Before Adam named the animals, God brought them before the angels and challenged them to do it first. They could not. Adam named every creature instantly. God turned to the angels and said, "Were you not asking, 'What is man, that You should remember him?' Now his wisdom is greater than yours!" According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by SAFE0 Gaster in 1899, this was the moment the angels began to envy humanity.
Samael, the angel of death, descended to find a creature cunning enough to corrupt Adam. He chose the serpent. The serpent approached Eve and challenged her about the forbidden tree. When Eve said they would die if they touched it, the serpent laughed. "God is jealous," he said. "If you eat, your eyes will be opened, and you will know how to create the world just as He does." The serpent stood on his feet, shook the tree, and fruit fell to the ground. The tree itself cried out: "Wicked one, do not touch me!"
When Eve saw the serpent touch the tree and survive, she ate the fruit. Instantly she saw the angel of death with a drawn sword. Her reasoning was brutal: if she alone would die, God would give Adam another wife. Better they die together. She gave Adam the fruit. He ate, saw the same drawn sword, and was stricken with grief.
But Eve did not stop with Adam. She fed the forbidden fruit to every creature on earth—beasts, animals, and birds. All ate. All became subject to death. All except one. A bird called Milham refused. "Woe unto you," the bird told Eve. "You have brought death upon yourself, your husband, and all creatures. I alone will not eat." God rewarded the bird with eternal life. Every thousand years, the Milham shrinks to the size of a chick, loses its feathers, and returns to its egg—and God sends two angels to restore it anew.
XXII. (1) Before Adam gave the animals their names
God brought them before the angels, and said to them,
'Give names to everyone;' but they could not. God
thereupon brought them before Adam, and he gave them the
names by which they were ever afterwards known. Then
God said to the angels, ' Were you not saying, "What is
man, that Thou shouldst remember him " ? Now his wisdom
is greater than yours!' The angels then began to envy
him, saying, ' Indeed, God will now love him more than He
does us; if we can entice him to sin he will be destroyed
from the earth. (2) Forthwith Samael, the angel of death,
descended and looked at every creature, but he could find
none as cunning and malignant as the serpent. The
serpent then went to Eve, and began to speak of various
things, until he broached the tree. ' Is it true,' he said,
' that God commanded you not to eat of any tree in the
garden ?' ' No; He only forbade us the one tree, which
stands in the midst of the garden; we are not allowed to
eat of its fruit, nor touch it, for on the day that we touch
it we shall die.' (3) The serpent laughed at her, saying,
' It is only out of jealousy that God has said this, for He
well knows that if you eat thereof your eyes will be opened,
and you will know how to create the world just as He.
Indeed, who can believe that for that thou shouldst die ?
Forsooth, I shall go and pluck (gather) some fruit.' The
serpent accordingly stood on his feet and shook the tree, so
that some of the fruit fell upon the ground; and the tree
cried, '0 wicked one, do not touch me!' (4) When Eve
saw the serpent touch the tree and not die, she said to herself,
that the words of her husband were false. Therefore, on
seeing that the fruit was beautiful, she desired it and ate of
it. As soon as she had eaten thereof her teeth were set
on edge, and she saw the angel of death with drawn sword
standing before her. She then said in her heart, ' Woe
unto me that I have eaten of this death, for now I will die;
and Adam, my husband, who has not eaten of it will live
for ever, and God will couple him with another woman. It
is better that we die together, for God has created us
together even unto death.' So when her husband came she
gave him some of the fruit to taste. (5) As soon as he had
eaten thereof his teeth were set on edge, and he saw the angel
of death standing before him with drawn sword. ' What is
this evil food,' he said to Eve, 'which thou hast given me to
eat? perchance thou hast given me to eat of the tree of which
I was forbidden to eat.' He was then exceedingly grieved.
' Why art thou so troubled ?' she said, ' since what has
happened was destined to happen.' She then thought, ' I and
my husband are to die for having eaten of the fruit, whilst
all the other creatures which have not eaten thereof will live
48 [xxii. 5
on for ever in joy. It is better that we either die together
or live together, since our Creator formed us together.'
She therefore forthwith fed all the creatures of the world
with the fruit — beasts, animals, and birds alike — until she
came to a certain bird named Hoi {h)n) or, as some say,
Milham (so called because it had pity upon itself, and
refused, in spite of her exceedingly strong persuasions, to
eat of the fruit or to Hsten to her voice). Eve said, ' Eat of
this fruit, just as thy fellows have done.' But it replied,
' Woe unto thee, thou afflicted one, who hast brought death
upon thyself, upon thy husband, and upon all the creatures
of the world. I alone remained to be killed by thee, but I
swear that I shall never eat of that fruit.'
(6) According to another tradition, the bird Milham said
to Adam and his wife, ' You have sinned, and have caused
many others to sin; you are not satisfied with having
brought death upon all the creatures of the world, but you
wish me also to sin against God. Indeed, I shall not listen
to you.' (7) At that moment a voice was heard saying to
Adam, ' Thee I have commanded not to eat of the fruit, and
thou hast not obeyed My commands, but Milham the bird I
did not command to keep My ordinances and My decrees,
yet he has fulfilled what I commanded thee; behold, I will
establish him and his descendants for all generations to be
an everlasting witness for Israel.' And therefore they live
for ever, and exist in that city which the angel of death
built, and they increase and multiply as all other creatures.
(8) The sages say that these birds live for ever, and that
during the space of a thousand years they become smaller
and smaller until they are like very young chickens, so that
their feathers fall ofl', and their limbs are divided. Then
God sends two angels, who restore them to their eggs as at
first, and they feed them until they are grown up again.
This is their natural change from one thousand years to
another, so that they become revivified like the eagle.
