Toodlin' through the cyber-world, I came across some sample myths from Howard Schwartz's book, "Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism" (Oxford University Press, 2004).
One of the myths, found @
FROM BOOK NINE, MYTHS OF EXILE , is #572:
572. HOW CAIN WAS CONCEIVED
Samael was the great prince in heaven. After God created the world, Samael took his band of followers and descended and saw the creatures that God had created. Among them he found none so skilled to do evil than the serpent, as it is said,
Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts (Gen. 3:1). Its appearance was something like that of a camel, and Samael mounted and rode upon it. Riding on the serpent, the angel Samael came to Eve in the night and seduced her, and she conceived Cain. Later, while Eve was pregnant by the angel, Adam came to her, and she conceived Abel. Others say it was the serpent himself who seduced Eve, for after he saw Adam and Eve coupling, the serpent conceived a passion for her. He even imagined killing Adam and marrying Eve. So he came to Eve when she was alone and possessed her and infused her with lust. That is how the serpent fathered Cain, who was later to slay his own brother. And that is how Eve was infected with his impurity. As a result, all of Israel was impure from that time until the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. Only then did Israel’s impurity cease.
What I found VERY interesting is that (a) Schwartz is a Professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, (b) a fairly well-known and -praised author
Welcome to Howard Schwartz on the Web , and (c) he cited the sources for his Myth #572. Here they are:
- Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 4:1;
- B. Shabbat 145b-146a;
- B. Sota 9b;
- B. Yevamot 103b;
- B. Avodah Zarah 22b;
- Genesis Rabbah 18:6;
- Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 13, 21, and 22;
- Zohar 1:28b, 1:36b-137a, 1:54a, 1:55a; 1:243b, 2:52a;
- Magen Avot 53.
Now, I'm not a Hebrew Expert by a long shot, but I was able to actually locate Sources #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6. #2 through #5 are from the Babylonian Talmud, and #6 is from the Midrash. I'm not sure when they were "compiled". Seems unreasonable to think they may have been influenced by a Christian story like the one recorded in the Proto-Gospel of James was written. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if the Proto-Gospel of James version of the Adam/Eve/Serpent interaction may have had its source among non-Christian Jews.
Here are my copies of the underlined sources:
- B. Shabbat 145b-146a:
- Rabbi Yoḥanan then explained to them: Why are gentiles ethically contaminated? It is because they did not stand on Mount Sinai. As when the snake came upon Eve, i.e., when it seduced her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, it infected her with moral contamination, and this contamination remained in all human beings. When the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai, their contamination ceased, whereas gentiles did not stand at Mount Sinai, and their contamination never ceased. Rav Aḥa, the son of Rava, said to Rav Ashi: What about converts? How do you explain the cessation of their moral contamination? Rav Ashi said to him: Even though they themselves were not at Mount Sinai, their guardian angels were present, as it is written: “It is not with you alone that I make this covenant and this oath, but with he that stands here with us today before the Lord our God, and with he that is not here with us today” (Deuteronomy 29:13–14), and this includes converts.
- [Terry's Note: Gee, ... that kind of looks like the makings of "an Origin of the Christian doctrine of Original Sin" story from where I sit. We Gentiles just missed the cleansing effect of not having ancestors standing with the Israelites at Mount Sinai."
- B. Sotah 9b:
- And, so too, we found with regard to the primeval snake who seduced Eve, for he placed his eyes on that which was unfit for him, as he wanted to marry Eve. Consequently, that which he desired was not given to him, and that which was in his possession was taken from him. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: I initially said that the snake will be king over every domesticated animal and non-domesticated animal, but now he is cursed more than all the domesticated animals and all the non-domesticated animals of the field, as it is stated: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14).
- The baraita explains the elements of this curse. I said that the snake will walk upright, but now he shall go on his belly; I said that his food will be the same as the food eaten by a person, but now he shall eat dust. The snake said: I will kill Adam and marry Eve, but now: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15).
- [Terry's note: Yikes! The snake used walk on at least two legs and wanted to marry Eve? Sunday School could have been so much more interesting. Kids would have come from miles around to hear that story."
- B. Yevamot 103b:
- The Gemara answers: He implants filth in her and contaminates her, as her body accepts his semen. As Rabbi Yoḥanan also said, based on his understanding that the serpent seduced Eve into having sexual relations with him: When the serpent came upon Eve, he infected her with moral contamination, and this contamination remained in all human beings. When the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai their contamination ceased, whereas with regard to gentiles, who did not stand at Mount Sinai, their contamination never ceased.
- That underlined part sure looks to me like a possible original version of "the Serpent's Seed" story in the Proto-Gospel of James story that you opened your OP with, doesn't it?
- B. Avodah Zarah 22b:
- And if you wish, say instead: Even when he finds the wife, he also engages in bestiality with the animal, as the Master said: The animal of a Jew is more appealing to gentiles than their own wives, as Rabbi Yoḥanan says: At the time when the snake came upon Eve, at the time of the sin of her eating from the Tree of Knowledge, it infected her with moral contamination, and this contamination lingers in all human beings. The Gemara asks: If that is so, a Jew should also be suspected of engaging in bestiality. The Gemara answers: With regard to the Jewish people, who stood at Mount Sinai and received the Torah, their contamination ended, whereas in the case of gentiles, who did not stand at Mount Sinai and receive the Torah, their contamination has not ended.
- [Terry's Note: From this ignorant Gentile's perspective, the B. Avodah Zarah section seemed--on a real quick scan--to mostly be about bestiality issues and whether Jews should buy animals from Gentiles, who apparently often preferred their animals to their wives.]
