MANICHAEAN LITERATURE 577in order to ingest their light particles. The two demons then copulate, and
Nebroel gives birth to exact miniature replicas (the "image of God" of Gene-
sis 1:26-27) of the confused light-matter macrocosm: Adam and Eve. In a
typically gnostic "inverted exegesis" of Genesis 1-5 (a hermeneutical feature
shared with some forms of gnosticism), the sexually oriented evil creator can
create only by copulation and birth, and so can create only matter (which is
inherently evil). He is unable to create in the manner of the father of great-
ness, by asexually evoking pure spiritual entities. Consequently, Adam (repre-
senting humanity) is specifically designed by the evil creator in his own
image (Genesis 1:26) to procreate sexually (Genesis 1:27-28). Thus, Adam
can only continue the evil cycle of birth, copulation, and rebirth, and in so
doing he fulfills his natural evil inclination to "be fruitful and multiply"
(Genesis 1:28; 5:4b). Adam's evil material nature (representing human sexu-
ality) thus entangles the precious light particles, transmitted through male
seed, in potentially endless generations of material bodies (representing
human history; see Genesis 5:1-32).
But Adam is ignorant of the light within him and his true origin in the
kingdom of light and so is unable to recognize and redeem the light particles.
The evocations of the father of greatness then send Jesus of light to awaken
Adam (Genesis 3:1) to inform him of his true nature (Genesis 3:4-5) and to
lead him to self-recognition (Genesis 3:7,11a, 22a). Jesus of light helps Adam
eat of the salvific tree of life (Genesis 3:22), warns him of the dangers of sex-
ual procreation with Eve, and so encourages a sexually abstinent lifestyle (the
ideal model of behavior in Manichaean ethics). Then Eve and a male archon
copulate, and Eve gives birth to Cain (Genesis 4:1), who then copulates with
his mother Eve, who gives birth to Abel (Genesis 4:2), and so begins the in-
cestuous interaction of Cain (Genesis 4:2a) and Abel with Eve and with each
other's daughters borne by Eve (Genesis 4:17). Eve then receives magical
knowledge from an evil archon, which enables her to copulate with the asce-
tic Adam. She succeeds in her desire and bears Seth (Genesis 4:25a), who, as
the first true son of Adam (Genesis 5:3, 4b), contains a significantly larger
amount of light particles than the other offspring of Eve. The ascetic Adam
and Seth, self-conscious particles of light entrapped in innately evil material
bodies, become the exemplary human figures for Manichaean ethics (Genesis
4:26b; 5:1-32).
The "future time" is the third and final act of the historical cosmic
drama, and it provides for Manichaean ethics a preview into the system of
reward and punishment. The final and great war will break out among the