Chain and Cross III: Adam and Noah

"The Christ is the central point of the Holy Spirit: He is born of the Holy Spirit; He is raised up by the Holy Spirit; He is the descendant of the Holy Spirit—that is to say, that the Reality of Christ does not descend from Adam; no, it is born of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this verse in Corinthians, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,' means, according to this terminology, that Adam is the father of man—that is to say, He is the cause of the physical life of mankind; His was the physical fatherhood. He is a living soul, but He is not the giver of spiritual life, whereas Christ is the cause of the spiritual life of man, and with regard to the spirit, His was the spiritual fatherhood. Adam is a living soul; Christ is a quickening spirit." ('Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, pp. 118-19, 1981 ed.)

"The meaning of the serpent is attachment to the human world. This attachment of the spirit to the human world led the soul and spirit of Adam from the world of freedom to the world of bondage and caused Him to turn from the Kingdom of Unity to the human world. When the soul and spirit of Adam entered the human world, He came out from the paradise of freedom and fell into the world of bondage. From the height of purity and absolute goodness, He entered into the world of good and evil...From the days of Adam until the days of Christ, They spoke little of eternal life and the heavenly universal perfections. This tree of life was the position of the Reality of Christ; through His manifestation it was planted and adorned with everlasting fruits. ('Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, pp. 123-24)

In pondering this and the following Bible passages, it is enlightening to consider that before Adam or Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, there could not be knowledge of evil. The evil of disobedience to God could not, therefore, be known.

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.)" (St. Paul, Romans 5:12-13)

"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (St. Paul, I Corinthians, 15:21-22)

"For the spirit and the soul of Adam, when they were attached to the human world, passed from the world of freedom into the world of bondage, and His descendants continued in bondage. This attachment of the soul and spirit to the human world, which is sin, was inherited by the descendants of Adam, and is the serpent which is always in the midst of, and at enmity with, the spirits and the descendants of Adam. That enmity continues and endures. For attachment to the world has become the cause of the bondage of spirits, and this bondage is identical with sin, which has been transmitted from Adam to His posterity. It is because of this attachment that men have been deprived of essential spirituality and exalted position." ('Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, pp. 124-125)

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (St. Paul, I Corinthians, 15:41-49)

"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis, 3:21-24)

The most important point made by the author of Genesis in this passage is the decision by God to expel Adam and Eve because they might eat of the second tree and have eternal life. We may ponder deeply why God obstructed Adam from the fruit of the the Tree of Eternal Life. Possessing the knowledge of good and evil has already made them like God in one vital respect. We may discern some understanding in that the Tree of Eternal Life is mentioned in conjunction with this development. We do know, the new knowledge from all this becomes a burden, but also a source of wisdom, that is handed down through the generations unto today.

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (St. Paul, I Corinthians 15:45-49)

Herein is the fruit of Adam. Mankind becomes discerning, able to perceive wrongdoing, able to assess his own behavior, but uninformed of anything beyond the earthly law. The second Adam, Jesus, is the recipient and victem of the same good and evil man has learned. Thereby is a great sorting of the sincere and the insincere in mankind. How does each person behave at the appearance of a Promised One? By this question are our souls sifted.

Quoting Paul, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.)" (Romans 5:12-13); we can discern the paradox that our knowledge of goodness could not have been possible any more than our knowledge of evil had not Adam eaten that one fruit. What could human understanding mean, what would become of free will without this misadventure?

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (St.Paul, Romans 5:19-21) Herein is man's challenge. And herein is man's potential to acquire the attributes of God that are associated with spiritual knowledge; wisdom, love, compassion, generosity, magnanimity and more.

St. Paul continues: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (St.Paul, Romans 5:19-6:4). This fruit of the second tree is suddenly made available. This is the sign of a progression, revelation and understanding imparted to us from Adam to Jesus with the entire Old Testament testifying to the struggle of maturation over time and through hardship. From the first murder of Abel by Cain, through wandering of the Hebrews under Moses, through the butcherous wars in the conquest of Canaan, then the wavering of the people of Israel through the generations with their vacillating fortunes, and finally the lesson of Christ, "The Kingdom is with (within) you", there is a formidable process of maturation. When Christ came to teach, the students were sufficiently advanced. It only remained for them to listen, to pay attention.

We know how difficult it is for mankind to listen, to pay attention to the knowledge of good and evil, or to the wisdom of God through the prophets and Jesus, Himself. That difficulty resulted in the persecutions by the Pharisees and the crucifixion of Christ. We should not be surprised at the existence of Pharisees at any time, whether as the doubters in the days of the Old Testament prophets, the naysayers in the time of Jesus, or in this modern time when any watchfulness for the return is met with a lack of a will to investigate, judgments rendered before facts are considered and cries of "antichrist" and "false prophet" are recklessly cast about. Jesus has made it clear that sooner or later, One will actually fulfill His promises.

The first use of the word "covenant" in the Bible is with Noah in Genesis 6:18. There, God covenants with Noah in regards to the use of the ark He had commanded Noah to build.

"And God said unto Noah, 'The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.'

"'Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.'

"'And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.'" (Genesis 6:13-19)

The word "ark" in the Bible relates to two Hebrew words; aron, which means a chest or casket or coffin, and tebah, which means a boat or similar vessel. The basket in which the baby Moses was placed by His mother was a tebah. Likewise the ark of Noah was a tebah. The ark of the covenant of Moses was an aron and might be considered apart from Noah's ark, although both are containers of a kind. The words are near synonyms in Hebrew and were both translated as kibotos by the Greeks in their recording of the Hebrew scriptures.

In a well known passage from the Tablet of Carmel, Baha'u'llah refers to this idea of a vessel sailing upon Mt. Carmel, a holy mountain of great significance from the days of Elijah. Addressing Mt. Carmel in poetic voice, he writes:

"Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendor is revealed. Beware lest thou hesitate or halt. Hasten forth and circumambulate the City of God that hath descended from heaven, the celestial Kaaba round which have circled in adoration the favored of God, the pure in heart, and the company of the most exalted angels. Oh, how I long to announce unto every spot on the surface of the earth, and to carry to each one of its cities, the glad-tidings of this Revelation -- a Revelation to which the heart of Sinai hath been attracted, and in whose name the Burning Bush is calling: 'Unto God, the Lord of Lords, belong the kingdoms of earth and heaven.' Verily this is the Day in which both land and sea rejoice at this announcement, the Day for which have been laid up those things which God, through a bounty beyond the ken of mortal mind or heart, hath destined for revelation. Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Baha who have been mentioned in the Book of Names." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 16)

This ark, curiously, opens up the idea of the aron, because today, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Baha'u'llah, stands the seat of the Universal House of Justice, the source of Baha'i law and guidance and the center, on earth, of God's covenant with man. This building may be said to embody both the tebah and the aron of the covenant in God's revelation to mankind in this day.

Some brief attention should be given to the mountain upon which the Ark came to rest. It is the highest peak of modern Turkey and an extinct volcano last active during the early Bronze Age. Called Ararat, this name has more than one meaning. Interestingly, the meanings might seem conflicting but truly are not mutually exclusive. Ararat is known to mean "the High Place". Certainly, any mountain associated with God should be expected to be the high place, the place nearest to the Almighty, thought to abide above us in the heavens. But to be at the summit of this place with all its divine associations and traditions is to place oneself in the heights of God and for this reason, the meaning "the Curse of Trembling" also comes to bear. God of the Old Testament is recounted to be sometimes wrathful, a strong father, and one deserving of the kind of respect one trembled to besmirch.

As for Shem, Ham and Japheth, it is worth knowing how, according to traditions, the world was repopulated by these three sons of Noah and their wives. Shem is associated with the Semitic peoples which include the Hebrews and the Arabs, Ham with the Hamitic people of Africa and also Babylon and Japheth is connected with the peoples of the North and with India.

The culmination of the flood story is in the making of a further covenant from God; "And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.'

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.'

"'Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed:' for in the image of God made he man.

"'And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.'

"And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 'And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

"And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.'

"'And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.' And God said unto Noah, 'This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.'" (Genesis 8:20-9:17)