Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)

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

right away for a Sethites-interpretation. In his Interpretations from the O. 77, he answers the question who are to be considered the ‘sons of God’ in Gen. 6:1—4 with the explanation: “From Adam Seth was born, who was the third after Abel, and from Seth Enosh was born. He hoped to be called the Lord and God. Therefore the children born from him bear the name ‘sons of God’, just like we also from the name of the master Christ are called Christians. For the race of Seth was segregated and not mixed with the race of Cain, because of the curse that was put upon him by the God of the universe. But later, when they observed how beautiful the daughters of Cain’s family were, having become enchanted, they took them for themselves as wives, and thus ruined their ancestral nobility.”61

The explanation about the Sethites and Cainites can also be found in the later Syriac tradition in the so called Cave of Treasures. This legend describes how the Sethites lived so close to Paradise, that they could hear the voices of angels.62

For the time being, all indications for the provenance of the Sethites-interpretation point into the direction of the early Syriac tradition. Parts of the earlier an- gels-interpretation still can be felt in this form of the Sethites-interpretation. Just like the angels in the Enochic tradition, also the Sethites descend. Not from heaven, as in the Enochic story, but from the mountain on top of which Paradise was located. Previous to their descent, the Sethites lived so close to heaven, that they could hear the voices of angels. But their fall began with their descent. They were seduced by the Cainite women. It is interesting to note that the Sethites are primarily depicted as victims and not as perpetrators, in contrast to Gen 6:1—4, where the ‘sons of God’ are the initiators.

The whole of the Sethites-interpretation perfectly fits into a changed view on sexuality, at least, compared to the view on sexuality in the Old Testament.63 The Sethites-exegesis followed a similar trail as the Enochic tradition. Both interpretations are present in the form of a ‘rewritten Bible’,64 giving ample information that cannot be found in the text of Genesis. The descent and ‘fall’ of the Sethites thus became a story that supported early monastic life: it displayed the advantages, but also the dangers of‘the life of the angels’, which monks had to face.

THE INDECENT DESCENT OF TI

.IE SETH IT E S

in 325, key figure in the opposition against Arianism, in exegesis he hardly used any form of allegory. See J. J. Brogan, “Athanasius,” in McKim, Donald K., ed. Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity, 2007), hereafter: DMBI, 129-133.

61 Athanasius, Interpretationes ex V.T., Quaestio 65 (PG 28:740).

62 Cave of Treasures, 6:1-23. Cf. Alexander Toepel, Die Adam- und Seth-Legenden im Syrischen ‘Buch der Schatzhöhle’: Ein quellenkritische Untersuchung (CSCO 618; Leuven: Peeters, 2006), 205—207. Cav. Tr. is dated to the late sixth, early seventh century, cf. Toepel, Adam- und Seth-Legenden, 6.

63 H. W. De Knijff, Venus aan de leiband: Europa’s erotische cultuur en christelijke sexuele ethiek (Kämpen: Kok, 1987), 53-63, describes the rise of ascetism as already beginning in late Antiquity prior to being taken up by Christianity.

64 The terms ‘rewritten Bible’ and applied exegesis’ were coined by Géza Vermes, cf. Jaqcues T. A. G. M. van Ruiten, Primeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1-11 in the book of Jubilees (JSJSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 2000), 3-4.

2012/3-4 SÁROSPATAKI FÜZETEK SS