Just this morning I was reading from the books of Adam and Eve in the OT pseudepigrapha. I first heard about these books when Hugh Nibley quoted from them, and I have since kept them on my bookshelf. In this one, Adam and Eve are distraught, having transgressed, having lost their light and their glory where they lived in the garden. They are so overcome with grief that they fast and pray for forty days, and several times Adam dies by jumping to his death or beating upon his chest, and God must send the “Word” to raise him from death.
When Adam and Eve finally become overcome with hunger (a feeling which they had not known in the garden) they pray to God to take away their hunger. But the Word of God explains that they have become as the beasts in this strange land, and now they must eat. Then Adam requests fruit from the tree of Life, but the Word of God informs him that he cannot give it to him yet — not until 5500 years have passed. At that time, God will give them the fruit of the Tree of Life and they and their righteous seed shall live forever.
However, God knows that they are hungry now and must eat, so He commands the cherub in the garden to give Adam and Eve some figs from the garden fig tree (where they had previously hid.) The cherub picks two figs and throws them from the garden to Adam and Eve. But they don’t want to eat the figs — they well remember what had happened when they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. So they set the figs aside,
And the weight of each fig was that of a water-melon; for the fruit of the garden was much larger than the fruit of this land. (Chap XLI, verse 2, Adam and Eve)
Then I recalled Spencer’s account of his near death experience wherein he visits the future city of Zion:
…the fruit grew to enormous size. I once saw two men carrying a bunch of grapes attached to a pole between them. Each grape was the size of a watermelon. (Visions of Glory: One Man’s Astonishing Account of the Last Days,
p. 206)
p. 206)Zion and the Garden of Eden are of the same glory — a terrestrial glory or paradisiacal glory. If you read about the life in the garden, you will get a sense of the city of Zion. And if you read about Zion, you will get a sense of the garden of Eden. But definitely, for sure, this is the strange land, the one Adam and Eve found dark and dreary. I think it must have been a greater burden for them to carry, having known the glory of the life in the garden of Eden — the Zion life.
Ok, I love the storyline in the Books of Adam & Eve. But not sure if it rings true (to me). I’m more inclined to favor the Egyptian drama about the founding of the race, where it’ a bit more complicated. In other versions, for example, Eve is literally “the mother of all living,” including Adam, who is standing right there — when God confirms Eve’s name.
and it certainly makes more sense than Eve coming from Adam.
Very interesting. Anyway, just found this site and enjoy reading. Back in the early 1980s while attending Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher, Arizona, I joined the LDS Church. A year later, I went to serve a mission in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Then, I moved to O’ahu in Hawaii where I attended BYU-Hawaii. Back in early 1980s, I used to listen to audio recordings of Hugh Nibly talk endlessly about the new doctrinal findings in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hamadi texts and comparing them to LDS doctrines. Copies of these audio recordings were given to me by a LDS family I lived with in Arizona. In Hawaii, I finished undergraduate study at BYU-HI and went on to graduate school at Univ of Hawaii. There, I wandered off into distant and “hostile” territory and found myself less active in the LDS Church for over 10 years. I also somehow managed to lose all these cassette recordings… A few years ago, I happened upon Nibly’s daughter Martha Beck’s book “Leaving the Saints…” and read it from cover to cover. Surprisingly, however, while I tried to have an open mind, the book did not alter my perceptions of Hugh Nibly. Something in Martha Beck’s book made me question some of her recollections and so the book came and went and changed nothing in my mind.
This year (late-January 2016), I returned to the church. My curiosity about doctrinal findings from ancient documents and LDS doctrines ala Hugh Nibly rekindled and I have been voraciously researching, reading, studying, pondering all that I now hear Hugh Nibly wrote, spoke of, and researched. I guess I should thank you for making so much Nibly resources so freely available to us. I am a Pacific Islander convert to the LDS Church.
As way of testimony, whatever value it might be, I share late Neal A. Maxwell’s quote that speaks somewhat of my situation: “Returning prodigals, those who have been all over the world…soberly but gladly confirm that it is impossible to run away from God’s love or beyond His redemptive reach. God’s love for us is of even greater duration than we realize.”
Mahalo from Hawaii.
richard salvador
Richard — thanks for sharing your story with me — it is always a treat to find someone out there who loves to hear these old classic Nibley lectures. Really, I keep them on my old ipod near my bed, and when I cant sleep, I turn it on and hear some great stuff! My son-in-law got his undergrad at BYU Hawaii — he has very dark hair and would shave in the morning and get banned from class by the evening for beard growth! Man, I get a little rebellious over things like that. But I do love Nibley, as he also had some irritations, and you often catch that in these talks. Glad you found them here. I started digitizing my old cassettes about 10 years ago, so happy I did. I love your Maxwell quote — a great man too. Continue the search for greater light!
I used to have both books of the pseudepigrapha, but lent out the one with the book of Adam. The part I found most interesting is the death of Adam and when they buried him in the cave. The gifts they bestowed on him were gold, frankincense, and myrrh — a foreshadowing of the gifts given to Christ… were they one and the same? Did the wise men bring him the gifts that were left in the cave with Adam? I always wondered that. I wish I still had the book with the book of Adam. Looks like I missed some good stuff! *LOL* Also, very interesting parallel between this account of the fruit and Spencer’s account.
I found that interesting about the gifts, and that was part of the quote, where they laid the fruit in the cave: “then Adam took the fig and laid it on the golden rods, Eve also took her fig and put it upon the incense.” I also read where Adam was created on Friday (sat. being the sabbath last day of 7 periods) and how Christ died on a Friday.
Lots of interesting parallels, huh? Wish I still had that book! Of course, probably couldn’t read it at this point with these eyes!