STROLL AROUND EDEN: REFLECTIONS ON THE GENESIS APOCRYPHON IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS (1QapGen=1Q20)

Egypt was from time to time called Babylon.
Ur of the Chaldees did not apply here;
For Ur is further, far further to the east.
Did Abraham ever journey anywhere near?

The Euphrates was different in Abraham’s day:
It borders the Great Desert, between Egypt and Palestine.
Not any further than that, no way.
Can you draw that picture in your mind?

We’re going on a trip around Eden
Free from the meddling hands of enemies
Standing on Judea’s highest point
Dreaming as we look out we’ll soon be free

Mount Hermon at the southern tip of Lebanon
To a land south of the Dead Sea, the Great Salt Sea
The Great and Mighty Rift, parallel to the Gihon?
Eden’s river called the Gusher, the Gihon, is where we’ll leave

The Gusher must rise up out of Ethiopia,
Cush, Sudan, Nubia just south of Egypt,
We’re in the vicinity of ancient Abyssinia
Nowhere near Fertile Crescent east and Sumeria

We travel as far north as Alexandretta near Syria
Skirting the Mountain of the Bull, further north
And the Taurus Mountains near the coast of the Med.
So far, Abraham’s led us on a northeasterly course

We find ourselves at the Turkish shoreline
In Asia Minor until we see the Euphrates
Traveling south, returning, we see the Red Sea to the east
And then we walk along the great Red Sea

From there we come to a branch of the Reed Sea,
Jutting out from the Red Sea.
Still heading south, our circuit is almost complete
In no time at all we’ve walked around the Garden of Eden

(NOTE: “Tales of the Patriarchs,” which comment upon the descendants of Adam, is sometimes referred to as the “Genesis Apocryphon” — believed to have come from the fourth scroll out of seven to be found in the Qumran Cave. This “Dead Sea Scroll” was originally thought to have come from the apocryphal book of Enoch, in that a small, unraveled portion of the scroll mentions Enoch’s name. Other sections of the scroll have led scholars to believe that this scroll may have come from the apocryphal book of Lamech, a name associated with the book of Jubilees.

Experts thought this scroll came from the book of Lamech, because the narrator speaks about Bitenosh, Lamech’s wife, in first person. But this was wrong. When the scroll was finally fully revealed, it bore references to Noah, Abraham and Lot, making the scrolls relation to the Jubilees more apparent. One might refer to this text as a “Little Genesis” because of its literary dependence on Genesis and its similarity to Jubilees.

Here’s a final note: I don’t believe God said he would not destroy the earth again by water. I believe that is an altered passage. For one, God doesn’t destroy, evil does; Baal, of Akkadian, Canaanite origins, is the god of bad weather; I believe God will allow the waters to keep rising … so that Atlantis can be reborn. Yuck. All the riff-raff is rising up from the deep, ground included.

— rcg