1. Satan's Fall in the Life of Adam and Eve
[2]
Let me begin with the text as we find it in the Life of Adam
and Eve.4
It occurs somewhat oddly in this story: Adam and
Eve have been searching for food outside of Eden and find the
earth to be completely lacking. All they can find is the herbage
reserved for the animals. Despairing over their condition
they resort to penitence and prayer. They hope to move the
Almighty to bring them back to Eden or, failing that, to
ameliorate their present circumstances. They embark on a
forty-day rite of
fasting.5
Just over halfway, Satan appears
before Eve in the form of an angel and tempts her to abort
their penitential rite. He is successful this second time
just as he was the first time.
[3]
When Adam hears about this, he is outraged. He demands
that Satan account for his enmity. Satan answers that
his wrath is due to the honor bestowed upon Adam and Eve at
creation. "When God blew into you the breath of
Life," he recounts, "your countenance and likeness
were made in the image of
God."6
Satan continues the
story by recounting how Michael came forward and presented
Adam to God, whereupon Adam did obeisance. Michael then
turned to the angels in attendance and said, "Worship
the image of the Lord God just as the Lord God has
commanded." Satan found this demand an outrage.
"I do not have it within me to worship Adam," he
replied, "I will not worship him who is lower and
posterior to me. I am prior to that creature. Before
he was made, I had already been made. He ought to
worship me."
[4]
The counterclaim of Satan is as true as it is remarkable.
If birth order has any claim to privilege, then how could
Adam, as a latter-born, be worthy of such an honor? At one
level, Satan's remonstration is quite understandable. Indeed
his reaction to Adam anticipates the behavior of other
non-elect figures in the book of Genesis. Like many of
these persons, he is surprised and angered by the mysterious
electing hand of God. Time and again, God favors the
latter-born over the first-born. Esau, though born before
Jacob, is doomed to eternal servanthood: "The older
shall serve the younger" (Gen 25:23). Joseph, the son
of his father's old age, becomes master over his brothers in
Egypt as predicted in his dream. Satan's surprise can equally
be our surprise-even the patriarchs had difficulty grasping
the ways of God with
men.7
[5]
Yet Satan's reluctance to venerate has a darker side. His
words, when compared to those of John the Baptist, can
be read to reveal a not-so-subtle blasphemy. When Jesus
is presented to John the Baptist, the writer of the Gospel
of John records that the Baptist was loath to exercise
any authority over him. Though John clearly preceded
Jesus in time ("Among you stands one whom you do
not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy
to untie the thong of his sandal." John 1:26-27),
John understands his honor to follow that of Christ:
"After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because
he was before me" (1:30). What the Baptist knows so
well as revealed truth is an utter surprise and falsehood to Satan.
[6]
The Life of Adam and Eve redeploys this literary
topos later in the tale when Satan approaches the
snake and suggests that he assist in the downfall of the
human couple. The conversation is worth citing in full.
When the devil came to your father's portion, the devil
summoned the serpent and told him, "Arise and come
to me and I will teach you a useful word." Then the
serpent came and the Devil told the serpent, "I
(hear) that you are wiser than all the animals and I
have come to test your wisdom, for Adam gives food to
all the animals, thus also to you. When then all the
animals came to bow down before Adam from day to day
and from morning to morning, every day, you also come
to bow down. You were created before him, as old (as
you) are, and you bow down before this young one! And
why do you eat (food) inferior to Adam's and his spouse's
and not the good fruit of paradise? But come and hearken
to me so that we may have Adam expelled from the wall of
paradise just as we are outside. Perhaps we can reenter
somehow to
paradise."8
There can be no doubt as to the source of Satan's
rhetorical ploy. The cause that set in motion his own fall
is recycled to win over the serpent. It is also worth noting
that not every version of the Life makes this
correlation. It occurs only in those versions that contain
the earlier tale of Satan's fall. Thus the Greek version,
which does not know the tradition of Satan's fall, makes
no mention of the serpent's prior
birth.19
and his subsequent veneration. Yet Satan's reaction to all of
this can be found nowhere in the Bible, and here Milton relies
on the Vita. Satan refuses to honor God's Christ for to
do so, he infers, would be an affront to his stature.
[14]
Yet Satan's refusal to venerate Christ is not all of what
is going on in this story. Milton has not dropped an interest
in the status of Adam and Eve-and so of humanity in general-he
has simply re-deployed it. To appreciate Milton's anthropology
we must turn to his account of human origins. As it happens,
Satan has heard a rumor about the creation of Adam and Eve
just prior to the elevation of
Christ.20
[15]
We first hear of this rumor after Satan has been evicted
from heaven and sits in Hades with his rebellious cohort. There
he engages his comrades in conversation:
O myriads of immortal spirits, O powers
Matchless, but with the Almighty, and that strife
Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,
As this place testifies, and this dire change
Hateful to utter: but what power of mind
Forseeing or presaging, from the depth
Of knowledge past or present, could have feared,
How such united force of gods, how such
As stood like these, could ever know
repulse?21
Satan, though pummeled by
the heavenly armies, remains unbowed. He stirs his fellow militia
members by reminding them of their "united force."
Carrying his argument forward, he concedes that a direct assault
on heaven would be foolish. But so would a craven servitude in
the dingy confines of hell. An avenue of revenge must be sought.
[16]
He recalls to his comrades
that sometime before the exaltation of the Son, "There went
a fame in heaven that he ere long / Intended to create, and therein
plant a generation, whom his choice regard / Should favor equal
to the sons of
heaven."22
Here is our opening, Satan argues.
Let us wage war against this new creation and wreak our havoc
on the heavenly throne. Sometime later, he returns to his suggestion
of vengeance and reveals more about the rumor he had heard concerning
the creation of man. Conceding yet again that the walls of heaven
"fear no assault or siege" he suggests a simpler course:
What if we find
Some easier enterprise? There is a place
(If ancient and prophetic fame in heaven
Err not) another world, the happy seat
Of some new race called Man, about this time
To be created like to us, though less
In power and excellence, but favoured more
Of him who rules above; so was his will
Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath,
That shook heaven's whole circumference,
confirmed.23
Having revealed the contents
of this "ancient and prophetic fame," Satan suggests
that his cohort learn the nature of these creatures to be fashioned
"of what mould, / Or substance, how endued, and what their
power, / And where their weakness, how attempted best, / By force or
subtlety."24
[17]
The source of this ancient fame is crystal clear. In Psalm 8
one reads of the figure of man to be created just slightly lower
than the divine beings in heaven yet adorned with glory and
honor that so distinguish them that God places below their
feet all the works of his created order. Satan knows of
this favor to be shown toward man and envies him all the more.
[18]
But this is an altogether unexpected use of Psalm 8. For to
use the psalm this way, Milton must presume that the psalm
refers to the creation of Adam. Yet the New Testament
understood the psalm in reference to
Christ.25
Why, then, does Milton go against the grain of the New
Testament and redirect the psalm to the figures of Adam
and Eve and their progeny? Milton himself gives no clear
and explicit answer to this question, but a couple lines
of reasoning do suggest themselves.
[19]
First, Satan hears of the rumor of man's creation and elevation,
an elevation that will result in a figure more favored than he.
Yet before the rumor is fulfilled, God elevates his Christ as
king over the heavenly host. If Satan found this objectionable
and a cause for rebellion, then it is hardly idle speculation
to say that he would have found the figures of Adam and Eve
more objectionable. In some sense the elevation of Christ is
a provoking moment that provides the necessary occasion for
Satan to vent his hostility towards God's larger designs with
His universe. The elevation of Christ smokes-out
the secret hatred of this formidable angel and
foe.26
[20]
Second, we can say that Christ's elevation prior to the
creation of man is itself a soteriological act. If the
rebellion against God's Christ and His armies was at times
a seesaw battle that took nearly three days to overcome,
then what would have happened if this vigorous fury had been unleashed
on the figures of Adam and Eve? The destiny of humankind might
have looked quite different.
[21]
In any event, it is clear that the office of Christ has been
closely juxtaposed with that of Adam and Eve. The character
and status of the elected Christos is not clear
without reference to the making of men and women,
and the virtues of the anthropos shine by way of the reflected
glory of Christ. The plot line of the Life of Adam and Eve
has been changed to put primary emphasis on Christ, but the requisite
honor due man as made in the image of God has not been lost.
5. Angelic Rivalry in Theological Perspective
[39]
One can see a remarkable
continuity between Rabbinic sources and the writings of Ephrem
and Milton on the theme of angelic misgivings about the status
of man. All three show familiarity with the 'Fall of Satan' tradition
documented in the Life of Adam and Eve, and all three are
uncomfortable with the tradition when it is tied to the figure
of Adam alone. The human person is worthy of angelic adoration,
but only when refracted through the prism of the elected nation,
Israel, or the elect man of God, Christ.
[40]
For Milton, the grounds
for refracting Adam through the lens of Christ are several. The
Miltonic picture is characterized by a very dense symbolism.
Adam, as mere molded flesh, would be especially vulnerable to
the unmediated fury of Satan. God smokes-out this antagonism
toward man by elevating His Christ. This provoking moment solidifies
Christ's status as heaven's ruler (in conformity with the pre-Pauline
hymn in Philippians 2:5ff, though leaving a door open to charges
of semi-Arianism); defines that rulership as his peculiar desire
to empty himself of his divine attributes and die for men and
women; and establishes Christ as mankind's savior from the earliest
possible moment because it is He-not Adam and Eve-who bears the
full brunt of Satan's ire.
[41]
For Ephrem, Adam is not worthy of veneration at his
creation because he was created as a mutable
being.47
Adam's true nature was still a mystery to him
and to Moses who recorded the story. Being halfway between human
and divine form, it was within the power of Adam's free will to
become the full image of God. But to do so, he and Eve had to
keep the command issued by God. The mutable and less-than-perfect
status of Adam and Eve is evident from the way in which their
luminous garments of glory are portrayed. This can be confusing
because certain texts give the impression that Adam and Eve already
possessed the perfect divine form. For example, in his commentary
on their nakedness without shame, Ephrem remarks that "it
was because of the glory in which they were wrapped that they
were not
ashamed."48
So luminous were those bodies that
the animals could not look upon the radiance of their being:
For Adam, who had been set
in authority and control over the animals was wiser than all the
animals, and he who gave names to them all was certainly more
astute than them all. For just as Israel could not look upon
the face of Moses, neither were the animals able to look upon
the radiance of Adam and Eve: at the time when they received names
from him they passed in front of Adam with their eyes down, since
their eyes were incapable of taking in his glory. So even though
the serpent was more astute than the other animals, compared to
Adam and Eve, who had authority over animals, it was
foolish.49
[42]
Yet this glory, as great
as it seems, was only partial. It awaited translation from a
mutable state-and hence prone to devolution-to a permanent condition.
Consider the following stanza in his Hymns on Paradise:
God established the Tree [of
Knowledge] as judge
so that if Adam should eat
from it,
it might show him that rank
which he had lost through
his pride,
and show him, as well, that
low estate
he had acquired, to his torment.
Whereas, if he should overcome
and conquer,
it would robe him in glory
and reveal to him also
the nature of shame,
so that he might acquire,
in his good health,
an understanding of
sickness.50
Ephrem interprets the nature
of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in a twofold manner.
Had Adam persevered, he would have known (in the sense of experienced
firsthand) the ravishment of the Divine Good, but he would have
known only in a theoretical manner the nature of evil. Having
exercised his free will irresponsibly, Adam came to know the tragic
nature of human evil and to intuit only in an abstract way the
promise of the true Good. And most importantly, had Adam persevered,
he would have exchanged his glorious body for one more glorious
still.
[43]
Because Adam's nature is still in need of perfection, his status
as the image is inchoate. He wears less than perfect garments
and exercises authority over the animals outside of Eden and the trees
within.51
Adam's true status as image and likeness
could have been realized in Eden had he been obedient to the
command of God. But because of his transgression, the full
revelation of that status would have to await the coming of
the second Adam. For it is only in the dark bowels of Hades,
as we see Death express the matter so eloquently, that the
true brilliance of the human form comes to light.
_______
Notes
1
See G. Anderson, "The Exaltation of Adam and the Fall of Satan,"
Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 6 (1997), 105-134.
2
For a review of the critical issues and literature dealing
with this complex document, see the recent work of M. Stone,
A History of the Literature of Adam and Eve (Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1992) and M. de Jonge and J. Tromp, The
Life of Adam and Eve and Related Literature (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1997). For a synoptic edition of
the work with the versions printed in parallel columns, see
G. Anderson and M. Stone, A Synopsis of the Books of Adam
and Eve, Second Revised Edition (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999).
3
The story can be found in the following Surahs of the Koran:
2:31-39, 7:11-18, 15:31-48, 17:61-65, 18:50, 20:116-120, 38:71-85.
For a review of the issues in Islamic studies, see P. Awn,
Satan's Tragedy of Redemption: Iblis in Sufi Psychology
(Leiden: Brill, 1983).
4
Because of the history of this tale's publication, citation of
the document has generally followed either the Latin or the Greek
version. In the case of the story of Satan's fall, the reference
is Life, 12-17. The story occurs in the Latin, Armenian, and
Georgian versions of the Life; the Slavonic and the Greek
omit it. J. Daniélou in his book,
The Angels and their Mission according to the
Fathers of the Church (Westminster, MD: Christian
Classics, 1953), is the only scholar I know of who relates
this tradition in the Life to Patristic thought about the
status of the human person over against the angels. His
brief discussion has significant overlaps with mine.
5
On this part of the tale see G. Anderson, "The
Penitence Narrative in the Life of Adam and Eve,"
(HUCA 63 [1992]), 1-38.
6
The citation is from Life, 13:2-14:3 and is
taken from the Latin version. The Armenian and Georgian are
almost exactly the same.
7
On the importance of the theme of the first-born in
the Adam literature, see "The Exaltation of Adam
and the Fall of Satan," Journal of Jewish
Thought and Philosophy, 6 (1997), 107-109, 131-34.
For an excellent review of the Biblical
data and its theological importance, see J. Levenson,
Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1993).
8
The citation is from the Georgian version [44]16:1-3. It
is closely paralleled in the Armenian and the ATLC manuscripts
in the Greek. On the problem of the Greek versions here, see below.
9
Yet it should be noted that the Greek ATLC manuscripts are
quite different here. These texts present a figure of Satan
who does know the argument about the first-born and uses it
to entice the snake. Stone has asked, very perceptively,
("The Fall of Satan and Adam's Penance: Three Notes on the
Books of Adam and Eve," JTS 44 [1993], 153-155)
if this does not demonstrate that the Greek version at one time
included a tradition of Satan's fall. On the nature of the ATLC
manuscripts see de Jonge and Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve,
31-35 and the dissertation of M. Nagel, "La Vie grecque
d'Adam et d'Eve," (Strasbourg, 1974).
10
"The Gnostic Background of the Rabbinic Adam
Legends," (Jewish Quarterly Review, 35 [1945]), 371-91.
11
Genesis Rabbah 8.10.
12
G. Anderson, "The Exaltation of Adam and the Fall of Satan,"
(Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 6 [1997], 111-123).
13
This surprising detail has eluded many interpreters. For
an excellent analysis of the texts at issue, see P.
Schäfer, Rivalität zwischen Engeln und Menschen
(Berlin: De Gruyter, 1975).
14
The reference is to Psalm 8. On the significance of this
psalm to this entire problem see G. Anderson, "What
Is Man That You Mention Him," forthcoming in a volume
edited by B. Daley on the Psalms in early Christian exegesis.
15
Quaestiones ad Antiochum, PG 28:604C. The
text is clearly not Athanasian, but a more precise attribution is not possible.
16
PG 104:1453C.
17
Paradise Lost, V: 600-608.
18
The form of this command is modeled on the famous hymn
found in Philippians 2:9-10: "Therefore God also highly
exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and
on earth and under the earth."
In the use of this particular text, we see the outlines of a
brilliant Miltonic irony. As any seasoned reader of the Bible
recognizes, this hymn to Christ's universal kingship is founded
upon Christ's emptying (kenosis) himself of his
divine glory. For it was Christ Jesus "who, though he was
in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave
and being born in human likeness. And being found in human
form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of
death-even death on a cross" (Phil 2:6-8). Yet Satan
detests the elevation of Christ because he believes it to be
naked power grab. Christ, he believes, is trying to violently
wrest from him the honors that are his alone. But the truth
of the matter is that Christ's status as the exalted Son of
God is predicated on His willingness to die for mankind (See
Paradise Lost, III: 227ff). Only by giving up all
that is his will he receive the honors due his name.
19
Much can be said about
this daring narrative move, for Milton seems close to a semi-Arian
position. There appears to be a time when the Son was not, or
at the very least when His status in the heavenly realm was altogether
unclear. For a fine discussion of the problem, see W. B. Hunter,
"The War in Heaven: The Exaltation of the Son," in Bright
Essence, eds. W. Hunter, C. Patrides, and J. Adamson (Salt
Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1971), 115-130. I don't think
Milton intends to verge on heresy here. As my discussion below
will reveal, he wishes to link Christology to anthropology.
20
It is worth noting that Milton, following a Patristic and
Medieval commonplace, explains the creation of human beings
as a form of cosmic redress for the loss of an entire angelic
array. Human beings fill the slot of the fallen angels. The
fact that Satan hears a rumor of man's creation prior to his
fall reveals that there is a larger story to be told. The
place of human beings in the created order has a firmer
foundation than the theory of a cosmic rebalancing of the
heavenly host might suggest.
21
Paradise Lost, I: 622-630.
22
Paradise Lost, I: 651-654.
23
Paradise Lost, II: 344-353.
24
Paradise Lost, II: 355-58.
25
See the Epistle to the Hebrews 2:5-9,
Someone bore testimony [to this] somewhere saying,
"What is man that you should remember him or
the son of man that you watch over him? You have
made him for a little while lower than the angels;
with glory and honor you have crowned him; you have
subjected everything under his feet." Now in
subjecting all things, God left nothing unsubjectionable
to him. As of now we do not yet see all things subjected
to him; but do behold the one who "was made for a
little while lower than the angels." Jesus,
because of his suffering death was "crowned with
glory and honor," so that by God's grace he might
taste death for everyone.
The translation is that of H. Attridge, Hebrews
(Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989).
26
I owe this suggestion to James Nohrnberg (English
Department, University of Virginia); indeed, he
suggested the terms "provoking moment"
and "smoking-out" the designs of Satan
as the best way to characterize the story of his fall.
27
See L. van Rompay, "Romanos le Mélode, Un poète
syrien à Constantinople," in J. van Boeft, and A.
Hilhorst eds., Early Christian Poetry (Leiden: Brill,
1993) 283-96 and W.L. Petersen, The Diatessaron and Ephrem
Syrus as Sources of Romanos the Melodist (CSCO 475; Louvain, 1985).
28
For the text, see J. Grosdidier de Matons, Romanos le
Mélode, Hymnes. Introduction, texte critique et
notes (Source Chrétiennes 128, Paris, 1967) 528.
29
De Ecclesia 47; the translation is my own. For the
text see E. Beck, Des Heiligen Ephraem des Syrers, De
Ecclesia (CSCO 198-199; Louvain, 1960).
30
See the excellent study of Carmina Nisibena in J. Martikainen,
Das Böse und der Teufel in der Theologie Ephraems des
Syrers (dissertation, Stiftelsens fur Abo Akademi Forskningsinstitut,
1978) especially pp. 77-100.
31
Carmina Nisibena 38:2; the translation is from a
forthcoming edition of this cycle being prepared by G.
Anderson [and Ed Mathews]. For the original Syriac see,
E. Beck, Des Heiligen Ephraem des Syrers, Carmina Nisibena
(CSCO 240; Louvain 1963).
32
Carmina Nisibena 37:3.
33
Carmina Nisibena 38:5
34
Carmina Nisibena 38:6.
35
Cf. Col 1:18.
36
Cf. Gen 2:18.
37
Carmina Nisibena 38:7-8.
38
Carmina Nisibena 48:9.
39
Carmina Nisibena 48:9.
40
Carmina Nisibena 38:9.
41
Anastasis: The Making of an Image, (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1986) 14-15.
42
Das Böse, 88-94.
43
Carmina Nisibena 41:16.
44
Carmina Nisibena, 40:1.
45
Carmina Nisibena, 41:1.
46
Carmina Nisibena, 35:20-22.
47
The closest that one comes to this view is in Carmina
Nisibena 68:3-4 where Mankind rebukes Death and says:
"Adam was chosen and put in authority. Under his
yoke / You, O Death and the Evil One, your companion,
were slaves." Death then responds: "This
is our cause for pride: Slaves have become lords / Death
and Satan, his companion, trampled upon Adam." Mankind
then rebukes Death with the promise that all will be
reversed at the end of time: "Tremble, O Death,
at man, for though he be a slave / The yoke of his
lordship shall reign over the created things."
Consider also Hymns on Paradise 3:15 (trans.
S.P. Brock, St. Vladimir's Press, 1990):
Even though all the trees
of Paradise
are clothed each in its own glory,
yet each veils itself at the Glory;
the Seraphs with their wings,
the trees with their branches,
all cover their faces so as not to behold
their Lord.
They all blushed at Adam
who was suddenly found naked;
the serpent had stolen his garments,
for which it was deprived of its feet.
It is not clear whether the
Seraphs stand in awe of Adam, their lord or the Lord, their maker.
Compare the comments of Beck, (Ephraems Hymnen über das
Paradies, (Studia Anselmiana 26; Rome, 1951), 29-30:
"Strophe 15 trägt zwei weitere Einzelheiten zur Flucht
Adams aus dem Paradiese nach. Sie beginnt mit der Behauptung,
dass im paradies auch die Bäume ihr Lichtkleid haben. Der
Sinn des anschliessenden Sätzchens, in dem neben den Bäumen
die Seraphim genannt werden, muss erst eindeutig festgelegt werden.
Wer ist mit dem Ausdruck «ihr Herr» gemeint? Man könnte
an Adam denken, da Adam in der patristischen Literatur gelegentliche
auch über die Engel und Bäume gestellt wird. Dann wäre
der Sinn des Satzes folgender: Engel und Bäume bedecken ihr
Antlitz um nicht die Schande Adams ihres Herrn zu sehen. Doch
liegt eine erste Schwierigkeit gegen eine soche Interpretation
im Pempus. Im Schluss der Strophe, wo offen von Adam Die Rede
ist, steht das Perfekt, in dem fraglichen Satze dagegen das Partizip.
Entscheidend ist aber wohl, dass Ephräm nicht «Engel»
schlechthin sagt sondern «Seraphim». Offenbar schwebte
ihm Isaias cap. 6 vor Augen und der Sinn des Satzes ist daher:
Die Bäume verhüllen wie die Seraphim ihr Angesicht aus
Ehrfurcht vor Gott ihrem Herrn." It would seem to me that
Ephrem leaves the identification of "their Lord" intentionally
ambiguous; but this matter warrants further study.
48
Commentary on Genesis II.14 (trans. Brock: St.
Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise, p. 206).
49
Commentary on Genesis II.15 (trans. Brock, p. 207).
50
Hymns on Paradise, 3:10 (trans. Brock).
51
In Ephrem's view, the animals were outside of the domain of
Paradise; only he and Eve were granted entry to this sacred
abode. Adam had to go to the boundary of Eden to name them
and tend to them. Such is also the picture that obtains in
the Life.
_______
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