Enoch, Hanoch(חנוך) - a descendant of Seth, son of Jared and father of Methuselah, the seventh patriarch from Adam. The fifth chapter of Genesis says that Enoch "walked with God" and lived 365 years after which "he was not, because God took him" (Genesis 5:22-24). The fifth chapter of Genesis itself is a genealogy from Adam to Noah and his sons. About all the other ancestors of Noah, in contrast to Enoch, it is said "and he died." These ambiguous statements are interpreted, and also interpreted in later non-biblical traditions, as indicating that, unlike other patriarchs, Enoch did not die, since God took him to heaven, freeing him from the death caused by the sins of the forefathers, as a reward for piety, cf. . (Heb. 11:5). The appearance of Enoch with the prophet Elijah (Eliyahu) is expected by some Christians before the second coming.

In the 17th century, to Moscow in the Posolsky Prikaz through diplomatic channels from different European countries repeatedly delivered reports of the appearance of Elijah and Enoch. In Europe, these news were spread among the Protestant milieu. They played the role of propaganda writings directed against Rome. In Russia, the split in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Old Believers copied the texts copied in the Posolsky Prikaz until the end of the 18th century. The Secret Chancellery hunted for the documents circulating among the people.

The tradition of Enoch is preserved by different peoples. So, in the city of Iconium, a legend was known about King Anak, who lived 300 years before the flood (cf. the life span of Enoch on earth according to the Bible is 365 years) and begged the gods to have mercy on the human race, doomed to perish.

Enoch is mentioned in the Qur'an and Islamic religious tradition as the prophet Idris. According to some Islamic traditions, he invented astronomy, writing and arithmetic and is identified with Osiris, a deified king who lived at the dawn of civilization.

For a long time, the content of a book could only be judged by quotations and reviews. However, in the 18th century, its full text in Ethiopian was discovered, and since that time it has been repeatedly published both in the original and in translations. The book dates from the II-I centuries BC. e. and is a rich source for studying the religious worldview of the Jews of that era. As can be seen from a comparison of the epistle of Jude (15 and 16) and the book of Enoch (I, 9), early Christian writers also used it.

Notes

Shamin S. M. "The Tale of the Two Elders": on the issue of the existence of European eschatological prophecy in Russia // Bulletin of Church History. 2008. No. 2(10). pp. 221–248.

When writing this article, material from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1890-1907) was used.

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Deprived of their blessed home, the first people settled east of Eden. This eastern out-of-paradise country has become the cradle of humanity. Here began the first labors of everyday harsh life, and here the first generation of "born" people appeared. " Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and gave birth"son, whom she gave the name Cain, which means:" I got a man from the Lord "(). Adam and Eve probably hoped that in the person of Cain they saw the fulfillment of the promise of a Redeemer, but their hope was not justified. In their first son, for the forefathers, only the beginning of new suffering and grief, still unknown to them, appeared; however, Eve soon realized herself that she too soon began to cherish herself with the hope of the fulfillment of the promise, and therefore, when her second son was born, she named him Abel, which means a ghost, par. The increase in the family required more and more strength to get food. Soon his sons began to help him in this matter. Cain began to work the land, and Abel was engaged in cattle breeding. But original sin was not slow to manifest itself with cruel force already in the first family.

One day Cain and Abel offered a sacrifice to God. Cain sacrificed the fruits of the earth, and Abel the firstborn ram from his flock. But Abel offered a sacrifice with faith in the promised Savior and with a prayer for mercy, and Cain offered it without faith and looked at her as his merit before God (). Therefore, Abel's sacrifice was accepted by God, while Cain's was rejected. Seeing the preference shown to his brother, and seeing in him a clear denunciation of his "evil deeds" (), Cain was greatly upset, and his darkened face drooped. It has sinister features. But the merciful God, wanting Cain to improve, warned him against an evil deed. He said to Cain: Why are you sad? why did your face droop?... sin... draws you to itself, but you rule over it»(). Cain disobeyed God's call and opened the door of his heart to sin. Calling his gullible brother into the field, he killed him, having committed a crime never seen before by the earth. The terrible crime, which for the first time introduced destruction into the order of nature, could not go unpunished.

"Where is Abel, your brother? the Lord asked Cain. " I don't know if I am my brother's keeper? - the killer answered with impudence. (). In this answer one can see what a terrible step forward evil has taken since the fall of the first parents. This audacity, this shameless denial did not allow the possibility of further testing of Cain, and the Lord pronounces his sentence: “... The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground; and now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand; you will be an exile and a wanderer on earth". Cain trembled, but not from repentance, but from fear that he would be avenged for his brother.

"My punishment is more than you can bear he said to the Lord, anyone who meets me will kill me". In response, the Lord said: For that, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold". And the Lord spoke a sign to Cain, so that no one who met him would kill him. ().

The fratricide could no longer stay with his parents. He left them and settled in the land of Nod, further east of Eden. But Cain did not move here alone. No matter how great the atrocity and insult inflicted by him on the purity and holiness of brotherly love, from among the brothers, sisters and subsequent generations that multiplied during this time, there were people who decided to follow Cain to the country of exile. Cain settled in a new place with his wife. Soon a son was born to him, whom he named Enoch.

Removed from the rest of human society, left to his own fate, Cain, by nature severe and stubborn, had to fight with nature and the external conditions of life with even greater persistence. And he really gave himself up to hard work to ensure his existence and was the first person who built the city as the beginning of a settled life. The city was named after his son Enoch.

Descendants of Cain and Seth

The generation of Cain began to increase rapidly, and at the same time, the struggle against nature, begun by his ancestor, continued. In the struggle with nature, the descendants of Cain learned to extract copper and iron and make tools from them. Carried away by material well-being and purely worldly concerns, the Cainites cared least of all about the spiritual life. Such neglect of the spiritual life developed countless vices among them. With such a direction of life, the Cainites could not become true representatives of the human race and, even more so, the keepers of great spiritual treasures - the first promise of the Savior and the primitive religious and moral institutions associated with it. The generation of Cain, with its crude worldly materialism and atheism, was only capable of perverting the historical course of development destined for humanity. This one-sided direction needed a counterbalance. And he really appeared in the generation of the new son of Adam - Seth, who was born after the murder of Abel.

From the birth of Seth in antediluvian mankind begins a generation of people who, in their spiritual mood, represented the complete opposite of Cain. In the generation of Cain, people worshiped the only material force and turned all their abilities (until they completely forgot God) to acquire material goods. In the generation of Seth, on the contrary, a completely different, more exalted direction of life was developed and developed, which, awakening in people a humble awareness of human helplessness and sinfulness, it directed their thoughts to God, who gave fallen people hope for deliverance from sin, damnation and death. Such a spiritual direction of life among the Sephites manifested itself noticeably already under the son of Seth - Enos: " Then, says the Writer, started calling on the name of the Lord[God]" (). This, of course, does not mean that until that time there were no prayers in which God is called upon at all. Religion began to be expressed in external forms, and consequently in prayer, even under Adam. This expression only means that now in the generation of Seth, the calling of the name of the Lord God became an open confession of their faith in God, in contrast to the generation of Cainites, who, for their godlessness, began to be called the sons of men. The highest spokesman and representative of the spiritual life of the Sethites was Enoch, who " walked with God» (), i.e. always in his life embodied the height of the original human purity and holiness. At the same time, he was the first to realize to what abyss of depravity and sinfulness the godlessness of the Cainites could lead, and he acted as the first preacher and prophet who announced the terrible coming judgment of God over the "wicked" (). As a reward for this high piety and fiery faith, the Lord took him alive from the sinful earth ().

The generation of Seth, being the bearer of the true and related promise, naturally had to become the root from which the whole “tree of mankind” was to develop. In this generation, patriarchs appear one after another - the great representatives of antediluvian mankind, who, being strong in spirit and body, were called upon to develop and preserve spiritual principles through many years of work, which were to form the basis of the moral life of all future generations. In order to successfully fulfill their purpose, they, by a special providence of God, were endowed with extraordinary longevity, so that for almost a whole millennium each of them could be a living guardian and interpreter of the promise entrusted to them. The first man Adam lived 930 years; his son Seth - 912 years; Seth's son Enos - 905 years; representatives of subsequent generations: Cainan - 910 years, Maleleel - 895, Jared - 962, Enoch - 365, Methuselah - 969, Lemech - 777 and Noah - 950 years.

global flood

The unusual longevity of the patriarchs was necessary in the primitive history of mankind both for the speedy settlement of the earth and the dissemination of useful knowledge, and, especially, for preserving the purity of the original worship of God and faith in the promise of the Redeemer given to the first people. The patriarch of each generation could pass on his knowledge for centuries to the ancestors of other generations. So, Adam was a living witness of primitive traditions until the very birth of Lemech, and Lemech's father, Methuselah, lived almost until the flood.

But, on the other hand, the longevity of wicked people could serve as a means of multiplying and spreading evil in humanity. And now, indeed, evil began to spread rapidly in the world. His higher development it reached as a result of mixing among themselves the descendants of Cain and Seth. At this time, the earth was already significantly populated, and along with its settlement, a terrible evil of depravity and corruption spread. " And the Lord [God] saw that the corruption of men on earth was great, and that all the thoughts and thoughts of their hearts were evil at all times". (). This, obviously, was not a simple natural depravity of a corrupted nature, but a general domination of open and daring sin and rebellion against God. From the criminally voluptuous communication of the Sethites with the Cainites, giants began to be born. Relying on their strength, they brought into human society the horrors of violence, lack of rights, predation, voluptuousness and general disbelief in the promise of future deliverance. And now, at the sight of such a state of people "... The Lord repented that He had created man on earth, and grieved in His heart. And the Lord said: I will destroy from the face of the earth the people whom I created, from men to cattle and creeping things and the birds of the air, for I repented that I created them»(). As created together with man and for man, animals must also share the fate of man. But the waves of vice have not yet flooded the whole of humanity. Among him was a man who "found grace in the eyes of the Lord." It was Noah, the son of Lemech, "a righteous man and blameless in his generations." He "walked with God" like his ancestor Enoch.

And so, when the earth “corrupted before the face of God and was filled with ... evil deeds,” when “all flesh perverted its way on the earth,” the Lord said to Noah: “The end of all flesh has come before me, ... I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark ... I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life under heaven ... But with you I will establish My covenant, and you will enter the ark, and your sons, and your wife and your sons' wives are with you" (). God appointed one hundred and twenty years for the repentance of the human race, and during this time Noah had to carry out his extraordinary construction, which could only cause ridicule and threats from those around him. But Noah's faith was unwavering.

Having received a revelation from God, he set about building the ark. The ark was built according to the exact instructions of God - from gopher wood and was pitched inside and out. The length of the ark is 300 cubits, the width is 50 cubits, and the height is 30 cubits. At the top, a long hole was made all over the ark, a cubit wide, for light and air, and on the side, a door. It was supposed to consist of three tiers with many compartments intended for livestock and feed. " And Noah did everything: as he commanded him[Lord] the God…» ().

Of course, during the entire construction Noah did not stop preaching, calling people to repentance. But his most eloquent sermon was, of course, his construction of a huge ship on land, far from water. The longsuffering of God was still waiting for the awakening of a sense of repentance in the wicked people during this building, but it was all in vain. By mocking and blaspheming Noah's preaching, people became even more carefree and lawless. They are " they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" ().

By the time Noah finished the ark, he was 600 years old, and then, seeing no more hope for the repentance of sinful mankind, the Lord ordered Noah to enter the ark with all his family and a certain number of animals, both clean and unclean. Noah obeyed God and entered the ark. And so "... all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened; and it rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights(). After the end, the water kept coming and coming to the ground. One hundred and fifty days her level rose, so that even high mountains covered with water. " And all flesh that moved on the earth lost its life" ().

Thus, the great punishment of God was accomplished to mankind, corrupted and drowning in evil. All people perished, and only one Noah's Ark, containing the chosen seed for the development of a new life, rushed across the boundless sea, foreshadowing the coming Christ.

"And God remembered Noah, and all ... who were with him in the ark; and God sent a wind upon the earth and the waters stopped»(). Gradually, the water began to subside, so that on the seventh month the ark stopped on one of the peaks of the Ararat mountains. In the twelfth month, when the water had subsided significantly, Noah let out a raven through the window to see if he would find a dry place, but the raven either flew away or returned to the ark again. Then, after seven days, Noah released the dove, but he returned, not finding a place where he could rest. Seven days later, Noah released him again, and then in the evening the dove returned, holding a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah waited another seven days and released the dove a third time. This time he did not return, for the ground had already dried up. Then the Lord commanded Noah to get out of the ark and release the animals to breed on the earth. Coming out of the ark, Noah first of all gave thanks to the Lord for the miraculous deliverance. He built an altar to the Lord, took clean animals and offered them as burnt offerings. Such piety of Noah was pleasing to the Lord, and He " said in his heart, I will no longer curse the earth for man" ().

Since Noah with his family was the new ancestor of mankind on earth, God repeated to him the blessing given to the forefathers: " And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth[and possess it]." ().

After the Flood, along with vegetable food, the Lord allows a person to eat animal meat, but only forbids eating blood along with meat, for "their soul is in the blood of animals." At the same time, a law was given against homicide - on the basis that all people are brothers, and each of them bears in himself the image and likeness of God. “Whoever sheds human blood,” says the Lord, “his blood will be shed by the hand of man” ().

After the flood, religion was renewed by the new alliance that God made with Noah. By virtue of this union, the Lord promised Noah that "all flesh will no longer be destroyed by the waters of the flood, and there will be no more flood to destroy the earth." The rainbow was chosen by God as the banner of this eternal covenant. Of course, the rainbow, as a physical phenomenon, existed before the Flood, but now it has become a symbol of the covenant.

Descendants of Noah

After the flood, everyday life began again with its usual cares and labors. Noah was an example of piety, diligence and other virtues for his sons. But man is weak in the fight against sin. Soon righteous Noah himself showed his sons an example of vicious weakness. Once Noah drank grape wine, intoxicated he threw off his clothes and naked fell asleep in his tent. Ham, who did not have respect and love for his father, rejoiced when he saw that the one who served as a model of a strict life and curbed his malevolence, is now himself in an indecent position. He hurried to his brothers and with a feeling of gloating began to tell them about his father. But Shem and Japheth showed filial love for their father: averting their eyes so as not to see his nakedness, they covered him with clothes. When Noah woke up and found out how Ham behaved, he cursed his descendants and predicted that they would be slaves of Shem and Japheth. Addressing Shem and Japheth, he said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; may God spread Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem" ().

Primitive society was patriarchal, Patriarch, i.e. the head of the family, had unlimited power over his children and their descendants. At the same time, he performed the role of a priest, making sacrifices, was the guardian of the true and the herald of future destinies. Therefore, what Noah said to his sons was indeed decisive for their future destiny. The meaning of this prophecy is this: the earth will be divided among people, and the descendants of Japheth (Indo-European peoples) will occupy the largest space, the true religion will be preserved among the descendants of Shem - the Semites, or Semites (Jews), the Redeemer of the world will appear in their tribe. The descendants of Japheth will move into the tents of Shem, i.e. they will believe in Christ, while the Semites (Jews) will reject Him.

Noah lived another 350 years after the flood and died 950 years after birth. Nothing more is reported about him in the biblical chronicle, which proceeds to describe the further fate of his descendants. From the sons of Noah came offspring that populated the earth. The descendants of Shem, the Semites, settled in Asia, mainly on the Arabian Peninsula with the countries adjacent to it; the descendants of Ham - the Hamites settled almost exclusively in Africa, and the descendants of Japheth - the Japhetites settled the entire southern part of Europe and Central Asia where they formed the Aryan kingdom.

Babylonian pandemonium and dispersion of peoples

But people settled on the earth not immediately. At first they lived in the Ararat valley as one big family and spoke the same language. Wanting to return to the homeland of their fathers, people began to move to the Senaar valley, which was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The fertile soil and other favorable conditions of Mesopotamia attracted post-Flood mankind, and civilization soon began to develop here. The first post-Flood states arose, such as Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian. The Bible tells that the founder of the first Babylonian kingdom and the conqueror of Assyria was Nimrod from the offspring of Ham ... He was a "strong hunter" and in his character resembled the first builder of the cities of Cain. Nimrod founded a city (Babylon), which quickly grew into a large proud capital, which became the head of large population with a number of other cities. No wonder such success filled Nimrod and his descendants with extraordinary pride. They began to dream of founding a world monarchy in which the descendants of Ham would occupy a dominant position. Their pride reached the point that, having formed a council, they decided, as a sign of their political power and obvious rebellion, to build a "tower as high as heaven." The undertaking was undoubtedly insane and impossible, but at the same time it was criminal and dangerous. Criminal because it flowed from pride, turning into apostasy and theomachism, and dangerous because it came out of the environment of the Hamites, who had already managed to distinguish themselves by their wickedness.

And so the work began to boil. People began to burn bricks and prepare earthen tar. Having prepared the building material, people began to build the tower. “And the Lord said, Behold, there is one people, and all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not lag behind what they have planned to do; let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other. And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth.” (). People, not understanding each other's language, stopped building the city and the tower and dispersed in different directions, settling on free lands and creating their own culture there. The city that they built along with the tower they called Babylon, which means mixing.

The event "mixing of languages" cannot be identified with the emergence of new languages. Languages appeared gradually, at the same time, during the construction of the tower. The Lord confused their concepts so that people did not understand each other. The event - the mixing of languages and the scattering of peoples over the earth - had a positive meaning.

First, the people escaped oppression and political despotism, which would have inevitably happened if they had fallen under the rule of such despots as Nimrod. Secondly, by scattering mankind, the Lord prevented the possibility of extreme religious and moral corruption; and thirdly, humanity, settled throughout the earth in the form of separate tribes and peoples, was given complete freedom to develop its national abilities, as well as arrange its life in accordance with the conditions of residence and historical features.

Beginning of idolatry

But, going farther and farther into the lands unknown to them, people gradually began to forget the traditions about the true God. Under the influence of formidable phenomena of the surrounding nature, people first began to distort the true concept of God, and then completely forgot Him. Forgetting the true God, people, of course, did not become absolute atheists, a religious feeling lived in the depths of their spiritual nature, they still had a need for spiritual life, their souls gravitated towards God.

But, having lost the concept of the invisible God, they began to deify objects and phenomena of visible nature. This is how idolatry was born.

Idolatry was expressed in three main forms: Sabeism - the deification of the stars, the sun and the moon; zootheism - deification of animals; and anthropotheism - the deification of man. These three kinds of idolatry subsequently found their strongest expression in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece.

Waves of sin and superstition, flooding the earth, again threatened to uproot the true religion in the hearts of people, and with it the hope of the coming Messiah, who should free people from slavery to sin and moral death. True, on earth, among the general idolatry and wickedness, there were still individuals who retained the true faith. But Environment could quickly carry them away with the general stream of unbelief. Therefore, in order to preserve the seeds of the true faith and prepare the way for the coming Savior of the world, the Lord among the pagan world chooses Patriarch Abraham, strong in spirit and faith, and in his person the entire Jewish people who were to come from him.


	Forefather Enoch. Museum of frescoes of Dionysius. Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin

The holy forefather Enoch is a descendant of Seth, the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah, the seventh of the patriarchs starting from Adam. The Book of Genesis says that Enoch "walked with God", i.e. strove for the highest purity and holiness, and lived 365 years, after which "he was gone, because God took him" (Genesis 5:22-24). These ambiguous statements are interpreted in later non-biblical traditions as indicating that, unlike other patriarchs, Enoch did not die, since God took him to heaven, freeing him from the death caused by the sins of his forefathers, as a reward for piety and faith, cf. (Heb. 11:5). According to the apocryphal "Book of Enoch", he was called by the Lord to judge the fallen angels. The appearance of Enoch together with the prophet Elijah is expected before the Second Coming of Christ.
The tradition of Enoch has been preserved among various peoples. So, in the city of Iconium, a legend was known about King Anak, who lived 300 years before the flood (cf. the life span of Enoch on earth according to the Bible is 365 years) and begged the gods to have mercy on the human race, doomed to perish. Enoch is revered in Islam, in the Koran he is mentioned as a prophet.

Enoch book.

Several pseudo-apocryphal books are known to bear the name of Enoch. The most famous book is 1 Enoch, commonly referred to simply as "The Book of Enoch". She is mentioned and cited in the writings of many church fathers, including Tertullian, Irenaeus, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Justin the Philosopher, and others.
The book of Enoch has always been recognized by the Church as apocryphal and, obviously, is a creation of a later period of time. It is remarkable that each of the three most important religious epochs in the history of the Old Testament and New Testament is marked by a miraculous event of migration to heaven: for example, the patriarchal Church - in the person of Enoch, the Jewish - in the person of the prophet Elijah, and the Christian - in the miraculous event of the Ascension to heaven of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Performer our salvation and His Most Pure Mother, the Ever-Virgin Mary, as a pious tradition has been preserved about this in Christian Church.
For a long time, the content of the book of Enoch could only be judged by quotations and reviews. However, in the 18th century, its full text in Ethiopian was discovered, and since that time it has been repeatedly published both in the original and in translations. The book dates from the II-I centuries BC. e. and is a rich source for studying the religious worldview of the Jews of that era. As can be seen from a comparison of the epistle of Jude (15 and 16) and the book of Enoch (I, 9), early Christian writers also used it.

The memory of Forefather Enoch is celebrated on the Week of the Forefathers, on Sunday 2 weeks before the feast of the Nativity of Christ.

From the stichera on the Sunday verse:

Glory, tone 3. Germanovo: Cathedral of the Forefathers, idlers, / come, let us praise in a psalm way: Adam the forefather, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, / Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, / according to the law of Moses, and Aaron, / Jesus, Samuel and David, / with them Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, / and Daniel, and twelve, / in addition to Elijah, Elisha and all, / Zechariah, and the Baptist, and who preached Christ, / the life and resurrection of our kind.

From the 8th song of the canon by the forefather on the Sunday of the holy forefathers:

Today we celebrate the divine memory of those who are from the ages, the honest father, / Adam, Abel, Seth, and Noah, / and Enos, and Enoch, and Abraham, / Melchizedek and Job, Isaac and the faithful Jacob, / bless the creation, crying out, the Lord / and exalts forever.

(www.dionisy.com; dic.academic.ru; Bible. Old and New testaments. Synodal translation. Bible Encyclopedia. arch. Nikifor. 1891.; azbyka.ru; illustrations - pravicon.com; www.dionisy.com www.agavaart.com).

5:1-32 Although Adam had many sons and daughters - 5:4, in the genealogy of Adam, the author focuses on the pious line of Seth, from which Noah was born. For further the narration of the history of mankind concerns the descendants of Noah.

Interestingly, Noah was born to a descendant of Seth - Lamech 5:30, and this name is also found in a descendant of Cain - 4:18. The name Enoch is also found in the lineage of Cain and Seth - 4:17, 5:18

It should be borne in mind that Enoch and Lamech from the line of Seth cannot be identified with the first and last descendants in the line of Cain. Enoch, the seventh in order from Adam (Enoch of Cain was the second from Adam 4:17), "walked with God", and "God took him" -5:24, and the pious Lamech called his son Noah, hoping that the Lord would "comfort us" - 5:29.

Why can we say for sure that we are talking about different Lamech and Enoch? Because the race of Cain perished in the flood; but the tribe of Seth survived the flood.
We can say that God nevertheless avenged Cain for the murder of Abel, destroying all the offspring of this second (after the devil) murderer.

5:1-3 Here is the genealogy of Adam: when God created man, in the likeness of God created him,
2 He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Man, on the day they were created.
3 Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot [a son] in his likeness, in his own image, and called his name: Seth.
Adam begat Seth, and it is said of Seth that he was born in the likeness... in the image of Adam. If Adam himself was created in the image and likeness of God, then the son of Adam, born in the image and likeness of his father, received from him the seal of his fall: an innate tendency to disobey God.

5:4-7 The days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.
5 All the days of Adam's life were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
6 Seth lived a hundred and five years and begat Enos.
7 After he begat Enos, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters.
Adam had many sons and daughters, but Scripture records those who played a key role in the fulfillment of God's purpose and the elucidation of human history. The children of Adam all inherited a tendency to sin, but among them there were both notorious sinners like Cain and those inclined to accept God's way of life. God, observing the development of the human family on earth, looked after for Himself those children who were inclined more towards righteousness than towards sin, and called them for Himself. And the periods of life of the human family were different, the bands of reverence for God in it alternated with a decline in morality, which is shown by a philological analysis of the names of the patriarchs

5:8,9 All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9 Enos lived ninety years and begat Cainan.
The name Cainan reveals the identity of its meaning with the name "Cain", i.e. "acquisition, possession"; and this, of course, does not throw any unseemly shadow on the descendant of Seth, since the very name of Cain, according to the idea contained in it, was significant and bright (4: 1).

5:10-12 10 After he begat Cainan, Enos lived eight hundred and fifteen years and begat sons and daughters.
11 All the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
12 Cainan lived seventy years and begat Maleleel.
The name Maleleel means: "Praise, glory to God, or praising Him, glorifying."

5:13-17 After he begat Maleleel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years and begat sons and daughters.
14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15 Maleleel lived sixty-five years and begat Jared.
16 After he begat Jared, Maleleel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
17 And all the days of Maleleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
The name Jared is derived from the Hebrew verb jarad - meaning "to descend, descend", the name of this new patriarch may refer to him as a person who “descends, descends, falls” from somewhere, both in the physical sense (the descent of his descendants to live from some height) and about their moral decline.

5:18-21 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years and begat Enoch.
19 After he begat Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years and begat sons and daughters.
20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years and begat Methuselah.
The name Enoch points to its bearer as a renovator, initiator, sanctifier, in a word - something new and, as a firstfruits, dedicated to God. But while Enoch the Cainite was the beginning of their worldly power and cultural dominance (expressing in the construction of the first city of the same name), Enoch the Sethite was the representative of faith, hope and piety. Enoch turned out to be one of those descendants of Adam whom the Lord called from time to time to preach the word of God and admonish the human family (Jude 14:15)

5:22-24 And Enoch walked with God, after the birth of Methuselah, three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was no more, because God took him.
Enoch, although he lived an ordinary earthly life and had a family with many children - unlike his forefathers Adam and Eve, he chose God's way of life, exposing the wicked with the word of God and not resigning himself to evil. It was difficult for him alone to resist the entire human family that existed at that time, and since he alone carried the word of God, it can be concluded that the vice of sin prevailed in the descendants of Adam compared with the pursuit of God's righteousness.

God freed Enoch from this life of a "white crow", doomed to loneliness, at an early age for that time -5:23 (if we start from the average age of 80 years, then Enoch died at the age of about 28 years).

Where did Enoch go if God took him? Did he go to heaven?

According to the Bible, Enoch died, like all other believers, not having received the promise during his lifetime - Heb.11:5-13.

5 By faith Enoch….., Faith Noah….., Faith Abraham…. Faith and Sarah herself ... (done something)
13 All these died in the faith, having not received the promises, but only saw them from afar, and rejoiced, and said of themselves that they were strangers and strangers on earth

Enoch was promised a judgment on all the wicked - Judas 14:15, which he did not wait for.

Enoch did not see death - he died so suddenly that he did not see the process of aging and death - Heb.11:5, but did not go to heaven. Why can you think so? Since before coming to earth in human form - Jesus was in the heavenly sphere with the Father - from John 6:38,62 - therefore, he had accurate knowledge that none from earthly faithful to Jehovah people didn't show up in heaven at least before he came to earth. Jesus Christ announced that none of the dead people ascended to heaven besides him - from John 3:13.

In addition, human flesh is not adapted for life in the heavenly sphere -1 Cor.15:50, Psal.113:24. The earth was created for him - Is.45:18. Such studies of the Bible do not give grounds to believe that any of the dead people of antiquity settled for life in heaven.

Some readers are confused by the expression " and he was gone because God took him»
Where did you take it, to heaven? What does "God took" mean?

Let's see what, for example, Isaiah writes about the death of the righteous:
The righteous dies and no one takes it to heart; and pious men admire 0622 [from the earth], and no one will think that the righteous admires 0622 from evil.
2 He departs to the world; those who walk in the straight path will rest on their beds. (Isaiah 57:1,2)

The righteous man dies and rests (the expression "dead" is not accidental).
God takes the righteous from the evil of the earthly world order of this world - by DEATH, and not to heaven to Himself, as some believe. The righteous rest on their beds in their graves in anticipation of the resurrection, for there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous (Acts 24:15)

Let's also look at the meaning of the word "admire" with Strong's index 0622 :
Poa 0622
2. accept, take to oneself;
3. shoot, take away;
4. destroy, destroy;
5. clean up (to yourself).
B(ni): 1. to be collected, to gather;

2. to be taken, to disappear.
That is, the righteous is taken from among the wicked of the earth; God takes the righteous from evil - with the help of death, and he disappears from among those living on earth. Only and everything.

A similar picture is in what happened to Enoch:

And Enoch walked with God; and he was gone, because God took 03947 his. (Gen.5:24) The meaning of the word "took":
03947 xql
1. take;
2. take away, seize, seize;

That is, Enoch, like every righteous person whom God decided to take away from evil from among those living on earth, rested in death.

Determining where Enoch or anyone else went is actually not difficult if the Bible's point of view is known in principle - that all the descendants of Adam are supposed to die. (Heb. 9:27)
Why? Because because of Adam's inherited sin, there was not a single righteous person on earth who did not sin, except Jesus Christ.
(Rom. 3:23: 5:12) Therefore, ALL of Adam's descendants without exception, including Enoch, must go through the wages of sin - through death
(Rom. 6:23). Resurrection after death according to the voice of the son of God is the only hope for mankind (John 5:28,29)

5:25-27 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years and begat Lamech.
26 After he begat Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begat sons and daughters.
27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
The name Lamech, remember, means "a fierce man, a man of war and destruction." For the descendants of Seth, a slightly inappropriate name, but, by the way, children of different spirits came into the world along the line of Seth, if God was forced to call Enoch to admonish them.

5:28-32 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years and begat a son,
29 And he called his name: Noah, saying: He will comfort us in our work and in the labor of our hands in [cultivating] the land that the Lord has cursed.
30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred and ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters.
31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy and seven years; and he died.
32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The name Noah is interpreted in the biblical text itself in the sense of "calmness, consolation" in the labors and work of cultivating the earth. Since Lamech himself, judging by the meaning of the name, was not distinguished by piety - giving such a name to his son, he expressed the hope of lifting the curse over the earth, thanks to cultural success, of which he wished to see his newborn son planted.

Noah lived most of his life in the antediluvian era and at the end of it he already managed to have three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah's children before the Flood did not have time to become parents themselves, did not have time to deteriorate and corrupt, so they managed to avoid the sad fate of the entire primitive world.

Meaning of Noah's names:Sim "glory": Ham -"heat", "passion", "ardor"; Japheth - "beauty", from <йафэ> - “beautiful”, as well as “spread”, “expansion” - from the verb <пата> - to give space.

The offspring of Shem (Semites) inhabited Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria and Arabia; the descendants of Ham emigrated mainly to Africa, and finally the descendants of Japheth spread throughout the northern part of Asia, into India, penetrated into Europe and even, probably, into America (Acts 17:26).

Sacred Biblical History of the Old Testament Pushkar Boris (Bp Veniamin) Nikolaevich

Descendants of Cain and Seth.

Gen. 4:17–5:31

The generation of Cain began to increase rapidly, and at the same time, the struggle against nature, begun by his ancestor, continued. In the struggle with nature, the descendants of Cain learned to extract copper and iron and make tools from them. Carried away by material well-being and purely worldly concerns, the Cainites cared least of all about the spiritual life. Such neglect of the spiritual life developed countless vices among them. With such a direction of life, the Cainites could not become true representatives of the human race and, moreover, the keepers of great spiritual treasures - the first promise of the Savior and the primitive religious and moral institutions associated with it. The generation of Cain, with its crude worldly materialism and atheism, was only capable of perverting the historical course of development destined for humanity. This one-sided direction needed a counterbalance. And he really appeared in the generation of the new son of Adam - Seth, who was born after the murder of Abel.

From the birth of Seth in antediluvian mankind begins a generation of people who, in their spiritual mood, represented the complete opposite of Cain. In the generation of Cain, people worshiped the only material force and turned all their abilities (until they completely forgot God) to acquire material goods. In the generation of Seth, on the contrary, a completely different, more exalted direction of life was developed and developed, which, awakening in people a humble awareness of human helplessness and sinfulness, it directed their thoughts to God, who gave fallen people hope for deliverance from sin, damnation and death. Such a spiritual direction of life among the Sephites manifested itself noticeably already under the son of Seth - Enos: "Then, - says the Writer, - started calling on the name of the Lord[God] » (Gen. 4:26). This, of course, does not mean that until that time there were no prayers in which God is called upon at all. Religion began to be expressed in external forms, and consequently in prayer, even under Adam. This expression only means that now in the generation of Seth, the calling of the name of the Lord God became an open confession of their faith in God, in contrast to the generation of Cainites, who, for their godlessness, began to be called the sons of men. The highest spokesman and representative of the spiritual life of the Sethites was Enoch, who "Walked Before God"(Gen.5:22, 24), i.e., always in his life embodied the height of the original human purity and holiness. At the same time, he was the first to realize to what abyss of depravity and sinfulness the godlessness of the Cainites could lead, and he acted as the first preacher and prophet who announced the terrible coming judgment of God over the “wicked” (Jude 1:15). As a reward for this high piety and fiery faith, the Lord took him alive from the sinful earth (Heb. 11:5).

The generation of Seth, being the bearer of the true religion and the promise associated with it, naturally had to become the root from which the whole “tree of mankind” was to develop. In this generation, patriarchs appear one after another - the great representatives of antediluvian mankind, who, being strong in spirit and body, were called upon to develop and preserve spiritual principles through many years of work, which were to form the basis of the moral life of all future generations. In order to successfully fulfill their purpose, they, by a special providence of God, were endowed with extraordinary longevity, so that for almost a whole millennium each of them could be a living guardian and interpreter of the promise entrusted to them. The first man Adam lived 930 years; his son Seth - 912 years; Seth's son Enos - 905 years; representatives of subsequent generations: Cainan - 910 years, Maleleel - 895, Jared - 962, Enoch - 365, Methuselah - 969, Lemech - 777 and Noah - 950 years.

From the book Biblical Meanings [full edition] author Berman Boris

VII. LESSONS OF CAIN 1 In the process of Creation, which is described in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, Elokim, God, is at work. In the second and third chapters, from the moment of the announcement of human freedom and the Way of man, `Hashem Elokim, the Lord God - the One Who leads man as

From the book Nag Hammadi Library author author unknown

The second treatise of the great Seth 49. Perfect Greatness rests in the inexpressible Light, in the Truth of the Mother of them all and all of you, who - since I am the only Perfect one - have come to me for the sake of the Word. For I abide with all the Majesty of the Spirit, who is a comrade to us and our kindred in

From the book Explanatory Bible. Volume 1 author Lopukhin Alexander

Three steles of Seth Revelation of Dositheus about the three steles of Seth, the Father of the living and unshakable kind, which he (Dositheus) saw and read. And when he said them (loudly), he remembered them and gave them to the elect in the form in which they were written there. Many times I'm together with the forces

From the book The Evolution of Life. The path from the God-man to man author

Cain's fratricide 8. And Cain said to Abel his brother: (Let's go into the field). And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him "And when they were in the field, Cannes rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him ..." Like death itself, appearing in the world as the quitrent of sin,

From the book Jesus Christ and the Bible Mysteries author Maltsev Nikolay Nikiforovich

Judgment and punishment of Cain 9. And the Lord (God) said to Cain: Where is Abel, your brother? He said: I don't know; Am I my brother's keeper? "Where is Abel, your brother?" Following the example of the judgment on the fallen forefathers (3:9) and the judgment on their criminal son, the merciful God begins with an appeal (call) to

From the book of Holy Scripture. Modern Translation (CARS) author bible

Birth of Seth 25. And Adam also knew (Eve) his wife, and she gave birth to a son, and called his name: Seth, because, (she said,) God put another seed for me, instead of Abel, whom Cain killed "And he knew Adam still had his wife ... and she gave birth to a son and called his name: Seth ... "In place of the two elders

From the book of the Bible. New Russian translation (NRT, RSJ, Biblica) author bible

26 Seth also had a son, and he called his name: Enos; then they began to call on the name of the Lord (God) "Enos ..." The name of this patriarch, literally translated from Hebrew, means: "weak, frail, infirm, mortal", from where - as a derivative noun: "man",

From the book Guide to the Bible author Asimov Isaac

CHAPTER 9 SETH'S OFFERING AS A GUARANTOR OF THE LIFE OF EARTH HUMANITY 1. Nietzsche's "Superman" and Cain's offspring Even a superficial look at our past shows that the history of mankind consists of continuous attempts by Cain's offspring to physically exterminate or enslave

From the book Pocket Notes of a Young Priest author Skrynnikov Anthony

3. Descendants of Cain - the secret kings of the Jewish people and the future rulers of the world Whoever has understood the structure of the human soul has already understood that the most valuable thing in it is the triune seed of immortal spirits. This triune seed turns a person into a rational being,

From the book Explanatory Bible Lopukhin. OLD TESTAMENT. GENESIS of the author

Descendants of Cain 17 Cain knew his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. At that time, Cain was building a city and named it after his son Enoch. 18 Irad was born to Enoch, Mehiail was born to Irad, Methushael was born to Mekhiael, and Lamech was born to Methushael. 19 Lamech took his wife

From the author's book

Descendants of Cain 17 Cain knew his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. At that time, Cain was building a city and named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, to Irad was born Mechiael, to Mechiael was born Metushael, and to Metushael was born Lamech. 19 Lamech took his wife

From the author's book

Enoch, son of Seth The descendants of Adam through Seth are listed, not counting Adam and Seth themselves, for eight generations. They are told in somewhat more detail than about the descendants of Cain. These are the so-called antediluvian patriarchs. Seth's lineage names are suspiciously similar to

From the author's book

Descendants of Cain It is completely incomprehensible why in our hospitals women in preservation and women preparing for abortion are assigned to the same room? Just some bullshit. The other day, I got into a conversation with a girl at the temple, who had a fainting state from this. She goes all out

From the author's book

8. Cain's fratricide. 8. And Cain said to Abel his brother: (Let's go into the field). And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

From the author's book

9. Judgment and punishment of Cain. 9. And the Lord (God) said to Cain: Where is Abel, your brother? He said: I don't know; Am I my brother’s keeper? “Where is Abel, your brother?” Following the example of the judgment of the fallen forefathers (3:9) and the judgment of their criminal son, the merciful God begins with an appeal (call) to

From the author's book

25. Birth of Seth. 25. And Adam also knew (Eve) his wife, and she gave birth to a son, and called his name: Seth, because, (she said,) God put another seed for me, instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. “And Adam knew also her wife ... and she gave birth to a son and called his name: Seth ... "In place of two

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