015. IV. The Traditional Origin Of Early Semitic Institutions
§ IV. THE TRADITIONAL ORIGIN OF EARLY SEMITIC INSTITUTIONS Genesis 4:25-26; Genesis 4:1-2 b, Genesis 4:17-23; Genesis 5:26; Genesis 9:20-26
1. Origin of he family. Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, God hath given me offspring.
2. Of worship. To Seth also was born a son, and he named him Enosh. He was the first to call on the name of Jehovah. And the man [Enosh?] knew his wife and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have got a male child with the help of Jehovah.
3. Of city life. Now Cain dwelt east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also built a city and called the city Enoch after his son’s name.
4.Of polygamy. And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael begat Methushael, and Methushael begat Lamech. And Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah [Light], and the name of the other was Zillah [Shadow].
5.Of nomands. And Adah bore Jabal [Shepherd]; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and with cattle.
6.Of musicians. And his brother’s name was Jubal [Ram’s Horn]; he was the father of those who handle the harp and pipe.
7.Of metal workers. And Zillah also bore Tubal-cain [Smith]; he was the father of all those who forge copper and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah [Grace].
8.Of blood-revenge. And Lamech said to his wives:
Adah and Zillah, hearken to my voice, Wives of Lamech give ear to my saying. A man I slay for wounding me, Yea, a youth for bruising me.
If Cain be avenged sevenfold, Lamech shall be seventy and seven.
9. Of vine culture. And Lamech begat a son; and he called his name Noah [Comfort], saying, This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because Jehovah hath cursed the ground. And Noah was the first tiller of the soil to plant a vineyard.
10.Of drunkenness. And when he drank of the wine, he became drunken, and lay uncovered within his tent.
11.Of Canaanite degeneracy. Then Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told it outside to his two brothers. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward to cover the nakedness of their father, their faces being turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
12. Of Canaanite slavery. When Noah awoke from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said, Cursed be Canaan; May he be a servant of servants to his brothers.
13. Of the superiority of the Semites.
Also he said:
Blessed of Jehovah be Shem;
Let Canaan also be a servant to him.
God enlarge Japheth And let him dwell in the tents of Shem.
Let Canaan also be a servant to him.
I.Literary Form and Character. Most primitive peoples connected the more important events in their early history with the names of certain traditional heroes. In the thought of later generations the names of these heroes represent the periods during which each lived. The tendency to join them together in genealogical tables was also common. Since they bridged the centuries and connected the past with later events, these genealogical lists were often preserved long after the stories regarding the different heroes had been forgotten. In the present narrative several traditions have been retained. Usually only the names remain. The crude form and naive point of view of the narratives prove that they are extremely old. The song in 8 is a superb example of popular poetry. Two balanced lines of four beats each are followed by four lines, each with three measured beats or accents.
II.Origin of the Genealogical List. Certain names in the opening genealogical list have been identified with Babylonian originals. The Babylonian records also contain a list of ten antediluvian kings or dynasties representing a total period of four hundred and thirty-two thousand years. In the later priestly list of Genesis a definite number of years is assigned to each of the ten antediluvians. This was probably due to the influence of the older Babylonian tradition. While Genesis 4 also contains the names of ten heroes, their order is different. This disarrangement apparently resulted from the addition of the later story of Cain and Abel, which made Cain a son of the man and woman of chapter 3. It would seem that in the present case the late priestly tradition, in making Seth the first and only son of Adam, and Enosh his grandson, had preserved the original tradition (cf. St. O.T., I, §111) This order is confirmed by the parallel Babylonian list, in which Amelon, the Babylonian equivalent of Enosh is third and Ammenon, the equivalent of Cain is fourth.
III.Babylonian and Phoenician Traditions Regarding the Origin of the Arts. The origin of the early arts and institutions greatly interested the ancients. The Babylonian inscriptions state that the great gods, Ea, the lord of wisdom, and Marduk, the creator, brought culture to mankind. The Greeks attributed the discovery of fire to Prometheus. The fragmentary Phoenician traditions contain the closest parallels to the Hebrew. These trace the origin of the different arts and inventions to individual heroes.
One Phoenician story states that a son of the first man and woman built Tyre, and made huts out of the reeds, rushes and papyrus. Another son (Ousoos) was the first to make garments from the skins of animals, and boats from the trunks of trees. Among the descendants of the first son were also six pairs of brothers, who like the sons of Lamech, were the inventors and patrons of different arts and occupations. Their names are also significant of their professions. Thus Hunter and Fisherman developed hunting and fishing. The second pair (of whom one apparently bore the name, Smith) discovered the arts of working iron and of making fishing tackle, as well as of navigation, magic and divination. The third pair (of whom one was named, Artificer), discovered how to make bricks and roofs. From the fourth pair were descended those who make courts and enclosures to houses, and who till the soil. The fifth pair were the traditional fathers of village and pastoral life. The sixth pair discovered the use of salt. Apparently these closely parallel Phoenician and Hebrew stories come from earlier Canaanite or possibly Babylonian originals.
IV.Interpretation of the Genealogical List. The Northern Israelite prophetic, as well as the late priestly group of narratives, trace the revelation of the sacred name, Yahweh (or as it is commonly written Jehovah) to the days of Moses (cf. Exodus 6; § XXI, 3). The present early Judean prophetic narrative, however, assigns the beginning of that formal worship to the days of Enosh, the traditional grandson of the first man. While the later narrators may be more exact in their technical historical statement, the early prophets declare, with true insight, that man has worshipped God from the first, even though the theological beliefs of the primitive worshipper were crude and defective.
Cain, the artificer, was naturally regarded as the first to build a city. In the priestly list of Genesis 5, Enoch, Cain’s son, and the corresponding Edoranchos in the Babylonian list, stand in the seventh place, still further confirming the conclusion that the name of Cain, which represents an advanced civilization, was originally found nearer that of Lamech than of Adam.
V.Origin of the Enoch Tradition. In the prophetic narrative nothing but the names of Enoch and of the three heroes that follow have been preserved. The priestly parallel of Genesis 5:24 adds that, Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. Like the Babylonian hero of the flood, he was believed to have been borne beyond the waters of death, there to enjoy immortality. Enoch is the Hebrew equivalent of Edoranchos, who is probably to be identified with Enmeduranki, a pre-historic king of Sippar, a city devoted to the worship of the sun god Shamash. A recently discovered tablet states that the sun god called Enmeduranki to intercourse with himself, gave him the tablet of the gods, initiated him into the secrets of heaven and earth, and taught him the art of divination (cf. Zimmern, The Bab. and Hebrew Genesis, pp. 43 ff.). This knowledge he transmitted to his descendants, and thus became the traditional father of an hereditary guild of Babylonian diviners.
Later Jewish thought made Enoch the one through whom the secrets of heaven and the future were revealed, as is well illustrated by the composite Book of Enoch. The earlier priestly writers purified and spiritualized the ancient story; but, apparently under the influence of the older tradition, they assigned to this Babylonian worshipper of the sun god three hundred and sixty-five years, corresponding to the number of days in the solar year.
VI.The Lamech Stories. To Lamech and his sons the Hebrew traditions attribute the origin of polygamy and of the three different occupations of primitive life. As with the Greeks, shepherds and musicians are closely associated. They are descended from a common mother whose name, meaning Light or Dawn, is especially appropriate; while the son of Zillah (Shade) is the traditional ancestor of the grimy smiths, whose services were most highly esteemed in these early days.
Unfortunately, the prophet has given us none of the popular stories regarding Naamah the gracious. Instead he has reproduced from the lips of the people the ancient song of blood-revenge, sung boastfully to his wives by the victorious warrior, probably as he returned from some victorious foray against a hostile tribe, possibly, also, as he brandished a sword forged by Tubal-cain. Its thought is, Each and every injury to myself or clan will be requited in fullest measure. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” is at the foundation of many of the ancient laws found in the Code of Hammurabi and the Old Testament. “Do to others as they do to you” is still the law of the desert. In striking contrast to these barbarous standards are the teachings of the Hebrew prophets and Jesus.
VII.Meaning of the Earliest Tradition Regarding Noah. The story of Noah, the tiller of the soil, was originally independent of the preceding, as well as of the more familiar story of the flood. In the priestly genealogy of Genesis 5, Noah is the oldest son of Lamech, and nothing is said of his other illustrious brothers. The popular etymology of the name Noah, which really comes from a root meaning to rest, is characteristic of the early prophetic writers. Noah they regarded as the inaugurator of a new epoch in which the curse upon man was to be mitigated. The original object of the story was to explain the fate of the Canaanites; but the prophet who reproduced it was seeking to bring out the evils of intemperance and moral depravity. The illustration is striking and effective. Under the influence of wine the aged father is a pitiable object of warning. A later editor, familiar with the genealogical table of Genesis 10, has here introduced into the Hebrew text the name of Ham, although the following sentences show that the original contained only that of Canaan. He is the traditional ancestor of the highly civilized Canaanites, whom the Hebrews found in possession of central Palestine. His fundamental lack of moral sense, as revealed in his attitude toward his father, is typical of that gross immorality which weakened the physical and national character of the Canaanites and ultimately proved their ruin.
Shem is the personification of the dominant Semitic peoples, and especially of the Hebrews. Japheth, as its meaning, jar extended or distant, suggests, represents the trading peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, and especially the Phoenicians, with whom the early Hebrews made commercial alliances. The act of Shem and Japheth reveals a far higher moral sense, and also that filial piety which is strongly emphasized by all oriental peoples. The curse and blessings which follow are based upon the established facts of history. Although in the form of predictions, they represent the deeper prophetic interpretation of these facts. The enslavement of the Canaanites is the inevitable result of their innate moral depravity. The Hebrews and their allies are supreme because of their superior moral ideals and character.
VIII.Aim and Teachings. As has already been noted, to explain the origin of the various arts and institutions is the common aim of all these stories. They record in the language of tradition the beginnings and development of human civilization. They are forerunners of the modern sciences of history, religion, anthropology and sociology. They emphasize that unity of the human race, the basis of which is one common Creator and Father. The concluding story also illustrates certain profoundly vital religious truths: (1) Excessive indulgence debases and disgraces even the strongest and noblest characters. (2) Innate character and thoughts will surely be revealed by acts. (3) He who is immoral and depraved, even though he may have outward culture, will surely in the end become the slave of others. (4) He whose instincts and ideals are noble and pure will become a ruler of men. (5) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall enjoy God’s favor.