After the tragedy with Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve experienced a period of deep sorrow. According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, Adam separated himself from Eve for 130 years! But, eventually, they reunited, and their love was even stronger than before. And from this reunion came Seth, a figure of immense importance.
Now, Seth wasn't just another child. Tradition holds that he was destined to be the ancestor of the Messiah. And get this: some say Seth was born already circumcised – one of thirteen people born perfect in that way. But perhaps even more significantly, (Genesis 5:3) tells us that Adam begot Seth "in his own likeness, after his image." This is in stark contrast to Cain, who wasn't considered to be in Adam's true image. This distinction is crucial. Seth, in a very real sense, became the father of the pious part of humanity, while the wicked were seen as descendants of Cain.
The difference between the lines of Cain and Seth became increasingly clear. The descendants of Cain grew more and more wicked, constantly escalating in their violence and injustice. But Seth? He was different. Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, tells us that when Seth grew up, he became a virtuous man. He raised children who followed in his righteous path. They lived together in harmony, untouched by misfortune. These descendants of Seth are even credited with inventing a unique kind of wisdom related to the heavens.
And here's where it gets really interesting. Knowing that the world would face destruction, once by fire and once by water, they built two pillars: one of brick and one of stone. They inscribed their astronomical discoveries on both, so that even if one pillar was destroyed, the other would survive and preserve their knowledge. Talk about planning for the future!
Now, let's talk about Enosh, Seth's son. People asked him about his lineage, tracing it back to Adam, who they knew was created from the dust of the earth. But they questioned how a human could come from dust. Enosh tried to explain the mystery of creation, but things took a dark turn.
As the story goes, Enosh attempted to recreate God's act of creation, fashioning an image from clay. But when he breathed into it, Satan entered the image! The figure came to life, and people began to worship it. This, according to tradition, was the beginning of idolatry. And the consequences were severe. As we find in the Midrash Rabbah, God unleashed a flood upon the earth as punishment.
The Zohar adds another layer to this. It says that before the time of Enosh, the Shekinah – God's Divine Presence – rested on earth, radiating a light so powerful that it protected people from harm. But with the rise of idolatry, fueled by forbidden knowledge taught by the fallen angels Uzza and Azzael, people began to manipulate the heavens through magic. The angels were appalled. They questioned why God would concern Himself with humans who worshipped idols. This ultimately led to the Shekinah leaving the earth, ascending back to heaven amid a chorus of angelic trumpets.
So, what does it all mean? The story of Seth and his descendants isn't just a historical account. It’s a story about choices, about the potential for both great good and devastating evil within humanity. It's a reminder that our actions have consequences, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come. And perhaps most profoundly, it's a reflection on the delicate balance between humanity and the Divine. What do you think? How much do you think the decisions we make today will affect the future?
The exhortations of the wives of Lamech took effect upon Adam. After a separation of one hundred and thirty years, he returned to Eve, and the love he now bore her was stronger by far than in the former time. She was in his thoughts even when she was not present to him bodily. The fruit of their reunion was Seth, who was destined to be the ancestor of the Messiah. Seth was so formed from birth that the rite of circumcision could be dispensed with. He was thus one of the thirteen men born perfect in a way. Adam begot him in his likeness and image, different from Cain, who had not been in his likeness and image. Thus Seth became, in a genuine sense, the father of the human race, especially the father of the pious, while the depraved and godless are descended from Cain. Even during the lifetime of Adam the descendants of Cain became exceedingly wicked, dying successively, one after another, each more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies, and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behavior in acting unjustly and doing injury for gain. Now as to Seth. When he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, he became a virtuous man, and as he was himself of excellent character, so he left children behind him who imitated his virtues. All these proved to be of good disposition. They also inhabited one and the same country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortune's falling upon them, until they died. They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies and their order. And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, they made two pillars, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire and at another time by the violence and quantity of water. The one was of brick, the other of stone, and they inscribed their discoveries on both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit these discoveries to mankind, and also inform them that there was another pillar, of brick, erected by them. ENOSH Enosh was asked who his father was, and he named Seth. The questioners, the people of his time, continued: "Who was the father of Seth?" Enosh: "Adam."—"And who was the father of Adam?"—"He had neither father nor mother, God formed him from the dust of the earth."—"But man has not the appearance of dust!"—"After death man returns to dust, as God said, 'And man shall turn again unto dust;' but on the day of his creation, man was made in the image of God."—"How was the woman created?"—"Male and female He created them."—"But how?"—"God took water and earth, and moulded them together in the form of man."—"But how?" pursued the questioners. Enosh took six clods of earth, mixed them, and moulded them, and formed an image of dust and clay. "But," said the people, "this image does not walk, nor does it possess any breath of life." He then essayed to show them how God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam, but when he began to blow his breath into the image he had formed, Satan entered it, and the figure walked, and the people of his time who had been inquiring these matters of Enosh went astray after it, saying, "What is the difference between bowing down before this image and paying homage to a man?" The generation of Enosh were thus the first idol worshippers, and the punishment for their folly was not delayed long. God caused the sea to transgress its bounds, and a portion of the earth was flooded. This was the time also when the mountains became rocks, and the dead bodies of men began to decay. And still another consequence of the sin of idolatry was that the countenances of the men of the following generations were no longer in the likeness and image of God, as the countenances of Adam, Seth, and Enosh had been. They resembled centaurs and apes, and the demons lost their fear of men. But there was a still more serious consequence from the idolatrous practices introduced in the time of Enosh. When God drove Adam forth from Paradise, the Shekinah remained behind, enthroned above a cherub under the tree of life. The angels descended from heaven and repaired thither in hosts, to receive their instructions, and Adam and his descendants sat by the gate to bask in the splendor of the Shekinah, sixty-five thousand times more radiant than the splendor of the sun. This brightness of the Shekinah makes all upon whom it falls exempt from disease, and neither insects nor demons can come nigh unto them to do them harm. Thus it was until the time of Enosh, when men began to gather gold, silver, gems, and pearls from all parts of the earth, and made idols thereof a thousand parasangs high. What was worse, by means of the magic arts taught them by the angels Uzza and Azzael, they set themselves as masters over the heavenly spheres, and forced the sun, the moon, and the stars to be subservient to themselves instead of the Lord. This impelled the angels to ask God: "'What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?' Why didst Thou abandon the highest of the heavens, the seat of Thy glory and Thy exalted Throne in 'Arabot, and descend to men, who pay worship to idols, putting Thee upon a level with them?" The Shekinah was induced to leave the earth and ascend to heaven, amid the blare and flourish of the trumpets of the myriads of angel hosts.
