The Quest of Seth

The quest of Seth for the Oil of Mercy

One of the most popular religious myths of the Middle Ages was that of Adam's third child Seth and his journey to retrieve the Oil of Mercy from paradise. Despite the stories popularity across medieval centuries and from Russia to Europe to Iceland, the religious tale is little known today and little examined by modern scholars. The quest myth appeared in both Latin and numerous vulgate versions, including England's Cursa Mundi, Travels of Sir John Mandeville, Malory's Morte D'Arthur.

The story provides the origin for the wood that formed the cross upon which Christ was crucified. Seth plays no role in the canonical Old Testament, but is an important figure within the gnostic apocrypha, e.g. "The Apocalypse of Adam."

As Adam lays dying, he asks his son to travel to paradise and retrieve the Oil of Mercy. Seth retraces the path taken by Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the garden. Once there he is refused entry and the oil for which he traveled. He is instead give three visions: a dry withered tree, then an snake twined about its trunk and, thirdly, a new born baby in its branches. Seth understands that the child is in fact the oil of mercy which will heal the sorrow of humanity. Seth is given three seeds from the tree of life. He returns with these and places them in the mouth of his dead father.

Three trees grow from the seeds—a cypress, cedar and pine. These three trees grow until they are uprooted by Moses who makes them into the three wands with which he performs his miracles, such as drawing water forth from rock.

King David inherits the three wands and fuses them into one. This staff is later replanted and grows into a tree. Solomon attempts to use the wood from this tree in the building of his temple, but the wood is always the wrong length. Solomon then places the tree itself in the temple.

A lady, Maxamilla, sits on the tree and prophesizes that Christ will die upon its wood. The Jews of the time stone the seer and throw the tree into a deep pit. While there many miracles are connected with it. The wood is later removed from the pit and used as a bridge across a brook.

Near the time of the crucifixion, a cross is made of the wood. None can carry the wood save the doomed Christ.

Despite the medieval popularity of the story and its ubiquity in art and literature of the middle ages, it is now little known or studied. Esther Quinn proposes two reasons for this one being the non-canonical, apocryphal nature of Seth and the other being his distinctness from the norm of other medieval heroes:

As for the hero, Seth, it is not difficult to perceive why he has remained unknown in modern times. He is unlike other medieval heroes, Lancelot and Tristram for instance, whose exploits in love and battle have endeared them to generations of readers. Seth is neither a warrior nor a lover; he has no conflicts, no passion. He is a simple, almost an abstract figure. Less fully developed as a man, he is a better archetype. Single-minded, he exists only to perform his mission, and it is a momentous one: he goes to fetch for mankind the gift of God's mercy. For suffering Adam is suffering mankind, and Seth seeks mercy not only for his father but for all men. Lacking passion and individuality, he is the perfect intermediary between sinful man and the divine creator; he is, in short, a type of Christ.

I perceive certain important common threads between the medieval Seth and the gnostic Seth of the apocrypha. In the latter, he is also given seeds which represent some secret or divine wisdom. These he is charged by Adam to carry through his descendents to be protected until the time is right.

Seth provides the implement and symbol for the sacrifice of the divine king, the rubric cross of the Aeon of Osiris. Similar to the Egyptian myth of Seth slaying Osiris, here he literally sows the seeds which will grow into the implement of divine sacrifice. Somewhat like Prometheus bringing the knowledge of fire to humankind, Seth brings forth that wisdom which the knowing of resulted in the expulsion from the garden. Here though the knowledge is not fruit but seed. The seeds are planted in the fertile soil of humanity, the corpse of primal man Adam, to grow up along with man. During the Aeon of Isis the wood serves the role of the miraculous; during the Aeon of Osiris it is the tool of silence; and during the Aeon of Horus and Seth it reflects his great covenant to humanity.

Reference:

Quinn, Esther C. The Quest of Seth for the Oil of Life, Univeristy of Chicago Press, 1962.