"Save me, God!". Thank you for visiting our website, before you start studying the information, please subscribe to our Orthodox community on Instagram Lord, Save and Preserve † - https://www.instagram.com/spasi.gospodi/. The community has more than 55,000 subscribers.

There are many of us like-minded people and we are growing quickly, we post prayers, sayings of saints, prayer requests, and timely post useful information about holidays and Orthodox events... Subscribe. Guardian Angel to you!

The story of the Fall of Adam and Eve is known to every believer. These are the first people whom God created on Earth. Translated, the male name means “son of the earth.” It is also often used to refer to the person himself. But the feminine is life-giving. They are considered the leaders of all humanity. Stories about them can be found at the beginning of the Holy Scriptures.

They were created by the Most High on the sixth day in the image of the Lord. The representative of the stronger sex was made from “dust of the earth.” According to some sources, the date of its appearance dates back to 3760 BC. e. he was endowed with a soul. He was allowed to stay in the Garden of Eden and eat everything except the fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. His responsibilities included:

• storage and cultivation of the Garden of Eden;
• naming all animals and birds.

The creation of the first man is the crown of the world made by the Lord. It is he who is characterized by royal dignity and the ability to rule the newly created world.

Also in the history of the Old Testament of Adam and Eve there is information that God is of the opinion that it is not right for a person to live alone. He decided to create a wife for him who would surround him with love. After all, love is the Almighty. So if the lover abides in God, then he is in him. In order for her to completely submit to her husband, she was made from a man's rib.

Garden of Eden

Almost every decade, scientists discover more and more new locations. But in the Bible the origin of Adam and Eve, as well as their places of stay, is described quite clearly. There are references to the area, recognizable toponyms. They are mostly attributed specifically to modern Ethiopia.

There is also a description of four rivers, among which there is a mention of the Tigris and Euphrates. That is why most travelers think that nowadays they are more likely to find the valley of these rivers. Among several options for finding these places, none has any significant evidence.

History of the Fall

The most important thread that runs through the biblical story of Adam and Eve is their fall. It was disobedience and temptation that led to the Lord punishing them quite seriously. There is no exact data on how many years the first people spent in this garden. Some sources say it was about 7 years. There they were pure and innocent.

According to the scripture, the serpent acted as the tempter of Eve, who offered her to try an apple from the forbidden tree. She refused for a long time, saying that God forbade them to do this. And those who disobey Him will certainly face death. But the serpent said that all this was fiction and that instead of death, they would have an epiphany about Good and Evil and they themselves would become Gods.

It is known about the fall of Adam and Eve from the Bible, where it is indicated that she nevertheless succumbed to his prayers. In addition to the fact that she herself tasted the fruit, she also encouraged her husband to do so.

Serpent symbolism

Why was he chosen as the tempter? This is a fairly important animal in pagan beliefs. They were credited with some magical abilities. It was believed that when they shed their skin, they were reborn. For the Jewish people, he was always the natural enemy of the god Yahweh and an opponent of monotheism.

Why did Eve give in to temptation?

The opportunity to compare with the Almighty gave rise to curiosity in the soul of the fairer sex. It was precisely such sentiments that prompted her to violate God’s commandments.

What is the meaning of the Fall of Adam and Eve?

The reason for this event was the free will of people. They did this act of their own free will. The devil can induce sin, but he cannot force him to commit it. Every person has the right to make their own choice.

After they tasted the fruit, they were called by the Lord. Adam said that the wife was to blame, and she shifted the blame onto the serpent. The result of this fall was the emergence of suffering and various diseases. People have lost the opportunity to live forever and lead a righteous life.

This original sin fell not only on the first people, but also on their descendants. In addition to expulsion from paradise, they were punished with other troubles:

• women will suffer more during childbirth;
• There will be a constant struggle for power between the sexes.

And the solution to this issue will in no way depend on the development of society and medical advances.

May the Lord protect you!

The story of Adam and Eve- The first people on Earth begins in the Garden of Eden. When the creation of the world was completed , The Lord settled them in a country called Eden. Here the Lord planted a garden of unprecedented beauty, called Paradise. The Bible says that the Garden of Eden is "in the east" and that a river flows through it, dividing into four rivers: Pishon, Tikhon, Tigris and Euphrates. The mention of the Tigris and Euphrates - real existing rivers, and two disappeared ones - contributed to the emergence of different opinions regarding the location of the Garden of Eden. It is suggested that it is located in Africa, others suggest that it is in Syria, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus or the island of Ceylon. However, these are just assumptions. Paradise, in which the first people once lived, was hidden from the gaze of man immediately after his fall, and in the Christian tradition is associated not with the real area, but with Paradise in Heaven - the abode of Almighty God.

There were a great many trees in the Garden of Eden, but two stood out: the tree of life (which gives eternal life) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said to Adam: “You may eat from every tree of the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Adam and his wife lived happily and serenely in the Garden of Eden, knowing neither illness nor mental suffering. But Satan, the leader of evil spirits and the enemy of God, also hated man, and therefore decided to disrupt their blissful existence, and, ultimately, destroy all of humanity. Entering the serpent and appearing before the woman in this form, he asked: “Did God truly say: Do not eat from any tree in paradise?” Eve responded that God allowed them to eat from all the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, otherwise she and Adam would die. The serpent, taking advantage of her inexperience and curiosity, assured her that the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were not at all deadly, saying: “God knows that on the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods who know good and evil". It was an outright lie, but the naive woman believed the evil spirit. She saw "that the tree is good for food, and that it is pleasant to the eyes and desirable because it gives knowledge, and she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave it to her husband, and he ate." The Bible does not mention what kind of fruit grew on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but according to tradition it is believed that they were apples.

Thus, “original sin” entered the lives of the first people, distorting the true, godlike nature of man. People disobeyed God, not realizing what terrible consequences this would lead to. According to Christian teaching, original sin weighs heavily on all people, and one can be freed from it only by repenting of sins and being baptized. After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and his wife began to distinguish between good and evil. Until then, they had walked naked without thinking about whether it was good or bad, but now they realized their nakedness, and made themselves “aprons” from fig leaves. Soon God came to walk in the Garden of Eden "in the cool of the day." Adam and his wife, not wanting to be seen by him, hid among the trees. God turned to Adam: “Adam, where are you?” He answered from behind the trees: “I heard Your voice in paradise, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Then the Lord asked: “Who told you that you were naked? Have you not eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?” Adam, instead of repenting of his sin, tried to shift the blame onto his wife: “The wife whom You gave me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the woman answered: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

God, of course, could no longer leave everything in the same state, and made a harsh, but necessary decision. The serpent (as a creature that Satan took advantage of) from now on had to crawl on his belly, the woman had to give birth to children in pain and submit to her husband, Adam had to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. In addition, Adam and his wife could no longer remain in the Garden of Eden; they were ordered to leave it so that they would not be able to eat the fruit of the tree of life and live forever. And at the gates of the Garden of Eden, the Lord placed a cherub and a flaming revolving sword on guard.

The history of Adam and Eve, and with them all of humanity, could and should have gone in a completely different direction. If they had resisted the lies that came to them from the depths of hell, they would never have lost their bliss. It would seem that Satan (the devil) managed to carry out his insidious plan, which ended in the expulsion of the first people from Paradise. Satan hated God, and, knowing that the Lord loves people very much, he decided to take revenge on Him through them. Realizing that sin leads to eternal destruction, loss of immortality and bliss, the evil spirit managed to seduce people. However, this was a temporary apparent victory for Satan, since the Lord had already provided for the salvation of mankind. Addressing the serpent, God utters words addressed to Satan: “...and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel” (Gen. 3:15). It was a prophetic word that spoke of the future salvation of mankind through the Savior of the world, who, after millennia, would come into the world as a man and fight Satan on behalf of all mankind. Despite all the suffering that Satan will try to inflict on the Savior, He will destroy the works of Satan and, ultimately, Satan himself (who will be eternally condemned in the lake of fire), and will give salvation, resurrection from the dead and eternal life to people who believe in Him. life, opening for them Paradise in Heaven. Thus, although the first people were expelled from Paradise (out of love for them, the Lord did not allow them to become eternally living sinners, like evil spirits), they immediately received hope for salvation in the future. It was then that “Adam called the name of his wife Eve (“life”), for she became the mother of all living.” This name reflected Adam's deep faith in God and a symbol of the bright hope of the first people in their Savior Christ.

Kraken - giant octopus

The Lost Tribes of Israel. Part 2

Navajo: the end of the third world

Giant Skrymir

Azazello

Azazello is one of Woland's henchmen; a small, broad-shouldered man with fiery red hair, a fang protruding from his mouth, claws on his hands and a nasal voice. ...

Logic games - think freely

With the advent of the first computer, the first computer games appeared. Among the large number of computer games, logic games are considered the most popular. ...

Principalities of Ancient Rus'

During the era of feudal fragmentation, three centers rose up and began the process of collecting lands. In the southwest, Vladimir-Volynsky became such a center, in the northwest...

Art should always teach what is beautiful, valuable and wise. Don't think that this process should bypass the film industry. However today...

Establishment of the Empire in Rome

Caesar's assassins were not supported by the poor of Rome, as well as by the majority of senators, who were afraid of the indignation of the soldiers and the common people. Brutus and the other conspirators fled...

The memory of many generations has carefully preserved and passed on to us the legends about the creation of the world, the names of the prophets and the texts of parables, the beauty of great holidays and the ancient calendar, according to which for centuries people lived, grew bread, played weddings and knew exactly what name to name their children. The Old Testament legends are the primary source that fed all the great Russian literary classics, exclusively spiritual in content. Without this knowledge it is impossible to fully comprehend Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky...

* * *

The given introductory fragment of the book Biblical legends. From Adam and Eve to the mighty Samson (Collective of authors) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

Adam and Eve

One day God created heaven and earth, and far in the east of the earth he planted a wonderful garden and called it Eden, which in Russian sounds like paradise and means “happiness, wealth.” Apple trees, orange trees, grapes, and bananas grew in paradise. And there were many more different amazing trees and flowers.

It was eternal spring in Eden. Roses always bloomed, rivers gurgled leisurely in the shade of spreading willows, ripe juicy fruits fell to the ground in the thick green grass.

Flower buds bloomed in the morning, the rivers beckoned with the coolness of clear waters, but the lovely garden was empty. There was no one to swim in the river, pick sweet berries, admire flowers and relax in the shade of large trees.

And then God thought that such boredom must be removed. And after thinking, I decided: “I will create a man like me.”

God took clay from the river, sculpted a man out of it, this man was a man, and God called the man Adam - (literally means "red"; the color of the clay from which the body was created).

Adam walked alone through the Garden of Eden, ate sweet fruits, bathed in clear waters, but he was bored.

Then God sculpted various animals and birds from clay, brought them to life and brought them to Adam. And Adam gave a name to every beast and every bird. He called the elephant an elephant, and he called the eagle flying in the sky an eagle. He called the prickly hedgehog in the grass a hedgehog, he called the hare running across the field a hare, and he called a small blue bird a tit. The first earthly man Adam gave everyone names.

But Adam still walked around sad, without a smile, because he did not have a close friend whom he could love and care about.

God saw that Adam was walking sadly, and then said:

“It’s not right for Adam to be alone.” I will make him a true friend.

God put Adam to sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took Adam’s rib from under his heart and made a woman from the rib.

When Adam woke up, he looked at the woman and said:

- You are beautiful! My name is Adam, and I will call you Eve - (literally " life"; she was created from living things Adam). You will make my life happy. You will be my wife.

And Adam and Eve began to live in paradise. Live joyfully and happily.

They walked together, swam in the river together, together weaved wreaths of bright flowers and collected fruits from all the trees with four hands.

But there was one very beautiful tree growing on a high hill in the middle of Eden, and God strictly forbade Adam and Eve to pick its fruit:

– As soon as you eat one apple, you will die immediately.

And then Adam and Eve said:

– There are a lot of different fruits in heaven. We don't need fruit from this tree.

And on that forbidden tree lived an evil and treacherous Serpent. He was the most cunning, more cunning than all the animals and birds that God created and to which Adam gave names.

The Serpent decided to set up intrigues, to go against the will of God. I was patient and waited for Eve to approach the forbidden tree. And as soon as Eve approached, the Serpent tenderly asked:

– Is it true that God forbade you to pick fruit from the trees in paradise?

Not knowing that the Serpent had an insidious plan, Eve honestly answered him:

- It is not true! God treats me and Adam well, he loves us and allowed us to pick fruit from all the trees. Only from this tree you can’t. God said: “Don’t eat them. Anyone who eats an apple from this tree will die immediately.”

But the insidious Serpent said to the first earthly woman:

- God lied to you. He knows that you will become as wise and omnipotent as God himself if you eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. And the apple is very tasty, the most delicious among all the fruits of heaven.

And indeed, Eve saw what juicy, rosy apples were hanging on the forbidden tree, and Eve wanted to eat the forbidden apple.

Eve picked an apple, ate half, and gave the other half to Adam. As soon as Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple, they looked at each other and saw that they were naked. And they were ashamed.

And at this time God was walking in the shade of the trees in the Garden of Eden and loudly calling:

- God, I hear you, but I can’t reach you. I'm ashamed, I'm naked, I don't have any clothes on.

God approached Adam and asked:

-Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten the fruit that I forbade you to eat?

Adam got scared and said:

- It's not me! It was Eve who picked the apple and gave it to me.

Then God asked Eve:

– Why didn’t you listen to me?

Eva got scared:

- The Serpent taught me this!

God became angry and shouted:

- Evil and insidious Serpent! Because you deceived Eve, persuaded her to eat the forbidden fruit, you will crawl on your belly forever and ever and all people will curse you and hate you!

And God then said to Adam:

“And you, because you did not listen to me and ate the forbidden fruit, forever and ever you will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow - you will plow the land and sow grain, and every piece of bread will come to you through hard work.”

And God said to Eve:

“And you, Eva, will give birth to your children in torment.”

And God expelled Adam and Eve from paradise.

Adam cried, Eve cried, and they walked through a deserted and lifeless land, not at all like the Garden of Eden.

Adam began to plow the land and work from morning to evening to reap the harvest.

Adam and Eve had children. When the children grew up, they built cities, planted trees and populated the whole earth.

The serious question of the Bible is the question of biblical chronology - the question of the biblical "Six Days", the creation of the world in six days. We are not talking about an astronomical day, and the words are appropriate here: “For in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday.”

We know that time is relative. And it is quite obvious that God's day is not equal to man's day, which means that we should not measure God's time by our standards; The six days of creation are considered as the six main eras of the creation of the universe.

The too long life span of the ancient patriarchs could be due both to the fact that their life span was calculated in lunar months, and to the fact that the memory was kept not of the life span of an individual character, but of the existence of an entire dynasty (descendants).

Biblical chronology

1. Calculation

World creation - 5508.

Flood– 3242.

Abraham's Calling - 2040.

Birth of Isaac - 2015.

Birth of Jacob - 1955.

Relocation to Egypt - 1825.

Birth of Moses 1691.

Exodus from Egypt - 1610.

The Jewish calendar dates back to the creation of the world.

Christian chronology (the so-called new era) is carried out from the Birth of Jesus Christ - 2016 AD. e.; According to the Christian calendar, the creation of the world occurred: 5508 BC. e. plus 2016 AD, which means 7614 years ago.

2. Calculation of time.

According to Jewish tradition, the day was counted from one sunset to the next; the same countdown is accepted in the Bible, as evidenced by the following definition: “from evening to evening you shall celebrate your Sabbath” (Lev.).

There was no special word for day; the expression “evening and morning” was used, as mentioned in the history of the creation of the world (Gen.).

The ancient Israelites did not know the division into hours (the word “hour” first appears in the prophet Daniel).

After the Roman conquest of Palestine, the Israelis adopted the Roman word for "day".

The days had no names, and were designated by numbers: the first, second day, and so on, the first day began with Saturday (Mark). Seven days or days made up a week (Gen.).

The sixth day is the day of the creation of man.

Only one day, in addition to the numerical designation, also had a name - “Saturday”. The seventh day was called Saturday and was dedicated to God - in memory of the creator’s rest at the end of the creation of the world (Gen.; Exodus).

The Hellenistic Jews, after the conquest by the Romans, called the sixth day Friday and gave it another definition - “the day of preparation”, since in the evening of this day God was preparing to rest, preparing for the celebration of Saturday.

Thus, according to Jewish tradition, man was created on Friday, which is what they called the sixth day.

Subsequently, Christianity took away the seventh day from the Jews, calling it the Resurrection (and Saturday became the sixth day in the Christian calendar).

Let us formulate the final chord: “If you are an intelligent person, then provided that you are looking for yourself, meaning and truth, you will read that one book that attracted more attention than all the others.”

1 . There are two main stories in the Bible about the creation of man by God. One folk legend tells about God creating a man from dust and the breath of life, and a wife from his rib: “... and there was no man to till the land. And God Yahweh created man from the dust of the ground, breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the god Yahweh said: It is not good for man to be alone; Let us create for him a helper suitable for him... And the god Yahweh put the man in a deep sleep, and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs and covered that place with flesh. And God Yahweh created a wife from a rib taken from a man’s rib and brought her to the man (the wife was created from a rib taken next to the heart). And the man said: this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken from man.” To create Adam, God took from the earth “red,” “black,” “white,” and “yellow,” corresponding to each of the four parts of the world (Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia).

2. Another legend, a priestly one, developed among the Israelites during the first Babylonian captivity; in it, the creation of people completes the six-day creation of the world by God (here God is the Creator of the Universe).

At the end of the “sixth day” God created man: “And God said: Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness... And God created man in his own image..., he created him, male and female he created. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it...”

3. According to the first legend, Adam (literally: “red is the color of clay) was “created”, “formed” from “dust of the earth” (river clay), and his nature is twofold: flesh from the earth, soul from the breath of God. According to the second legend - the entire universe and people were created by the “word” of God out of nothing, man is godlike, God is wise - he himself gives the name to man. In the first legend, a man (Adam) was first created - to cultivate the land, for labor, and then, so that he would not be lonely, a woman was created. In the second tale, man and woman are created simultaneously “in the image and likeness of God” (no mention for “labor”) on the last day of creation (the sixth day) on the eve of the Sabbath (the seventh day), and are immediately blessed by God to reproduce and have dominion over the earth .

4. The story of the “seventh day” (God’s day of rest) does not end with the traditional ending: “And there was evening and there was morning” (after each day of creation God uttered this phrase).

In Christian teaching, this “day is not over” is the “day” of human history, it covers the time from the creation of man to the end of the world. The “six days” of creation are the six previous eras of the formation of the world in which there was no man yet. “The seventh day” is a time in human history (in Christianity it was called “Resurrection”).

Before the appearance of man, everything in the world depended on the will of the Creator. By creating man, God created a new being, which implies freedom and independence from the Creator. God himself limited his power by creating a sphere in existence where he could not enter without permission: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me.” "

There are several layers of life in a person: physical and mental, animal and cultural. And there is also a spiritual, spiritual one. Here's how the Russian poet Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev wrote about it:

O my prophetic soul,

O heart full of anxiety, -

Oh, how you beat on the threshold

What a double existence!

5. According to the biblical tradition (and above all the priestly tradition), all people go back to Adam, whom God made (Adam was not born, he was created, and in this way he differs from all future people; hence the “man-made”, “dustness” of man, as well as his divinity as a descendant of Adam (accordingly, his “right” to turn to his creator and “father” for help). In both legends, the true nature of a person is his “godlikeness,” and only after eating the forbidden fruit (interpreted by Christian teaching as the “first-born sin”, “the fall - disobedience to the will of God”) a person loses “likeness to God”, that is, immortality.

Expressions:

– not born, but died - about Adam;

- the fly got ahead of you - i.e., the creation of man after the creation of the animal world.

6 . “Garden of Eden” - in the Old Russian language the garden is expressed by the word “paradise”); Eden (literally: “pleasure, bliss”) is a place in the east of the earth; on the mountain from where the great rivers of Mesopotamia flow: the Tigris and Euphrates.

The state of the world created by God, the beautiful and good world (the place in the world where God placed man) is conveyed by the image of a wonderful blooming garden - paradise.

In the person of Adam and Eve, man is called to “cultivate and maintain the Garden of Eden” (that is, to participate together with God in improving the world). This was the case until the moment when Adam and Eve betrayed their Creator.

1. From the point of view of the strict biblical narrative, only one thing is known about Paradise - that there a person is always with God(Christ promises the repentant thief not just paradise, but says: “today you will be in Paradise”); he unites with God, contemplates him face to face (in Latin it is called visio beatifica, “vision that bestows bliss”).

The human fantasy of bliss (Paradise) is given in sensual visual images: “the eye did not see, the ear did not listen, and it did not enter the heart of man what God had prepared for those who love him.” It is also presented in purely metaphorical imagery: “enter into the joy of your master”; “Let us be like him, because we will see him as he is.” Here we can recall Dante’s path through paradise - it ultimately leads to the “vision of the Trinity.”

2 . In the Christian literary, iconographic and folklore tradition, the image of Paradise is developed in three forms: Paradise as a garden; Paradise is like a city; Heaven is like heaven. For each line, the starting point is biblical or near-biblical texts: for the first, the Old Testament description of Eden; for the second - the New Testament description of Heavenly Jerusalem (Apoc.); for the third - apocryphal (near-biblical) descriptions of the heavenly tiers inhabited by angels (The Book of Enoch the Righteous).

Eden in human history is the beginning of an innocent path (Childhood), unchangeable, true and truthful. The image of a “garden” is equivalent to the image of a space “fenced from everywhere” (this is how the Greek “paradise” is translated), and therefore peaceful, sheltered, habitable and friendly to people - as opposed to the “outer darkness” that lies outside the garden.

3 . The enclosure and isolation of Eden is explained by the fact that for the Middle Eastern climatic conditions garden - always an oasis, irrigated by running water (flowing water as a symbol of God, a symbol of grace). This garden (oasis) is sharply different from the barren (desert) lands - it is a kind of miniature world with its own special climate (in the poetry of the Syrian author of the 4th century Ephraim the Syrian, the quality of the winds of Paradise is emphasized, in comparison with which the blows of the ordinary wind are “plague and pestilent”; speaking of the four rivers flowing from Eden, Sirin writes that they are mysteriously mixed with the waters of the earth and sweeten their bitterness).

4 . Eden (ancient Hebrew - “pleasure, bliss”; translated into Greek with the word “paradise”; into Russian - with the word “paradise”, which became widespread) - “earthly Paradise”, which has a geographical localization in the east, gives an idea of ​​what should to be a land that was not cursed for the sin (Greek - “mistake”) of Adam and Eve. As a place that produces miraculous fruits, Paradise can be compared to the Greek myth of garden of the Hesperides and Avalon in Celtic mythology.

5. Paradise as a garden is a regular circle, reflecting the structure of the universe (“the circle of the heavenly lands”) and having three gates (the image of the Trinity), which are supported on pearl pillars (pearls symbolize spiritual light). Since Eden is all “bright with the glory of God,” similar to jasper (a precious stone, brilliant red quartz - often mentioned in the Old Testament), it does not need a temple as a special holy place. Paradise is like the earthly throne of God, and from the throne flows a “river of the water of life” and grows “on both sides of the river the tree of life.”

Adam and Christ

1 . According to one legend, Adam was originally a giant - his body extended from earth to sky; but subsequently, after the Fall, he became significantly lower (about six meters).

2. Tradition also speaks about the wisdom of Adam: Satan could not cope with the names of animals, but Adam could; by this God proved the superiority of earthly man over heavenly angels; Satan was in despair, since man turned out to be stronger (this is where the envy and enmity of Satan and man stems).

3. Ideas about Adam were further developed in Christianity. In the Gospels, Christ calls himself “Son of Man” (“son of Adam”). And since in the Old Testament Adam is God-like, this is how the image of Christ is understood.

4. Christ is a direct descendant of Adam, Abraham and David. This simultaneously pointed to the Jewish, human and royal in the origin of Christ. Starting from the Apostle Paul, Christ is called the “second Adam”, “new Adam”. Adam is interpreted as an image of the future - the times of the “second” or “new” Adam.

5 . The common fate of Adam and Christ is seen in the temptations that both were subjected to from Satan - the devil (Adam - in paradise, Christ - in the desert). However, only the “second Adam,” Jesus, overcame them and thereby became the savior of the human race “from original sin.”

6 . The biblical perception of Adam as the ancestor of people and the “new Adam”, Christ, as the savior of the human race, while Christ is conceptualized as a kind of antitype of Adam: if Adam fell into original sin and thus doomed humanity to death, then the “new Adam” will cleanse people from sin and will give humanity “eternal life” - “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall live.”

7 . The iconographic motifs stemmed from the typological combination of the images of Adam and Christ. So, the place of Christ's crucifixion – Golgotha(lit. “place of the skull”) is sometimes depicted as the grave of Adam, and a skull or skeleton is often drawn at the feet of the crucified Christ; it is depicted as the blood of the crucified being spilled on the skull of Adam, who awakens to life from this and collects the blood of Christ in a vessel (Grail). In the plot descent into hell The risen Christ frees the forgiven Adam from the underworld, along with other righteous people.

The history of the origin of the material for the Cross of Jesus.

According to legend, when Adam was dying, his son Seth went to the gates of Paradise in order to receive the oil of forgiveness and anoint his father's body with it. However, the appearing Archangel Michael announced that the oil of forgiveness would be given to the whole world in 5500 years (a prophecy of the coming of Christ) and gave Seth a branch from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, the fruit from which Adam tasted during the Fall. Handing over the branch, the archangel said: “ if you can revive this dry fruit, then it will be healed».

Returning home, Seth found Adam dead and put a dry branch in his mouth (according to other versions, Seth put a wreath woven from this branch on Adam’s head, or it was done by Adam himself, who was still alive at the time of Seth’s return). Then a tree of three fused trunks sprouted from it, from which the cross for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was subsequently made.

Researchers believe that the purpose of such a legend was to show the origin of Christianity (which was still a “young” religion at that time) from the most ancient tradition, literally “from Adam.”

It is believed that the cross of Jesus is made of different types of wood: the longitudinal beam is made of cypress, the transverse beam is made of date wood, the base is made of cedar, and the tablet with the inscription “Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews” is made of olive wood.

Tree of the knowledge of good and evil -

1 . According to the biblical book of Genesis, a special tree planted by God along with the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Symbolizes knowledge, the ability to consciously distinguish between good and evil.

“And the Lord God made from the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

These two trees were supposed to be one of a kind; inside the fruit of the tree of knowledge everything is mixed, good from evil has not yet been separated (God intended to separate it later, when Adam becomes perfect, mature - the second part of God).

2. The tree of knowledge becomes the center of the plot of the Fall. The first man, Adam, was warned that eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would lead to death:

“From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, do not eat from it; For in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

In the Western Christian tradition, based on the similarity of the Latin words “peccatum” (“sin”) and “pomum” (“apple”), the Tree of Knowledge is depicted as an apple tree, which is apparently borrowed from Greek mythology (the epic about the apple of discord).

Eve, created from the rib of Adam, as a result of a dialogue with the serpent, ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and gave it to Adam to eat. The consequences of violating the prohibition and refusing the proposed repentance were damage to the universe and man, expulsion from paradise, loss of access to the tree of life and death.

7 . According to the established Christian tradition, the devil, Satan is a fallen angel (expelled from heaven), “tempter” and “the embodiment of evil”; he did not want to submit to man, envying him (unlike Adam, Satan was unable to give a name to animals). In Christian traditions, it is customary to identify the devil (literally: “adversary”, “instigator”) with the serpent. And biblical legends psychologically accurately explain the behavior of the serpent and Eve in paradise; the serpent touched the forbidden tree (was on it), but remained alive, which demonstrated the groundlessness of Eve’s fears; he pushed Adam’s wife so that she touched the tree, seeing the “angel of death”, but she said to herself: if I die, God will create another wife for Adam, so I will let him also eat from the fruit - either we will die together or remain alive.

8. In the Christian biblical tradition, a unity of views was established that “original sin” distorted the “primordial nature of man,” created at first sinless and innocent, his “godlikeness”; salvation from its consequences is seen in the act of baptism. The act of baptism establishes the participation of the baptized in Jesus Christ (“the new Adam”), who atoned for “original sin” (“the first Adam”) with his innocent death.

9. Adam dies at the 930th year of his life (70 years, according to Jewish legend, he is inferior to David). Angels pray to God for forgiveness of Adam's sin. God forgives. The angels ask to bury the bodies of Adam and Abel in paradise (at that time paradise had already moved from earth to heaven) - God allows. Six days after Adam, Eve dies, having bequeathed to her children to carve the lives of the first people in stone.

10. Biblical legends see the main motive for human betrayal in the thirst for power. God warned his beloved creation, man, not to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil growing in paradise. God warned that the fruit from this tree - absolute knowledge - would be deadly for a person not yet prepared for it. However, the temptation to gain power overcame man’s love and trust in the Creator. “You will be like gods,” Satan inspired people in the form of a serpent, that is, he pushed them to betrayal (they could not resist the temptation).

11. In the Holy Scripture (Bible), good is life, light, fulfillment of the will of God, the giver of life; evil - death, darkness, submission to forces that hate all living things.

In Eden, before the Fall, our first parents had every conceivable blessing and could personally communicate with God. Moreover, they had the opportunity for spiritual perfection. But, succumbing to the temptations of Satan, who promised them that by moving away from God they would become free, the first people broke their spiritual connection with their Creator and received death instead of freedom. Almost the entire history of mankind is an attempt to build a happy life without the participation of God, only with the forces that man himself has.

Sin is the implementation of evil, its specific embodiment by a specific person. The burden of original sin (the first act in the history of the human race against the will of the Creator - eating the forbidden fruit) was very heavy, it changed the entire existence of humanity and the whole world. Having succumbed to evil, Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise - excommunicated from the ideal structure of their lives. Under the influence of sin, the very nature of man changed. Created immortal, he became mortal, subject to illnesses and vices: selfishness, hypocrisy, cruelty, lies, etc.

According to the Christian concept, the once beautiful Kingdom of God on earth (otherwise known as paradise) has turned into “this world” lying “in evil.”

12 . The Holy Scriptures tell us that the spiritual (heavenly) world was created by God first and was inhabited by invisible immortal intelligent beings, angels. Through them, God communicated his will to the world. Then the concrete visible tangible world was created - the earth (part of which is called paradise). And it was given to man to manage. Both the angelic world and the earth - paradise were built on the principles of love, freedom and joy. This arrangement of life in the Holy Scriptures (Bible) is called the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God on earth.

However, some angelic forces decided to reject the will of the Creator and seize his power and power. Having abandoned God, such angels became undead, from spirits of light and goodness they turned into evil spirits of darkness. Biblical traditions call them demons, devils; These same legends say that God did not create anything evil: evil became a distortion, a perversion of good, brought to its opposite.

13. The Holy Scripture tells about the rebellion of the greatest of the angels (the most beloved of God - at the request of God, he took clay from the bottom of the river to create man) - Lucifer or Dennitsa (Son of the Dawn), who wanted to compare with God in his power. The rebel was cast out of heaven.

The fallen Dennitsa is considered the leader, the prince of evil spirits - Satan (Hebrew "enemy""), the enemy of God and man. They see him as a serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, that is, who pushed them to betrayal.

The legends say:

1. Adam was created at age 20, and Eve came out of Adam's rib at age 13.

2. Adam and Eve lived in paradise for seven years.

3 . God expected Adam to express repentance, and then it was possible to leave Adam and Eve in paradise and let them eat fruit from the Tree of Life in order to become immortal.. To which Adam responded in the negative, and therefore he was forbidden to eat from the Tree of Life. Only by refusing to repent (and not after the sin itself) did Adam cease to be worthy of eternal life. So that man could no longer eat from the Tree of Life, God placed a seraphim with a fiery sword “oh keep the way to the tree of life».

4 . The expression "Adam's apple" - An Adam's apple is a protuberance on a man's neck that protrudes above his vocal cords. Legend has it that this is a piece of the forbidden fruit, an apple, that Adam ate. Since then, it has been stuck in his throat forever and serves as a reminder of original sin.

5 . The first clothes appeared in heaven - When Adam and Eve saw themselves naked, they covered themselves with the wide leaves of a tree called a fig tree. After the expulsion " The Lord God made clothes of skins for Adam and his wife and clothed them" God saw that Adam and Eve were dissatisfied with the fig leaf clothes they had made for themselves. So God showed kindness by making them beautiful clothes that they liked. For outerwear, the skin that the snake shed was used.

Adam and Eve valued these Heavenly Robes for their special qualities and carefully preserved them for future generations. They were marked with images of animals, and anyone who put them on acquired the gift of subjugating all animals.

7. God gave Adam a grapevine - When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, an angel, the messenger of God, appeared before them and gave Adam a grapevine as a symbol of fertility and life. This was the first plant that Adam planted on the desert land.

8. Eve took the four-leaf clover from heaven - as a memory of the lost paradise, and since clover was a plant from paradise, Eve considered it a sign of good luck. Each leaf of the quatrefoil was assigned magical properties: the first leaf is hope, the second leaf is faith, the third is love, and the fourth is good luck. And if two people eat a four-leaf clover together, then mutual and eternal love will break out between them. And legend says that Adam and Eve lived together for almost 1000 years.

9. God Created Adam Outside the Garden of Eden, (but Eve was born already in the Garden of Eden) and only when God created man, planted the Garden of Eden (rich and lush) and placed Adam in it. This Garden of Eden had boundaries; it did not fill the entire earth. According to modern research, Eden was located in the Middle East, on the territory of Iran, Iraq and other states.

10. God made the first covenant with Adam t (agreement, alliance - and there are six of them in total), having made a promise to save from the power of evil, but Adam violated the condition of the covenant, committed a sin (literally "error"), called the firstborn, that is, the first after birth.

11 . Adam and Eve eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge Ra and Evil, remained in Paradise for a long time. This follows from the fact that, having violated the prohibition of God, they made themselves an apron from leaves, and when they were expelled from Paradise, they were already wearing leather clothes. It is clear that the time path that a person had to go through from a girdle made of leaves to sewing leather clothes took more than one century, or even a millennium. The same conclusion follows directly from the biblical story: God made leather clothes for Adam and Eve before deciding to expel them from Paradise.

12. TO What real tree is hidden behind the image of the biblical Tree of Knowledge? Considering that Adam and Eve made themselves a belt from fig (fig) leaves, the fig palm can lay claim to this role more than other trees. As one legend says, all the trees in the Garden of Eden, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, refused to give their foliage for girding (see “Jewish Myths” by Robert Graves, Raphael Patai). But the fig palm is also suitable for the role of the Tree of Knowledge because there is a reason why God forbade Adam and Eve to eat its fruits: as soon as the fruits of the fig palm become overripe, alcoholic fermentation immediately begins in them. (For the same reason, the vine was considered the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - according to the interpretation of the Fall by the Jewish sages).

13 .The serpent tempting Eve there is no accident in the Bible. There are legends from which it follows that a woman used a snake to influence men (playing with snakes is attributed to the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Macedonian queen - the mother of Alexander the Great).

14. Satan (devil, Lucifer), the leader of evil spirits, hated God, also hated all of his creations - and above all man, and therefore decided to disrupt his blissful (innocent) existence, and, ultimately, destroy all of humanity. Entering the serpent and appearing before the woman in this form, he asked: “Did God truly say: Do not eat from any tree in paradise?”

Eve responded that God allowed them to eat from all the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, otherwise she and Adam would die.

The serpent, taking advantage of her inexperience and curiosity, assured that the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are not at all deadly, saying: “ God knows that on the day you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” It was the very first and most blatant lie on earth, but the innocent woman believed the evil spirit. She saw, " that the tree is good for food, and that it is pleasant to the eyes and desirable because it gives knowledge, and she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave it also to her husband, and he ate" The Bible does not mention what kind of fruit grew on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but according to tradition it is believed that they were apples (there are other versions).

According to Christian teaching, original sin weighs heavily on all people, and one can be freed from it only by repenting of sins and being baptized.

Tradition says that when Mary saw Gabriel, she did not immediately believe him, but in doubt asked: “Do you want to seduce Me like the serpent did Eve?”

15. The actions of the Tempter are thought out to the details. The serpent is wise and rational. Knowing about the characteristics of the Tree of Good and Evil, he seduces the first couple with fruits from this tree, fully armed with knowledge of human psychology. Especially women's. In essence, he tempts people with the vicious illusion of becoming equal to the Creator, of becoming equal to Him. Then humanity will live, again and again trying to implement this idea. Starting with the Tower of Babel...

16. The serpent is a mind striving for rational knowledge and explanation of the world around us. The serpent opens an eternal, insoluble dispute between faith and reason, between revelation and the logic of reason. Each of us listens to our reasonable inner voice, but we should not confuse it with the voice of evil.

17. In Judaism (Old Testament), people, the first couple of the Earth, are directly to blame for the Fall.

To strengthen Adam and Eve's sense of irretrievably lost good, God places them not far from Eden: they see a fragrant garden, but cannot enter it. This enhances the aspect of punishment for original sin.

In Christianity (New Testament), the devil is to blame for the fall of man. In Christianity, the serpent - the tempter turns into a rebellious angel, into Satan, into Lucifer, into the devil. And the root cause of this transformation is pride as the source of all sin. And, as a result, a rebellion against the Almighty, a calculated act of revenge.

Phraseological phrases

Adam's eyelids (times) – used in the meaning: ancient times.

Old Adam [man] - a sinful person who must be morally reborn. From here, “putting off the old man, Adam” received the meaning: to be spiritually renewed, to free oneself from old habits and views.

According to the legend, when God created grapes, he called for help three animals: a lion, a monkey and a pig, who breathed part of their souls into the fruit. Therefore, today the one who drinks a little becomes strong like a lion, after a few glasses he turns into a monkey, and the one who does not know how to stop falls under the table like a pig.

Fig leaf; cover yourself with a fig leaf -

The expression is used to mean: a hypocritical cover-up of something shameful, obscene, as well as a hypocritical disguise of true intentions or the true state of affairs.

Goes back to the Biblical myth about Adam and Eve, who after the Fall experienced shame and girded themselves with the leaves of the fig tree (fig tree) - another designation: fig, fig.

As an interpretation of the plot of the Fall, there is also such a version - the fig tree was the very heavenly Tree of Knowledge. Sometimes it is called a fig tree or a fig, the Latin name is Ficus carica L. This plant has the honor of being the first named in the Bible after the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - “what the first people sinned, they took advantage of to cover up their sin”;

One of the most mysterious events described in the Bible is the Fall of man; after eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, man lost his first home - Eden, or Paradise - “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves, and made aprons for themselves”; A fig is a fig tree, and since there are fig leaves, it means there are many fig trees around in Paradise. Many medieval artists imagined it this way, despite the legends about the apple.

“In the Middle Ages, Adam and Eve were often depicted in works of art. These figures were found on silver and zinc fonts of the 14th and 15th centuries, in the vestibules of Gothic churches; the figures were depicted girded with fig leaves, near the tree of knowledge” (words by Brockhaus).

They covered themselves with whatever they stood under. Paradise was planted with fig trees.

Josephus, in his famous Antiquities of the Jews, believes that as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve, who ate the forbidden fruit, “the tree appeared to influence their reason and thinking. Then they covered themselves with fig leaves and, hiding their nakedness under them, began to think that they were now even happier than before, having found what they previously needed.”

The biblical story of the Fall, in turn, comes from ancient Assyrian-Babylonian legends and is even illustrated in Assyrian sources with bas-relief images. Thus, one bas-relief on a cylinder, stored in the British Museum, depicts a man and a woman sitting near a tree and stretching out their hands to its fruits.

The spread of the expression was facilitated by the fact that from the 16th century. sculptures used a fig leaf to depict a naked body. This convention, which lasted until the end of the 18th century, arose as a concession to the church, which recognized the realistic depiction of nudity in art as sinful.

Specific Explanations... (according to biblical content and meaning)

1 . So what is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? What is the essence of the tragedy that we call the Fall?

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil really represented the absolute right of God to decide instead of man and for man - what good and evil are. It was “divine priority,” God’s priority.

In other words, before the Fall, man was in the light of the Divine vision (understanding) of these differences - good and evil. Evil already existed in the world in the person of a fallen angel, and not only one: Satan carried away with him a huge number of once bright spirits. (Some Holy Fathers argued that God created man for this purpose, in order to replenish the number of fallen celestials). There is no doubt that Adam, who gave names to the primordial animals, knew what good and evil were. Saint John Chrysostom discusses this matter as follows:

“Many debaters dare to say that Adam, after eating from the tree, received the ability to distinguish between good and evil. It would be extremely crazy to think so. So that no one could speak like this, for this purpose we, foreseeing this, recently reasoned so much about the wisdom given by God to man, proving it by the naming of the names that he gave to all the animals, and birds, and dumb animals, and by the fact that, in addition to this high wisdom, he He was also awarded the gift of prophecy. How could the one who gave names and uttered such a wonderful prophecy about his wife not know what is good and what is bad? If we allow this (which will not happen!), then we will blaspheme the Creator. How did He give a commandment to someone who did not know that crime is evil? This is not so, on the contrary, he clearly knew it. Therefore, from the beginning God created this animal (man) to be autocratic, otherwise he should not have been punished for breaking the commandment or rewarded for its observance.”

2. So what is the Fall? First of all, the fact is that a person arrogates to himself the right that does not belong to him to decide what is good and evil, that is, he usurps the right of God.

If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil posed a danger of such temptation for man, then why didn’t God remove it outside of Paradise and place it out of reach of people?

God created man in His image, endowing him with a special gift - free will. From the very beginning, man is a free being; he himself had to make his own choice.

« And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and desirable because it gave knowledge; and she took of its fruit and ate; And she gave it also to her husband, and he ate.”

John Chrysostom says: “After being seduced by the serpent, the wife thought to herself: if the tree tastes good, and can so delight the eye, and there is some inexpressible beauty in it, and eating from it will give us the highest honor, then why shouldn’t we eat from it? » From this thought it is clear that Eve does not realize that by eating from this tree, she is challenging the Creator and renouncing God. She trusts the serpent more than God. What's going on with Eve?

3. Eve picked the forbidden fruit and ate it, and the leprosy of sin was transmitted to her husband. She gave it to him and he ate it too. " And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves.”

Tradition exclaims on this occasion:

“Look from what glory and into what humiliation they have fallen! Those who hitherto lived like earthly angels invent clothes for themselves from leaves. Such is evil - sin. He not only deprives us of the highest favor, but also plunges us into great shame and humiliation, steals from us the blessings that we possess, and takes away all boldness.”

Indescribable shame and great horror took possession of the hearts of our first parents, Adam and Eve; They realized that something irreparable had happened - something that they could no longer correct on their own. So, even in the most fallen, most sinful state in which a person can find himself, the voice of conscience, the voice of God, which lives in each of us, does not completely fall silent, but continues to sound.

The German philosopher Kant said: “ “Most of all, two things amaze me and force me to believe in God: the starry sky above my head and the moral law in me.”

4 . Why is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil called this?

The biblical explanation is as follows: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was so named because through this tree, its fruit, man learned from experience what good is contained in obedience, fulfilling the moral commandments of God, and what evil is contained in opposition to this will of God.

St. John Chrysostom

«… Why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? And first, if you wish, let us consider what good and evil are. What is good? Obedience. What is evil? Disobedience. And then, so that we do not make mistakes regarding the essence of good and evil, let us carefully examine this on the basis of Scripture. What good and evil really consist in this, listen to what the prophet says: “What is good and what does the Lord (God) require of you (Mic. 6:8)? Tell me what's good? - To love the Lord your God. You see that obedience is good (comes) from love. And again: “My people have committed two evils,” says the Lord: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:13). Do you see that disobedience and abandonment are evil? So, let us remember that good is obedience, and evil is disobedience, and so we will understand both.

That is why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is so named because the commandment that taught obedience and disobedience was connected to this tree. And before this, Adam knew that obedience is good, and disobedience is evil, and then he learned (this) more clearly in fact ... " And he further explains:

“... Adam knew that obedience is good, and disobedience is evil, and then he learned more clearly when, having eaten from the tree, he was expelled from paradise and deprived of that bliss. When he was punished for eating from the tree, contrary to the divine prohibition, the punishment showed him more clearly, in fact, what evil is disobedience to God, and what good is obedience. That is why this tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if in its very nature it did not contain this knowledge, and man learned this most clearly from the punishment for disobedience regarding this tree? This is because Scripture usually names the places and times where and when events take place from those events. And to make this clearer to you, I will give an example. Isaac once dug wells, the neighbors decided to spoil these wells, as a result of this, enmity arose, and Isaac called the well “Enmity,” not because the well itself was at enmity, but because enmity arose for it. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is also called this way, not because it itself has knowledge, but because it has revealed the knowledge of good and evil. … it (served as) an exercise in obedience and disobedience.”

According to some theological judgments, the Tree was God himself, and its fruits were the sacrament.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and Moral Freedom

Why did God create the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil if the fruits from it brought death to people? Why did he plant it in Paradise? Did He really create this tree on purpose as a kind of door through which one could fall away from God?..

1. The Bible answers this: God did not create anything bad. The question is different: for Adam, the fruits from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil were deadly only for a time; and after he had reached sufficient maturity and perfection, God would have canceled this commandment, and then Adam could have eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil without harm to himself, and even with benefit: “ The Lord created man from the earth.<…>He gave them meaning, a tongue and eyes, and ears, and a heart for reasoning, filled them with insight of reason and showed them good and evil.”

2 . And only after Adam was tested and proved his maturity and absolute fidelity to goodness, then God would cancel the prohibitive commandment given by Him - for the sake of complete freedom, for the sake of complete bliss.

And then he would be able to bear complete moral freedom without any harm to oneself, but with benefit, for freedom for those who use it correctly is a great blessing. And before that, the fruits from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil posed a mortal danger to him as giving him premature complete freedom. First, fulfillment of the commandment, the essence of which is good, then freedom.

And at that moment - how easily Eve preferred the words of the serpent to the words of God and believed that God had deceived them and, out of envy, did not want people to become “like gods,” knowing good and evil; and how easily Adam chose to obey his wife rather than God. “They were young, their minds were immature.”

3. Eating the forbidden fruit was not the root cause of the violation of any prohibition or any crime. This was the final act, a kind of test for gaining consciousness, for independent thinking, for responsibility for one’s actions.

4 . Man was truly born not when God sculpted him from the soil, and not even when God breathed a living soul into him. It was a creation, the birth of an animal.

A man was born, that is, gave birth to himself, only when a woman decided to take the fruit from the tree of knowledge. This was the first reasonable and independent act of man, a true continuer of God’s work in the world. One can argue about the rightness or wrongness of the choice she and Adam made. But the very fact of “thinking” on this topic was the first manifestation of reason in the history of mankind - human consciousness. This is precisely the meaning of the “fall” episode.

The Fall is the moment of the birth of a full-fledged independent person.

5 . At the time of eating the fruit, Adam was not yet mature at all. Everything is mixed in it, like in the Tree of Good and Evil. He cannot make an independent decision and becomes a passive executor of the woman’s will.

6 . It is quite obvious that God himself pushed man to this. His remark regarding the tree of knowledge was a suggestive, provocative hint. He had not made such remarks, had never given such hints to any of his creatures before. He only addressed this hint to a person.

Among the infinite number of trees that were in the Garden of Eden, it is unlikely that a person could stumble upon this forbidden tree in the foreseeable future. It was precisely in order to draw a person’s attention to this single tree from the infinite number of trees in the garden, to force a person to think, to make an independent decision regarding its fruits, God informed him about the presence of such a tree and its location: from such is the tree that is located there - this and there - that, don’t eat.

7 . According to the biblical traditional interpretation, the Tree of Good and Evil gave freedom to man, for without freedom man could not become truly righteous and just. And in order to become, God knew what needed to be done, therefore he planted the “tree”, that is, gave him freedom and understood that only through this freedom a person, when he imagines himself that he is “like God,” only through self-knowledge can a person finally understand that, it turns out, he is nothing without God. This is evidenced by the entire subsequent history of mankind. It is in line with this direction that the content of the Old Testament is structured.

8 . Essentially, there was nothing in the Garden that was regarded as evil other than the tree and its fruit. It is unlikely that Adam and Eve gained new knowledge by eating the fruit.

It would be more accurate to say that their act of disobedience opened their eyes to evil. This act introduced sin (that is, evil) not only into their lives, but also into the future world.

“And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and desirable because it gave knowledge; and she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave it also to her husband, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves.”

9. God did not want Adam and Eve to sin (they learned what evil is, because they already used good in Paradise).

He knew very well what the consequences of sin would be. But, at the same time, he knew that they would sin and, thus, bring evil, suffering and death to the human and natural (as a whole) world.

So why did He place this tree in the Garden of Eden and allow Satan to tempt Adam and Eve?

The answer in the Bible is clear: God did this only to give them the right to choose. God allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve simply to speed up their selection process.

Two stories

So the first man, Adam, was created from the dust of the earth, from the soil of the earth, and then God breathed a soul into him.

But later, in the Bible, there is another story, telling about the creation of the Jewish people. Before their “birth”, the Jewish people, too (like God), are busy working with the earth, with clay and are almost the very last dust of the earth. But then God takes this dust of the earth out of Egypt into the desert and at Mount Sinai blows into it a new pure living soul - gives it the Commandments, turning this dust into a holy people. From the dust of the Egyptian soil, God sculpted the Jewish people, and then breathed into them a living soul - the Commandments. Laws.

God's Main Purpose

1. The only and main purpose of all Creation is the creation through Adam Abraham, the Patriarch of the Jewish people. All of God's creativity turned out to be concentrated on Abraham, for Abraham and for Abraham's sake.

The great Abraham did not always bear this name. In the beginning his name was Abram, and only in the middle of his life did Yahweh rename him Abraham - adding the letter a to him. So he was both Abram and Abraham, and the letter a in his name appeared only in the second half of his life,

2. By naming the name of the man for whom God created the world, the Bible further shows that not everything was so easy and simple along this path. It is not for nothing that man is the most skillful and perfect instrument of God.

To be truly such, a person must have the highest degree of free will, autonomy and independence. At the same time, a person must clearly perceive God’s plan. Creating such a person is not an easy task.

All subsequent chapters of the Old Testament are devoted to the process of formation of a person and a people called to become the perfect creative right hand of God (the Jewish people), the Creator of the world. Being absolutely free, a person must act as God requires.

The Creation of Man

1. The creation of man was a very complex and lengthy process. It was for the sake of man that God started His entire Creation. And God began the process of the Creation of man even when the earth was deserted and bare, and there was not a single blade of grass or a single living soul on it. And even earlier, when He said: “There will be light.” All the days of Creation are dedicated to the creation of man. The land was indeed still very clean at that time, not spoiled or desecrated by anyone’s presence.

2. Only at the end of the third stage (third day) of Creation do plants appear on earth. But up to this point the land was very clean. It is in this state that God begins the creation of man, Adam, from the earth (translated as “adamos”).

The entire process of building man lasted for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth stages (days). Creating various plants and animals from the simplest to those that are already very close to man, God gradually created and worked out “in the field” the elements of his main, target Creation - man... And only at the end of the sixth stage, when man’s home is ours the earth is ready, and all the conditions for its habitation have been created, the first living person, Adam, steps on the earth.

3. And He continued this construction until the end of the sixth period. And on the sixth day this construction was completed, and Adam arose.

This is how the Bible testifies to the evolution of life on earth.

The creation of man was truly difficult and painstaking work. In fact, in all the days of Creation, God Created man.

Garden of Eden

“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden to the east and placed there the man whom he had created.

“And the Lord God made to grow on the earth every tree that was pleasant to look at and good for food, and the tree of life in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“And the river for irrigating the garden flows out of the garden and there it divides into four branches.

– The name of one of them is Pichon. It goes around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

“And the gold of that land is good.” There's crystal and precious stone.

– And the name of the second river is Gihon. It goes around the entire land of Kush.

– And the name of the third river is Khidekel. It flows in front of Ashur. And the fourth river is Prat.

Where could the Garden of Eden be located geographically?

Perhaps the Garden of Eden was located in the Black Sea basin, which was formed as a result of the Great Flood when it was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosporus. This version was recently put forward by scientists who studied sediments at the bottom of the Black Sea. These bottom sediments do not correspond to marine sediments, but are land sediments.

The assumption that the Garden of Eden was located in this place is hinted at by the names of the four rivers flowing into this basin, namely: the Danube, the Dniester, the Dnieper and the Don.

When Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden, he settled somewhere nearby, and all his descendants settled there.

Then came the Great Flood. The level of the world's oceans rose, the waters of the Mediterranean Sea overflowed the Bosphorus Isthmus and flooded the Black Sea basin, forming the current Black Sea. Noah escaped on the Ark and, after sailing through the newly formed Black Sea, finally landed on Mount Ararat, off its coast.

Adam in the garden. Creation of Eve.

“And the Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work and to keep the garden as a symbol of his life.

- And the Lord God punished the man, saying: (fruits) from all the trees of the Garden you can eat.

“But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it you will die.”

1 . Here and everywhere below, the words of God should be perceived as an ordinary warning, a prediction. Don't do this, because there will be such and such consequences. This is not a threat, but an explanation of the situation, fatherly advice about the consequences of such an act. As for the timing of the execution of punishment for an offense, they really are within one day in (a day is like eternity!)) the system of God, that is, the very day when Adam was created, and which continues to this day.

2 . “And the Lord God said: It is not good for a person to be lonely.” I'll create an assistant for him.

- And the Lord God (sent) a deep sleep to Adam and put him to sleep, and took one of his ribs and covered his flesh.

“And the Lord God built a woman from the rib that he took from Adam and brought him to Adam.

- And Adam said: this time it is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And he called (her) “woman” (literally translated from Hebrew “muzhnina” - belonging to her husband), because she was made of a man.

“Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they will become one being.”

Why did God create man?

“And the Lord God said: It is not good for a man to be alone; I will make him a helper (standing) opposite him.”

The subtext of this phrase reveals the main reason for the creation of man. God, having accomplished so many creative deeds in the world, at a certain stage realized: It is not good to be alone in this world, (the lonely one) needs a helper, (standing) Against Him.

God is completely alone in his work; He needs an assistant in all material and spiritual matters. This should be the viceroy on earth, representing the affairs of God: “And the Lord blessed them, and the Lord said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over everything that creeps on the earth.”

This assistant must maintain order on earth and strengthen the entire edifice of the world, built through the works of God. He must learn from Him and continue His work. After all, the process of creating the world is not completed with the creation of man. This process continues. But now the man himself continues it. This is exactly what it was created for. He continues the work of God.

Man's sin

1. – And God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work and protect the garden as a way of life.

It is not without reason that the words are placed here: “for work and protection.” Man is placed in the Garden of Eden (Eden) in order to continue the work of God and preserve what He has already created: the garden, the trees. Maintain what has been achieved and achieve new results, continue to restore order and fight chaos.

2. This is how God perceives him, and this is how Adam perceives him at first. The main task of man on earth, in this Garden of Eden, is to work and preserve it. Thus, the following concepts need to be added to the synonymous series given above: garden, labor, storage, grain, fruits.

Man must become an independent, active transformer (of nature) of the material world. God gave him these powers - “the keys to the garden.” At the same time, He warned Adam: you can eat everything, with the exception of the fruits of the Tree of Good and Evil.

3 . There is clearly some kind of sacred meaning here, understandable only to God. Here there is “good and evil”, “good and bad”, “chaos and order”. Everything is mixed - mixer. And the mixture, meurav, is what God constantly struggled with throughout all the days of Creation.

Thus, the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” is the starting point from which man himself on earth will now have to begin the struggle, just as God once began it on the scale of the entire universe (it was evening and morning). And God, in a fatherly way, warns man: be careful, because you will not end up with troubles.

This is a philosophical point of view.

4. As for the applied physiological point of view, the fruits of this tree should have had some kind of narcotic effect on the human body, because only with narcotic influence on a person does a clouding of thinking occur, a shift in the boundaries of consciousness and subconscious, confusion (perfection)) of sober assessments and judgments about what what is good and what is bad.

5. How did it happen that the man did not listen to this fatherly advice? Didn't listen to God?

There is a standard, proven linguistic approach to this problem. If a tree had the properties of both good and evil, that is, it was “meurav” - “mix”, “mixture”, then its fruits were not yet ripe. Adam should have waited for the morning (in God’s time system, it could have been a millennium) when the fruit would ripen and the “evil” of its fruit would disappear - but Adam was in a hurry.

6. The main thing from an ethical point of view was the ban as such. As said earlier, it was not even a ban, but a recommendation, advice explaining some of the consequences of such an offense. The consequences included death.

Moreover, death here was, first of all, a symbol of chaos, a symbol of the opposite, an antonym of what God seeks, for what He fights. Thus: “if you, Adam, eat this fruit, you will rebel against Me and all My previous efforts”.

7 . This was the main thing in God's warning. That is why it was not worth touching the fruits of the tree. This is not a threat, but an explanation of priorities in motivating actions: are you on the side of good or evil, order or chaos in this world. God does not say the words that I will destroy you (synonymous with “I will kill”) - he only speaks about death (spiritual, alienation from one’s Creator).

The Bible then describes the course of events involving the serpent, the woman, Adam, temptation, and the Sages explain the reasons why Adam made the “wrong” choice.

8 . The events that followed were completely natural and logical. Adam at that moment was (and remains to this day) extremely imperfect, unripe, harvested like the fruits of that tree.

Allegorically, one can interpret (without distorting the biblical meaning and intent) that it was he himself, a man, and not some tree, who represented and continues to represent a fair mixture of “good and evil.”

9 . The struggle between good and evil took place and is happening inside the person himself, and not somewhere out there, outside. He committed this act, violated the prohibition of God, only because the forces of evil and chaos prevailed in him over the forces of good and order. And everything else: his wife, the seducing serpent, the fruits of the tree - all this was secondary, external, served as an excuse for Adam and his action, was the very “fig leaf” with which he tries to cover up his imperfection, his shame, his infidelity to the Creator, your nakedness; no, not physical nakedness, but spiritual nakedness.

10. And Adam’s wife herself was until recently a part of himself. And she has all the properties that are inherent in Adam. She first of all expresses his doubts, and only then her personal ones. So her offense is, first of all, his offense, his desire to go against God.

End of introductory fragment.

ADAM AND EVE - part 1

Creation

Yanna Chrobak. Adam and Eve.

In the Torah, the word “Adam” is used in different senses: “man”, “man”, “everyone”, “everyone”,
“people”, “first person”, and also as a proper name, used in the singular
(literally “son of Adam”).

In the Hebrew-Greek apocrypha "Oracles of the Sibyls", which researchers date back to the 2nd century BC
era, contains a legend about the origin of the name “Adam”, in which it is considered as an abbreviation,
consisting of the names of the four cardinal directions. This is motivated by the fact that God took the dust for creation
Adam from all over the Earth:
Ἀνατολή - east
Δύσις - west
Ἄρκτος - north
Μεσημβρία - south
And according to the Gnostic Apocryphon of John, the name “Adam” is interpreted as “a reflection of light.”

William Blake. Creation of Adam.

The Book of Genesis provides a fairly detailed description of the life of the first people, including the creation
Adam and Eve, temptation and the Fall, expulsion from Eden, as well as the subsequent resettlement of people throughout
to the world. Moreover, it contains two parallel stories about the creation of the world and man. According to the first
option, man and woman were created “in the image of God” at the end of the sixth day of creation, and they were given
to rule over all the earth and living creatures: Let us create man in our image, in our likeness
Ours; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And further it says: “And God created
He created man in His own image, in the image of God; male and female he created them.
According to the second parallel story, God fashioned man from the “dust of the earth,” breathed “the breath
life" into his nostrils.
The act of creation by Adam, according to the Jewish calendar, took place in 3760 BC. But in
Christian tradition, where the creation of Adam is calculated on the basis of the New Testament genealogy of Jesus
from Adam, there are many versions of this date.

V. A Kotarbinsky. Covenant with Adam. Fresco. Vladimir Cathedral, Kyiv.

Garden of Eden

After the act of creation, God places Adam in the Garden of Eden, and commands him to “till it and keep it.”
Among the plants of the Garden of Eden there were two special trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Lord allowed Adam to eat “from every tree in the garden” and only forbade him to eat the fruit of the Tree
knowledge of Good and Evil, warning that the consequence of disobedience will be death.
Then God brought all created animals and birds to man so that he could give them names.
The creation of Eve from Adam's rib is one of the darkest passages in the Bible. The book of Genesis tells about him twice,
but very briefly - “And God created man... male and female he created them”, and in more detail -
“...for man there was no helper like him. And the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; And,
when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs and covered that place with flesh. And the Lord God created from a rib,
taken from a man, his wife, and brought her to the man. And the man said, Behold, this is bone of my bones.
and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken from man.”

Numerous legends tell about how the first people lived in the Garden of Eden. So in the Book of Jubilees
(I-II centuries BC) Adam is depicted as the progenitor of civilization, whom the angels teach various
useful things while he tends to the Garden of Eden.

the Forbidden fruit

Adi Holzer. Garden of Eden. 2012

In general, everything was going great until the Serpent, who “was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that he created
The Lord God,” with tricks and cunning, did not persuade Eve to try the fruit of the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil. She not only tasted this fruit herself, but also treated Adam to it. As a result, Adam and Eve knew
Good and Evil realized their nakedness and hid from God. This is how the Fall took place, which
consisted in man’s desire to appropriate to himself the Divine right to decide what good and evil are.

John Roddam Spencer Stanhope. Temptation of Eve.

The offense was followed by punishment:
"The serpent was cursed and doomed to crawl on its belly and eat dust; the woman was destined
“to give birth to children in illness” and to be subordinate to the husband. And the man was appointed with sorrow
and toil by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life on the earth, which is cursed for his sake. People stopped
be immortal and after death must return to the earth in the form of dust, from which they came
Adam was created."

Giuseppe Cesari. Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.

Little is known about the further life of the forefathers: “Adam lived one hundred thirty (230) years and gave birth to [a son]
in his likeness [and] in his image, and he called his name Seth. The days of Adam after the birth of Seth were
eight hundred (700) years, and he begat sons and daughters. All the days of Adam's life were nine hundred
thirty years; and he died."

Burial

“It was enough for one man to fall in love with a woman,
so that the world becomes what it is."
Voltaire.

In Jewish tradition, the burial place of Adam and Eve is considered to be the Cave of Machpelah - the crypt of the patriarchs in
ancient part of Hebron, the name of which is mainly interpreted as referring to a double cave
or, like the name “Kiryat Arba” (literally - the city of four) and correlates with four pairs,
buried in the cave: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah.

Christian tradition connects Golgotha ​​with the burial place of Adam. Probably a Christian legend
about Golgotha ​​as the grave of Adam initially existed without connection with any specific place, and only
after Emperor Constantine's topographers established Golgotha ​​on the site of the current Temple of the Sepulcher
Lord, this place thereby became the grave of the forefather Adam.

In Muslim tradition, Adam is buried on Mount Abukai, near Mecca. And Eve's grave is in the city of Jeddah.

Piero della Francesca. Death of Adam.

According to the biblical story, Adam and Eve were long-lived. However, even in late antiquity it was
it has been suggested that the enormous life expectancy of the patriarchs actually suggests that
ten years should be counted as a year.
The opinion was also expressed that they should be counted in lunar months (930 l.m. = 930*29.5/365.25 = 75.11 years).
However, this version does not agree with a number of facts, in particular, with the fact that before the description of the Flood in
The Pentateuch says: “And the Lord said: My Spirit will not forever be despised by men, because
that they are flesh; let their days be a hundred and twenty years."

Peter Paul Rubens. Adam and Eve.

Be that as it may, all versions agree that in the end, Adam and Eve died.
However, Adam's adventures did not end even after death - they continued already in
the other world.

After death

Thus, the South Slavic translated apocrypha “The Death of Abraham” (I-II centuries), based on Jewish legends,
depicts Adam after his death as the gatekeeper of the other world, sitting on the throne.

And the Christian apocrypha “The Gospel of Nicodemus” (III-IV centuries AD), represents Adam as repentant
and forgiven. In Russian translation, these apocryphal stories were included in the Old Believer collection
"The Passion of Christ".
But the unique theme of the “handwriting” of Adam and the devil, perhaps, can only be found in ancient Russian
apocryphal sources. It is known in the Slavic version of the apocrypha about Adam - “The Tale of Adam
and about Eve from conception and completion" (circa 15th century).

Its essence is that the devil, by cunning, takes a serfdom (ownership) title from Adam to his children:
“The devil did not let him shout and say: “Write down your handwriting with me, and you are mine, and you are the earth.”
work”... The devil was delighted and said: “Sign up for me.” And Adam was taken weeping and writing the handwriting,
and the speech: “Whose earth is, of him I am my children.”

After this, Adam and all his descendants had to work on the earth. And after death their souls went
according to the “receipt” to hell. According to the same legend, during baptism Jesus Christ moved a stone
in the river, under which the “receipt” was kept, thereby destroying it and freeing the human race.

Adam and Eve after expulsion from Paradise. Medieval German miniature.

But one day Adam and Eve disobeyed God. And He expelled them from paradise. It happened like this.
The Lord allowed them to eat fruit from every tree in the garden, except fruit from the tree, which was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said that if they disobeyed this commandment, they would die.
But Satan, the enemy of God and people, decided to destroy Adam and Eve. One day he approached Eve in the form of a serpent and said: “Did God really say: ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’” Eve replied: “We can eat the fruit of all the trees, but only the fruit from the tree that is in the middle.” heaven, God did not tell us to eat, lest we die." Then the serpent, wanting to sow doubt in Eve’s heart about the sincerity of God’s love, began to deceive her, saying: “No, you will not die; but God knows that on the day on which you eat the fruit, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know good and evil".
When Eve, after the serpent’s words, looked at the tree, it seemed to her good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable because it gave knowledge. She picked the fruit from it and ate it, and gave it to her husband Adam to eat as well. And God said to Adam: “Because you obeyed the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying: “You shall not eat from it,” then the ground is cursed for your sake; with sorrow you will eat from it at all times. days of your life...By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return." The Lord expelled Adam and Eve from the beautiful garden and they could no longer return. That's why they are so sad in this picture.
This is how the fall of the first people occurred. According to the word of God, they died a spiritual death, and then a physical one. Spiritual death means that spiritual communication with God the Creator is interrupted. But God already then promises salvation to all humanity from sin through His Son Jesus Christ. You will read about this later in this book.

These two young men are the children of Adam and Eve. One of them, Abel. He tended sheep, and his brother, Cain, was a farmer.
One day Cain brought a gift to the Lord from the fruits of the earth. And Abel also brought some of his firstlings and their fat. And the Lord looked upon Abel for his gift, but did not look upon Cain and his gift. Cain became very upset and his face fell. Then the Lord said to Cain: “Why are you upset and why is your face drooping? If you do good, don’t you raise your face? And if you don’t do good, then sin lies at the door; it attracts you to itself, but you rule over it.”
However, Cain did not overcome his sin and continued to envy his brother. One day, when both brothers were in the field, Cain attacked Abel and killed him. The blood of the first person to die on earth stained the earth.
The Lord punished Cain for his sin and made him an exile and a wanderer on earth.
What terrible sin can envy lurking in the heart lead to! Therefore, to avoid sin, we must watch, pray, and overcome sin by the power of the Lord.
GENESIS 4:2-12

Flood. Noah builds the ark.

Many centuries passed, and many people appeared on earth - the descendants of Adam and Eve. At first, many of them feared God and served Him, but gradually everyone began to act against the will of God. Only one man, named Noah, remained faithful to his Creator and did His will. The Apostle Peter called him “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). The Spirit of God dwelt in Noah's heart. He loved God very much.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of people was great on earth, and that the thoughts and thoughts of their hearts were evil at all times; everyone has perverted their path on earth. Then God said: “I will destroy from the face of the earth all the people whom I have created... for I have repented that I created them.”
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God turned to him and said: “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with evil from them. And behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make compartments in it and coat it with pitch inside and outside. ...And behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all flesh under the heavens, in which is the spirit of life; everything that is on the earth will perish. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter into the ark, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
Hearing this command of God, Noah began to build an ark. (The Ark is a large ship). He often told the people around him that a flood would soon begin and destroy the whole world, and called on them to repent from evil deeds and turn to God. But no one wanted to listen to him.
GENESIS 6:5-18