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| Of the Two Fathers and Leaders Who Sprang from One Progenitor.
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Chapter 17.—Of the Two Fathers
and Leaders Who Sprang from One Progenitor.
Since, then, Adam was the father of
both lines,—the father, that is to say, both of the line which
belonged to the earthly, and of that which belonged to the heavenly
city,—when Abel was slain, and by his death exhibited a
marvellous mystery, there were henceforth two lines proceeding from
two fathers, Cain and Seth, and in those sons of theirs, whom it
behoved to register, the tokens of these two cities began to appear
more distinctly. For Cain begat Enoch, in whose name he built a
city, an earthly one, which was not from home in this world, but
rested satisfied with its temporal peace and happiness. Cain,
too, means “possession;” wherefore at his birth either his
father or mother said,” I have gotten a man through God.”
Then Enoch means “dedication;” for the earthly city is
dedicated in this world in which it is built, for in this world it
finds the end towards which it aims and aspires. 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,”821
leaving no
room to doubt that though the woman was distinctively called Eve,
yet the name Adam, meaning man, was common to both. But Enos
means man in so restricted a sense, that Hebrew linguists tell us
it cannot be applied to woman: it is the equivalent of the
“child of the resurrection,” when they neither marry nor are
given in marriage.822
For there shall be no generation
in that place to which regeneration shall have brought us.
Wherefore I think it not immaterial to observe that in those
generations which are propagated from him who is called Seth,
although daughters as well as sons are said to have been begotten,
no woman is expressly registered by name; but in those which sprang
from Cain at the very termination to which the line runs, the last
person named as begotten is a woman.
For we read,
“Methusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives:
the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of the shepherds that
dwell in tents. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the
father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she
also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and
iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.”823
Here
terminate all the generations of Cain, being eight in number,
including Adam,—to wit, seven from Adam to Lamech, who married
two wives, and whose children, among whom a woman also is named,
form the eighth generation. Whereby it is elegantly signified
that the earthly city shall to its termination have carnal
generations proceeding from the intercourse of males and females.
And therefore the wives themselves of the man who is the last named
father of Cain’s line, are registered in their own names,—a
practice nowhere followed before the deluge save in Eve’s case.
Now as Cain, signifying possession, the founder of the earthly
city, and his son Enoch, meaning dedication, in whose name it was
founded, indicate that this city is earthly both in its beginning
and in its end,—a city in which nothing more is hoped for than
can be seen in this world,—so Seth, meaning resurrection, and
being the father of generations registered apart from the others,
we must consider what this sacred history says of his
son.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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