Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 38: Death Is Thrown from His Throne
My throne was set up for me in Sheol, and one who was dead rose up and threw me down from it. Everyone feared me alone, and I feared no one. Terror and trouble were among the living, rest and peace among the dead. But see, in a man who was slain, the one who takes her captive has entered Sheol. I used to take everyone captive; now the Captive whom I took captive has taken me captive. He whom I took captive has led her away and gone to Paradise.
Everyone complains bitterly against me, and I have complained against only one. Who among men is as just as I am? Has corruption ever touched my integrity? I held everyone in affection, and whoever hates me knows it. All my days I have not known what a bribe is. I have shown no favor to the person of a king. I preach equality, for in Sheol I make the slave and his master equal.
It is before God that I serve, and with him there is no favoritism. Who else endures what I endure, I who am cursed when I do good? The kindnesses I have done are repaid to me with wrong. Though my deeds are good, my name is not good. Yet my mind rests in its integrity. It is in God that I comfort myself, for though he is good, he is denied every day, and he bears it.
I set the old free from all their sufferings, and the young likewise from all sins. In Sheol I quiet every secret quarrel; in our land there is no wickedness. Only Sheol and heaven are free from all sins; this earth that lies between them lives in its wickedness. So whoever is prudent will either go up into heaven or, if that is too hard, go down to Sheol, which is easy.
When a man loses someone to death, everyone hurries to comfort him. But though many of my dead have come back to life, no one comes in to comfort me. Satan came in, he against whom seven woes had been proclaimed. Though the Son of Mary had trampled him mightily, his spirit is still proud, for he is the serpent that fights on though it is bruised. Better for me to fall down and worship before this Jesus, who has conquered me by his cross.
When he comes in at the gate of Sheol, in place of John, who preached before his coming, then I will cry out: “See! He who gives life to the dead has come! From now on I am your servant, Jesus! I reviled you because of the body, for it covered your Godhead. Do not be angry, Son of the King, with your treasury; at your command I have opened and closed. Though my wings are very swift, it is at your nod that I hurry to every quarter.”
None of those who have been raised was the firstborn, for our Lord is the Firstborn of Sheol. How could any dead man go before him, the Power by which he was raised? There are last who are first, and younger ones who have become firstborn. For though Manasseh was the firstborn, how could it be that Ephraim took the birthright? And if the second-born was set before him, how much more will the Lord and Creator go before all in his resurrection!
See, John declares as a herald that he comes later, though he was born first. For he said, “See, a man is coming after me, and yet he was before me.” For how could he be before him, the Power in whom he preached? For everything that comes about because of another thing comes after that other, even if it seems to come before it. The cause that called it into being is older than it and before it in every way.
Adam, the cause, was older than all the creatures, which were made for him; for the Creator kept him, Adam, always in view, even while he was creating. So though Adam did not yet exist, he was older than all creatures. How much more, then, my Lord, must this manhood of yours be older, which in your Godhead is from eternity with him who begot you! Praise to you, and through you to your Father, from us all!
Praise to you, for you are the first, in your Godhead and in your manhood! For even though Elijah was the first to go up, he could not go before the one for whose sake he was taken up. For his type depended on your reality, and even though the types seem to come before your fulfillment, your fulfillment is secretly before them. Creatures existed before Adam, yet he was before them, because they were made for his sake.
O my Lord, work this resurrection for me, not by your compulsion but by your love. For your compulsion gives life to sinners too: Iscariot would rather choose again for himself the death of Sheol than the life of Gehenna. So work for me the resurrection that comes from your mercy, and even if your justice does not allow it, let there be room for your grace. Let it remember this one thing for me: that I have taken refuge in it.