The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 8 -
THE FALL
Thereupon eternal Love covered Its face and withdrew for a certain time in accordance with the number of order, was blind out of the depth of Its mercy and would not, and could not, know what the newly created would do in the judgment of the Deity for their freedom-test during the short time on earth through the love of mercy. And the place that was given them as a dwelling-place was a valley and a garden on the firm part of the earth and was called Paradise. That was the land which later abounded with milk and honey and was the place which in the great Time of times, when eternal Love performed the greatest of Its acts, was called -and will forever be called -'Bethlehem'. This was the spot where the eternal Word bodily in the flesh saw for the first time the light of Its grace shine upon the drop of mercy from the distant sun, the moon and all the stars.
2
And behold, their desire kept growing in the judgment of the Deity testing them in Its wrath. There was a tree standing in the garden bearing the most beautiful apples, and Eve felt a great desire for them and said to Adam: "Look, Adam, I feel a great desire for this fruit. If you want it, I shall pick one and taste it and then hand it to you as a first gift from my hand."
3
And Adam was silent, pondering the words of Eve. And an inner voice, which was holy as it came from the Deity within him, spoke to him: "If you eat from the fruit of this tree, you shall die!" This gave Adam such a fright that he was unable to answer his beloved Eve.
4
And the desire rose within Eve, drew her beneath the tree and made her pick an apple from it. Adam now felt that Eve had become disloyal to his heart. He became saddened and said:
5
"Eve, Eve, what are you doing! The Lord of might, power and life has not yet blessed us. You are holding the fruit of death in your hand; throw it away, that we may not die in our nakedness before the Lord of justice!"
6
And behold, the earnestness of Adam frightened Eve in her desire and she let the fruit of death drop to the ground. And she was freed from her desire and Adam was very pleased at being liberated from the deadly snares of Eve's desire.
7
But behold, the desire Eve had banned from her heart was now lying on the ground and through the might of the condemning wrath of the Deity formed into the shape of a great serpent; it took the fruit of death into its jaws, crept up the tree, twisted round it and all its branches and twigs from the root to the top and kept staring at Eve. Eve saw it and gazed at the serpent, and through Eve also Adam became aware of it, but he did not see the serpent as yet.
8
And behold, Eve approached the serpent and gazed with great delight at its seductive movements around the tree and the opalescent colors of its cold scaly skin.
9
The serpent, however, moved and placed the apple into the lap of the now sitting Eve, lifted its head and spoke to Eve as follows:
10
"Eve, behold the daughter you have cast out, winding round the tree of your desire. Do not reject the small gift I have put into your lap, but enjoy without fear the fruit of your love; not only will you not die, but you will be filled with the knowledge of all life about God Whom you fear, whereas He is weaker than you!" And lo, the tongue of the serpent split into two and became more pointed than an arrow. The serpent bent its head towards Eve's breast as though it would kiss her after the manner of a child, but it sank its two venomous fangs into the breasts of Eve, and Eve recognized herself in the serpent.
11
Now also Adam became aware of what was going on under the tree, and he was delighted with the second Eve, not realizing that it was only a serpent. And behold, he too became enflamed with desire and, lusting for the second Eve, took the fruit from the lap of Eve, became disloyal to his love and enjoyed the forbidden fruit from the body of Eve lustfully. And in this enjoyment he recognized himself as the First who was lost because of the great conceit of his blind self-love in the kingdom of light of eternal Love and that he had fallen into the sea of wrath of the forever inexorably slaying Deity.
12
And now behold, as he thus recognized himself, and so did the deluded Eve through him, great remorse rose from the bottom of his heart and Eve was ashamed when she became aware of her nakedness and that of Adam, and in her great dismay she covered her nakedness with leaves from a fig tree. Adam too stretched out his hands for the leaves to cover his nakedness, hid himself in a cave and shed tears of great grief; and Eve hid herself behind a thorn bush and grieved bitterly over her guilt of seduction.