ABSTRACT

This chapter is the epoch of which the beginning of the Book of Genesis speaks: "When men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them". Our text gives to the wife of Lamech the name of "Bath-Enosh", which means "Daughter of Man". The passage in Genesis continues: "the Sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all that they chose". According to Genesis, when Noah was born sixty-nine years had passed since Enoch "was not", but it was believed that he enjoyed an everlasting life in some distant region. If our reading of the text is correct, we have here an image taken from pagan mythologies, and that would allow certain conclusions to be drawn as to the region in which our text must have been written. The chapter provides further amplification of passages found in Genesis and the Book of Jubilees.