God answered Abraham's question about evil with a revelation about the nations. He was angered at them on account of Abraham's descendants, the people who would be separated after him. "I will tell you what shall be, and how much shall be, in the last days. Look now at everything in the picture."
Abraham looked and saw what lay before him in creation.
He saw Adam and Eve. With them, the cunning Adversary. And Cain, who acted lawlessly through the Adversary's influence. Then the slaughtered Abel, and the destruction brought upon him through the lawless one. The first murder. The first blood spilled on earth. Not merely a crime of jealousy between brothers, but an act driven by the spirit of Azazel, who used human weakness as his instrument.
Abraham's vision widened. He saw Impurity personified, and those who lusted after it, and its pollution, and their jealousy, and the fire of their corruption burning in the lowest parts of the earth.
He saw Theft personified, and those who chased after it, and the arrangement of their retribution at the Great Judgment.
He saw naked men, foreheads pressed against each other in conflict, their disgrace and their passion against one another, and their punishment.
He saw Desire, and in her hand the head of every kind of lawlessness, her scorn and waste assigned to perdition.
The vision was a catalogue of human evil, each sin given a face and a body. Impurity. Theft. Desire. Each one traced back to the moment when Azazel stood behind the tree in Eden and handed the fruit to the first man and woman. From that single act flowed every corruption Abraham now witnessed unfolding through the ages like a scroll of devastation.
And He said to me: “Being angered at the nations9 on thy account, and on account
of the people of thy family who are (to be) separated after thee, as thou seest in the picture
the burden (of destiny) that (is laid) upon them10—and I will tell thee what shall be, and how
much shall be, in the last days. Look now at everything in the picture.”
And I looked and saw there what was before me in creation; I saw Adam, and Eve existing
with him, and with them the cunning Adversary,11 and Cain who acted lawlessly through
Cf. Gen. rabba xx. 8: “Upon thy bel ly s h a lt thou go: At the moment when the Holy One . . . said to
t h e s erpent upon thy belly shalt thou go the ministering angels descended and cut off its hands and its feet,
an d its cry went from one end of the world to th e other.” This legend was well kn own i n an t i q ui t y.
According to Syncellus (i. 14) the serpent h a d o r i gi n a l ly four feet; cf. also Josephus i. 1, 4, who declares
t h at the serpent was deprived of both language and feet. For the punishmen t of th e serpent see P irk e de
R. Eliezer xiv. (ed. Friedlander, p. 99 an d notes).
v.l. three.
This description really applies to Sammael (or Azazel), who had twelv e win gs (Pirke de R. Eliezer
xiii.), and who descended and, finding the serpent skilful t o do evil, mounted and rode upon it. Before
its punishmen t by God the serpent had the appearance of a camel, according to the same authority (ibid.).
A K omit.
Lit. “council of th e world,” so K; A S, “light of the worl d.” A dam (whose body is compounded of
the four primal elements) is the microcosm.
Azazel plays the part elsewhere assigned to Samm ael; h e uses the serpent as his instrument (cf. Pirke
de R. Eliezer xiii.).
In chap. xiii. (end) th e wick ed (as distinguished from the righteous) are spoken of as those who
“follow” Azazel, and “love” what he wills. They are Azazel’s “portion .” A striking fe at u r e o f o ur book is
the way in which th e souls and bodies of men are represented as possessed by either good or evil powers.
A K, world (which may be right). The word in S rendered coun sel is an un us ual one in this m eanin g.
A, men.
This apparently is the answer to th e question given at the end of the previous chapter. God allows
men to desire evil (with i t s inevitable punishment later) because of the treatment meted out by the
nations to the chosen seed (A braham an d his descen dants).
Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 3 (“th e serpent beguiled Eve in his craftin es”).
the Adversary,1 and the slaughtered Abel, (and) the destruction brought and caused upon
him through the lawless one.2 I saw there also Impurity,3 and those who lust after it, and its
pollution, and their jealousy, and the fire of their corruption in the lowest parts of the earth.
I saw there Theft, and those who hasten after it, and the arrangement [of their ret ribution, the
judgemen t o f t h e G r eat Assize].4 I saw there5 naked men, the foreheads against each other, and
their disgrace, and their passion which (they had) against each other, and their retribution.
I saw there Desire, and in her hand the head o f every kind of lawlessness [and her scorn and h er
waste assigned to perdition].6
