LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 129
and adorn herself brightly^23 to arouse his return.
But under the Good's control Elohim no longer
descended to Edem. Then Edem commanded Babel,
which here means the goddess Aphrodite,
to incite fornication and divorce among people,
so that as she was separated from Elohim
the spirit of Elohim in people might feel affliction
and be tormented and suffer like her, Edem,
his abandoned wife. And Edem gave grand authority
to Naas, her third angel, to torture the spirit
of Elohim in people with all possible tortures
so through that spirit Elohim might himself
be tortured—he who had abandoned Edem
in cold violation of their covenant.ELOHIM SENDS DOWN HIS ANGEL BARUCH
When the father Elohim saw these things,
he sent down Baruch, his own third angel,
to comfort the spirit living in all people.
When Baruch came he stood among the angels
of Edem, in the midst of paradise.^24 Paradise
was the angels among whom he stood,
and he commanded the people "to eat from
every tree in paradise, except from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil,"^25
which tree is Naas.^26 They could obey
the other eleven angels of Edem,
for though they have passions they do not disobey
the commandment. But Naas disobeyed.
He approached Eve and seduced her
and debauched her, which is a transgression,
and he approached Adam and played with him
as a boy, which is a transgression.- See, perhaps, Genesis 2:1 (heaven and earth are finished in their full array).
- Genesis 2:9.
- Genesis 2:16,17.
- Note that Naas is both the tree of knowledge and (since his name derives from the Hebrew
nahash, "snake") the serpent of seduction to eat from the tree.