Adam’s Animal Farm: A Fresh Reading of the Anthropological-Hamartiological Framework of the Apocalypse of Moses

Abstract

Abstract A commonly recognized feature of the Apocalypse of Moses is its ethical-inferential orientation. However, the present article seeks to show that this does not just manifest itself in retrospective reflection, but is also exemplified narratologically in the attacks on Cain, Abel, and Seth. Far from being superfluous to the main narrative, these incidents provide us with a paradigm for understanding the Apocalypse’s anthropological-hamartiological framework in the post-paradisiacal world: The one who does what is good will send both devil and beast into flight, but the one who does not will be overcome by them. In order to substantiate this thesis, the article compares the Apocalypse to the works of Philo and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.