Seth

*Seth*
Seth
Holy Forefather
Venerated in	Armenian Apostolic Church
Feast	July 26

Seth (Hebrew: שֵׁת, Standard Šet, Tiberian Šēṯ; Arabic: شيث‎ Shith or Shiyth; "Placed; appointed"), in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, and is the only other of their children mentioned by name. Traditionally, Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters. According to Genesis 4:25, Seth was born after the slaying of Abel by Cain, and Eve believed God had appointed him as replacement for Abel because Cain had killed him.

In the Hebrew Bible[]

In Genesis, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), "a son in his likeness and image." Genesis 5:4 states that Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. It is stated in Genesis 4:25 that Seth means "granted".

Seth had a son, Enos, at age 105 (Genesis 5:6), and further sons and daughters; he lived 912 years (Genesis 5:8).

Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi) refers to Seth as the ancestor of Noah and hence the father of all mankind. According to Zohar 1:36b, Seth is "ancestor of all the Generations of the Tzaddikim" (righteous ones).

In gnosticism[]

In Gnosticism, Seth is seen as a replacement given by God for Cain and Abel. It is said that late in life, Adam gave Seth secret teachings that would become the kabbalah.

In Josephus[]

Josephus refers to Seth as virtuous and of excellent character in the Antiquities of the Jews, and reports that his descendants invented the wisdom of the heavenly bodies, and built the "pillars of the sons of Seth", two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions, notably in astronomy. They were built by Seth's descendants based on Adam's prediction that the world would be destroyed at one time by fire and another time by global flood, in order to protect the discoveries and be remembered after the destruction. One was composed of brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain, both reporting the ancient discoveries, and informing men that a pillar of brick was also erected. Josephus reports that the pillar of stone remained in the land of Siriad in his day.

William Whiston, a 17/18th century translator of the Antiquities, stated in a footnote that he believed Josephus mistook Seth for Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of the referenced pillar in Siriad (being a contemporary name for the territories in which Sirius was venerated, i.e., Egypt). He stated that there was no way for any pillars of Seth to survive the deluge, because the deluge buried all such pillars and edificies far underground in the sediment of its waters.

In Christianity[]

The Armenian Apostolic Church counts him as one of the Holy Forefathers, along with Adam, Abel, and others, with a feast day of July 26.

References[]

Genealogy of Seth - Familypedia

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Seth. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.

Biblical longevity
Name	Age	LXX
Methuselah	969	969
Jared	962	962
Noah	950	950
Adam	930	930
Seth	912	912
Kenan	910	910
Enos	905	905
Mahalalel	895	895
Lamech	777	753
Shem	600	600
Eber	464	404
Cainan	—	460
Arpachshad	438	465
Salah	433	466
Enoch	365	365
Peleg	239	339
Reu	239	339
Serug	230	330
Job	210?	210?
Terah	205	205
Isaac	180	180
Abraham	175	175
Nahor	148	304
Jacob	147	147
Esau	147?	147?
Ishmael	137	137
Levi	137	137
Amram	137	137
Kohath	133	133
Laban	130+	130+
Deborah	130+	130+
Sarah	127	127
Miriam	125+	125+
Aaron	123	123
Rebecca	120+	120+
Moses	120	120
Joseph	110	110
Joshua	110	110