Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh of Eden

A¹t the third hour of the day Adam and Eve ascended into Paradise, and for three hours they enjoyed the good things thereof; for three hours they were in shame and disgrace, and at the ninth hour their expulsion from Paradise took place. And as they were going forth sorrowfully, God spake unto Adam, and heartened him, and said unto him, “Be not sorrowful, O Adam, for I will restore unto thee thine inheritance. Behold, see how greatly I have loved thee, for though I have cursed the earth for thy sake, yet have I withdrawn thee from the operation of the curse. As for the serpent, I have fettered his legs in his belly, and I have given him the dust of the earth for food; and Eve have I bound under the yoke of servitude. Inasmuch as thou hast transgressed my commandments get thee forth, but be not sad. After the fulfilment of the times which I have allotted that you shall be in exile outside [Paradise], in the land which is under the curse, behold, I will send my Son.

² And He shall go down [from heaven] for thy redemption, and He shall sojourn in a Virgin, and shall put on a body [of flesh], and through Him redemption and a return shall be effected for thee. But command thy sons, and order them to embalm thy body after thy death with myrrh, cassia, and stakte. And they shall place thee in this cave, wherein I am making. you to dwell this day, until the time when your expulsion shall take place from the regions of Paradise to that earth which is outside it. ³ And whosoever shall be left in those days shall take thy body with him, and shall deposit it on the spot which I shall show him, in the centre of the earth; for in that place shall redemption be effected for thee and for all thy children.” And God revealed unto Adam everything which the Son would suffer on behalf of him. ⁴ [Adam’s expulsion from Paradise.] And when Adam and Eve had gone forth from Paradise, the door of Paradise was shut, and a cherub bearing a two-edged sword stood by it. And Adam and Eve went down in....... of spirit over the mountains of Paradise, and they found a cave in the top of the mountain, and they entered and hid themselves therein. ⁵ Now Adam and Eve were virgins, and Adam wished to know Eve his wife. And Adam took from the skirts of the mountain of Paradise, gold, and myrrh, and frankincense, and he placed them in the cave, and he blessed the cave, and consecrated it that it might be the house of prayer for himself and his sons. ⁶ And he called the cave “ME’ARATH Gazz” (i.e. “Cave of treasures”) -. So Adam and Eve went down from that holy mountain [of Eden] to the slopes which were below it, and there Adam knew Eve his wife. And Eve conceived and brought forth Cain and Lebhüdhá, his sister, with him; and Eve conceived again and she brought forth Habhil (Abel) and Kelimath, his sister, with him. ⁷ And when the children grew up, Adam said unto Eve, “Let Cain take to wife Kelimath, who was brought forth with Abel, and let Abel take to wife Lebhüdhà, who was brought forth with Cain.” And Cain said unto Eve his mother, “I will take to wife my twin sister Lebhüdhà, and let Abel take to wife his twin sister Kelimath”; now Lebhüdhà was beautiful. ⁸ When Adam heard these words, which were exceedingly displeasing unto him, he said, “It will be a transgression of the commandment for thee to take [to wife] thy sister, who was born with thee. Nevertheless, take ye to yourselves fruits of trees, and the young of sheep, and get ye up to the top of this holy mountain. Then go ye into the Cave of Treasures, and offer ye up your offerings, and make your prayers, and then ye shall consort with your wives.” ⁹ And it came to pass that when, Adam, the first priest, and Cain and Abel, his sons, were going up to the top of the mountain, Satan entered into Cain [and persuaded him] to kill Abel, his brother, because of Lebhtdha; and because his offering was rejected and was not accepted before God, whilst the offering of Abel was accepted, Cain’s jealousy of his brother Abel was increased. ¹⁰ And when they came down to the plain, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and he killed him with a blow from a stone of flint. Then straightway Cain received the doom of death, instead of curses, and he became a fugitive and a wanderer all the days of his life. And God drove him forth into exile in a certain part of the forest of Nódh, and Cain took to wife his twin sister and made the place of his abode there.

A¹nd Yaréd his son rose up and ministered before God [in the Cave of Treasures]. He was a perfect man, and was complete in all the virtues, and he was constant in prayer by day and by night. And because of the excellence of his life and conversation, his days were longer than those of all the children of his people.

² And in the days of Yáréd, in the five hundredth year of his life, the children of Seth broke the oaths which their fathers had made them to swear. And they began to go down from that holy mountain to the encampment of iniquity of the children of Cain, the murderer, and in this way the fall of the children of Seth took place. ³ And in the fortieth year of Yared the first thousand years, from Adam to Yared, came to an end. And in these years the handicraftsmen of sin, and the disciples of Satan, appeared, for he was their teacher, and he entered in and dwelt in them, and he poured into them the spirit of the operation of error, through which the fall of the children of Seth was to take place. ⁴ Of the transmission of the art of playing the harp, that is to say, of music, and singing and dancing. Yobal (Jubal) and Tóbalkin (Tubal-Cain), the two brethren, the sons of Lamech, the blind man, who killed Cain, invented and made all kinds of instruments of music. Jóbal made reed instruments, and harps, and flutes, and whistles, and the devils went and dwelt inside them. ⁵ When men blew into the pipes, the devils sang inside them, and sent out sounds from inside them. Tóbalkin made cymbals, and sistra, and tambourines (or drums). And lasciviousness and fornication increased among the children of Cain, and they had nothing to occupy them except fornication—now they had no obligation [to pay] tribute, and they had neither prince nor governor—and eating, and drinking, and lasciviousness, and drunkenness, and dancing and singing to instruments of music, and the wanton sportings of the devils, and the laughter which affordeth pleasure to the devils, and the sounds of the furious lust of men neighing after women. ⁶ And Satan, finding [his] opportunity in this work of error, rejoiced greatly, because thereby he could compel the sons of Seth to come down from that holy mountain. There they had been made to occupy the place of that army [of angels] that fell [with Satan], there they were beloved by God, there they were held in honour by the angels, and were called “sons of God,” even as the blessed David saith in the psalm, “I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.” ⁷ (Ps. Ixxxii. 6.) Meanwhile fornication reigned among the daughters of Cain, and without shame [several] women would run after one man. And one man would attack another, and they committed fornication in the presence of each other shamelessly. For all the devils were gathered together in that camp of Cain, and unclean spirits entered into the women, and took possession of them. ⁸ The old women were more lascivious than the maidens, fathers and sons defiled themselves with their mothers and sisters, sons respected not even their own fathers, and fathers made no distinction between their sons [and other men]. And Satan had been made ruler (or prince) of that camp. ⁹ And when the men and women were stirred up to lascivious frenzy by the devilish playing of the reeds which emitted musical sounds, and by the harps which the men played through the operation of the power of the devils, and by the sounds of the tambourines and of the sistra which were beaten and rattled through the agency of evil spirits, the sounds of their laughter were heard in the air above them, and ascended to that holy mountain. ¹⁰ And when the children of Seth heard the noise, and uproar, and shouts of laughter in the camp of the children of Cain, about one hundred of them who were mighty men of war gathered together, and set their faces to go down to the camp of the children of Cain. When Yârêd heard their words and knew their intention, he became sorely afflicted, and he sent and called them to him, and said unto them, “By the holy blood of Abel, I will have you swear that not one of you shall go down from this holy mountain. Remember ye the oaths which our fathers Seth, and Ánósh, and Kainan, and Mahlalail made you to swear.” ¹¹ And Enoch also said unto them, “Hearken, O ye children of Seth, no man who shall transgress the commandment of Yaréd, and [break] the oaths of our fathers, and go down from this mountain, shall never again ascend it.” But the children of Seth would neither hearken to the commandment of Yaréd, nor to the words of Enoch, and they dared to transgress the commandment, and those hundred men, who were mighty men of war, went down [to the camp of Cain]. ¹² And when they saw that the daughters of Cain were beautiful in form and that they were naked and unashamed, the children of Seth became inflamed with the fire of lust. And when the daughters of Cain saw the goodliness of the children of Seth, they gripped them like ravening beasts and defiled their bodies. ¹³ And the children of Seth slew their souls by fornication with the daughters of Cain. And when the children of Seth wished to go up [again] to that holy mountain, after they had come down and fallen, the stones of that holy mountain became fire in their sight, and having defiled their souls with the fire of fornication, God did not permit them to ascend to that holy place. ¹⁴ And, moreover, very many others made bold and went down after them, and they, too, fell. And when Yáréd had lived nine hundred and sixty years, and the day of his departure approached, and came nigh, and arrived, all the Patriarchs gathered themselves together and came unto him, viz. Enoch, his first-born, and Methuselah, and Lamech, and Noah, they and their wives and their children, and were blessed by him. ¹⁵ And he prayed over them, and said unto them, “I will make you to swear by the holy blood of Abel that ye will not go down from this holy mountain; for I know that God will not allow you to remain very much longer in this holy country. Inasmuch as ye have transgressed the commandment of your fathers, ye shall surely be cast out into that outer country, and ye shall no longer have your habitation on the skirts [of the mountain] of Paradise. And take ye good heed to this. Let him that is among you who shall go forth from that holy country take with him the body of our father Adam, and the offerings [of gold, frankincense, and myrrh] that are in the Cave of Treasures, and let him carry away and deposit the body in the place wherein he shall be commanded by God to set it down. And thou, my son Enoch, depart thou not from before the body of Adam, but minister before God purely and holily all the days of thy life.” ¹⁶ And Yaréd died, [being] nine hundred and sixty-two years old, on the thirteenth day of the month of Îyâr (May), on the day of the Eve of the Sabbath (Friday), at sunset, in the three hundred and sixty-sixth year of the life of Noah. And Enoch his son embalmed him, and buried him in the Cave of Treasures; and they made mourning for him forty days.

A¹nd when Methuselah had lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and the day of his departure had drawn nigh, Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japhet, and their wives, came unto him. Now of all the posterity of Seth who had not betaken themselves down to the plain, only these eight souls were left, viz. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japhet, and their wives; for no children were born to them before the Flood.

² And when these gathered themselves together to Methuselah, and they had been blessed by him, he embraced them, and kissed them sorrowfully, and wept over the fall of the children of Seth. And he said unto them, “Of all the tribes and families of your fathers, this remnant [consisting] of eight souls alone is left. May the Lord God of our fathers bless you! The Lord God who formed our father Adam and Eve by themselves (and they were fruitful, and multiplied, and the whole of the blessed land which was round about Paradise was filled with their progeny), shall make you to be fruitful, and to multiply, and the whole earth shall be filed with you. He shall save you from the terrible wrath which hath been decreed against this rebellious generation, and He shall be with you, and He shall protect you. And the gift which was given by God unto our father Adam shall go forth with you from this holy country. ³ And these three measures of the wheat of blessings which God gave unto your father Adam shall serve as leaven, and shall be kneaded into your seed, and into the seed of your children, that is to say, Royalty, Priesthood, and Prophecy. Hearken thou, Noah, thou blessed of the Lord. Behold, I am going forth from this world, like all my fathers, but thou and thy children shall be saved. ⁴ And thou shalt do everything which I am commanding you to do this day, [for] God will make the Flood. When I die, embalm my body, and bury me in the Cave of Treasures with my fathers. Take thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons, and get thee down from this holy mountain. And take with thee the body of our father Adam, and these three offerings, gold, and myrrh, and frankincense; set the body of Adam in the middle of the Ark, and lay these offerings upon him. ⁵ Thou and thy sons shall occupy the eastern part of the Ark, and thy wife and thy son’s wives shall occupy the western part thereof; thy wives shall not pass over to you, and ye shall not pass over to them. Ye shall neither eat nor drink with them, and ye shall have no intercourse whatsoever with them until ye go forth from the Ark. ⁶ Now this generation hath provoked God to wrath, and He will neither permit them to be neighbours of [those who are in] Paradise, nor to praise Him with the angels.” And when the waters of the Flood have subsided from the face of the earth, and ye go forth from the Ark, and ye take up your abode in that land, thou, O Noah, the blessed of the Lord, shall not depart from the Ark, from the body of our father Adam, but minister thou before God in the Ark purely and holily all the days of thy life. ⁷ And these offerings shall be placed in the east. And command thou Shem, thy firstborn, to take up with him, after thy death, the body of our father Adam, and to carry it and deposit it in the middle of the earth. And let him establish there a man from among his descendants who shall minister there. And he shall be one who is set apart (nezírá) all the days of his life. ⁸ He shall not take a wife, he shall not shed blood, he shall not offer up these offerings of wild animals and feathered fowl; but he shall offer unto God bread and wine, for by these redemption shall be made for Adam and all his posterity. And the Angel of God shall go before him, and he shall show him the place where the middle of the earth is situated. ⁹ And the apparel of him that shall stand up there to minister before the body of Adam shall be the skins of wild animals. He shall not shave off the hair of his head, and he shall not cut his nails, but he shall remain alone (in his natural state?) because he is the priest of God, the Most High.” And when Methuselah had commanded Noah [to do] all these things, he died with tears in his eyes, and sorrow in his heart. ¹⁰ He was nine hundred and sixty-nine years old when he died, on the fourteenth day of the month Ádhàr (March), on the first day of the week (Sunday), in the seventy-ninth year of the life of Shem, the son of Noah. And Noah, his grandson, embalmed the body of Methuselah with myrrh, and cassia, and stakte, and Noah and his sons buried him in the Cave of Treasures; and they and their wives made mourning for him forty days. ¹¹ And when the days of his mourning had passed, Noah went into the Cave of Treasures, and embraced and kissed the holy bodies of Seth, and Anósh, and Kainán, and Mahlalail, and Yáréd, and Methuselah, and Lamech his father, and he was greatly moved and tears gushed from his eyes. And Noah carried the body of our father Adam, and [the body of] Eve, and his firstborn Shem carried the gold, and Ham carried the myrrh, and Japhet the frankincense, and they went forth from the Cave of Treasures. ¹² And as they were coming down from that holy mountain they were smitten sorely with grief, and they wept in agony because they were to be deprived of that holy place, and the habitation of their fathers. And weeping painfully, and wailing sorrowfully, and enveloped in gloom, they said, “Remain in peace! O holy Paradise, thou habitation of our father Adam. He went forth from thee alive, but stripped [of glory] and naked. And behold, at his death he was deprived of thy nearness. He and his progeny were cast out into exile in that land of curses, to pass their days there in pain, and sicknesses, and in labour, and in weariness, and in trouble. Remain in peace, O Cave of Treasures! Remain in peace, O habitation and inheritance of our Fathers! Remain ye in peace, O our Fathers and Patriarchs! Pray ye for us, O ye who live in the dust, ye friends and beloved ones of the Living God. Pray ye for the remnant of your posterity which is left. ¹³ O ye who have propitiated God, make supplication unto Him on our behalf in your prayers. Remain in peace, O Anésh! Remain ye in peace, O ye ministers of God, Kainan, and Mahlalail, and Yáàréd, and Methuselah, and Lamech, and Enoch! Cry out in sorrow on our behalf. Remain in peace, O Haven and Asylum of the Angels! ¹⁴ O ye our Fathers, cry out in sorrow on our behalf, because ye will be deprived of our society! And we will cry out in sorrow, because we are cast out into a bare land, for our habitation will be with the wild beasts.” And as they were coming down from that holy mountain, they kissed the stones thereof, and embraced the delectable trees thereof. ¹⁵ And in this wise they came down, and they wept with great sorrow, and shed scalding (or bitter) tears, and suffering sorely they descended to the plain. And Noah went into the Ark, and deposited the body of Adam in the middle thereof, and he placed these offerings upon it. Now in the year wherein Noah went into the Ark The second thousand years of the posterity of Adam to the time of the flood came to an end, according to what the Seventy Wise Writers have told us.

A¹nd straightway, according to what they had received from the tradition which had been handed down to them by their fathers, they left the East, and went up to the mountains of Nódh, which lie inside the entrances to the East from the lands on the skirts of the North, and they took from them gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.

² And from this [passage] understand, O my brother Nemesius, that the Magi knew the whole service of the Dispensation of our Redeemer through the offerings which they brought: the gold was for a king, the myrrh for a physician, and the frankincense fora priest, for the Magi knew Who He was, and that He was a king, and a physician, and a priest. ³ Now when the son of the king of Sheba was a little boy his father brought him to a Rabbi, and he learned the Book of the Hebrews better than all his companions and his fellow countrymen, and he said unto all his slaves, “It is written in all the books of genealogies that the king shall be born in Bethlehem.”

T¹hese are they who bore offerings to the King, kings, the sons of kings: HORMizDADH of Mákhózdi, king of Persia, who was called “King of Kings,” and dwelt in Lower Ádhórghin. ÎZGARAD (Yazdegerd), the king of Sabha. PEROZADH, the king of Sheba, which is in the East. And the Magi having made ready to go up, the kingdom of the mighty men of war was perturbed and terrified, and there was with the Magi so mighty a following that all the cities of the East were in dismay before them, and Jerusalem also.

² And when they entered the presence of Herod, he trembled before them, and he commanded them, saying, “Depart in peace, and seek diligently for the young Child, and when ye have found Him, come and show me, that I too may go and make obeisance unto Him”; though deceit was hidden in Herod’s heart, he offered homage with his mouth. ³ Now when the Magi went up to Jerusalem there was great commotion in Judea, because of the edict of Augustus Casar, which commanded that every man should be registered in his country, and in the city of his fathers. Because of this Herod was greatly perturbed, and he said unto the Magi, “Go ye and search for Him.” ⁴ Now the Magi are called “Magi” because of the garb of Magianism in which the heathen kings arrayed themselves whensoever they offered up a sacrifice and made offerings to their gods. They made use of two different kinds of apparel; that which appertained to royalty [they wore] inside, and that which appertained to Magianism outside. ⁵ And thus also was it with those who went up prepared to make offerings to Christ, and they were arrayed in both kinds of apparel. And when the Magi had gone forth from Jerusalem, and from the presence of Herod, that same star which had been their guide on the road appeared to them, and they rejoiced greatly. ⁶ And the star went on before them until they entered the cave, where they saw the young Child swathed in bands and laid in a manger. Whilst they were on their way up thither they said within themselves, “When we arrive there we shall see mighty and wonderful things, according to the law and custom which prevail among royal personages when a king is born.” ⁷ Thus did they think—that they would find in the land of Israel a royal palace, and couches of gold with cushions laid upon them, and the king and the son of the king arrayed in purple, and awestruck soldiers and companies of royal troops, and the nobles of the kingdom paying him honour by presenting gifts, and tables laid out with meats fit for the king, and vessels of drink standing in rows, and. men servants and women servants serving in fear. ⁸ Such were the things which the Magi expected to see, but they saw them not; they saw sights which were far better than these when they went into the cave. They saw Joseph sitting in astonishment, and Mary in a state of wonderment, but there was no couch with cushions laid upon it, and no table with food laid out upon it, and no sign of the preparations which accompany royal state. ⁹ And although they saw all this humble estate and poverty, they had no doubt in their minds, but they drew nigh in fear and made obeisance to Him in honour, and they offered unto Him, gold, and myrrh, and frankincense. And it was very grievous unto Mary and Joseph that they had nothing to set before them, but the Magi fed themselves with food of their own providing.