The Testament of Adam — True Church Edition
The Testament of Adam 18
1When Terah, father of Abraham, reached two hundred and three years he died. Abraham and Lot buried him in the city of Haran. [God] commanded him that he should travel to the Holy Land. Abraham took with him Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and journeyed to the land of the Amorites. Abraham the Just was then seventy-five years old. When he reached eighty years, he fought with the nations and put them to flight and delivered Lot from them, and he had no child at that time, for Sarah was barren. When he returned from the war with the nations, God commanded him to journey and pass over to Mount Yâbûs.
2When he got there he met Shem, the son of Noah; who was Melchizedek, priest of the most high God. When Abraham saw him, he did homage to him and was blessed by him. He offered before him fine pure bread and drink. Melchizedek blessed Abraham and made vows for him. Thereupon God commanded Melchizedek to pare his nails. Melchizedek consecrated an offering of fine bread and drink. Abraham offered some of it, and paid to Melchizedek the tenth of his goods. Then God, may His names be sanctified, discoursed with Abraham the second time and said to him, “Thy reward shall be great with Me. Since thou hast received the blessing of Melchizedek and thou art worthy to receive from his hand the gift of bread and wine, I will bless thee, and will multiply thy seed.”
3When Abraham reached eighty-six years, Ishmael was born to him of Hagar the Egyptian bond-maid. Pharaoh of Egypt had given her to Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who was his sister by his father but not by his mother, for Terah married two wives; the name of the one was Yuta, she was the mother of Abraham, and she died when she gave birth to him; the name of the other was Nahdeef, and she was the mother of Sarah. Therefore Abraham answered as he said to the king of Egypt when he wished to do violence to Sarah, that “she is my sister.” When Abraham reached ninety-nine years, God came down to his house, and gave to Sarah a son.
4When he reached a hundred years, Isaac was born to him, the son whom God gave him of barren Sarah. When Isaac reached twelve years, Abraham offered him to God as all offering upon the hill Yâbûs, which is the place in which the Christ was crucified, and which is known as Golgolah. In it Adam was created; in it Abraham looked at the tree which bore the lamb by which Isaac was redeemed from sacrifice, and in it the body of Adam was laid. In it was the altar of Melchizedek, and in it David looked at the Angel of the Lord bearing a sword for the destruction of Jerusalem. Verily Abraham’s carrying up there of Isaac to the altar is a type of the crucifixion of the Christ for the salvation of Adam and his children.
5The proof of this is the saying of the Christ in the holy Gospel to the children of lsrael, that “your father Abraham did not cease to long to look on my days, and when he saw them, he rejoiced in them.” The lamb which Abraham saw hanging on the tree was a type of the slaying of the Christ in the body, which He had taken from us, and of His crucifixion also, because the lamb was not the child of a ewe and was worthy of being sacrificed. In that place Abraham saw what pertained to the salvation of Adam through the crucifixion of the Christ. In the hour that Abraham took up Isaac to the altar, Jerusalem began to be built, and the reason was this.
6When Melchizedek, priest of God, appeared to men, his fame reached the kings of the nations, and they came to him from every region to be blessed. Among those that came to him were Abimelech king of Gerar, Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Delassar (Ellasar), Kedarlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of men, Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, or Simeon king of the Amorites, and Simair king of Saba, Bislah king of Bela, Hiar king of Damascus, and Yaftar king of the deserts.
7When these kings, O my son Clement, saw Melchizedek king of Peace and priest of God, and heard his word, they honoured and applauded him and asked him to journey with them to their lands. He told them that he was not allowed to leave his place, in which God had appointed him to an office. Their unanimous counsel was that a city should be built for him at their expense, and that they should rule it. They built for him the Holy City, and delivered it to him, and Melchizedek called it Jerusalem.