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The Royal Line of Seth

New - 20 December 2009


The Mother of All Family Trees

Generations 8 - 15

The Royal Line of Seth


Meanwhile, back at the junior royal line of descent from Seth... we might recall that Eve was the progenitor of the Royal Seed... first through Cain (in its full Anunnaki style flower - courtesy of Enki... thrice... and of course, Lilith), and then through Seth (but with just a bit less potency, i.e., containing just a bit less of the Anunnaki blood). The Royal Seed was to be distinguished from the mundane human seed, the latter derived from the Eljo, the sons and daughters of the Naphidem, and quite possibly Homo erectus. There were a LOT of humans running about, but only Eve, and to a lesser extent, Adam, had the Royal Seed to pass to their descendants.

With respect to the Naphidem and Eljo, Laurence Gardner [e-mail 3/30/09] has pointed out that:

“According to the Qumran Book of Jubilees, the superior race of distant times was known as the Naphidem, whilst the uncivilized lesser beings were called the Eljo.”

The Naphidem were those who fell from grace -- after being attracted to the daughters of men [and thereafter having children in the normal course of affairs... pardon the pun]. The offspring “became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis 6:4)

According to Laurence Gardner, Genesis of the Grail Kings (pages 48-49), the pre-eminent sons of the Naphidem were at variance with the evolutionary sons of men.” The latter were called the Eljo, and were the recipients of a genocidal war waged by the Naphidem, who slaughtered the Eljo wholesale [a tradition carried down through millennia... with only the names and players being changed... but with the same old excuses and rationalizations]. It should be noted that the Naphidem were the lesser Anunnaki -- with their children by human mothers even less so.

"Accordingly, the kids of Naphidem were only slightly superior to the Eljo, but were nevertheless bigger and stronger... even to the point that their parents, the Naphidem, were unable to restrain them. Accordingly somewhere between the Naphidem’s descendants, the Eljo, and “a root breed of culturally advanced Afro-Asian Homo sapiens, who had superseded their Eljo predecessors by about 30,000 BC,” the descendants of those lying outside the royal lines continued their primitive ways, for the most part unable to cope with advanced knowledge." [C'est la vie... nothing has much changed in that regard either.]

It should be noted, en passant, that Seth’s Biblical line may be, according even to Jewish scholars, something of a fiction. Borrowed names from Cain’s line, borrowed events (such as the Flood), and so forth, tends to diminish the impact of the junior royal line wandering down the millennia with only occasional references to the distinguishing characteristics of Who's Who in Ancient Mesopotamia. Then, thankfully, a 400 year hiatus is encountered and everyone gets a fresh breath of air to claim... with somewhat greater legitimacy... who is entitled to what. Be that as it may... here’s Enosh!


Figure 1. Royal Lines of Cain and Seth (Reprise)

Cain-Seth


Generation No. 8

Enos (Anosh, Enosh) [8] Seth and Kalimath (Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Neom (daughter of Seth)

Children

Mualet
Kenan (Kainan, Cainan)
Barakhel

From Wikipedia: Enos (or Enosh) is a biblical name in the genealogies of Adam, and consequently referred to within the genealogies of Chronicles, and of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. He is the son of Seth, father of Kenan, and grandson of Adam (Gen. 5:6-11; Luke 3:38). According to the Bible he lived nine hundred and five years. [Such longevity is discussed in Adam’s Family.]

In his time “men began to call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26), meaning either:

that men began to call themselves by the name of the Lord, i.e., to distinguish themselves thereby from idolaters [i.e., anyone with stranger ideas than yours];

that men in some public and earnest way began to call upon the Lord, indicating a time of spiritual revival [whether or not predicated upon some King getting scared], or

that Enos, as the first king by right of descent from Seth, needed help in securing his throne.

The traditional Jewish interpretation of this verse, though, implies that it marked the beginning of idolatry, i.e. that men start dubbing "Lord" things that were mere creatures. [Even possibly extraterrestrials, the rank and file of the Anunnaki, or some mere upstarts.] This is because the previous generations, notably Adam, had already "begun calling upon the name of the Lord", which forces us to interpret certain phrases not as "began" but as the homonym "profanated". In this light, Enosh suggests the notion of a humanity (Enoshut) thinking of itself as an absolute rather than in relation to God (Enosh vs. Adam). [Which they might well have been!]

According to the Book of Jubilees (4:11-13) in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, Enos was born in the Year of the World 235. He married his sister, No'am, and she bare him Kenan in the year 325 [when that sly old Enosh was 90 years old!]. Ethiopian Orthodox tradition considers him a "faithful and righteous servant of God", and further credits him with the introduction, following a divine revelation, of the Ge'ez alphabet in its original, consonant-only form, "as an instrument for codifying the laws". [Only God can make a law?] He is further commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30.

 

Generation No. 9

Kenan (Kainan, Cainan) [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Mualet (daughter of Enos)

children

Rasujel
Mahlalail (Mahalaleel)

From Wikipedia: Kenan (Cainan) was a Biblical patriarch first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible book of Genesis as living before the Great Flood. [Inasmuch as the Flood happened long before Kenan, we might have to take this idea with a heavy bag of salt.] Born when Enos was ninety years old, Cainan had his only named son, Mahalalel, when he was seventy. Other sons and daughters were born to Kenan before he died at 910 years of age.

 

Generation No. 10

Mahlalail (Mahalaleel) [10] Cainan (=Mualet) [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath (d. of Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Sina (daughter of Barakhel)

children

Jared
Daniela

From Wikipedia: Mahlalail lived 895 years (Genesis 5:12-17), placing him eighth in the records for the unusually long life spans of the so-called Patriarchs in Genesis. Later references to Mahalalel include Jubilees 4:14–15 and Luke 3:37.

Enoch’s first Dream Vision in 1 Enoch 83 recounts the dream that Enoch had in the house of Mahalalel his grandfather, and which Mahalalel explains to him.

 

Generation No. 11

Jared (Yared) [11] Mahlalail (=Sina) [10] Cainan (=Mualet) [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath (d. of Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Baraka (daughter of Rasujel)

children

Ezrael [Note: the pronunciation of Ezrael may ultimately lead to the name, "Israel".*]
Enoch

*Funny that a staunch patriarchal society should name their country after a women. <grin>

Jared in Judeo-Christian religious belief was a fifth generation descendant of the woman called Eve and her husband, Adam. His father Mahalalel was 65 years of age when Jared was born. While the Bible speaks of Jared having become father to several sons and daughters, Enoch is the only son specifically noted by name (born to his father in Jared’s 162nd year). Other sources, however, report that Jared did have a daughter named Ezrael. The grandchild of Jared’s is Enoch’s son Methuselah, the longest living human mentioned in the Bible. Additionally, Jared was a forefather of Noah and his children, and (allegedly) an ancestor of Jesus Christ (according to Wikipedia). Jared was 962 years old when he died, the second longest living person mentioned in the Bible. His story is accounted in Genesis 5:18-20.

 

Generation No. 12

Enoch [12] Jared and Baraka [11] Mahlalail and Sina [10] Cainan and Mualet [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath (d. of Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Edna (daughter of Daniela)

children

Barakel
Methuselah (Matushlah)

From Wikipedia: Enoch is on the one hand described as a great-grandson of Adam via Cain, and as having had a city named after him. The second mention of the name describes Enoch as Adam's great (x4) grandson, through Seth and adds that Enoch "walked with God, and was not, for God took him," thus avoiding death at the age of 365. The following might be descriptive of either (or one in the same) Enoch.

Enoch is one of the main two focal points for much of the 1st millennium BC Jewish mysticism, notably included in the Book of Enoch. In Islam, he is usually referred to as Idris, and regarded as a prophet. Additionally, Enoch is important in some Christian denominations: he features in the Latter Day Saint Movement, and is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian Catholic Church on July 30.

In classical Rabbinical literature, there are divergent opinions about Enoch. After Christianity and Judaism had completely separated, the prevailing Christian view regarding Enoch was that he was a pious man, taken to Heaven, and received the title of Safra rabba (Great scribe). However, the Jewish view of Enoch was he was the only pious man of his time and was taken away before he would become corrupted. Enoch was also held to frequently lapse in his piety, and thus removed before his time, by a divine plague, in order to avoid further lapses. [Or perhaps Enoch was a victim of “friendly fire” as his god threw thunderbolts and decimated civilizations.]

Among the minor Midrashim, esoteric attributes of Enoch are expanded upon. In the Sefer Hekalot, Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited the 7th Heaven, where he meets Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, and Azael, and so Enoch was taken to Heaven to prove that God was not cruel. Similar traditions are recorded in Ecclesiasticus. Later elaborations of this interpretation treated Enoch as having been a pious ascetic, who, called to remix with others, preached repentance, and gathered (despite the fewness of people on the earth) a vast collection of disciples, to the extent that he was proclaimed king. Under his wisdom, peace is said to have reigned on earth, to the extent that he is summoned to Heaven to rule over the sons of God. [Hmmmm...] In a parallel with Elijah, in sight of a vast crowd begging him to stay, he ascends to Heaven on a horse.

The Book of Enoch

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says "By faith Enoch was transferred, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had transferred him; for before his transference he had the witness that he had pleased God well." Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, and others borrowed an opinion out of the book of Enoch, that the angels had connection with the daughters of men, of whom they had offspring ('the giants of the past’). Tertullian, in several places, speaks of this book with esteem; and would persuade us, that it was preserved by Noah during the deluge. Most churches, however, including the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant churches, do not generally accept it. Origen, Jerome and Augustin, mention it as having no authority.

The Qur'an presents Enoch in a similar manner, referring to him as Idris (which is Arabic for Enoch), meaning the instructor, regarding him as a man of truth and a prophet, as well as a model of patience; popular Muslim traditions credit Idris as inventor of astronomy, writing, and arithmetic. Enoch is often described as having been compelled to defend his life with the sword, against the depraved children of earth. Among his lesser inventions, in popular Muslim tradition, were said to be scales, to enable just weights, and tailoring.

Among the Latter Day Saint movement and particularly in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Enoch is viewed as having founded an exceptionally righteous city, named Zion, in the midst of an otherwise wicked world. This view states that not only Enoch, but the entire peoples of the city of Zion, were taken to Heaven without death, because of their piety. [Possibly a model for the current End of Days fad.] (Zion is defined as "the pure in heart" and this city of Zion will return to the earth at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ [or as a national park located in southwest Utah].) The Doctrine and Covenants further states that Enoch prophesied that one of his descendants, Noah, and his family, would survive a Great Flood and thus carry on the human race and preserve the Gospel.

The book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price has several chapters that give an account of Enoch's preaching, visions and conversations with God. This includes details concerning the wars, violence and natural disasters in Enoch's day, and notable miracles performed by Enoch. Supposedly Adam ordained Enoch to the higher priesthood (now called the Melchizedek, after the great high priest) at age 25, that he was 65 when Adam blessed him, and he lived 365 years after that until he was translated, so making him 430 years old when that occurred.

Three extensive apocryphal works are attributed to Enoch (Henosch):

* 1st Book of Enoch, or simply the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal book in the Ethiopic Bible that is usually dated between the third century BC and first century AD.
* 2nd Book of Enoch, an apocryphal book in the Old Slavonic Bible usually dated first century AD.
* 3rd Book of Enoch, a Kabbalistic Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated fifth century AD.

“These recount how Enoch is taken up to Heaven and is appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of the archangels, and the immediate attendant on God's throne.” [Which raises the question of exactly why an omnipotent god would bother with guarding... anything.]

Enoch is subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfills of his own accord [Yeah, right.] ...whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees. [Only a religious god would require an organization, a hierarchy of bureaucrat to “execute His decrees!] Enoch was also seen as the inventor of writing, and teacher of astronomy and arithmetic, all three reflecting the interpretation of his name as meaning initiated. [Enoch’s writing also included interoffice memos, policy statements, fringe benefit packages, employee guidelines, and bureaucratic flow charts.]

Much esoteric literature like the 3rd Book of Enoch also identifies Enoch as the Metatron, the angel which communicates God's word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature and the ancient kabbala of Jewish mysticism, as having been the one which communicated God's revelation to Moses, in particular, the dictator of the Book of Jubilees.

Due to the association of Enoch in Jewish legend (Henosch) with learning and writing, the Ancient Greeks identified him as Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic deity. Consequently, they also regarded him as the discoverer of the zodiac and of astronomy in general. Enoch also appeared in tales describing heroes being permanently taken by the Gods, such as Ganymede. In historical criticism, these stories are seen as being the influence behind more elaborate traditions such as Enoch traveling to Heaven via a flying horse (compare to the myth of Pegasus).

Scholars link Enoch with the ancient Sumerian king Emmeduranki. The specific life span of Enoch, 365 years, corresponding to the duration of the solar year, is linked to Emmeduranki's association with the sun god Utu. In fact most of the Kings of Mesopotamia have a pre-flood counterpart in the Seth line of descendants.

In Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy (and the earlier Cryptonomicon), the character Enoch Root or Enoch the Red is alive through several centuries and may be suspected of being a supernatural being. [Actually, Enoch Root was taking the ORME... and in fact later in Stephenson’s NINE novel trilogy, the ORME is used to save the lives of two of the main characters, the fictional Daniel and Sir Isaac Newton. It’s quite a story -- all 3000 pages of it.]

 

Generation No. 13

Methuselah (Matushlah) [13] Enoch and Edna [12] Jared and Baraka [11] Mahlalail and Sina [10] Cainan and Mualet [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath (d. of Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Edna (daughter of Ezrael)

children : Lamech

From Wikipedia: Methuselah was 187 when he fathered Lamech. A close reading of the dates in the Old Testament reveals that Methuselah is said to have died in the year of the Great Flood, but the Bible does not say that he was among those who died in the flood. Some have interpreted his name as a prophecy: when he dies, the Flood will come. In that case, the long life has an allegorical dimension, showing that God withheld judgment on humans for a very long time. This is because, according to the Bible, he reached the age of 969 years. Genesis 5:27 states, "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died". Genesis 5:5 states, "So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died." Assuming Adam's life began at the time of his creation, Adam was alive when Methuselah was born. This makes Methuselah the only human link between Adam and Noah.

[“Noah, take this from old granddad: I knew your great, great, great, great, great, great, great granddad... and you could never trust him to tell you what was really happening. Heck, I was 530 years old before I found out about the oldest man’s first wife, Lilith. Where’s the righteousness in that?"]

The end of Methuselah's life is described in a Midrash version of The Book of Jasher, the English translation in the Harvard Divinity School's collection which purports to have been made from a Hebrew manuscript, Sefer haYashar. According to The Book of Jasher, Methuselah accompanied his grandson Noah in attempting to persuade the people of the earth to return to godliness. (Jasher 5:7) All of the other long-lived people died, and Methuselah was the only one of the very long-lived people left. (Jasher 5:21) God planned to bring the flood after "all the men who walked in the ways of the Lord had died." (Jasher 4:20) Methuselah lived until the ark was built, but died before the flood since God had promised he would not be killed with the unrighteous. (Jasher 5:21) The Book of Jasher gives Methuselah's age at death as 960. (Jasher 5:36)

[One wonders if Methuselah, instead of going belly up just ahead of the worldwide crowd (and thus still getting his dues in terms of funerals and the like), might have preferred to hang about on the decks of his grandson’s Ark. The kid gets a yacht, and Methusaleh ends up with nothing to justify his having bought his grandson that really keen drum set. Kids!]

As it turns out, in the ancient texts from which the English Bible was translated, there are variations of the ages of the patriarchs in different versions. The Samaritan Pentateuch gives ages adjusted to exactly match the [alleged] flood. [If they finagle the ages to match events, they can also fabricate names and places, and associate whoever with whatever.] The Septuagint differs from the Hebrew in most of the patriarchal ages, generally giving higher numbers, but in the case of Methuselah, it has an age of 969 years just like the Hebrew. [Their benchmark?]

Methuselah is also mentioned in the apocryphal Book of Enoch as being the son of Enoch and as having brothers. The writer tells Methuselah of the coming Deluge (the Deluge of the flood) and of a future Messianic kingdom. [But did he mention a slight delay in the actual future kingdom of at least*, well over four thousand years... and counting... by the hundreds.]

*Using Bishop Ussher's Bible chronology from the creation to Nebuchadnezzar II, provides the following dates:

4004 BC - Creation according to Bishop Ussher
3317 BC - Birth of Methuselah
3000 BC - Approximate building of the Great Pyramids of Giza
2348 BC - Death of Methuselah and Noah's flood

Life spans

Modern science puts the natural limit on current human longevity at below 130 years; with the oldest person documented beyond reasonable doubt, Jeanne Calment, who died at 122. This being the case, Methuselah's life span has been a source of much speculation. Some resolve the issue by suggesting that Methuselah's [and the Patriarch’s] long life span is not meant to be taken literally, while others attribute it to translation errors inflating a shorter life span.

Witness Lee's "Four Falls of Man" hypothesis claims that man's life span was shortened four times, due to sin: from everlasting to 1,000 (first fall: Adam's), from 1,000 to 500 (second fall: the Earth around the time of Noah), from 500 to 250 (third fall) and finally from 250 to 120 (fourth fall bringing in the law with Moses). Notably, in the times of King David, when actual [i.e., less controversial] ages were recorded, the ages of the kings generally were in the range of 40-70 years old.

Such sin-based life-shortenings might actually make a certain degree of sense in that the step-wise fashion in the ever shortening ages of the patriarchs can also be explained by nourishment... of the soul enhancing kind. It’s the old “you’ve-been-bad-so-we’re-shortening-your-life-by-not-feeding-you-properly” parental model. See, for example: The Adam's Family.

Another possibility is that if one assumes that the age of 969 indicates months (it says years in the bible) instead of years (indicating a mistranslation), Methuselah's age is calculated as 80.75 years which is a more realistic life span, but this requires that months be calculated on the basis of the modern twelfths of a year [which presumably was not being used during first writing down of the Torah, c. 600 BCE). Another theory suggests lunar cycles were mistaken for the solar ones. If this is the case, each life span from Genesis would be shortened by a factor of 12.37 and give an age or 78 for Methuselah, a number which at least resembles the life span of modern humans. However, objections to such life-shortening calculations have been raised on the grounds that, if reductions by these factors were carried out, several biblical fathers would have had children when the fathers were approximately five years old. [Ooops!]

But if you're thinking that there's no "creative accounting" in Biblical scholarship... consider the following:

A separate theory argues that the most natural time span to be noted by early humans involved the lunar cycle as indicated above, followed later by changes of seasons. During early recognition of the world around them, humans would be expected to note the lunar cycle and perhaps record it in early spoken and written histories as "years", while noting weather only on a day-to-day basis such as "today it is rainy", or cold, or sunny, etc. Once humans began to recognize that weather patterns were more consistent over a longer period of time, cold for the duration of Winter, warm for Spring, hot for Summer, etc., it is possible that these longer time periods may have been recorded in verbal and written histories as "years" (or what modern humans might indicate as "He lived for 160 seasons, equating to 40 modern years but perhaps noted by early humans as 160 "years" rather than 160 "seasons"). As such, as lunar cycles would be recognized first, then seasonal cycles, and only third the modern 365-day calendar, it would make sense that the earliest humans' ages indicated in the Bible corresponded first to lunar cycles (13 per modern calendar year so Methuselah may have actually been 969 / 12.37 = 78.33 modern calendar years old at death), followed by later early human ages in the Bible corresponding to seasonal cycles (4 per modern calendar year so when Enosh had a child at 90 "years of age" he may have been 90 / 4 = 22.5 modern calendar years of age). Only in the modern age should modern calendar (365 day long) years be expected to be accurate, as recognized by many historians as one of the most significant achievements of the Ancient Egyptians, but the earliest Biblical characters were not in Egypt per the Book of Genesis (until Joseph was taken to Egypt as a slave and his family followed much later) and therefore would not necessarily be expected to recognize the 365-day Egyptian calendar year.

[Whew! The Perils of Rationalization! Still... it’s a classic bit of gerrymandering... just to preserve a sense of legitimacy... or to conform to our own prejudices and shaky paradigms.]

Another [attempted] solution involving translation error suggests that inaccurate conversion between various ancient Sumerian numerical systems produced the ages of Methuselah, Noah, and kin out of archaic Sumerian numerals. Thus, Methuselah's actual age would have been 85, and that he would have had his first son at age 17 (instead of age 187).

Laurence Gardner, Genesis of the Grail Kings, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, The Magdalene Legacy, etceteras, takes a totally different tact: Gardner (and this author) assume that the ages described in the Bible were real, and that a step-wise reduction in the kings and their descendants’ access to the proper food and nourishment was responsible. This nourishment is better known as The Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life, the Ormus, the Orme, the white powder (or monatomic state) of gold or other precious metals (silver, platinum, rhodium, iridium, palladium, osmium, and, ruthenium), and/or as identified by Gardner, Star Fire.

Alternatively, the whole Seth line description may be mythical, a fantasy for children, and not to be countenanced. The only problem with this is that the ancient kings of Sumer -- who were probably real -- did have extraordinarily long lives. Thus, even with the Public Relations of the Seth Lineage, LLC, managing to copy and plagiarize the legends of the Sumerians, there was still the very real possibility that the right diet can really extend one’s lifetime beyond currently perceived limits!

 

Generation No. 14

Lamech [14] Methuselah and Edna (d. Ezrael) [13] Enoch and Edna (d. Daniela) [12] Jared and Baraka [11] Mahlalail and Sina [10] Cainan and Mualet [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath (d. of Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married Bilanos (daughter of Barakel)

children

Noah

Lamech is the name of two men in the genealogies of Adam in the book of Genesis. One is the sixth generation descendant of Cain (Genesis 4:18); whose father was named Methusael and who was responsible for the "Song of the Sword." This alternate ego of Lamech is also noted as the first polygamist mentioned in the Bible, taking two wives, Ada and Tselah. [See The Royal Line of Cain.]

The other Lamech is an eighth generation descendant of Seth (Genesis 5:25) (14th of Tiamat). Because of the similarities between the two lines, some critical scholarship regards both Lamechs as one and the same. Many more conservative scholars see no reason to confuse the two and don’t. One tradition indicates further that Na'amah, the daughter of Tselah and Lamech, son of Methushael, was the wife of Noah, the son of the other Lamech (son of Methuselah).

Genesis 5:25-31 records that the other Lamech, the son of Methuselah, was 182 years old at the birth of Noah, and that he lived for another 595 years after this, making his age at death 777 years (or just a few years before the Flood). With such numbers in this genealogical account, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam was still alive for about the first 50 years of Lamech's life.

On the other hand -- there are always spoil sports -- the names surrounding Lamech can also be interpreted, as in the Midrash, as an attack on polygamy [e.g., by a Republican Congressman]. It further goes on to claim that part of the immorality of the humans, which allegedly led God to flood the earth, was the polygamy practiced by Lamech and his generation. Specifically, Adah is there interpreted as the deposed one, implying that Lamech spurned her in favor of Zillah, whose own name is understood to mean that she shaded herself [making her a “Shady Lady” in the best traditions of the Craft]. The Midrash consequently regards Adah as having been treated as a slave, tyrannized by her husband, and who was at the beck and call of his mistress, Zillah.

One very ancient source, in fact, describes Adah’s lamenting words: “You’re spurning me, a princess with ancient roots? And after my having given you the best years of my life!” To which, Lamech is reported to have asked, “Those were your best years?”

The rabbinical tradition is just as condemning of Na’amah. [Big surprise! A fanatical patriarchal tradition blames the female. Wow! What a shocker!] Fortunately, a minority see Na’amah as having become Noah's wife, and being so named because her conduct was pleasing to God [Hello!], the majority of classical rabbinical sources consider her name to be due to her singing pleasant songs in worship of idols. [E.g., “Candle in the Wind”, “Springtime in Gomorrah”, “I Left My Heart in Eden”, et al.]

 

Generation No. 15

Noah (Nur, Noe) [15] Lamech and Bilanos [14] Methuselah and Edna (Ezrael) [13] Enoch and Edna [12] Jared and Baraka [11] Mahlalail and Sina [10] Cainan and Mualet [9] Enosh and Neom [8] Seth and Kalimath (d. of Enki/Lilith) [7] Eve and Adam, [6] Enki and Nin-khursag [5] Anu and Antu [4] Anshar and Kishar [3] Lahmu and Lahamu [2] Tiamat and Absu [1]

married

Emzarah (daughter of Rakel)... and/or
Na’amath (daughter of Cain’s descendant, Lamech, King of Ur -- and Tubal-Cain’s brother)

children

Shem
Ham
??? [alleged, but not followed herein]
Japhet ??? [alleged, but not followed herein]

First...the more orthodox view, from Wikipedia:

Noah (the Righteous One, and/or “respite”), was, according to the Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs; and a prophet according to the Qur'an. The biblical story of Noah is contained in the book of Genesis, chapters 5-9, while the Qur'an has a whole sura named after and devoted to his story. In the Genesis account, Noah saves his family and representatives of all animals in groups of two or seven from the flood, while the Islamic version of the story mentions a group of 72 others (although none supposedly reproduce after the flood). He receives a covenant from God, and his sons repopulate the earth. [All by themselves... no wives?]

While the Deluge and Noah's Ark are the best-known elements of the account of Noah, he is also mentioned in Genesis as the "first husbandman" and the possible inventor of wine, as well as in an episode of his drunkenness and the subsequent Curse of Ham. [In the orthodox version, Ham is Noah’s son, and herein (in the definitely unorthodox version), Ham is the son of Tubal-Cain, in the descent of Cain... and thus becomes Noah’s nephew. It would probably be easier to curse a nephew than a son... but most Biblical characters appear to have little hesitation to do in sons as easily as strangers.] The story of Noah is the subject of much elaboration in the later Abrahamic traditions, and was immensely influential in Western culture. Jewish thinkers have debated the extent of Noah's righteousness. Christians have likened the Christian Church to Noah's ark.

[Never attribute to historical accuracy that which can be explained by a wide range of spin-masters as a mythical moral, prophecy or reason to vote a straight ticket.]

Meanwhile, the following (Wikipedia) summarizes chapters 6-9 of Genesis:

Noah was the son of Lamech, who named him Noah (Hebrew "rest") because he would bring rest from toil on the land which God had cursed (a reference to the curse God placed on the earth following the expulsion from Eden). [An alternate interpretation is “respite” and that, according to Zecharia Sitchin, it refers to an horrific drought in the world that had decimated the civilizations.] In his five hundredth year Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. [Once he discovered the basics, he really got into it.] When Noah was six hundred years old, God, saddened at the wickedness of mankind, decided to send a great deluge to destroy all life. [And man was in turn, “saddened at the wickedness of god?”] But he saw that Noah was a righteous man [i.e., did what god said, believed what god wanted, and otherwise did not ask embarrassing questions... or god forbid, inconvenient ones.], and instructed him to build an ark and gather himself and his family with every type of animal, male and female. The Flood came, and all life was extinguished, except for those who were with Noah, "and the waters prevailed upon the earth for one-hundred and fifty days" until the Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. [If the water was originally covering the mountain, and then began draining away, so as to eventually expose the land around Ararat (elevation 16,854 feet)*... where exactly was the water draining to?] There Noah built an altar to God (the first altar mentioned in the Bible) and made an offering. "And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, 'I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth [which is why the ground doesn’t get cursed again?]; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease'." [I.e., “same old, same old.” So... when do we get a break from the routine?]

[*Mount Ararat's elevation is given in feet above today's sea level. In Noah's time, it was at one point, about 12 and a half inches above sea level... for a very brief period.

[BTW, Mount Ararat is a relatively spectacular mountain, located near the apex of the modern day countries of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. Having few if any adjacent peaks makes the mountain stand out... and thus really get the attention of the population of mesopotamia and the Middle East... and appearing to be about as high as the world gets... which is way short of, for example, Mount Everest, which is almost twice as high as Mount Ararat.]

Then God made a covenant: Noah and his descendants would henceforth be free to eat meat ("every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything"), and the animals would fear man; and in return, man was forbidden to eat "flesh with its life, that is, its blood." And God forbade murder, and gave a commandment: "Be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it." And as a sign of His covenant, He set the rainbow in the sky, "the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth."

[Yeah, right. In Genesis 1:28, after creating man, male and female (and in his own image), “blessed them, and told them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish, the fowl and every living thing. And then he wiped them out in a Flood. There’s an old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."]

[Or was such largesse on the part of god due to Noah’s invention of wine-sweetened Barbeque sauce on ribs and briskets... and its introduction at the Ararat homecoming festivities? Curiously, the Sumerians do in fact mention Enlil being tantalized by the smell of home-cooked BBQ ribs and it was on this basis that Enki was able to convince him to leave humans alone. You just never knew when one was going to turn out to be a good chef... or invent wine... or sports bars.]

Meanwhile, after the Flood, "Noah was the first tiller of the soil [which conveniently forgets about Cain’s husbandry]. Noah planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent." [And thus risking his own life in experiments on the side effects of wine tastings... what a guy!] Noah's son [nephew?] Ham saw his father naked and informed his brothers [Shem and "nephew" Japheth], the latter two who covered Noah while averting their eyes. Noah awoke and cursed Ham's son, Canaan [NOT Ham, but his son, Canaan... who just might actually be Noah’s second son] with eternal slavery. [What a convenient story... the kind where one can be religious and righteous and deny others their freedom. The Bible is in fact filled with such rationalizations, justifications, and... barn carpeting.]

Noah then gave his blessing to Shem and Japheth: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth, may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."

[BTW, what exactly was Ham’s crime in the orthodox version? And why was Canaan cursed? Japheth, meanwhile, didn’t get much better treatment for being on the “good side”, and would have to tolerate Shem lording it over him as, apparently, the landlord of the tents that Japheth would be renting). On the other hand, our alternate version shows Japhet as another son of Tubal-Cain, and thus another nephew of Noah. It might appear, therefore, that all the Noah cursing was not much more than “my kid gets to lord it over the other kids, including specifically, my nephews!” That interpretation might actually make sense.]

Traditionally, the righteousness of Noah [or the lack thereof, what with all Noah's cursing going on] is the subject of much discussion among Jewish rabbis. The description of Noah as "righteous in his generation" implied to some that his perfection was only relative: In his generation of wicked people, he could be considered righteous, but in the generation of a tzadik like Abraham, he would not be considered so righteous. They point out that Noah did not pray to God on behalf of those about to be destroyed, as Abraham prayed for the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah. [Possibly, Noah had something of a ‘life boat’ mentality.] In fact, Noah is never seen to speak; he simply listens to God and acts on his orders. This led to the idea of Noah as "the man in a fur coat," who ensured his own comfort while ignoring his neighbors. Others held the building of the Ark was stretched over 120 years, deliberately in order to give sinners time to repent. [Repent from exactly what?]

Noah's three sons were generally interpreted in medieval Christianity as the founders of the populations of the three known continents, Japheth/Europe, Shem/Asia, and Ham/Africa, although a rarer variation held that they represented the three classes of medieval society - the priests (Shem), the warriors (Japheth), and the peasants (Ham). [How terribly convenient for the aristocracy and priests.] In the 18th and 19th centuries the view that Ham's sons in general had been literally "blackened" by sin came to provide a religious justification for slavery. In Latter-day Saint theology, the archangel Gabriel lived in his mortal life as the patriarch Noah. Gabriel and Noah are in fact regarded as the same individual; Noah being his mortal name and Gabriel being his heavenly name. [Probably had multiple passports as well.]

Gnosticism was an important development of (and departure from) early Christianity, blending Jewish scriptures and Christian teachings with traditional pagan religion and esoteric Greek philosophical concepts. An important Gnostic text, the Apocryphon of John, reports that the chief archon caused the flood because he desired to destroy the world he had made, but the First Thought informed Noah of the chief archon's plans, and Noah informed the remainder of humanity. Unlike the account of Genesis, not only are Noah's family saved, but many others also heed Noah's call. There is no ark in this account; instead Noah and the others hide in a "luminous cloud".

The Islamic narrative of Noah does not include the Genesis account of Noah's drunkenness, and the possibility of the Curse of Ham narrative is in fact implicitly excluded. [Which would make sense (i.e., be politically correct) in that Ham was alleged by the orthodox to be the progenitor of the Muslims!] Meanwhile, the Quranic Noah saves two sons, his third son not joining his father despite Noah's final plea to be saved ("O my son! Come ride with us, and be not with the disbelievers!" [infidels?]); instead he flees to the mountains, and God tells Noah that this is because he is an evildoer. (In later Islamic tradition the son is given the name Canaan). Shi'ah Muslims believe that Noah is buried next to Ali within Imam Ali Mosque, in Najaf, Iraq.

According to the so-called documentary hypothesis, the first five books of the Bible, including Genesis, were collated during the 5th century BCE from four main sources, which themselves date from no earlier than the 10th century BCE. Two of these, the Jahwist, composed in the 10th century BCE, and the Priestly source, from the late 7th century BCE, make up the chapters of Genesis which concern Noah. The attempt by the 5th century editor to accommodate two independent and sometimes conflicting sources may account for the confusion over such matters as how many pairs of animals Noah took, and how long the flood lasted.

In fact, Genesis seems to contain two accounts concerning Noah, the first making him the hero of the Flood, the second representing him as a husbandman who planted a vineyard. This has led some scholars to believe that Noah was originally the inventor of wine, in keeping with the statement at Genesis 5:29 that Lamech "called his name Noah, saying, 'Out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.'"[I.e., a means to get plastered later.]

The "Curse of Ham" has given rise to much discussion, but seems to express a hope on the part of the 6th century BCE compilers of the Torah that the Medes (Japheth) would join with the Jews (Shem) in restoring Jewish rule in the land of Canaan: "Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem, and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his slave." (Genesis 9:20-27)

According to Wikipedia, Noah's great grandfather Enoch is the beginning of a web of similarities between the story of Noah and older Mesopotamian myths. According to Genesis 5:24, at the end of his 365 years Enoch "walked with God, and was not, for God took him" - the only one of the ten pre-Flood Patriarchs not reported to have died. It is not explicitly stated where he is taken. In a late Apocryphal tradition, Methuselah is reported to have visited Enoch at the end of the Earth, where he dwelt with the angels, immortal. The details bring to mind Utnapishtim, a figure from the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh - where the hero Gilgamesh, after long and arduous travel, finds Utnapishtim living in the paradise of Dilmun at the end of the Earth, where he has been granted eternal life by the gods. (Gilgamesh's reason for seeking out Utnapishtim, incidentally, was to learn the secret of immortality - like Methuselah, he comes close to the gift but fails to achieve it). Utnapishtim then tells how he survived a great flood, and how he was afterwards granted immortality by the gods.

It should be noted that any archaeological evidence of an ancient flood does not in any way validate Noah and his biblical history. The hero of the flood might be otherwise named... as for example, the Sumerians also described a Deluge/Flood where the hero was ZI-U-SUDRA.

Lamech's statement that Noah will be named "rest" because "out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands," has another faint parallel in Babylonian mythology: the gods grew tired of working, digging the channels of the rivers, and so the god Enki created man from clay and blood and spit to do the work for them. Enki fell in love with his creation, and later warned Utnapishtim that the other gods planned to send a flood to destroy all life, and advised him on how to construct his ark. [And in true Enki fashion, after Enlil had forbade anyone telling the humans of the coming Flood, Enki told a wall... while Utnapishtim sat behind it (ostensibly taking notes of his brand new laptop).]

Noah is also often compared to Deucalion, the son of Prometheus and Pronoia in Greek mythology. Like Noah, Deucalion is a wine maker or wine seller; he is forewarned of the flood (this time by Zeus); he builds an ark and staffs it with creatures - and when he completes his voyage, gives thanks and takes advice from the Gods on how to repopulate the Earth. [Like, for example, have sex! A LOT of sex!] This and some other examples of apparent comparison between Greek myths and the "key characters" in the Old Testament/Torah have led recent Biblical scholars to suggest a Hellenistic influence in the composition of the earlier portions of the Hebrew Bible. [As has often been suggested: “Do not shade your eyes; plagiarize.” The ancients took this suggestion as mantra, dogma, and/or canon.]

 

Tohwait's Tree

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Descendants of Noah

 

 

               

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