On the last day of Adam's life, Eve said to him, "Why should I go on
living, when thou art no more? How long shall I have to linger on after
thy death? Tell me this!" Adam assured her she would not tarry long.
They would die together, and be buried together in the same place. He
commanded her not to touch his corpse until an angel from God had made
provision regarding it, and she was to begin at once to pray to God
until his soul escaped from his body.
While Eve was on her knees in prayer, an angel came,[132] and bade her
rise. "Eve, arise from thy penance," he commanded. "Behold, thy husband
hath left his mortal coil. Arise, and see his spirit go up to his
Creator, to appear before Him." And, lo, she beheld a chariot of light,
drawn by four shining eagles, and preceded by angels. In this chariot
lay the soul of Adam, which the angels were taking to heaven. Arrived
there, they burnt incense until the clouds of smoke enveloped the
heavens. Then they prayed to God to have mercy upon His image and the
work of His holy hands. In her awe and fright, Eve summoned Seth, and
she bade him look upon the vision and explain the celestial sights
beyond her understanding. She asked, "Who may the two Ethiopians be,
who are adding their prayers to thy father's?" Seth told her, they were
the sun and the moon, turned so black because they could not shine in
the face of the Father of light.[133] Scarcely had he spoken, when an
angel blew a trumpet, and all the angels cried out with awful voices,
"Blessed be the glory of the Lord by His creatures, for He has shown
mercy unto Adam, the work of His hands!" A seraph then seized Adam, and
carried him off to the river Acheron, washed him three times, and
brought him before the presence of God, who sat upon His throne, and,
stretching out His hand, lifted Adam up and gave him over to the
archangel Michael, with the words, "Raise him to the Paradise of the
third heaven, and there thou shalt leave him until the great and
fearful day ordained by Me." Michael executed the Divine behest, and
all the angels sang a song of praise, extolling God for the pardon He
had accorded Adam.
Michael now entreated God to let him attend to the preparation of
Adam's body for the grave. Permission being given, Michael repaired to
earth, accompanied by all the angels. When they entered the terrestrial
Paradise, all the trees blossomed forth, and the perfume wafted thence
lulled all men into slumber except Seth alone. Then God said to Adam,
as his body lay on the ground: "If thou hadst kept My commandment, they
would not rejoice who brought thee hither. But I tell thee, I will turn
the joy of Satan and his consorts into sorrow, and thy sorrow shall be
turned into joy. I will restore thee to thy dominion, and thou shalt
sit upon the throne of thy seducer, while he shall be damned, with
those who hearken unto him."[134]
Thereupon, at the bidding of God, the three great archangels[135]
covered the body of Adam with linen, and poured sweet-smelling oil upon
it. With it they interred also the body of Abel, which had lain
unburied since Cain had slain him, for all the murderer's efforts to
hide it had been in vain. The corpse again and again sprang forth from
the earth, and a voice issued thence, proclaiming, "No creature shall
rest in the earth until the first one of all has returned the dust to
me of which it was formed."[136] The angels carried the two bodies to
Paradise, Adam's and Abel's—the latter had all this time been lying on
a stone on which angels had placed it—and they buried them both on the
spot whence God had taken the dust wherewith to make Adam.[137]
God called unto the body of Adam, "Adam! Adam!" and it answered, "Lord,
here am I!" Then God said: "I told thee once, Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return. Now I promise thee resurrection. I will awaken
thee on the day of judgment, when all the generations of men that
spring from thy loins, shall arise from the grave." God then sealed up
the grave, that none might do him harm during the six days to elapse
until his rib should be restored to him through the death of Eve.[138]