels it is because of you that I was cast out of heaven onto the earth Adam responds by saying why what have I done to you how can you possibly blame me the devil responds when

God created you and blew the breath of life into your nostrils God instructed the Archangel Michael and all the other angels to worship you because you were made in the image and likeness of God but I Satan was created first and I am clearly superior to you humans how could I be expected to worship you I told Michael and all the other angels that I refuse to fall down and worship a human so Satan called into question the wisdom of God declaring that he would set his throne above the stars of heaven and will be like the most high asserting himself as God’s equal when Satan and all the angels under him refused to worship Adam God became angry with them and cast them out from glory and expelled them into the world when Satan and his demons were on the earth they immediately began to grieve because they realized how deprived they were of their previous glory the devil was in such agony on earth that he couldn’t bear to see Adam and Eve living in such bliss in the Garden of Eden so he decided to take matters into his own hands by dragging them down with him Adam hears this story from the devil and cries out to God with great force saying oh Lord my God my life is in your hands remove my opponent far from me the one who seeks to destroy my soul and give me his glory which he himself has forfeited at this prayer Satan disappears and Adam is able to continue his repentance in the water of the Jordan River bringing the first major scene of the story to an end.

This opening scene of the Vita is only found in the Latin version of the story and it’s not in the Greek version at all as fun and colorful as this story is its theological impact on the development of Satan is actually quite profound according to Dr. MD Johnson this account in the Vita could very well be among the earliest witnesses to the legend of Satan being a pre-existent fallen angel which is a theme that recurs in the Quran and various other early and medieval Christian writings according to Johnson Satan’s fall likely originated as a midrash on Isaiah 14:12 through 15 many Christians today would tell you that Isaiah 14:12 through 15 was originally about Satan but reading Isaiah 14 in context it becomes clear the original intention of the text functioned as a taunt song describing the fall of a Babylonian ruler drawing on divine names known from Canaanite mythology so this text along with references in the book of Second Enoch are the first versions of the myth of Satan’s fall from heaven most Christians would probably tell you that this story comes from the Bible when in fact it comes from the life of Adam and Eve. Next we get an expanded story of Cain and Abel but this time told through the eyes of Adam and Eve Eve while 3 months pregnant decides to separate herself from Adam because she is so distraught about not keeping the command of God her plan is to seclude herself until she gives birth and dies when the time comes for her to give birth she starts crying out in pain and Adam even though he’s far away senses that something is wrong and he goes out looking for her Adam finally finds her and prays to God on her behalf when Adam prayed they were visited by 12 angels and two excellencies probably referring to archangels Michael the Archangel came and stood next to

Eve and touched her saying blessed are you Eve because of Adam since his prayers and utterances are many at this point you are probably starting to see a trend in the Vita and that is that Eve is always looked down on she is never described in a good light I mean think about it in the beginning she was tricked by Satan and she ate the forbidden fruit and now she’s doing penance in the river and she gets tricked by Satan again and so it seems like everywhere Eve turns she just keeps messing up and keeps sinning and it’s only because of Adam’s holy prayer that the Archangel Michael comes to her the Jewish patriarchal society of the time really shines through in this text then Michael helps Eve give birth to Cain and Abel after Cain and Abel were born presumably while they were still quite young Eve goes to sleep one night and has an awful dream that Abel’s blood is being pulled up in Cain’s hands then Cain brings his hands to his mouth and he slurps his brother’s blood down his throat Eve awakens in a panic and tells Adam about this awful vision and they decide from that moment on that Cain and Abel are to be separated from each other so that the vision doesn’t become a reality so they made Cain a farmer and Abel a shepherd so that they might be separated from each other due to having different occupations then the story just abruptly ends assuming the audience already knows what happens next then we are just given a few quick facts that Adam was 130 years old when Cain killed Abel and that Abel was just a spry 122 year old when he was murdered this second major scene of the story comes to an end with the birth of Seth Adam and Eve’s third child and then we are told Adam and Eve have 30 other sons and 30 other daughters throughout their life for a total of 63 children the story of Cain and Abel is found in both the Greek and the Latin versions of this story.

In the third section of the Vita Adam is speaking with his son Seth and he tells him the true story of what really happened after he ate the forbidden fruit Adam tells Seth that after he was expelled from Eden he was praying one night and Michael the Archangel shows up in a magnificent chariot and carries him to heaven in heaven Adam sees the brilliance of God his appearance is described as being like an unbearable flame he claims to have seen thousands of angels on both sides of the chariot cowering in fear Adam falls on his face and begins to worship God God tells Adam that he will die but because he was made to cherish knowledge his seed will not be abolished forever at this Adam falls to the ground giving God utmost praise then Michael takes Adam back down to earth and ejects him from paradise by touching the waters around the Garden of Eden causing them to freeze over Adam crossed over the frozen waters with Michael and he took him back to the place where he had been praying this story is also one that’s only found in the Latin version and not the Greek then the story skips ahead to the end of Adam’s life here we find Adam at the ripe old age of 930 years old where he knows his days are numbered he calls all of his children together to tell them that he is about to die Seth chimes in and says father perhaps you long for the fruit of paradise of which you used to eat and that is why you are lying in sadness tell me and I will go to the entrance of paradise and put dust on my head and mourn with great lamentation perhaps the Lord will hear me and send an angel to bring me the fruit you desire Adam tells Seth son that is not what I want I am experiencing great pain Seth seems to have no idea what pain even is and he begs Adam to enlighten him so Adam takes this as his cue to launch into the story of the fall Adam tells his kids the basic story of Genesis chapters 2 and 3 but with a few interesting new details for example Adam says he and Eve were given different sections of the Garden of Eden as their own Adam was given the northeastern section of Eden while Eve was given the southwestern parts he says God apportioned two angels to guard and protect them but periodically the angels had to leave Eden and go back up to heaven to worship God and it was when these two angels were gone that Satan deceived Eve then Adam tells the story of the punishments that God gave to

Adam and Eve and you can read these punishments in Genesis chapter 3 but this time we’re told of additional punishments evidently the book of Genesis didn’t give us all the details Adam tells us that God gave him the punishment of 70 plagues that will attack his body and evidently that’s why at the end of his life he is laying there in complete agony and why Seth has no idea why he is in such pain evidently these plagues were only for Adam and Adam alone Seth seems to have no idea what pain even is Adam finishes his story then tells Seth this go with your mother Eve to the Garden of Eden to get a special oil that flows from one of the trees this oil will give me rest from my pain Seth and Eve agree and they leave promptly the journey to Eden wasn’t easy for Seth and Eve as they had to fend off an evil attacking serpent but when they finally do arrive at the garden they do exactly what Adam told them to do they fall down and begin to pray to God for this special healing oil Michael the Archangel arrives as he always does as God’s messenger and he tells them that they are not allowed to get this special oil now but they can in the last days Michael tells Seth to go back to Adam because he only has 6 days left to live Michael tells Seth that Adam’s soul shall leave his body and as it leaves you will see great wonders in heaven and on earth which would be pretty incredible since nobody has died at this point in human history at this they returned to Adam with no healing oil 6 days later just as Michael had told them Adam died and it is said that for 7 days the sun moon and stars were darkened Seth held his father in his arms weeping with Eve and all of her children looking on Seth then sees the extended hand of God holding Adam giving his body to Michael then God tells Michael let Adam be in your custody until the day of dispensing punishment at the last years when I will turn his sorrow into joy then he shall sit on the throne of him who overthrew him Michael and now the other Archangel Uriel give Adam a proper burial then 6 days after Adam’s death Eve realizes that she is next so she gathers all of her children together telling them the story of the fall but this time from her perspective at the end of her story Eve mentions that she doesn’t want to tell the story in vain she wants it to be written down so all generations will know the truth so Eve tells her children that God’s judgment against humanity will come first by water than by fire she then urges her children to take tablets of stone and tablets of clay and write about her and her husband’s life on them the stone tablets will survive the judgment of water and the clay tablets will survive the judgment of fire that way no matter what happens her story will survive for future generations once Eve finishes telling her children these instructions she reaches out her hands to heaven gives up her spirit and dies after 6 days of mourning Seth creates the tablets just as Eve instructed this was most likely the original ending of the story but there was an appendix to this story tacked on to the end of the manuscript likely sometime in the Middle Ages that says that Seth did indeed write on those tablets the story of Adam and Eve and that these tablets were written in a very mysterious cryptic and completely undecipherable language and it wasn’t until the wisdom of King Solomon that he was able to translate these tablets into a language that everyone could understand and that is the Latin version of the life of Adam and Eve.

The Greek version of the life of Adam and Eve is known as The Apocalypse of Moses now The Apocalypse of Moses is a total misnomer for this text because as you can already tell the story has nothing to do with Moses and it isn’t an apocalypse so how did the Greek version of the story get the name The Apocalypse of Moses well again a medieval manuscript had a preface to the text that says that this text was given to Moses on Mount Sinai when he received the ten commandments we know that this was added on later in the Middle Ages but the name Apocalypse of Moses stuck so now that’s just what we call it the Greek version of this story or The Apocalypse of Moses version of the story is very similar to the Vita it is the same story after all but there are some different references in The Apocalypse of Moses version and I’d like to talk about one in particular that I find absolutely fascinating The Apocalypse of Moses version of the story lines up with the Vita until we get to the point of the story where Adam is sick and Eve and Seth returned from Eden without the special healing oil in the Greek version Adam tells Eve to tell their children and grandchildren why she brought death and destruction to the human race so Eve gathers together her entire extended family and tells her version of the false story and Eve’s version of the false story is pretty crazy Eve says that Satan first entered Adam’s portion of Eden where all the male animals lived if you remember from the Vita Adam and Eve have different sections of the Garden of Eden that God gave to them and apparently this distinction goes all the way down to animals as well and apparently this distinction is based on gender so Adam has all of the male animals with him on his side of Eden and Eve has all of the female animals on her side then

Eve tells us that the devil spoke to the serpent trying to convince him to be a vessel for him the serpent was skeptical at first saying I fear lest the Lord be wrathful to me the devil responds by saying do not fear only become my vessel and I will speak a word through your mouth by which you will be able to deceive the serpent agrees and allows Satan to take over his body when the serpent approached Eve’s portion of Eden she says that she could see the serpent bending over the wall like an angel I’m not exactly sure what bending over the wall like an angel means but my best guess is that it would look something like this then the serpent asks Eve what are you doing in paradise Eve says God placed me in Adam here to guard the garden and to eat from it Satan responds by saying you are just like the other animals you live by instincts and not from the knowledge of true good and true evil you should eat the forbidden fruit so you can become wise like God but before Eve could even take a bite the devil tells Eve one moment please follow me Eve agrees and opens the gate for him and he enters into her side of Eden Satan then tries playing a mind game with Eve telling her you know what on second thought maybe you should eat the forbidden fruit but if you do decide to eat it you must swear to me that you will give some to your husband as well Eve makes this promise to Satan and proceeds to eat the fruit the fruit is said to be sprinkled with the devil’s poison after Eve ate she convinced Adam to eat it as well and the rest follows what is in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 in the Greek version after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit God comes to earth on a chariot of angels then we get this beautiful depiction of God in the Garden of Eden and it’s so beautiful that I think I should quote it exactly as written when God came into paradise all the plants both of Adam’s section and Eve’s section bloomed at once and were established I like that that’s good then the story continues as it was written in the biblical account of Genesis and that is the basic story of the life of Adam and Eve.

What do we really know about this text well some scholars such as J.L. Sharp who wrote his PhD dissertation on this text at Duke University suggests that the life of Adam and Eve show signs of Pharisee Judaism so this text could perhaps have been written by a Pharisee living around the same time as Jesus or shortly thereafter now it may seem strange to us today that some first century Pharisee would rewrite and expand on the story of Adam and Eve but actually this was an extremely common practice especially in the later part of the second temple period during this time we start to see the emergence of many of these forged texts such as the books of First and Second Enoch the book of Jubilees and The Testament of the 12 Patriarchs and that’s just to name a few it was so common in fact that the Essenes living at Qumran who are the Jews who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls even they embraced a text titled the Genesis Apocryphon which is a text that expands on the biblical account of Abraham and Sarah for Jews living during this period rewriting and expanding upon biblical texts was not strange at all as a matter of fact it was encouraged because it was seen as being able to revitalize your faith and deepen your spiritual understanding of the text this type of writing was so common that there’s a name for it it’s called haggadic midrash which literally means an interpretive expansion on a story found in the Torah and the life of Adam and Eve is only one out of many Old Testament expansion stories if you’d like me to do another video on Old Testament expansion stories let me know down in the comments below and as always thanks for watching and stay thirsty for knowledge.