Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 36: Death Gives Up Adam
Our Lord subdued his might and held it in, so that his living death might give life to Adam. He gave his hands to be pierced by the nails, in place of the hand that picked the fruit. He was struck on the cheek in the judgment hall, in place of the mouth that ate it in Eden. And because Adam’s foot carried him away from there, his feet were pierced. Our Lord was stripped, so that he might make us modest. With the gall and vinegar he sweetened the bitterness of the serpent, which the serpent had poured into mankind.
Death said: “If you are God, show your power; and if you are man, feel our power. And if it is Adam you are looking for, go away from here! He is shut up here because of his transgressions. Cherubim and seraphim are not waiting to pay his debt in his place; there is no one among them who is mortal, to give his life in his place. Who can open the mouth of Hell, and dive down and bring him up from her, who has swallowed him and holds him fast, and that forever?
“I am the one who has conquered all the wise; see, they are heaped up for me in the corners of Hell. Come, go in, son of Joseph, and see terrible things: the limbs of the giants, the mighty corpse of Samson, and the skeleton of stubborn Goliath; and Og too, son of the giants, who made himself a bed of iron and lay on it, from which I hurled him and cast him down. That cedar I laid low, down to the gate of Hell.
“By myself alone I have conquered multitudes, and one man single-handed would try to conquer me! Prophets and priests and famous men I have carried off; I have conquered kings with their armies, mighty men in their hunts, and righteous men in their virtues. I hurl streams of corpses into Hell, and though they pour into her, she is still thirsty. Whether a man is near or far off, the end brings him to the gate of Hell.
“I despised the silver the rich held out to me, and their offerings did not corrupt me. The masters of slaves never once persuaded me to take a slave in place of his master, a poor man instead of a rich man, or an old man instead of a child. As for the wise who are able to charm wild beasts, their charms do not enter my ears. ‘Hater of persuasion,’ all men call me; and I do what I am commanded.
“Who is this? Whose son is he, and what is his lineage, who has conquered me? The book of families is with me. See, I went in and read and studied the names from Adam until now, and I do not forget one of the dead. Family by family, see, they are written on my limbs. Because of you, Jesus, I went in and made a count, so that I might show you that there is no one who escapes my hands.
“Yet there were two men, and I will not lie about it, whose names have escaped me in Hell. For Enoch and Elijah did not come to me. I have searched the whole world for them. I even went down where Jonah went down, and searched, and they were not there. And though I suppose they have entered Paradise and escaped, a mighty cherub guards it. What if they have entered heaven by the ladder Jacob saw!
“Who is there who has measured the sand of the sea and spilled only two grains? In this harvest, where diseases labor every day as reapers, I alone carry the handfuls and gather them up; other gatherers drop handfuls in their haste. Grape pickers overlook clusters; but only two grapes have escaped me in that great vintage which I alone have gathered.”
“I am the one who has taken all prey in the chase, on sea and on dry land,” said Death. “Eagles of the air come to me, and the dragons of the deep too; creeping things and birds and cattle; old men, young men and children. These will convince you, Son of Mary, that this power of mine rules over all. How will your cross conquer me, when by a tree, see, I have prevailed and conquered from ancient times?
“But I would like to speak further, for I am not short of words; I do not have to search for words, for see, deeds call on me close at hand. I do not, as you do, promise the simple secret things, that there is, of course, to be a resurrection at some time or other. If, then, you are truly powerful, give a pledge now, so that your distant promise may also be believed.”
Death ended his speech of mockery, and the voice of our Lord sounded into Hell; he cried aloud and burst the graves one by one. Trembling took hold of Death. Into Hell, which had never been lit up from of old, there flashed splendors from the Watchers, who entered and brought out the dead to meet him who was dead and gives life to all. The dead came out, and the living were ashamed, those who thought they had conquered the giver of life to all.
“But who gave me the day of Moses,” said Death, “who made a feast for me? For that lamb that was slain in Egypt gave me the first fruit from every house: heaps and heaps of the firstborn he piled up for me at the gate of Hell. But this Lamb of the festival has robbed Hell; he has taken title to the dead and carried them off from me. That lamb filled the graves for me; but this one has emptied the graves that were full.
“The death of Jesus is a torment to me; I would rather have his life than his death. This is the dead man whose death, see, I hate. In the death of all other men I rejoice, but his death, his alone, I detest; I hope he will come back to life. While he was living, he brought three who were dead back to life and restored them; but now, by his death, the dead who have come to life, whom I was going to shut in, have trampled on me at the gate of Hell.
“I will hurry and shut the gates of Hell before this dead man whose death has plundered me. Whoever hears will wonder at my humiliation, that I am overcome by a dead man who is outside. All the dead are trying to get out, but this one presses to come in. A medicine of life has entered Hell and has restored life to its dead. Who, then, has brought in and hidden from me that living fire, in which the cold, dark recesses of Hell have found rest?”
Death saw the Watchers in Hell, the immortal in place of the mortal, and he said: “Confusion has entered our home, for in these two things there is torment for me: that the dead have come out of Hell, and that the Watchers, who do not die, have entered it. See, one has come in and sat down at the pillow in this tomb, and a second, his companion, at his feet. I will plead with him and persuade him to take his pledge, and go up, and go to his kingdom.
“Do not be angry with me, gracious Jesus, for the words my pride has spoken before you! Who is there who, seeing your cross, will doubt that you are man? Who is there who, having seen your power, will not believe that you are also God? See, by these two things I have learned to confess that you are man and also God! Since the dead in Hell do not repent, go up among the living, Lord, and preach repentance.
“Jesus, King, receive my plea, and with my plea take a pledge for yourself: accept Adam, the great pledge, in whom all the dead are buried, just as, when I received him, all the living were hidden in him. I have given you the first pledge, the body of Adam; so go up, and reign over all. And when I hear your trumpet, I will lead out the dead with my own hand at your coming.”
Our King has gone out alive and gone up out of Hell as conqueror. He has doubled woe for those on the left hand: to evil spirits and demons he is sorrow, to Satan and to Death he is pain, to Sin and Hell he is mourning. Joy has come today to those on the right hand. So on this great day let us give great glory to him who died and is alive, so that he may give life and resurrection to all!