Testament of Adam
TheTestament of Adamis aChristianwork ofOld Testament pseudepigraphathat dates from the 2nd to 5th centuries AD in origin, perhaps composed within the Christian communities of Syria. It purports to relate the final words ofAdamto his sonSeth;Seth records the Testament and then buries the account in the legendary Cave of Treasures. Adam speaks of prayer and which parts of Creation praise God each hour of the day; he then prophesies both the coming of theMessiahand theGreat Flood;and finally, a description of thecelestial hierarchy of angelsis given.
The work was likely originally written inSyriac.Manuscripts are extant in Syriac,Arabic,Karshuni,Ethiopic,Armenian,Georgian,andGreek.The earliest surviving manuscript is dated to the 9th century, and there appear to be three majorrecensionsof the text.[1]
Authorship and date[edit]
The author of the work is unknown. The date of composition was likely somewhere between the2nd centuryto the5th century;S. E. Robinson hypothesizes that the mid-to-latethird centuryas the best guess. They probably were a Syrian or Palestinian Christian, as certain wordplay andpunsseem unique to Syriac in the oldest versions, along with a quote ofZechariah1:8 that matches the SyriacPeshittaversion rather than the GreekSeptuagintversion. There appears to be a quotation of the work in the Syriac version of theTransitus Mariae,generally thought to date to the late 4th century. The third section of the work, the celestial hierarchy, does not appear closely linked to the rest of the work; it is thus possible it was composed independently before being combined with the work at some point in the 5th–7th centuries.[1]
The author was likely compiling and modifying an existing piece ofJewish apocrypha.What was originally a Jewishmidrashon the story of Creation was expanded to include a defense of Christianity's claim that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. This suggests a community that was admiring of Judaism, as contrasted to other branches of Christianity which strongly rejected Judaism in the era of the late Roman Empire; for this author, Jesus was a continuation of a grand Jewish tradition.[1]
Content[edit]
The text ispseudepigraphicallyattributed to Adam's sonSeth,who wrote the Testament then sealed it in the Cave of Treasures. The first section, called theHorariumby S. E. Robinson, consists of describing which creatures praise God at each hour, and how they do so. It is notably a unitary view of God's dominion over creation rather than adualistone: all, from demons to the fire to grass to humans to angels, serve God.[1]
In the second section, called the Prophecy by Robinson, Adam reveals hidden information to Seth. He tells of the creation and fall of man, speaks of the comingGreat Flood,prophecies of thePassion of Jesus Christ,and the final end of the world. God also promises to make Adam a god, but "not right now"; the delay is due to Adam's sin in eating theforbidden fruit,identified here as afig.God says he willdeifyAdam after God's (Jesus's) resurrection, and Adam will sit at the right hand of God.[1]
The third section, called the Hierarchy by Robinson, includes a detailedangelologythat describes all nine orders of angels and their functions. In order from lowest to highest,angelsact asguardian angels,with one for each human.Archangelscare for non-humans such as animals and birds. Archons control the weather.Authoritiesgovern the sources of light in the sky above: the Sun, the Moon, and the stars.Powersstop demons from destroying the world in their jealousy of humanity.Dominionsrule over political kingdoms and control victory and defeat in battle. The text describes one as riding a red horse and killing thousands under the Assyrian king, along with a reference to the2 Maccabeesversion of theBattle of Beth Zurwhere an angel armed with a golden weapon helped send the Seleucid army to flight.Thronesguard the gate of the holy of holies and stand before the throne of God.Cherubimcarry the throne of the Lord and are keepers of the divine seals.Seraphimserve in the inner chamber.[1]
Similar works[edit]
The first section of the story is similar toPsalm 148,another account of how all creation praises God. Similar apocryphal works include the GnosticApocalypse of Adam,theConflict of Adam and Eve with Satan,and theLife of Adam and Eve.The work (along with the Syriac version ofCave of Treasures) seems to have influenced theArabic Apocalypse of Peter,another pseudepigraphical text popular in Syrian Christianity dated to the 9th–10th centuries.[a]The angelology of the third section may have influenced theBook of the Bee,a 13th-century Syriac work.[1]
Notes[edit]
- ^An Arabic version with English translation of the Book of the Rolls which contains a modified and expanded excerpt from the Testament of Adam can be found in:Gibson, Margaret Dunlop(1901). Thomas, David (ed.).Apocrypha Arabica.Studia Sinaitica, No. VIII. London: C. J. Clay and Sons. pp. 13–17.
References[edit]
- ^abcdefgRobinson, S. E. (1983)."Testament of Adam".InCharlesworth, James(ed.).The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Volume 1.Translated by Robinson, S. E. Doubleday. pp. 989–995.ISBN0-385-09630-5.
External links[edit]
- Early Jewish Writings:Testament of Adam,a discussion of the work.
- Sacred Texts: Christianity:Testamentum Adami,an English translation of theTestament of Adamby E. A. Wallis Budge.