Chapter 2.
CONCERNING THE POSTERITY OF ADAM, AND THE TEN GENERATIONS
FROM HIM TO THE DELUGE,FJAJ 1.9
1. ADAM and Eve had two sons: the elder of them was named Cain; which
name, when it is interpreted, signifies a possession: the younger
was Abel, which signifies sorrow.They had also daughters
Now the
two brethren were pleased with different courses of life: for Abel, the
younger, was a lover of righteousness; and believing that God was present
at all his actions, he excelled in virtue; and his employment was that
of a shepherd
But Cain was not only very wicked in other respects, but
was wholly intent upon getting; and he first contrived to plough the ground.
He slew his brother on the occasion following : - They had resolved to
sacrifice to God
Now Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his
husbandry; but Abel brought milk, and the first-fruits of his flocks: but
God was more delighted with the latter oblation, (6) St.
John's account of the reason why God accepted the sacrifice of Abel, and
rejected that of Cain; as also why Cain slew Abel, on account of that his
acceptance with God, is much better than this of Josephus: I mean, because
"Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew
he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous,"
1 John 3:12. Josephus's reason seems to be no better than a pharisaical
notion or tradition.
when he was honored with what grew naturally of its own accord, than he
was with what was the invention of a covetous man, and gotten by forcing
the ground; whence it was that Cain was very angry that Abel was preferred
by God before him; and he slew his brother, and hid his dead body, thinking
to escape discovery
But God, knowing what had been done, came to Cain,
and asked him what was become of his brother, because he had not seen him
of many days; whereas he used to observe them conversing together at other
times
But Cain was in doubt with himself, and knew not what answer to
give to God
At first he said that he was himself at a loss about his brother's
disappearing; but when he was provoked by God, who pressed him vehemently,
as resolving to know what the matter was, he replied, he was not his brother's
guardian or keeper, nor was he an observer of what he did
But, in return,
God convicted Cain, as having been the murderer of his brother; and said,
"I wonder at thee, that thou knowest not what is become of a man whom
thou thyself hast destroyed." God therefore did not inflict the punishment
[of death] upon him, on account of his offering sacrifice, and thereby
making supplication to him not to be extreme in his wrath to him; but he
made him accursed, and threatened his posterity in the seventh generation.
He also cast him, together with his wife, out of that land
And when he
was afraid that in wandering about he should fall among Wild beasts, and
by that means perish, God bid him not to entertain such a melancholy suspicion,
and to go over all the earth without fear of what mischief he might suffer
from wild beasts; and setting a mark upon him, that he might be known,
he commanded him to depart.FJAJ 1.10
2. And when Cain had traveled over many countries, he, with his wife,
built a city, named Nod, which is a place so called, and there he settled
his abode; where also he had children
However, he did not accept of his
punishment in order to amendment, but to increase his wickedness; for he
only aimed to procure every thing that was for his own bodily pleasure,
though it obliged him to be injurious to his neighbors
He augmented his
household substance with much wealth, by rapine and violence; he excited
his acquaintance to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and became
a great leader of men into wicked courses
He also introduced a change
in that way of simplicity wherein men lived before; and was the author
of measures and weights
And whereas they lived innocently and generously
while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed the world into cunning
craftiness
He first of all set boundaries about lands: he built a city,
and fortified it with walls, and he compelled his family to come together
to it; and called that city Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch.
Now Jared was the son of Enoch; whose son was Malaliel; whose son was Mathusela;
whose son was Lamech; who had seventy-seven children by two wives, Silla
and Ada
Of those children by Ada, one was Jabal: he erected tents, and
loved the life of a shepherd
But Jubal, who was born of the same mother
with him, exercised himself in music; (7) From
this Jubal, not improbably, came Jobel, the trumpet of jobel or jubilee;
that large and loud musical instrument, used in proclaiming the liberty
at the year of jubilee.
and invented the psaltery and the harp
But Tubal, one of his children
by the other wife, exceeded all men in strength, and was very expert and
famous in martial performances
He procured what tended to the pleasures
of the body by that method; and first of all invented the art of making
brass
Lamech was also the father of a daughter, whose name was Naamah.
And because he was so skillful in matters of divine revelation, that he
knew he was to be punished for Cain's murder of his brother, he made that
known to his wives
Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass that
the posterity of Cain became exceeding wicked, every one successively
dying, one after another, 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
injuries for gain.FJAJ 1.11
3. Now Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth, (for
our discourse must now be about him,) after Abel was slain, and Cain fled
away, on account of his murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had a
vehement desire of children, he being two hundred and thirty years old;
after which time he lived other seven hundred, and then died
He had indeed
many other children, (8) The
number of Adam's children, as says the old tradition was thirty-three sons,
and twenty-three daughters.
but Seth in particular
As for the rest, it would be tedious to name them;
I will therefore only endeavor to give an account of those that proceeded
from Seth
Now this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years
in which he could discern what was good, became a virtuous man; and as
he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave children behind
him who imitated his virtues.FJAJ 1.12
(9) The
number of Adam's children, as says the old tradition was thirty-three sons,
and twenty-three daughters.
All these proved to be of good dispositions
They also inhabited the same
country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortunes
falling upon them, till 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, 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, they made two pillars, (10)
Of Josephus's mistake here, when he took Seth the son of Adam, for Seth
or Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of this pillar in the land of
Siriad, see Essay on the Old Testament, Appendix, p. 159, 160. Although
the main of this relation might be true, and Adam might foretell a conflagration
and a deluge, which all antiquity witnesses to be an ancient tradition;
nay, Seth's posterity might engrave their inventions in astronomy on two
such pillars; yet it is no way credible that they could survive the deluge,
which has buried all such pillars and edifices far under ground in the
sediment of its waters, especially since the like pillars of the Egyptian
Seth or Sesostris were extant after the flood, in the land of Siriad, and
perhaps in the days of Josephus also, as is shown in the place here referred
to.
the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries
on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the
flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries
to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick
erected by them
Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day.FJAJ 1.13