Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan

Historical source scan page 228

212 THE BOOK OF ADAM AND EVE. [BOOK or 29th of Phamenoth. On the same day the angel Gabriel appeared to the B. Virgin Mary, and on that day also did Christ rise from the dead, TOV t<p'\'S 'trovg OTTO KTiatwQ Kofffjiov, being 5534 years from the creation of the world ; a matter I will diligently try to prove " (the discrepancy between 5500 and 5534 is explained further on). The general opinion among Jews has always been that this world will last 7000 years. Thus in Avoda Zara, p. 17, we read, " 6000 years will be to the world — 2000 years iniH of emptiness ; 2000 years miD of the law; 2000 years, the days of the Messiah in our manifold afflictions." These, adds the commentary, are determined according to the days of the week, and the last 1000 years are the Sabbath. This account of the first 2000 years does not agree with what is said elsewhere, that *' the law was given before the creation, and that Adam and the Patriarchs had it." o Bfoc; " Why then did God hallow the seventh day ?" asks Cedrenus. " Because whereas every other day had within itself the blessing resting on the works done therein [that were very good] the seventh day had no such distinction. God, therefore, hallowed it as a day of rest, Kal we TVTTOQ TTJQ ificofirjQ %i\iotTT]pidoG, and as a figure of the seventh thousandth of years [or millen nium] as told by Josephus, and in the \nrTtj TkviaiQ (Eth. Kufale) rjv /cat Mw<r!u>£ tlvai (f>aai Tivtg cnroKaXvfyiv, which some say is the Revelation of Moses." (Cedrenus, Hist. Compend , p. 9, ed. D.) 15 And the Lord called me [^Ebel Zivo], and said, " Go, tell Adam, with a clear voice, of the most high King of Light ; of the kings of praise, who stand praising Him ; of the creatures of light, that live for ever. Teach them to pray and to give thanks, to stand pray ing to the King of Light, Lord of all creatures, three times a day and twice in the night, etc. (Codex Nasar. i, p. 68.) Targum Onkelos (Gen. ii. 7), says of " the living soul," that it became (or was) in man sbbftft Plllb a speaking spirit — TrpofyoQiKOQ Xoyog [which no " missing link " possesses]. 16 After God had given His com mandment to Adam and Eve, not to touch the tree, Satan said within him self, I shall not be able to make Adam fall, but I can make Eve do so. He then drew near to her, and while whispering in her ears, he shook the tree with his hands and feet, until the fruit thereof fell to the ground ; so that Eve should take of it without touching even the root of the tree. (PirTce Avoth of R. Nathan, fol. 2.) Quoniam in hora glorias ejus intravit serpens, et invenit Evam solam, et decepit Evam. (Protoev. Jacobi, c. xiii, ed. Thilo.) And S. Ephrem (in Gen., vol. i, p. 31), says that, Eve trusting to what the serpent said, ate the fruit first, hoping thereby to obtain divinity, and thus to become superior to her husband, whom she wished to rule, rather than obey. When, however, she found herself deceived, she gave him of the fruit, in order that he should fare as she did. And she did not die at once, lest Adam should be terrified at the sight of her death, and so, not eat of the fruit. S. Ephrem's opinion agrees in part with the words of Eve: Asvpo, Kvpik fiov, 'A^d/i, kirciKovaov JJLOV KO.I <f>dyt O.TTO TOV KCtpTTOV TOV S'evSpOV, 0V tLTTtV 6 6EOf, TOV fit) 0ayftv O.TT' avrov Kal tatj wg 6e 6f. " Come hither, my lord, Adam, and hearken to me and eat of the fruit of the tree, of which God told us not to eat ; and thou shalt be as God," which she said, when disappointed and mortified at her own disobedience and