Mind of the Church

The mind of the Church, faithfully rendered into English

Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

Chapter 4, verse 26. But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos; he began to invoke the name of the Lord

LatineEnglish

Chapter 4, verse 26. But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos; he began to invoke the name of the Lord.1

CAP. 4. VERS. 26. Sed & Seth natus est filius, quem vocavit Enos; iste coepit invocare nomen Domini.

SEPTUAGINTA interpretes ita verterunt hunc locum, Iste speravit invocare nomen Domini Dei. Cur posuerint illud verbum Speravit, cum non sit in Scriptura Hebraica, equidem nescio, sicut nec satis divinare possum quam sententiam reddat haec oratio, Speravit invocare nomen Domini: nisi forte hanc, Speravit per invocationem, id est, per religiosum cultum Dei se malis omnibus liberatum iri, & quaecumque optaret ac peteret a Deo bona facile consecuturum. Verum pro illo pronomine Iste, quod habet tam Graeca, quam Latina translatio, denotans personam Enos, quasi primus ipse fuerit, qui coeperit invocare nomen Dei, tam Hebraice quam Chaldaice, est adverbium temporis significans, tempore illius Enos coeptum esse invocari nomen Dei. Itaque Pagninus sic vertit hunc locum, Tunc coeptum est invocari nomen Domini: & sic olim verterat Aquila.
The Seventy interpreters translated this place thus: 'This one hoped to invoke the name of the Lord God.' Why they put that word 'hoped,' when it is not in the Hebrew Scripture, I do not know; just as I cannot sufficiently divine what sense this speech renders, 'He hoped to invoke the name of the Lord' — unless perhaps this: 'He hoped, through invocation (that is, through the religious worship of God), that he would be freed from all evils, and would easily obtain from God whatever goods he desired and sought.' But for that pronoun 'This one' (Iste), which both the Greek and the Latin translation has, denoting the person of Enos, as if he himself were the first who began to invoke the name of God — in both Hebrew and Chaldaic it is an adverb of time, signifying that in the time of that Enos it was begun to invoke the name of God. And so Pagninus renders this place thus, 'Then was begun to be invoked the name of the Lord'; and so Aquila once translated.2
SED utrovis modo legatur, existit quaestio, quomodo verum sit, vel ab ipso Enos, vel tempore eius primum invocari coeptum esse nomen Domini. Nam & Seth pater Enos vir fuisse insignis pietate ac religione traditur; & ante eum Cain & Abel per oblationes & sacrificia Deum invocare consuevisse, supra dictum est a Mose: nec dubitari debet, quin primus omnium Adam Deum per frequentes precationes & oblationes invocare solitus fuerit, itaque facere filios suos docuerit. Caietanus in explanatione huius loci ait, non fuisse Enos, qui primus simpliciter & absolute nomen Dei invocaverit, sed fuisse primum qui coeperit invocare Deum sub nomine illo [יהוה] Iehovah, quod Hebraei tanquam incomprehensibile & ineffabile summa reverentia colunt, & silentio potius quam sermone & pronuntiatione venerantur: idque admirabiles & inenarrabiles virtutes effectusque habere confirmant. Non arridet mihi quidem haec interpretatio. Nam quicquid sit de nomine isto [יהוה] Iehovah, de quo magnam hoc tempore inter doctos viros disceptationem esse video, certe in libro Exodi, cap. 6. non obscure indicatur nomen istud [יהוה] Iehovah, nulli Patrum ante Mosem fuisse a Deo manifestatum. Sic enim eo loci cum ipso Mose loquitur Deus: Ego Dominus, qui apparui Abraham, Isaac & Iacob in Deo omnipotente, & nomen meum Adonai non indicavi eis. Pro illo vocabulo Adonai quod inibi posuit Latinus interpres, Hebraice nomen [יהוה] Iehovah esse dicitur.
But in whichever way it is read, a question arises: how is it true that, either by Enos himself, or in his time, the name of the Lord first began to be invoked? For Seth too, the father of Enos, is handed down to have been a man notable in piety and religion; and before him Cain and Abel were wont to invoke God by oblations and sacrifices, as was said above by Moses; nor should it be doubted that Adam, first of all, was accustomed to invoke God by frequent prayers and oblations, and taught his sons to do so. Cajetan, in the explanation of this place, says that it was not Enos who first simply and absolutely invoked the name of God, but that he was the first who began to invoke God under that name [יהוה] 'Jehovah,' which the Hebrews worship as incomprehensible and ineffable, with the highest reverence, and venerate rather by silence than by speech and pronunciation; and they affirm it to have admirable and unspeakable powers and effects. This interpretation does not please me. For whatever be [the case] about that name [יהוה] 'Jehovah' — concerning which I see there is at this time a great dispute among learned men — certainly in the book of Exodus, ch. 6, it is not obscurely indicated that that name [יהוה] 'Jehovah' was manifested by God to none of the Fathers before Moses. For thus in that place God speaks with Moses himself: 'I am the Lord, who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in God Almighty, and my name Adonai I did not indicate to them.' For that word 'Adonai,' which the Latin translator put there, the Hebrew name is said to be [יהוה] 'Jehovah.'3
VERIUS igitur dictu fuerit, propterea Enos dici primum invocasse nomen Domini, quia super omnes priores pius & religiosus erga Deum fuerit, non modo colendo pietatem & religionem adversus Deum, sed eam quoque praedicando, divulgando, aliosque homines docendo. Vel quia iste primus certas quasdam precationum Dei formulas condidit, certosque ritus & caeremonias divini cultus adinvenit: cuiusmodi fortasse fuit altarium erectio, & certorum locorum ad invocandum Deum cultumque eius administrandum designatio & dedicatio. Vel denique, quia coepit congregare populum ad tradendum simul Dei cultum, quasi Ecclesiam fidelium inchoans & adunans.
It would therefore be truer to say that Enos is said first to have invoked the name of the Lord, because he was pious and religious toward God above all the earlier ones — not only by cultivating piety and religion toward God, but also by preaching it, divulging it, and teaching other men. Or because this one first established certain fixed formulas of prayers to God, and devised certain fixed rites and ceremonies of divine worship — of which kind perhaps was the erection of altars, and the designation and dedication of certain places for invoking God and administering his worship. Or, finally, because he began to congregate the people to hand down at the same time the worship of God, as if beginning and uniting a Church of the faithful.4
SED non est ignorandum lectori, in paraphrasi Chaldaica longe diversam, immo contrariam esse lectionem huius loci. Sic enim in ea est, Tunc in diebus eius inceperunt filii hominum, ut non orarent in nomine Domini. Diversitas haec lectionum nata est ex ambiguitate Hebraeae vocis [הוחל] Huchal, quae, ut manifestis Scripturae testimoniis demonstrat Hieronymus ab Oleastro, tria significat: primum, polluere seu profanare, tum occidere, denique incipere. Auctor igitur paraphrasis Chaldaicae primam secutus significationem, ita ut dixi vertit hunc locum. Cuius versionis ea est sententia: Tunc profanata est invocatio nominis divini. Complutensis tamen editio Chaldaica, convenit cum textu Hebraico: Sic enim ad verbum, si Latine reddatur habet: Tunc coeperunt homines orare in nomine Domini.
But the reader must not be ignorant that in the Chaldaic paraphrase the reading of this place is far different, indeed contrary. For thus it is in it: 'Then, in his days, the sons of men began, that they should NOT pray in the name of the Lord.' This diversity of readings arose from the ambiguity of the Hebrew word [הוחל] 'Huchal,' which, as Jerome of Oleaster demonstrates by manifest testimonies of Scripture, signifies three things: first, to pollute or profane; then, to kill; finally, to begin. The author of the Chaldaic paraphrase, therefore, following the first signification, translated this place as I said. Of which version this is the sense: 'Then was profaned the invocation of the divine name.' The Complutensian Chaldaic edition, however, agrees with the Hebrew text; for thus, word for word, if rendered in Latin, it has: 'Then men began to pray in the name of the Lord.'5

Translator’s notes

  1. New lemma: Genesis 4:26 (marginal 'CAP. 4. VERS. 26.'), the birth of Enos and the beginning of invoking the Lord's name. ↩
  2. On the reading of Gen 4:26b: the LXX has 'This one HOPED to invoke the name of the Lord God' — Pererius cannot see whence the word 'hoped' comes (it is not in the Hebrew), unless it means Enos hoped, through worship, to be freed from evils and obtain goods. Moreover, the 'Iste' ('this one' = Enos), in both the Greek and Latin, treats Enos as the person who first invoked God's name; but in Hebrew and Chaldaic the word is an adverb of TIME — 'in the time of Enos it was begun to invoke the name.' So Pagninus (and formerly Aquila): 'Then was begun to be invoked the name of the Lord.' Marginal gloss: 'Pagnini & Aquilae interpretatio huius loci.' ↩
  3. The question: how could Enos (or his time) be the first to invoke the Lord's name, when Seth was pious, Cain and Abel sacrificed, and Adam himself invoked God and taught his sons? Cajetan: Enos was not the first to invoke God simply, but the first to invoke him under the name YHWH. GLYPH verified (appears four times on the page): יהוה (the Tetragrammaton, 'Jehovah' / YHWH), which the Hebrews revere as ineffable, venerating it by silence and ascribing to it wondrous powers. Pererius REJECTS Cajetan's reading: Exodus 6:3 indicates that the name YHWH was revealed to no Father before Moses ('I am the Lord... my name [Adonai =] YHWH I did not make known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob'). So Enos cannot have first invoked God under that name. Marginal glosses: 'An Enos primus omnium coeperit invocare nomen Domini'; 'Opinio Caietani.' ↩
  4. Pererius's own (truer) reading of why Enos was 'first to invoke the Lord's name': (1) he surpassed all earlier men in piety, and publicly preached and taught it; or (2) he first established fixed prayer-formulas, rites, and ceremonies (e.g. erecting altars, dedicating places of worship); or (3) he began to gather the people for common worship — as if founding and uniting a Church of the faithful. Marginal gloss: 'Probabilior ratio, cur Enos dicatur coepisse invocare nomen Domini.' Odd-side running head 'IN GENESIM, LIB. VII.' number '763'; true printed page 773. ↩
  5. The Chaldaic paraphrase (Targum) reads Gen 4:26 in the OPPOSITE sense: 'Then in his days the sons of men began NOT to pray in the name of the Lord' / 'Then the invocation of the divine name was profaned.' GLYPH verified: הוחל (Huchal), the ambiguous Hebrew verb, which (per Jerome of Oleaster) has three senses — to profane, to kill, to begin. The Targumist took the first ('profane'); but the Complutensian Chaldaic edition agrees with the Hebrew ('to begin'): 'Then men began to pray in the name of the Lord.' This ends the commentary on Genesis chapter 4. Marginal gloss: 'Diversa lectio paraphrasis Chaldaicae.' Page footer signature 'EEEE 3'; catchword 'CAPUT' (the commentary on Genesis chapter 5 begins on the next page). ↩