Week 3
- Torah (T): Bereshiyt (Genesis) 3:1-24
- Prophets (P): Ezekiel 31:1-9
- Apostolic (A): 1 Timothy 2:1-15
- Additional (ADD): Jubilees 3:17-35
RELATED SCRIPTURES
- John 8:41-51 (T)
- Ephesians 5:22-33 (T)
- 1 Corinthians 14:26-36 (T)
- 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 (T)
- Colossians 3:18-19 (T)
- Titus 2:1-5 (T)
- 1 Peter 3:1-7 (T)
RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS
- Genesis 3:1-24 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
- Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 1.1.4. (T)
Note: (T) means the verse relates to that week’s Torah portion. (P) means the verse relates to that week’s Prophets portion. (A) means the verse relates to that week’s Apostolic portion. (ADD) means the verse relates to that week’s Additional portion.
Torah Portion (T)
Bereshiyt (Genesis) 3:1-24
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which [Elohim](LXX) had made. [And the serpent](LXX) said to the woman, “Has Elohim [really](DSS) said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. Elohim has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.' ” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “[Not to death will you die],(LXX) 5 for Elohim knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was coveted to give intelligence, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and [they](LXX)(SP) ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard the voice of [Elohim](LXX) walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of [Elohim](LXX) among the trees of the garden. 9 [Elohim](LXX) called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 Elohim said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 [Elohim](LXX) said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 [Elohim](LXX) said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every beast of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make a great increase of your hardship and your pregnancy, in distressing pain you will bring forth sons. Your desire (or, submission)(LXX)(cf. 1 Corinthians 14:34) will be to your man, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,' the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life. 18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.” 20 The man called his wife Chavah because she would be the mother of all the living. 21 [Elohim](LXX) made coats of skin for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them. 22 [Elohim](LXX) said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, [let us send him out](mss) lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” 23 Therefore [YHWH](LXX) sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed keruvim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Prophets Portion (P)
Ezekiel 31:1-9
31:1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude: ‘Whom are you like in your greatness? 3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. 4 The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran all around its plantation. It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied. Its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it spread them out. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow. 7 Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of Elohim could not hide it. The cypress trees were not like its branches. The pine trees were not like its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of Elohim like it in its beauty. 9 I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of Elohim, envied it.’
Apostolic Portion (A)
1 Timothy 2:1-15
2:1 I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Yeshua, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony at the proper time, 7 to which I was appointed a proclaimer and an emissary—[I am telling the truth],(mss) not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting. 9 In the same way, that women also adorn themselves in decent clothing, with modesty and propriety, not with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing, 10 but with good works, which is appropriate for women professing godliness. 11 Let a woman learn in tranquility with full submission. 12 But I don’t permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in tranquility. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Chavah. 14 Adam wasn’t deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience; 15 but she will be delivered through her childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with sobriety.
Additional Portion (ADD)
Jubilees 3:17-35
Between 1947 and 1956 approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation. Scholars have dated Jubilees to have been written sometime around 160-150 B.C.
Jubilees 3:17 And after the completion of the seven years, which he had completed there, seven years exactly, [8 A.M.] and in the second month, on the seventeenth day (of the month), the nachash came and approached the woman, and the nachash said to the woman, ‘Hath Elohim commanded you, saying, Ye will not eat of every tree of the garden?’ 18. And she said to it, ‘Of all the fruit of the trees of the garden Elohim hath said unto us, Eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden Elohim hath said unto us, Ye will not eat thereof, neither will ye touch it, lest ye die.’ 19. And the nachash said unto the woman, ‘Ye will not surely die: for Elohim doth know that on the day ye will eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as elohim, and ye will know good and evil. 20. And the woman saw the tree that it was agreeable and pleasant to the eye, and that its fruit was good for food, and she took thereof and ate. 21. And when she had first covered her shame with fig leaves, she gave thereof to Adam and he ate, and his eyes were opened, and he saw that he was naked. 22. And he took fig leaves and sewed (them) together, and made an apron for himself, and, covered his shame. 23. And Elohim cursed the nachash, and was wroth with it for ever . . . 24. And He was wroth with the woman, because she harkened to the voice of the nachash, and did eat; and He said unto her: ‘I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy pains: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy return will be unto thy husband, and he will rule over thee.’ 25. And to Adam also he said, ‘ Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat thereof, cursed be the ground for thy sake: thorns and thistles will it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy face, till thou returnest to the land from whence thou wast taken; for land thou art, and unto land shalt thou return.’ 26. And He made for them coats of skin, and clothed them, and sent them forth from the Garden of Eden. 27. And on that day on which Adam went forth from the Garden, he offered as a sweet savour an offering, frankincense, galbanum, and stacte, and spices in the morning with the rising of the sun from the day when he covered his shame. 28. And on that day was closed the mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walketh, and of whatever moveth, so that they could no longer speak: 3 for they had all spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue. 29. And He sent out of the Garden of Eden all flesh that was in the Garden of Eden, and all flesh was scattered according to its kinds, and according to its types unto the places which had been created for them. 30. And to Adam alone did He give (the wherewithal) to cover his shame, of all the beasts and cattle. 31. On this account, it is prescribed on the heavenly tables as touching all those who know the judgment of the law, that they should cover their shame, and should not uncover themselves as the Nations uncover themselves. 32. And on the new moon of the fourth month, Adam and his wife went forth from the Garden of Eden, and they dwelt in the land of ‘Eldâ, in the land of their creation. 33. And Adam called the name of his wife Eve. 34. And they had no son till the first jubilee, [8 A.M.] and after this he knew her. 35. Now he tilled the land as he had been instructed in the Garden of Eden.
Related Scriptures
John 8:41-51 (T)
8:41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.” 42 Therefore Yeshua said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me. 46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.” 48 Then the Judeans answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?” 49 Yeshua answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. 51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”
Ephesians 5:22-33 (T)
5:22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Messiah also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. 24 But as the assembly is subject to Messiah, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Messiah also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect. 28 Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly, 30 because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones. 31 “For this cause a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.” (cf. Genesis 2:24) 32 This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Messiah and the assembly. 33 Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
1 Corinthians 14:26-36 (T)
14:26 What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, or has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up. 27 If any man speaks in another language, let there be two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the assembly, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three of the prophets speak, and let the others discern. 30 But if a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be exhorted. 32 The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, 33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the holy ones. 34 Let the [women](mss) keep silent in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the Torah also says (cf. Genesis 3:16), 35 if they desire to learn anything. Let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a wife to be talking in the assembly. 36 What!? Was it from you that the word of God went out? Or did it come to you alone?
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 (T)
11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you in marriage to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Messiah. 3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Chavah in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Yeshua whom we didn’t proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different “good news” which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well enough.
Colossians 3:18-19 (T)
3:18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.
Titus 2:1-5 (T)
2:1 But say the things which fit sound doctrine, 2 that older men should be temperate, sensible, sober minded, sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance, 3 and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good, 4 that they may train the young wives to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God’s word may not be blasphemed.
1 Peter 3:1-7 (T)
3:1 In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word, 2 seeing your pure behavior in fear. 3 Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing, 4 but from the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. 5 For this is how in the past the holy women who hoped in God also adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. 6 So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord (cf. Genesis 18:12), whose children you now are if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror. 7 The husbands, in the same way, live with them according to knowledge, as to the weaker utensil in the feminine way,(gynaikeios G1134) giving honor as also being joint heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
Related Additional Readings
Genesis 3:1-24 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
Composed in Talmudic Israel (c.150 – c.250 AD). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a western targum (translation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it was known in medieval times. But because of a printer’s mistake it was later labeled Targum Jonathan, in reference to Jonathan ben Uzziel. Some editions of the Pentateuch continue to call it Targum Jonathan to this day. Most scholars refer to the text as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. This targum is more than a mere translation. It includes much Aggadic material collected from various sources as late as the Midrash Rabbah as well as earlier material from the Talmud. It is effectively a combination of a commentary and a translation. In the portions where it is pure translation, it often agrees with the Targum Onkelos. The date of its composition is disputed. It cannot have been completed before the Arabic conquest as it refers to Mohammad’s wife Fatimah, but might have been initially composed in the 4th Century AD. However, some scholars date it in the 14th Century.
Chapter 3 And the nachash was wiser unto evil than all the beasts of the field which the Lord Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, Is it truth that the Lord Elohim hath said, You will not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the nachash, From the rest of the fruits of the trees of the garden we have power to eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden the Lord hath said, You will not eat of it, nor approach it, lest you die. In that hour the nachash spake accusation against his Creator, and said to the woman, Dying you will not die; for every artificer hateth the son of his art: for it is manifest before the Lord, that in the day that you eat of it, you will be as the great angels, who are wise to know between good and evil. And the woman beheld Sammael, the angel of death, and was afraid; yet she knew that the tree was good to eat, and that it was medicine for the enlightenment of the eyes, and desirable tree by means of which to understand. And she took of its fruit, and did eat; and she gave to her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of both were enlightened, and they knew that they were naked, divested of the purple robe in which they had been created. And they saw the sight of their shame, and sewed to themselves the leaves of figs, and made to them cinctures. [JERSULAEM. And they made to them vestments.] And they heard the voice of the word of the Lord Elohim walking in the garden in the repose of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from before the Lord Elohim among the trees of the garden. And the Lord Elohim called to Adam, and said to him, Is not all the world which I have made manifest before Me; the darkness as the light? and how hast thou thought in thine heart to hide from before Me? The place where thou art concealed, do I not see? Where are the commandments that I commanded thee? [JERUSALEM. Walking in the garden in the strength of the day…And the Word of the Lord Elohim called to Adam, and said to him, Behold, the world which I have created is manifest before Me; and how thinkest thou that the place in the midst whereof thou art, is not revealed before Me? Where is the commandment which I taught thee?] And he said, The voice of Thy Word heard I in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked; and the commandment which Thou didst teach me, I have transgressed; therefore I hid myself from shame. And He said, Who showed thee that thou art naked? Unless thou hast eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded that thou shouldst not eat. And Adam said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord Elohim said to the woman, What hast thou done? And the woman said, The nachash beguiled me with his subtilty, and deceived me with his wickedness, and I ate. And the Lord Elohim brought the three unto judgment; and He said to the nachash, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou of all the cattle, and of all the beasts of the field: upon thy belly thou shalt go, and thy feet will be cut off, and thy skin thou shalt cast away once in seven years; and the poison of death will be in thy mouth, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between the seed of thy son, and the seed of her sons; and it will be when the sons of the woman keep the commandments of the law, they will be prepared to smite thee upon thy head; but when they forsake the commandments of the law, thou wilt be ready to wound them in their heel. Nevertheless for them there will be a medicine, but for thee there will be no medicine; and they will make a remedy for the heel in the days of the King Meshiha. [JERUSALEM. And it will be when the sons of the woman consider the law, and perform (its) instructions, they will be prepared to smite thee on thy head to kill thee; and when the sons of the woman forsake the commandment of the law, and perform not (its) instructions, thou wilt be ready to wound them in their heel, and hurt them. Nevertheless there will be a medicine for the sons of the woman, but for thee, nachash, there will be no medicine: but it is to be that for these there will be a remedy for the heel in the days of the king Meshiha.] Unto the woman He said, Multiplying, I will multiply thy affliction by the blood of thy virginity, and by thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bear children, and to thy husband will be thy desire, and he will have rule over thee unto righteousness or unto sin. But to Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the word of thy wife, and hast eaten of the fruit of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, accursed is the ground, in that it did not show thee thy guilt; in labour shalt thou eat (of) it all the days of thy life. And thorns and thistles will it put forth and increase on account of thee, and thou shalt eat the herb which is on the face of the field. And Adam answered: I pray, through mercies from before Thee, O Lord, that we may not be accounted as the cattle, to eat the herb of the face of the field. Let us stand up, and labour with the labour of the hands, and eat food of the food of the land; and thus let there be distinction before Thee, between the children of men and the seed of cattle. [JERUSALEM. And thorns and dardareen will it increase to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb which is on the face of the field. Adam answered and said, I pray, through mercies from before Thee, O Lord, that we be not accounted before Thee as the cattle, to eat the herb which is on the face of the field. Let us now stand up, and labour with the labour of the hands, and eat food of the fruits of the land; and in these things let there be distinction before Thee between the children of men and the cattle.] By the labour of thy hands thou shalt eat food, until thou turn again to the dust from which thou wast created: for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return; for from the dust it is to be that thou art to arise, to render judgment and reckoning for all that thou hast done, in the day of the great judgment. And Adam called the name of his wife Hava, because she is the mother of all the children of men. And the Lord Elohim made to Adam and to his wife vestures of honour from the skin of the nachash, which he had cast from him, upon the skin of their flesh, instead of that adornment which had been cast away; and He clothed them. And the Lord Elohim said to the angels who ministered before Him, Behold, Adam is sole on the land, as I am sole in the heavens above; and it will be that they will arise from him who will know to discern between good and evil. Had he kept the commandments which I appointed to him, he would have lived and subsisted as the tree of life for ever. But now, because he hath not kept that which I prescribed, it is decreed against him that we keep him from the garden of Eden, before he reach forth his hand and take of the tree of life: for, behold, if he eat thereof, living he will live and subsist for ever. And the Lord Elohim removed him from the garden of Eden; and he went and dwelt on Mount Moriah, to cultivate the ground from which he had been created. And He drave out the man from thence where He had made to dwell the glory of His Shekina at the first between the two Kerubaia. Before He had created the world, He created the law; He prepared the garden of Eden for the righteous, that they might eat and delight themselves with the fruit of the tree; because they would have practised in their lives the doctrine of the law in this world, and have maintained the commandments: (but) he prepared Gehinnam for the wicked, which is like the sharp, consuming sword of two edges; in the midst of it He hath prepared flakes of fire and burning coals for the judgment of the wicked who rebelled in their life against the doctrine of the law. To serve the law is better than (to eat of) the fruit of the tree of life, (the law) which the Word of the Lord prepared, that man in keeping it might continue, and walk in the paths of the way of life in the world to come. [JERUSALEM. And the Word of the Lord Elohim said, Behold, Adam whom I have created is sole in my world, as I am sole in the heavens above. It is to be that a great people are to arise from him; from him will arise a people who will know how to discern between good and evil. And now it is good that we keep him from the garden of Eden before he stretch forth his hand and take also of the fruit of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever……And He cast out Adam, and made the glory of His Shekina to dwell at the front of the east of the garden of Eden, above the two Kerubaia. Two thousand years before He had created the world, He created the law, and prepared Gehinnam and the garden of Eden. He prepared the garden of Eden for the righteous, that they should eat, and delight themselves with the fruit of the tree, because they had kept the commandments of the law in this world. For the wicked He prepared Gehinnam, which is like the sharp, consuming sword with two edges. He prepared in the depth of it flakes of fire and burning coals for the wicked, for their punishment for ever in the world to come, who have not kept the commandment of the law in this world. For the law is the tree of life; whoever keepeth it in this life liveth and subsisteth as the tree of life. The law is good to keep in this world, as the fruit of the tree of life in the world that cometh.]
Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 1.1.4. (T)
Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).
1.1.4. Elohim therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the rest of the plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge; and foretold to them, that if they touched it, it would prove their destruction. But while all the living creatures had one language, at that time the nachash, which then lived together with Adam and his wife, shewed an envious disposition, at his supposal of their living happily, and in obedience to the commands of Elohim; and imagining, that when they disobeyed them, they would fall into calamities, he persuaded the woman, out of a malicious intention, to taste of the tree of knowledge, telling them, that in that tree was the knowledge of good and evil; which knowledge, when they should obtain, they would lead a happy life; nay, a life not inferior to that of a god: by which means he overcame the woman, and persuaded her to despise the command of Elohim. Now when she had tasted of that tree, and was pleased with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make use of it also. Upon this they perceived that they were become naked to one another; and being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they invented somewhat to cover them; for the tree sharpened their understanding; and they covered themselves with fig-leaves; and tying these before them, out of modesty, they thought they were happier than they were before, as they had discovered what they were in want of. But when Elohim came into the garden, Adam, who was wont before to come and converse with him, being conscious of his wicked behavior, went out of the way. This behavior surprised Elohim; and he asked what was the cause of this his procedure; and why he, that before delighted in that conversation, did now fly from it, and avoid it. When he made no reply, as conscious to himself that he had transgressed the command of Elohim, Elohim said, “I had before determined about you both, how you might lead a happy life, without any affliction, and care, and vexation of soul; and that all things which might contribute to your enjoyment and pleasure should grow up by my providence, of their own accord, without your own labor and pains-taking; which state of labor and pains-taking would soon bring on old age, and death would not be at any remote distance: but now thou hast abused this my good-will, and hast disobeyed my commands; for thy silence is not the sign of thy virtue, but of thy evil conscience.” However, Adam excused his sin, and entreated Elohim not to be angry at him, and laid the blame of what was done upon his wife; and said that he was deceived by her, and thence became an offender; while she again accused the nachash. But Elohim allotted him punishment, because he weakly submitted to the counsel of his wife; and said the ground should not henceforth yield its fruits of its own accord, but that when it should be harassed by their labor, it should bring forth some of its fruits, and refuse to bring forth others. He also made Eve liable to the inconveniency of breeding, and the sharp pains of bringing forth children; and this because she persuaded Adam with the same arguments wherewith the nachash had persuaded her, and had thereby brought him into a calamitous condition. He also deprived the nachash of speech, out of indignation at his malicious disposition towards Adam. Besides this, he inserted poison under his tongue, and made him an enemy to men; and suggested to them, that they should direct their strokes against his head, that being the place wherein lay his mischievous designs towards men, and it being easiest to take vengeance on him, that way. And when he had deprived him of the use of his feet, he made him to go rolling all along, and dragging himself upon the ground. And when Elohim had appointed these penalties for them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into another place.