Disclaimer: It should go
without saying that these are by all means fictitious tales. I want to make
this absolutely clear: This is not a
new revelation from God. I am not dictating the Word of God. Please take
everything I say here with great caution and perfect deference to the Bible.
This is simply one man’s poor attempt at imagining what it would have been like
to be Adam. I have tried to remain faithful to the
Bible’s account and to not deviate from it.
Day 7
During the early
morning we sat and spoke with the Lord God about faith, truth, love, and many
other spiritual matters. Eve and I had many questions, and the Lord had clear
and wise answers. Much of what He said cannot be accurately recounted now. Two
parts of the conversation remained with me for these last nine hundred years.
I asked Him about
faith. Why could not God prove Himself in such a way that we would never need
faith?
He explained
to us that faith pleased Him greatly,
for it was a fruit of love for Him. Trusting Him was evidence of our love.
He desired that we continually love Him with all our hearts and minds.
He also said something that I could not grasp: “A limited creature such as
yourself must always have faith in a God who is too great to be understood to
perfection. It
is your inability to see Me completely that makes it necessary for you to
believe that I am all that I say that I am. It will always be necessary for you
to trust in My perfect wisdom and power, for I am so far in might and
understanding above you, even as the heavens are higher than the earth.”
Eve asked
Him about His power. If He had all power, why would He allow us to be able to
fall and transgress against Him?
The Lord
said, “You have both been made in My image and likeness. Even as I can do all My
pleasure, so you can do all your
pleasure. Your will is free, for I have made you like Myself. If you were made
unable to sin against Me, you would have been as spiritless as the animals of
the earth.” He told us that our will was a part of our spiritual life.
Nevertheless,
He told us something which I mourn that I did not heed carefully: “Understand
and know this, that if You are near to Me—if you walk in My light and My
Spirit—you will never fall. When I am your great delight, no sin can touch you.
Behold, as a thirsty man cannot resist the cool streams, so your spirit cannot
resist My beauty when I am revealed to your hearts. And, even as a starving
soul cannot eat the refuse of an animal when they see wholesome fruit hanging
from a tree, so no soul can behold Me from their heart and desire the pleasures
of evil.”
(And with
many other teachings He strictly warned and exhorted us, which made our sin
later that day all the more exceedingly sinful. God knew what we would later
do, and it became clear to us afterwards that He had cared about us and was
grieved at what was coming. I recall that He had looked in my eyes with
sadness.)
After this,
He departed from us, as we became hungry and began looking for fruit to eat for
the morning. We wandered through the garden searching for the most satisfying
fruit. Eve had separated from me a short distance further into the center of
the garden.
Eve
recounted this story to me, of which I now write down according to her own words:
I wandered into the midst of the Garden of Eden, where the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil stood.
I knew it was there, and I purposefully went to it, for I wished to look upon
it. I wanted to see this forbidden tree. It was pure evil, I had thought, and I
just wanted to behold it with disgust.
Adam was not far from me, and immediately when I came near
the evil tree, he said to me, “That is the Tree of Knowledge! Do not touch it!”
“I only want to look at it.” Adam did not say anything more,
but started pulling fruit from a pear tree near him. An intense feeling of love
overcame my soul as I studied the evil tree. This love shocked me, until I saw
the serpent up in the tree. But, then that confused me still more, for this
accursed creature was unkind. As I started to turn to leave, the serpent seemed
to glow brightly and I was compelled to behold its beauty.
“Eve, do not be alarmed!” It said this and began to eat of
the forbidden fruit of the evil tree. I looked towards Adam, but he did not
seem to hear the serpent or know it was there. “Has God really said, ‘You shall
not eat of every tree of the garden’?
Has He forbidden you from eating of this good tree?” That the serpent did not
die perplexed me.
I finally said to it, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of
the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the
garden—this very tree—God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch
it, lest you die!’”
The serpent laughed and said, “You will not surely die, for
God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes of understanding will be
opened, and you shall be like God, knowing both good and evil.
Has He not Himself called this the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? He fears
what you could become, even as He fears me and my power. When I sought freedom
from Him, He could not destroy me, and I have grown wise.”
All of this was spoken to me in an instant of time.
I studied the tree, then, and saw what seemed to be a harmless tree with
luscious fruit. It was a lovely, flourishing tree with birds tasting its fruit
above. Some of the birds started speaking to me, also, “This fruit has given us
great wisdom!”
What the serpent had said seemed truthful, for how could I
gain knowledge and die at the same time? If God did love me, surely He would
not let me die! The tree seemed to give knowledge and understanding and wisdom
to those who ate, even as its name said.
I reached up and carefully touched a small fruit from the
tree. I did not die. I plucked the fruit off the tree and looked at it. I did
not die. I smelled it and felt it in my hands and licked it. I did not die.
And, then, I bit into it.
So it was,
when I, Adam, had finished eating the pear, I turned towards Eve and saw the
fruit in her hands. I came near and saw that she had taken a bite. I trembled
and shook, but before I could speak, she handed me one of its fruit. I said to
her, “No, we will die! God has said it.”
Eve said
unto me, “Look, I have not died. God will not kill us! Eat and see.”
“I know not
when death will come, but it will come.” I looked sadly at the fruit in my
hands, wishing grievously that Eve had not eaten of the tree of knowledge. The
thought of her dying without me was painful. I could not let her suffer and die
alone! If God were to kill her, He would also have to kill me! In complete understanding
of my transgression,
I ate of the fruit. Suddenly, even as I swallowed my first bite, I felt empty,
alone, exposed, abandoned, cold, and dirty. I felt naked.
I reached down and covered myself. “We have done foolishly.”
Eve also
started to look sickly. She started shivering in fright and yelled, “Adam! I
feel so ugly and filthy!”
We ran back
to our dwelling place and gathered fig leaves and vines and sewed them around
ourselves to cover our nakedness.
We no longer felt a bond of love and friendship between us. We both felt alone.
Then I heard
the Lord God walking in the garden. We both ran to hide behind trees.
I became so aware of His holiness and of my guilt. I feared His displeasure. I
feared His wrath. I no longer felt His love. He could never love me again!
The Lord called
to me, “Where are you?”
I said
nothing for a moment, for I was afraid of Him. But, as He drew close, I wept
and knew I could not hide from Him. I faced Him and fell to the ground, and
said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked;
and I hid myself.”
He said
sadly, “Who told you that you were naked?”
But I did
not answer Him for I did not understand why I should think I was naked.
Then He
said, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should
not eat?”
I was
terrified. How could I turn His wrath away? I quickly pointed towards Eve, and
said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
The Lord
asked Eve what she had done, and she said, “The serpent deceived me! And I ate.”
The Lord
sent angels out to bring the serpent forward, and the serpent was brought
before Him. He said to it, “Because you have done this, you will be cursed more
than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you
shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
“And I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heal.”
(From this which He spoke, we later came to understood that He was promising a
Mighty Child and Savior who would destroy the evil works
of the serpent.)
Then, the
Lord turned to the woman and said that her sorrow would be greatly increased in
conception and that in pain she would give birth. Also, He said, “Your desire
shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
The Lord God
said to me that, because I had given heed to my wife and eaten of the forbidden
tree that He strictly told us not to eat from, the ground would be cursed. “In
toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.”
He said that thorns and thistles would grow for me, and that I would eat of the
plants of the field.
In the sweat of my brow I was to eat food, until I returned to the ground, for
out of it I was taken. He said that I was but dust and that unto the dust I
would return.
“These
curses are upon you and all your children. Yet, I will show you the Way by
which many shall be made pure and white and delivered from these curses.” A
glimmering blade appeared in His hand.
I watched as
two large, black bulls slowly approached the Lord from out of the trees. As the
throats of the bulls were slit with the long blade in the Lord’s hands, the bulls
remained utterly silent.
The bloody sight made me recoil, I recall. The front legs and hind parts above
the back legs were removed from both. The head was removed from the male, the
belly slit open, and the skin slowly removed from it. The face of the female
was removed, the belly also slit open, and the skin also removed from it.
When slits
were made for our arms and the skins were allowed to dry, I was given the male animal
skin, still stained with blood, and a leather belt made from the rear part of
it to tie the skin around my body. The female coat of skin was also given to Eve
to cover her from the head to the ankles. It was a single coat of skin for each
of us.
When the
Lord God had finished clothing us with the skins, He said, “You must now leave
the Garden of Eden. You will not be allowed to return here, for the Tree of
Life is forbidden to you, for the judgment for your sin is death.”
His countenance was covered over with sadness.
My fear of
these words of judgment was great, and I sank to the ground and cried once
more. I asked Him, “Will You not come with us?”
“Do you
believe
what I have shown you—that a sacrifice will be made to give you a Perfect
Covering
for your shame?”
“Yes, You
always speak the truth.” (This I said, but I did not understand at first all
that He spoke to me.)
Then He
said, “It will be that, according to your faith, I will be near to you and
still walk with you. As I have been before, so I will always be with you if you
believe in Me. But, remember what you have learned this day of your fall: when you
turn your back to Me and sin, you will feel only My displeasure, and you will
cut yourself off from My presence.”
Eve quietly
asked Him, “Why have we not died this day? When will it be?”
“Your spirit has already died,
for it can no longer walk in obedience
to Me,
nor can it delight in My
presence.
Fear and shame are your portion.
Nevertheless, your flesh too will begin to decay
even as the beasts of the
field.
The Tree of Life alone could keep you alive forever.
Do not concern yourself with the days of your life,
for it is not for you to know
your end
that I have put in My own
hands.”
“Get up, for
we must leave this garden.” His hand reached down and lifted me to my feet. There
was a strange firmness in His hands. Though I had no desire to leave the
ancient paradise, I was unable to resist the force of His compulsion. Eve, too,
was looking back at the garden as the Lord seemed to move us against our own
wills. When I looked back, I saw a host of shining angels standing there.
We were being
driven out of the garden in the direction from where the sun rises. When we
were fully removed from the garden, my heart was saddened yet again. The ground
was less green, the trees were much fewer, and animals seemed to be nowhere
around. This too must have been a punishment from the Lord. Looking one last
time towards the garden, I beheld four great, shining creatures with a beam of
light—a flaming sword—turning and moving wherever it willed. I wondered at this
sight, and asked the Lord.
“Those are the
Cherubim that shall dwell there to guard the Tree of Life, so that no one may
eat and live forever.” (Only one person later tried to enter the Garden of
Eden, and he was quickly struck down.)
And the Lord
said, “Son of man, make a remembrance of all these things that have come upon
you in the Garden of Eden for your children after you. Preserve the memories of
these things carefully.” This command from the Lord I took to heart, and I
invented writing for the sake of creating an everlasting remembrance of these
first works of the Lord.
