Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)

2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Jaap Dekker: A Szolga és a szolgák Ézsaiás próféta könyvében

Jacob J. T. Doedens

The indecent descent of

THE SETHITES:

THE PROVENANCE OF THE SETH ITES-INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 6:1-4

1. INTRODUCTION

I

n Reformational exegesis, the enigmatic passage of Genesis 6:1—4 is classically understood as referring to male descendants of the godfearing Seth, who fell in love with female offspring of Cain. Formulated in a more popular way: the boys of the church were enchanted by the beauty of worldly girls, and this caused, religiously spoken, the downfall of their generation. In short, the passage was seen as telling us about the risk of mixed marriages between believers and non-believers. Exegesis wisely left out of consideration the difference in DNA and genes between believers and non-believers, for it would have been an interesting question how these relationships produced such an extraordinary offspring. Later rationalism coined the expression that “the sleep of reason produces monsters”,1 but it is difficult to see how the result of an “unequal yoking with unbelievers” (2 Cor 6:14) can result in giant children.

A brief look at the history of exegesis, however, reveals that this so called ‘Sethites- interpretation’ was not the first exegetical solution that was developed to unravel the mystery of the passage about the ‘sons of God’, the ‘daughters of men, the Nephilim and the Gibborim. It might therefore be interesting to find out the provenance and the aim of the Sethites-interpretation of Gen 6:1-4.

2, EARLY INTERPRETATION

The earliest interpretation of Gen 6:1—4 is found in the Jewish pseudepigraphic writings of the

Second Temple period. Crown witness, for that matter, is the First Book of Enoch.1 2

1 “El sueno de la razón produce monstruos”, an etching made by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, between 1797—1799. The picture may be interpreted as a typical statement of the Enlightenment, depicting what happens when reason is suppressed, but it may also be seen as a Romantic allusion to the painter’s commitment to the creative process.

2 The complete text of 1 Enoch is only extant in an Ethiopic version, though Aramaic fragments were found in Cave 4 of Qumran. Cf. J. T. Milik, “Problémes de la littérature Hénochique ä la lumiére des fragments Araméens de Qumrän,” HTR 64 (1971): 333. Fragments related to the passage of Gen 6:1-4 are: 4Q201 1:2—6; 111:13-21, cf. Florentino García Martinez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, The Dead

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