Chapter One
Between God and Satan
Inauguration into the Divine Image in Early Jewish and Christian Accounts
Then Michael came; he summoned all the troops of angels and told them, âBow down before the likeness and the image of the divinity.â ⌠And I [Satan] told him, âGo away from me, for I shall not bow down to him who is younger than me; indeed, I am master prior to him and it is proper for him to bow down to me.â The six classes of other angels heard that and my speech pleased them and they did not bow down to you. Then God became angry with us and commanded us, them and me, to be cast down from our dwellings to the earth.
âThe Georgian version of the Primary Adam Books 14.1â16.1
Introduction
The Armenian, Georgian, and Latin versions of the Primary Adam Books each contain an etiological tale that deals with events occurring immediately after Adamâs creation. According to the story, told retrospectively by Satan, the newly created protoplast was presented by the archangel Michael to angels whom he asked to bow down before Adam. Some angels agreed to venerate the first human being, while others, including Satan, rejected this proposal. As a result of his refusal, Satan was demoted from his exalted place. This scene exhibits several features of an inauguration ceremony during which the protagonist becomes inducted into the exalted role of the deityâs representative, understood by some interpreters as the office of the image or the icon of God. In the Primary Adam Books, Adamâs role as Godâs icon did not last long insofar as he was promptly removed from his exalted position after his fall. Some peculiar features of this protological initiation, however, are reiterated and adopted later in various Jewish and Christian materials in which the heroes were predestined to become new âAdamsâ by regaining the image of God in the eschatological age. As in the Primary Adam Books, where Satan plays a pivotal role during the heroâs inauguration, some other accounts include the presence of antagonistic figures. Our study will explore these peculiar details of Adamâs inauguration ritual and their impact on later Jewish and Christian accounts in which Enoch, Jacob, Moses, the Son of Man, and Jesus are inducted into the office of the image of God.
I. Induction into the Divine Image in Early Jewish Materials
Primary Adam Books: The Protoplastâs Inauguration
In order to better understand the complete pattern of conceptual developments pertaining to the ritual of induction into the divine image, we must carefully explore the description of it found in the Primary Adam Books. Although the macroforms of these books represent products of later Christian milieus, these Christian compositions can be seen as important compilations of early Jewish Adamic traditions.
Although many details of the induction ceremony can be found in other early Jewish accountsâincluding the Book of Daniel, the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian, 2 Enoch, the Prayer of Joseph, the Ladder of Jacobâin the Armenian, Georgian, and Latin versions of the Primary Adam Books, one can find almost all of the crucial elements of this ritual in its full conceptual complexity. From these versions of the Primary Adam Books, we learn that immediately after the protoplastâs creation, the archangel Michael brought Adam into the divine presence and forced him to bow down before God. This initial veneration of the deity will become a crucial component of other Jewish and Christian descriptions of the ritual. Adamâs veneration of the deity implicitly indicates that God may also be present in the account. Several other references suggest the deityâs presence, such as Godâs address to Adam after the ritual obeisance. In this address, as it appears in the Latin Vita, the deity tells Adam that his body was created in the likeness of the divine form: âBehold, Adam, I have made you in our image and likeness.â In the Georgian version Godâs address is directed not to the protoplast but instead to the archangel Michael: âAnd God told Michael, âI have created Adam according to (my) image and my divinity.â â
We learn further from the Primary Adam Books that all the angels were ordered to bow down to this human âicon.â A significant feature of the story is that Michael, who summons the celestial citizens for the act of veneration, does not ask them to venerate Adam, but instead commands them to bow down before the image and the likeness of God. So Adam, who previously was described as created after the image of God, here becomes suddenly identified as the image of God. Crispin Fletcher-Louis is right to posit that âthe identification of Adam as Godâs image is by no means an incidental detail of the Worship of Adam Story.â
In the Georgian version, Michaelâs command takes the following form: âBow down before the likeness and the image of the divinity.â The Latin version also speaks of the divine image: âWorship the image of the Lord God, just as the Lord God has commanded.â Likewise in the Armenian version, although Adamâs name is not mentioned, he seems to be understood now as the divine representative: âThen Michael summoned all the angels, and God said to them, âCome, bow down to the god whom I made.â â
The results of Michaelâs order to venerate the âiconâ of the divinity are mixed. Some angels agreed to bow down before it, while others, including Satan, refuse to do obeisance. In the Latin version the tradition of the image of God is reiterated when Michael personally invites Satan to âworship the image of God Jehovah.â In comparison with Michaelâs command that does not invoke Adamâs name, but rather refers to him as the âimage of God,â Satanâs refusal to worship now specifically mentions Adamâs name, seeing him not as an âiconâ but instead as a creature which is âyounger,â or âposterior,â to the antagonist. In Satanâs refusal to venerate Adam, one can also find the theme of âoppositionâ to the divine image. Yet, in the complimentary framework of the Primary Adam Books, such an opposition motif is not intended to deconstruct the exalted protagonist who is envisioned as Godâs image. Instead, it functions within the narrative as a device to reaffirm the protagonistâs unique position.
Both motifsâangelic veneration and angelic oppositionâplay an equally significant role in the construction of Adamâs unique heavenly identity, which climaxes in his exaltation. Angelic veneration as well as angelic opposition lead the human protagonist into his new supra-angelic ontology when he becomes an âimageâ or âfaceâ of the deity. Yet, it is important that the accounts contain not only angelic responses but also Adamâs own veneration of the deity. Adamâs own obeisance further establishes his intermediate position between God and the angels in his role as an âiconâ of the deity. Fletcher-Louis rightly points out that, âbecause the angels are commanded to respond to Adam as the image and likeness of God, the âworshipâ of Adam (if that is what it is) does not necessarily mean that Godâs singular, unique identity is now threatened by the worship of another figure.â Adam is presented ânot as the ultimate object of veneration but rather as a representation or an icon of the deity through whom the angels are able to worship God.â The identity of the protagonist, therefore, is constructed through the concept of the divine image. We will see similar developments in the Enochic, Mosaic, and Jacobite traditions where the exaltation of these biblical characters is executed through the concept of the divine image. The same initiatory device will manifest itself in early Christological currents where Jesus is envisioned as the image of the invisible God.
In the beginning of the Georgian and Latin versions of the aforementioned story in the Primary Adam Books, one finds some important additions to the version contained in Genesis regarding the motif of Adamâs face. These additions, attested in the Georgian and Latin versions, are of paramount significance for our study. The Georgian version recounts that God breathed a spirit onto the face of Adam. The same detail is also found in the Greek version of Gen 2:7. Though the Hebrew text does not mention Adamâs panim, in the Septuagintâs rendering of the passage, the deity breaths the breath of life into Adamâs face. In the Latin Vita 13:2 the face motif appears again. This time it seems to convey a novel tradition by declaring that the protoplastâs countenance was made in Godâs image: âwhen God blew into you the breath of life and your countenance (vultus) and likeness were made in the image of God. âŚâ Some scholars see the âfaceâ as the cognate of âimageâ in this passage. Thus, Steenburg argues that âthe use of âfaceâ in this passage is an irregular departure from the standard idiom of âimage,â a departure occasioned by the concern to relate Godâs image in Adam directly to his physical shape or visible appearance.â Fletcher-Louis follows Steenburgâs suggestion, postulating that when the Latin version of the Primary Adam Books 13:3 says Adamâs countenance is made in the image of God, it âaccentuates the focus on Adamâs role as Godâs visible and physical presence.â The Latin version, therefore, seems to entertain a conceptual link between the protoplastâs panim and the tselem, a link that will reappear in various other Jewish accounts of the âinauguration.â
To conclude our analysis of the inauguration ceremony in the Primary Adam Books, we must outline several important elements of this ritual:
1.Postulation of resemblance between the deityâs form and the protagonistâs form (Adam is first described as being created in the image of God and then later becomes understood as an icon of the deityâthe image of God);
2.Understanding the protagonistâs panim as his tselem;
3.The motif of the angelic veneration as an important element of the inauguration ceremony;
4.The motif of the angelic opposition/rejection as an important element of the inauguration ceremony;
5.The motif of the demotion of the exalted antagonist as an important element of the inauguration ceremony.
As this study will show, all of these elements can be found, in one form or another, in other early Jewish and Christian descriptions of the inauguration ritual where the motif...