Of the Return of Zadok the Priest, and the Giving

Këbra Nagast

V—The Contents of the Këbra Nagast Described

The book opens with an interpretation and explanation of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Orthodox Fathers concerning the children of Adam, and the statement that the Trinity lived in Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, which God made in the fortress of His holiness before He made anything else. The Trinity agreed to make man in God’s image, and the Son agreed to put on the flesh of Adam; man was made to take the place of Satan and to praise God. In due course Christ, the second Adam, was born of the flesh of Mary the Virgin, the Second Zion (Chap. 1).

In Chap. 2 Isaac, the translator of the Ethiopic text, next quotes Gregory the Illuminator, the son of Anag, a native of Balkh, who was born about 257 A.D. and died about 330. Whilst Gregory was suffering the tortures inflicted upon him by Tiridates III he pondered on the question, Of what doth the glory of kings consist? In the end he came to the conclusion that Adam’s kingship bestowed upon him by God was greater than that of any of the Kings of Armenia.

Chaps. 3–6 deal with the birth of Cain and Abel; the face of Cain was sullen and that of Abel good tempered, and Adam made Abel his heir because of his pleasing countenance. Cain and Abel had twin sisters. Cain’s sister Lëbhûdhâ had a goodtempered face, and Adam gave her in marriage to Abel; Abel’s sister ¬alîmath had a sullen face like Cain, and Adam gave her in marriage to Cain.23 Moved by Satan to envy, and filled with wrath against Adam for taking his twin sister from him, Cain rose up and slew Abel. Adam was consoled for Abel’s death by the birth of Seth. The descendants of Cain were wicked men, and neglected God, and passed their time in singing lewd

23 See Malan, Book of Adam and Eve, London, 1882, p. 92 ff., and Bezold, Schatzöhle, Leipzig, 1883, p. 8.

lvi