Adam Falls Sick and Seth Journeys to Eden for Healing Oil

God pronounced three curses. One for the man. One for the woman. One for the serpent. And with those three curses, the world as it had been ended forever.

To Adam, God said: "Since you disregarded My commandment and listened to your wife -- cursed is the earth because of you. You will work the soil and it will not yield its strength. Thorns and thistles will spring up for you. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread (Genesis 3:17-19). You will toil without end. You will be crushed by bitterness but taste no sweetness. You will be weary and find no rest. Scorched by heat, frozen by cold. You will labor endlessly but never grow rich. The beasts that once obeyed you will rise in rebellion -- because you did not keep My commandment."

To Eve, the Lord said: "Since you listened to the serpent and turned a deaf ear to My word -- you will know the agony of childbirth. You will bear children in trembling, and in a single hour you will come to the edge of death from the pain. But you will cry out: 'Lord, Lord, save me, and I will never return to the sin of the flesh!' And from your own words I will judge you, because of the enmity the Adversary has planted in you."

Then God turned to the serpent in great wrath. "Since you have done this -- since you became a thankless vessel and deceived innocent hearts -- cursed are you above all beasts. You will eat dust all the days of your life. On your belly you will crawl, stripped of hands and feet. Not a single limb will remain of what you used to ensnare them. And I will place enmity between you and the woman's offspring -- he will crush your head, and you will strike at his heel, until the Day of Judgment" (Genesis 3:14-15).

The sentences delivered, God commanded the angels to drive Adam and Eve from Paradise. As they were being pushed out -- weeping, wailing, their voices echoing across the garden -- Adam begged the angels: "Wait. Give me just a moment to pray. Let me entreat the Lord for compassion. I alone have sinned."

The angels paused. Adam fell to his knees and wept: "Pardon me, O Lord, for what I have done."

But God spoke to the angels: "Why have you stopped driving him out? Is it I who have done wrong? Is My judgment unjust?" The angels dropped to the ground in worship: "You are just, O Lord. Your judgment is righteous."

God turned back to Adam. "I will not allow you to remain in Paradise."

Adam made one last plea: "Grant me, Lord, just a taste from the Tree of Life before I am cast out."

"You will not take from it now," God replied. "I have stationed the Cherubim with a flaming sword to guard it from you (Genesis 3:24). But hear this -- the Adversary has planted war inside you. If you keep yourself from evil after you leave this place, if you live as one who knows he must die, then when the Resurrection comes, I will raise you up. And the Tree of Life will be given to you at last."

A promise. Conditional, distant, but real.

The Lord ordered the expulsion to proceed. Adam stood weeping before the angels, facing Paradise one final time. "You are casting me out," he said. "At least allow me to take fragrant herbs, so that I may offer sacrifices to God from outside the garden and He might still hear me."

The angels brought the request before God. "Ja'el, Eternal King," they said, "command that Adam be given incense and seeds for his survival."

God granted it. Adam re-entered Paradise one last time -- not as its guardian, but as a beggar. He took four precious spices: crocus, nard, calamus, and cinnamon. He gathered seeds for food. Then he walked out through the gates.

The garden closed behind him. And Adam and Eve stood on the bare earth, alone, holding nothing but a handful of spices and the fading memory of glory.

God saith to Adam: 'Since thou hast disregarded my commandment and hast hearkened to thy wife, cursed is the earth in thy labours. Thou shalt work it and it shall not give its strength: thorns and thistles shall spring up for thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. [Thou shalt be in manifold toils; thou shalt be crushed by bitterness, but of sweetness shalt thou not taste.] Weary shalt thou be and shalt not rest; by heat shalt thou be tired, by cold shalt thou be straitened: abundantly shalt thou busy thyself, but thou shalt not be rich; and thou shalt grow fat, but come to no end. The beasts, over whom thou didst rule, shall rise up in rebellion against thee, for thou hast not kept my commandment."

And the Lord turned to me and said: "Since thou hast hearkened to the serpent, and turned a deaf ear to my commandment, thou shalt be in throes of travail and intolerable agonies; thou shalt bear children in much trembling and in one hour thou shalt come to the birth, and lose thy life, from thy sore trouble and anguish. But thou shalt confess and say: 'Lord, Lord, save me, and I will turn no more to the sin of the flesh.' And on this account, from thine own words I will judge thee, by reason of the enmity which the enemy has planted in thee."

But he turned to the serpent [in great wrath] and said: "Since thou hast done this, and become a thankless vessel until thou hast deceived the innocent hearts, accursed art thou among all beasts. Thou shalt be deprived of the victual of which thou didst eat and shalt feed on dust all the days of thy life: on thy breast and thy belly shalt thou walk and be robbed of hands and feet. There shall not be left thee ear nor wing, nor one limb of all that with which thou didst ensnare them in thy malice and causedst them to be cast out of paradise; and I will put enmity between thee and his seed: he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel until the day of Judgement." xxvii 1,2 Thus he spake and bade the angels have us cast out of paradise: and as we were being driven out amid our loud lamentations, your father Adam besought the angels and said: "Leave me a little (space) that I may entreat the Lord that he have compassion on me and pity me, for I only have sinned." And they left off driving him and Adam cried aloud and wept saying: "Pardon me O Lord, my deed." Then the Lord saith to the angels, "Why have ye ceased from driving Adam from paradise? Why do ye not cast him out? Is it I who have done wrong? Or is my judgement badly judged?" Then the angels fell down on the ground and worshipped the Lord saying, "Thou art just, O Lord, and thou judgest righteous judgement."

But the Lord turned to Adam and said: 'I will not suffer thee henceforward to be in paradise." And Adam answered and said, " Grant me, O Lord, of the Tree of Life that I may eat of it, before I be cast out." Then the Lord spake to Adam, "Thou shalt not take of it now, for I have commanded the cherubim with the flaming sword that turneth (every way) to guard it from thee that thou taste not of it; but thou hast the war which the adversary hath put into thee, yet when thou art gone out of paradise, if thou shouldst keep thyself from all evil, as one about to die, when again the Resurrection hath come to pass, I will raise thee up and then there shall be given to thee the Tree of Life."

xxix 1,2 Thus spake the Lord and ordered us to be cast out of paradise. But your father Adam wept before the angels opposite paradise and the angels say to him: "What wouldst thou have us to do, Adam? "And your father saith to them, "Behold, ye cast me out. I pray you, allow me to take away fragrant herbs from paradise, so that I may offer an offering to God after I have gone out of paradise that he hear me." And the angels approached God and said: "JA'EL, Eternal King, command, my Lord, that there be given to Adam incense of sweet odour from paradise and seeds for his food." And God bade Adam go in and take sweet spices and fragrant herbs from paradise and seeds for his food. And the angels let him go and he took four kinds: crocus and nard and calamus and cinnamon and the other seeds for his food: and, after taking these, he went out of paradise. And we were on the earth.