THE BIRTH OF CAIN - There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show how long-suffering is the Lord, for all the generations provoked Him unto wrath, until He brought the deluge upon them. By reason of their impiousness God changed His plan of calling one thousand generations into being between the creation of the world and the revelation of the law at Mount Sinai; nine hundred and seventy-four He suppressed before the flood. Wickedness came into the world with the first being born of woman, Cain, the oldest son of Adam. When God bestowed Paradise upon the first pair of mankind, He warned them particularly against carnal intercourse with each other. But after the fall of Eve, Satan, in the guise of the serpent, approached her, and the fruit of their union was Cain, the ancestor of all the impious generations that were rebellious toward God, and rose up against Him. Cain's descent from Satan, who is the angel Samael, was revealed in his seraphic appearance. At his birth, the exclamation was wrung from Eve, "I have gotten a man through an angel of the Lord." Adam was not in the company of Eve during the time of her pregnancy with Cain. After she had succumbed a second time to the temptations of Satan, and permitted herself to be interrupted in her penance, she left her husband and journeyed westward, because she feared her presence might continue to bring him misery. Adam remained in the east. When the days of Eve to be delivered were fulfilled, and she began to feel the pangs of travailing, she prayed to God for help. But He hearkened not unto her supplications. "Who will carry the report to my lord Adam?" she asked herself. "Ye luminaries in the sky, I beg you, tell it to my master Adam when ye return to the east!" In that self same hour, Adam cried out: "The lamentation of Eve has pierced to my ear! Mayhap the serpent has again assaulted her," and he hastened to his wife. Finding her in grievous pain, he besought God in her behalf, and twelve angels appeared, together with two heavenly powers. All these took up their post to right of her and to left of her, while Michael, also standing on her right side, passed his hand over her, from her face downward to her breast, and said to her, "Be thou blessed, Eve, for the sake of Adam. Because of his solicitations and his prayers I was sent to grant thee our assistance. Make ready to give birth to thy child!" Immediately her son was born, a radiant figure. A little while and the babe stood upon his feet, ran off, and returned holding in his hands a stalk of straw, which he gave to his mother. For this reason he was named Cain, the Hebrew word for stalk of straw. Now Adam took Eve and the boy to his home in the east. God sent him various kinds of seeds by the hand of the angel Michael, and he was taught how to cultivate the ground and make it yield produce and fruits, to sustain himself and his family and his posterity. After a while, Eve bore her second son, whom she named Hebel, because, she said, he was born but to die. Ill. THE TEN GENERATIONS (103-142) X Abot 5, 22; ARN 32, 92 (a view is cited here, according to which some among them were God-fearing, and it was they who prevented the flood from coming for some time), and the second version 34, 92. The tenth belongs to God; Noah was the tenth after Adam, and Abraham the tenth after Noah; Tan. B. V, 27. So also Philo, De Congressu Quaerende Eruditionis Causa, 17. That these sinful generations nevertheless lived longer than others has its good reasons: their longevity enabled them to study the movement of the heavenly bodies, so that they bequeathed their astronomical knowledge to later generations (BR. 26. 5; comp. vol. I, p. 121. below, and Josephus, Antiqui., I, 3). They likewise received, during their long and care-free life, their reward for their good deeds which was due to them, so that after their death their punishment was severe; BR 16. 5. Furthermore, God wished to test these generations; He therefore granted them long life in order to give them the opportunity to show kindness to one another. But they did not stand the test. The sons were ready to care for their parents, but not for their grand-parents, and Noah was the only one who was willing to care for his grandfather and all his ancestors; ER 16, 80. God spoke to no one in this generation until Noah came (BR 34. 5 and Koheleth 7. 19), just as Abraham was the first to whom God spoke during the ten generations from Noah to him; BR 39, 4; Koheleth Joc. cit. This seems to be directed against the view prevalent in pseudepigraphic writings that Seth, Enoch, Shem, and other patriarchs were the bearers of God's revelations; comp. Index under these names; comp. also Luria’s note 4 on PRE. 22. ? BR 28. 4; Hagigah 13b; ARN 31, 93; Shabbat 88b; Koheleth 1. 15 and 4. 3; Tan. Lek 11 and Yitro 9; Tehillim 90, 392, and 105, 449; Aggadat Bereshit 49, 100; Zebahim 116a; ER 2, 9; 6, 33; 13, 61 and 68; 26, 130; Targum (from a manuscript quoted by Levy, Chalddisches Worterbuch, 1, 186) on Job 22. 16. The version found in some of the sources just cited. according to which the Torah was 132 The Ten Generations [3 written down 974 generations prior to the creation of the world, is a comparatively recent presentation of this Haggadah, which, in its original form, has nothing to do with the doctrine of the preexistence of the Torah. Comp. note 5 on vol. I, p. 4. 3 PRE 21 (on the text comp. Luria, ad loc., and MHG I, 88-89, and 105); Shabbat 146a (top; the filth with which the serpent infected Eve clung to the rest of humanity, but was removed from Israel as soon as they received the Torah); Yebamot 103b; ‘Abodah Zarah 22b; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 1 and 5. 3; BR 19, end (on the text comp. Theodor, ad loc., and Recanate Gen. 3. 13); Zohar I, 31a and 54b; III, 117a (the heavenly origin of Cain and Abel as stated here agrees with the heresies of Archonites in Epiphanius, Haer., 40.5); Hippolytus, Haer., 5. 21; Irenaeus, I, 30. 7; Epiphanius, Joc. cit. Comp. further 1 John 3. 12; Augustine, In Epistolam Joan. ad Parthos, 5. 3, and Quaestiones ex Novo Test., III, 2282 (Migne’s edition). Tertullian, De Patientia, 5, has no bearing on the subject discussed here, and the statement in Ginzberg’s Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 59, is to be corrected accordingly. This passage of Tertullian is to be translated: Impatience, conceived of the devil’s seed, produced, in the fecundity of malice, anger as her son. Comp., however, Tertullian, Haer., 2, concerning Abel, who was born of an ignoble spirit. But independent of the legend concerning Eve’s sexual intercourse with the serpent is the statement that the original sin consisted in this that the serpent had awakened in her a sexual desire. Comp. Apocalypse of Abraham 23; Philo, De M. Optf., 56; Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch, 97; WR 14. 5; Protevang. of James 13. Comp. vol. I, p. 96, and the following note., as well as note 131 on vol. I, p. 98. The view that serpents still have the desire to have intercourse with women, just as the first serpent felt violent passion for Eve (comp. note 60 on vol. I, p. 72), is found not only in Shabbat 110a, but also in 4 Macc. 18, where it is stated that the serpent not only sullied the maidenhood of Eve but also that of other women. The assertion of the Gnostics mentioned by Epiphanius in WHaer., 26. 5 (sdipsum— lignum vitae—de menstruis mulierum profluviis interpretatur) is found among the Kabbalists, with this difference that the latter connect it with the tree of knowledge (is the reading r#s {wis in Epiphanius a scribal error for rod ywaoxev?). Comp. Recanati on Gen. 3. 6. and note 85 on vol. I, p. 78. The latter Kabbalah (comp. the reference in Yalkut Reubeni on Gen. 4. 1) allegorizes the legend of 133 475] The Legends of the Jews Cain, ‘‘the son of Satan”; he was Satan’s spiritual son, since Eve followed his false doctrine. It should also be noted that among the various etymologies of the word Eve (mn) there is one, according to which it means “‘serpent”: she was Adam’s serpent; see BR 21. 11 and 22. 2; note 48 on vol. I, p 69. 4 Vita Adae 18. Comp. the more detailed description of these events as given in vol. J, pp. 88-89. The Vita, as well as its numerous Christian versions (comp. Preuschen, Adamschriften, 41; Book of Adam and Eve 73. 90-91), and the Church Fathers (Jerome, Adv. Jovinianum, 1. 16; Slavonic Palaea, and others; comp. Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 57) presuppose that not only the birth of the children of Adam and Eve took place after the expulsion from paradise, but that the first “human pair’ lived in paradise without sexual intercourse. The older Haggadah, as found in Jub. 4. 1 (Cain was born when Adam was seventy, and Abel seven years later, while the expulsion of Adam from paradise took place after he had spent his first seven years there) and some utterances of the Midrash (BR 22. 1 and 2; comp. Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 57-58, as well as Zohar I, 60b-61a, on the pure, spiritual married life which Adam might have enjoyed in paradise, and the immortal children that he might have begotten there if he had not sinned) practically make the same assertion. Later, however, in opposition to the Christian view which considers married life as a consequence of the original sin (BR, loc. cit., even asserts that the animal world, following Adam’s example, copulated before the fall), and prefers celibacy to marriage, the prevalent Jewish view was that the married life of Adam and Eve preceded their fall; BR 18. 6; Sanhedrin 38b; PRE 11 (before the fall, but also before their arrival in paradise); ARN 1, 5 (where mn71, however, need not necessarily imply married state) and 6. Comp. vol. I, p. 72, and Theodor on BR, Joc. cit., as well as Apocalypse of Baruch 56. 6. The legend prevalent in the Haggadah, according to which Cain and Abel and their twin-sisters were born on the day on which their parents had been created (BR 22.2; Sanhedrin, loc. cit.; PRE 11; ARN 1, 6), has no connection with the question whether their birth took place before or after the fall, since according to the Haggadah, the stay in paradise lasted only a few hours; comp. vol. I, p. 82. 5 Vita Adae 19-21 (on the ‘‘virtutes’, powers, virtues, comp. Ginzberg, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1, 179), and its various Christian versions. Midrash Aggada Gen. 4.1, on the contrary, emphasizes, 134 The Ten Generations [6-10 the fact that Cain’s birth was without pain. This accords with the view that his birth took place before the fall; comp. the preceding note. 6 Vita Adae 21, according to which Adiaphotus in Apocalypse of Moses 1 should be changed to Diaphotus, ‘“‘full of light”. On Cain’s luminous countenance comp. PRE 21 (Eve saw that his countenance was heavenly) and Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 1. The similarity of Cain (7p) to Kewan (73) “‘Saturn’’ may have given rise to this legend about the shining countenance, particularly if one considers, on the one hand, the relationship between Cain and Sammael (=Satan; comp. vol. I, p. 105), and, on the other hand, the fact that Saturn represents the star of evil which brings misfortune to Israel. Comp. PR 20, 96a, and 203a, as well as Baraita de-Mazzalot 27a. 7 Vita Adae 21-22. The name of Cain is also explained as PRD, ‘‘as nought’’ (MHG I, 105 very likely dependent on PRE), as NIP, “the wrathful one” (Wisdom 10.3), and as mp ‘‘who sought to seize everything’’ (Philo, Cain 20). Comp. also the preceding note, as well as notes 6, 8, 20, 41, 53. On the view that Cain was able to run about immediately after his birth, see vol. I, p. 59, which has a similar statement with reference to Adam, and see also vol. I, pp. 152-153, the legend about the ante-diluvian generations, as well as the legend about Moses in vol. II, p. 264, and vol III, p. 468. 8 Yashar Bereshit 9a; Josephus, Antigui., I, 2. 1, which reads: Abel which signifies sorrow, a midrashic explanation which is based on the similarity of sound of am and bax, “sorrow”. This is already found in Philo, De Migr. Abrah., 13. Amilabes in Apocalypse of Moses 1, as a name for Abel, is very likely a corruption of 73ND7 ““the destroyed one’. According to some, Cain and Abel were twin brothers; BR 22. 2 and 3 (comp. Theodor on 205, 5); PRE 21. ° Vita Adae 22; Apocalypse of Moses 2; comp. Preuschen, Adamschriften, 42. 0 Theodotion on Gen. 4. 4; Aggadat Shir 6. 40 (this heavenly fire came down again at the time of Noah’s sacrifice when he left the ark; at the time of the consecration of the Tabernacle when it consumed Nadab and Abihu; at Manoah’s sacrifice; at Solomon’s consecration of the Temple; at Elijah’s sacrifice on mount Carmel. It will come down again when the temple will be erected in Messianic times. Comp. Index, s. v. ‘‘Fire, Heavenly”); MHG I, 107; Yashar Bereshit, 9a; Rashi and Lekah on Gen. 4. 4 (most likely based 135 11-12] The Legends of the Jews on an old source; Aphraates, 63; Jerome on Gen., loc. cit.; Ephraim, I, 143 D; Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphura., 1. 3. Comp. Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 62-63; Theodor on BR 22. 6 (p. 209, 4), and note 13. Philo, on Gen. 1, 63, reads: Cain noticed from the sad mood that came upon him at the time of the sacrifice, instead of the expected sense of joy, that ‘‘God did not accept his sacrifice.’’ On the religious importance of sacrifice in general, comp. Haserot Wiierot in Batte Midrashot I, 33-34; Kad ha-Kemah, Sukkah, 16b. II PRE 21 (on the text comp. MHG I, 106-107); Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 3; differently in BR 22. 4, where two views concerning the day of the sacrifice are given; according to one it was on Pentecost, while according to the other, Hanukkah. It may, however, be noted that both views are based on the supposition that Abel did not live longer than fifty days, and the difference of opinion is due to the controversy whether the world (1.e., Adam and his two sons; comp. note 97 on vol. I, p.82, and note 4) had been created in the month of Tishri or Nisan. According to Tan. Bereshit 9, Cain and Abel were forty years old at the time they .brought their sacrifice; comp. also Preuschen, Adamschriften, 33 (Cain was thirty, and Abel forty), and Book of Adam 77 (end), where the age of the brothers is given as fifteen and twelve, respectively. See also ps.—Philo, 1 (end): Cain was fifteen years old when he did these things. By these things are meant his marriage and becoming a father. According to Zohar Hadash, 25a, on Gen. 4. 2, they offered their sacrifice on New Year. Comp. Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kuirchenv. 64 and 71. t2 BR 22. 5; PRE 21 (hence the prohibition against using flax and wool together: the sacrifice of the wicked Cain should not be brought in contact with that of the pious Abel; comp. Zohar III, 87a); Tan. Bereshit 9; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 3; Yashar Bereshit, 9a; Philo, Sacrific. Abel., 13 (Cain did not offer the firstborn, nor did he do it in proper time) and 20; Ambrose, De Cain, 2. 10; Ephraim, II, 313 E. Comp. further Philo, Confus. Ling., 25; Josephus, Antigui I, 2. 1; Hadar, Gen. 4. 3 and 4, as well as Imre No‘am, ad loc., and Midrash Aggada Gen. 4. 2. The Haggadah endeavors to prove that Cain, through selfishness and lack of fear of God, had incurred God’s displeasure. Zohar Hadash 24a, on Gen. 4. 2, reads: Cain offered his sacrifice haughtily, Abel with humility; but the real sacrifice to God is with a contrite spirit; Ps. 136 The Ten Generations [13-16 51. 19. Abel’s tragic end is to be ascribed to the following circumstance. When he brought his sacrifice he looked too much at the appearance of God, and therefore Moses, profiting by this lesson, hid his face (Exod. 3. 6), when God appeared to him; Recanate on Gen. 4. God prefers the persecuted; hence Abel having been persecuted by Cain, was favored by God, and his sacrifice was graciously accepted; WR 27. 5; Koheleth 3. 15; Tan. B. III, 91; Tan. Emor9; PK 9,76a. Here it is presupposed that Cain had been hostile to his brother even prior to the sacrifice incident, as is described in detail in the Book of Adam 76; comp. note 17. On the basis of the Septuagint on Gen. 4. 7 (‘‘hast thou not sinned if thou has brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it?’’), Philo asserts that Cain on account of his greed only brought part of his gift to the altar, whereas Abel sacrificed the whole gift without taking any of it home; Quaestiones, Gen. 1, 62. The rabbinic sources (BR 22. 5; Yerushalmi Megillah 1, 72b; Zebahim 116a; WR 9. 6; BaR 13.2; Shir 4. 16; PR 5, 16b) cite two views on the question whether Abel brought a whole offering or a peace-offering (of this kind of sacrifice the one who brings it consumes the greater part). 73 BR 22. 6 (this statement is based on 1b51=19DN) ‘“‘and it became dark’’); comp. Preuschen, Adambticher, 34; ps—Tertullian, Gen. 184, and Emerson, Legends of Cain, 848, concerning the smoke which almost suffocated Cain. The rising of the smoke as a sign of acceptance, and its descending as a sign of rejection, alluded to in the old-English legend, quoted by Emerson, is also found in Jewish sources; comp. Tan. Tezawweh 15; Midrash Shir 28b (below). The blackening of the face is perhaps to be taken as a contrast to its original heavenly splendor; comp. also Peshitta, ad loc., and note 6. 14 BR 22. 6; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 7; MHG I, 107 and 109. On the basis of Gen. 4. 7, the Rabbis state that the evil inclination is born with man (according to others, at the time of conception), whereas the good inclination does not arrive until the age of thirteen 7. e., when one attains majority; comp. BR 34. 10; Yerushalmi Berakot 3, 6d; Sanhedrin 91b; ARN 16, 62-64; Koheleth 4. 13; Tehillim 9, 82; MHG I, 107-109. Philo, Confus. Ling., 22, asserts, on the contrary, that the good inclination comes at the time of man’s birth. Comp. note 25 on vol. I, p. 60. 15 On this point comp. vol. J, pp. 4 and 5. 6 Verushalmi Targumim Gen. 4. 8, and this is very likely the source of Lekah and Midrash Aggada, ad Joc. Philo, De Migrat. 137 17] The Legends of the Jews Abrah., 13, as well as Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat 1, 10-11, and 14, also speaks of Cain’s challenging Abel to a dispute, to convince him, by mere force, using all plausible and possible sophisms. It may be noted that Philo, like the Targumim, finds this challenge to a dispute in the worlds of Gen. 4. 8: ‘“‘Let us go into the field’ (Septuagint, the Samaritan, the Targumim, the Peshitta, and others read or add here: 77¥7 &¥)). Like the Targumim, Philo, too (in his second book 10 cited above), takes the subject of the dispute to have been whether everything is to be ascribed to God (Abel’s view), or to man (as maintained by Cain). 17BR 22. 7; PRE 21; Ephiphanius, Haer., 40. 5; Irenaeus, Haer., 1, 6; Theodoretus, Haer., 1, 11; Schatzhohle, 34; Clementine, Homilies, 3. 25 (hence he was called Cain, because he was jealous of his brother on account of his wife; comp. zibid., 26 and 42, concerning the meaning of the name Abel; see further note 7); Book of Adam 76, and comp. Malan, note 44, on the later statements of Christian and Mohammedan writers concerning the struggle of the brothers on account of their sister. See also Griinbaum, Neue Beiirdge, 6870, as well as Ronsch, Buch der Jubilden, 373-374. According to another version in BR, Joc. cit., it was the first Eve about whom the brothers could not agree; but it is not clear what is meant by “the first Eve”; comp. Theodor, ad loc., and Ginzberg, Haggada bet den Kirchenv. 60-61. This passage is somehow related to the gnostic doctrine concerning the first mother Sophia-Prunicus (comp. Preuschen, Adamschriften, 60, seq., and 78, seg. It may likewise be noted here that Jaldabaot =mma x14 “the progenitor of shame’’). Along with the view that Abel had two twin-sisters, there is also another which maintains that each of them had one twin-sister only; a third view states that Cain, but not Abel, had a twin-sister. Comp. BR 22. 2 and 61. 4; PRE, Joc. cit.; Yebamot 62a, and Yerushalmi 11, 11d; Sanhedrin 58b, and Yerushalmi 5, 22c, as well as 9, 26d; ARN 1, 6; Sifra 20. 7; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 2 (thus the passage is to be understood that Cain was born with a twinbrother, and Abel with a twin-sister; Abel’s twin-sister became Cain’s wife; comp. PRE, Joc. cit.); Zohar I, 54b and III, 44b. See further note 42 concerning the names of this daughter of Adam.— That Abel died in the state of urisoiled chastity is emphasized in ps.-Matthew 7, which corresponds to the old Haggadah (Jub.Notes 1 — The Ten Generations
FRATRICIDE - The slaying of Abel by Cain did not come as a wholly unexpected event to his parents. In a dream Eve had seen the blood of Abel flow into the mouth of Cain, who drank it with avidity, though his brother entreated him not to take all. When she told her dream to Adam, he said, lamenting, "O that this may not portend the death of Abel at the hand of Cain!" He separated the two lads, assigning to each an abode of his own, and to each he taught a different occupation. Cain became a tiller of the ground, and Abel a keeper of sheep. It was all in vain. In spite of these precautions, Cain slew his brother. His hostility toward Abel had more than one reason. It began when God had respect unto the offering of Abel, and accepted it by sending heavenly fire down to consume it, while the offering of Cain was rejected. They brought their sacrifices on the fourteenth day of Nisan, at the instance of their father, who had spoken thus to his sons: "This is the day on which, in times to come, Israel will offer sacrifices. Therefore, do ye, too, bring sacrifices to your Creator on this day, that He may take pleasure in you." The place of offering which they chose was the spot whereon the altar of the Temple at Jerusalem stood later. Abel selected the best of his flocks for his sacrifice, but Cain ate his meal first, and after he had satisfied his appetite, he offered unto God what was left over, a few grains of flax seed. As though his offense had not been great enough in offering unto God fruit of the ground which had been cursed by God! What wonder that his sacrifice was not received with favor! Besides, a chastisement was inflicted upon him. His face turned black as smoke. Nevertheless, his disposition underwent no change, even when God spoke to him thus: "If thou wilt amend thy ways, thy guilt will be forgiven thee; if not, thou wilt be delivered into the power of the evil inclination. It coucheth at the door of thy heart, yet it depends upon thee whether thou shalt be master over it, or it shall be master over thee." Cain thought he had been wronged, and a dispute followed between him and Abel. "I believed," he said, "that the world was created through goodness, but I see that good deeds bear no fruit. God rules the world with arbitrary power, else why had He respect unto thy offering, and not unto mine also?" Abel opposed him; he maintained that God rewards good deeds, without having respect unto persons. If his sacrifice had been accepted graciously by God, and Cain's not, it was because his deeds were good, and his brother's wicked. But this was not the only cause of Cain's hatred toward Abel. Partly love for a woman brought about the crime. To ensure the propagation of the human race, a girl, destined to be his wife, was born together with each of the sons of Adam. Abel's twin sister was of exquisite beauty, and Cain desired her. Therefore he was constantly brooding over ways and means of ridding himself of his brother. The opportunity presented itself ere long. One day a sheep belonging to Abel tramped over a field that had been planted by Cain. In a rage, the latter called out, "What right hast thou to live upon my land and let thy sheep pasture yonder?" Abel retorted: "What right hast thou to use the products of my sheep, to make garments for thyself from their wool? If thou wilt take off the wool of my sheep wherein thou art arrayed, and wilt pay me for the flesh of the flocks which thou hast eaten, then I will quit thy land as thou desirest, and fly into the air, if I can do it." Cain thereupon said, "And if I were to kill thee, who is there to demand thy blood of me?" Abel replied: "God, who brought us into the world, will avenge me. He will require my blood at thine hand, if thou shouldst slay me. God is the Judge, who will visit their wicked deeds upon the wicked, and their evil deeds upon the evil. Shouldst thou slay me, God will know thy secret, and He will deal out punishment unto thee." These words but added to the anger of Cain, and he threw himself upon his brother. Abel was stronger than he, and he would have got the worst of it, but at the last moment he begged for mercy, and the gentle Abel released his hold upon him. Scarcely did he feel himself free, when he turned against Abel once more, and slew him. So true is the saying, "Do the evil no good, lest evil fall upon thee."
THE PUNISHMENT OF CAIN - The manner of Abel's death was the most cruel conceivable. Not knowing what injury was fatal, Cain pelted all parts of his body with stones, until one struck him on the neck and inflicted death. After committing the murder, Cain resolved to flee, saying, "My parents will demand account of me concerning Abel, for there is no other human being on earth." This thought had but passed through his mind when God appeared unto him, and addressed him in these words: "Before thy parents thou canst flee, but canst thou go out from My presence, too? 'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' Alas for Abel that he showed thee mercy, and refrained from killing thee, when he had thee in his power! Alas that he granted thee the opportunity of slaying him!" Questioned by God, "Where is Abel thy brother?" Cain answered: "Am I my brother's keeper? Thou art He who holdest watch over all creatures, and yet Thou demandest account of me! True, I slew him, but Thou didst create the evil inclination in me. Thou guardest all things; why, then, didst Thou permit me to slay him? Thou didst Thyself slay him, for hadst Thou looked with a favorable countenance toward my offering as toward his, I had had no reason for envying him, and I had not slain him." But God said, "The voice of thy brother's blood issuing from his many wounds crieth out against thee, and likewise the blood of all the pious who might have sprung from the loins of Abel." Also the soul of Abel denounced the murderer, for she could find rest nowhere. She could neither soar heavenward, nor abide in the grave with her body, for no human soul had done either before. But Cain still refused to confess his guilt. He insisted that he had never seen a man killed, and how was he to suppose that the stones which he threw at Abel would take his life? Then, on account of Cain, God cursed the ground, that it might not yield fruit unto him. With a single punishment both Cain and the earth were chastised, the earth because it retained the corpse of Abel, and did not cast it above ground. In the obduracy of his heart, Cain spake: "O Lord of the world! Are there informers who denounce men before Thee? My parents are the only living human beings, and they know naught of my deed. Thou abidest in the heavens, and how shouldst Thou know what things happen on earth?" God said in reply: "Thou fool! I carry the whole world. I have made it, and I will bear it"--a reply that gave Cain the opportunity of feigning repentance. "Thou bearest the whole world," he said, "and my sin Thou canst not bear? Verily, mine iniquity is too great to be borne! Yet, yesterday Thou didst banish my father from Thy presence, to-day Thou dost banish me. In sooth, it will be said, it is Thy way to banish." Although this was but dissimulation, and not true repentance, yet God granted Cain pardon, and removed the half of his chastisement from him. Originally, the decree had condemned him to be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Now he was no longer to roam about forever, but a fugitive he was to remain. And so much was hard enough to have to suffer, for the earth quaked under Cain, and all the animals, the wild and the tame, among them the accursed serpent, gathered together and essayed to devour him in order to avenge the innocent blood of Abel. Finally Cain could bear it no longer, and, breaking out in tears, he cried: "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" To protect him from the onslaught of the beasts, God inscribed one letter of His Holy Name upon his forehead," and furthermore He addressed the animals: "Cain's punishment shall not be like unto the punishment of future murderers. He has shed blood, but there was none to give him instruction. Henceforth, however, he who slays another shall himself be slain." Then God gave him the dog as a protection against the wild beasts, and to mark him as a sinner, He afflicted him with leprosy. Cain's repentance, insincere though it was, bore a good result. When Adam met him, and inquired what doom had been decreed against him, Cain told how his repentance had propitiated God, and Adam exclaimed, "So potent is repentance, and I knew it not!" Thereupon he composed a hymn of praise to God, beginning with the words, "It is a good thing to confess thy sins unto the Lord!" The crime committed by Cain had baneful consequences, not for himself alone, but for the whole of nature also. Before, the fruits which the earth bore unto him when he tilled the ground had tasted like the fruits of Paradise. Now his labor produced naught but thorns and thistles. The ground changed and deteriorated at the very moment of Abel's violent end. The trees and the plants in the part of the earth whereon the victim lived refused to yield their fruits, on account of their grief over him, and only at the birth of Seth those that grew in the portion belonging to Abel began to flourish and bear again. But never did they resume their former powers. While, before, the vine had borne nine hundred and twenty-six different varieties of fruit, it now brought forth but one kind. And so it was with all other species. They will regain their pristine powers only in the world to come. Nature was modified also by the burial of the corpse of Abel. For a long time it lay there exposed, above ground, because Adam and Eve knew not what to do with it. They sat beside it and wept, while the faithful dog of Abel kept guard that birds and beasts did it no harm. On a sudden, the mourning parents observed how a raven scratched the earth away in one spot, and then hid a dead bird of his own kind in the ground. Adam, following the example of the raven, buried the body of Abel, and the raven was rewarded by God. His young are born with white feathers, wherefore the old birds desert them, not recognizing them as their offspring. They take them for serpents. God feeds them until their plumage turns black, and the parent birds return to them. As an additional reward, God grants their petition when the ravens pray for rain. 4. 1 and 8, as well as Sifra, loc. cit.), which knows only of Cain’s wife. See, however, note 172 on vol. I, p. 37. Some sources (BR 22. 7; 138 The Ten Generations [18-20 Tan. Bereshit 9, and Mishpatim 13; ShR 31. 17; Aggadat Shir 7, 43, and 91-92) ascribe the enmity between the brothers to the circumstance that they divided the possession of the world in such a manner that the older brother took the soil, and the younger all the movable things. This division naturally could not be maintained for any length of time. Comp. on this point Siegfried, Philo, 150151, and Ginzbeg’s Haggada bei den Kirchenv., 69. According to a third view cited in BR, loc. cit., the subject of their quarrel was concerning the territory on which the temple would be erected. 18 Yashar Bereshit, 9a (based on old sources; comp. BR 22. 7; Tan. Bereshit 9, and Mishpatim 13; ShR 31. 17; Yerushalmi Targumim Gen. 4. 8). *9 BR 22. 8; Tan. Breshit 9; Aggadat Shir 7, 43, and 91-92. Philo, De Migr. Abr., 13, and Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat, 11, and 14, as well as one of the versions of Vita Adae (in Preuschen, Adamschriften, 34-35), reports that Cain knew how to overcome his brother by cunning. See further Ephraim, I, 41. According to a Jewish legend, cited by Jerome, Ezek. 27. 18, Cain killed his brother in Damascus (=sanguinem bibens; Jerome, Is. 17; comp. Philo, Quis...haeres sit, 11), which is undoubtedly the well-known city in Syria, in the proximity of which primitive man is supposed to have lived (comp. Amos 1. 5, and Griinbaum, Gesammelte Aufsdize, 160). It is a whimsical idea of John a Lapide (commentariuwm in Genesim) to assume that another Damascus in the neighborhood of Hebron is meant here. Comp. also the Greek legend about the founding of Damascus recorded by Stephanus Byzantinus, s. v., according to which one of the giants, whose name was Askos was killed by Hermes on the same place where he flayed him (Darmaskus = Aépua “Ackov). Abel hid himself for some time, for he feared the wicked Cain. The latter, however, searched for him, and told him what God had said to him (Gen. 4. 6-7), and thereby won his confidence, and believed that Cain abandoned his wicked life; Hadar, Gen. 4. 5. 2° BR 22. 8 (three views are given: 1) with a stone; 2) a cane=a play on the words }?p and mp; comp. vol. I, p. 106, and notes 6-8; 3) hecut Abel’s throat with a sword, having seen that Adam slaughtered one of his sacrifices in this manner); Sanhedrin 37b; Tan. Bereshit 9; PRE 21; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 8; Yashar Bereshit, 9b (with the iron part of the plough-share); Zohar I, 54b (bit him with his teeth to death), and II, 231; Lekah, Gen. 4. 8 (with a club; this is the 139 21-25] The Legends of the Jews meaning of mbx, and not sword, as Buber, ad loc., takes it); Jub4. 31; Book of Adam 79 (he first tried to flog him to death with a stick; comp. Lekah, loc. cit.); Preuschen, Adamschriften, 33. In the last passage, as in BR, Joc. cit., is described how Cain discovered what kind of blow would kill his brother; comp. note 43. That Cain did not believe in God’s omniscience, and sought to conceal, by denial, the real facts, is remarked by Josephus, Philo, and the Midrashim; comp. notes 6 and 24. 2 BR 22. 9; Mishnah Sanhedrin 4. 5, and Babli 48b; ARN 31, 91; 2 Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 10; Apocalypse of Moses 40 (here it is stated that the earth did not receive Abel’s remains); comp. further Aggadat Shir 7, 43, and 91, which reads: God showed Cain the place, where he had killed Abel, where the blood bubbled (comp. vol. IV, p. 304), and where nothing grows till this day. In view of this passage and the one of Apocalypse of Moses, Joc. cit., one is justified in taking BR, Joc. cit., and Sanhedrin 4. 5 to mean that the blood remained clinging to the wood andsstones without being absorbed. This, however, is not only against Targum Yerushalmi, Gen. 4. 10, but also against the literal meaning of the Bible; comp. ps.—Philo, 16D, and notes 23 and 31. 22 Tan. Bereshit 9; BR 22.10 (two views are given: 1)the curse consisted in that the earth did not yield to Cain; 2)that the earth lost its former fertility; comp. vol I, pp. 112-113); MHG I, 112 (below; it had a different text of Tan., Joc. cit.); Sifre N., 161. ?3 Yashar Bereshit, 9b. The old sources (Mekilta Shirah 9, 42a; Tehillim 22, 189; Ekah 1, 74) speak only of the receiving of the blood and not of the remains; comp. note 21. Josephus, Antiqut., I, 2. 1, and PRE 21 (comp., however, Luria, ad loc.) speak of hiding the remains in the ground. Ephraim, I, 41, reads: He hid the remains under the high ears of grain and the earth. By this is very likely meant that the lower part of the body was hidden in the earth and the upper part under the ears. 24 Tan. Bereshit 9; MHG I, 113; Shitah Hadashah (Judah); Josephus, Antiqui., I, 2, 1; Philo, Quaestiones, 1, 69. Comp. also BRE22540- tans al LOD Resend *5 BR 22. 11. In this passage, as well as in many other Midrashiin (comp. the sources cited in the preceding note) and Targumim (Onkelos and Targum Yerushalmi, Gen. 4. 13), 81020 is explained “that it could be forgiven”, in agreement with Septuagint, Philo (Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat, 41), Peshitta, and Vulgate. 140 The Ten Generations [26-30 Comp. further Sanhedrin 101a and PRE 21; Tan. B. (introduction), 157. In the last passage the interpretation favored by modern exegetes is also given: ‘Indeed, very grievous is my sin, that I can hardly bear it.” 26 Tan. B. (introduction), 157, and I, 19; Tan. Bereshit 9; BR 22. 12-13. On Cain’s repentance, which was not sincere, and therefore his sin not entirely forgiven, see further PK 25, 160a—-160b; PR 47, 188b (repentance removes only half of the punishment decreed on account of a sin); Yelammedenu 45; Sanhedrin 101a; WR 10. 5; DR 8. 2; Josephus, Antigqui., I, 2. 1; comp. note 28. On the arguments of the heavenly court of justice in favor and against Cain, comp. Yalkut Reubeni and Yalkut David on Gen. 4. 16 (both are based on the same source, the Sefer ha-Tagin, in manuscript). 77 PRE 21; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 4. 15. This is somewhat different from Sefer ha-Tagin in Yalkut Reubeni, ad loc., which reads: He received the letter 0 (nine) on his arm (not on his forehead; likewise in PRE) as a sign that he will not die before he has begotten nine descendants (comp. Gen. 4. 17-22). On the sign of Cain comp. the following note, and further Zohar I, 36b. 28 BR 22. 12-13, where seven different views are given on the sign of Cain: 1)God caused the sun to rise (as a sign that Cain was not to be slain by animals); 2)He marked him by inflicting leprosy on him; 3)He gave him a dog to protect him against animals; 4)He marked him with a horn on his forehead (as a degradation of his human form?); 5)He punished Cain as a sign (=warning) to future murderers; 6)He partly pardoned his sin as a sign (=example) for future sinners who repent; 7)He allowed him to live until the flood. Some of these views are also to be found in Tan. Bereshit 10, where an eighth is given: the Sabbath, the sign between God and Israel (Exod. 31. 13), came in and saved Cain from death, as it had formerly done in the case of Adam (comp. vol. I, pp. 8586); BaR 7. 5; Yelammedenu 43 (leprosy was inflicted as a punishment upon those who devoted their lives to the acquisition of possessions, as in the case of Cain, Job, and king Uzziah; on this point see BR 22. 3; Mekilta RS, 92; Tan. Noah 13=Makiri on Is. 6. 50. Comp. further vol. III, p. 214, as well as Ecclus. 10. 13); Preuschen, Adamschriften, 35 and 43. Comp. note 43. 29 Yerushalmi Targumim and Midrash Aggada on Gen. 4. 16. Comp. the following note. 3° Tan. B. (introduction), 158; Genizah fragment in the lx 141 31] The Legends of the Jews brary of Cambridge University, published by Ginzberg in HaGoren IX, 58—59 and 66; Shulhan Arba‘ I, 9d; Shu‘aib, Bereshit 5d. Oh the wonderful fertility of the earth in Messianic times, when conditions will be the same as before the fall, comp. Apocalypse of Baruch 29. 5; the Papias Apocalypse (a conversation of Jesus) cited by Irenaeus 5. 23 (as a parallel to the statement ‘‘ And when one of the saints will take hold of a grape, another will exclaim: I am a better grape, take me; praise the Lord through me’”’, one may cite the Haggadah: If some one will try to pick a fig on the Sabbath, in the time to come, it will exclaim: ‘‘It is Sabbath”; Tehillim 73, 335); Enoch 10. 19; Revelation of St. John (beginning); Visio Pauli 22; Ketubot 111a-112a; Sifre D., 317. Comp. further note 105 on vol. I, p. 86; Index, s. v. ‘‘Wine’’; Alfred Jeremias, Babylonisches im NT., 332-33. 31 Tan. Bereshit 10; PRE 21; BR 22. 8 (this is, however, not found in the manuscripts; comp. Theodor, ad loc.); Slavonic Palaea, 52; comp. Ginzberg, Haggada bei den Kirchenv.,s66. In contrast to the rabbinic legend about the burial of Abel, it is recorded in Apocalypse of Moses 40, and in the literature dependent on it (Christian Book of Adam; Preuschen, Adamschriften, 45), that the earth did not receive Abel’s remains until Adam’s body was returned thither; comp. note 21 and vol. I, p. 100. The earth, which originally consisted of a level surface, became mountainous as a punishment for having received Abel’s blood; Wa-Yosha‘ 53 (comp. vol. I, pp. 14, below, 18, and 80, top, for other opinions concerning the origin of mountains), and the earth will not become level again until Messianic times; vol. IV, p. 234. The conception that the mountains did not originally belong to the earth’s form is prevalent in legend; comp. Dahnhardt, Natursagen, I, index, s. v. ‘‘Gebirge’’. See further Mishle 8, 59. Abel is the type of the pious (12 Testaments, Issachar 4. 4), and in the heavenly court he is the one appointed to judge every soul entering there, and decide whether it should be punished or rewarded; Testament of Abraham 12-13; comp. note 142 on vol. I, p. 102. Abel’s soul, according to the Kabbalists, came to the world again in the persons of Jacob and Moses; comp. the numerous quotations from kabbalistic writings in Yalkut Reubeni on Gen. 4. 1, seg. Abel’s soul appeared as the accuser against Cain, until the latter and his seed were destroyed from the face of the earth; Enoch 22. 7; comp. vol. III, p. 101. A combination of two legends concerning Abel’s burial is found in the Slavonic Enoch 142 The Ten Generations (32-37 (addition to 4, 91), where it is said that the bird from which Adam learned to bury the dead was the “jack-daw.’ On the raven COMP Vole pr 39s 3? On this point comp. vo. I, p. 118. Concerning the darkness which came upon Adam after the fall, comp. note 108 on vol. I, p. 89. 33 The seven products mentioned in Deut. 8. 8 are here referred to. Comp. Berakot 6. 4. 34 Instead of pwa pand read porxn pon yind. On the twoheaded Cainites comp. vol. IV, p. 132; Zohar I, 9b, and II, 80a. In the first passage of Zohar mention is made also of the two monsters Afrira and Kastimon, who were placed as rulers of the abode of the Cainites, and are the cause that Naamah (=Lilith) appears to men in sleep. The entire passage is rather obscure, but this: much is certain that the Zohar conceives the Cainites as a species of genii, demons, and monsters. This view is prevalent in the legends of medieval Europe; comp. Emerson, Legends of Cain, 878, as well as the sources cited in note 36, and further Otot ha-Mashiah, 58 (below). 35 Comp. Greek Baruch III, and vol. I, p. 180 on the part of the earth near to Gehenna. 36 Zohar Hadash Bereshit 8a—8b (instead of 1229 4287 read "Sou 135); Zohar Ruth, 97b (beginning ’N91M7'1 7981); Zohar I, 9b, 39b—40a, 54b, 157a, and additions to I, 3a—3b; II, 41b, and 80a; III, 9b-10a. For further details on the monsters, half-men and half-animals, in the nether-world (to which reference is made in the last passage), comp. note 34, as well as vol. I, pp. 10-11. On the thirst of the inhabitants of the nether-world, comp. note 135 on vol. III, p. 54 and Dietrich, Nekyia, 97, seq., where reference is made to the prevalent view concerning the thirst of the dead. Of Greek origin is the conception of the place of ‘forgetfulness’; comp. Rohde, Psyche, II, 310, and 390-391. See the following note. 37 Zohar (additions) I, 3a—3b; Zohar Hadash Bereshit 8a—8b and Ruth 97b (beginning *NoINN ‘7 DN); Yalkut Reubeni Gen. 3 (end) cites the description of the ‘‘seven worlds” from the Zohar, in the Hebrew language, whereas in our texts of the Zohar it is in Aramaic. In many details this Hebrew presentation deviates from the Aramaic. The view that the punishment was inflicted upon Cain in the seventh generation (i. e., Lamech; comp. vol. I, p. 116) is based on Gen. 4.14, and 24, where o’nyaw is explained in this sense; comp. Onkelos and Targum Yerushalmi, ad loc.; BR 23. 4 (comp. Theodor, ad /oc.); 143 38-41 The Legends of the Jews Tan. Bereshit 11; MHGI, 118; Theodoretus, Quaestiones in Gen., 43; Jerome, ad Damasum, 125 (explicitly in connection with the Lamech legend), who adds that, according to Jewish tradition, 77 decendants of Lamech perished at the time of the flood, in fulfilment of the words of Gen. 4. 24. Comp. Josephus, Antiqui. 1,2, 2 and note 42. Somewhat different is the (Jewish?) tradition cited by Ephraim, I, 43 E, that seven generations of Cain perished with him, whereas the Midrash speaks only of the four generations of Cain (corresponding to the four generations which Abel should have reared); comp. Tan., loc. cit. Jerome cites another Jewish tradition, according to which the Bible speaks of the seven sins, which Cain had to atone for: 1) He did not divide his sacrifice properly (comp. note 12); 2) he was jealous of his brother; 3) he deceitfully lured him to death (comp. note 19); 4) he killed his brother; 5) he denied this act; 6) he asserted that his sin could not be forgiven (7. ¢., he doubted God's mercy?) comp. note 25; 7) he did not repent of his sin during his long life, which God granted him in order to make amends; comp. note 26. The Haggadah in 12 Testaments, Benjamin 7. 1-5 on Gen. 4. 24, is somewhat confused: instead of the seven generations of the rabbinic sources, this passage has ‘‘seven centuries’’, during which Cain suffered for his sins so that every century brought its plague with it until he perished in the flood at the age of 900. That Cain perished in the flood is also stated in rabbinic sources; BR 22. 12 and 32.5; ShR 31.16 (here it is stated that wherever Cain came he was driven away by the inhabitants); Koheleth 6. 3; Koheleth Z. 106; Tan. Mishpatim 13 (in an abbreviated form; the hundred sons of Cain are also alluded to in the three last-named sources). Comp. 43 and Ginzberg’s Haggada bei den Kirchenv. 65-69. 38 Midrash Aggadah Gen. 4. 17, according to BR 23. 1 and Tehillim 9, 85. Comp. further Rashi and Lekah, ad loc. 39 Yashar Bereshit, 9b. 4° Ps.—Philo, 2, where the name of these cities, that of Cain’s wife (Themach=non ‘‘may she be destroyed’; in 35 A, the same name is given of Sisera’s mother), and those of his three sons (besides Enoch) and two daughters are given. Cain, it is further recorded here, begot Enoch at the age of 15, and died 730 years old. But Jub. 4. 1 and 31 read: Cain died 930 A. M., which, according to the chronology of this book corresponds to the statement that Cain lived 860 years; comp. notes 11, 37. 4% Josephus, Antiqui. I, 22. The observation of Josephus that Cain was the first to introduce weights and measures is based onthe 144 The Ten Generations [42 , haggadic interpretation of the name )p=mp ‘‘the measuring rod”. Comp. notes 7, 20 and 53. 4? BR 23. 2. Here Lamech (comp. also vol. I, p. 117) is also counted among the sinful descendants of Cain, whereas Josephus, Antiqut., 1, 2,2, designates him as a prophet who had predicted that he would have to atone for the murder committed by his forebear Cain. This interpretation of Gen. 4. 24 is closely related to the Haggadah given by Jerome; comp. note 37. On the wickedness of the Cainites, comp. vol. I, pp. 121 and 151.—The verse Ps. 89. 3, which, according to the rabbinic view, is to be translated: ‘‘The world has been established by love’’, refers, according to the Haggadah, to God’s goodness, who had provided Cain with a sister whom he could marry. For without God’s goodness this is forbidden by the law; but this marriage was permitted to Cain in order to insure the propagation of the human race. Sifra 20. 17; Yeru‘shalmi Yebamot 11, 11d; Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 5, 22b, and 9, 20d; Babli 58; PRE 21. On the translation of Ps., loc.cit., see Targum and Peshitta, as well as ARN 4, 21. Comp. further Aphraates, 455 and Ginzberg, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1, 665, note. These sources presuppose (comp. the polemic against this view in Philo, De Posteritate Caini, 11) that only Cain married his sister (NINN NM) War in Yerushalmi is a later addition based on the legend of the twinsisters; comp. note 17), whereas Seth married his niece, Cain’s daughter. Thehigh esteem in which Jub. holds all the patriarchs, from Adam to Noah (comp., on the other hand, note 1 about the adverse opinion of the Rabbis), precludes this book from referring to the union of Seth or his descendants with the wicked Cainites, and hence it is stated that Seth, Enoch, and Mahalalel married their sisters. The fictitious names frequently found in this pseudepigraphic work and in ps.-Philo (particularly the names of the women of ancient times) are entirely unknown in old rabbinic literature (comp.Notes 2 — The Ten Generations
THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEVEN EARTHS - When Adam was cast out of Paradise, he first reached the lowest of the seven earths, the Erez, which is dark, without a ray of light, and utterly void. Adam was terrified, particularly by the flames of the ever-turning sword, which is on this earth. After he had done penance, God led him to the second earth, the Adamah, where there is light reflected from its own sky and from its phantom-like stars and constellations. Here dwell the phantom-like beings that issued from the union of Adam with the spirits." They are always sad; the emotion of joy is not known to them. They leave their own earth and repair to the one inhabited by men, where they are changed into evil spirits. Then they return to their abode for good, repent of their wicked deeds, and till the ground, which, however, bears neither wheat nor any other of the seven species. In this Adamah, Cain, Abel, and Seth were born. After the murder of Abel, Cain was sent back to the Erez, where he was frightened into repentance by its darkness and by the flames of the ever-turning sword. Accepting his penitence, God permitted him to ascend to the third earth, the Arka, which receives some light from the sun. The Arka was surrendered to the Cainites forever, as their perpetual domain. They till the ground, and plant trees, but they have neither wheat nor any other of the seven species. Some of the Cainites are giants, some of them are dwarfs. They have two heads, wherefore they can never arrive at a decision; they are always at loggerheads with themselves. It may happen that they are pious now, only to be inclined to do evil the next moment. In the Ge, the fourth earth, live the generation of the Tower of Babel and their descendants. God banished them thither because the fourth earth is not far from Gehenna, and therefore close to the flaming fire. The inhabitants of the Ge are skilful in all arts, and accomplished in all departments of science and knowledge, and their abode overflows with wealth. When an inhabitant of our earth visits them, they give him the most precious thing in their possession, but then they lead him to the Neshiah, the fifth earth, where he becomes oblivious of his origin and his home. The Neshiah is inhabited by dwarfs without noses; they breathe through two holes instead. They have no memory; once a thing has happened, they forget it completely, whence their earth is called Neshiah, "forgetting." The fourth and fifth earths are like the Arka; they have trees, but neither wheat nor any other of the seven species. The sixth earth, the Ziah, is inhabited by handsome men, who are the owners of abundant wealth, and live in palatial residences, but they lack water, as the name of their territory, Ziah, "drought," indicates. Hence vegetation is sparse with them, and their tree culture meets with indifferent success. They hasten to any waterspring that is discovered, and sometimes they succeed in slipping through it up to our earth, where they satisfy their sharp appetite for the food eaten by the inhabitants of our earth. For the rest, they are men of steadfast faith, more than any other class of mankind. Adam remained in the Adamah until after the birth of Seth. Then, passing the third earth, the Arka, the abiding place of the Cainites, and the next three earths as well, the Ge, the Neshiah, and the Ziah, God transported him to the Tebel, the seventh earth, the earth inhabited by men.
THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN - Cain knew only too well that his blood-guiltiness would be visited upon him in the seventh generation. Thus had God decreed against him. He endeavored, therefore, to immortalize his name by means of monuments, and he became a builder of cities. The first of them he called Enoch, after his son, because it was at the birth of Enoch that he began to enjoy a measure of rest and peace. Besides, he founded six other cities. This building of cities was a godless deed, for he surrounded them with a wall, forcing his family to remain within. All his other doings were equally impious. The punishment God had ordained for him did not effect any improvement. He sinned in order to secure his own pleasure, though his neighbors suffered injury thereby. He augmented his household substance by rapine and violence; he excited his acquaintances to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and he became a great leader of men into wicked courses. He also introduced a change in the ways of simplicity wherein men had lived before, and he was the author of measures and weights. And whereas men lived innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed the world into cunning craftiness. Like unto Cain were all his descendants, impious and godless, wherefore God resolved to destroy them. The end of Cain overtook him in the seventh generation of men, and it was inflicted upon him by the hand of his great-grandson Lamech. This Lamech was blind, and when he went a-hunting, he was led by his young son, who would apprise his father when game came in sight, and Lamech would then shoot at it with his bow and arrow. Once upon a time he and his son went on the chase, and the lad discerned something horned in the distance. He naturally took it to be a beast of one kind or another, and he told the blind Lamech to let his arrow fly. The aim was good, and the quarry dropped to the ground. When they came close to the victim, the lad exclaimed: "Father, thou hast killed something that resembles a human being in all respects, except it carries a horn on its forehead!" Lamech knew at once what had happened--he had killed his ancestor Cain, who had been marked by God with a horn. In despair he smote his hands together, inadvertently killing his son as he clasped them. Misfortune still followed upon misfortune. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the four generations sprung from Cain--Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael. Lamech, sightless as he was, could not go home; he had to remain by the side of Cain's corpse and his son's. Toward evening, his wives, seeking him, found him there. When they heard what he had done, they wanted to separate from him, all the more as they knew that whoever was descended from Cain was doomed to annihilation. But Lamech argued, "If Cain, who committed murder of malice aforethought, was punished only in the seventh generation, then I, who had no intention of killing a human being, may hope that retribution will be averted for seventy and seven generations." With his wives, Lamech repaired to Adam, who heard both parties, and decided the case in favor of Lamech. The corruptness of the times, and especially the depravity of Cain's stock, appears in the fact that Lamech, as well as all the men in the generation of the deluge, married two wives, one with the purpose of rearing children, the other in order to pursue carnal indulgences, for which reason the latter was rendered sterile by artificial means. As the men of the time were intent upon pleasure rather than desirous of doing their duty to the human race, they gave all their love and attention to the barren women, while their other wives spent their days like widows, joyless and in gloom. The two wives of Lamech, Adah and Zillah, bore him each two children, Adah two sons, Jabal and Jubal, and Zillah a son, Tubal-cain, and a daughter, Naamah. Jabal was the first among men to erect temples to idols, and Jubal invented the music sung and played therein. Tubal-cain was rightly named, for he completed the work of his ancestor Cain. Cain committed murder, and Tubal-cain, the first who knew how to sharpen iron and copper, furnished the instruments used in wars and combats. Naamah, "the lovely," earned her name from the sweet sounds which she drew from her cymbals when she called the worshippers to pay homage to idols.
THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM AND LILITH - When the wives of Lamech heard the decision of Adam, that they were to continue to live with their husband, they turned upon him, saying, "O physician, heal thine own lameness!" They were alluding to the fact that he himself had been living apart from his wife since the death of Abel, for he had said, "Why should I beget children, if it is but to expose them to death?" Though he avoided intercourse with Eve, he was visited in his sleep by female spirits, and from his union with them sprang shades and demons of various kinds, and they were endowed with peculiar gifts. Once upon a time there lived in Palestine a very rich and pious man, who had a son named Rabbi Hanina. He knew the whole of the Torah by heart. When he was at the point of death, he sent for his son, Rabbi Hanina, and bade him, as his last request, to study the Torah day and night, fulfil the commands of the law, and be a faithful friend to the poor. He also told him that he and his wife, the mother of Rabbi Hanina, would die on the selfsame day, and the seven days of mourning for the two would end on the eve of the Passover. He enjoined him not to grieve excessively, but to go to market on that day, and buy the first article offered to him, no matter how costly it might be. If it happened to be an edible, he was to prepare it and serve it with much ceremony. His expense and trouble would receive their recompense. All happened as foretold: the man and his wife died upon the same day, and the end of the week of mourning coincided with the eve of the Passover. The son in turn carried out his father's behest: he repaired to market, and there he met an old man who offered a silver dish for sale. Although the price asked was exorbitant, yet he bought it, as his father had bidden. The dish was set upon the Seder table, and when Rabbi Hanina opened it, he found a second dish within, and inside of this a live frog, jumping and hopping around gleefully. He gave the frog food and drink, and by the end of the festival he was grown so big that Rabbi Hanina made a cabinet for him, in which he ate and lived. In the course of time, the cabinet became too small, and the Rabbi built a chamber, put the frog within, and gave him abundant food and drink. All this he did that he might not violate his father's last wish. But the frog waxed and grew; he consumed all his host owned, until, finally, Rabbi Hanina was stripped bare of all his possessions. Then the frog opened his mouth and began to speak. "My dear Rabbi Hanina," he said, "do not worry! Seeing thou didst raise me and care for me, thou mayest ask of me whatever thy heart desireth, and it shall be granted thee." Rabbi Hanina made reply, "I desire naught but that thou shouldst teach me the whole of the Torah." The frog assented, and he did, indeed, teach him the whole of the Torah, and the seventy languages of men besides. His method was to write a few words upon a scrap of paper, which he had his pupil swallow. Thus he acquired not alone the Torah and the seventy tongues, but also the language of beasts and birds. Thereupon the frog spoke to the wife of Rabbi Hanina: "Thou didst tend me well, and I have given thee no recompense. But thy reward will be paid thee before I depart from you, only you must both accompany me to the woods. There you shall see what I shall do for you." Accordingly, they went to the woods with him. Arrived there, the frog began to cry aloud, and at the sound all sorts of beasts and birds assembled. These he commanded to produce precious stones, as many as they could carry. Also they were to bring herbs and roots for the wife of Rabbi Hanina, and he taught her how to use them as remedies for all varieties of disease. All this they were bidden to take home with them. When they were about to return, the frog addressed them thus: "May the Holy One, blessed be He, have mercy upon you, and requite you for all the trouble you took on my account, without so much as inquiring who I am. Now I shall make my origin known to you. I am the son of Adam, a son whom he begot during the hundred and thirty years of his separation from Eve. God has endowed me with the power of assuming any form or guise I desire." Rabbi Hanina and his wife departed for their home, and they became very rich, and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the king. the adverse comment on such vagaries in Baba Batra 91a, which are regarded as a specialty of the heretics, 7), and are only found in the writings of the Arabic period (Yashar, and already in PRE), when the Jews became more familiar with the Christian and Mohammedan pseudepigraphic writings. The three lists of the wives of the ante-deluvian patriarchs, which we possess in Hebrew sources, Algazi’s Toledot Adam, 2a-2b, Damascus manuscript, published by Harkavy in Ha-Pisgah I, 58, and Munich manuscript (published by Perles in his Beztrdge aur Geschichte heb...Studien, 90), are never145 43-44] The Legends of the Jews theless important for the history of these names, since they enable us to establish their Hebrew forms, which very often cannot be recognized from the Greek and Ethiopic transliterations. The following examples will illustrate this point. Adam’s oldest daughter, whose name has been transmitted in no less than twenty-two forms (comp. Rénsch, Buch der Jubilien, 373; MHG I, 106; Theodor on BR 22. 2, pages 205-206), is called Azurah in Jub. 4, written M11¥Y in Hebrew, in agreement with Kiddushin 6a, where ’nxy ‘‘my wife” occurs. In PRE 2isin1y, ‘‘his wife’’, an allusion to Gen. 2.18. Noah’s wife is Emzaru in Jub., Joc. cit., and yntos in Hebrew (this is how it should be read in Algazi, instead of y7)98; in Munich manuscript it is abbreviated to y71D), z. e., ‘‘mother of the seed of man’”’. The theophorous names, as Razuyal byixn and Azrial, bxry, Jub., loc. cit., and 8. 1 (with Algazi, Sason is to be read instead of Susan; }1ww not WW) appear in the Hebrew texts in their original forms 7X7 and Wy. Later on the termination 7, so frequently employed in proper names, was substituted by by. Noah’s mother is properly called in Dam. MS. 38 na (in order not to mistake it to mean ‘‘the daughter of Enosh”’, the word pw is added; this word, therefore, must not be emended to ANDY, as\is done by Marx, Orient. Ltz., IV, 358, on the basis of Baidawi), corresponding to Betenos in Jub., Joc. cit. On the other hand, the names of Noah’s daughtersin-law appear (Jub. 7. 14-16, where Adataneses= 8¥) NIT “‘ princess of women’’) to be badly corrupted in the Hebrew sources. The names of Jacob’s daughters-in-law in Dam. MS. are entirely different from those of Yashar (comp. vol. II, pp. 37-39), and this source deserves closer investigation. The same source knows also the name of Ishmael’s wife, Gigit (comp., for another view, note 218 on vol. I, p. 269), and the name of the prophet Jonah’s wife, who is called Yoam the daughter of Azen; comp. note 39 on vol. IV, p. PSS), 43 On the sign of Cain, comp. note 28. 44 Tan. Bereshit 11 (on the text comp. Yalkut I, 38; MHG I, 118-119; Rashi and Midrash Aggada on Gen. 4. 23-24); Yashar Bereshit, 10b-i1a; BR 23. 4; Jerome, ad Damasum, 125; Ephraim, I, 26D; Book of Adam 2. 13; Preuschen, Adamschriften, 35-36; Schatzhéhle, 78. Comp. Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphicus, 120122 (this passage contains the views concerning the death of Cain found in the works of the chronologists Johan Malala, and Michael . Glycas); Griinbaum, Neue Beitrége, 71-72. According to Jub. 146 The Ten Generations [45 4, 31, Cain met his death in the following manner: his house fell in over him. Just as he had slain Abel with a stone (comp. note 20), even so was he killed by the stones of the house which fell in. Aggadat Bereshit 26, 53-54, reads to the same effect. Philo, Quod Deterius Potiort Insidiari Soleat, 48, seems to explain allegorically a legend, according to which Cain never died. This may be compared with the legend about the immortality of the giants; comp. vol. III, p. 269. It would not be surprising if Philo already knew of the legend that Cain was the son of Satan (comp. note 3) and his celestial origin would explain his immortality. EZ 2, 174, appears to be an allusion to an unfamiliar Lamech legend; but perhaps we ought to read ?}Pp=VAs 73x, and the passage merely implies that Lamech, who was mourning over the death of his grandfather, was endowed with long life and other blessings. It is difficult to ascertain what ps.—Philo 2 wishes to record concerning Lamech, since “the text is obscure, and very likely corrupt. Comp. note 37. 45 BR 23. 2-3; Yashar Bereshit, 10b; Yerushalmi Yebamot 6, 7c (on the meaning of the name Zillah comp. Philo, De Posteritate Caini, 33, whose explanation agrees with Yerushalmi); Yalkut I, 47 (in the Oxford MS. nm 0’»D is given as the source; comp. also Theodor on BR 22. 3); ps.—Philo, 2 (the sentence et coepit...psalteria should be read after organorum, and the words et corrumpere terram before indigna est deus); Theophilus, II, 30. Opinions differ concerning Naamah, Tubal-cain’s sister. According to one, this Naamah, ‘‘the lovely one’, was Noah’s wife (BR, loc cit; comp. also Mishle 31, 111, where it is said that the piety of Noah’s wife was like that of her husband), whereas another view maintains that it was another Naamah whom Noah married. Naamah, Tubal-cain’s sister, is further identified with the beautiful woman to whose charms the angels became victims; comp. MHG I, 118 (this is very likely based on PRE, as remarked by Schechter); Zohar I, 55a; Zohar Ruth 99a (beginning mnp mom'7); Midrash Aggada Gen. 4. 22. Whatever has been said in other sources concerning Istehar (comp. vol. I, p. 149) is referred to Naamah in the last passage: she did not consent to gratify the desire of the fallen angels. But in the kabbalistic sources cited above (comp. further Zohar III, 76b, as well as Kaneh 103b; for more details see Griinbaum Gesammelte Aufsdtze, 57, seq. and 447, as well as Ginzberg’s article ‘‘Ashmedai”’ in Jewish Encyclopedia) Naamah, the sister of Tubal-cain, is said to be the wife of Shamdan, from whose union sprang forth Ashmedai (=the devil 147 46-50] The Legends of the Jews par excellence), who together with Lilith strangles little children (comp. vol. I, pp. 65-66), while Naamah, like the latter, fools men in their dreams. On Naamah the musician, and the influence of her sensual music which corrupted humanity, comp. further Yerushalmi Targumim Gen. 4. 22; Griibaum, Neue Beitrdge, 72-74; note 14 on vol. I, p. 152. 46 BR 23. 4; Tan. Bereshit 11; BaR 14. 2; ‘Erubin 18b; Tan. B. I, 20. The justification of Adam’s celibacy in the text is taken from the last passage (this statement presupposes that Abel scarcely lived a few months; comp. note 11), whereas in ‘Erubin his celibacy appears to be as an atonement for his sin, and it is also presupposed that the first two sons were born before the fall, or at least begotten before that occurrence. Comp. note 4. 47 ‘Erubin 18b (po°> “spectres”, as in Apocalypse of Baruch 10. 8); Tan. B. I, 20; BR 20. 11 and 24. 6. Only the last mentioned source contains the assertion that Eve likewise became the mother of spirits through her union with male spirits; see Zohar I, 54b, and III, 76b, where it is said that even now the propagation of this species is continued by virtue of the union of men with spirits in their sleep. Comp. note 45. It is possible that this conception of the origin of spirits (evil ones? comp., however, BR 20. 11) is intended to oppose the assertion of the Persians that the redeemer ‘“‘Saoshyant’’ will spring up from the seed of Zarathustra that went to the ground. Comp. Bund. 32. 8, 9 and Yt. 13. 62. 48 Concerning this number of languages comp. note 72 on vol. Wh, jos WBE 49 Ma‘aseh-Buch 143, 40a-40b and the Hebrew from a MS. collection of legends, published in R.E.J., XX XIII, 239, seg. The long-winded biography of R. Haninah, or, as the Hebrew version reads, R. Johanan, in this source is identical with the narrative found in Arabian Nights concerning the gratitude of three animals (the fish, the dog, and the raven) towards their human benefactor. This narrative, as is well known, is based on an animal fable found in Pantschatantra. On the acquisition of language through swallowing its written characters see Bet Nekot ha-Halakah 1,58, and Goldziher in Berliner- Festschrift, 150. 50 BR 23. 4-5; PK 5, 43b; PR 15, 67b; Ruth R. 4, 12; Makiri, Prov. 14.28. Ruth Z. 55; Tan. B. I, 20. In allusion to the words of Scripture °> nw (Gen. 4. 25), the name nw is interpreted as “plant” (=>-nv); Aggadat Bereshit (MS. additions), 37. Is the legend con148 The Ten Generations’ {51-53 cerning Seth and the branch of the tree of life in various compilations of the Vita Adae (comp. Preuschen, Adamschriften, 41 and 46) related to this interpretation of the name? The name Seth is also connected with mw ‘foundation’: he became the foundation of mankind; BaR 14. 12; MHG I, 119; Lekah and Midrash Aggada on Gen. 4. 2. 5 ARN 2, 12; Tan. Noah 5; Tan. B. I, 32; Tehillim 9, 84. Comp. note 318 on vol. I, p. 306. $2 PRE 2. Hardly anything is known in the older rabbinic literature of the glorification of Seth, which has prevailed for some time, as may be seen from the existence of a gnostic sect, the Sethiani, who identified him with the Messiah (comp. Preuschen, Adamschriften, 48-51; Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphicus, 141, 143, 145). Certain traces of this glorification have been retained by Josephus, Antiqut. 1, 2, 3, and in the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic literature (Ecclu. 49. 16; Jub. 19. 24; Enoch 85. 8-9; 2 Enoch 33. 10. See also index, s. v. ‘‘Seth, Descendants of”). Only in kabbalistic writings has this view, supposedly favored by BR 23.5 and PRE 22, attained importance. Hence, for instance, it is asserted that the soul of Seth entered into Moses and will again reappear in the Messiah. The account by Syncellus, 1. 16-17 concerning the translation of Seth to the angels, who instructed him about the fall of the angels, the fall of man, the deluge, and the advent of the Messiah, seems to go back to an apocryphal book of Seth (very likely of Jewish origin). Comp. note 1 and the following note. 53 Josephus, Antiqui., I, 2. 3. On the astronomic studies of the ante-diluvian generations comp. also BR 26. 5. The chronologists Suidas (s. v. 270), Michael Glycas, Annales 228-233, and Johannes Malala 1. 151, Joel, Chronographia, p. 3, know not only to report about Seth’s astronomical knowledge but also about his invention of the Hebrew characters, as well as the division of time into weeks, months and years. He received his knowledge from the angel Uriel who came to him (Syncellus 1. 16-17, on the other hand, speaks of Seth’s stay among the angels), and revealed to him this knowledge, as he subsequently did to Enoch. The legend concerning the two tablets, which Seth and his children respectively made, reads differently in Vita Adae 50. 1-3. For a detailed discussion concerning this legend, see Ginzberg’s Hebrew essay bran wrx bw (reprinted from Ha-Goren VIII, 35-51), which also contains a discussion on the conception about the conflagration of the world mentioned by Philo (Moses, 2. 36, Mangey’s edition, 175) and the 149 54) The Legends of the Jews Rabbis. See also Bousset, Zeitschrift fiir NT. Wissenschaft, 1902. It should also be noted here that Josippon 2. 8 (which was borrowed by Yashar Bereshit, 10a, below) considers these tablets as the work of Seth’s grandchild Kenan. Josippon knows also to report that these tablets with their Hebrew characters could still be seen on some island in India in the time of Alexander the Great. It is further maintained that in that place there is a city, full of all kinds of treasures, which Kenan had founded but which no one can enter, because he rendered it inaccessible by means of astronomical and astrological knowledge and witchcraft. Kenan’s bewitched town appears to be based on Arabic sources. Kenan is already described in Jub. 8. 3 (comp. the references to the chronologists by Charles) as a master of great wisdom (comp. note 41 on »pp=n)p, which also signifies ‘‘writing stylus”). This, however, refers to Kenan the son of Arpachshad who is known to Jub. as well as to Septuagint, but not to the masoretic text. Aggadat Bereshit (introduction) 37, on the other hand says of Kenan that through him his generation came in possession of evil (j”_p=Mp ‘“‘possessed’’; comp. note 7), since he induced them to worship idols. His son Mahalalel, on the contrary, repented of his sins, and returned to God, whom he praised (bm) and extolled. On Mahalalel comp. Jub. 19. 4 (one of the seven pious men of the pre-Abrahamic times: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Mahalalel, Enoch, Noah, and Shem) and 2 Enoch 33. 10, which mentions the books composed by Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, and Enoch. These books were guarded by the angels Arukh and Parukh. Comp. Yerahmeel 24. 7, and the parallel passages cited by Gaster, where Tubal-Cain is described as the one who had made the tablets. 54 Yerahmeel 23. 6, and in a somewhat abbreviated form in Hadar, Gen. 4.26. Comp. also PRE 45, with respect to the golden calf: Sammael roared out of the mouth of the calf in order to mislead Israel. The origin of idolatry occupied the minds of the Greeks, and the Jewish-Alexandrian schools accepted, with some modifications, the theory of Euhemerus, according to which its origin was due to the worship of dead heroes. Through the Jewish writers this theory reached the Church Fathers; comp. Wisdom 14. 12-13; Ciementine Homilies 9. 5 (which reads: This is the beginning of idolatry: When Nimrod, jater known as Zoroaster, was struck by lightning, the masses perceived in it a special distinction, and therefore erected a temple on his grave. Whereupon the princes of var150 The Ten Generations [54 ious countries laid claim to similar glory; comp. note 85 on vol. I, p. 178); Jerome on Ezek. 23. 12 and Hos. 2. 10 (Ninus, after a victorious struggle against Zoroaster, placed his father Belus among the gods). Comp. further the sources cited in Griinbaum, Gesammelte Aufsdize, 198-199. The statement frequently found among Church Fathers that the demons and the fallen angels, respectively, seduced men to idolatry (comp. e. g. Minucius Felix, Octav., 26. 7; Justin Martyr, Apologia, 2. 15; Clementine Recognitiones, 4. 13-15; Tatian, Or. Ad Graecos, 8; Athenagoras, Legat. Pro Christianis 24; Lactantius, Institutiones, 2. 16), and taught them the making of images and statues, goes back to pseudepigraphic writings of the Jews (comp. e. g. Enoch 66. 6 and 99, 7; Jub. 11. 4) but is entirely unknown to the older rabbinic literature. This view is only found in later writings (comp. e. g. the legend in ‘Aseret ha-Dibrot 71) and especially in the Kabbalah. Comp. Griinbaum, Gesammelte Aufsdtze, 93. The beginning of idolatry, according to the older rabbinic sources, based on their interpretation of Gen. 4. 26, took place in the time of Enosh (hence his name is ‘‘sickly”’, 7. e., mankind became ill in his time; Aggadat Bereshit, introduction, 37; Yashar Bereshit, 10a); Sifre D., 43; Shabbat 118b; WR 23. 3; Mekilta Bahodesh 6, 67b; Midrash Tannaim 20 and 195; BR 2. 3; 5. 1 and 5; 23. 7; Tan. B. I, 52, and IV, 24; Tan. Noah 18 and Yitro 16; Tehillim 1, 11; 88, 380; Yerushalmi Targumim and Onkelos on Gen. 4. 26 (on the reading of Onkelos comp. Berliner, ad loc.). Jerome, ad loc., knows of the rabbinic interpretation of this verse (Gen., loc. cit.,) together with that of Septuagint, Aquila, and Peshitta with which Ecclu. 49. 16 is in agreement. See also Philo, De Abrahamo, 2, and De Praemiis, 2 (end), where Enosh is considered as the type of the pious. Comp. also Theodoretus, Quaestiones in Gen., 247, who takes Seth as the subject of bmn. It is noteworthy that the passages cited above, as well as other passages (comp. Ekah, introduction, 24, 26; PR 42, 178b and 193a), speak of the wicked generation of Enosh, but not of the wicked Enosh. Maimonides, however (Yad ha-Hazakah ‘Abodat Kokabim 1. 1) observes (very likely on the basis of older sources; comp. Hekalot 6, 173, and Shabbat Joc. cit.: WIND) that Enosh himself was an idolater. In Baraita 32 Middot (Yalkut I, 47; comp. note 45) it is explicitly stated that at the time of Enosh images and immorality were introduced by the descendants of Cain. Comp. vol. IJ, p. 260, and vol. III, p. 374. Comp. note 56 (end). 151 55-56] The Legends of the Jews 55 BR 23. 6-7; Baraita 32 Middot (in Yalkut I, 47) reads: As soon as this generation committed three sins (idolatry, murder, and incest; comp. the end of the preceding note), three visitations came upon them: the ocean flooded a third part of the earth; there arose mountains, valleys, and rocky ground, whereas prior to that everything had been smooth and even (comp. notes 29, 30); man’s stature was shortened. In Messianic times everything will regain its former position. The overflowing of the ocean in the time of Enosh is frequently alluded to; comp. Mekilta Bahodesh 6, 67b; Sifre D., 43; Midrash Tannaim 20 and 195; BR 5. 6; Shekalim 6, 50a; Tan. B. I, 52, and IV, 24; Tan. Noah 18 and Yitro 16; Tehillim 88, 300. On the transformation of men into apes comp. vol. I, p. 180, and the notes appertaining to it; Enoch 19. 2 (the women who seduced the angels were transformed into sirens); Koran 2. 60 and 7. 174. 56 Hekalot 6, 172; Hakam ha-Razin in Yalkut Reubeni 25b25c; Ziyyoni, Gen. 4. 26. On the view that thé Shekinah dwells under the tree of life comp. vol. I, p. 97. On the withdrawal of the Shekinah from the earth to heaven sce vol. II, p. 260. Those who came near the Shekinah remained safe from vermin; comp. vol. III, p. 472, and IV, p. 242. On the opposition of the angels to the creation of man, see vol.Notes 3 — The Ten Generations
SETH AND HIS DESCENDANTS - The exhortations of the wives of Lamech took effect upon Adam. After a separation of one hundred and thirty years, he returned to Eve, and the love he now bore her was stronger by far than in the former time. She was in his thoughts even when she was not present to him bodily. The fruit of their reunion was Seth, who was destined to be the ancestor of the Messiah. Seth was so formed from birth that the rite of circumcision could be dispensed with. He was thus one of the thirteen men born perfect in a way. Adam begot him in his likeness and image, different from Cain, who had not been in his likeness and image. Thus Seth became, in a genuine sense, the father of the human race, especially the father of the pious, while the depraved and godless are descended from Cain. Even during the lifetime of Adam the descendants of Cain became exceedingly wicked, dying successively, one after another, each more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies, and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behavior in acting unjustly and doing injury for gain. Now as to Seth. When he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, he became a virtuous man, and as he was himself of excellent character, so he left children behind him who imitated his virtues. All these proved to be of good disposition. They also inhabited one and the same country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortune's falling upon them, until they died. They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies and their order. And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, they made two pillars, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire and at another time by the violence and quantity of water. The one was of brick, the other of stone, and they inscribed their discoveries on both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit these discoveries to mankind, and also inform them that there was another pillar, of brick, erected by them.
ENOSH - Enosh was asked who his father was, and he named Seth. The questioners, the people of his time, continued: "Who was the father of Seth?" Enosh: "Adam."--"And who was the father of Adam?"--"He had neither father nor mother, God formed him from the dust of the earth."--"But man has not the appearance of dust!"--"After death man returns to dust, as God said, 'And man shall turn again unto dust;' but on the day of his creation, man was made in the image of God."--"How was the woman created?"- "Male and female He created them."--"But how?"--"God took water and earth, and moulded them together in the form of man."--"But how?" pursued the questioners. Enosh took six clods of earth, mixed them, and moulded them, and formed an image of dust and clay. "But," said the people, "this image does not walk, nor does it possess any breath of life." He then essayed to show them how God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam, but when he began to blow his breath into the image he had formed, Satan entered it, and the figure walked, and the people of his time who had been inquiring these matters of Enosh went astray after it, saying, "What is the difference between bowing down before this image and paying homage to a man?" The generation of Enosh were thus the first idol worshippers, and the punishment for their folly was not delayed long. God caused the sea to transgress its bounds, and a portion of the earth was flooded. This was the time also when the mountains became rocks, and the dead bodies of men began to decay. And still another consequence of the sin of idolatry was that the countenances of the men of the following generations were no longer in the likeness and image of God, as the countenances of Adam, Seth, and Enosh had been. They resembled centaurs and apes, and the demons lost their fear of men. But there was a still more serious consequence from the idolatrous practices introduced in the time of Enosh. When God drove Adam forth from Paradise, the Shekinah remained behind, enthroned above a cherub under the tree of life. The angels descended from heaven and repaired thither in hosts, to receive their instructions, and Adam and his descendants sat by the gate to bask in the splendor of the Shekinah, sixty-five thousand times more radiant than the splendor of the sun. This brightness of the Shekinah makes all upon whom it falls exempt from disease, and neither insects nor demons can come nigh unto them to do them harm. Thus it was until the time of Enosh, when men began to gather gold, silver, gems, and pearls from all parts of the earth, and made idols thereof a thousand parasangs high. What was worse, by means of the magic arts taught them by the angels Uzza and Azzael, they set themselves as masters over the heavenly spheres, and forced the sun, the moon, and the stars to be subservient to themselves instead of the Lord. This impelled the angels to ask God: " 'What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?' Why didst Thou abandon the highest of the heavens, the seat of Thy glory and Thy exalted Throne in 'Arabot, and descend to men, who pay worship to idols, putting Thee upon a level with them?" The Shekinah was induced to leave the earth and ascend to heaven, amid the blare and flourish of the trumpets of the myriads of angel hosts. I, pp. 53-54 and note 15 on vol. I, p. 152. On the subjugation of the heavenly bodies through the power of magic, comp. Tan. Bereshit 12 (read ]? 1019 instead of ~"19); MHG I, 131; note 150n vol. I, p.152. The two fallen angels bear the names of Uzza and Azzael, Azza and Azzael, Shemhazaiand Azazel. The identity of Azzael with Azazel does not require any proof; but it has not hitherto been noticed that Uzza or Azza were originally the same as Shemhazai. Since nearly all the names of angels are theophorous (this was already noticed by the old Midrashim; comp. PK 12, 108b, and the parallel passage cited by Buber, which reads: The name of God is combined with every angle), Uzza and Azza are therefore to be taken as abbreviated forms of Jehouzza and Jehoazza (comp. the name WY or MY in the Bible; on the abbreviation of theophorous names, particularly those containing the particles WW and 7, comp. note 42). This abbreviation is due to the fact that it was not considered proper to combine the names 17” and 7” with the fallen angels. Another way of avoiding this combination was the substitution of a8 ‘‘the Name”’ for 17°. Hence the name Shemhazai, which differs only slightly from Jehouzai (y and Nn are often interchanged), 152 The Ten Generations [57 goes back to "tyow=1yim’. On the ascending of the Shekinah amid the sounding of the trumpets, comp. Hanok, 114, and vol. II, 306. On Enosh as the originator of idolatry, see Zohar I, 56a, where, however, Helakot, Joc. cit., and Maimonides, Yad ha-Hazakah, ‘ Abodat Kokabim 1. 1, were very likely made use of. Comp. also Luria’s note 4 on PRE. 22 and note 45 (énd). 57 Enoch 6-8, where two different sources were probably combined into one, since twenty archangels are enumerated in 6, whereas 8 has only ten (in our texts nine only are given, owing to the fact that one name fell out), and it is well known that the number of the members of the heavenly court is differently given in the different sources, as twenty, ten, and seven, respectively; comp. vol. I, p. 140, where, according to the Hebrew book of Enoch 176, the twenty archangels are enumerated. Comp. further Index, s. v. “Archangels’”. On the names of the angels in this part of Enoch (see the vast material given by Charles 17), the following may be noted: Artakifa="pn xyIN; Ramiel=>sxnyr (occurs also in the Hebrew book of Enoch, loc. cit., as the ‘‘angel of thunder’’); Tamiel =bxpinn, “angel of the deep”’; Danel isa Greek scribal error, Aaveujd for Aaveenh =Aaderhr bwhb “angel of the night”, as in the Hebrew Enoch, Joc. cit.; Batarrel stands for Matarel, bynun in the Hebrew Enoch, ‘‘angel of rain’’; Zakiel is in Hebrew Enoch Swpr “angel of storms”, and similarly in the magic text published by Stube, Jtidish-babylonische Zaubertexte 26. Satarel occurs in Berakot 57b as the name of a person. As the name of an angel it signifies “angel of hidden things’’, 7. e., the secrets of nature. It may, however, be remarked that 1nbdy, ‘‘Venus’’, appears in Jewish texts as an angel (comp. Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts, index, s. v.). Accordingly Satarel may stand for bxindy.—The fall of the angels plays an important part in Jewish folk-lore, as well as in Jewish theology, and the following summary of the development of this belief may therefore not be out of place. In connection with Gen. 6. 1-4 we find in Enoch (in addition to the passages cited above, comp. Charles’ index, s. v. ‘‘Angels’’, as well as Bousset, Religion, 328, seg., and 560, seg.) a legend concerning the angels who in the time of Jared (on the playof the word 17 ‘‘descended”’, comp. Jub. 4. 15 and Midrash Aggada Gen. 5, 18, as well as Aggadat Bereshit, introduction 37, not in reference to the angels, but the generation which ‘‘sank low’’) rebelled against God and descended from heaven to earth where they were degraded (2 Peter 2.4 reads: ‘“‘cast 153 57] The Legends of the Jews them down’’, which is a midrashic interpretation of ord53, Gen. 6. 4, deriving it from the Hifil and not from the Kal. This interpretation is also known, along with others, to BR 27. 7. Comp. also Aggadat Bereshit, Introduction 39, where it is connected with xbp, according to which it means ‘‘the distinguished”), because they had sexual intercourse with the daughters of man. These fallen angels are the originators of all evil; through them witchcraft, astrology, and idolatry came down to man. They themselves were judged by God, and in accordance with His judgment, are awaiting punishment in the infernal regions at the end of time. But their descendants do mischief as spirits and demons all the time; they entice man to idolatry, immorality, and all kinds of sins (comp. note 54, and Bousset, index, s. v. ‘‘Daemonen”’), and lure them on to their destruction. Jub. 4. 15, 22, and 5. 1, also speaks of the sexual intercourse between the angels and the daughters of man, and likewise ascribes the origin of evil to the demons (comp. especially 10. 1, seg.), the descendants of these sinful union’; but no mention is made of any rebellion of the angels in this pseudepigraphic work. On the contrary, it is stated there that these angels were sent by God to the earth (4. 14), “that they should instruct the children of men and that they should do justice and uprightness on earth”, but having been lured by the beauty of women, they fell victims to them. The same view is to be found also in Apocalypse of Baruch 66. 11-15. Still more striking is the agreement between Jub. and the elaborated legend concerning the fall of the angels in the Clementine Homilies, 8. 11-15. This was also known to Commodianus, Instructiones 3. On the fall of the angels comp. also vol. I, pp. 148, 149, and note 10 appertaining thereto. In 2 Enoch 18 the fall of the angels at the time of Jared seems to be taken as a continuation of the original rebellion of Satan and his hosts (comp. on this point vol. I, pp. 14, 18, 53-54, 62-64, and the notes appertaining thereto, especially note 34 on the last passage), and this may be compared with Enoch 18. 15-16, where the rebellionof the stars (=angels) at the beginning of creation is spoken of. The literal interpretation of Gen. 6. 1-4 is found not only in the above-mentioned pseudepigraphic works, but also in the Septuagint (on the correct reading of this text comp. Frankel, Ueber den Einfluss, 46-47, and Vorstudien 67. See also Dillmann in commentary on Gen., ad Joc.); Philo, De Gigant., 2; Josephus, Antigui., I, 3. 1; Aquila and Peshitta, ad loc.; 2 Peter 2. 4; Jude 6. The older Church Fathers follow this 154 The Ten Generations [57 view, and make use of it in their explanations of the existence of evil in this world (comp. above and note 54); see e. g., Justin Martyr, Apologia, 11, 5, and Dialogue, 79; Clementine, Homilies, 8. 11, seqg.; Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata 5, 1, 10; Tertullian, De Virgin. 7 and De Idol. 9; Lactantius, Institutiones, 2.15. The first attempt at a different interpretation of this Gen. passage is found in 12 Testaments, Reuben 5. 6. Here the intercourse of the angels with the women is described in the following words: ‘‘They (the angels) transformed themselves into the shape of men, and appeared to them when they (the women) were with their husbands. And the women, lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants.’’ The giants, therefore, are not the physical descendants of the angels, but for their size they are indebted to their mothers whose imaginations were filled with the beauty and tallness of the angels (on their high stature, see vol. III, p. 268; hence in the Testaments: ‘“‘for the watchers appeared to them as reaching even unto heaven”’; this is in agreement with the explanation given by the Rabbis of the name D’piy as jNDIpanonn ypyow; comp. Sotah 34b; BR 26. 7, and many of the parallel passages cited by Theodor, ad loc.). The same view is also explicitly stated in Kallah 2, 8a, and the obscure passage in Tan. B. I, 26, is very likely to be explained accordingly. BR 27. 7 is a rationalistic interpretation (comp. Theodor, ad loc.) of this verse. While the literal meaning ot ‘‘the sons of God”’ is still adherred to in the 12 Testaments, Reuben, Joc. cit., as well as in the 12 Testaments, Naphtali, 3. 5, Philo interprets this phrase to signify ‘‘virtuous men”, and ‘‘the daughters of man” as ‘wicked and corrupted women”’ (Quaestiones in Gen., 1, 92). In the authoritative writings of the Synagogue great stress is laid on the fact that Scripture does not know of any sexual intercourse between angels and women. ‘The sons of God” is declared to signify ‘‘distinguished men’’, particularly the ante-diluvian generations, who enjoyed happy and long lives, like the angels. See Sifre N., 86; Sifre Z., 194; BR 27.2-5; Symmachus, Onkelos, and Targum Yerushalmi on Gen. 6. 2 and 4; Trypho, as quoted by Justin Martyr, Dialogue, 79. The first Christian author who discarded the literal interpretation of “the sons of God"”’ was Julius Africanus (according to a quotation by Cyncellus, I, 34; comp. Charles, Jub., 4.15; Origen, Contra Celsum, 4. 31, a contemporary of Africanus, knows that obs may mean “judge”, but does not assign this signification to bx, in Gen. 6. 2), who lived 155 58) The Legends of the Jews one hundred years later than Trypho and R. Simon (comp. BR, loc. cit.). These two Rabbis expressed themselves most decisively against the myth of the angels’ intercourse with the women. On the interpretation of the ‘‘sons of God’’as the descendants of Seth, met with among the later Church Fathers, comp. note 14 on vol. I, p. 152. On the traces of the myth of the fallen angels in the non-authoritative writings of the Synagogue, comp. vol. I, pp. 148150, and note 10 appertaining thereto. The designation of Adam as “the son of God” in Luke 3. 38 (in a genealogical sense) shows that already in the early days of Christianity the conception of the incarnation of a God-like being was not confined to Christ. The rabbinic sources (Tan. B. V, 77; BaR 16. 24 and paralle! passages) find in Ps. 82. 6-7 the contrast expressed between ‘‘the sons of the Most High” and Adam. 58 Enoch 12-16; Jub. 4. 17-23. Numerous legends are extant in the first mentioned pseudepigraphic work, as well as in 2 Enoch and in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, concerning the person of Enoch. He is the inventor of all sciences and knowledge; he has intercourse with angels in heaven, and is finally translated into paradise or heaven where he dwells‘ and performs the function of heavenly scribe or secretary. All these legends left no trace in the authoritative rabbinic sources, but are well known to the Church Fathers (comp. the numerous references in Schiirer, Geschichte, III, 284-286, to which many more may be added; see, e. g., Recognitiones, 4. 13), and other Christian writers of ancient and medieval times; comp. e. g., Visio Pauli 20, and extracts from Christian literature by Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphicus, 106223. In the entire Tannaitic literature and in both Talmudim no mention is made of Enoch. This name, however, is found two or three times in the older Midrashim (PK 23, 155a=WR 29. 22; BR 25. 1), but without the glory conferred on it by pseudepigraphic and Christian literature. It is stated in BR, loc. cit., that Enoch was not translated, as the heretics (Christians or Jewish-Christians) assert, but that he died like any other human being. He even died before his time, because he had not been of a steadfast character, and God preferred that he should die young while he was yet righteous. Comp. also Koheleth 7. 15. But even pre-Christian authors like Wisdom 15. 11, and especially Philo, Quaestiones in Gen., 1, 82-86, as well as De Abrahamo, 3, and De Praemiis, 3, not only deny the translation of Enoch, but know to report that he was or 156 The Ten Generations 159 iginally a sinner, but subseqeuently followed the right path. The remark in PK, loc. cit., concerning Enoch as the seventh since Adam who pleased God (like everything else ‘‘that was seventh’’) is almost literally found in Enoch 93. 3 and Jude 14. But all the Midrash wants to say is that Enoch was better than the six previous patriarchs and this is no particular merit; comp. note 1. The superiority of Abraham’s piety to that of Enoch and Noah is emphasized in an old source from which Lekah on Gen. 5. 24 is an extract (it is another version of the Haggadah recorded in BR 30. 10; Tan. B. I, 81). Septuagint on Gen. 5. 24 is very likely to be understood to mean that Enoch was translated to heaven, which is stated also in Ecclu. 44. 16 and 49. 14 (0°15 in this verse stands in some relation to its use in later mystic literature, where the designation of Enoch-Metatron as 0°35 1, ‘‘angel of the face”’, occurs frequently), as well as by Josephus, Amtiqui., I. 3.4, and Hebrews 11.5. Hence Enoch and Elijah are the only two ‘‘witnesses’’ (comp. Revelation 11. 3) in Christian legends, because they were the only two that did not die (see the material collected by Bousset, Awtichrist, index, s. v. “‘Zeugen’’). In Ascension of Isaiah 9. 9, Isaiah sees Enoch in the seventh heaven, the residence of the righteous since the time of Adam. In view of the fact that no distinction is made here between Enoch and the other pious men it may be assumed that according to this apocryphal work Enoch came to heaven after his death. This would be in agreement with the official doctrine of the Synagogue (comp. above, and Onkelos Gen. 5. 24). Jub. 4. 23 and Enoch 70. 3-4 explicitly state that paradise was the abode of Enoch (comp. also Preuschen, Adamschriften, 37-38). This is also the opinion of later rabbinic writings. See further on this point note 61. The difference of opinion concerning Enoch’s abode after his translation corresponds to that about Elijah; comp. note 32 on vol. IV, p. 200. MHG I, 123, quotes the following from a supposedly tannaitic source (the introductory formula is INN): Three men ascended to heaven to perform service (7. e., they served as angels, Nw *oNdbD); they are: Enoch, Moses, and Elijah. This statement is followed by a remark that all the pious, after their death, are transformed into angels. This is certainly a later addition. On Moses comp. vol. III, p. 473, and on Elijah see vol. IV, p. 201. 59 Yashar Bereshit, 11a—i3a, and thence it was incorporated in BHM IV, 129-132. No real parallels are found in the older pseud157 60] The Legends of the Jews epigraphic and rabbinic literature to this description of the activity and translation of Enoch (the fiery horse, of course, goes back to 2 Kings 2. 11), although the books of Enoch, Jub., and other writings (comp. the preceding note) know to report a good deal about Enoch’s piety and wisdom. He is mentioned as the father of astronomy and calendation also in PRE 8, where it is stated that Noah received instruction from him after his translation (Luria, ad /oc., is to be corrected accordingly). See also Midrash Aggada Gen. 5. 24; Eupolemus, 419. In the source of Yashar mention was very likely made also of Enoch’s temporary stay with the angels concerning which the books of Enoch speak in detail. The idea that Enoch’s countenance was awe-inspiring, and could cause death, is probably related to 2 Enoch 27. 38, whose Enoch legends Yashar employs also elsewhere; comp. vol. I, pp. 136-137, and the following note. The view that Enoch solemnly buried Adam goes back to Seder ‘Olam 1 and Baba Batra 121b, whereas according to another legend, it was Seth who attended to his father’s funeral. Comp. vol. I, pp. 99-100. 6° An extract from Slavonic (=2) Enoch. The Ethiopic book of Enoch, though it is older than the Slavonic, is not of a uniform character. It consists of a series of revelations which were made to Enoch during the time of his wanderings through heaven and earth and his intercourse with the angels. These revelations, varied in their contents, embracing the laws of nature, as well as the history of the kingdom of God, were entered into this book by Enoch to teach mankind. Six quotations from ‘‘the book of Enoch” are found in Zohar (I, 37b;-72b; I], 55a; III, 240a; 248b; 253b); but, as may be seen from the nature of their contents, they were taken from a much later kabbalistic book, which has nothing in common with the pseudepigraphic work bearing that name. Comp. further Kaneh 19b and 107a (this passage is identical with Zohar I, 37b, where 75D2 is to be deleted) concerning ‘‘the book of Enoch preserved in heaven, which no eye can see.’’ On the other rabbinic books of Enoch, comp. the following note.—Some parallels to the Slavonic Enoch from rabbinic and other sources may be mentioned here. Enoch had three sons (1. 10); so Yashar Bereshit, 11b. The statement about the two hundred angels, which guide the stars (4. 1), is related to the corresponding number of rebellious angels in Enoch 6. 5; the stars had already revolted at the beginning of creation; Enoch 18. 15, comp. note 57. On the oil and the tree of iife (6; 8. 158 The Ten Generations [60 7; 22. 8; 56. 2), comp. note 113 on vol. I, p. 93. The description of the fallen angels reads (7. 3): Who obeyed not the commandments of God, etc. This is found literally in Zadokite Fragments, 2. The tree of life as God’s residence (8. 3) isalso met with in rabbinic sources; comp. vol. I, p. 23. Similarly the view that this tree covers the entire paradise (7. 4) is also found in Perek Gan ‘Eden, where, as in this pseudepigraghic work (7.Notes 4 — The Ten Generations
THE FALL OF THE ANGELS - The depravity of mankind, which began to show itself in the time of Enosh, had increased monstrously in the time of his grandson Jared, by reason of the fallen angels. When the angels saw the beautiful, attractive daughters of men, they lusted after them, and spoke: "We will choose wives for ourselves only from among the daughters of men, and beget children with them." Their chief Shemhazai said, "I fear me, ye will not put this plan of yours into execution, and I alone shall have to suffer the consequences of a great sin." Then they answered him, and said: "We will all swear an oath, and we will bind ourselves, separately and together, not to abandon the plan, but to carry it through to the end." Two hundred angels descended to the summit of Mount Hermon, which owes its name to this very occurrence, because they bound themselves there to fulfil their purpose, on the penalty of Herem, anathema. Under the leadership of twenty captains they defiled themselves with the daughters of men, unto whom they taught charms, conjuring formulas, how to cut roots, and the efficacy of plants. The issue from these mixed marriages was a race of giants, three thousand ells tall, who consumed the possessions of men. When all had vanished, and they could obtain nothing more from them, the giants turned against men and devoured many of them, and the remnant of men began to trespass against the birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, eating their flesh and drinking their blood. Then the earth complained about the impious evil-doers. But the fallen angels continued to corrupt mankind. Azazel taught men how to make slaughtering knives, arms, shields, and coats of mail. He showed them metals and how to work them, and armlets and all sorts of trinkets, and the use of rouge for the eyes, and how to beautify the eyelids, and how to ornament themselves with the rarest and most precious jewels and all sorts of paints. The chief of the fallen angels, Shemhazai, instructed them in exorcisms and how to cut roots; Armaros taught them how to raise spells; Barakel, divination from the stars; Kawkabel, astrology; Ezekeel, augury from the clouds; Arakiel, the signs of the earth; Samsaweel, the signs of the sun; and Seriel, the signs of the moon. While all these abominations defiled the earth, the pious Enoch lived in a secret place. None among men knew his abode, or what had become of him, for he was sojourning with the angel watchers and holy ones. Once he heard the call addressed to him: "Enoch, thou scribe of justice, go unto the watchers of the heavens, who have left the high heavens, the eternal place of holiness, defiling themselves with women, doing as men do, taking wives unto themselves, and casting themselves into the arms of destruction upon earth. Go and proclaim unto them that they shall find neither peace nor pardon. For every time they take joy in their offspring, they shall see the violent death of their sons, and sigh over the ruin of their children. They will pray and supplicate evermore, but never shall they attain to mercy or peace." Enoch repaired to Azazel and the other fallen angels, to announce the doom uttered against them. They all were filled with fear. Trembling seized upon them, and they implored Enoch to set up a petition for them and read it to the Lord of heaven, for they could not speak with God as aforetime, nor even raise their eyes heavenward, for shame on account of their sins. Enoch granted their request, and in a vision he was vouchsafed the answer which he was to carry back to the angels. It appeared to Enoch that he was wafted into heaven upon clouds, and was set down before the throne of God. God spake: "Go forth and say to the watchers of heaven who have sent thee hither to intercede for them: Verily, it is you who ought to plead in behalf of men, not men in behalf of you I Why did ye forsake the high, holy, and eternal heavens, to pollute yourselves with the daughters of men, taking wives unto yourselves, doing like the races of the earth, and begetting giant sons? Giants begotten by flesh and spirits will be called evil spirits on earth, and on the earth will be their dwelling-place. Evil spirits proceed from their bodies, because they are created from above, and from the holy watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they will be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits they will be named. And the spirits of heaven have their dwelling in heaven, but the spirits of the earth, which were born upon the earth, have their dwelling on the earth. And the spirits of the giants will devour, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and cause destruction on the earth, and work affliction. They will take no kind of food, nor will they thirst, and they will be invisible. And these spirits will rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them. Since the days of murder and destruction and the death of the giants, when the spirits went forth from the soul of their flesh, in order to destroy without incurring judgment--thus will they destroy until the day when the great consummation of the great world be consummated. And now as to the watchers who have sent thee to intercede for them, who had been aforetime in heaven, say to them: You have been in heaven, and though the hidden things had not yet been revealed to you, you know worthless mysteries, and in the hardness of your hearts you have recounted these to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evil on earth. Say to them therefore: You have no peace!"
ENOCH, RULER AND TEACHER - After Enoch had lived a long time secluded from men, he once heard the voice of an angel calling to him: "Enoch, Enoch, make thyself ready and leave the house and the secret place wherein thou hast kept thyself hidden, and assume dominion over men, to teach them the ways in which they shall walk, and the deeds which they shall do, in order that they may walk in the ways of God." Enoch left his retreat and betook himself to the haunts of men. He gathered them about him, and instructed them in the conduct pleasing to God. He sent messengers all over to announce, "Ye who desire to know the ways of God and righteous conduct, come ye to Enoch!" Thereupon a vast concourse of people thronged about him, to hear the wisdom he would teach and learn from his mouth what is good and right. Even kings and princes, no less than one hundred and thirty in number, assembled about him, and submitted themselves to his dominion, to be taught and guided by him, as he taught and guided all the others. Peace reigned thus over the whole world all the two hundred and forty-three years during which the influence of Enoch prevailed. At the expiration of this period, in the year in which Adam died, and was buried with great honors by Seth, Enosh, Enoch, and Methuselah, Enoch resolved to retire again from intercourse with men, and devote himself wholly to the service of God. But he withdrew gradually. First he would spend three days in prayer and praise of God, and on the fourth day he would return to his disciples and grant them instruction. Many years passed thus, then he appeared among them but once a week, later, once a month, and, finally, once a year. The kings, princes, and all others who were desirous of seeing Enoch and hearkening to his words did not venture to come close to him during the times of his retirement. Such awful majesty sat upon his countenance, they feared for their very life if they but looked at him. They therefore resolved that all men should prefer their requests before Enoch on the day he showed himself unto them. The impression made by the teachings of Enoch upon all who heard them was powerful. They prostrated themselves before him, and cried "Long live the king! Long live the king!" On a certain day, while Enoch was giving audience to his followers, an angel appeared and made known unto him that God had resolved to install him as king over the angels in heaven, as until then he had reigned over men. He called together all the inhabitants of the earth, and addressed them thus: "I have been summoned to ascend into heaven, and I know not on what day I shall go thither. Therefore I will teach you wisdom and righteousness before I go hence." A few days yet Enoch spent among men, and all the time left to him he gave instruction in wisdom, knowledge, God-fearing conduct, and piety, and established law and order, for the regulation of the affairs of men. Then those gathered near him saw a gigantic steed descend from the skies, and they told Enoch of it, who said, "The steed is for me, for the time has come and the day when I leave you, never to be seen again." So it was. The steed approached Enoch, and he mounted upon its back, all the time instructing the people, exhorting them, enjoining them to serve God and walk in His ways. Eight hundred thousand of the people followed a day's journey after him. But on the second day Enoch urged his retinue to turn back: "Go ye home, lest death overtake you, if you follow me farther." Most of them heeded his words and went back, but a number remained with him for six days, though he admonished them daily to return and not bring death down upon themselves. On the sixth day of the journey, he said to those still accompanying him, "Go ye home, for on the morrow I shall ascend to heaven, and whoever will then be near me, he will die." Nevertheless, some of his companions remained with him, saying: "Whithersoever thou goest, we will go. By the living God, death alone shall part us." On the seventh day Enoch was carried into the heavens in a fiery chariot drawn by fiery chargers. The day thereafter, the kings who had turned back in good time sent messengers to inquire into the fate of the men who had refused to separate themselves from Enoch, for they had noted the number of them. They found snow and great hailstones upon the spot whence Enoch had risen, and, when they searched beneath, they discovered the bodies of all who had remained behind with Enoch. He alone was not among them; he was on high in heaven.
THE ASCENSION OF ENOCH - This was not the first time Enoch had been in heaven. Once before, while he sojourned among men, he had been permitted to see all there is on earth and in the heavens. On a time when he was sleeping, a great grief came upon his heart, and he wept in his dream, not knowing what the grief meant, nor what would happen to him. And there appeared to him two men, very tall. Their faces shone like the sun, and their eyes were like burning lamps, and fire came forth from their lips; their wings were brighter than gold, their hands whiter than snow. They stood at the head of Enoch's bed, and called him by his name. He awoke from his sleep, and hastened and made obeisance to them, and was terrified. And these men said to him: "Be of good cheer, Enoch, be not afraid; the everlasting God hath sent us to thee, and lo! to-day thou shalt ascend with us into heaven. And tell thy sons and thy servants, and let none seek thee, till the Lord bring thee back to them." Enoch did as he was told, and after he had spoken to his sons, and instructed them not to turn aside from God, and to keep His judgment, these two men summoned him, and took him on their wings, and placed him on the clouds, which moved higher and higher, till they set him down in the first heaven. Here they showed him the two hundred angels who rule the stars, and their heavenly service. Here he saw also the treasuries of snow and ice, of clouds and dew. From there they took him to the second heaven, where he saw the fallen angels imprisoned, they who obeyed not the commandments of God, and took counsel of their own will. The fallen angels said to Enoch, "O man of God! Pray for us to the Lord," and he answered: "Who am I, a mortal man, that I should pray for angels? Who knows whither I go, or what awaits me?" They took him from thence to the third heaven, where they showed him Paradise, with all the trees of beautiful colors, and their fruits, ripe and luscious, and all kinds of food which they produced, springing up with delightful fragrance. In the midst of Paradise he saw the tree of life, in that place in which God rests when He comes into Paradise. This tree cannot be described for its excellence and sweet fragrance, and it is beautiful, more than any created thing, and on all its sides it is like gold and crimson in appearance, and transparent as fire, and it covers everything. From its root in the garden there go forth four streams, which pour out honey, milk, oil, and wine, and they go down to the Paradise of Eden, that lies on the confines between the earthly region of corruptibility and the heavenly region of incorruptibility, and thence they go along the earth. He also saw the three hundred angels who keep the garden, and with never-ceasing voices and blessed singing they serve the Lord every day. The angels leading Enoch explained to him that this place is prepared for the righteous, while the terrible place prepared for the sinners is in the northern regions of the third heaven. He saw there all sorts of tortures, and impenetrable gloom, and there is no light there, but a gloomy fire is always burning. And all that place has fire on all sides, and on all sides cold and ice, thus it burns and freezes. And the angels, terrible and without pity, carry savage weapons, and their torture is unmerciful. The angels took him then to the fourth heaven, and showed him all the comings in and goings forth, and all the rays of the light of the sun and the moon. He saw the fifteen myriads of angels who go out with the sun, and attend him during the day, and the thousand angels who attend him by night. Each angel has six wings, and they go before the chariot of the sun, while one hundred angels keep the sun warm, and light it up. He saw also the wonderful and strange creatures named phoenixes and chalkidri, who attend the chariot of the sun, and go with him, bringing heat and dew. They showed him also the six gates in the east of the fourth heaven, by which the sun goes forth, and the six gates in the west where he sets, and also the gates by which the moon goes out, and those by which she enters. In the middle of the fourth heaven he saw an armed host, serving the Lord with cymbals and organs and unceasing voices. In the fifth heaven he saw many hosts of the angels called Grigori. Their appearance was like men, and their size was greater than the size of the giants, their countenances were withered, and their lips silent. On his question who they were, the angels leading him answered, "These are the Grigori, who with their prince Salamiel rejected the holy Lord." Enoch then said to the Grigori, "Why wait ye, brethren, and serve ye not before the face of the Lord, and why perform ye not your duties before the face of the Lord, and anger not your Lord to the end?" The Grigori listened to the rebuke, and when the trumpets resounded together with a loud call, they also began to sing with one voice, and their voices went forth before the Lord with sadness and tenderness. In the seventh heaven he saw the seven bands of archangels who arrange and study the revolutions of the stars and the changes of the moon and the revolution of the sun, and superintend the good or evil conditions of the world. And they arrange teachings and instructions and sweet speaking and singing and all kinds of glorious praise. They hold in subjection all living things, both in heaven and on earth. In the midst of them are seven phoenixes, and seven cherubim, and seven six-winged creatures, singing with one voice. When Enoch reached the seventh heaven, and saw all the fiery hosts of great archangels and incorporeal powers and lordships and principalities and powers, he was afraid and trembled with a great terror. Those leading him took hold of him, and brought him into the midst of them, and said to him, "Be of good cheer, Enoch, be not afraid," and they showed him the Lord from afar, sitting on His lofty throne, while all the heavenly hosts, divided in ten classes, having approached, stood on the ten steps according to their rank, and made obeisance to the Lord. And so they proceeded to their places in joy and mirth and boundless light, singing songs with low and gentle voices, and gloriously serving Him. They leave not nor depart day or night, standing before the face of the Lord, working His will, cherubim and seraphim, standing around His throne. And the six-winged creatures overshadow all His throne, singing with a soft voice before the face of the Lord, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; heaven and earth are full of His glory." When he had seen all these, the angels leading him said to him, "Enoch, up to this time we were ordered to accompany thee." They departed, and he saw them no more. Enoch remained at the extremity of the seventh heaven, in great terror, saying to himself, "Woe is me! What has come upon me!" But then Gabriel came and said unto him, "Enoch, be not afraid, stand up and come with me, and stand up before the face of the Lord forever." And Enoch answered: "O my lord, my spirit has departed from me with fear and trembling. Call the men to me who have brought me to the place! Upon them I have relied, and with them I would go before the face of the Lord." And Gabriel hurried him away like a leaf carried off by the wind, and set him before the face of the Lord. Enoch fell down and worshipped the Lord, who said to him: "Enoch, be not afraid! Rise up and stand before My face forever." And Michael lifted him up, and at the command of the Lord took his earthly robe from him, and anointed him with the holy oil, and clothed him, and when he gazed upon himself, he looked like one of God's glorious ones, and fear and trembling departed from him. God called then one of His archangels who was more wise than all the others, and wrote down all the doings of the Lord, and He said to him, "Bring forth the books from My store-place, and give a reed to Enoch, and interpret the books to him." The angel did as he was commanded, and he instructed Enoch thirty days and thirty nights, and his lips never ceased speaking, while Enoch was writing down all the things about heaven and earth, angels and men, and all that is suitable to be instructed in. He also wrote down all about the souls of men, those of them which are not born, and the places prepared for them forever. He copied all accurately, and he wrote three hundred and sixty-six books. After he had received all the instructions from the archangel, God revealed unto him great secrets, which even the angels do not know. He told him how, out of the lowest darkness, the visible and the invisible were created, how He formed heaven, light, water, and earth, and also the fall of Satan and the creation and sin of Adam He narrated to him, and further revealed to him that the duration of the world will be seven thousand years, and the eighth millennium will be a time when there is no computation, no end, neither years, nor months, nor weeks, nor days, nor hours. The Lord finished this revelation to Enoch with the words: "And now I give thee Samuil and Raguil, who brought thee to Me. Go with them upon the earth, and tell thy sons what things I have said to thee, and what thou hast seen from the lowest heaven up to My throne. Give them the works written out by thee, and they shall read them, and shall distribute the books to their children's children and from generation to generation and from nation to nation. And I will give thee My messenger Michael for thy writings and for the writings of thy fathers, Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared thy father. And I shall not require them till the last age, for I have instructed My two angels, Ariuk and Mariuk, whom I have put upon the earth as their guardians, and I have ordered them in time to guard them, that the account of what I shall do in thy family may not be lost in the deluge to come. For on account of the wickedness and iniquity of men, I will bring a deluge upon the earth, and I will destroy all, but I will leave a righteous man of thy race with all his house, who shall act according to My will. From their seed will be raised up a numerous generation, and on the extinction of that family, I will show them the books of thy writings and of thy father, and the guardians of them on earth will show them to the men who are true and please Me. And they shall tell to another generation, and they, having read them, shall be glorified at last more than before." Enoch was then sent to earth to remain there for thirty days to instruct his sons, but before he left heaven, God sent an angel to him whose appearance was like snow, and his hands were like ice. Enoch looked at him, and his face was chilled, that men might be able to endure the sight of him. The angels who took him to heaven put him upon his bed, in the place where his son Methuselah was expecting him by day and by night. Enoch assembled his sons and all his household, and instructed them faithfully about all things he had seen, heard, and written down, and he gave his books to his sons, to keep them and read them, admonishing them not to conceal the books, but tell them to all desiring to know. When the thirty days had been completed, the Lord sent darkness upon the earth, and there was gloom, and it hid the men standing with Enoch. And the angels hasted and took Enoch, and carried him to the highest heaven, where the Lord received him and set him before His face, and the darkness departed from the earth, and there was light. And the people saw, and did not understand how Enoch was taken, and they glorified God. Enoch was born on the sixth day of the month of Siwan, and he was taken to heaven in the same month, Siwan, on the same day and in the same hour when he was born. And Methuselah hasted and all his brethren, the sons of Enoch, and built an altar in the place called Achuzan, whence Enoch was taken up to heaven. The elders and all the people came to the festivity and brought their gifts to the sons of Enoch, and made a great festivity, rejoicing and being merry for three days, praising God, who had given such a sign by means of Enoch, who had found favor with them. 5), the four streams, of honey, wine, milk, and oil are mentioned; comp. vol. I, p. 20, and note appertaining thereto. The hell-fire burns and freezes (10. 2); so also in Seder Rabba di-Bereshit, 17. Concerning the chariot on which the sun is riding, and on the angels which accompany it, comp. the parallels in vol. I, pp. 24-25. The phoenixes and Chalkadri (more accurately, Chalkydri yadxtdpa, “brazen serpents”) on the chariot of the sun (13) are unknown in rabbinic “literature; but on the view that the singing of celestial beings causes the birds to sing their morning songs (15), comp. vol. I, pp. 44-45, and the note appertaining thereto. That there are angels, who, unlike the Cherubim, possess twelve wings (12. 1), is also stated in PRE 13. The seven hosts of angels who arrange the course of the heavenly bodies and guide the universe (19. 1, seg.) are met with in Jewish magic texts as seven archangels; comp. Stube, Jtidischbabylonische Zaubertexte, 22, where ?}357D means “‘setting in motion”’, and not “‘transforming”’, as Stube translates. The idea that there is “an angel over each single blade of grass’’ (19.4) occurs also in rabbinic writings; comp. BR 10. 6 (Mazzal=angel; comp. Tehillim 104, 440, which reads: Everything has an angel in charge of it. See further Zohar II, 80b and 171b; III, 86a, and note 101 on vol. I, p. 85). The division of the angels into ten groups (20. 1) is very often referred to in rabbinic literature; comp. note 64 on vol. I, p. 16 (below). Michael, the chief captain (22. 6), is based directly on Dan. 12. 1, whence also the title of the archangel in Hullin 40a, whereas Tosefta 2. 18 reads bytin wax Ww. Instead of Vretil, the angel who becomes Enoch’s teacher (22. 12), read Uriel, in accordance with Enoch 10. 1. The remark (24. 1): “Sit thou on my left hand with Gabriel” proves the antiquity of the view, found in rabbinic writings (PRE 4; comp. further note 440 on vol. III, 231-232), concerning Gabriel’s position on the left. The “song of triumph”’ of the angels, mentioned in 31. 2 and 42. 4, is perhaps due to a misunderstanding which goes back to an erroneous translation of M¥1 Vw (‘‘eternal song’’) as 159 60] The Legends of the Jews “song of triumph”, comp. the similar phrase, wap) qnw7p on) msi) in the Amidah. The statement (33. 4) ‘‘My word is reality” literally corresponds to BR 44. 22; comp. note 2 on vol. I, p. 49, The names of the two angels (33. 6) are perhaps composed of NO’ and RYN with bs; the angel of heaven and the angel of earth were charged to accompany him on his journey from earth to heaven and back. The angels who watch over the book of Enoch, Oriokh and Mariokh (33. 11) have no connection whatsoever with the fallen angels Harut and Marut of the Arabic legend (supposedly Persian; comp. Bousset, Religion, 560); they rather seem to be theophorous names with Y and 77’, or similar abbreviations of the first part of the Tetragrammaton. Thus r18 means “‘God is light” (comp. 78, Sse) and wp signifies ‘God is master’. In order to avoid the pronunciation of God’s name, people said “‘iok”’ instead of “io” (to this very day Jews say opr: instead of ody). The parable about the appearance before a prince (38. 8) is found almost literally in Berakot 28b afd ARN 25, 79, where it is ascribed to the dying Rabban Johanan B. Zaccai (comp. also note 132 on vol. I, page 99). The fact that Enoch finds Adam and Eve, as well as his other ancestors, in the lower world (41. 1 and 42. 5) has nothing to do with the Christian doctrine (not the Jewish, as Charles asserts) of the damnation of mankind until the advent of the Messiah. It merely wishes to say that Enoch’s ancestors were there as a punishment for their sins. This author, on the other hand, admits the possibility of absolute sinlessness (45. 2). On the view that God formed Adam with His own hands (44. 1), comp. vol. I, p. 49. On the rejection of the oath (49.11), see the rabbinic parallels in Ginzberg, Unbekannte Sekte, 130-132. On the protest against the belief in the intercession of the dead (53. 1), comp. vol. IV, p. 39, and note 19 appertaining to it. Concerning the attitude of the Synagogue on this important point it is not uninteresting to note the following words of the first paitan of the Snyagogue, Jose b. Jose. “This paitan, after enumerating the pious men of the Bible and describing the reward they received from God, who always accepted their prayers, observes: ‘‘O God, I trust in Thee, and not in the distinguished pious men; for they are in the grave, but Thy name is everlasting” (Zikronot in the Ashkenazic Mahzor). The great reverence for the pious, especially for those of biblical times, has not gone so far as to make them intercessors between God and Israel. In his prayers the Jew knows only his God, and thinks of no inter160 The Ten Generations [60 cessors among the angels or the pious.—On the transformation of Enoch from man to angel (see 22.9-10; 37; 56) comp. the preceding note, as well as vol. I, p. 140. With respect to the reward and punishment of animals (mentioned in 55. 5), comp. 4 Ezra 7. 66, and Index, s. v., “Animals”. The Halakah that animals must be bound at the time of slaughter (59. 3) is not altogether new; comp. Tamid 4.1, and Shabbat 54a, with respect to the temple sacrifices (where, however, binding in the manner perscribed in this pseudepigraphic work is prohibited); with regard to other animals, see Eldad, XLIV and Ginzberg, Tamid, the Oldest Treatise, 206. The parting scene (64 and 67) is related to the one given in Yashar (comp. vol. I, pp. 129-130). The view that the entire creation was for the sake of man (65. 3) is also frequently mentioned in rabbinic sources; comp. vol. I, p. 49. It is questionable whether the words _ ‘and God set him before His face” (67. 2) are related to the usual designation found in geonic mysticism of Metatron-Enoch (comp. the following note) as the ‘‘prince of the face’’, or not, since in this pseudepigraphic book the phrase ‘‘to be found in God’s presence’’ is of frequent occurrence; comp. 21. 1; 22. 6; 52.4. The assertion that Enoch was translated to heaven on the anniversary of the day and the hour on which he was born (28) goes back to a view prevalent in rabbinic writings that the pious die on their birthday. Comp. Tosefta Sotah 11. 7-8; Babli 13b; Kiddushin 38a; Seder ‘Olam 10, according to the reading of the older authors (see Ratner, note 12). The statement that it was the sixth of Sivan on which Enoch was born, and later translated, certainly proves that by this author this day was considered the day of the Revelation (comp. Seder ‘Olam 5; Tosefta ‘Arakin 1. 9, and the detailed discussion appertaining to it in Shabbat 86a-88a). In other words, this author regards Pentecost as the Festival of Revelation, a view with which we meet for the first time in the rabbinic sources of the middle of the second century of the common era. It may be remarked that the text is not quite in order, since if Enoch (68) reached heaven on the first of Sivan (one text reads Nisan; comp. also 1. 2 where the first month=Nisan), remained there for sixty days, and after a stay of thirty days on earth was translated for ever, his translation must have taken place in Elul (as in the case of Moses; comp. vol. III, p. 339). The number of books composed by Enoch (68) is given as 366, which is very likely to be corrected to 365 as it is connected with the 365 years of Enoch’s life; comp., however, Liber 161 61] - The Legends of the Jews Johannis Apocryphus, 890 (in a passage, where our pseudepigraphic work is made use of, the number of books given is 66). Ezra, to whom, in 4 Ezra, Enoch’s part is ascribed, wrote seventy books; comp. vol. IV, p.358. By the place Achuzan (68.5; also written Aruzan; comp. the Melchizedek fragment in the appendix to the Slavonic Enoch, 88) Jerusalem is to be understood as may be seen from the above-mentioned fragment 91, which reads as follows: He (Melchizedek) shall be priest and king in the place Achuzan, that is to say, in the middle of the earth where Adam was created; there shall at last be his grave. Since Melchizedek was king of Jerusalem (vol. I, p. 233), and the dust of the forming of Adam’s body was taken from the site of the altar at Jerusalem (vol. I, pp. 55, 101), there cannot be any doubt about the identification of Achuzan. Moreover, Jerusalem is said to be the centre of the earth (vol. I, p. 12). The only difficult question is about the etymology of the word Achuzan; comp. note 109 on vol. I, p. 89. It is perhaps to be emended to Arauna, since the site of the altar at Jetusalem belonged to Arauna the Jebusite; comp. Index, s. v. This is, of course, no proof that this pseudepigraphic work had a Hebrew original; still less would it prove that it is of Palestinian origin, although both assumptions appear probable. These two questions, it is hoped, will be discussed more fully in some other connection. 6t Hekalot 6, 170-171 (abbreviated in Sefer Hanok, 114116). The seventy names (on mow a"x, Hanok, p. 116, comp. Alphabet R. Akiba ed. Wertheimer, p. 13) of Metatron, which are very important for the history of mysticism, are given in Sha‘ar haHeshek. To the Metatron-Enoch literature belong also both versions of Alphabet of R. Akiba, as well as the different Hekalot books. The oldest source assuming the identity of Enoch and Metatron (to this still enigmatic name of the angel, which occurs very frequently in the Talmud, the Syriac Y}ITNDN NIOND, Adyou érpédriot is closely related) is Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 5. 24, where the text, however, has certainly not been preserved in its original form, as may be seen from 13nN, “was carried away.’’ Comp. 2 Targum Yerushalmi, ad loc. On the Enoch-Metratron cycle of legends, comp. especially the numerous extracts from the older kabbalistic literature in Yalkut Reubeni Gen. 5. 24; Kanah, 106d (Midrash Aggada, Gen., loc. cit., is based on this passage or on an older source from which both borrowed independently). See further Tellinek, Einleitung to BHM II, 30-32; IV, 41-43, as well as Theodor on 162 The Ten Generations [61 , BR 25. 1. It is questionable whether in BaR 12. 12 Metatron is identical with Enoch, or not. The designation of Metatron here as the “‘youth”’ is independent of this identification; comp. Tosafot on Yebamot 16b and Hullin 60a. The relation of the MetatronEnoch legend cycle to the legends found in the pseudepigraphic books of Enoch is not quite clear. There can be no doubt that there exists no literary relationship between the so-called rabbinic books of Enoch (the term ‘‘rabbinic” is here employed in absence of a better name; as a matter of fact the ‘‘Rabbis” were opposed to this literature) and with pseudepigraphic literature bearing the same name. This is quite obvious to any one familiar with both literatures. Yet as has been pointed outin the preceding note many conceptions are common to both, as, for instance, Enoch’s transformation into an angel (mentioned in 2 Enoch and in Hekalot) on his entrance into heaven. This, however, proves only that, des_pite the fact that the leaders of the Synagogue had no high respect for Enoch (comp. note 58, where reference is likewise made to Wisdom and Philo; hence this need not necessarily be ascribed to antiChristian tendencies), the older esteem of Enoch was not only retained in popular circles, but it was even enlarged until it reached its highest pinnacle in the identification of Enoch with Metatron. The Babylonian Nebo, the heavenly scribe, gave Enoch to the Palestinian, Metatron to the Babylonian Jews, and nothing could be more natural than the final combination of Enoch-Metatron. It is quite probable that a number of other elements were added to this combination, as, for instance, Philonian speculations on the Logos, and possibly also Christological conceptions; it is thus extremely difficult to separate it in its original component parts. Between the “‘official”’ depreciation of Enoch and his apotheosis in popular-mystical literature, some of the rabbinic sources have retained a middle course, and basing their views on the literal interpretation of Gen. 5. 24, maintain that Enoch belonged to those few (various numbers are given: seven, nine, ten, thirteen) who entered paradise during their life-time; comp. Derek Erez Zuta (end); PRK, 83; 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 38; Yalkut I, 42, and (two sources) Ezek., 367; Aggudat Aggadot (Carmoly) 12; Kimhion 2 Kings 2.1. Comp. on these ‘‘immortals”’ note 67 and note 307 on vol. I, pp. 74 and 297 respectively. None of the sources just cited can be designated with certainty as old. It is true that Derek Erez Zuta is old (comp. Ginzberg in Jewish Encyclopedia, IV, 528-529), 163 61] The Legends of the Jews but it is doubtful whether the original text counted Enoch among the ‘immortals’; comp. Tawrogi, ad loc., and further Mahzor Vitry, 721, whose author does not seem to have had the passage about the immortals in his text of Derek Erez Zuta. The view, however, that Enoch’s abode is in paradise is old (comp. note 58), and is frequently found in Christian legends; comp. Irenaeus 2. 66 (Enoch is said to have taught the disciples of the apostles); the Gospel of Nicodemus 9 (Latin version), etc. In Christian legends it is stated that Enoch and Elijah will also die at the end of time (it is even said that the anti-Christ will kill them); see History of Joseph the Carpenter 31-32 (as ‘‘immortals’’ are mentioned here: Shila and Tabitha); Nicodemus, Joc. cit,; Revelation of John (beginning). In Midrash Alphabetot, 89a, it is stated that before the creation of the new world, everything, even the most high angels, will disappear, so that God’s unity will be seen by all. Comp. also Tertullian, Adversus Hermog., 34, and Sanhedrin, 92a—92b.—On the twenty angels enumerated in Hekalot 175, (Sammfel, the head of all the Satans, is described as ‘‘the greatest of all the angels’; read ‘ond instead of nvzbn; comp., however, Seder Ruhot, 179, where Satan is distinguished from Sammael, ‘‘the prince of Rome”; see also DR 11. 9, which reads: Sammael, the head of all the Satans), comp. note 57. It is noteworthy that these angels are exclusively in charge of natural phenomena and heavenly bodies. Furthermore, it is strange that Michael is not mentioned among them, and that all the stars are assigned to the charge of one angel. On the other hand, an old tradition states (Al-Barceloni, 247) that each one of the seven planets has its own angel as follows; the sun has Raphael; Venus, Aniel; Mercury, Michael; the moon, Gabriel; Saturn, Kafziel; Jupiter, Zadkiel; Mars, Sammael. These seven planets and their seven angels, it is further said, correspond to the seven hours (? Read, perhaps, p°"w ‘‘princes’’ or ornnwn ‘‘attendants”’); these are: Kewan, Nebo, Shamsha, Bel (instead of $°D read by), Sin, Belti, and o' 1". The last-named must not be changed into *D1N, Hermes, since this text contains the chief gods of the Babylonian Pantheon. On the functions of the seven planets, comp. Shabbat 156a; Baraita de-Mazzalot, 27-28; Pick, Assyrisches und Talmudisches, 17-19. Al-Barceloni’s words are: DDD on IN) now 122 1D Myw ‘rt yD ody mo Oden myaw bx o'xw StD:n Od aya DNB IDNDD Ton ooNdD 't ODD ‘romdy1 oN onba (read bray b»> “S15 164 The Ten Generations [62-63 62 YVashar Bereshit, 13a, where it is said that the sinfulness of ‘the generation of the flood did not begin before the end of Methuselah’s life. The Melchizedek fragment 1-2 in appendix to 2 Enoch states that Methuselah was installed as ruler and leader after his father’s translation, and that man’s apostasy did not take place till after his death, as God had previously told him. The election of Methuselah had been announced through a clear sign that it was acceptable to God; for while he was praying, the altar shook, and a knife leaped into Methuselah’s hand in the presence of all the people. The Jewish legend (comp. the following note) about Methuselah’s wonderful sword is, of course, not to be dissociated from this ‘‘knife’’, and is closely related to the name Methuselah, since nbw may mean both “‘he sent”? and “‘sword’”. Is the statement made in an anonymous Midrash (cited in Yalkut II, 367, Ezek. 27) that Methuselah is one of those whom death did not destroy (in addition to him, there are: Enoch; Eliezer, Abraham’s servant; Hiram, king of Tyre; Ebed-melech; Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter; Serah, Asher’s daughter; the three sons of Korah; Elijah; the Messiah, and R. Joshua b. Levi, comp. preceding note and note 67 on vol. I, p. 74), connected with the etymology given by Philo (De Posterit. Caini, 13) ‘sending away of death” (=nnbiwo mm)? It is more probable, however, that we have here a reminiscence of a Christian legend. According to the chronology of the Septuagint with regard to the ante-diluvian patriarchs, Methuselah was still alive at the time of the flood. Now, since according to the Bible he was not among the inmates of the ark, the only solution of the difficulty was that he was taken away from this world to live in paradise at least for some time. Comp. Jerome, Gen. 5; Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphicus, 224-227; Shalshelet, 93b. 63 Yerahmeel 23. 1-4; Sifte Kohen, Bereshit (end) and Noah, 4d. A Genizah fragment in the library of Cambridge University containing this legend in detailed form was published by Ginzberg, Ha-Goren IX, 66-68. Comp. also Vital, Likkute Torah, Bereshit (end), about Methuselah’s sword. See further Yalkut David on Gen. 12. 1, who cites Sifte Kohen, as authority for the statement that Abraham came in possession of this sword, with which he conquered the kings, and further that Esau thus received it, as heirloom, from Isaac, since he was the first-born. This sword passed to Jacob when he purchased the birth-right. This is not found in Sifte Kohen, but something similar occurs in other sources. Comp. vol. I, p. 321, and further the quotation 165 64] The Legends of the Jews from MS. in Midbar Kedemot, s. v. nbwinma. Agrimus is identical with Angro-Mainyu, also called Ahriman, the lord of Daeves, of the Persians. Comp. Ginzberg, Ha-Goren, loc. cit. 59-61. 64 Verahmeel 23. 5-6; Midrash Aggada, Gen. 5. 25; an anonymous Midrash in Yalkut I, 42 (in later edition Abkir is given as the source); Aggadat Bereshit (introduction), 38; Sikli, who cites Huppat Eliyyahu as the source in his MS. work Yalkut Talmud Torah (comp. Poznanski, Ha-Zofeh III, 11-12, and Ginzberg, ibid., IV, 28; the latter refers to Sabba, Bereshit, 9a, who is acquainted with a similar legend). Comp. further Kad ha-Kemah s. v. bax, 12a-13a, who made use of the same source as Sikli, and not the one of the Yalkut. All the sources state that the flood was postponed for a week in order to allow the people to mourn for a week for the ‘‘righteous Methuselah”; comp. Tosefta Sotah 10. 3, and the passages cited in note 20 on vol. I, p. 154. Of the ante-diluvian patriarchs, Jared and Methuselah lived the longest, because both of them were very modest and humble, as their names indickhte: Jared=‘‘he who condescended”’, and Methuselah=“‘he who is humble (nv), even as though he were dead” (md). The shortest lives were those of Enoch and Lamech, because they bore ‘the same names as the wicked descendants of Cain; Hasidim 247. The later Kabbalists (comp. Yalkut Reubeni, Gen. 5. 22, end of 27a) assert that Enoch was a shoe-maker who praised God with every stitch he made. I venture to suggest that instead of Enoch, Methuselah should be read, as this is very likely based on the fact that the numerical value of 413m j2 N>wind corresponds to the value of the words 751n 77 NIT odyia “he made shoes’’. Attention is to be called to the fact that nbw in mishnaic Hebrew means skin; comp. also note 62. Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed, II, 39, speaks of Methuselah and his court of justice; Maimonides’ source is not known. 166Notes 5 — The Ten Generations
THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH - The sinfulness of men was the reason why Enoch was translated to heaven. Thus Enoch himself told Rabbi Ishmael. When the generation of the deluge transgressed, and spoke to God, saying, "Depart from us, for we do not desire to know Thy ways," Enoch was carried to heaven, to serve there as a witness that God was not a cruel God in spite of the destruction decreed upon all living beings on earth. When Enoch, under the guidance of the angel 'Anpiel, was carried from earth to heaven, the holy beings, the ofanim, the seraphim, the cherubim, all those who move the throne of God, and the ministering spirits whose substance is of consuming fire, they all, at a distance of six hundred and fifty million and three hundred parasangs, noticed the presence of a human being, and they exclaimed: "Whence the odor of one born of woman? How comes he into the highest heaven of the fire-coruscating angels?" But God replied: "O My servants and hosts, ye, My cherubim, ofanim, and seraphim, let this not be an offense unto you, for all the children of men denied Me and My mighty dominion, and they paid homage to the idols, so that I transferred the Shekinah from earth to heaven. But this man Enoch is the elect of men. He has more faith, justice, and righteousness than all the rest, and he is the only reward I have derived from the terrestrial world." Before Enoch could be admitted to service near the Divine throne, the gates of wisdom were opened unto him, and the gates of understanding, and of discernment, of life, peace, and the Shekinah, of strength and power, of might, loveliness, and grace, of humility and fear of sin. Equipped by God with extraordinary wisdom, sagacity, judgment, knowledge, learning, compassionateness, love, kindness, grace, humility, strength, power, might, splendor, beauty, shapeliness, and all other excellent qualities, beyond the endowment of any of the celestial beings, Enoch received, besides, many thousand blessings from God, and his height and his breadth became equal to the height and the breadth of the world, and thirty-six wings were attached to his body, to the right and to the left, each as large as the world, and three hundred and sixty-five thousand eyes were bestowed upon him, each brilliant as the sun. A magnificent throne was erected for him beside the gates of the seventh celestial palace, and a herald proclaimed throughout the heavens concerning him, who was henceforth to be called Metatron in the celestial regions: "I have appointed My servant Metatron as prince and chief over all the princes in My realm, with the exception only of the eight august and exalted princes that bear My name. Whatever angel has a request to prefer to Me, shall appear before Metatron, and what he will command at My bidding, ye must observe and do, for the prince of wisdom and the prince of understanding are at his service, and they will reveal unto him the sciences of the celestials and the terrestrials, the knowledge of the present order of the world and the knowledge of the future order of the world. Furthermore, I have made him the guardian of the treasures of the palaces in the heaven 'Arabot, and of the treasures of life that are in the highest heaven." Out of the love He bore Enoch, God arrayed him in a magnificent garment, to which every kind of luminary in existence was attached, and a crown gleaming with forty-nine jewels, the splendor of which pierced to all parts of the seven heavens and to the four corners of the earth. In the presence of the heavenly family, He set this crown upon the head of Enoch, and called him "the little Lord." It bears also the letters by means of which heaven and earth were created, and seas and rivers, mountains and valleys, planets and constellations, lightning and thunder, snow and hail, storm and whirlwind--these and also all things needed in the world, and the mysteries of creation. Even the princes of the heavens, when they see Metatron, tremble before him, and prostrate themselves; his magnificence and majesty, the splendor and beauty radiating from him overwhelm them, even the wicked Samael, the greatest of them, even Gabriel the angel of the fire, Bardiel the angel of the hail, Ruhiel the angel of the wind, Barkiel the angel of the lightning, Za'miel the angel of the hurricane, Zakkiel the angel of the storm, Sui'el the angel of the earthquake, Za'fiel the angel of the showers, Ra'miel the angel of the thunder, Ra'shiel the angel of the whirlwind, Shalgiel the angel of the snow, Matriel the angel of the rain, Shamshiel the angel of the day, Leliel the angel of the night, Galgliel the angel of the solar system, Ofaniel the angel of the wheel of the moon, Kokabiel the angel of the stars, and Rahtiel the angel of the constellations. When Enoch was transformed into Metatron, his body was turned into celestial fire--his flesh became flame, his veins fire, his bones glimmering coals, the light of his eyes heavenly brightness, his eyeballs torches of fire, his hair a flaring blaze, all his limbs and organs burning sparks, and his frame a consuming fire. To right of him sparkled flames of fire, to left of him burnt torches of fire, and on all sides he was engirdled by storm and whirlwind, hurricane and thundering.
METHUSELAH - After the translation of Enoch, Methuselah was proclaimed ruler of the earth by all the kings. He walked in the footsteps of his father, teaching truth, knowledge, and fear of God to the children of men all his life, and deviating from the path of rectitude neither to the right nor the left. He delivered the world from thousands of demons, the posterity of Adam which he had begotten with Lilith, that she-devil of she-devils. These demons and evil spirits, as often as they encountered a man, had sought to injure and even slay him, until Methuselah appeared, and supplicated the mercy of God. He spent three days in fasting, and then God gave him permission to write the Ineffable Name upon his sword, wherewith he slew ninety-four myriads of the demons in a minute, until Agrimus, the first-born of them, came to him and entreated him to desist, at the same time handing the names of the demons and imps over to him. And so Methuselah placed their kings in iron fetters, while the remainder fled away and hid themselves in the innermost chambers and recesses of the ocean. And it is on account of the wonderful sword by means of which the demons were killed that he was called Methuselah. He was so pious a man that he composed two hundred and thirty parables in praise of God for every word he uttered. When he died, the people heard a great commotion in the heavens, and they saw nine hundred rows of mourners corresponding to the nine hundred orders of the Mishnah which he had studied, and tears flowed from the eyes of the holy beings down upon the spot where he died. Seeing the grief of the celestials, the people on earth also mourned over the demise of Methuselah, and God rewarded them therefor. He added seven days to the time of grace which He had ordained before bringing destruction upon the earth by a flood of waters.