The genealogy, age, and death of the Patriarchs, from Adam to Noe. The translation of Henoch.
The progenie of Adam, & number of their yeares (vvith the death of the rest, & translation of Enoch) in the line of Seth, to Noe & his three sonnes.
1This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God.Questa è la genealogia di Adamo. Nel dì in cui Dio creò l'uomo, lo fece a somiglianza di Dio.THIS is the booke of the generation of Adam. In the day, when God created man, to the likenes of God made he him.Hic est liber generationis Adam. In die qua creavit Deus hominem, ad similitudinem Dei fecit illum. 2He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.Lo creò maschio; e femmina, e li benedisse: e diede loro il nome di Adam il dì, in cui furon creati.Male and female created he them; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.Masculum et feminam creavit eos, et benedixit illis: et vocavit nomen eorum Adam, in die quo creati sunt. 3And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth.E Adamo visse cento trenta anni: e generò, a sua immagine e somiglianza, un figlio, a cui pose nome Seth.And Adam liued a hundred and thirtie yeares; and begat to his owne image and likenes, and called his name Seth.Vixit autem Adam centum triginta annis: et genuit ad imaginem et similitudinem suam, vocavitque nomen ejus Seth. 4And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters.E visse Adamo, dopo avere generato Seth, ottocento anni, e generò figliuoli e figliuole.And the dayes of Adam, after he begat Seth, came to eight hundred yeares: and he begat sonnes and daughters.Et facti sunt dies Adam, postquam genuit Seth, octingenti anni: genuitque filios et filias. 5And all the time that Adam lived, came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.E tutto il tempo, che visse Adamo, fu di novecento trenta anni, e morì.And al the time that Adam liued, came to nine hundred and thirtie yeares, and he died.Et factum est omne tempus quod vixit Adam, anni nongenti triginta, et mortuus est. 6Seth also lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos.E visse Seth cento cinque anni, e generò Enos.Seth also liued a hundred fiue yeares, and begat Enos.Vixit quoque Seth centum quinque annis, et genuit Enos. 7And Seth lived after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.E visse Seth, dopo aver generato Enos, ottocento sette anni, e generò figliuoli e figliuole.And Seth liued after he begat Enos, eight hundred and seuen yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Vixitque Seth, postquam genuit Enos, octingentis septem annis, genuitque filios et filias.
8And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.E tutta la vita di Seth fu di novecento dodici anni, e morì.And al the dayes of Seth came to nine hundred & twelue yeares, and he died.Et facti sunt omnes dies Seth nongentorum duodecim annorum, et mortuus est. 9And Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.E visse Enos novanta anni, e generò Cainan.And Enos liued nintie yeares, and begat Cainan.Vixit vero Enos nonaginta annis, et genuit Cainan. 10After whose birth he lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters.Dopo la nascita del quale visse ottocento quindici anni, e generò figliuoli e figliuole,After Whose birth he liued eight hundred & fiftene yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Post cujus ortum vixit octingentis quindecim annis, et genuit filios et filias. 11And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died.E tutto il tempo della vita di Enos fu di novecento cinque anni; e morì.And al the dayes of Enos came to nine hundred and fiue yeares, and he died.Factique sunt omnes dies Enos nongenti quinque anni, et mortuus est. 12And Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Malaleel.Visse ancora Cainan settant'anni, e generò Malaleel.Cainan also liued seuentie yeares, & begat Malaleel.Vixit quoque Cainan septuaginta annis, et genuit Malaleel. 13And Cainan lived after he begot Malaleel, eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters.E visse Cainan, dopo aver generato Malaleel, ottocento quaranta anni, e generò figliuoli, e figliuole.And Cainan liued after he begat Malaleel, eight hundred & fourtie yeares, and begat sonnes & daughters.Et vixit Cainan, postquam genuit Malaleel, octingentis quadraginta annis, genuitque filios et filias. 14And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.E tutto il tempo, che visse Cainan, fu novecento dieci anni, e morì.And al the dayes of Cainan came to nine hundred and ten yeares, and he died.Et facti sunt omnes dies Cainan nongenti decem anni, et mortuus est. 15And Malaleel lived sixty-five years and begot Jared.E visse Malaleel sessanta cinque anni, e generò Jared.And Malaleel liued sixtie fiue yeares, and begat Iared.Vixit autem Malaleel sexaginta quinque annis, et genuit Jared. 16And Malaleel lived after he begot Jared, eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.E visse Malaleel, dopo aver generato Jared, ottocento trenta anni, e generò figliuoli, e figliuole.And Malaleel liued after he begat Iared, eight hundred and thirtie yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Et vixit Malaleel, postquam genuit Jared, octingentis triginta annis, et genuit filios et filias.
17And all the days of Malaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.E tutta la vita di Malaleel fu di ottocento novanta cinque anni, e morì.And al the dayes of Malaleel came to eight hundred nyntie fiue yeares, & he died.Et facti sunt omnes dies Malaleel octingenti nonaginta quinque anni, et mortuus est. 18And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Henoch.E visse Jared cento sessanta due anni, e generò Henoch.And Iared liued a hundred sixtie two yeares, and begat Enoch.Vixitque Jared centum sexaginta duobus annis, et genuit Henoch. 19And Jared lived after he begot Henoch, eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.E visse Jared, dopo aver generato Henoch, 800 anni, e generò figliuoli e figliuole.And Iared liued after he begat Enoch eight hundred yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Et vixit Jared, postquam genuit Henoch, octingentis annis, et genuit filios et filias. 20And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.E tutta la vita di Jared fu di novecento sessantadue anni, e si morì.And al the dayes of Iared came to nine hundred sixtie two yeares, & he died.Et facti sunt omnes dies Jared nongenti sexaginta duo anni, et mortuus est. 21And Henoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Mathusala.Ed Henoch visse sessantacinque anni, e generò Mathusala.Moreouer Enoch liued sixtie fiue yeares, & begat Mathusala.Porro Henoch vixit sexaginta quinque annis, et genuit Mathusalam. 22And Henoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Mathusala, three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.Ed Henoch camminò con Dio e visse, dopo aver generato Mathusala, trecento anni; e generò figliuoli e figliuole.And Enoch walked with God: & liued after he begat Mathusala, three hundred yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Et ambulavit Henoch cum Deo: et vixit, postquam genuit Mathusalam, trecentis annis, et genuit filios et filias. 23And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.E tutta la vita di Henoch fu di trecento sessanta cinque anni:And al the dayes of Enoch came to three hundred sixtie fiue yeares.Et facti sunt omnes dies Henoch trecenti sexaginta quinque anni. 24And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him.E camminò con Dio, e disparve: perché il Signore lo rapì.And he walked with God, and was seene no more: because God tooke him.Ambulavitque cum Deo, et non apparuit: quia tulit eum Deus. 25And Mathusala lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.E visse Mathusala cento ottanta sette anni, e generò Lamech.Mathusala also liued a hundred eightie seuen yeares, & begat Lamech.Vixit quoque Mathusala centum octoginta septem annis, et genuit Lamech.
26And Mathlusala lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters.E visse Mathusala, dopo aver generato Lamech, settecento ottanta due anni, e generò figliuoli e figliuole.And Mathusala liued, after he begat Lamech, seuen hundred eightie two yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Et vixit Mathusala, postquam genuit Lamech, septingentis octoginta duobus annis, et genuit filios et filias. 27And all the days of Mathusala were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.E tutta la vita di Mathusala fu di novecento sessanta nove anni, e morì.And al the dayes of Mathusala came to nyne hundred sixtie nine yeares, & he died.Et facti sunt omnes dies Mathusala nongenti sexaginta novem anni, et mortuus est. 28And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son.E visse Lamech cento ottanta due anni, e generò un figliuolo.And Lamech liued a hundred eightie two yeares, and begat a sonne:Vixit autem Lamech centum octoginta duobus annis, et genuit filium: 29And he called his name Noe, saying: This same shall comfort us from the works and labours of our hands on the earth, which the Lord hath cursed.E gli pose nome Noè dicendo: Questi sarà nostra consolazione ne' travagli e nelle fatiche delle nostre mani in questa terra, che è stata maledetta dal Signore.and he called his name Noe, saying: This sonne shal comfort vs from the workes & labours of our handes on the earth, which our Lord cursed:vocavitque nomen ejus Noë, dicens: Iste consolabitur nos ab operibus et laboribus manuum nostrarum in terra, cui maledixit Dominus. 30And Lamech lived after he begot Noe, five hundred and ninety-five years, and begot sons and daughters.E visse Lamech, dopo aver generato Noè, cinquecento novanta cinque anni, e generò figliuoli e figliuole.And Lamech liued after he begat Noe, fiue hundred nintie fiue yeares, and begat sonnes and daughters.Vixitque Lamech, postquam genuit Noë, quingentis nonaginta quinque annis, et genuit filios et filias. 31And all the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth.E tutta la vita di Lamech fu di settecento settantasette anni, e si morì. Ma Noè, essendo in età di cinquecento anni, generò Sem Cham, e Japheth.And al the dayes of Lamech came to seuen hundred seuentie seuen yeares, and he died. And Noe when he was fiue hundred yeares olde, begat Sem, Cham, and Iaphat.Et facti sunt omnes dies Lamech septingenti septuaginta septem anni, et mortuus est. Noë vero cum quingentorum esset annorum, genuit Sem, Cham et Japheth.
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Haydock
Adam: the common name of mankind, made to the likeness of God. (Haydock)
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Haydock
He died. Ecclesiasticus 14:12, says very justly, the covenant of this world is, he shall surely die. God prolonged the lives of the patriarchs to a more advanced age, that the world might be sooner filled. Their constitution was then more excellent, the fruits of the earth more nourishing, etc. But the sole satisfactory reason for their living almost a thousand years, while we can hardly arrive at 70, is, because so it pleased God, in whose hands are all our lots. There is a great difference in the number of years assigned by the Hebrew and Vulgate, from that which the Samaritan copy mentions; and the Septuagint differs from both. Whether the difference be real, or only apparent, we shall not pretend to determine. The Church has not decided which system of chronology is the most accurate. In the Martyrology, she adopts that of the Septuagint and places the birth of Christ in [the year of the world] 5199, after Eusebius and Ven. Bede, though Riccioli calculates the Septuagint at 5634 years. (Haydock)
St. Epiphanius
Adam died penitent, as we are assured by the Holy Ghost, Wisdom 10:2.; and tradition affirms the same of Eve, insomuch, that the heresy of the Encratites, who condemned our first parents to hell, was exploded with horror. (St. Epiphanius; St. Augustine, in haeres.; Tirinus)
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Year of the World 235, Year before Christ 3769.
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Year of the World 987, Year before Christ 3017.
Walked with God. Septuagint, "was pleasing to God," by continual recollection and watchfulness over himself. Thus he became perfect.
Haydock
God took him alive to some place unknown, which is commonly supposed to be Paradise, conformably to Ecclesiasticus 44:16, though in Greek we do not read Paradise. Henoch pleased God, and was translated [into Paradise], that he may give repentance to the nations. To him, that of Wisdom 4:10, may be applied: He...was beloved, and living among sinners, he was translated. He will come again, when the charity of many of his children (for we all spring from him) shall have grown cold; and shall at last suffer death for opposing Antichrist. (Apocalypse 11.) (Haydock)
Worthington
"Though it be not an article of faith, whether Henoch be now in that Paradise, from which Adam and Eve were driven, or in some other delightful place; yet the holy Scriptures affirm, that God translated him alive, that he might not experience death," St. Chrysostom, hom. 21, with whom the other fathers agree, cited in the Douay Bible; so that it is a matter of surprise, how any Protestant can call it in question. He is the other witness, who will come with Elias, before the great day of the Lord, to perform the same office to the nations, as the latter will to the Jews. (Malachias 4.) God preserves these two alive, perhaps to give us a striking proof how he could have treated Adam and his posterity, if they had not sinned; and also to confirm our hopes of immortality, when we shall have paid the debt of nature. (Worthington)
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Year of the World 1056, Year before Christ 2948.
Haydock
Noe means consolation, or repose. After he had beheld the most dreadful catastrophe or disturbance that ever happened in the world, he settled mankind once more in the friendship of God, and merited a blessing both for himself and for the whole earth. He gave, likewise, comfort to all, by useful inventions in agriculture, and in the art of making wine. He saw an end of the distractions caused by the wicked sons of Cain, and became the restorer of a new world: in a word, he was the progenitor of the Messias [Jesus Christ], who is the King of Peace, and our only solid comfort. (Menochius) (Haydock)
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Calmet
Old. It is wonderful if Noe had no children before this time; but he might have had many, whom the Scripture does not mention, either because they were dead before the deluge, or taking evil courses with the daughters of men, deserved to perish with them. Noe kept the three, who were born after God had foretold the deluge, with the greatest care, under his own eyes. St. Augustine (City of God 15:20.) thinks, however, that many of the Patriarchs had no children till they were pretty far advanced in years. As Sem was born when Noe was 502, and Cham was the youngest, Japheth must have been the first-born. Compare Genesis 10:21, with Genesis 9:24. There is no reason to suppose they were all born the same year. (Calmet)
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Concordance Sap. 2, 24. Eccli. 17, 1.
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4. Begate sonnes and daughters.] Moyses in this genealogie reciteth not alwayes S. Aug. li. 15. ciuit. c. 20. The cōtinual succession of Gods Church, and interruption of other communities. the first begotten, nor the whole progenie by their names (for then he should haue repeated Cain and Abel, and haue named many others) but those onlie by whom the Church of God continued, signifying the rest in general, whose succession was cut of by the floud.
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5. And he died.] By this Gods word is verified saying, that Adam should dye, if he should eate of the forbidden tree. And the diuel is proued a lyer, saying, they should not dye. It is also most true that Adam dyed that day in which How mā died the day that he sinned. he did eate. For he began that very day to decline to death; and so doth al mankind euer since, as truly said the woman of Thecua to king Dauid: vve doe al 2. R. 14. die, and as vvaters that returne not, vve fal dovvne on the earth. And vvhat els (saith S. Gregorie) is this daylie decaying of our corruption, but a lingering death? And ho. 37. in Euangel. Psal. 89. S. Ireneus li. 5. aduer. Heret. Cicero li. de Senec. & q 1. Tuscul. none of al these that liued longest reaching to a thousand yeares (which with God is as one day) man dyed in that day in which he transgressed.
Morally ancient Fathers here note, that albeit the life of the Patriarkes seemeth Al time is short in respect of eternitie. long to vs, yet if we cōpare the same to eternitie it is nothing. Neither by the iudgement of Philosophers may aniething be counted long, that hath an end: as Tullie bringing Cato wisely disputing, sheweth the longest life to be but a short moment. VVhereby againe we may see what losse we sustaine by sinne: seeing if sinne had not benne, we should al haue benne translated from earth to heauen, and neuer haue dyed.
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This Hebrew phrase vvalked vvith God, signifieth that he liued wel & pleased God.
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24. VVas seene no more.] That Enoch and Elias are yet aliue is a constant Enoch & Elias yet. liuing in bodie. knowne truth, in the hartes and mouthes of the faithful, saith S. Augustin in his first booke, de peccat. merit & remiss. c. 3. and confirmeth the same in diuers li. 20. ciuit. c 29. lib. 2. de gratia Christi c. 23. tract. 4. in Ioā. other places. And it is testified by very many both Greeke and Latin Doctors. S. Ireneus li. 5. S. Iustinus Martyr, q. 85. ad Orthodoxos. S. Hippolitus li. de Antichristo. S. Damascen, li. 4. de Orthodoxafide. S. Hierom. epist. 61. ad Pamach. c. 11. S. Ambrose in Psalm. 45. S. Chrysostom. ho. 21. in Gen. ho. 58. in Mat. ho. 4. in epist. 2. ad Thess. ho. 22. in ep. ad Heb. S. Greg. li. 14. Moral. c. 11, ho. 12. in Ezech. S. Prosp. li. vlt. de promis. S. Bede in c. 9. Marc. Manifest Scripture that Elias yet liueth, and shal be slaine & an other with him. Likewise that Enoch did not see death. Theophilact and O•cumenius in cap. 17. Mat. and others innumerable. Touching Elias it is manifest in Scriptures, that he shal come, & preach, & be Malac. 4 Apo. 11. slaine with an other witnes of Christ, before the terrible day of Iudgement. Of Enoch Moyses here maketh the matter more then probable, saying of euerie one of the rest, he dyed, onlie of Enoch saith not so, but that he appeared, or 〈Greek〉. Eccli. 44 Heb. 11. vvas seene no more. For which the seuentie two interpreters say, And he vvas not found, for God translated him. VVhich can not signifie death, but transporting, or remouing to an other place. VVhereto agreeth the author of Ecclesiasticus, saying: Enoch pleased God, and vvas translated. But most clearly S. Paul saith. Enoch vvas translated, that he should not see death. and he vvas not found for God translated him. VVith what plainer wordes can any man declare, that a These Scriptures speake of temporal not of spiritual death. special person were not dead, then to say: He vvas translated, or cōueyed away, that he should not see death? Neither is it a reasonable euasion to interprete this of spiritual death. For so Adam being eternally saued (as S. Irenaeus li. 3. c. 34. Epiphan. con. haeresim 46. S. Agu••in epist. 99. ad Euodium, and others teach, and the whole Church beleeueth) was preserued from that death, and so vndoubtedly were Seth, and Enos being most holie. and the rest here recounted, as is most probable. Neuertheles for further confutation of the contrarie ho. 21. in Gen. lib. 1. de pec. mer. c. 2. & 3. l. 9. de Gē. ad lit. c. 6. S. Tho. in c. 11. ad Hebreos. opinion of Protestants, the reader may also obserue the iudgement of S. Chrisostom, who affirmeth that Though it be not a matter of faith, vvhether Enoch The Fathers proue by the scriptures that Enoch is not dead. be novv in Paradise from vvhence Adam and Eue vvere expelled, or in some other pleasant place: Dicunt tamen sacrae Scriprurae quod Deus transtulit eum, & quod viuentem transtulit eum, quod mortem ipse non sit expertus. The holie Scriptures say that God translated him, and that he translated him aliue, that he felt not (or hath not experienced) death. And S. Augustin as expresly saith. Non mortuus, sed viuus translatus est. He (to vvit Enoch) is translated, not dead but aliue. Yea he teacheth how his life is sustayned thus many thousand yeares vpon earth. And sheweth moreouer that both Enoch and Elias shal dye. For seing Enoch and Elias (saith he) are dead in Adam, and carying the ofspring of death in their flesh, to pay that debt, are to returne to this life (of common conuersation) and to pay this debt vvhich so long is deferred.
Diuers reasons are also alleaged, why God would reserue these two aliue. Causes why Enoch & Elias are reserued aliue. S. Chris. ho. 21. in Gen. et in 2. Thes. 2 Theodor. q. 45. in Gen. Aretas, in 11. Apoc. S. Greg. lib. 14. Moral. c. v••. & ho. 12 in Ezech. Eccl. 44. Mala. 4. Eccl. 48. First to shew by example, that as their mortal bodies are long conserued from corrupting or decaying, in like sorte Adam and Eue and al others not sinning, should haue bene conserued, and according to Gods promise, neuer haue died, 1 but after some good time translated to heauen, and indued with immortalitie. 2 Secondly to giue vs an argument of immortalitie, which is promised after the general Resurrection. For seing God doth preserue some mortal, so long from al infirmitie, we may assuredly beleue that he wil geue immortal & eternal life of bobie and soule to his Sainctes, after they haue payed the debt of death, and 3 are risen againe. Thirdly these two (one of the law of nature, the other of the law of Moyses) are preserued aliue, to come amongst men againe towards See D. Sand. lib. 8. c. 35. de Monar. Eccl. And F. Pererius in c. 12. Danielis. the end of the world, to teach, testifie, and defend the true faith and doctrin of Christ, against Antichrist, when he shal most violently oppugne & persecute the Church. Of Enoch it is said in the booke of Ecclesiasticus, that he was translated, vt det gentibus poenitenntiam, that he geue repentance to the nations, by his preaching, & reducing the deceiued from Antichrist. And of Elias Malachie prophicieth, that he shal come before the great and terrible day of our Lord, and shal turne the hart of the fathers (that is the people of the Iewes) to the sonnes (the Christians) and of the sonnes (the deceiued Christians) to the fathers, the ancient true Catholiques.
The seuentie two Interpreters say, God translated him And so doth S. Paul. Heb. 11.
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This is the longest life of al here recited But if we consider that Adam was as strong of bodie, the first day he was ere ated, as these others were at the age of 60. yeares (before which, none are said no haue begot children) and so subsract 60. yeares from Mathusala, then Adam liued in mans state longer then he by 21. yeares.
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The second prophecie before Male on Easter Eue.
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Antiochians 2
… and so God made man, after the image of God made He him.” And further, “In the image of God made He man.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.49
… to demonstrate, in answer to his mere assertion , that it is not “silly.” If any one, however, wishes to see the reasons which led us to accept the Mosaic account, and the arguments by which it may be defended, he may read what we have written upon Genesis, from the beginning of the book up to the passage, “And this is the book of the generation of men,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 15.21
… “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Making of Man 16.16
16. What is it then which we understand concerning these matters? In saying that “God created man” the text indicates, by the indefinite character of the term, all mankind; for was not Adam here named together with the creation, as the history tells us in what follows
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 15.17
… Further, Seth signifies “resurrection,” and Enos his son signifies “man,” not as Adam, which also signifies man, but is used in Hebrew indifferently for man and woman, as it is written, “Male and female created He them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam,”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 1.2.6
… The words are, “And Adam begat Seth in his own likeness, and after his own image.”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Synodis or On the Councils 1
… Likeness means perfect equality, and this fact we may gather from the Holy Scriptures, And Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begat a son according to his own image and according to his own likeness; and called his name Seth
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 5
… For bodies which are like each other may be separated and become at distances from each other, as are human sons relatively to their parents (as it is written concerning Adam and Seth, who was begotten of him that he was like him after his own pattern
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 30
… For this is of the Nature of an Image, to be the reproduction of its Archetype, and of that whose name it bears; only that there is more here. For in ordinary language an image is a motionless representation of that which has motion; but in this case it is the living reproduction of the Living One, and is more exactly like than was Seth to Adam,
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.12
… We are also aware of another kind of likeness, of which the word speaks in Genesis concerning Seth,—“Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 45
… have gone so far as to suppose that Cain cohabited with his mother, and by her had the children which are mentioned, thinking that Adam’s sons had no sisters, because Scripture failed to mention them in the particular place, although it afterwards, in the way of recapitulation, implied what it had previously omitted,—that “Adam begat sons and daughters,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 8.21
… “Adam begat Seth, Seth begat Enos, Enos begat Cainan, but Cainan begat Mahalaleel, but Mahalaleel begat Jared, Jared begat Enoch, Enoch begat Methuselah, Methuselah begat Lamech, Lamech begat Noah.”
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Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
Orth. —The holy Moses when writing the ancient genealogy tells us how Adam being so many years old begat Seth, and when he had lived so many years he ended his life.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 15.15
… Then because it is written, “And Seth lived 205 years,” or, according to the Hebrew reading, “105 years, and begat Enos,”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 15.15
… Will any man do so when it is written of him, “And he begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died?”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Apparel of Women 1.3
… I suppose they did not think that, having been published before the deluge, it could have safely survived that world-wide calamity, the abolisher of all things. If that is the reason (for rejecting it), let them recall to their memory that Noah, the survivor of the deluge, was the great-grandson of Enoch himself;
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 43.70
… Now Basil both received and observed it, and received no injury from the tree of knowledge, and escaped the flaming sword, and, as I am well assured, has attained to Paradise. Enos first ventured to call upon the Lord. Basil both called upon Him himself, and, what is far more excellent, preached Him to others. Enoch was translated,
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Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 2
… Noah also, uncircumcised—yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath—God freed from the deluge. For Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, He translated from this world;
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 41
IV. And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation. I perceive also that the twenty-first, Abraham,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 8.23
… How could Noah have distinguished what animals were clean and what were unclean, when the commandment of the law had not yet made a distinction, unless he had been taught by a natural knowledge? Whence did Enoch learn how to “walk with God,”
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 9
… Let us stedfastly contemplate those who have perfectly ministered to His excellent glory. Let us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him.
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 50
… No one will ascribe to magic such influence as shall exempt from death, or which shall refresh and vivify life, like the vine by the renewal of its condition. Such power was not accorded to the great Medea herself—over a human being at any rate, if allowed her over a silly sheep. Enoch no doubt was translated,
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 58
… and Elias, who even now, without experiencing a resurrection (because they have not even encountered death), are learning to the full what it is for the flesh to be exempted from all humiliation, and all loss, and all injury, and all disgrace—translated as they have been from this world, and from this very cause already candidates for everlasting life;
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Mortality 23
23. Thus, moreover, we find that Enoch also was translated, who pleased God, as in Genesis the Holy Scripture bears witness, and says, “And Enoch pleased God; and afterwards he was not found, because God translated him.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.59
… and thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy brow. Thou shalt eat thy bread until thou return unto the earth from which also thou wast taken; because earth thou art, and to earth thou shalt go.” Also in the same place: “And Enoch pleased God, and was not found afterwards: because God translated him.”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 11
… but there are those who, as might have been expected, wish besides this to discover, if possible, a process by which we may be actually guided to it. Well, the Divine books are full of such instruction for our guidance; and besides that many of the Saints cast the refulgence of their own lives, like lamps, upon the path for those who are “walking with God
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 1.30
… For why should he fall back into this wretched and miserable state of corruption, and return to this mournful life, for whose rescue from such imminent evils and threatening dangers we ought rather to rejoice? For if no one mourns for Enoch, who was translated
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.94
94. Paul certainly is dead, and by his honourable passion exchanged the life of the body for everlasting glory; did he then deceive himself when he wrote that he should be caught up alive in the clouds to meet Christ? We read the same too of Enoch
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 1.3
… so also was his not therefore immortal, because there was no necessity for its dying. Such a condition, whilst still in their natural and mortal body, I suppose, was granted even to those who were translated hence without death.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 1.25
… I do not speak of those works which they deem themselves at liberty not to credit, such as His work in the beginning, when He made heaven and earth, and all that is in them. Neither do I specify here those events which carry us back into the remotest antiquity, such as the translation of Enoch,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 129.2
… and as if it were asked, “Is it now?” The Church is of ancient birth: since saints have been so called, the Church hath been on earth. At one time the Church was in Abel only, and he was fought against by his wicked and lost brother Cain. At one time the Church was in Enoch alone: and he was translated from the unrighteous.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 3.7
… “And Enoch walked with God, and was not found, for God translated him.” And the Apostle also says: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death,” the death namely of which the Lord says in the gospel: “He that liveth and believeth in me shall not die eternally.”
Pseudo-Clement The Recognitions of Clement 1.52
… But the time was not yet that there should be a resurrection of the bodies that were dissolved; but this seemed rather to be their reward from God, that whoever should be found righteous, should remain longer in the body; or, at least, as is clearly related in the writings of the law concerning a certain righteous man, that God translated him.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 60.14
… but the one always dies out of his glory, the other into it. Therefore we also should consider beforehand the end which must one day overtake us and which, whether we wish it or not, cannot be very far distant. For though we should live nine hundred years or more, as men did before the deluge, and though the days of Methuselah
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St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 10.3
… But, having transgressed, he was rejected and cast far away, as one who could no longer be governed by immortality, nor was capable of receiving it. And the first message to him after the transgression was preached by Noah,
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 1
… Who is there that will spurn at grace, when the Gift that they of old gained not by much labour, freely comes to men now? For Him Lamech also looked who might come and lovingly give Him quiet from his labour and the toiling of his hands, and from the earth the Just One had cursed.
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Book,—a catalogue, narrative, enumeration of generations from Adam to Noe; for this is the Hebrew sepher, from the root saphar, that is, he numbered, he enumerated. In the same sense Matthew, cap. I, it is called a book, that is, a catalogue or genealogy of Christ. To the likeness of God,—to His image. For the Hebrews often put the antecedent for the relative.
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HE CALLED THEIR NAME ADAM,—from the Hebrew Adama, as if to say, He called them man from the ground, from which He created them. Eve therefore is also Adam; that is, man. God gave both one name, so that the spouses might know that they were as it were one man in two bodies, and that they ought to be united in name, so also in soul and will. Secondly, by the name Adam they are reminded that they are sons of the earth, vile, earthy, fragile, mortal, and destined to return to the earth. Remember, Adam, that thou art adama, that is, earth and dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.
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HE BEGAT (a son) TO HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS,—namely, like unto him in all things, not in original sin, as Calvin explains, but in nature, namely in the human body, and in the rational soul, in which Seth, equally as Adam, was the image of God. See the remarks on cap. I, 27.
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ADAM NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS, AND HE DIED. — Note first: From Adam to the flood, through Seth there are ten generations, and this is the first age of the world. Note secondly: These years were of twelve months, as are ours, as is evident from Genesis VIII, 5; for if they had been equal to months, as some wish, namely if one year had been only one month, containing thirty days, it would follow that those who are here read to have begotten children at 75 years would have begotten at 75 months, and consequently would have begotten at 7 years of age; all indeed would have died before 82 years of age, which even today not a few exceed. Thus St. Jerome and St. Augustine, book XV On the City of God, chapter XIII. I confess that the ancient Egyptians had a year that was a month. For Diodorus Siculus relates this, book I; Varro in Lactantius, book II, chapter XIII; Plutarch in Numa; St. Augustine, book XII On the City of God, chapter XX, and Proclus, in Timaeus, book I, page 33: "The Egyptians," he says, "called a month a year." But you will find nothing of the sort among the ancient Hebrews. Thirdly, from the Hebrew text and from our Latin version it is evident that from Adam to the flood there elapsed 1656 years. Thus St. Jerome, Bede and St. Augustine above. Wherefore in the Septuagint, which counts 2242 years (according to the edition corrected by Cardinal Caraffa), an error has crept in; for this number exceeds the truth by 586 years. St. Augustine suspects that some ignorant person changed the number in the Septuagint, thinking that months should be understood here; for it seems unusual and paradoxical that men then lived 900 full years. But because he himself again saw that it could be objected to him: if the years were months, then those said to have begotten children at the hundredth year would have begotten at the eighth year according to us: hence, to escape this, he put 200 in place of 100. Fourthly, Adam died in the year 57 of Lamech, the father of Noah, 726 years before the flood, and he saw the propagation and corruption of all his human race. St. Irenaeus adds, book V, chapter XXXII, that Adam died on Friday, the day of Venus; because on that same day he was created, and Adam sinned. But God had said to him: "In whatsoever day thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death"; therefore he died on Friday, on which day also he sinned. But that threat The Alexandrian Interpreters in the number of years partly agree with the Hebrew codices, partly disagree with them. They agree if you attend to the years of life; they disagree in that they divide them otherwise. For they hold that no one could have begotten offspring before the hundred and fiftieth year. Hence, whereas the Hebrews assign to Adam before Seth was born 130 years, after born 800, the Greeks place before Seth 230, afterwards only 700. The years of life come out equal to 930. Likewise the Hebrews assign to Seth before Enoch was born 105 years, the Greeks 205. On the contrary, the Samaritan holds that no one could have become a father after the hundred and fiftieth year, and according to this reasoning divides the years which the fathers are said to have lived. God has another sense, as I said above. Eve, if we believe Marianus Scotus, lived ten years after her husband, and died in the 940th year of her life and of the world. Fifthly, it is a tradition that Adam was buried in Hebron. James of Edessa, who was the master of St. Ephrem, relates through Barcepha, book I, chapter XIV, that Noah reverently took the bones of Adam into the ark, and after the flood distributed them among his children, and gave to Shem, whom he preferred to the others, the skull of Adam, and with it Judea. So great was the care and honor which the fathers had for burial, on account of the immortality of souls, which they set before themselves with certain faith and hope. Hence the common opinion of the Fathers is that the skull of Adam was buried on Mount Calvary, so that it might be watered, washed, and vivified by the blood of Christ crucified. Hear among others Tertullian, book II Verses against Marcion, chapter IV: Golgotha is the place, the skull of the head once: Here is the middle of the earth, here is the sign of victory, The great bone here our ancients taught was found, Here we received that man was first buried, Here Christ suffers, the earth grows wet with pious blood, So that the dust of Adam, with the blood of Christ, The old one, mingled by the virtue of flowing water, might be washed. Finally, the sin of Adam and Eve was forgiven them, as is evident from Wisdom X, verse 2. Understand this insofar as this sin was personal to them, but not insofar as it was the sin of nature, or of all our race; for in this way this sin is original to us, and is poured forth into all the descendants of Adam by birth, and for this reason is irremissible. Adam and Eve saved. Add that it is a tradition that Adam and Eve were saved, which is so certain that Epiphanius, Philastrius, Augustine and others condemn the Encratites who deny this as erroneous. See Alphonsus a Castro, word Adam. Wherefore Adam among others, indeed before all other Saints, rose again with Christ, Matt. cap. XXVII, vers. 53, as is taught by St. Athanasius, oration On the Passion; Augustine here, Questions CLXI; Origen, tract. 35 in Matthew, and others. You may ask, whence then were men so long-lived? Pererius gives various causes: first, it was the primeval goodness of complexion and temperament of body in the first men; second, it was sobriety, which was so great that they used neither flesh nor wine; third, it was the first vigor of the earth, of fruits and foods, which at the beginning of its creation were far more lively and succulent and efficacious than now, when they are exhausted; fourth, it was the knowledge of Adam, which he communicated to others, by which he knew better than our physicians the power of herbs, fruits, metals, etc.; fifth, it was the benign aspect, concourse and influence of the stars; sixth, it was the will of God and His secret cooperation, and this for this reason, that men might propagate more quickly, and through long experience learn all sciences and arts, and that the first men might hand down to their posterity, even the most remote, faith in the creation of things, and knowledge and worship of God. Whence Lipomanus attributed this longevity more to the miracle of God than to nature. Note: None of these fathers reached the thousandth year, so that we might see that even the longest life in this world is not even a point compared to eternity. For a thousand years before God are as yesterday which is past, Psalm LXXXIX, 4. And He Died This is added to each one, so that you might see that the sentence of death pronounced by God upon Adam sinning, and upon his posterity, cap. III, vers. 19, was efficacious; for, as the Wise Man says in Ecclesiastes XIV, 12: "This is the covenant of this world: by death shall all men die." Therefore let each of us think: Of me too it will shortly be said: "And he died." This is my emblem and that of each one, this is my epitaph: Cornelius lived so many years, and died in such a year. "He easily despises all things, who always thinks of himself as about to die," says St. Jerome, epistle 103. Severus the emperor, according to Dio Nicaeus in his Life, wished an urn to be prepared for himself, in which he might be buried, which he frequently handled with his hands saying: "You will hold a man whom the whole world could not hold;" and he did this in order to retain the memory of death. For the same reason St. John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria, ordered a monument to be built for himself, but unfinished: but on solemn festivals in the sight of many, he wished the workmen to say to him: "Your monument, Lord, is still unfinished, command therefore that it be finally completed: for it is uncertain at what hour death will come." Thus Leontius in his Life. "It is uncertain," says Seneca, epistle 26, "in what place death awaits you; therefore you should await it in every place. When about to go to sleep, let us say joyfully and cheerfully: I have lived, and the course which you gave me, O gracious God, I have completed." Learn therefore to die: think of eternity. O eternity! how long you are, eternity; how eternal, how constant, eternity!
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And Cainan Also Lived Seventy Years, And Begot Malaleel. Malaleel, or, as it is in Hebrew, Mahalalel, is the same as praising God; for halal is to praise, el God: either because the son, constantly praising God, was called Mahalalel from this; or because his father Cainan at his birth called him thus, so that he might stir both himself and his son to continual praise of God, so that as often as he named and called his son Mahalalel, so often he might as it were say Halleluia, that is praise God, or rather hallel el, that is praise the mighty God. To the ten ages which are recounted here, complete years are always attributed, as if men, at the completion of a whole year, at the beginning of the next either begot children or died; when it can scarcely be doubted that the times of generation and death were various, and happened promiscuously in various months. Therefore it must be concluded that some months, either lacking from a year or added over and above, are said to be disregarded, whence it is clear that an accurate chronology cannot be gathered from this at all.
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22. ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD,—that is to say, Enoch lived so holily and piously that he seemed to have God always present before his eyes, and he revered Him; and therefore in every work he always proceeded most cautiously, most modestly, most religiously, and he was consenting to God and to God's will in all things, just as a man walking everywhere with a friend or his lord, undividedly and inseparably, consents to him in all things and conforms himself to him in everything. The Septuagint translates it, Enoch pleased God, namely before other men, even the just and holy ones of that age. The Targum of Jerusalem translates it, Enoch served in truth before the Lord; the Arabic version, Enoch made his way upright before God; the Chaldean, and Enoch walked in the fear of God. For this reason the Lord took him and snatched him to Himself, as one higher than the earth, worthy of God and the angels, indeed familiar to them. Hence some Jews thought that Enoch was an incarnate angel. Those who walk, says Hugo the Cardinal, after the Lord, are humble penitents; with the Lord, holy prelates and rulers; before the Lord, pious preachers, such as St. John the Baptist; from the Lord, apostates and those who serve their own will and pleasure; against the Lord, the proud and rebellious, such as the Jews in Leviticus XXVI, 2. Some add that "to walk with God" signifies to be in public ministry of God and to perform the priestly office. For thus God says concerning Eli the High Priest in I Kings II, 30: "Speaking I spoke, that thy house, and the house of thy father should minister in my sight," in Hebrew, should walk before me. And verse 35: "I will raise me up a faithful priest, etc. And he shall walk before my Christ all days." For it is the duty of priests to be constantly occupied with God in prayers, sacrifices and sacred actions; they themselves are angels and mediators between God and men, and there is no doubt that Enoch, as the head of his family, was a priest. It is a great art to know how to walk with God, to have Him present everywhere, to join oneself to Him, to obey Him in all things, to converse with Him often, to implore His aid, to depend on Him, to be ruled by Him, to be wholly united to Him. He who walks with God walks well with men; he who walks only with men, neither with God nor with men does he walk well. Thus St. Paul, the first hermit, walked with God, dwelling in the desert from the fifteenth year of his age to the one hundred and fifteenth year; wherefore St. Anthony saw the soul of this deceased man snatched up to heaven among the choirs of Angels, among the assemblies of Prophets and Apostles. St. Anthony himself followed him, whom the rising sun often beheld standing in the same spot and gazing toward heaven, where the setting sun had left him, as St. Athanasius testifies. Thus Macarius conversed with God in the heavens, and said to himself: "Thou hast Angels, Archangels, all the supernal powers, Cherubim and Seraphim, God the maker of all these; dwell there, lest thou descend below the heavens, lest thou fall into worldly thoughts." Palladius testifies to this in the Lausiac History, chapter XX. Thus Anuph in the same work, chapter XV: "No desire," he says, "of any other thing has entered into my heart except God. God has hidden nothing from me of earthly things; I have not taken sleep by day, I have not rested by night, seeking God; I have received every petition from God immediately; I have often seen myriads standing before God, I have seen choirs of the just. I have seen a multitude of Martyrs, I have seen the institution of the monastic life; but the work of all praised God. I have seen the just rejoicing eternally." Thus Simeon Stylites, John, Macedonius, Marcianus, Ephrem and countless others walked with God, concerning whom Evagrius writes in the Lives of the Fathers, and Theodoret in the Philotheos. O how blessed are these earthly angels! Enoch was therefore a prophet, and he wrote certain divine things, which St. Jude cites in his epistle; but the book of Enoch perished: for that which St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Origen, and Tertullian saw is spurious and apocryphal.
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24. AND HE WAS NOT SEEN, BECAUSE THE LORD TOOK HIM. — Calvin, following Aben Ezra and the Jews, thinks that Enoch died gently and peacefully, and that immediately after death his soul was translated to heaven, but did not see God until Christ ascended into heaven: thus Enoch is now immortal, and will neither return to us nor die again. But all these things are false and erroneous. First, because if Enoch had died, Scripture would have said of him as of all others: And he died; second, because it is said of him here, took, that is, snatched him alive, God: whence the Septuagint translates, God translated him. Hence also Ecclesiasticus cap. XLIV, vers. 16, asserts that Enoch was not dead, but translated into paradise so that he might give penance to the Gentiles; therefore Enoch still lives, and will return to us, so that he may oppose the Antichrist and preach to the Gentiles; third, because St. Paul expressly, Hebrews XI, 5, says: Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; fourth, thus the Fathers commonly teach, whom Delrio and Pererius cite. From what has been said it follows first, that Enoch was translated into the earthly paradise, which still remained before the flood; for that is understood when paradise is named absolutely, as Ecclesiasticus names it, when he says that Enoch was translated into it. Wherefore what St. Ambrose, lib. De Paradiso, cap. III, says that Enoch was snatched into heaven, understand that Enoch was lifted from the earth into the air, and through the air was translated into paradise; nor did Tertullian mean anything else, when in lib. De Resurrect. carnis, cap. LVIII, he said that Enoch and Elias were translated from the world; for by world he understands this earth inhabited and cultivated by men. The Wise Man indicates the cause of the translation, Wisdom cap. IV, vers. 10. First, because he was beloved of God, and lived good among the wicked: hence he was snatched away, lest malice should change his understanding. Again, he was snatched away because he walked with God, and therefore was worthy of paradise and continual contemplation of God; third, he was snatched away so that he might return and give penance to the Gentiles, just as Elias will give it to his Jews: for this is what is said of him in Ecclesiasticus cap. XLVIII, vers. 10: Who wast written in the judgments of times to appease the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob; fourth, he was snatched away so that by his rapture he might show what Adam by sinning lost: for in like manner all would have been translated in their time without death, if we had remained in innocence; fifth, the Lord took him, so that he might confirm the faith of the fathers concerning the future life, as if to say: By this very deed recognize that I have another life, and a better one, in which I will reward the Saints. It follows second, that it is near to faith that Enoch, equally with Elias, have not yet died. Whence Tertullian, lib. De Resurrect. carnis, LVIII, calls them candidates of eternity: Candidates, he says, of eternity, learn immunity of the flesh from all vice, from all loss, from all injury and insult; and Irenaeus, lib. V, cap. V, calls them co-witnesses of immortality, that is, receiving its auspice, and as it were its shadow. It follows third, that Enoch and Elias have not glorious, but mortal bodies, and therefore will die. Whence Tertullian above: Enoch, he says, and Elias are not yet distinguished by resurrection, because they have not been distinguished by death. Therefore Procopius and Eugubinus err, who think that Enoch and Elias enjoy the vision of God, and have glorious bodies in heaven. Fifth, concerning Elias alive lifted into heaven the same word is used as here in II Kings II, 3 seqq. Nor does Onkelos seem to have understood the Hebrew words otherwise: And he was no more; for Jova did not kill him. More clearly Jonathan: And behold he was no more among the inhabitants of the earth; for he was taken away, and ascended into heaven by the Word, which is before Jova. This place is an argument that men in those times had faith in the future life. Where Now Are Enoch and Elias? You will ask where Enoch and Elias now are, and what kind of life they lead? I answer: The Fathers commonly teach that they dwell in paradise. But I say that Enoch was translated into paradise before the flood; after the flood, however, by which paradise appears to have been inundated and removed, he dwells in some pleasant place, which God has prepared for him either in the air or on the earth, to which Elias was snatched after the flood: there therefore they together lead a life as it were blessed, free from concupiscence and from our afflictions, in the highest contemplation of God. Secondly, Epiphanius in heresy 64, and Jerome to Pammachius, hold that they live without food. But St. Augustine doubts on this matter, in book I On the Merits and Remission of Sins, chapter III; and he says that they either live without food, or certainly live as Adam lived in paradise, namely from the tree of life, and therefore they fail neither from disease nor old age. But it is more true that they are preserved alive and vigorous by God through a miracle, without food: for, as I have said, paradise, and consequently the tree of life, has perished. Whether Enoch and Elias See God You will ask secondly, whether Enoch and Elias see God, and are blessed? Catharinus asserts this in his tract On the Glory of Christ Consummated; P. Salmeron, and Barradius inclines to it in that passage of John, chapter XXI, verse 23: So I will have him to remain till I come. For they think that Enoch and Elias, as also St. John the Evangelist, are not yet dead, and therefore they still have mortal bodies, and are to come against Antichrist, and to be afflicted with martyrdom by him; meanwhile, however, they see God, and enjoy Him, at least from the death and resurrection of Christ. They prove this by many and plausible reasons: First, because St. John is seen to be coming with Enoch, as it were asserted in the Apocalypse, chapter X, verse 11: Thou must prophesy again to many nations; and John, chapter XXI, verse 23: So I will have him to remain till I come. For the crown of martyrdom is owed to John, as to the other Apostles, and has been promised, Matthew, chapter XX, verse 23, in these words: You shall drink of my chalice. Now that St. John sees God does not seem doubtful; for the Church publicly honours and invokes him in the litanies, equally as the other Blessed. Secondly, because the Church celebrates the feast of both St. John and Elias on July 20, as is evident from the Roman Martyrology: therefore they enjoy God. Thirdly, because the Greeks erected temples in honour of both Elias and St. John, as Baronius teaches in the Martyrology for July 20. Therefore they are blessed; for temples are erected to these alone. Fourthly, because Enoch and Elias lived most holily, and are therefore most worthy to enjoy God, especially since other Prophets and Patriarchs, even less holy than they, with whom they lived, already see God. Fifthly, because thus we best avoid the difficulty which concerns the suspension of the merits of Enoch and Elias. For why does God suspend their merits contrary to custom, unless because they already see God, and are not in the way, but in the end, namely are blessed? If you say that God has not suspended their merits, I infer: Therefore they in merits and rewards will surpass almost immeasurably all other Blessed; for through so many thousands of years they continuously merit and daily increase their merits, and this until the day of judgment: but this seems incredible. But this opinion seems new and paradoxical, and to lack a solid foundation. First, because scarcely any of the ancient Fathers or Doctors asserted it; for Nazianzenus, whom Barradius cites, does not assert it, but doubts. Secondly, if Enoch and Elias see God, therefore they are blessed, therefore they are comprehensors, not wayfarers. But they are wayfarers, because they are still to die and to be crowned with martyrdom. Thirdly, neither to Moses, nor to Paul, nor to any other mortal was it granted to see God before death; indeed the Lord declared to Moses: No man shall see me and live, Exodus, chapter XXXIII, verse 20. Therefore neither should it be granted to Enoch and Elias: for they themselves are still mortal, and in fact are to die. Fourthly, it seems much more paradoxical that Enoch and Elias should return from heavenly glory and the vision of God to sufferings, merits and death, than that their merits be suspended: for what blessed one ever returned from heaven to labours, merits and death? who ever became a wayfarer from being a comprehensor? Fifthly, Christ alone was at once wayfarer and comprehensor; for all Theologians attribute this privilege to Christ alone. But according to this new opinion, this is false: for Enoch and Elias, at least when they return to contend against Antichrist, will be at once wayfarers and comprehensors. For then they will not lose the vision of God, which they already possess, by which they are blessed. Sixthly, if the vision of God will not then hinder their merits and labours against Antichrist, why does it now hinder their merits? For in the same way Christ, before His death and resurrection, seeing God, was never hindered by this vision from His merit. Seventhly, that St. John is not dead, and that he is to come against Antichrist, plainly seems improbable, and is repugnant both to very many histories, which assert that he is dead (Baronius cites them), and to the Church, which celebrates the feast of St. John as of one dead, and already reigning in heaven with Christ, and invokes him. It is otherwise with Enoch and Elias; for no one honours or invokes these. To the first I reply: John after those words of the Apocalypse, chapter X, prophesied again to the Gentiles in chapters XII, XIII, XIV and following, even to the end of the Apocalypse, but he will not prophesy to them at the end of the world. But that passage in John, chapter XXI: "Thus I will have him to remain," is the same as if he said: "If I will have him to remain," as other codices read; for Christ speaks not assertively, but conditionally, and this to blunt Peter's curious questioning: "Lord, but what of this man?" Moreover, St. John drank the chalice of passion, both at other times and at that time when he was cast into a vat of boiling oil. Whence he himself is called by the Fathers, is venerated by the Church, and is truly a martyr. To the second I reply: The Greeks celebrate the feast of Elijah, not of a blessed one, but of one taken up; for on that day they only recall the memory of his taking up, because this taking up was admirable. To the third I reply: In the same manner and for the same purpose the Greeks erected temples to Elijah as they instituted a feast for him, namely that by these they might testify and recall the memory of so wondrous a taking up of Elijah (for temples are properly erected not to the Saints, but to God alone in honor of the Saints), who lived a heavenly life here, and left behind him as it were heavenly disciples, and was as it were the father and patriarch of Monks, and although he is not yet blessed, he is already as it were confirmed in grace, and certainly to be blessed, and thus by God's revelation and oracle he is already as it were canonized. To the fourth I reply: The order instituted by God demands that Enoch and Elijah do not see God, since they are not yet dead: but the other Prophets are dead, and therefore they see God. Wherefore it is fitting that Enoch and Elijah live a middle life between earthly men and the blessed in heaven, namely a peaceful and pleasant one, but not yet a blessed one. But to their sanctity and merits is rendered, not the vision of God, but something else great, namely that they alone among the Prophets shall come, as it were the mightiest champions of Christ against Antichrist, and shall confute him, and therefore shall be crowned with martyrdom by him. To the fifth, concerning the suspension of merits I shall speak presently, nor does that suspension remove the difficulty here. For at least the merits of Enoch were suspended from his taking up until the passion of Christ, through nearly three thousand years (for precisely 2997 years elapsed), during which Enoch did not see God; for if his merits were not then suspended, then Enoch by continuously meriting for so many years would by far surpass in grace and glory all the Saints, and thus we fall back into the inconvenience which the argument itself suggests. Whether Enoch and Elijah Are in a State of Meriting It is asked thirdly, whether they are in a state of meriting? Viegas asserts this in the Apocalypse, chapter XI. The reason is, because they are still wayfarers, and since they are deprived of the vision of God, why should they be deprived beyond the common order also of the faculty of meriting, which other wayfarers have? granted that by this reasoning they would surpass all the Saints in merits and glory, except the Blessed Virgin. But Pererius and Suarez deny this. And this seems more probable; the reason is, because otherwise through so many thousands of years they would accumulate innumerable merits, nor would there be any comparison or proportion between them and other saints in grace and glory: secondly, because by the taking up they were translated into another state and life. Whence the taking up seems to have been to them as it were a death, and consequently to have suspended their merits, until they return to us at the time of Antichrist; for then indeed they shall merit again. Now therefore they are as it were in a middle state of wayfarers and the Blessed, namely in a state of rest and contemplation: whence as they do not labor, nor suffer, so neither do they merit: but they shall merit very much when returning and fighting against Antichrist. In the Life of St. Pachomius it is related that a certain philosopher proposed these three riddles to Theodore, a disciple of St. Pachomius, to which he answered so cleverly. The first: Who died without being born? Theodore answered: Adam; the second, who was born and yet did not die? He answered: Enoch, who was taken up; the third, who died and yet was not corrupted? He answered: The wife of Lot, who was turned into a statue of salt. Enoch and Elijah Shall Return Against Antichrist Note: At the end of the world Enoch and Elijah shall return to common life, that they may oppose Antichrist through preaching, disputations and miracles: and therefore they shall be afflicted with martyrdom by Antichrist in Jerusalem, who shall cast their bodies unburied into the street; but after three and a half days, alive and glorious, with the whole city watching, they shall rise again, and ascend into heaven, as is clear from the Apocalypse, chapter XI, verses 7 and following. Thus the Fathers commonly here, and in the Apocalypse, chapter XI, and this is the common sense and tradition of the faithful. Whence St. Augustine, book XX of the City of God, chapter XXIX, says this is most celebrated in the sermons and hearts of the faithful. Finally, Enoch was the ancestor of Noah, and consequently the father of all of us; for all men, and consequently also the Antichrist, descend from Noah just as from Enoch. Whence it follows that, when Enoch returns to us, he will remain unmarried, for no woman (since all descend from him and are his daughters) will be able to enter into matrimony, because in the direct lines of ascendants and descendants, even if they were separated from each other by infinite degrees, by natural law marriage is invalid if ascendants wish to be joined with descendants, as the more common opinion of Doctors holds, whom Sanchez reviews in vol. II On Matrimony, book VII, disp. 51, although he himself with others teaches the contrary. Therefore Enoch returning will preach to all his sons, namely to all men, and will be killed by one of his sons, namely by the spurious Enoch, the Antichrist. Again, Enoch was taken up in the year of the world 987. Therefore, since in this year of Christ 1615 the year of the world is 5563, it follows that Enoch in this year is living the year 4578 of his rapture, and of his life 4943.
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27. THE DAYS OF METHUSELAH NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE YEARS. — He was the longest-lived of all mortals; yet Adam can be said to have been longer-lived than him for this reason, that Adam was created in perfect age and stature, which he already had at thirty, then he would have been at least 60 years old; but Methuselah was born an infant, and grew for 60 years, and reached the age and stature in which Adam was created: therefore if you subtract 60 years from Methuselah, or add as many to Adam, Adam will surpass Methuselah by 21 years. Thus Pererius. Methuselah was born in the year of the world 687; and since he lived 969 years, it follows that he died in the year of the world 1656, namely in the same year in which the flood occurred, a few days (seven, if we believe the Hebrews) before it inundated the earth. Thus St. Jerome. Therefore St. Augustine does not rightly, in book I Questions on Genesis, think that he died 6 years before the flood; for in the sixth year before the flood died not Methuselah, but Lamech his son, who was the father of Noah, as is clear from Gen. ch. V, verses 30 and 31. But hear St. Augustine, at the beginning of Questions on Genesis: It is commonly asked, he says, how Methuselah according to the computation of years could have lived after the flood, when all are said to have perished except those who entered the ark? But the corruption of many manuscripts has given rise to this question. For not only is it found otherwise in the Hebrew texts, but also in the Septuagint translation. Methuselah in fewer but more trustworthy codices is found to have died six years before the flood. Which also he explains in book XV On the City of God, ch. XIII.
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29. HIS NAME WAS NOE, SAYING: THIS ONE SHALL COMFORT US. — From these words it is clear that Lamech was a prophet. Note that Noe in Hebrew signifies two things: first, rest, from the root noach, that is, he rested; hence Noe in Hebrew is called Noach, that is, rest, or resting, and causing to rest: whence the Septuagint translates, he shall cause us to rest from our works and the sorrows of our hands: so also the Arabic; second, it signifies consolation or consoler, from the root nacham, that is, he comforted, so that Noe is derived from nacham, by apocope of the letter mem; and thus Scripture here deduces it, saying, ze ienachamenu, this one shall comfort us, as the Hebrew, Chaldean and our texts have it; but both come to the same thing: for consolation from work and labour is nothing other than rest from work and labour. Noe therefore caused rest and comforted men, first, because, as St. Jerome says, all the works done before, namely sins, rested through Noe, who buried them in the flood; second, as R. Solomon, the Hebrews, Cajetan and Lipomanus, because Noe invented the plough and other instruments of agriculture, and an easier art of tilling the fields; third, as others, because on account of the sanctity and sacrifice of Noe after the flood, God blessed the earth cap. VIII, vers. 21, and cap. IX, vers. 1 and seq.: which came to pass, so that the earth thus blessed would bring forth greater fruits with less labour and cultivation; fourth, because Noe planted vines and discovered wine, which is a solace of the human heart. Again, because Noe was granted by God the use of flesh, by which the life of men is strengthened. Others add, because Noe through the flood brought to men death, which is the end and rest of all our labours. But truly death and the submersion of the wicked is not rest, but the beginning of eternal pain and labour. Fifth and chiefly, by these words Lamech prophesies concerning his son Noe, that he himself will be the restorer of the human race, almost consumed by the flood (for this was the great consolation and rest of Lamech and the fathers), says Hugo, and that he will reconcile God and God's beneficence to the world; and that from him the Messias will be born, says Rupertus, who is our rest and consolation; whose is that voice: Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Noe therefore was a type of Christ. Before the flood great and long were the sorrows and labours of the fathers, first, because they lived 900 years in continual labours; second, because they tilled the earth cursed by God, and therefore barren; third, because they did not have those arts and instruments for ploughing and tilling the earth; fourth, all their labours were about to perish in the flood: which was to be a great punishment and affliction to them. From these therefore Noe causes them to rest and consoles them, first, because through the ark he restores their labours, that is, the works made by their labour; second, because on account of his merits and the arts invented by him and his descendants, agriculture is now easier, and all the labour of men, as I said a little before. Note: Noe was born 600 years before the flood, which took place in the year of the world 1656; whence it follows that Noe was born in the year of the world 1056, namely 126 years after the death of Adam; for Adam died in the year both of his life and of the world 930. Tropologically, Noe is a symbol of justice, which consoles all, and causes them to rest from works of iniquity; this recalls from sadness: because while we do those things which are just, we fear nothing by the security of a pure conscience, we do not grieve with grave sorrow; for there is nothing which is the cause of greater sorrow than the guilt of sin, says St. Ambrose, lib. De Noe, 1.
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31. AND NOE WAS FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. — Note that it does not appear (although it may appear so to St. Chrysostom) that Noe abstained from marriage until the year 500: therefore he begot other sons before Sem, Cham and Japhet, who died before the flood; whence it follows that not all who are here first named as generated were truly firstborn. Thus St. Augustine, Book XV De Civit. XX. In this year 500 Noe began the construction of the ark, and continued it for 100 years: for it was completed in the year 600. Thus Origen, Augustine, Gregory, Rupertus. Again, after the year 500 Noe begot, that is, began to beget, Sem, Cham and Japhet, so that he begot them in successive years, now Sem, now Cham, now Japhet: for these three were not begotten in the same year. From this place the chronology of the world is gathered, namely that from the creation of the world and Adam until the flood there elapsed 1656 years; for Adam begot Seth when he was 130 years old, Seth begot Enos 105, Enos begot Cainan 90, Cainan begot Malaleel 70, Malaleel begot Jared 65, Jared begot Henoch when he was 162 years old, Henoch begot Mathusalem 65, Mathusalem begot Lamech 187, Lamech begot Noe 182, Noe begot Sem, Cham and Japhet 500. After the generation of Sem in the hundredth year, which was the 600th year of Noe's life, the flood took place, Genesis cap. VII, vers. 11. The flood lasted a whole year, as is clear when comparing Genesis VII, 11, with Genesis VIII, 13 and 14. Therefore from the creation of the world until the end of the flood there elapsed 1657 years.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Hic est liber generationis Adam ». De hac inscriptione, uti de sententia illam proxime excipiente, cf. quae diximus ad 2,4 et p. 21. Vox àtN in hac inscriptione utique intelligitur ut nomen proprium, sicut in similibus inscriptionibus nomina Noe, Thare et alia. Ergo minus feliciter LXX 2v0poxov ; non tamen omnino false. Etenim vox de se anceps v. 3 sqq. utique sumitur ut nomen proprium ; v. 1^ et v. 2 et 1,27, ad quem locum hi versus alludunt, indubie adhibetur pro nomine generico ; tandem ipsum nomen Adam quodammodo participat significationem genericam, cum a Deo impositum duobus (v. 2) unius postmodum evaserit proprium. — Sequentem sententiam merito per athnach Masor. et per interpunctionem Vulg. LXX ab inscriptione disünguunt : cf. 2,&. « In die, qua creavit Deus hominem , ad similitudinem Dei fecit illum ».
5:2
v. 9 « Masculum et feminam creavit eos et benedixit illis ». Uti 1,27 sq. à numero sing. transitur ad pluralem. Benedictio illa 1,28 impertiebatur foecunditatem. Iam additur aliquid, quod in Cosmogonia subintelligebatur quidem, at non explicite statuebatur: « e£ vocavit nomen eorum Adam $n die, quo creati sunt ». Haec clausula aN*25 nva eadem est atque clausula inscriptionis 2,3 24252
5:3
v. 8 « Vixit autem Adam centum triginta annts et genuit ad imaginem et :similitudinem suam, vocavitque nomen etus Seth ». Monuit jam Aug. nihil esse, cur adstruamus recenseri przmogenitos. Cf. Rup. Plane incredibile est homines eos, quos Dens iussisset crescere ct multiplicari, centenis annis et amplius ab opere generationis abstinuisse aut Adamum, postquam duorum filiorum (et saltem unius filiae) pater exstiterat, centum triginta annis alium filium genuisse nullum. Recensentur non primogeniti, sed maiores primum Abrahae, atque inde ipsius servatoris.
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v. & « E4 facti sunt dies Adam, postquam qgenuit Seth , octingenti anni , genusitque filios et filias », non necessario post Sethum omnes, sed praeter illum.
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v. 5 « Et factum est omne tempus, quod vixit Adam, anni nongentt triginta ». Plures Adamo utique numerat annos Noe : sed. advertit Ca?., eo tamen sensu omnibus grandaeviorem obiisse Adamum, quatenus perfectae aetatis, in qua creatus sit, anni non numerentur. « E! mortuus est ». « Clausula haec additur, ut manifeste appareat Deum veracem fuisse, qui dixerat : $i comederitis, morte moriemini; daemonem autem mendacem, qui promiserat : Nequaquam moriemini » (Per.). v. 22 apud solam Vulg. et LXX Lagardii legitur, quod contextus omnino requirit, e£ vzxit : potuit m" sat facile ante *à riv excidere. In lectione communiore suboritur utique dubium , ambulaveritne Henoch cum Deo etiam ante genitum filium. Aribulasse cum Deo Noe quoque 6,9 dicitur, et iubetur Abraham 17,1 cum Deo ambulare (cf. Mich. 6,8; Mal. 2,6); exprimit istud eximiam sanctitatem, qua plurimum superaverit Henoch reliquos patriarchas; imo considerato toto huius capitis et sequentis contextu ea expressione innuitur eos, de quibus proxime sermo est, patriarchas cum Deo non ambulasse, Henochum vero cum Deo ambulasse, Deo placuisse (LXX Syr.) ea imprimis ratione, qua tum Deo placendum,erat, sc. zelo contra Cainitarum connubia directo. Rursum , quod Henoch ea scribatur fuisse sanctitate, ob quam Deus illum tulerit, in suspicionem adducimur, etiam dum inter vivos degeret, fuisse Deo specialiter omnino coniunctum, quod diserte enuntiat Iud. 14 dicens eum « prophetasse ». Ita, quod clarius alii textus (cf. Hebr. 11,5; Eccli 44,16) dicunt, h. 1. subauditur, velo quodammodo contectum , uti aliorum patriarcharum errores. v. 9& « Ambulavitque cum Deo et non apparuit » — Hebr. et non ipse, quod LXX reddunt xoi oby scóploxs:o; quae locutio cum locum obtineat eius , quod secus adscribitur et mortuus est, evidenter significat non esse mortuum (Malv.). Ea porro, quod etiam de iis adhibeatur, quae naturali prorsus modo disparent vel cessant (3 Reg. 20,50; Ps. 102,16 ; Is. 17,14), explicanda erat : « quia tulit eum Deus ». Eadem expressio 4 Reg. 2,3. 9. 10 de Elia adhibetur. Quo tulerit, non exprimitur monentque 7/^eodoret. , Chrys., ut a coniecturis abstineamus. Vwig. quidem Eccli. 44,16 addit « in paradisum », sed paradisi nomine ibi posse venire ait Per. quemvis locum deliciosum. Haec de translato ob pietatem Henoch narratio confirmatur traditione Babyloniorum, quae quidem factum tribuit patriarchae diluvii ; idque tanto minus mirandum, quod Noe etiam referatur in Genesi « ambulasse cum Deo ». Igitur Berosus ait diluvii patriarcham « propter pietatem ivisse et inter deos habitasse, eiusdemque honoris participem factam esse uxorem, filiam navisque gubernatorem », et textus cuneiformis dicit illum et uxorem « translatos esse procul ad ora fluminum », cf. Gen. 2,10. at non fecit. Henochi pietatem narraturus consuetae de patriarcharum vitis formulae v. 291-23 inseruit v. 22 voces et ambulavit Henoch cum Deo; dein extrema formula loco verborum et mortuus est translationem narraturus, ut eius translationis causa distinctius perspiceretur, illas voces repetiit. « v. 24 est animadversio praecedenti narrationi adnexa nullamque parit difficultatem » (Dilim.). v. 95 « Vizit quoque Mathusala centum octoginta septem annis et genuit Lamech ». v. 96 « Et vixit Mathusala, postquam genuit Lamech, septingentis octoginta duobus annis et genutt filios et filtas ». v. 9'1 « Et facti sunt omnes dies Mathusala nongénti sexaginta novem anni et mortuus est ». v. 28 « Vixit autem Lamech centum octoginta duobus annis et genutzt filium », v. 99 « vocavitque nomen eius Noe dicens : Iste consolabitur nos ab operibus et laboribus manuum nostrarum in terra, cui maledixit Dominus ». n3 explicatur quidem (122211?) per radicem aàn3 consolari, cum eiusmodi explicationes non debeant esse stricte etymologicae ; sed revera derivatur a radice r1 requiescere ; nisi mavis defendere LXX 81vaxado« fluxisse ex lectione aliqua »3n2*, quae sit. genuina. Derivationi a rn2 non obstat (Dz/Im.), nomen semper scribi m3, non plene : in Genesi olim quaedam modo plene modo non plene scribi consuevisse, ostendit inter alia Sam. ad 4,16 Hebraeo comparatus; quod autem nomen Noein Genesi legeretur non plene scriptum, causa fuit.cur etiam posteriores auctores illud non plene scripserint. Ceterum cf. Syr. m3 et LXX Nos. — Porro nominis explicationem quod attinet, idem est ab operibus nostris eka laboribus manuum nostrarum. oc alterum vero addito manuum nostrarum ad agriculturam utique refertur ( Ca?., Pe?.). Quisensus rursum confirmatur sequentibus (gu? proveniunt)de terra, cui maledixit Dominus (LXX Syr. pro y2 errore obvio y21). His quippe indubierevocamur ad Dei sententiam 3,17 : « maledicta terra propter te : in labore comedes ex ea ». Ex qua ad Dei sententiam ratione elucet nimis vulgarem esse eam, quae apud Ca?. in margine legitur, nominis explicationem :, « Quod autem hie Noe in parentum subsidium natus dicatur, simplicissime accipio : infirmiores quippe erant filii opera indigentes ». Humilior quoque est Habóinorum explicatio, eam requiem praestitisse Noe tum, quando, ut ipsis placet, vomerem ad facilius. arandam terram excogitavit vinumque invenit, quod hilaritatem fovet et requiem. Secundum quos Lamech v. 27 factum hoc futurum praenuntiasset : at non solent prophetae praenuntiare facta mere naturalia et civilia. Reapse Lamechum prophetasse inde ab Ephr. communiter censent interpretes. Eius verba prophetice exprimunt spem, per Noe sive immediate sive mediate removendam fore maledictionem a Deo 3,17 pronuntiatam ; ad semen mulieris promissum prospiciunt , uti illa alia verba ^,1. At, inquies, si eum sensum Lamech intendebat , nonne censendus est pius fuisse, quem tamen cum Sam. diluvio absorptum scribebamus? Opportuna hic occurrit CArys. explanatio, qui censet Lamech impium ea ratione prophetasse, atque Io. 11,51 Caipham. Considera , quae tum fuerit rerum conditio. Maledictio 4,11 sq. a Deo Caino indicta videbatur iam omni carere effectu , admissis ad coniugia eius posteris et fere in antiquas sedes receptis: deridebatur propheta Dei Henoch , cf. 2 Petr. 3,6 et ^; aliae quoque Dei maledictiones et minae derisui facile habebantur. lam finge, Lamech blasphemum nomine filio imposito illud voluisse exprimere, brevi ipsam etiam maledictionem 3,17 sqq. contra Adam pronuntiatam humanis artibus fore eludendam, fortasse ipsum fructum vitae e paradiso adhuc exstante nefaria fraude obtinendum. Finge nomine exprimi spem, liberandum brevi fore hominem a laboribus et aerumnis pro peccato inflictis, imo ab ipsa morte. Si rem ita concipias, nonne fatebere, Lamechum Sethitam improbitate Lamechum Cainitam (5,23 sq.) longe superare atque meritas impietatis poenas diluvio tulisse? v. 30 « Vixitque Lamech, postquam genuit Noe, quingentis nonaginta quinque annis et genutt filtos et filias ».
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v. 31 « Et facti sunt omnes dies Lamech septingenti septuaginla septem anni et mortuus est. Noe vero, cum quingentorum esset annorum, genuit Sem , Cham et Iaphet » ; non uno eodemque anno, cum 9.14 Cham dicatur natu minimus. Putavit Iac. Edess. , Noe primum tot annis vitam caelibem duxisse, ne, si quos liberos procreasset, communi illi nequitia macularentur ; tandem Dei iussu uxorem duxisse.
5:1
To these considerations the Apostles and Fathers add other reasons, such as: 1) that man might be the principle of the whole human race and the unity of origin and of species might be established (Mt. 19:4; Acts 17:26; cf. Gen. 3:20; 5:1-2); 2) that the dignity and authority of man might be evident (1 Cor. 11:7-9; 1 Tim. 2:13-14); 3) that the union of Christ and the Church might be prefigured (Eph. 5:23-32; Jn. 19:34).
6. Man's superiority over the animals in the Old Testament is not derived from the possession of a spiritual and immortal soul, but is expressed through the idea of likeness to God (Gen. 1:26; 5:1-3; 9:6; Ps. 8:6 ff.; Eccli. 17:3; Wis. 2:23). Nevertheless, since this likeness consists in man's being endowed with intelligence and free will, implicitly resembling God coincides with …
5:3
… From the genealogies of the Sethites (Gen. 5:3-31) and of the Noachites (Gen. 11:10-26) there result 1656 years (in the Samaritan codex 1307, in the Septuagint 2242 [2262]) from the creation of man to the flood, 920 years (Samaritan …
… It is a question of man who must be created in his image and likeness. d) The end of man. He must dominate over irrational creatures: he must propagate himself by generating other men who are his image and likeness, and therefore of God (cf. Gen. 5:3). The elevation to a supernatural end appears clearly in the second narrative of the creation of man. e) The original goodness of creatures. …
… In the genealogy of the Sethites (Gen. 5:3-31) and Shemites (ibid. 11:10-32), for each P. a schema is filled in which notes: the age at which he begot his successor, how long he lived afterwards, the total sum of his life, that …
… This idea is based on an interpretation of the sons of Seth as "sons of God" (Gen. 5, 3 and 6, 2). The speculation is probably of Jewish origin, and for this reason Jewish Gnosis was only slightly Christianized (identification of Seth and Christ). …
… The t. cannot in fact claim in its own favor any argument from Sacred Scripture: the few passages cited (e.g., Gen. 1:28; 5:3; 46:26) prove nothing. …
5:5
… The Byzantine Church honors him with public worship (feast of Sts. Adam and Eve, Dec. 19). He died at the age of 930 (Gen. 5:5). According to ancient legends he was buried near the earthly paradise; it has seemed that St. Jerome, in his translation of Jos. 14:15 (Vulgate), speaks of Hebron; many Fathers held …
5:6
Enos (Hebrew Enōš = « humanity », « man »)
In Gen. 5:6-11 - the priestly document according to the critics - the genealogy of E. is again repeated: at the age of 90 (at 190 according to the Septuagint) he would have become the father of Kenan …
… is traced the beginning of religious-spiritual civilization ("Then men began to call upon the name of Yahweh": ibid. 4:26), in contrast to the line of Cain, which inaugurated material civilization (ibid. 4:17-24). At the age of 105 he begot Enosh (ibid. 5:6), in whose line Noah would be found.
5:9
CAINAN. - 1. Heb. Qēnān, Gk. Καϊναν (-αμ), son of Enosh (Gen. 5:9; 1 Chron. 1:2), grandson of Seth, great-grandson of Adam, died at the age of 910 (Gen. 5:14), mentioned by St. Luke (3:37) in the genealogy of Christ.
5:10
… Some apocrypha, such as the Ethiopic Henoch (v.) and the Book of Jubilees (v.), have figures for the patriarchs in Gen. 5, 10-11 identical with those of the S. P. This can be explained only by admitting that, in Jewish circles, besides the type of text that later determined the Masoretic text, besides the "semi-popular" …
5:12
MALALEEL. - Patriarch mentioned in Gen. 5:12-13, and represented in one of the medallions of the cycle of patriarchs painted on the walls of the central nave of the basilica of S. Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome (1123-44). …
5:14
CAINAN. - 1. Heb. Qēnān, Gk. Καϊναν (-αμ), son of Enosh (Gen. 5:9; 1 Chron. 1:2), grandson of Seth, great-grandson of Adam, died at the age of 910 (Gen. 5:14), mentioned by St. Luke (3:37) in the genealogy of Christ.
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Jared (Heb. Jeredh, in pausa Jāredh)
1. Antediluvian patriarch, of the line of Seth, son of Mahalalel and father of Enoch (Gen. 5:15-20; 1 Chron. 1:2; Luke 3:37).
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Mathusala (Hebrew Mēthāšēlāh or Mēthūšēlāh)
… At the age of 187 he begot Lamech, who was the father of Noah, and he survived another 782 years, until he reached, after begetting numerous offspring, the age of 969 years: the greatest age recorded in the Bible (Gen. 5:21-27), which thus became proverbial.
5:23
… Of him, who according to Gen. 5:23 reached the age of 365 years (the number of days of the solar year), it is said that he "walked with God" (the Septuagint translates: "pleased God"; cf. Heb. 11:5). At the age of 65 …
5:24
… The same verb lagh "to take" (II Kings 2:3 ff.) expresses elsewhere the intervention of God in the serene death of the just man: Gen. 5:24; Ps. 47 (Heb. 49):16; Is. 53:8. The other elements are symbolic. …
… Finally "he was seen no more, because God took him" (Gen. 5:24); the term "to take" (lāqah) is the one
I. TRUTH OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. - I. Scripture. - In the Old Testament the revelation of this truth was progressive, in harmony with slow divine preparations (Yahweh, God of life: Gen. 5:24; Deut. 32:39; I Kings 17; II Kings 2:3, 11-12; 4:33-36; 13:21; Ps. 9:2; Wis. 2:24; 16:13) and with deep aspirations of the human heart (permanent familiarity with God: Gen. …
5:25
2. Descendant of Seth and son of Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-31; 1 Chron. 1:3; Luke 3:36 f.).
5:28
Noe (Heb. Nōah; Septuagint Nōe; cf. Old Babylonian Nuḫīja)
… Nōah; Septuagint Nōe; cf. Old Babylonian Nuḫīja). - The tenth of the "antediluvian patriarchs" (Gen. 5:28-31), son of Lamech, who lived to the age of 950 years (ibid. 9:29). In anticipation of the flood (v.), which occurred when he was 600 years old (ibid. 7:6), he received from God the order …
5:29
… The expression (Gen. 5:29) that accompanies the choice of the name Noah shows in L. a sentiment quite different from those found in the preceding one. F. de Hummelauer believes he establishes from the Samaritan …
Noe (Heb. Nōah; Septuagint Nōe; cf. Old Babylonian Nuḫīja)
… connect the etymology of the name: one reads in fact that at the child's birth the father "called him Nōah, saying: This one will relieve us (verb niham) from our work and from the toil of our hands because of the ground, cursed (Gen. 3:17) by God" (ibid. 5:29); an allusion to the restorative effect of wine and to the new methods of agriculture.
5:31
… Shem, when the flood ended, must have been 101 years old (Gen. 5:31; 7:6). Instead, according to Gen. 11:10, two years after the flood he was only 100 years old. Another fact that impresses is the late age at which the biblical P. have their successor …
5:32
… Hām, Vulgar Chām). - One of the three sons of Noah (Shem, C. and Japheth, Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 9:18; 1 Chron. 1:4) saved from the flood (Gen. 8:18) and from whom "the whole human race spread over all the earth" (ibid. 9:19). He had four sons (v. CAMITES). …
SEM (Hebrew: Šēm). - One of the sons of Noah, perhaps the firstborn, since he appears in first place in the enumerations (S., Ham [v.] and Japheth [v.]: Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 9:18 etc.); but in the "Table of Nations" (ibid. 10:2-21) the brothers are mentioned first, because they are set aside from the narrator's interest, who then follows only the …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.