Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/90

68 Suidas, under the heading ',' says: "Seth was the son of Adam: of this it is said, the sons of God went in unto the daughters of men; that is to say, the sons of Seth went in unto the daughters of Cain. For in that age Seth was called God, because he had discovered Hebrew letters, and the names of the stars; but especially on account of his great piety, so that he was the first to bear the name of God." Theodoret thus refers to the verse,—"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," or as our marginal reading is, "then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord:" "Aquila interpreted it thus, 'then Seth began to be called by the name of the Lord.' These words intimate his piety, which deserved that he should receive the sacred name; and he was called God by his acquaintance, and his children were termed the sons of God, just as we are called Christians after Christ."

The origin of this tradition seems to be the fact that Seth was the name of an ancient Egyptian deity, at first regarded as the giver of light and civilization, but afterwards identified with Typhon by the Egyptians, who considered Seth to be the chief god of the Hyksos or shepherd kings; and in their hatred of these oppressors, the name of Seth was everywhere obliterated on their monuments, and he was regarded as one with the great adversary, Typhon; and was represented as an ass, or with an ass's head. Abulfaraj, in his history, says that Seth discovered letters, and that, desirous to recover the Blessed Life, he and his sons went to Mount Hermon, where they served God in piety and continence, and associated not with the people of the land, nor took to themselves wives; wherefore they were called the sons of God. Flavius Josephus relates that after the things that were to take place had been revealed to Seth,—how the earth was to be destroyed, first with water and then with fire,—lest those things which he had discovered should perish from the memory of his posterity, he set up two pillars, one of brick, the other of stone, and he wrote thereon all the science he had acquired,