The first thing I wanted to point out is that Nephi’s vision in chapter 11 is given only after a few pre-requisite conditions are met. These are:

1. He had a desire to know the things that his father had seen in vision.
2. He believed the words of his father and that the Lord was able to make them known to him as well.
3. He was pondering those things in his heart.

It seems to me that these are some of the basic requirements, in both ancient and modern accounts, for receiving inspiration or revelation from God.  I have read quite a lot lately about revelatory experiences in the ancient world, and there is a lot of literature that describes how visionary episodes were supposed to be brought on by some “artificial” (I say artificial for “man-made” inducers of visionary experiences, as opposed to divinely-induced) means, including sensory deprivation, consumption of hallucinatory agents such as psychoactive plants, narcotics, breathing in hydrocarbon or other gases in caves, and so on. While I have little doubt that such methods have been used throughout human history to bring individuals into a psychedelic trance that they felt allowed communication with the Beyond, it is interesting to note that there is no mention of anything of this sort here with Nephi.  All we get is that he was pondering in his heart, and suddenly he was “caught away  in the Spirit of the Lord.”

Like so many ancient accounts of visionary experiences, Nephi is caught up into a high mountain, the ideal place for a meeting between God and man.  The Spirit here (and I’m assuming that this is the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead), serves as Nephi’s angelus interpres, the “interpreting angel” that usually accompanies the visionary in similar accounts, explaining to him what he is seeing.  In verse 11, we are told that this Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord, “was in the form of a man.” If, as it would seem, this figure is the Holy Ghost, then, according to Nephi, although He is a spiritual being, He is “anthropomorphic.”  There are a good number of ancient texts that support this view, as a number of recent studies have pointed out (see my early posts on this topic here and here). Following on ancient Jewish traditions, many early Christians believed that the Holy Spirit was an angel that stood by the throne of God. Of course, being “angelomorphic” is essentially the same as being anthropomorphic.

The Spirit explains to Nephi (verse 7) that after he sees the object of his desire, the Tree of Life which his father saw, he would be given a “sign” — he would see a man descending out of heaven, who the Spirit identifies as the Son of God.  Apparently, the Spirit means for Nephi to see the Son of God as parallel to the Tree of Life.

However, when Nephi actually asks for an interpretation of the Tree (v. 11), he is shown a virgin who was “exceedingly fair and white” and “most beautiful and fair above all other virgins” (vv. 13, 15).  The virgin, then, is another parallel for the Tree. Note how Nephi’s description of the virgin compares to his description of the Tree: “the beauty thereof was fare beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow” (v. 8). Nephi is told that this virgin that he saw “is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.” In verse 20, Nephi sees this virgin mother carrying the holy child, the Lamb of God, in her arms.

Now the fact that parallels are made between the Tree of Life and both the Son of God and his Mother is very significant. As I’ve mentioned before, Margaret Barker picked up on the significance of this symbolism when she read these passages from the Book of Mormon. Barker, who is an expert in the religious culture of Jerusalem at the time Lehi and Nephi would have been there, explained in a speech at a conference held at the Library of Congress in 2005:

…[A] text discovered in Egypt in 1945 described the tree [of life] as beautiful, fiery, and with fruits like white grapes. I don’t know of any other source which describes the fruit as white grapes, so you can imagine my surprise when I read the account of Lehi’s vision of the tree whose white fruits made one happy; and the interpretation of the vision, that the virgin in Nazareth was the mother of the Son of God after the manner of the flesh.

This is the Heavenly Mother (represented by the Tree of Life), and then Mary and her son on the earth. This revelation to Joseph Smith was the exact ancient Wisdom symbolism, intact, and almost certainly as it was known in 600 BCE.

From my own studies, I have been intrigued to find that in ancient Israel, the Tree of Life was understood to represent both the King of Israel and also the Queen Mother (the king’s mother). (See also, on this topic, Daniel Peterson’s great article on this topic here) As I have pointed out before, there was a common ancient image of the Tree of Life, as a mother goddess, nourishing the “new born” king.

This image is paralleled by the many ancient images we find of the mother goddess holding and nursing the young god/king.

Besides the symbols of Mother and Son of God, it is interesting that the Spirit identifies the Tree with yet another idea. When He asks (v. 21) Nephi, after giving two symbols already, what he thought the Tree stood for, Nephi, without hesitating, answers that “it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.” For Nephi, it seems that this was the obvious message being communicated by the vision of the Tree, the virgin and the Divine Son. It all represented the love of God for his children on Earth. I don’t know if that is the conclusion that I would have automatically come up with, but this is what the clear meaning was for Nephi. Perhaps the cultural and religious environment of 600 BC would have prepared Nephi to attach these symbols together to lead him to understand this great truth.

What helped me understand these connections a bit better as I read them this time around was pondering as well the comparable thoughts found in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (through the favored and chosen virgin, Mary), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is the Tree of Life! This is the fruit that is “desirable above all things” and “the most joyous to the soul” (vv. 22, 23)! To know that God loves us all so much that he was willing to send his most beloved Son, by means of a precious and pure young woman, into the world to save us — to share with us Eternal Life! There is no greater or sweeter gift that we could possibly ask for!

Chapter 11 of 1 Nephi, along with the following chapters, contain many more amazing examples of ancient religious thought, some of which I have pointed out in previous posts. However, I felt very strongly about these points as I read over these verses, and wanted to share them here. May we all hold fast to that iron rod that leads to the precious Tree and endure on until we can eat of that most desirable fruit, and share the journey with those we love.

Click here: Orlov Introduction

The intro is over 20 pages long, but it is well worth your time to take a look at it.  Dr. Orlov contrasts two basically concurrent but very different religious traditions — one that emphasizes visionary experiences in which the believer is taken up into heaven and is allowed to see the “Glory of God” and is transfigured in the process–and the other in which the adept emphasizes hearing the voice of God.

Dr. Orlov provides some great material here from the monastic Desert Fathers regarding their experiences with heavenly ascent and how they were permitted to see the Glory of God described in anthropomorphic terms.  Those who were near the visionaries while or soon after they received this vision described their face/body as shining like the sun.

Orlov looks into the recurring theme that the being that the visionary would see in heaven was regularly described as being corporeal or human-like, similar to Ezekiel’s vision of the fiery, human-like being on the throne.  This concept of deity is very ancient and was preserved by certain segments of the Jewish tradition. However, some parties (e.g. the Deuteronomists) were intent on dislodging the ancient anthropomorphic tradition and attempted to replace it with a “Name theology” that posited that God could not be seen but only heard. God did not dwell in his holy temple–only his “Name” did.

The polemics between these two theologies (Form vs. Voice) can be seen in the biblical text as we now have it. For example, in Exodus 19, Moses and the elders of Israel climb Mount Sinai and see the God of Israel standing before them. However, in Exodus 33 and Deut. 4 we are told that Moses merely heard the voice of God and saw no Form.  Orlov believes that an insertion of a reinterpretation of the Sinai vision as purely aural is apparent here.  Orlov sees Elijah as the champion of this aural tradition—Elijah sees no human-like form, but only hears a still, small voice.

Dr. Orlov goes on to analyze the texts of 2 (Slavonic) Enoch and the Apocalypse of Abraham as examples of each of these traditions, the first being an example of the Form theology and the latter an example of the aural tradition. Enoch is taken up into heaven and sees the divine face of God, described in appearance like “iron made hot by a fire, emitting sparks.” Abraham, however, according to this apocalyptic text, is not permitted to see God, but hears his voice coming from within a pillar of fire.

You can judge for yourself whether you agree with his theories on the polemics between these to theological trends, but I highly recommend taking a good look at this introduction. Dr. Orlov has done and continues to do excellent research on divine manifestations, on heavenly ascents and visions of God’s Face, and how these traditions were perpetuated over time.

Michelangelo’s Depiction of Moses on a Throne

The following post represents research I did for Dr. Orlov’s Apocalyptic Literature class in preparation for a presentation I did on themes from the text of an ancient drama known as Exagoge, written by Ezekiel the Tragedian. This text is only known by fragments of the original recorded by the Christian historian Eusebius. The original play is thought to have been written in the second century BC and is, thus, the oldest piece of Jewish drama available.

The focus of my presentation was on the depiction, in Exagoge, of an anthropomorphic (human-like) figure sitting on a throne, whom Moses describes as having seen as part of a heavenly ascent vision he had while on Mt. Sinai. Incredibly, the “noble man” on the throne leaves the throne, gives his kingly regalia to Moses and sets Moses on the throne in his place. This is truly and extraordinary text that has puzzled scholars for decades.  Here is the pertinent part of the text:

68 I [Moses] had a vision on the top of Sinai of a high throne
69 that reached the fold of heaven.
70 On it was sitting a certain noble man,
71 with a crown and with a large scepter in his
72 left hand, while with the right
73 he beckoned me, and I stood before the throne.
74 He handed me the scepter and told me
75 to sit on the great throne, and gave me the royal
76 crown, and he departed from the throne.
77 I beheld the whole earth around
78 and the things underneath the earth and those above the heaven.
79 Then a multitude of stars fell on their knees before me,
80 and I counted them all,
81 and they paraded by me as in a march of mortals.

There are some important issues here that I would like to briefly address: the Jewish belief in an anthropomorphic figure on the throne of God and the possible identity of the figure (the “noble man”); and also the idea that a human being (e.g., Moses) could actually be enthroned in heaven in such a manner.

The Figure on the Throne in the Hebrew Bible

The idea that there is a divine, human-like figure seated on the throne of God comes up repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible. The following are just a few of the main passages that illustrate this widespread early belief (most of these translations are from the RSV–which is the standard Bible translation used in most of my classes):

Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form.

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim;

1 Kings 22:19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;

Daniel 7:9–10, 13 9 As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. 13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

1 Samuel 4:4 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

Exodus 24:10–11 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

Psalm 29:10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king for ever.

Rafael's Depiction of Ezekiel's Vision

The most influential of these for Exagoge is likely Ezek, which describes the entity on the merkabah throne as “something that seemed like a human form” (Ezek 1:26). It then goes on to describe this anthropomorphic being in some detail, including describing his luminosity, as if he were covered in fire. Similarly, Isa 6 portrays God as seated on the “high and lofty” cherubim throne in the temple, paying particular attention to his glorious apparel. Dan 7 depicts an anthropomorphic figure sitting on a throne (described similarly to Ezekiel’s vision), while adding that both his garment and his hair were exceedingly white. 

God El limestone statue from Ugarit, c. 1300 bc.

Ancient Near Eastern Background

The idea that Yahweh was a human-like figure seated on a glorious throne and dressed in majestic clothing is comparable to similar notions of deity among Israel’s ancient Near Eastern neighbors.
In the Ugaritic texts, the supreme god El (or Ilu) resides on the sacred mountain as king, and is portrayed as an old gray-haired, enthroned god. In art he is portrayed as an old male figure, sitting on a throne, wearing a crown, blessing with one hand and with the other holding a scepter. The God El is recognizable in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Gen 33:20).
The Canaanite god Baal is made king in place of El, and is enthroned on an enormous and majestic throne (KTU 1.101) on Mount Saphon. Mesopotamian gods, such as Shamash and Marduk, as well as Egyptian gods, are described in like manner. They are human-like figures sitting on thrones. The Israelite conception of El and Yahweh is not different from these features found throughout the region. 

Because this idea is so blatant in the Ugaritic/Mesopotamian/Egyptian texts, I include just a couple of random examples:

“Puissant Baal is dead;
The Prince, Lord of the Earth, is perished.”
Straightway Kindly El Benign
Descends from the throne,
Sits on the footstool;
From the footstool
And sits on the ground;
Pours dust of mourning on his head,
Earth of mortification on his pate;
And puts on sackcloth and loincloth (g. I AB vi. 9-18 in ANET, 139).

Baal sits like the base of a mountain;
Hadd se[ttles] as the ocean,
In the midst of his divine mountain, Saphon,
In [the midst of] the mountain of victory.
Seven lightening-flashes [ ]
Eight bundles of thunder,
A tree-of-lightening [in his] right hand.
His head is magnificent,
His brow is dew-drenched,
His feet are eloquent in his wrath… (KTU 1.101)

NJB Genesis 33:20 There he [Jacob] erected an altar which he called ‘El, God of Israel’ (this passage is included to illustrate the point that the worship of El was practiced in primordial Israelite religion).

Near Eastern King (Ahiram) on Cherubim Throne

Yahweh on the Throne in the First Temple

Going back to Israel, in the pre-exilic period of the Israelite monarchy, Yahweh was believed to dwell, enthroned, in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem temple, the earthly counterpart of the heavenly temple (Isa 6; 1 Kgs 6, 8; 1 Sam 4:4; 1 Kgs 8:12–13; Exod 15:17; 2 Sam 7:1–6; Pss 9:11; 11:4; 26:8; 43:3; 46:5; 48:9; 50:2; 76:3; 84:1; 132:13-14).
Those who made pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem expected to see the Lord seated on the throne (Exo 23:15, 17; 34:20-24; Deut 16:16; 31:11; 1 Sam 1:22; Isa 1:12; Ps 42:2).
The important question is how, or in what form, did believers expect to see Yahweh? Some scholars have suggested that there was a golden statue sitting on the cherubim throne in the Holy of Holies.
However, there is also evidence that the human-like figure seen on the throne was the Davidic king himself, who sat on the divine throne for special religious ceremonies, in which he acted as a physical representation of Yahweh. 1 Chron 29:20, 23 says clearly it was the king who sat on the throne of the LORD and was worshipped. Also, the psalms contain many references to someone sitting under the wings of the Lord, a possible reference to a human sitting on the cherubim throne (e.g., Pss 17, 36, 57, 63, 91, etc.).

Some of the pertinent passages regarding the presence of the LORD in the Jerusalem Temple:

Exodus 15:17 17 Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them on thy own mountain, the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thy abode, the sanctuary, LORD, which thy hands have established.

2 Samuel 7:4–7 4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, `Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.

1 Kings 6:11–14 11 Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my ordinances and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.” 14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

1 Kings 8:12–13 12 Then Solomon said, “The LORD has set the sun in the heavens, but has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. 13 I have built thee an exalted house, a place for thee to dwell in for ever.”

2 Kings 19:14–15 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: “O LORD the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

Psalm 26:8 O LORD, I love the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwells.

Psalm 43:3 3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!

Psalm 76:2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

Psalm 132:13–14 13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation: 14 “This is my resting place for ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

Psalm 99:1–2 The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! 2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.

Depiction of Yahweh on the Throne

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your males shall see the face of the LORD your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths. They shall not see the face of the LORD vainly (unworthily);
(reading the Hebrew yr’h in the original Qal form instead of the Niphal)

Exilic and Post-Exilic Conceptions

With the reforms of King Josiah and destruction of the temple at the hands of the Babylonians, the idea that Yahweh dwelt in his temple was supressed. In the exilic text of Ezekiel, however, we see that the divine kavod, including the merkabah throne, was able to travel outside the temple. Although the temple was no more, Ezekiel’s description of the human-like figure on the throne remains true to pre-exilic beliefs.
The post-exilic literature of the Zadokite priests follows Ezekiel in describing Yahweh as present with his people, although he is usually depicted as enveloped in fire and/or cloud.

Second Temple Literature

There is a proliferation in the Second Temple period of writings regarding the divine kavod that Ezekiel saw. It has often been proposed that the figure on the throne is Yahweh himself. However, in this period there is widespread speculation regarding the identity of the kavod in relation to proposed mediatorial figures. The specifically human-like figure became connected to speculation about mortals exalted to the heavenly throne (or perhaps the two ideas were always connected). A number of such figures arise in the literature that are depicted as the anthropomorphic entity on the throne (Enoch, Jacob, Moses). It is likely that these traditions draw upon the early idea of Adam as the Image of God (for more on the exalted position of Adam, please see my last post).

A. Gottstein noted, ”Adam is distinguished from God not by form, but by the different quality of life attached to the same form; in other words, God and Adam are distinguished not by body, but by bodily function (see Bunta, 179).

In monarchic Israel, both high priest and king were identified with Adam. Some scholars theorize that the presence on the cherub throne was also equated with Adam, who was the image/icon/idol of the undepictable kavod. Throughout the literature, Adam (pre-lapsarian) is depicted as the luminous image of the Godhead, often wearing brilliant garments of light. Later priests and kings would imitate this garment of light, which also represented the shining robes of God. Thus, Adam was the visible representative of the divine glory, and later humans (prophets, priests, kings) were engaged in a constant effort to regain the luminous glory of Adam. In Exagoge, it is possible that we are seeing an example of Moses taking the place of Adam as the anthropomorphic figure seated on the divine throne.

Another possibility is that Moses is simply taking the place of his own heavenly self–his heavenly counterpart, or twin.  There is a good deal of ancient literature that presents the idea that when a visionary ascends to heaven, he is sometimes presented with an angelic being, whom he is told is a heavenly version of himself. Sometimes the “twin” is seated on a throne and the visionary often either “becomes” the person on the throne or takes the person’s place.  For more on this idea, see Kerry Shirts’ great set of YouTube videos on the topic here. 

Of course, the figure on the throne could be Yahweh himself.  However, the idea that God would leave the throne and turn it over to Moses is hard for most scholars to swallow. While examples of God sharing the throne are abundant, as is the idea of God setting up thrones for others to rule under him, the idea that God would leave His own throne for a mortal is unprecedented.  However, since the text is so obscure and it is hard to trace its history, we can really only speculate where Ezekiel the Tragedian came up with this idea and what he meant by it.

In any case, I provide here some relevant passages that help give background to this theme:

Solomon on the Throne

1 Chronicles 29:20, 23 Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD and the king. 23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.

Adam on the Throne –Testament of Abraham

XI. So Michael turned the chariot and brought Abraham to the east, to the first gate of heaven; and Abraham saw two ways, the one narrow and contracted, the other broad and spacious, and there he saw two gates, the one broad on the broad way, and the other narrow on the narrow way. And outside the two gates there he saw a man sitting upon a golden throne, and the appearance of that man was terrible, as of the Lord…And Abraham asked the chief-captain, My Lord chief-captain, who is this most marvelous man, adorned with such glory, and sometimes he weeps and laments, and sometimes he rejoices and exults? The incorporeal one said: This is the first-created Adam who is in such glory, and he looks upon the world because all are born from him…

Enoch on the Throne

1 Enoch 69:29 And from henceforth there shall be nothing corruptible;
For that Son of Man has appeared,
And has seated himself on the throne of his glory,
And all evil shall pass away before his face,
And the word of that Son of Man shall go forth…
(1 Enoch 71 seems to indicate that this Son of Man is Enoch himself)

2 Enoch 22:8 And the Lord said to Michael: Go and take Enoch from out (of) his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment, and put him into the garments of My glory. 9 And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appearance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its smell mild, shining like the sun’s ray, and I looked at myself, and (I) was like one of his glorious ones. 24:1 And the Lord summoned me, and said to me: Enoch, sit down on my left with Gabriel.

3 Enoch 10:1 All these things the Holy One, blessed be He, made for me: He made me a Throne, similar to the Throne of Glory; And He spread over me a curtain of splendor and brilliant appearance, of beauty, grace, and mercy, similar to the curtain of the Throne of Glory; and on it were fixed all kinds of lights in the universe. 2 And He placed it at the door to the Seventh Hall and He seated me on it.

Jacob on the Throne
In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen 28:12 the following story of Jacob can be found:

He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was fixed in the earth with its top reaching toward the heavens … and on that day they (angels) ascended to the heavens on high, and said, Come and see Jacob the pious, whose image is fixed (engraved) in the Throne of Glory, and whom you have desired to see…

A. Orlov explains that there are further implications possible in this imagery:

Besides the tradition of “engraving” on the Throne, some Jewish materials point to an even more radical identification of Jacob’s image with Kavod. Jarl Fossum’s research demonstrates that in some traditions about Jacob’s image, his “image” or “likeness” is depicted not simply as engraved on the heavenly throne, but as seated upon the throne of glory. J. Fossum argues that this second tradition is original. Christopher Rowland proposed that Jacob’s image is “identical with the form of God on the throne of glory (Ezek. 1.26f.)” (From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 114; Leiden: Brill, 2007), 408).

Selected Bibliography

Barker, Margaret. Temple Themes in Christian Worship. London: T&T Clark, 2007.

Bunta, Silviu. Moses, Adam and the Glory of the Lord in Ezekiel the Tragedian: Roots
     of a Merkabah Text. Dissertation. Milwaukee: Marquette University, 2005.

Cross, F.M. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
     Press, 1973.

Holladay, Carl R. “The Portrait of Moses in Ezekiel the Tragedian.” Society of Biblical
     Literature Seminar Papers 1976. Chico, Cal.: Scholars Press, 1976, 447-52.

Jacobsen, Howard. The Exagoge of Ezekiel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
     1983.

Meeks. The Prophet-King: Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology. Leiden:
     Brill, 1967.

Niehr, Herbert. “In Search of YHWH’s Cult Statue in the First Temple,” in K. van der Toorn, ed. The Image and the Book: Iconic Cults, Aniconism, and    the Rise of Book Religion in Israel and the Ancient Near East. Leuven: Peters, 1997, 73-96.

Oppenheim, A. Leo. “The Golden Garments of the Gods.” JNES 8 (1949): 172-193.

Orlov, Andrei. “In the Mirror of the Divine Face: The Enochic Features of the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian.” The Giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. eds. G. Brooks, H. Najman, L. Stuckenbruck; Themes in Biblical Narrative; Leiden: Brill, 2008, 183-199.

_______. “Moses’ Heavenly Counterpart in the Book of Jubilees and the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian.” Biblica 88 (2007): 153-173.

_______. “Vested with Adam’s Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies.” Xristianskij Vostok 4.10 (2002).

Robertson, R. G. “Ezekiel the Tragedian,” in Charlesworth, James H., ed. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 2. Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, 1985, 803-819.

Van der Horst, Pieter. “Moses’ Throne Vision in Ezekiel the Dramatist,” JJS 34 (1983): 21-29

________. “Some Notes on the Exagoge of Ezekiel.” Mnemosyne 37 (1984): 354-75.

Earlier on this week in Dr. Orlov’s class we had an absolute smorgasbord of a discussion.  The subject was the text often called The Life of Adam and Eve, known from the many manuscripts extant in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Slavonic, Coptic (fragments), Georgian, and Armenian. This document is an apocryphal story of Adam and Eve which expands on the Genesis story. To see English translations of the various versions of the story, please go here.  Some versions are not complete and/or have additional narratives included, so it is helpful to compare the different versions.

It is hard to know when this document was written. It was very influential among Christians from early AD to the Middle Ages.  It has many features that appear to be very Christian, likely because it passed through the hands of so many Christian editors, but most of the traditions present are definitely Jewish (according to Orlov). There is a possibility that the bulk of the material could have originally come from Jewish sources/traditions. In Orlov’s view, it is important if this is based on Jewish traditions. He would actually be very disappointed if it were not. If it is Jewish, much of what is in Gospels can be traced back to this type of tradition–if it isn’t of Jewish origin, this tradition is based on Gospels (which Orlov said would “steal my soul”).

It is generally accepted by scholars that, of the versions we have, the earliest is the Greek version- which is sometimes referred to, interestingly (for LDS), as the Apoclypse of Moses.

Fall of Satan and His Angels and the Worship of Adam

The Life of Adam and Eve has many added details that would be of interest to latter-day saints. I would like to begin with its version of the fall of Satan and the related story about how God commanded the angels to worship Adam.  In this literature, we have a different version of the fall of Satan/rebellious angels than what we found in 1 Enoch. In this tradition, Satan falls before the fall of Adam–instead of later on in the time of Enoch.

We learn about all of this in the text under the section “Fall of Satan.” The text tells us of how Adam and Eve are feeling sorry for themselves and decide to repent and make penitence before the Lord by going and standing in the river (Adam goes to the river Jordan and Eve to the Tigris), with water up to their necks for 40 days (compare BAPTISM). While they are thus engaged, Satan comes to Eve to try to tempt her for a second time, disguising himself as a “cherub with splendid attire” or “a brilliant angel”. He persuades Eve to quit her penitence and go to Adam. When Adam sees that Eve has been deceived again, he is upset with her, but more so with Satan. Adam cannot understand this enmity and probes the Enemy for a reason:

What evil have we done to you? For it is because of your calumnies that we went out from paradise. Is it because we have caused you to be expelled that you are angry against us?
11.3 Or is it because of us that you were despoiled of your glory? Or is it, in some way, by our action that you are in such deficiency? Or are we the only creatures of God that you fight against us alone?

Satan reminds the human couple of events that transpired before, which they have no memory of (from the Armenian version):

12.1 Satan also wept loudly and said to Adam. “All my arrogance and sorrow came to pass because of you; for, because of you I went forth from my dwelling; and because of you I was alienated from the throne of the cherubs who, having spread out a shelter, used to enclose me; because of you my feet have trodden the earth.”
12.2 Adam replied and said to him,
12.3 “What are our sins against you, that you did all this to us?”
13.1 Satan replied and said, “You did nothing to me, but I came to this measure because of you, on the day on which you were created, for I went forth on that day.
13.2 When God breathed his spirit into you, you received the likeness of his image. Thereupon, Michael came and made you bow down before God. God said to Michael, ‘Behold I have made Adam in the likeness of my image.’
14.1 Then Michael summoned all the angels. and God said to them,’Come, bow down to god whom I made.’
14.2 Michael bowed first. He called me and said. ‘You too, bow down to Adam.’
14.3 I said, ‘Go away, Michael! I shall not bow down to him who is posterior to me, for I am former. Why is it proper for me to bow down to him?’
15.1 The other angels, too, who were with me, heard this, and my words seemed pleasing to them and they did not prostrate themselves to you, Adam.
16.1 Thereupon, God became angry with me and commanded to expel us from our dwelling and to cast me and my angels, who were in agreement with me, to the earth; and you were at the same time in the Garden.
16.2 When I realized that because of you I had gone forth from the dwelling of light and was in sorrows and pains,
16.3 then I prepared a trap for you, so that I might alienate you from your happiness just as I, too, had been alienated because of you.”
17.1 When Adam heard this, he said to the Lord, ‘Lord, my soul is in your hand. Make this enemy of mine distant from me, who desires to lead me astray, I who am searching for the light that I have lost.”
17.2 At that time Satan passed away from him.
17.3 Adam stood from then on in the waters of repentance, and Eve remained fallen upon the ground for three days, like one dead. Then, after three days, she arose from the earth,

Interestingly, the text informs us that the reason for Satan’s fall was that he refused to worship Adam, whom God had created. Because Adam is in the image of God, God presents him as worthy of veneration by the angels. He even refers to Adam as “god”.  Satan, feeling that he is older and thus superior to Adam, rebels and convinces many of his followers to do likewise. For this disobedience, God expels Satan and his angels from their glorious status in heaven and confines them to Earth.  Satan then decides to cause trouble for Adam, so that Adam may also lose his glorious status and become miserable like himself.

Note the following images depicting the events of this story:

Reproduction made by the Comte Auguste de Bastard between 1832 and 1869. In R. Green, Herrad of Hohenbourg:Hortus Deliciarum, pl. I.

The above image depicts the moment when God pronounces “Let there be light,” which is understood here to mean the creation of the angels. God is enthroned and giving the sign of blessing to his creation, the angels who stand on either side of the throne.

The above depicts Lucifer arrayed in distinctive garb, and holding the tokens of authority: a staff and orb. His wings extend over his attending angels, who display a scroll with the text of Ezekiel 28:12 written on it.

Hortus Deliciarum, fol. 3v., ca. 1176-1196, Hohenbourg (Alsace), from R. Green, Herrad of Hohenbourg:Hortus Deliciarum, pl. 2. Original destroyed in fire in 1870; the image here reproduces a tracing of the miniature by Christian Moritz Engelhardt (1812-1818).

Panel 1 shows Lucifer plotting rebellion against God with his conspiring angels. He no longer holds the tokens of authority that distinguished him in Folio 3r. The conspiring angels hold an unfurled scroll with the text of Isaiah 14:13–14 written on it. Panel 2 shows the struggle of the loyal angels under the leadership of the archangel Michael agains the rebel angels. Michael strikes the fallen Lucifer with a trident, while other angels similarly cast down rebel angels from the heavenly sphere to the lower realms.

And one more, just for fun:

Here all three Members of the Trinity are depicted–note that they all look identical.

For more information on these images, see this page.

As far as the fall of Satan goes, this text a tradition in which there is a pre-mortal war/rebellion in heaven and Satan and company are expelled at that early point. This idea is not presented so clearly in the Bible nor in the Enochic literature. 

Further Evidence for the Worship of Adam 

Juliana Vazquez, a fellow classmate, did some great research on the legends and traditions behind this story. With her permission, I share some additional notes from her presentation on the topic:

Three Different Forms of the Theme of Angels Adoring Adam (from Various Rabbinic writings)

1. Angels mistake Adam for God and almost exclaim “Holy!”, but God makes Adam sleep, showing that he is just human.

2. All creatures were so in awe of Adam’s God-like qualities that they want to worship him as Lord, but Adam corrects them.

3. Angels notice how much Adam resembles God and ask, “Are there two powers in the world?” 

Legends and Traditions Behind Adam as Made in the Image of God

A. Drawing on a collection of Dead Sea Scrolls fragments known as Words of the Luminaries (4Q504), some scholars argue that passages in Gen. 1 & 3 which say that Adam was made in the image of God perhaps signify that Adam shared in God’s brightness¹

1. Some Jewish renderings of these parts in Genesis have God making garments of light for Adam and Eve instead of garments of skin, arguing for the pluperfect tense so that A. & E. were wearing this luminous attire before the fall, which would make the most sense

a) Later Rabbinic writings focus on the luminosity & glory of Adam’s face rather than on his garments

B. In some of the 4th century writings of Pseudo-Macarius, the image and likeness of God in which Adam was created is closely conneced to his brightness and glory–Adam was created in “the luminous image of God’s glory”²

C. In early Rabbinic materials Adam acts as a Vice-Demiurge in creating the world

D. In an account of creation in 2 Enoch, God speaks of Adam thus: “And on the earth I assigned him to be a second angel, honored and great and glorious.  And I assigned him to be a king, to reign on the earth, and to have my wisdom.  And there was nothing comparable to him on earth, even among the creatures that exist” (30:11-12).³

E. TheTestament of Abraham identified Adam with the glorious man in heaven who sits upon a glorious throne at the gatges of pradise, looking at souls being judged and led either to heaven or hell: “And outside the two gates of that place, they saw a man seated on a golden throne.  And the appearance of that man was terrifying, like the Master’s” (11:4, rec. A)⁴

 My thanks to Juliana for her notes. There are many further items that I could, and would like to, bring out from The Life of Adam and Eve, but that will not all fit here at this time.

This page has further links that include more commentaries on these topics, including other Second Temple traditions, Patristic commentaries, and even material from the Koran on the veneration of Adam. 

Dr. Orlov had the following to say concerning the importance of this literature to Christians and the antiquity of the traditions (I am paraphrasing from my notes):

The New Testament is full of Adamic traditions–did the Christians suddenly make it all up? No, these traditions already existed when the Gospels were written. Matthew, Mark, etc., didn’t invent this material–they use many motifs that make sense only in context of Adamic traditions–(e.g.) Christ is presented as second Adam–These are traditions that far exceed the Old Testament material. The Enochic literature already has these traditions–the same set of motifs applied to Enoch. There are many mediatorial figures mentioned in Second Temple literature that pose as a Second Adam–how could this be a later development unique to Christians? It wasn’t. Son of Man is a Second Adam (Daniel 7)–Obviously this is pre-Christian–anointed Cherub is second Adam already in Ezekiel. Paul had access to these traditions in Jewish circles. This becomes standard Christian anthropology. Paul and Synoptics decided to use these traditions as vehicle for their theology–they claimed ownership. These traditions were not created from scratch by gospel writers and Paul. This all is present in Second Temple period. If there are Moses and Jacob traditions which are ancient, why not ancient Adamic traditions? A lot of these Adamic traditions are attested to in Josephus–he certainly wasn’t Christian.

I see these traditions as helpful to our understanding of what Israel believed about God, what the Jews were expecting in a Messiah, how Christians understood the figure of Jesus Christ, and the doctrines of the temple (both ancient and modern). Adam was believed to be the image of God, just as the pagans had images/idols of their gods.  Adam was the earthly representation of the Lord, made from the earth to resemble Him in every way. Before the Fall, Adam was even glorious and shining like God. Later prophets, priests, and kings were supposed to represent Adam, the first prophet, priest, and king. Individuals who entered the temple acted out a progressive return to heaven, reversing Adam’s departure. Those who returned to the presence of God were seen as regaining the luminous glory of the pre-lapsarian Adam (e.g. Moses’ glowing face after seeing YHWH on Mt. Sinai). Some believed that the figure who Ezekiel saw in his merkabah vision was Adam, the physical image of God. He is seen as the divine anthropomorphic figure sitting on the heavenly throne in many traditions. He is seen as having participated in the creation (some texts say that the Spirit hovering over the waters is the soul of Adam), and Adam is recognized as a god. Adam is seen as a mediatorial figure and is thus connected to the figure of the Messiah. In the NT, Jesus is called the second Adam. 

This is all very interesting to the LDS, because of the high status that Joseph Smith afforded Adam, calling him the archangel Michael (which I see as more of a position/title than a personal name), and placing him in the company of Jehovah in the creation of the earth, etc. Joseph Smith also connects Adam to the figure seated on the throne in Daniel 7, to whom the Son of Man will come. All these Adamic traditions may also give context to (you knew it was coming) some of Brigham Young’s ideas on Adam. Certainly, this topic deserves much more attention than what I have presented here, but hopefully these notes are useful as a starting point.

1. Andrei Orlov, “Vested with God’s Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies” from “Memorial Annie Jaubert (1912-1980)” Xristianskij Vostok 4.10 (2002) 740-755.
2. Ibid.
3. J.H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. I. (New York: Doubleday, 1983), 152.
4. Ibid., 888