Adam, Eve, and Azazel
1 "Now look again at the picture to see who seduced Eve and what the fruit of the tree is, 2 [and] you will know what will happen, and how it will happen to your descendants among the people in the last days of the age, 3 and I will explain to you whatever you cannot understand, for you are pleasing to me, and I will tell you what is kept in my heart." 4 And I looked into the picture, and my eyes turned toward the side of the Garden of Eden. 5 And I saw there a man very tall and frighteningly broad, unmatched in appearance, embracing a woman, who was similar to the man in appearance and shape. 6 And they were standing under a tree of (the Garden of) Eden, and the fruit of this tree was like the appearance of a bunch of grapes on a vine, 7 and behind the tree stood what looked like a serpent, having hands and feet like a man's, and wings on its shoulders, six on the right side and six on the left, 8 and he was holding the grapes of the tree in his hands, feeding the two whom I had seen embracing. 9 And I said: "Who are these two embracing each other, or who is this between them, or what is the fruit which they are eating, Mighty Eternal One?" 10 And He said: "This is the human world, this is Adam, and this is their desire on the earth, this is Eve; 11 but he who is between them represents godlessness, their beginning (on the way) to destruction, Azazel himself." 12 And I said: "Eternal, Mighty One! Why have You given him such power to destroy the human race through its deeds on the earth?" 13 And He said to me: "I gave him power over those who choose (to do) evil, and allowed him to be loved by them. How much I hated (it) in those who do it!"
Abraham Questions the Desire for Evil
14 And I answered and said: "Eternal, Mighty One! Why have You chosen to make people desire evil in their hearts, since You are angry about what You chose, at the one who does what is useless in Your plan?"
Texts in conversation
Compare Apocalypse of Abraham 23:7 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 13:2
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic
Summary
Passages
Apocalypse of Abraham 23:7
Pseudepigrapha, ApocalypsesPirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 13:2
RabbinicReferences
References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.
Your feedback