View source for Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan

{{Short description|Christian extracanonical work}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Abreha and Atsbeha Church - Adam and Eve 01.jpg|thumb|Ethiopian painting of [[Adam and Eve]], [[Church of Abreha wa-Atsbeha]]]]
The '''''Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan''''' (also known as '''''The Book of Adam and Eve''''') is a 6th-century<ref name="Charles 2004 p. 127">{{cite book | last=Charles | first=R.H. | title=The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Volume Two: Pseudepigrapha | publisher=Apocryphile Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-9747623-7-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z60UVlN6HgYC&pg=PA127 | access-date=28 June 2018 | page=127}}</ref><ref name="Jenkins 2015 p. 144">{{cite book | last=Jenkins | first=P. | title=The Many Faces of Christ: The Thousand-Year Story of the Survival and Influence of the Lost Gospels | publisher=Basic Books | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-465-06161-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2jKBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 | access-date=28 June 2018 | page=144}}</ref><ref name="Weinberger 2016 p. 13">{{cite book | last=Weinberger | first=E. | title=The Ghosts of Birds | publisher=New Directions | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-8112-2619-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4_5CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 | access-date=28 June 2018 | page=13}}</ref><ref name="Malan 1882 p. 6">{{cite book | last=Malan | first=S.C. | title=The Book of Adam and Eve: Also Called the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, a Book of the Early Eastern Church, Translated from the Ethiopic, with Notes from the Kufale, Talmud, Midrashim, and Other Eastern Works | publisher=Williams and Norgate | year=1882 | url=https://archive.org/details/bookadamandevea00malagoog | access-date=28 June 2018 | page=[https://archive.org/details/bookadamandevea00malagoog/page/n25 6]}}</ref> [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Biblical canon|extracanonical]] work found in [[Ge'ez language|Ge'ez]], translated from an [[Old Arabic]] original which is translated from a [[Syriac language|Syriac]] source, namely ''[[Cave of Treasures]]''.

==Editions and translations==
It was first translated from the [[Ge'ez]] Ethiopic version into German by [[August Dillmann]].<ref>Dillmann, A. (1853). ''Das christliche Adambuch des Morgenlandes''. Göttingen: Dieterich. {{OCLC|230747084}}</ref>  It was first translated into English by [[S. C. Malan]]<ref>Malan, S. C. (1882). ''The Book of Adam and Eve: Also called the conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, a book of the early Eastern Church''. London, Williams and Norgate; repr. Kiesinger 2003, Gorgias Press 2010.</ref> from the German of [[Ernest Trumpp]]. The first half of Malan's translation is included as the "First Book of Adam and Eve" and the "Second Book of Adam and Eve" in ''[[The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden]]''. The books mentioned below were added by Malan to his English translation; the Ethiopic is divided into sections of varying length, each dealing with a different subject.

==Content==
Books 1 and 2 begin immediately after the expulsion from the [[Garden of Eden]], and end with the testament and translation of [[Enoch (ancestor of Noah)|Enoch]]. Great emphasis is placed in Book 1 on Adam's sorrow and helplessness in the [[world (theology)|world]] outside the [[garden]].

In Book 1, the punished [[Serpents in the Bible|Serpent]] attempts to kill [[Adam]] and [[Eve]], but is prevented by God, who again punishes the Serpent by rendering it mute and casting it to [[India]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First Book of Adam and Eve|chapter=Chapter XVIII|chapter-url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe023.htm}}</ref> [[Satan]] also attempts to deceive and kill Adam and Eve several times. In one of his attempts on their life, he throws a boulder which ends up encompassing Adam and Eve. God eventually saves them and compares this event with the upcoming [[Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection of Christ]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First Book of Adam and Eve|chapter=Chapter XLIX|chapter-url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe054.htm}}</ref> God also predicts several other future Biblical events, including [[Noah and the flood]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The First Book of Adam and Eve|chapter=Chapter LIII|chapter-url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe058.htm}}</ref>

In Book 2, the "[[sons of God]]" who appear in {{bibleverse||Genesis|6:2|NIV}} are identified as the children of [[Seth]], and the "daughters of men" as women descended from [[Cain]], who successfully tempt most of the Sethites to come down from their mountain and join the Cainites in the valley below, under the instigation of Genun, son of [[Lamech (descendant of Cain)|Lamech]]. This Genun invents musical instruments, generally attributed to [[Jubal (Bible)|Jubal]]; however he also invents weapons of war, generally attributed to [[Tubal-cain|Tubal-Cain]]. The Cainites, descended from Cain the first murderer, are described as exceedingly wicked, being prone to commit murder and incest. After seducing the Sethites, their offspring become the [[Nephilim]], the "mighty men" of Gen. 6 who are all destroyed in the deluge, as also detailed in other works such as ''[[1 Enoch]]'' and ''[[Jubilees]]''.

Books 3 and 4 continue with the lives of [[Noah]], [[Shem]], [[Melchizedek]], etc. through to the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem]] by [[Titus]] in AD 70. The genealogy from Adam to Jesus is given, as in the Gospels, but including also the names of the wives of each of Jesus' ancestors, which is extremely rare.

==Textual origin==
''The [[Cave of Treasures]]'' is a Syriac work containing many of the same legends; indeed, as Malan remarks, a whole body of stories expanding upon the Old Testament is found in the [[Talmud]], in the [[Quran]], and in other late antique texts.

== Differences from Genesis ==
* 1st Adam and Eve LXXVIII:16<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe083.htm|title=The First Book of Adam and Eve}}</ref>  "Then on the morrow Adam said unto Abel his son, 'Take of thy sheep, young and good, and offer them up unto thy God; and I will speak to thy brother, to make unto his God an offering of corn.{{'"}} By contrast, {{Bibleverse|Genesis|4:2-3|KJV}} says: "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the {{LORD}}. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the {{LORD}} had respect unto Abel and to his offering".
* Book 2 has discrepancies with Old Testament saint lifetimes:  
** Enos lived 985 years (2nd Adam and Eve XIV:4<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe098.htm|title=2nd Adam and Eve, Chapter XIV}}</ref>) whereas Genesis says that he lived 905 years ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|5:11|KJV}}).
** Mahalaleel lived 870 years (2nd Adam and Eve XVI:2<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe100.htm|title=2nd Adam and Eve, Chapter XVI}}</ref>) whereas Genesis says that he lived 895 years ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|5:17|KJV}}).  
** Jared lived 989 years (2nd Adam and Eve XXI:13<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe105.htm|title=2nd Adam and Eve, Chapter XXI}}</ref>) whereas Genesis says that he lived 962 years ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|5:20|KJV}}).

== See also ==
*[[Apocalypse of Adam]]
*[[Books of Adam]]
*[[Life of Adam and Eve]]
*[[Testament of Adam]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* Solomonn Malan (1882). ''[https://archive.org/details/bookofadamandeve00malauoft/mode/2up The Book of Adam and Eve, also called The Conflict of Adam & Eve Against Satan]'' (Complete translation, including Books 3 and 4)

{{Adam and Eve}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Conflict Of Adam And Eve With Satan}}
[[Category:6th-century Christian texts]]
[[Category:Old Testament apocrypha]]

[[Category:Texts in Ge'ez]]
[[Category:Satan in religious literature]]
[[Category:Apocrypha about Adam and Eve]]
[[Category:Nephilim]]