Seth in the Bible
Bible Review's Supporting Roles by Elie Wiesel
Read Elie Wiesel’s essay on Seth in the Bible as it originally appeared in Bible Review, October 1999. It first appeared in Bible History Daily in 2013.—Ed.
An obedient son, Seth (shown twice) listens to his dying father’s last wish, dons his cap and sets out the door to fulfill Adam’s request, in this 15th-century illumination from the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves. According to extrabiblical legend, the dying man sent his youngest son back to paradise to obtain anointing oil from the Tree of Knowledge. Pierpont Morgan Library/Art Resource, NY
In the story of the first man and the first woman, we are intrigued by a character about whom we are told very little.
Adam and Eve, we know. After all, they are our ancestors. Each one of us is their direct descendant. Scripture says so, and we are bound to believe it, if only to impose upon ourselves an essential lesson: that of equality. Descended from the same line, no one is superior to another. Nor inferior.
The text provides us with numerous elements about Adam and Eve’s origin, their life as first couple and first parents, their sojourn in paradise and, later, in exile.
That is equally true of their two sons, Cain and Abel. We know their tragic story. The elder and his rejected offerings, the younger and his accepted ones. The dialogue of Cain with God. The first murder and the first death in human history. Abel died unmarried; Cain had children and grandchildren.
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After the murder of the younger brother and the flight of his assassin, the text tells us little else about Adam and Eve. They are missing but not dead. For they reappear on the scene. When? A hundred and thirty years, or seven generations, after their first family tragedy and shortly after the death of Cain himself, who is killed by his great-great-grandson Lemech.
Suddenly, without minding the non sequitur, the text informs us that Adam returned to his wife, knew her, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth: “because God has granted me a new future in place of Abel, killed by Cain” (Genesis 4:25). Then, in the next verse, the text tells us, “To Seth also, a son is born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to evoke the name of the Lord.”
There it is, almost everything that we know of Seth: Contrary to biblical custom, it is he and not his spouse who gives the name Enosh to their son. For Maimonides, this verse indicates the beginning of idolatry in the world. Enosh and a few chosen ones, such as Noah, Shem and Eber, were the only ones to remain bound to the Lord.a
With Adam’s death, Seth became the patriarch of the first family. With the death of his brothers Cain and Abel and of Cain’s descendants, Seth became progenitor of the rest of the human race, as shown in this greatly abbreviated family tree.
But why are we told so little about Seth? How did he sustain himself? Was he a musician, like Yuval? Did he like the country life or that of the city? How did he live with his aged parents? Did he benefit, or did he suffer, from an excess of love on their part? The reader doesn’t know whether to pity him or to envy him.
A curious thing: In midrashic literature, which is usually so expansive, rather little is said about this character to whom, we shall soon see, we owe so much.b The Midrash is more forthcoming regarding Seth’s family.
A moving midrashic legend recounts that after the death of Abel, the mourning Adam and Eve fall into a profound, melancholy solitude. Far from Paradise, they are no longer in harmony with their environment or with one another. We imagine them silent, lethargic. They no longer desire anything, least of all another child. Undoubtedly, Abel and his cruel fate are too prevalent in their thoughts for them to wish to give him a brother. Years, centuries slip away, and for them, the world is a wasteland. But do they remember the first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply? And if they have forgotten, why doesn’t God remind them of it?
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In the Midrash, it is one of their descendants who reminds them—Lemech. A curious character. He is blind. At a certain time, he takes two women: Ada and Tzila (Genesis 4:19). Why two? One to give him children and the other to give him pleasure. It is to them that he will confess: “Ada and Tzila, listen to my voice! Wives of Lemech, give ear to my word! I have killed a man” (Genesis 4:23). Yes, he had just killed Cain. It was an accident, but it was nevertheless a murder. He is sure that this act will weigh upon not seven generations, as in Cain’s case, but upon seventy-seven. The next verse speaks of the reunion of Adam and his wife. What is the connection?
The Midrash furnishes it for us: Lemech’s two wives separated themselves from him after the birth of their children, saying: What good is it to have children, since God has decreed that the seventh generation after Cain (which is theirs) would be punished? What good is it to give life to children who will die?
Lemech, not too intelligent, asks the advice of Adam, who then reprimands the two wives: Who are you to preoccupy yourselves with the ways of the Lord? He does what He must do, and as for you, do your duty as wives!
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Thereupon, says the Midrash, they respond: And who then are you to lecture us? Since the death of your son, it has been 130 years that you have separated yourself from your wife so as no longer to have children—and you tell us to have them? Faced with the logic of Lemech’s two wives, Adam immediately returned to Eve, “and he had a son in his image and according to his form” (Genesis 5:3), whom Eve named Seth. Why Eve and not Adam? Because in the Bible, it is always the woman who names the children. But if so, why did Seth name his son? Was this perhaps to mark the singularity of Enosh, who is so closely linked to Adam and to God? Like Adam, Enosh means “man.” Moreover, the next verse says, “ze sefer toldot adam,” “this is the book of the generations of Adam.” In other words, we are present not at the beginning but at the second beginning of Creation.
Adam’s last son, Seth, resembles his father. We are all his descendants, states the Midrash. It strains to reassure us. In case we were afraid to be Cain’s descendants and inheritors of his original sin, the Midrash tells us, all the descendants of Cain will perish in the Flood, but not those of Seth.
The proof: We are here to tell his story.
Translated from French by Martha Liptzin Hauptman.
Notes
a. Moses Maimonides (the Rambam) was a great 12th-century philosopher and expert on Jewish law (halakhist).
b. Midrash a genre of rabbinic literature, includes nonliteral elaboration on the biblical text.
Elie Wiesel
The author of more than 30 novels, plays and profiles of Biblical figures, Elie Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. This online publication is adapted from Wiesel’s article “Supporting Roles: Seth,” which was published in Bible Review in October 1999.
At the inception of Wiesel’s Supporting Roles series in Bible Review, December 1997, BAS editors wrote:
We are pleased—and honored—to present our readers with the first of a series of insightful essays by Elie Wiesel, the world-renowned author and human rights advocate. Wiesel is best known for his numerous books on the Holocaust and for his profiles of Biblical figures and Hasidic masters. In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His occasional series for BR will focus on characters in the Bible that do not occupy center stage—those who play supporting roles.
More by Elie Wiesel in Bible History Daily
More by Elie Wiesel in the BAS Library
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Scripture tells those of us who study in depth verse by verse and chapter by chapter using the original languages that on the 6th Day the Creator created all the races, men and women, and on the day after the 7th of HIS rest HE created Eth Ha Adam, The Man Adam. Eve was formed from his DNA (the curve not an actual bone). Eve meaning Mother of All Living because through her would be born the Savior and all will Live if they believe and love HIM. Much detail is given about whose Cain’s Father was. Certainly, he was the son of Eve, but not with Adam since Cain is NOT listed in the genealogy of Adam in the Book of Genesis 5. Cain married in the country of Nod a woman from the 6th Day Race. His descendants are so called Kenites .Kenites are a different race from Adam. You will find out who Cain’s father was when GOD gives the 1st Prophesy in Genesis 3:14 to the Serpent (look up meaning) and to Eve before the twins were born. Yes, Cain and Abel were twins. And well, I would love to give further details and documentation, but each of us must do our own searching and studies ALWAYS believing in GOD’S WORD and not man’s.
Good gracious! Where does all of this fictitious supposition originate? Cain not the son of Adam? Cain and Abel twins? A 6th-day race? (This implies, of course, that Adam was of one race and someone else was created in the manner of Adam and began another race.)
Secondly, the Bible is the authority, not oral tradition. Almost all of what Weisel purports is extra-Biblical and thus completely unreliable. God himself was silent on myriad subjects concerning creation and subsequent events; why do we need to fill in the blanks, especially when the “answers” are given as absolute?
Since it is written…”…when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you in ALL truth..” then why would anyone want to discourage another for learning even more that helps us rightly divide the word of truth. A wonderful Bible teacher of mine told me the God rewards the diligent student! I have found that to be true. Are the answers ALWAYS given as absolute? If so, tell me how Matthew KNEW that Hosea 11:1 was a fulfillment of Messianic prophecy? Those who tell others to stop trying to “fill in the blanks” would have called him to the carpet for taking scripture out of context! And, like Cira, I have found many insights with more diligent study of the original languages! Much has been lost in translation over the centuries…man’s doing, not God’s.
So here is MY insight from original languages and comparing scripture with scripture! Man did not simply “discover” that they were naked at the fall. The LIGHT that was their covering was removed! I got that comparing Genesis with parts of the Psalms. But YOU will have to find that yourself! Comparing scripture with scripture gives MANY opportunities to fill in the blanks. For it is written…”Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand? them that are weaned from the milk…For precept must be upon precept…line upon line…here a little, and there a little….wherefore, hear the word of the Lord…” – Isaiah 28:10-14. I would be very careful about putting limitations and setting absolutes on the Word of God in every instance.
Where are all the wives in these stories supposed to have originated? The lads are the only offspring mentioned for Adam and Eve, and if they had daughters, the whole first generation would have been guilty of incest.
More to the point, if Adam, Eve and Cain were the only people in the world after Abel was killed, and Cain went out to wander the otherwise unpopulated world alone, then (1) why did he need a “mark” to prevent someone from killing him, and (2) where did he find a wife?
For that matter, where did Seth find a wife? from the descendants of Cain, who had no way to leave descendants without finding HIMSELF a wife?
Read Gen. 5:4. Adam had other sons and daughters. That is where their wives came from. figure it out. Gil
Genesis chapter 5 has similarities to the Sumerian pre-diluvian king-lists in that the descendants of Adam are given long lifespans as were the exaggerated duration of the Sumerian city’s reign. The kingship “descends” first upon Eridu (“Irad” in Genesis 4:18), and in later various medieval traditions, a book descends down to Adam that is refered to in Genesis 5:1; “This is the book of the generations of Adam…”
“When Adam was in the Garden of Eden, the blessed Holy One brought down a book for him by the hand of Raziel, the holy angel appointed over supernal, sacred mysteries. In it were engraved supernal engravings, sacred wisdom” (The Zohar, vol.1, by Daniel Matt, p.311). The Hebrew word for engraving or carving is “huk” and it is the root-word for “hokmah” which means wisdom. The ancient Egyptians employed the term “hekau” which means “words of power” and was used to perform magical incantations.
Zohar 1:55b also states that Adam kept the book “hidden until he left the Garden of Eden, daily wielding treasures of his Lord.” The word for wielding in Hebrew is “mishtammash” (using) and it is used in the context of magic/miracle-working. From the accounts of Jewish mystic visionaries seeking the “glory” of God’s throne during the period of the Mishnah we have mention of the term “Employment of the Glory.” The use of the verb “mishtammash” in this Midrashic “literature is a fixed term for ‘undertaking theurgic practices'” in particular, “to make magical use of the name of God JHVH” (Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, by Gershom Scholem, p.66; p.358, footenote 17).
Adam gave this book to Seth and it passed down the generations to Abraham. Josephus states that Seth was virtuous and that his children “were the inventors of that particular sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies, and their order” (Antiquities, Book 1, chapter 2:3). He also staes that Seth inscribed these discoveries on two pillars for future generations. The gnostic Sethites who were regarded as heretics by the early church fathers, believed that they were the spiritual descendents of Seth. From the Nag Hammadi Library we have a sample of their beliefs in “The Three Steles of Seth” where Seth is called the “Father of the living and the unshakable race.”
“I shall utter thy name, for thou art a first name. Thou art unbegotten. Thou hast appeared in order that thou mightest reveal the eternal ones … Thou art he who is uttered by a voice, but by mind art thou glorified, thou who hast dominion everywhere.”
I made another amateurish mistake when stating that the Hebrew word for carving is “huk” when in fact it is “huq” that means statute or decree, as in the decrees of unjust judges in Isaiah 10:1; “Those who decree decrees of trouble.” “Huqah” means “to cut in, carve” and “huqoq” means “to cut in, inscribe, decree.”
Also I confused the Midrash with the Mishnah. Mishnah is derived from the root “shanah” meaning “to repeat”. Midrash is derived from “derash” meaning “to draw out.” So we have this oral tradition being “repeated” through the ages, from which we can still “draw out” the meaning.
I also agree with commentator Phillip’s interpretation of Isaiah 28:10-14, which has often been interpreted negatively. In the translation of the J.P.S. Bible, the footnote to Isaiah 28:9 mentions that it is the mockers of Isaiah’s message who say, “To whom would he give instruction? To those newly weaned from milk?”
It is not inconcievable that the northwest Syrian site of Tell Mardikh, being the location of the lost city of Ebla, is the biblical Abel. Tablets inscribed with a west Semitic language were found that has some affinities with biblical Hebrew, with the the language of Ugarit being a link between the two. Among the similarities is the verse from Genesis 1:26; “Let us make man in our image.”
“Til now the only attestation of adam, “man, Adam,” outside the Bible appeared in Old Akkadian texts from the period of Sargon the Great (circa 2350 B.C.) in the form of the personal names A-da-mu and A-dam-u. Now from Ebla comes the personal name A-da-mu, one of the 14 governors of the provinces under King Igris-Halam. In Ugarit one of the titles of El, the head of the pantheon is il ab adm, ‘El, the father of mankind'” (The Archives of Ebla, by Giovanni Pettinato, p.274).
Earlier this year it was reported that the archaeological site of Tell Mardikh fell prey to rampant looting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/middleeast/syrian-war-devastates-ancient-sites.html?pagewanted=all
It is interesting to note that the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 takes place outside the Garden of Eden where “the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword…guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). A type of cherubim known in Assyrian art is Lamassu, and on the Wikipedia page of Lamassu it states that these are hybrids of winged bulls or lions with human heads. It also states that “the motif of a winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla, around 3000 B.C.E.”
Two kings of Akkad claimed to have conquered Ebla. Sargon the Great mentions the god Dagan giving him “Ebla as far as the forest of cedars and the mountain of silver.” His successor a hundred years later, Naram-Sin, mentions the god Nergal did “open up the path” giving him Ebla and “he also presented him with Amanus, the Mountain of Cedar” (The Archives of Ebla, pp.14,15).
Since we know the Lamassu statues flanked the gates of the city, we may infer that the cherubim are stationed at the entrance of Ebla, a strategic obstacle challenging an invader seeking to “open up a path” to the tree of life. In this instance that “tree” would be the cedar forest that later Assryian kings sent expeditions for acquiring building materials.