After the expulsion from Eden, Adam was separated from Eve for 130 years. He slept alone. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, that solitude did not last. The "first Eve", that is, Lilith, found him, was charmed by his beauty, and lay beside him. From that union came demons, spirits, and imps in the thousands and myriads. These creatures attacked and killed anyone they encountered.
The terror continued until Methuselah intervened. He fasted for three days and begged for God's mercy. God granted him permission to write the Shem HaMeforash, the Ineffable Name, upon his weapon. Armed with it, Methuselah slew ninety-four myriads of demons in a single minute. He only stopped when Agrimus, identified as Adam's firstborn through Lilith, came to beg for mercy. Agrimus handed over the names of the remaining demons and their kings. Methuselah chained the demon kings in iron fetters, and the rest fled to the innermost recesses of the ocean, where they hide to this day.
Methuselah's greatness extended beyond demon-slaying. The text says he composed 230 parables in praise of God from every divine utterance and mastered 900 sections of the Mishna. When he died, thunder shook the heavens. Angels delivered a funeral oration. Nine hundred rows of mourners appeared, one for each section of Mishna he had studied. And tears fell from the eyes of the holy creatures onto the place where he died. His sword was buried with him.
The chapter closes with Enosh, son of Seth, who tried to demonstrate God's creation of Adam by molding a clay figure. When he breathed into it, Ha-Satan (the Accuser, heaven's prosecutor) entered the image and made it walk. The people began worshipping it, the first act of idolatry in human history.
XXIII. (1) Know^ and understand that, when Adam was
separated for 130 years from Eve, he slept alone, and the
first Eve — that is, Liiith — found him, and being charmed
with his beauty, ^Yent and lay by his side, and there were
begotten from her demons, spirits, and imps in thousands
and myriads, and whomever they hghted upon they injured
and killed outright, until Methushelah appeared and
besought the mercy of God. (2) After fasting for three
days, God gave him permission to write the ineffable name of
God upon (his sword?), through which he slew ninety-four
myriads of them in a minute, (3) until Agrimus, the first-
born of Adam, came to him and entreated him (to stop);
he then handed over to him the names of the demons
and imps. And so he placed their kings in iron fetters,
while the remainder fled away and hid themselves in the
innermost chambers and recesses of the ocean. (4) Hanoch
called his son Methushelah, and said to him, ' All the men
died (inrD), and they came into the power (fh^) of the angel
of death.' When Methuselah died (in^), his missile
(weapon, rh'c) died with him, and they buried his sword
with him. (5) It is said of Methushelah that out of every
word uttered by the mouth of God he used to make 230
parables in praise of God, and he studied 900 sections of the
Mishna (Traditional Law). When he died, a voice of
thunder was heard in the heavens, where the angels made
a funeral oration, and they took him up, and the people
saw 900 rows of mourners corresponding with the 900
sections of the Mishna, and the tears flowed from the eyes
of the holy creatures on to the place where he died.
(6) Enosh, the son of Seth, was asked, 'Who was thy
father?' 'Seth,' he replied. 'Who was the father of
Seth?' 'Adam.' 'And who was Adam's father?' 'He
had neither father nor mother, but God formed him (shaped
him) from the dust of the earth.' ' But man has not the
appearance of dust.' ' After death man returns to dust, as
it is said, " He will return to his dust "; but on the day of
his creation man was made in the image of God.' 'How
was the woman created?' He said, ' Male and female He
created them.' 'But how?' asked they (his questioners).
He answered, ' God took water and earth and moulded it
together in the form of man.' They asked, 'But how?
60 [XXIII. 7
(7) Enosh then took six clods of earth, mixed them, and
moulded them and formed an image of dust and clay.
'But,' said they, 'this image does not walk, nor does it
possess any breath of life.' He then showed them how God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. But when He
began to breathe into it, Satan entered the image so that it
walked, and they went astray after it, saying, 'What is the
difference between the bowing down before this image and
before man?' That is what is meant when it is said,
' Then they began to apply the name of the Lord '; that is,
they gave this name to other gods. On this account Enosh
is mentioned in Scripture immediately before the word
' his image. ^
