Ephrem the Syrian — Commentary on Scripture

And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

There the families
of the two brothers had separated:
Cain went off by himself
and lived in the land of Nod,
a place lower still
than that of Seth and Enosh;
but those who lived on higher ground,
who were called
“the children of God,”
left their own region and came down
to take wives
from the daughters of Cain down below.

Genesis 4:18-22

And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

That Cain remained alive until the seventh generation is clear. First, … it had been so decreed concerning him. Second, the length of the lives of those first generations also testifies to it. For if his father Adam remained alive until the ninth generation, that of Lamech, and was gathered from the world in the fifty-sixth year of Lamech, it is no great thing that Cain should remain until the seventh generation.

Genesis 4:23-24 · 2 passages

And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

Some, because they think that Cain was avenged for seven generations, say that Lamech was evil, because God had said, “All flesh has corrupted its path,” and also because the wives of Lamech saw that the line of their generation would be cut off. They were giving birth not to males but to females only, for Moses said that it was “when men multiplied on the earth and daughters were born to them.” When these wives saw the plight of their generation, they became fearful and knew that the judgment decreed against Cain and his seven generations had come upon their generation. Lamech, then, in his cleverness, comforted them, saying, “I have killed a man for wounding me and a youth for striking me. Just as God caused Cain to remain so that seven generations would perish with him, so God will cause me to remain, because I have killed two, so that seventy-seven generations should die with me. Before the seventy-seven generations come, however, we will die, and through the cup of death that we taste we will escape from that punishment which, because of me, will extend to seventy-seven generati…

Some, because they think that Cain was avenged for seven generations, say that Lamech was evil, because God had said, “All flesh has corrupted its path,” and also because the wives of Lamech saw that the line of their generation would be cut off. They were giving birth not to males but to females only, for Moses said that it was “when men multiplied on the earth and daughters were born to them.” When these wives saw the plight of their generation, they became fearful and knew that the judgment decreed against Cain and his seven generations had come upon their generation. Lamech, then, in his cleverness, comforted them, saying, “I have killed a man for wounding me and a youth for striking me. Just as God caused Cain to remain so that seven generations would perish with him, so God will cause me to remain, because I have killed two, so that seventy-seven generations should die with me. Before the seventy-seven generations come, however, we will die, and through the cup of death that we taste we will escape from that punishment which, because of me, will extend to seventy-seven generations.”

Still others say that Lamech, who was cunning and crafty, saw the plight of his generation: that the Sethites refused to intermingle with them because of the reproach of their father Cain, who was still alive, and that the lands would become uncultivated from the lack of plowmen and their generation would thus come to an end. Lamech, therefore, moved by zeal, killed Cain together with his one son whom he had begotten and who resembled him, lest through this one son who resembled him the memory of his shame continue through their generations. When he killed Cain, who had been like a wall between the two tribes to keep them from tyrannizing each other, Lamech said to his wives as if in secret, “A man and a youth have been killed, but take and adorn your daughters for the sons of Seth. Because of the murders that I have committed and because of the adornment and beauty of your daughters, those who refused to be married to us in the past six generations might now consent to marry with us in our generation.”

Genesis 4:26

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

After Seth begot Enosh, Moses wrote “at that time he began to call on the name of the Lord.” Because Seth had separated himself from the house of Cain, the Sethites were called by the name of the Lord, that is, the just people of the Lord.

Genesis 5:21-24

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

Some say that while Adam was looking [at Enoch] God transported him to paradise lest Adam think that Enoch was killed as was Abel and so be grieved. This was so that Adam might also be comforted by this just son of his and that he might know that for all who were like this one, whether before death or after the resurrection, paradise would be their meeting place.

Genesis 5:28-29

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

Enoch begot Methuselah, and Methuselah begot Lamech, and Lamech begot Noah (whose name means “relief” in Hebrew and Syriac). Lamech prophesied about his son and said, “This one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands and from the earth which the Lord cursed.” His offerings … will be pleasing to God who, because of the sin of the earth’s inhabitants, will destroy in the waters of wrath the buildings that we have made and the plants over which our hands have toiled.

Genesis 5:32

And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

After recounting the ten generations from Adam to Noah, Moses said, “Noah was five hundred years old and begot Shem and Ham and Japheth.” During this entire time Noah was an example to his sons by his virtue, for he had preserved virginity for five hundred years among those of whom it was said, “All flesh corrupted its path.”

Genesis 6:1-2 · 2 passages

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

[Moses] called the sons of Seth “sons of God,” those who, like the sons of Seth, had been called “the righteous people of God.” The beautiful daughters of men whom they saw were the daughters of Cain who adorned themselves and became a snare to eyes of the sons of Seth. Then Moses said “they took to wife such of them as they chose,” because when “they took” them, they acted very haughtily over those whom they chose. A poor one would exalt himself over the wife of a rich man, and an old man would sin with one who was young. The ugliest of all would act arrogantly over the most beautiful.

He called the sons of Seth sons of God, those who, like the sons of Seth, had been called "the righteous people of God." The beautiful daughters of men whom they saw were the daughters of Cain who adorned themselves and became a snare to the eyes of the sons of Seth. Then Moses said, they took them wives of all which they chose.

Genesis 6:3

And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

This generation will not live nine hundred years like the previous generations, for it is flesh and its days are filled with the deeds of flesh. Therefore, their days will be one hundred and twenty years. If they repent during this time, they will be saved from the wrath that is about to come upon them. But if they do not repent, by their deeds they will call down wrath upon themselves. Grace granted one hundred and twenty years for repentance to a generation that, according to justice, was not worthy of repentance.

Genesis 6:4

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

The house of Cain, because the earth had been cursed so as not to give them its strength, produced small harvests, deprived of its strength, just as it is today that some seeds, fruits and grasses give strength and some do not. Because at that time they were cursed and sons of the cursed and were dwelling in the land of curses, they would gather and eat produce that lacked nutrition, and those who ate these were without strength just like the food that they ate. As for the Sethites, on the other hand, because they were the descendants of the blessed [Seth] and were dwelling in the land along the boundary of the fence of paradise, their produce was abundant and full of strength. So too were the bodies of those who ate that produce strong and powerful.

Genesis 6:5

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

After Moses spoke about the mighty men who were born into the tribe of Cain, whose women, even though beautiful, were nevertheless smaller than the sons of Seth, he then said, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was always evil,” for in the years given to them for repentance they had increased their sins. “The wickedness of mankind was great in the earth,” that is, evil extended and spread throughout both those tribes. “The inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was always evil,” for their sins were not committed only occasionally, but their sins were incessant. Night and day they would not desist from their wicked thoughts.

Genesis 6:11-13

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Because the sons of Seth were going into the daughters of Cain, they turned away from their first wives whom they had previously taken. Then these wives, too, disdained their own continence and now, because of their husbands, quickly began to abandon their modesty, which up until that time they had preserved for their husbands’ sake. It is because of this wantonness that assailed both the men and the women that Scripture says, “All flesh corrupted its path.”

Genesis 6:19-21

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

On that same day elephants came from the east, apes and peacocks approached from the south, other animals gathered from the west, and still others hastened to come from the north. Lions came from the jungles, and wild beasts arrived from their lairs. Deer and wild asses came from their lands, and the mountain beasts gathered from their mountains.When those of that generation gathered [to see] this novel sight, it was not to repent but rather to amuse themselves. Then in their very presence the lions began to enter the ark, and the bulls, with no fear, hurried in right on their heels to seek shelter with the lions. The wolves and the lambs entered together, and the hawks and the sparrows together with the doves and the eagles.

Genesis 7:4-5

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

God granted one hundred years while the ark was being made to that generation, and still they did not repent. God summoned beasts that they had never seen and still they showed no remorse. He established a state of peace between the predatory animals and those who are preyed upon, and still they had no awe. God delayed yet seven more days for them, even after Noah and every creature had entered the ark, leaving the gate of the ark open to them. This is a wondrous thing that no lion remembered its jungle and no species of beast or bird visited its customary haunt! Although those of that generation saw all that went on outside and inside the ark, they were still not persuaded to renounce their evil deeds.

Genesis 7:13-16

In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

“The Lord shut the door before Noah,” lest those left behind come at the time of the floods and break down the gate of the ark. The deluge came and “God blotted out all flesh. Only Noah was left and those that were with him in the ark.” The springs of the abyss and the floodgates of heaven were open forty days and forty nights, and the “ark was afloat for one hundred fifty days.”

Genesis 7:17-20

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

With the eye of my mind
I gazed upon paradise.
The summit of every mountain
is lower than its summit,
the crest of the flood
reached only its foothills,
these it kissed with reverence
before turning back
to rise above and subdue the peak
of every hill and mountain.
The foothills of paradise it kisses,
while every summit it buffets.

Genesis 8:3-5

And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

The springs of the abyss and the floodgates of heaven were open forty days and forty nights and “the ark was afloat for one hundred fifty days.” But after one hundred fifty days the waters began to subside and the ark came to rest on Mt. Qardu. In the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen. In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. In the second month, that is, Iyor, “on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.” Therefore Noah and those with him had been in the ark three hundred sixty-five days, for from the seventeenth of the second month, that is, Iyor, until the twenty-seventh of the same month the following year, according to the lunar reckoning, there were three hundred sixty-five days. Notice then that even the generation of the house of Noah employed this reckoning of three hundred sixty-five days in a year. Why then should you say that it was the Chaldeans and Egyptians who invented and developed it?

Genesis 8:15-19

And God spake unto Noah, saying,

Those whom he had brought in “one by one” in order to maintain chastity on the ark, he now brought out “two by two” so that they might “be fruitful and multiply in creation.” Even with respect to the animals that had preserved their chastity in the ark God said, “Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth.”