So I've been reading St. Ephrem the Syrian's hymns on paradise, and his 13th hymn has really gotten to me, so I'd like to share my thoughts here. One thing that's interesting to note about the scriptures is that Christ isn't just the New Adam, but He's the final Adam. There are numerous figures who follow in Adam's footsteps, like Enoch, who walked with God like Adam did in the garden, or Noah, who was given a new earth to rule over and fell once more via fruit of his vineyard. Another example that Ephrem gives is of Samson, who was deceived by a woman and forced into toil because of it. However, the example I found most fascinating was the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, specifically in the events of Daniel 4.
The account, from the king himself, begins with a dream. While he slept, Nebuchadnezzar saw a great tree, described as so great that it reaches the heavens and all the earth can see it (4:11). However, it is important to note, it was not great for itself; the tree was there for its beauty, food to support the animals under it, and to provide shade for land animals and dwellings for the birds. This image is a vastly profound one, and I find it wonderful that the Lord chose such an image to describe divine kingship, which applies really to all leadership positions. It gives a purpose to the glory of kings, which is not for the good of the kings themselves but to guard and provide for their subjects.
Some have tried to argue that of Luther's three estates--family, church, and state--only the family (Adam and Eve) and the church (Adam as priest, Eve as congregation) existed from the beginning. However, this is simply not the case. After the creation of Adam and Even (not Adam and Steve), Moses writes,
'And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ' (Gen 1:28)
It is true that under the curse, Adam was said to rule over Eve (even though the headship of the family existed in creation), but before the curse, God gave mankind the right to rule over all creation. Thus, Adam was the king of all creation, subservient to God alone, yet he too fell under this image and was called to rule for their good, giving the animals their names. Back to the Babylonian, that isn't the end of his dream. Having seen such a beautiful vision, he then sees a cherub come and denounce the tree for its pride, sentencing it to be stripped and cut down, for the stump to be bound, and for it to become like a beast of the field. This is a much stranger image which really dissolves into a simple prophecy at the end. What later happens, after Daniel warns him of such, is that while the king wandered on the roof of of his palace, he praises himself for his great strength in building the mighty Babylonian empire, only for a voice from heaven to tell him that the prophecy has come true. Immediately, he was afflicted with madness--after being sent out of the city, his hair grew long, his nails became like claws, and he ate the grass of the field.
Interestingly enough, the scriptures do depict a similar scene happening for Adam as well:
'Man [literally "Adam"] in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. ' Ps. 49:12
St. Ephrem points as much out in one of his hymns on paradise:
"David wept for Adam, at how he fell from that royal abode to the abode of wild animals. Because he went astray through a beast he became like the beasts: he ate, together with them as a result of the curse, grass and roots, and he died, becoming their peer. Blessed is He who set him apart from the wild animals again." (13:5)
However, I would say Adam's fall is even more dramatic than Nebuchadnezzar's. When Nebuchadnezzar fell, he became like a beast of the field, but Adam, on the other hand sought to take back his reign by the scheming of the serpent. Though he was cut down as a tree, he tried to take back his reign through the fig leaves:
"Because Adam touched the Tree he had to run to the fig; he became like the fig tree, being clothed in its vesture: Adam, like some tree, blossomed with leaves." (12:10)
However, he eventually is forced to submit by the garments of skin, where the Lord takes his faux authority and puts on the garment of the beast of the field.
With all that said, such a fall is not without hope. In the story, Nebuchadnezzar repented ("lift[ing] his eyes to heaven") and was restored to manhood, after which he immediately blessed the Lord for his justice. On the matter, St. Ephrem says,
"In that king [Nebuchadnezzar] did God depict Adam: since he provoked God by his exercise of kingship, God stripped him of that kingship. The Just One was angry and cast him out into the region of wild beasts; he dwelt there with them in the wilderness and only when he repented did he return to his former abode and kingship. Blessed is He who has thus taught us to repent so that we too may return to Paradise." (13:6)
Thus we see in Nebuchadnezzar a symbol of repentance, by which the Christian daily lives.
However, this is really where the story of Adam and Nebuchadnezzar differ. Nowhere does it show Adam that repentance saves, but a different model is portrayed here. In Genesis 3:15, called the protoevangelion or the "first gospel," the Lord promises that the seed of the woman will once more create a divide, so that man would be "set...apart from the wild animals again." To do so, we see Christ humble Himself so that He who knew no sin would be counted among the prideful and would take on the form of the beast rather than a man. He is the one who scales that Tree, knowing it will be chopped down and that it will take Him with it. He is the one who wet his back with the dew of heaven and who laid down to partake of the earth in order that we may be raised up. O what wondrous thought! What sweet exchange! The Lord became a beast, the shepherd became a sheep, slaughtered for us that we may eat his flesh, and in so doing take off the garments of skin and put on Christ. So with our father Adam and our brother Nebuchadnezzar, let us proclaim,
'At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”...Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.' Daniel 4:34-35,37
Comments