Andrei A. Orlov
Vested with Adam's Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of
Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies
[forthcoming in: "Mémorial Annie Jaubert (1912—1980)"
Xristianskij Vostok 4.10 (2002). This paper requires the
fonts UT Greek Acient Bodoni and UT Hebrew Frankruhl]
Two Luminaries
In the group of the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments known under the
title the Words of the Luminaries (4Q504),[1] the following passage
about the glory of Adam in the Garden of Eden can be found:
... [ ... Adam,] our [fat]her, you fashioned in the image of
[your] glory ([™ë] ©S<ë úSî©<
™úøöé) [...] [... the
breath of life] you [b]lew into his nostril, and intelligence and
knowledge [...] [... in the gard]en of Eden, which you had
planted. You made [him] govern [...] [...] and so that he would
walk in a glorious land... [...] [...] he kept. And you imposed
on him not to tu[rn away...] [...] he is flesh, and to dust [...]
...[2]
Later in 4Q504, this tradition about Adam's former glory
follows with a reference to the luminosity bestowed on another
human body--the glorious face of Moses at his encounter with the
Lord at Sinai:
... [...Re]member, please, that all of us are your people. You
have lifted us wonderfully [upon the wings of] eagles and you
have brought us to you. And like the eagle which watches its
nest, circles [over its chicks,] stretches its wings, takes one
and carries it upon [its pinions] [...] we remain aloof and one
does not count us among the nations. And [...] [...] You are in
our midst, in the column of fire and in the cloud [...] [...]
your [hol]y [...] walks in front of us, and your glory is in
[our] midst ([S]ëSú<
™ë©S<ëS) [...] [...] the face of
Moses (™ùSî éô), [your] serv[ant]...[3]
Two details are intriguing in these descriptions. First, the
author of 4Q504 appears to be familiar with the lore about
the glorious garments of Adam, the tradition according to which
first humans had luminous attires in Eden before their
transgression.
Second, the author seems to draw parallels between the glory of
Adam and the glory of Moses' face.[4]
The luminous face of the prophet might represent in this text an
alternative to the lost luminosity of Adam and serve as a new
symbol of God's glory once again manifested in the human body. It
appears, therefore, that in 4Q504, traditions about Adam's
glory and Moses' glory are creatively juxtaposed with each other.
Unfortunately, the fragmentary character of the Qumran document
does not allow to grasp the full scope and intentions of the
author(s) of 4Q504 in making such juxtapostion. To
understand this juxtapostion better, research must proceed to
other sources where the association between the glory of Adam and
Moses was made more explicit. One of such sources includes the
Macarian Homilies, where the author vividly accentuates this
association. However, before our research proceeds to a detailed
analysis of the Adam/Moses connection in the Dead Sea Scrolls and
in the Macarian homilies, a short introduction to the Jewish,
Samaritan, and Christian materials about the glorious garments of
Adam and the glorious face of Moses is needed.
The Background: The Garments of Light
The Biblical passages found in Gen 1:26-27 and Gen 3:21 represent
two pivotal starting points for the subsequent Jewish and
Christian reflections on the glorious garments of Adam and Eve.
Gen 1:26 describes the creation of human being(s) after the
likeness (úSî©) of the image (íìö) of God. It is noteworthy that Gen
1:26-27 refers to the íìö (tselem)
of Adam, the luminous image of God's glory according to which
Adam was created.[5]
The particular interest in Gen 1:26 is that Adam's tselem
was created after God's own tselem (Sîìö<)
(literally "in our tselem"), being a
luminous "imitation" of the glorious tselem of
God. Some scholars argue that the likeness that Adam and God
shared was not physicality--in the usual sense of having a
body--but rather luminescence.[6]
The Tarqums, the Aramaic renderings of the Hebrew Bible, also
attest to the prelapsarian luminosity of Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. The Biblical background for such traditions
includes the passage from Gen 3:21, where "the Lord God made
for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them."
The Targumic traditions, both Palestinian[7] and Babylonian,[8] read, instead of "garments of
skin," "garments of glory." This Targumic
interpretation is reinforced by Rabbinic sources. One of them can
be found in Genesis Rabbah 20:12, which tells that the
scroll of Rabbi Meir reads "garments of light" (øS? úSúë) instead of "garments of
skin" (øS? úSúë):
"In R. Meir's Torah it was found written, 'Garments of
light: this refers to Adam's garments, which were like a torch
[shedding radiance], broad at the bottom and narrow at the
top.'"[9]
It is usually understood that Gen 3:21 refers to God's clothing
Adam and Eve's nakedness after the Fall. S. Brock,
however, argues that sufficient evidence exist to suggest that
there also was another way of understanding the time reference of
Gen 3:21. According to this alternative understanding the verbs
are to be taken as pluperfects, referring to the status of Adam
and Eve at their creation before the Fall.[10]
It is noteworthy that in the later Jewish and Samaritan sources,
the story about Adam's luminous garments is often mentioned in
conjunction with Moses' story. In these materials, Moses is often
depicted as a luminous counterpart of Adam.
Jarl Fossum and April De Conick successfully demonstrated the
importance of the Samaritan materials for understanding the
connection between the "glories" of Adam and Moses. The
Samaritan texts insist that when Moses ascended to Mount Sinai,
he received the image of God which Adam cast off in the Garden of
Eden.[11] According
to Memar Marqa, Moses was endowed with the identical
glorious body as Adam.[12]
Memar Marqa 5.4 tells that:
He [Moses] was vested with the form which Adam cast off in the
Garden of Eden; and his face shone up to the day of his death.[13]
The Adam/Moses connection also looms large in the Rabbinic
sources. Alon Goshen Gottstein stresses that "the
luminescent quality of the image (tselem) is the basis for
comparison between Moses and Adam in several rabbinical
materials."[14]
Deuteronomy Rabbah 11.3 offers important witness to the
Adam/Moses conection. It includes the following passage in which
two "luminaries" argue whose glory is the greatest:
Adam said to Moses: "I am greater than you because I have
been created in the image of God." Whence this? For it is
said, "and God created man in his own image" (Gen.
1,27). Moses replied to him: "I am far superior to you, for
the honor which was given to you has been taken away from you, as
it is said: but man (Adam) abideth not in honor, (Ps. XLIX, 13)
but as for me, the radiant countenance which God gave me still
remains with me." Whence? For it is said: "his eye was
not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deut. 34,7).[15]
Goshen Gottstein draws attention to another significant midrashic
passage from Midrash Tadshe 4, in which Moses poses Adam's
luminous counterpart. The tradition tells that
...in the likeness of the creation of the world the Holy One
blessed be he performed miracles for Israel when they came out of
Egypt... In the beginning: "and God created man in his
image," and in the desert: "and Moshe knew not that the
skin of his face shone."[16]
It is also remarkable that later Rabbinic materials often speak
of the luminosity of Adam's face,[17] the feature that might point to
the influence of the Adam-Moses connection. Thus, as an example,
in Leviticus Rabbah 20.2, the following passage can be
found:
Resh Lakish, in the name of R. Simeon the son of Menasya, said:
The apple of Adam's heel outshone the globe of the sun; how much
more so the brightness of his face! Nor need you wonder.
In the ordinary way if a person makes salvers, one for himself
and one for his household, whose will he make more beautiful? Not
his own? Similarly, Adam was created for the service of the Holy
One, blessed be He, and the globe of the sun for the service of
mankind.[18]
Genesis Rabbah 11 also focuses, not on Adam's luminous
garments, but rather on his glorious face:
Adam's glory did not abide the night with him. What is the proof?
But Adam passeth not the night in glory (Ps. XLIX, 13). The
Rabbis maintain: His glory abode with him, but at the termination
of the Sabbath He deprived him of his splendor and expelled him
from the Garden of Eden, as it is written, Thou changest his
countenance, and sendest him away (Job XIV, 20).[19]
Despite the importance of these late Rabbinic passages linking
the luminosity of Adam's body and Moses' face, the chronological
boundaries of these evidences are difficult to establish.
Rabbinic attestations to the Adam/Moses connection are also very
succinct and sometimes lack any systematic development.
Much more extensive expositions of the traditions about Moses as
the heavenly counterpart of Adam can be found in the writings of
the fourth century Christian author, the Syrian father, known to
us as Pseudo-Macarius.
Adam and Moses in the Macarian Homilies
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Adam/Moses
"glory" typologies for the theological enterprise of
the Macarian Homilies.[20]
The symbolism of the divine light seems to stay at the center of
the theological world of the Syrian father.[21] Adam's luminosity in the Garden
and Christ's luminosity at Mount Tabor serve for Pseudo-Macarius
as important landmarks of the eschatological Urzeit and Endzeit.
In dealing with these stories of the fall and the restoration of
the divine light in human nature, Macarian writings also employ
another important traditional symbol of the manifestation of the
divine glory in humans--Moses' luminous face. In his employment
of the Adam/Moses connection, the author of the Macarian Homilies
reveals profound knowledge of the Jewish and Christian esoteric
traditions about the glorious manifestations of Adam and Moses.
The story of Adam serves for the homilist as the starting point
of his theology of the divine light. Thus, from the homily II.12[22] the reader learns
that "Adam, when he transgressed the commandment, lost two
things. First, he lost the pure possession of his nature, so
lovely, created according to the image and likeness of God (ê<ô? S?êüí<
ê<? ?ìï?ù(éí ôï ?Sï ). Second, he lost the
very image itself (<ô?í ô?í S?êüí<)
in which was laid up for him, according to God's promise, the
full heavenly inheritance"(II.12.1).[23] Further, another important
passage in the same homily informs the reader that Adam and Eve
before the Fall were clothed (dí™S™)ì?íïé) with God's glory in place of
clothing (II.12.8).[24]
The homily shows a certain continuity between Adam's "very
image itself" and his glorious clothing. An important detail
in the narrative is that the homilist makes a distinction between
Adam's nature, created after the image and likeness of God, and
Adam's "very image itself;" he speaks of them as of two
separate entities which were lost during the Fall. This subtle
theological distinction shows the author's familiarity with the
Jewish aggadic traditions about the tselem of Adam--the
luminous image of God's glory according to which the first human
being was created. The Macarian association of Adam's garments
and his creation after the luminous image of God points us again
to the Qumran passage from 4Q504, where Adam is depicted
as the one who was "fashioned" in the image of God's
glory. It should be noted that besides this reference to
"image," both texts entertain several other parallels
that reveal similarities between the Adamic story in the Macarian
Homilies and the Adamic traditions at Qumran.
First, the Qumran Adamic account in 4Q504 8 is distinctive
in that it connects Adam's glorious state[25] with his ability to exercise
dominion[26] over the
rest of creation. 4Q504 8 reads:
... [ ... Adam,] our [fat]her, you fashioned in the image of
[your] glory ...You made [him] govern [...] [...] and
so that he would walk in a glorious land...[27]
Macarian writings also employ the same juxtaposition by linking
Adam's glory with his capacity to exercise power over the created
order by giving names to various things.[28] The Homily II.12.6 tells that:
...As long as the Word of God was with him, he [Adam] possessed
everything. For the Word himself was his inheritance, his
covering, and a glory that was his defense (Is 4:5). He
was his teaching. For he taught him how to give names to all
things: "Give this name of heaven, that the sun; this
the moon; that earth; this a bird; that a beast; that a
tree." As he was instructed, so he named them.[29]
A second important detail that connects the Adamic tradition at
Qumran with Macarian writings is that the luminous image (tselem)
of Adam in the Macarian Homilies is termed as "the full
heavenly inheritance."[30]
In II.12.1, it is also associated with a very valuable estate:
...he lost the very image itself in which was laid up for him,
according to God's promise, the full heavenly inheritance (êëç>ïíïì?<).
Take the example of a coin bearing the image of the king. If it
were mixed with a false alloy and lost its gold content, the
image also would lose its value. Such, indeed, happened to Adam.
A very great richness and inheritance was prepared for him. It
was as though there were a large estate and it possessed
many sources of income. It had a fruitful vineyard; there
were fertile fields, flocks, gold and silver. Such was the vessel
of Adam before his disobedience like a very valuable estate.[31]
The terminology found in this Macarian passage seems allude to
the Qumran Adamic materials, which also refer to Adam's
"inheritance." Thus, the Qumran Pesher on Psalms (4Q171)
contains a reference to the inheritance of Adam (í©? úìç) which the Israelites will have in
the future:
...those who have returned from the wilderness, who will live for
a thousand generations, in salva[tio]n; for them there is all the
inheritance of Adam (í©? úìç),
and for their descendants for ever...[32]
In previous studies, scholars[33]
noted that this passage from 4Q171 seems to refer to an
eschatological period characterized in part by a reversal of the
Adamic curse and the restoration of the glory[34] of Adam.[35]
It is important to note that the Macarian passage links the inheritance
with the large estate which includes a vineyard. The
reference to the vineyard is intriguing since in 4Q171 the
term, the "inheritance" of Adam, is closely associated
with the Temple[36]
and the Temple mountain.[37]
The foregoing analysis shows that the theme of Adam's heavenly
garments plays an important role in the theological universe of
the Macarian Homilies. The homilist, however, does not follow
blindly these ancient traditions, but, incorporates them into the
fabric of the Christian story. The Adamic narrative, therefore,
represents an essential part of the Macarian "glory"
Christology, where the lost luminous garment of the First Adam
has to be restored by the glory of the Second Adam, Christ. The
Second Adam thus must put on the body of the first Adam in order
to restore the lost clothes of the divine light, which now has to
be acquired by the believers at their resurrection.
However, in Macarian writings this "glory" Christology
is not simply confined to the Adam-Christ dichotomy but includes
a third important element, namely, the story of Moses, whose
glorious face serves as the prototype for the future glory
of Christ at the Transfiguration.[38]
The radiance of the patriarch's face remains in the Macarian
Homilies to be the mediator between the former glory of Adam lost
in the Paradise and the future glory of Christ, which will
eventually be manifested in the resurrected bodies of the saints.
Thus, in the Homily II.5.10-11, Macarius tells about the Moses
glorious face as the prototype of the future glory:
...For the blessed Moses provided us with a certain type (ôí ôýïí) through the glory of the Spirit
which covered his countenance upon which no one could look with
steadfast gaze. This type anticipates how in the resurrection of
the just the body of the saints will be glorified with a glory
which even now the souls of the saintly and faithful people are
deemed worthy to possess within, in the indwelling of the inner
man...[39]
In his presentation of the shining appearance of Moses, the
homilist, however, makes a clear distinction between the glory of
Moses at Sinai and the glory of Christ at the Transfiguration.
Moses' glory is only a "prototype" of God's
"true" glory. Macarius' understanding of Moses' glory
as the prototype (ôýï?) or the figure of
the "true glory" is observable, for example, in the
Homily II.47.1:
...The glory of Moses which he received on his countenance was a
figure of the true glory (ôýï? í ô?? ?ëçèéí?? ™üîç?).
Just as the Jews were unable "to look steadfastly upon the
face of Moses" (2 Cor 3:7), so now Christians receive that
glory of light in their souls, and the darkness, not bearing the
splendor of the light, is blinded and is put to fight.[40]
Another feature of Moses' glorification is that Moses' luminous
face was only "covered" with God's glory in the same
way as the luminous garments covered the body of the first
humans. According to Macarius, Moses' luminosity was not able to
penetrate human nature and remove the inner garments of darkness
bestowed by the devil on the human heart.[41] In II.32.4, the Syrian father
affirms that:
...Moses, having been clothed in the flesh, was unable to enter
into the heart and take away the sordid garments of darkness.[42]
For Macarius, only the glory of Christ is able to remove the
attire of darkness and "heal" the human heart. It is,
therefore, observable that for the Syrian father the glory of
Moses shows a greater typological affinity to the glory of Adam[43] then to the glory
of Christ.
A decisive feature of the Macarian Homilies is that the homilist
often emphasizes the connection between the luminosity of Adam's
heavenly attire lost in the Paradise and the luminosity of Moses'
face acquired on Mount Sinai. In the Macarian Homilies, the motif
of Moses' glorious face seems to serve as a sign of the partial
restoration of the former glory of Adam,[44] the glorious garment of light in
which Adam and Eve were clothed in the Garden of Eden before
their transgression. Moses’ glorious face is, therefore,
viewed by the homilist as the counterpart of the glorious garment
of Adam. The conflation of the two "glories," lost and
acquired, is observable, for instance, in the Homily II.12. After
the already mentioned Adamic narrative of Homily II.12, which
tells how Adam lost his luminous status and "obeyed his
darker side," Macarius sets before the reader the example of
Moses as the one who "had a glory shining on his
countenance."[45]
The Healing Motif
The employment of Adam/Moses connection in the Qumran materials
does not seem to be confined solely to 4Q504. There is
another important document which appears to entertain a similar
connection. In the Qumran fragment 4Q374, also known as
the Discourse on the Exodus/Conquest Tradition,[46] the portentous
clause can be found which connects Moses' shining countenance[47] at the Sinai
encounter[48] with
the motif of healing. The passage unveils the following
tradition: “[But] he (Moses) had pity with [...] and when he
let his face shine for them for healing (?ôøîì),
they strengthened [their] hearts again....”[49]
In this passage, as in 4Q504, God's glory is described to
be manifested through Moses' shining face. It appears that the
passage is related to the ongoing discussion about the luminosity
of Moses and Adam. Here again, as in the case of 4Q504,
the evidence found in the Macarian Homilies helps to clarify the
possible connection.
The Homily II.20 describes Christ as the true physician of human
nature who can heal the human soul and adorn it with the garments
of his grace. It is evident that the theme of healing is
interwoven in the homily with the motif of the luminous garments.
In unfolding this theme, the homilist, first, retells the Gospel
story about the woman who was cured of the blood flow by
touching of the garment of the Lord, and connects the
motif of healing with the theme of the garments:
... and again just as the woman afflicted with an issue of blood
believed truly and touched the hem of the garment of the Lord and
immediately received a healing and the flow of the unclean
fountain of blood dried up...[50]
Following the story of the healed woman, Macarius proceeds to the
examples of Adam and Moses. It is not a coincidence that in this
homily, as in 4Q504, Moses' name is mentioned in
connection with the theme of healing. From the homily II.20.6, we
learn that “indeed, Moses came, but he was unable to bring a
perfect healing (?ëë? ïê
?™)í?èç ?<(éí <íôSë? ™ï í<é).”[51] The conflation of
Moses' figure with the healing motif in the Macarian Homilies is
intriguing since it might indicate that the author of the
Homilies draws on the traditions similar to those that can be
found in 4Q374.[52]
The affinities between the healing motif found in the Macarian
Homilies and in 4Q374 include another important feature.
Both texts interpret healing to be the healing of the
human heart. The Qumran material speaks that after the
healing through Moses' shining countenance the hearts of
the Israelites were “strengthened” again.[53]
The Homily II.20.7 also links the motif of healing with the theme
of the curing (or cleansing) of the human heart. It tells that
“man could be healed only by the help of this medicine and
thus could attain life by a cleansing of his heart by the Holy
Spirit.”[54]
It seems that in both excerpts (4Q374 and Macarian), the
luminosity of Moses' face plays an important role. Although the
Macarian passage does not directly refer to the shining face of
Moses, the context of the passage, which deals with the garments
of the Lord, indicates that in the Macarian Homilies the motif of
"healing" is understood as the restoration of the
former Adamic glory, the glorious garments with which the first
humans were clothed in Eden before their transgression. The
author of the Homilies seems to view Moses' shining face as an
important step in the process of the recovery of the former
divine glory once manifested in humans during their life in
Paradise. According to the homilist, the glory would be restored
in humanity only later, in the event of the incarnation of
Christ, which brings "perfect healing" to the wretched
human nature. In this context, Moses' shining face appears to be
an important, even if not a "final," step in the
process of healing of human nature.[55]
An additional detail that connects Moses with Adam is that the
homilist understands Adam’s deprivation of the luminosity as
the wound which requires healing.[56] In II.20.1 and 20. 4-5, Macarius
links the loss of the external luminous attire by Adam with the
internal wound. The homilist tells that the human being who...
...is naked and lacks the divine and heavenly garment...is
covered with the great shame of evil affections... since ... the
enemy, when Adam fell, used such cunning and diligence that he
wounded and darkened the interior man... man was,
therefore, so wounded that no one else could cure him...[57]
Despite the extensive "usage" of the Moses typology in
the Macarian discussion of the Adamic "wound," the
whole purpose of this empoyment remains Christological. Here
again Macarius uses Mosaic traditions as the mediative tool for
his glory Christology.
The Homily II.20 recounts that Moses' “healing” was
incomplete in comparison with the healing of Christ, since it was
"external" and unable to heal the inner wound inflicted
by Satan at the Fall. In II.32.4, Macarius sums up the Mosaic
argument by telling that:
...Moses, having been clothed in the flesh, was unable to enter
into the heart and take away the sordid garments of darkness.[58]
Although Macarius tries to diminish the significance of Moses'
shining face in the process of healing the human heart, he still
seems to draw heavily on the Jewish traditions similar to 4Q374,
where Moses is depicted as the healer of the darkened human
nature.[59]
Conclusion
It should be noted in conclusion that the examination of the
Adam-Moses connection in the Macarian Homilies and in the Qumran
fragments might be mutually beneficial for a better understanding
of both textual corpora.
First, the evidences to Adamic and Mosaic accounts found in the
Macarian writings can extend the possible scope of the traditions
which were preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls materials in a very
fragmentary form. In the light of the Macarian evidence, which
provided an additional context for such traditions, it is not
unreasonable to suggest that the passage from 4Q374 might
speak about the healing power of Moses’ glorious face as
healing the “wound” of Adam in the weak human nature.
Therefore, in 4Q374, as well as in 4Q504, one might
encounter a very early tradition depicting Moses as the glorious
counterpart of Adam, the theme that later became a famous
leitmotif in numerous Jewish and Christian materials. Despite
that the Qumran passage about the healing in 4Q374 lacks
any reference to Adam or to his glorious garments, its close
affinities with the later Macarian evidence, where such
connections are explicitly made, seem to clarify the proper
meaning of the Qumran reference.
Second, it is also evident that both 4Q504 and 4Q374
can provide further insights for the background of the Adamic and
Mosaic traditions in the Macarian Homilies. Despite their
fragmentary character, these Qumran evidences about Adam and
Moses help one see that the Macarian employment of the Mosaic
traditions has in fact a strong polemical nature. The Syrian
father seems to try to diminish the significance of Moses'
"glorification" in the process of "healing"
human nature, depicting it as the external covering unable
to heal the inner wound caused by the Adamic transgression.
However, the testimony to the Mosaic tradition found in 4Q374 demonstrates
that the emphasis on the internal character of the healing was
already made at Qumran, where Moses' luminosity was depicted to
be potent to heal the human heart.
[1] On the Words
of Luminaries, see: M. Baillet, Un receuil liturgique de
Qumrân, grotte 4; 'Les Paroles des Luminaries' // Revue
biblique 67 (1961) 195-250; IDEM, Remarques sur l'édition
des Paroles des Luminaires // RevQ 5 (1964) 23-42; IDEM,
Qumran Grotte 4 III (4Q482-520) (DJD, 7; Oxford, 1982); E.
Glickler Chazon, "Words of the Luminaries" (4QDibHam):
A Liturgical Document from Qumran and Its Implications (Ph.D.
dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1991); IDEM,
4QDibHam: Liturgy or Literature? // RevQ 15 (1991-2)
447-55; IDEM, 'Dibre Hammêorot'; Prayer for the Sixth Day (4Q504
1-2 v-vi) // Prayer from Alexander to Constantine: A Critical
Anthology (eds. M. Kiley et al.; London, 1997) 23-27; C.A.
Evans, Aspect of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of
Jesus and the Gospels // Exile: Old Testament, Jewish and
Christian Concepts (ed. J.M. Scott; Leiden, 1997) (JSJSup., 56)
308-09; D. Falk, Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers in the Dead
Sea Scrolls (Leiden, 1988) (STDJ, 27) 59-94; F. García Martínez
and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Study
Edition (2 vols.; Leiden-New York-Köln, 1997) 2.1008-1019; K.G.
Kuhn, Nachträge zur Konkordanz zu den Qumrantexten // RevQ
4 (1963) 163-234; B. Nitzan, Qumran Prayer and Religious Poetry
(Leiden, 1994) (STDJ, 12); D.T. Olson, Words of the Lights
(4Q504-4Q506) // The Dead Sea Scrolls. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
Texts with English Translation. Vol. 4A: Pseudepigraphic and
Non-Masoretic Psalms and Prayers (eds. J.H. Charlesworth and
H.W.L. Rietz; Tübingen/Louisville, KY, 1997) 107-53; É. Puech,
La Croyance des Esséniens en la Vie Future (2 vols.; Paris,
1993) 2.563-568.
[2] F. García
Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition (2 vols.; Leiden; New York; Köln, 1997)
2.1008-1009.
[3] F. García
Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition, 2.1008-1009.
[4] On Moses
traditions, see: R. Bloch, Die Gestalt des Moses in der
rabbinischen Tradition // Moses in Schrift und Überlieferung
(Düsseldorf, 1963) 95-171; G.W. Coats, Moses: Heroic Man, Man of
God (Sheffield, 1988) (JSOTSup., 57); Death, Ecstasy, and Other
Worldly Journeys (eds. J.J. Collins,
M. Fishbane; Albany, 1995); C. N. T. Fletcher-Louis, Luke-Acts:
Angels, Christology and Soteriology (Tübingen, 1997); J. Fossum,
The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish
Concepts of Intermediation and the Origin of Gnosticism
(Tübingen, 1985) 90-94; IDEM, The Image of the Invisible God
(Göttingen, 1995) (Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus, 30);
S.J. Hafemann, Moses in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: A
Survey // Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 7
(1990) 79-104; P.W. van der Horst, Moses' Throne Vision in
Ezekiel the Dramatist // Journal of Jewish Studies 34
(1983) 21-29; H. Jacobsen, The Exagoge of Ezekiel (Cambridge,
1983); W.A. Meeks, Moses as God and King // Religions in
Antiquity: Essays in Memory of Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough (ed.
Jacob Neusner; Leiden, 1968); IDEM, The Prophet-King: Moses
Traditions and the Johannine Christology (Leiden, 1967); A.
Orlov, Ex 33 on God's Face: A Lesson from the Enochic Tradition
// Seminar Papers 39, Society of Biblical Literature Annual
Meeting 2000 (Atlanta, 2000) 130-147; A. Schalit, Untersuchungen
zur Assumptio Mosis (Leiden, 1989); J.P. Schultz, Angelic
Opposition to the Ascension of Moses and the Revelation of the
Law // Jewish Quarterly Review 61 (1970-71) 282-307; J.
Tromp, The Assumption of Moses: A Critical Edition with
Commentary (Leiden, 1993).
[5] For discussions
about the luminous garment/image/body of Adam, see: David H.
Aaron, Shedding Light on God's Body in Rabbinic Midrashim:
Reflections on the Theory of a Luminous Adam // Harvard
Theological Review 90 (1997) 299-314; S. Brock, Clothing
Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac
Tradition // Typus, Symbol, Allegorie bei den östlichen
Vätern und ihren Parallelen im Mittelalter (Regensburg,
1982) (Eichstätter Beiträge 4) 11-40; A.D. De Conick and J.
Fossum, Stripped before God: A New Interpretation of Logion 37 in
the Gospel of Thomas // VC 45 (1991) 141; A. D. De Conick,
Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of
Thomas (Leiden, 1996) (SVC, 33); L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the
Jews (7 vols.: Philadelphia, 1955) 5.97; Alon Goshen Gottstein,
The Body as Image of God in Rabbinic Literature // Harvard
Theological Review 87 (1994) 171-95; B. Murmelstein, Adam,
ein Beitrag zur Messiaslehre // Wiener Zeitschrift für die
Kunde des Morgenlandes 35 (1928) 255; W. Staerk, Die
Erlösererwartung in den östlichen Religionen (Stuttgart and
Berlin, 1938) 11.
[6] David Aaron,
Shedding Light on God's Body, 303.
[7] In Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan on Gen 3:21 the following tradition can be found:
"And the Lord God made garments of glory for Adam and for
his wife from the skin which the serpent had cast off (to be
worn) on the skin of their (garments of) fingernails of which
they had been stripped, and he clothed them." Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis (tr. M. Maher, M.S.C.; Collegeville,
1992) (The Aramaic Bible, 1B) 29. Targum Neofiti on Gen 3:21
unveils the similar tradition: "And the Lord God made for
Adam and for his wife garments of glory (ø÷S?© ïéùS<ì), for the skin of their flesh, and he
clothed them." Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis (tr. M. McNamara,
M.S.C.; Collegeville, 1992) (The Aramaic Bible: 1A) 62-63; A.
Díez Macho, Neophiti 1: Targum Palestinense MS de la Biblioteca
Vaticana (Madrid-Barcelona, 1968) 1.19. The Fragmentary Targum on
Gen 3:21 also uses the imagery of the glorious garments:
"And He made: And the memra of the Lord God created for Adam
and his wife precious garments (ø÷é© ïéùS<ì)
[for] the skin of their flesh, and He clothed them." M.I.
Klein, The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch according to Their
Extant Sources (2 vols.; Rome, 1980) (AB, 76) I.46; II.7.
[8]Targum Onqelos on
Gen 3:21 reads: "And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife
garments of honor for the skin of their flesh (ïS™ø>< êùî ì? ø÷é© ïéùS<ì), and He clothed them." The Targum
Onqelos to Genesis (tr. B. Grossfeld; Wilmington, 1988) (The
Aramaic Bible, 6) 46; The Bible in Aramaic Based on Old
Manuscripts and Printed Texts (ed. A. Sperber; Leiden, 1959) I.5.
[9] Cf. H. Freedman and
M. Simon (tr.), Midrash Rabbah (10 vols.; London, 1939) 1. 171.
[10] S. Brock,
Clothing Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac
Tradition, 14.
[11]J. Fossum, The
Name of God and the Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish
Concepts of Intermediation and the Origin of Gnosticism
(Tübingen, 1985) 93; A. D. De Conick, Seek to See Him: Ascent
and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas, 159.
[12] Fossum, The Name
of God, 94.
[13] J. Macdonald,
Memar Marqah. The Teaching of Marqah (Berlin, 1963) (BZAW, 83)
209.
[14] Alon Goshen
Gottstein, The Body as Image of God in Rabbinic Literature, 182.
[15] H. Freedman and
M. Simon (tr.), Midrash Rabbah (10 vols.; London, 1939) 7.173.
[16] Cf. Adolph
Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash (6 vols.; Jerusalem, 1967) 3. 168.
[17] According to
Jewish sources, the image of God was reflected especially in the
radiance of Adam's face. See: Fossum, The Name of God, 94; J.
Jervell, Imago Dei (Göttingen, 1960) (FRLANT, 76) 45.
[18] H. Freedman and
M. Simon (tr.), Midrash Rabbah (10 vols.; London, 1939) 4.252.
[19] H. Freedman and
M. Simon (tr.), Midrash Rabbah (10 vols.; London, 1939) 1.81.
[20] This feature of
the Macarian Homilies serves as additional proof of the close
relationship between Pseudo-Macarius and the various Syriac
developments in which the theme of Adam's garments plays an
important theological role. S. Brock notes the extensive usage of
the "clothing" metaphors in the Syriac tradition. He
shows that this imagery is closely connected with Adam
Christology: "...the first Adam loses the robe of glory at
the Fall; the second Adam puts on the body of the first Adam in
order to restore the robe of glory..." S. Brock, Clothing
Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac
Tradition, 16.
[21] The traditions
about the glorious garments of Adam and Eve were widespread in
the Syriac sources. [For a detailed discussion of this subject,
see: A. D. De Conick, Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision
Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas, 157-172; S. Brock, Clothing
Metaphors as a Means of Theological Expression in Syriac
Tradition, 11-38]. It is possible that the early Syrian authors
gained access to such traditions through their familiarity with
the Targums, the Aramaic renderings of the Hebrew Bible. The
Macarian Homilies, which were connected with the Syrian milieu,
demonstrate that their author was exposed to a great variety of
the Jewish and Christian traditions about the luminous garments
of the first humans.
[22] There are four
Byzantine medieval collections of Macarian Homilies. Three of
them appeared in critical editions. Collection I was published in
Makarios/Simeon: Reden und Briefe. Die Sammlung I des Vaticanus
Graecus 694 (B) (2 vols.; ed. H. Berthold, Berlin, 1973).
Collection II appeared in H. Dörries, E. Klostermann, and M.
Kroeger, Die 50 Geistlichen Homilien des Makarios (Berlin, 1964)
(PTS, 4). Collection III appeared in Neue Homilien des
Makarios/Simeon aus Typus III (eds. E. Klostermann and H.
Berthold; Berlin, 1961) (TU, 72) and Pseudo-Macaire. Oeuvres
spirituelles. Vol. I: Homelies propres a la Collection III (ed.
V. Desprez; Paris, 1980) (SC, 275). In references to the Macarian
homilies, the first uppercase Roman numeral will designate a
Collection, and the following Arabic numerals will designate a
specific homily and its subsections.
[23] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter (tr. G.A.
Maloney, S.J.; New York, 1992) 97. H. Dörries et al., Die
50 Geistlichen Homilien des Makarios (Berlin, 1964) (PTS, 4)
107-8.
[24] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 100.
[25] Cf. 2 Enoch
30:11-12 (the longer recension): "And on the earth I
assigned him to be a second angel, honored and great and
glorious. And I assigned him to be a king, to reign on the earth,
and to have my wisdom." F. Andersen, 2 (Slavonic Apocalypse
of) Enoch // The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. J. H.
Charlesworth; New York, 1985 [1983]) 1.152.
[26] E. Glickler
Chazon, The Creation and Fall of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls //
The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian
Interpretation. A Collection of Essays (eds. J. Frishman and L.
Van Rompay; Lovain, 1997) (Traditio Exegetica Graeca, 5) 15.
[27] F. García
Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition (2 vols.; Leiden; New York; Köln, 1997) 2.1009.
[28] Cf. also Gen
1:26.
[29] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 99.
[30] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 97.
[31] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 97.
[32] 4Q171 3:1-2. F.
García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea
Scrolls Study Edition, 1.345.
[33] M.O. Wise,
4QFlorilegium and the Temple of Adam // RevQ 15 (1991-92)
128.
[34] Cf. CD
3:20 "Those who remain steadfast in it will acquire eternal
life, and all the glory of Adam (í©? ©S<ë ìëS) is for them." F.
García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea
Scrolls Study Edition, 1.555.
[35] M. Wise observes
that this description in 4Q171 "jibes completely with
the concept of í©? ©S<ë
in CD." M.O. Wise, 4QFlorilegium and the Temple of
Adam // RevQ 15 (1991-92) 128.
[36] On the
identification of Eden with the Sanctuary, see: G.J. Brooke,
Miqdash Adam, Eden and the Qumran Community // Gemeinde ohne
Tempel/Community without Temple. Zur Substituierung und
Transformation des Jerusalemer Tempels und seines Kults im Alten
Testament, antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum (Tübingen,
1999) 285-299
[37]4Q171 3:11
"...they will inherit the high mountain of Isra[el and]
delight [in his] holy [mou]ntain." F. García Martínez and
Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Study
Edition, 1.345.
[38] Here again
Macarius draws on the established Christian tradition which can
be traced to Pauline writings (esp. 2 Cor 3), where the glory of
Moses and the glory of Christ are interconnected.
[39] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 74; Dörries,
62. The Homily II.5.11 repeats the same idea again: "In a
double way, therefore, the blessed Moses shows us what glory true
Christians will receive in the resurrection: namely, the glory of
light and the spiritual delights of Spirit which even now they
are deemed worthy to possess interiorly." Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 74.
[40] Homily II.47.1.
Pseudo-Macarius, The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great
Letter, 232; Dörries, 304.
[41] The Macarian
motif of the garments of darkness bestowed by Satan on the first
humans brings us to the connection between the Macarian Homilies
and the Targumic traditions. It has been mentioned previously
that the Syrian authors might have acquired their knowledge of
the Jewish aggadic traditions about the luminosity of the
garments of Adam and Eve via their familiarity with the Targumic
texts. Some features of Adam's story found in the Macarian
Homilies point in this direction. For example, the Homily II.1.7
tells that when "... Adam violated the command of God and
obeyed the deceitful serpent he sold himself to the devil and
that evil one put on Adam's soul as his garment - that most
beautiful creature that God had fashioned according to his own
image..." [Pseudo-Macarius, The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and
the Great Letter, 41]. This motif of Adam being clothed with the
evil one as his garment seems to allude to the Targumic tradition
which attests to the fact that God made garments for Adam and Eve
from the skin which the serpent had cast off. The Targum
Pseudo-Jonathan on Gen 3:21 tells that: "And the Lord God
made garments of glory for Adam and for his wife from the skin
which the serpent had cast off (to be worn) on the skin of their
(garments of) fingernails of which they had been stripped, and he
clothed them." [Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis (tr. M.
Maher, M.S.C.; Collegeville, 1992) (The Aramaic Bible, 1B) 29].
It seems, however, that the author of the Macarian Homilies
substantially edits this Targumic tradition. In the Macarian
Homilies, the garments of the devil become the attire of darkness
in contrast to the Palestinian Targum, where they are depicted as
the garments of light. On the garments of darkness, cf. also the
Homily II.30.7: "In that day when Adam fell, God came
walking in the garden. He wept, so to speak, seeing Adam and he
said: 'After such good things, what evils you have chosen! After
such glory, what shame you now bear! What darkness are you now!
What ugly form you are! What corruption! From such light, what
darkness has covered you!' When Adam fell and was dead in the
eyes of God, the Creator wept over him. The angels, all the
powers, the heavens, the earth and all creatures bewailed his
death and fall. For they saw him, who had been given to them as
their king, now become a servant of an opposing and evil power.
Therefore, darkness became the garment of his soul, a bitter and
evil darkness, for he was made a subject of the prince of
darkness." Pseudo-Macarius, The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and
the Great Letter, 192-93.
[42]Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 198.
[43] Cf. the Homily
I.2.3.14: "I think that the glorified face of Moses was a
type (ôýï?) and teaching of the first
Adam, formed by the hands of God, which death saw and was wounded
by it, not being able to look on it, and fearing that its kingdom
would be dissolved and destroyed--which, with the Lord, did in
fact occur." Alexander Golitzin, The Macarian Homilies from
Collection I, 3 (forthcoming); Makarios/Simeon: Reden und Briefe.
Die Sammlung I des Vaticanus Graecus 694 (B) (2 vols.; ed. H.
Berthold, Berlin, 1973) 1.9. I am thankful to Father Alexander
Golitzin for letting me use here his forthcoming English
translation of the Macarian Homilies from Collection I.
[44] Cf. the Homily
I.2.3.14 "Now, I think that when the enemy saw the original
glory of Adam on the face of Moses, he was wounded because [he
understood that] his kingdom was going to be taken away."
Alexander Golitzin, The Macarian Homilies from Collection I, 3
(forthcoming).
[45] "...Indeed,
the Word of God was his food and he had a glory shining on his
countenance. All this, which happened to him, was a figure of
something else. For that glory now shines splendidly from within
the hearts of Christians. At the resurrection their bodies, as
they rise, will be covered ((êS?æSô<é) with another vesture, one that is
divine, and they will be nourished with a heavenly food."
(II.12.14).
Pseudo-Macarius, The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great
Letter, 102; Dörries, 114.
[46] On 4Q374,
see: C. Fletcher-Louis, 4Q374: A Discourse on the Sinai
Tradition: The Deification of Moses and Early Christianity // Dead
Sea Discoveries 3 (1996) 236-252; C.A. Newsom, 4Q374: A
Discourse on the Exodus/Conquest Tradition // The Dead Sea
Scroll: Forty Years of Research (eds. D. Dimant, and U.
Rappaport; Leiden, 1992) (STDJ, 10) 40-52. On Moses
pseudepigrapha in the DSS, see: J. Strugnell,
Moses-Pseudepigrapha at Qumran: 4Q375, 4Q376, and Similar Works
// Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The New York
University Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin (ed. L.H.
Schiffman, Sheffield, 1990) (JSPSS, 8) 221-256.
[47] On the
luminosity of the Moses face, see: M. Haran, The Shining of
Moses's Face: A Case Study in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern
Iconography [Ex 34:29-35; Ps 69:32; Hab 3:4] // In the Shelter of
Elyon (JSOP, 31; Sheffield, 1984) 159-73; W. Propp, The Skin of
Moses' Face - Transfigured or Disfigured? // Catholic Biblical
Quarterly 49 (1987) 375-386.
[48] Crispin
Fletcher-Louis rightly observes that there is ample evidence that
the passage from 4Q374 was concerned with the revelation
at Sinai. Cf. C. Fletcher-Louis, 4Q374: A Discourse on the Sinai
Tradition: The Deification of Moses and Early Christianity, 238.
[49] F. García
Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition, 2.740-741.
[50]Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 151.
[51] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 151. Dörries,
190.
[52] Cf. also the
Homily I.2.12.7-9: "...the devil, by means of a tree and
serpent, used jealousy and trickery to deceive Adam and Eve, and
arranged [for them] to be thrown out of Paradise, and brought
them down from their purity and glory to bitter passions and
death, and subsequently, having received from them the whole
human race [to be] under his power, cased [it] to stray into
every sin and defiling passion... by his inexpressible wisdom,
God, making provisions for humanity, send forth Moses the healer
to redeem the People through the wood of his staff....therefore
half of piety was set aright through Moses, and half of the
passions healed (??èç) ..." Alexander Golitzin, The
Macarian Homilies from Collection I, 9 (forthcoming);
Makarios/Simeon: Reden und Briefe. Die Sammlung I des Vaticanus
Graecus 694 (B) (2 vols.; ed. H. Berthold, Berlin, 1973) 1.24.
[53] F. García
Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition, 2.741.
[54] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 152.
[55] It is noteworthy
that Macarius again follows here the established tradition which
connects the glory of Moses and the glory of Christ. The
beginning of such a tradition can be found in 2 Cor 3:7-4:6. See:
J.A. Fitzmyer, S.J., Glory Reflected on the Face of Christ (2 Cor
3:7-4:6) and a Palestinian Jewish Motif // JTS 42 (1981)
630-644; A. Orlov and A. Golitzin, Many Lamps are Lightened from
the One: Paradigms of the Transformation Vision in the Macarian
Homilies // Vigiliae Christianae 55 (2002) forthcoming.
The Synoptic accounts of Christ's transfiguration seem to be also
influenced by the Moses typology. Several details in the accounts
serve as important reminders of Mosaic tradition(s): the vision
took place on a mountain, the presence of Moses, a bright cloud
that enveloped the visionaries, a voice which came out of the
cloud, and the shining face of Christ. On Moses typology in the
Synoptic accounts of the Transfiguration, see: J.A. McGuckin, The
Transfiguration of Christ in Scripture and Tradition (Lewiston,
1986) (Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity, 9) 1-19; J.
Markus, The Way of the Lord (Louisville, 1992) 80-93; M.E.
Thrall, Elijah and Moses in Mark's Account of the Transfiguration
// NTS 16 (1969-70) 305-17.
[56] It should be
noted that despite the fact that the motif of Adam’s
luminous clothing is widespread in Aramaic and Syriac milieux,
the conflation of this theme with the imagery of healing seem
unique. See S. Brock, Clothing Metaphors as a Means of
Theological Expression in Syriac Tradition, 11-40.
[57] Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 151.
[58]Pseudo-Macarius,
The Fifty Spiritual Homilies and the Great Letter, 198.
[59] The Macarian
Homilies, therefore, can be seen as the set of the intense
polemics with the Jewish developments.