Период первый. От сотворения мира до потопа

The world, considered in its external beauty and internal harmony, is a marvelous creation, amazing with the harmony of its parts and the wonderful variety of its forms. In all its immensity it moves regularly, like a majestic clock wound by a great and skilled craftsman. And just as when looking at a watch one involuntarily thinks about the master who made and wound it, so when looking at the world in its correct and harmonious movement, the mind involuntarily comes to the thought of the culprit to whom it owes its existence and wondrous structure. That the world is not eternal and has its own beginning, this is clearly proven, first of all, by the common belief of peoples, who all preserve the most ancient tradition about the beginning of all things. Then, the study of the course of the historical life of mankind, especially its most ancient peoples, shows that historical life itself has a very limited extent and soon passes into the prehistoric era, which constitutes the childhood of the human race, which necessarily presupposes, in turn, a birth or beginning. The same is indicated by the course of development of the sciences and arts, which again leads us to the primitive state when they just began. Finally, the latest sciences (geology and paleontology), through the study of the layers of the earth's crust and the remains contained in them, irrefutably and clearly prove that the globe was gradually formed in its surface, and there was a time when there was absolutely no life on it, and it itself was in a state of formless matter. Thus, the beginning of the world is certain, even if it was in the form of a formless, primeval substance, from which all its forms were gradually formed. But where did this primeval substance itself come from? This question has long occupied human thought, but it was powerless to resolve it without higher help, and in the pagan world the greatest sages and founders of religions were not able to rise above the thought that this primeval substance existed from eternity, and from it God created or arranged the world, being, thus, only the creator or organizer of the world, but not in the proper sense its Creator. Then the Divine Revelation, contained in the books of St. Scripture, and it simply and clearly proclaimed the great mystery of existence, which the sages of all times and peoples tried in vain to comprehend. This secret is revealed on the first page of the book of Genesis, with which the Biblical history of the world and humanity begins. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” says the life writer, St. prophet Moses. These few words express the truth, immense in its depth, that everything that exists in heaven and on earth, and, consequently, primeval matter, has its beginning, and everything was created by God, who alone is eternal and existed in pre-temporal existence, and, moreover, was created from nothing, as the very verb bara means, used to express the word “created” 2. God is the only Creator of the universe, and without Him nothing could happen. By affirming this idea, the writer of everyday life thereby rejected all other ways of explaining the origin of the world, i.e., that the world could not have arisen either from chance, or from spontaneous generation, or from the struggle of good and evil principles (as the pagan sages taught, and after them the newest wisdom), but solely from the free decision of the will of the omnipotent God, who deigned to call the world from non-existence to temporary existence. This decision flowed solely from the love and goodness of the Creator, with the goal of giving the creature the opportunity to enjoy these greatest properties of His being. And so “He,” in the words of the inspired psalmist, “said and it was done, He commanded and everything appeared.” His instrument during creation was His Word (“said and was made”), which is the original Word, the Son of God, through whom “all things began to be, and without Him nothing began to be that came into being.” Since the second verse separately speaks about the participation of the Spirit of God in the work of creation, it is clear that God acted in the creation of the world as the eternal Trinity 3. Having discovered the secret of the origin of the world as a whole and its two component parts - heaven and earth, the writer of everyday life proceeds to describe the order of formation of the world in its present form, in all the diversity of its visible forms, and since the chronicle of existence was intended to teach the inhabitants of the earth, his main attention is drawn precisely to the history of the formation of the earth, so in the second verse there is no mention of heaven 4. In its primitive state, “the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the abyss; and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” It was a newly created formless substance - chaos 5 “togu-va-bogu”, in which the blind forces of matter wandered, awaiting the creative word of the Creator, and over this wandering abyss there was darkness, and only the creative Spirit of God hovered over the water, as if fertilizing the embryos and seeds of the life that was about to arise on earth. Revelation says nothing about the duration of this chaotic state. Only from a certain moment did the creative and educational activity of the Creator begin, and it took place in six successive periods of time, called the days of creation 6. When the time came to begin creative activity, the word of God thundered over the dark, formless substance: “Let there be light!” and there was light." Over the abyss of chaos, the beautiful day of God instantly dawned and illuminated the gloomy womb of pre-temporal darkness. “And God saw the light that it was good”; and “God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening, and there was morning: one day.” With the appearance of light, the fermentation of forces in the bubbling matter of chaos intensified. Huge masses of vapor rose above the surface of the earth's body and shrouded it in impenetrable clouds and mist, so that every line separating it from other celestial bodies was lost. “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water; (and it became so). And God created the firmament; and he separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament; and it became so.” The lower layers of vapor turned into water and settled on the surface of the still seething abyss, and the upper ones evaporated into the vast region of heavenly space, and that beautiful blue sky that we see now opened above the earth. It was day two. Above the earth's body there was an atmosphere already cleared of vapors, but the earth itself was still a solid sea. Then “God said: Let the waters that are under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it became so.” The thickened and gradually cooled substance rose in some places and sank in others; the elevated places were exposed to water and became dry land, and the depressions and depressions were filled with water flowing into them and formed seas. “And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called the sea: and God saw that it was good.” But no matter how good this distribution of sea and land was, the earth did not yet possess what was the purpose of its creation: there was no life on it yet, and only bare, dead rocks looked gloomily at the reservoirs of water. But when the distribution of water and land was completed, and the necessary conditions for life were formed, the first beginnings of life did not hesitate to appear - in the form of vegetation. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, grass yielding seed (according to its kind and likeness), and a fruitful tree bearing fruit according to its kind, in which is its seed on the earth, and it was so.” “And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the third day.” But vegetation needs the right change of light and darkness to thrive. “And God said: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven (to illuminate the earth), to separate the day from the night, and for signs and seasons, and days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.” According to the word of the Creator, the solar and stellar system was finally established as it exists now. The sun flared with its mighty, life-giving light and illuminated the surrounding planets; the vault of heaven was decorated with myriads of stars, and their enchanting shine aroused the delight of the heavenly angels, who praised the Creator in chorus (Job 38:7). “And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.” The sky was already decorated with luminaries, gigantic vegetation was developing on the ground; but there were no living creatures on earth yet who could enjoy the gifts of nature. There were still no proper conditions for their existence, since the air was saturated with harmful fumes, which could only contribute to the plant kingdom. But the gigantic vegetation cleared the atmosphere, and conditions were prepared for the development of animal life. “And God said, Let the water bring forth living things; and let the birds fly over the earth, across the firmament of heaven.” By virtue of this divine command, a new creative act took place, not just educational, as in previous days, but in the full sense creative, as was the first act of creation of primeval matter - from nothing. Here a living soul was created, something was introduced that was not in the existing primitive substance. And indeed, the writer of everyday life here uses the verb bara for the second time - to create out of nothing. “And God created the great fish and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.” The water and air were filled with life, but the third part of the earth still remained deserted - the land, the one that provides the most convenience for the life of living beings. But now the time has come to move it in. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, cattle, and creeping things, and wild beasts of the earth, after their kinds: and it was so. And God created the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to their kinds.” All these animals were formed from the earth, from where they now extract their nutrients, and into which they return again during decomposition. “And God saw that it was good.” Thus, the earth was already inhabited in all its parts by living beings. The world of living beings was represented by a slender tree, the root of which consisted of protozoa, and the upper branches of higher animals. But this tree was incomplete; there was still no flower to complete and decorate its top. There was no man yet - the king of nature. But then he appeared. “And God said: Let us make man in our image (and) after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” Here, for the third time, a creative act (bara) took place in the full sense, since man again has in his being something that was not in the nature created before him, namely the spirit, which distinguishes him from all other living beings. Thus ended the history of creation and formation of the world. “And God saw everything that He had created, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning: the sixth day.” “And God finished His work on the seventh day, and rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had created and created. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” This is where the establishment of the Sabbath as a day of rest originates, and on this establishment the correct alternation of work and rest in human life is still based. II. The creation of the first people and their blissful life in paradise 7. Man, as the crown of creation, was created on the special advice of the Creator, and he alone was created in the image and likeness of God. His body, like the bodies of all animals, is formed from earth; but the spiritual part of it is the direct inspiration of the Creator. “And the Lord God created man (Adam) from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” The image and likeness of God in man therefore consists in his spiritual sonship to God, in the desire for mental and moral perfection, which gives him the opportunity to dominate nature. As the king of creation, he is introduced into a special garden or paradise planted for him in Eden in the east, and all things are brought into subjection to him. creatures, and he becomes the ruler of the earth. But man, as a rational and spiritual being, would not be a worthy representative of the Divine on earth if he lived in solitude or in communication only with beings either higher than him, like angels, or lower, like animals. It was necessary for him not only for pleasure and happiness, but even more for the perfection of the divine work, to have an assistant on his own, capable of perception and mutual communication of thoughts and feelings. Meanwhile, among the already created living beings, “for man there was no helper like him.” “And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone; Let us make him a helper suitable for him.” And so a wife is created, and, moreover, from the rib of the man himself, taken from him during deep sleep. As soon as a woman was created, man immediately understood in this work of the Creator the desire for happiness for the social life of man and prophetically pronounced a provision that became the law of marriage for all subsequent centuries: “This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she will be called wife, for she was taken from her husband. Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and the two will become one flesh.” From these words, as well as from the circumstances of the very creation of the wife, it naturally follows that husband and wife represent the unity concluded in marriage, that marriage should consist of the union of one man with one woman, and that the wife should submit to the husband as his helpmate, created for him. “And God blessed them and said: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over all creatures.” And so the first people, in the bliss of their innocence, lived in paradise, enjoying all its fruits and enjoying all its joys. They were provided with all the benefits of a perfect and innocent life. Materially, they were surrounded by an abundance of the richest gifts of paradise nature, together with the fruits of the trees, which had a particularly miraculous value for their bodily strength and vitality, giving them immortality. Their spiritual needs found complete satisfaction in direct conversation with God, who appeared “in paradise during the cool of the day,” as well as in finding the best ways to dominate and control the nature subject to them, for which Adam gave names to animals, and also, of course, to all other objects, thus establishing language as a means of distinguishing objects and social intercourse. But their highest perfection lay in moral innocence, which consisted in the absence of the very thought of anything unclean and sinful. “And Adam and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.” III. The Fall and its consequences. Location of Heaven 8. The stay of the first people in paradise was their stay in direct communication with God, which was the first and most perfect religion of the human race. The outward expression of this religion was the church, as a meeting of the first two believers. But since the church, as an external institution, presupposes certain institutions and conditions on which the assembly is based, the primitive church was founded on a special covenant between God and man. This covenant was that man should love God and his neighbors and show perfect obedience to his Creator in all His commands, and God, for his part, promised man for this the continuation of his blissful state, safety from death, as a painful destruction of the body, and, finally, eternal life. To provide a person with the opportunity to testify to his obedience and strengthen his faith, God gave him a commandment that could serve as a test for him, as a means of strengthening that free moral self-determination in which the highest good of life lies. The commandment was to prohibit eating from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “And the Lord God commanded the man and said, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for on the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Having given man complete freedom, the Creator, however, with this commandment wanted to show him that, as a limited being, he must live under the law and that violating the law will be followed by a terrible punishment. Revelation does not tell how long the blissful stay of the first people in paradise was. But this state already aroused the evil hatred of the enemy, who, having lost it himself, looked with hatred at the innocent bliss of the first people. When the world of universal bliss still reigned on earth and it did not know evil, the world in its highest regions was already familiar with evil, and a struggle against it took place. Among the highest created beings, or angels, gifted with the highest gifts of reason and freedom, some have already violated the commandment of obedience to the Creator, became proud of their perfection (1 Tim. 3:6) and did not preserve their dignity (Jude 6:1), for which they were cast out of heavenly paradise into the underworld. Envy and thirst for evil became the soul of these creatures. Every good thing, every peace, order, innocence, obedience, became hateful to them, and they tried to destroy them among people who enjoyed the bliss of heavenly life on earth. And then the tempter appeared in paradise - in the form of a serpent, who “was more cunning than all the beasts of the field.” At the same time, he used a crafty trick, directing the temptation not to both people and not to the husband, but to one wife, as the weakest member, most likely to be carried away. The serpent approached the wife and said to her: “Has God truly said, Do not eat from any tree in paradise?” This question contained an insidious lie, which should immediately push the interlocutor away from the tempter. But she, in her innocence, was not able to immediately understand the treachery here, and, at the same time, she was too curious to immediately stop the conversation. However, she understood the lie of the question and answered that God allowed them to eat from all the trees except one tree, which is in the middle of paradise, because they could die from eating its fruits. Then the tempter directly arouses distrust of God. “No,” he said, you will not die; but God knows that on the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” The insidious word sank deep into the woman’s soul. It aroused a number of doubts and mental struggles. What is good and evil that she can recognize? And if people are blissful in their present state, then what kind of bliss will they be in when they become like gods? In anxious excitement, she involuntarily turns her gaze to the forbidden tree, and it is so pleasant to the eye, probably sweet to the taste, and especially tempting due to its mysterious properties. This external impression resolved the internal struggle, and the woman “took of the fruit of the tree and ate; And she gave it also to her husband, and he ate.” The greatest revolution in the history of mankind has taken place. Those who were supposed to serve as the pure source of the entire human race poisoned themselves with the fruits of death. The woman followed the serpent as if he were higher than God. At his suggestion, she did what the Creator forbade. And her husband followed his wife in sin, who immediately became a seductress instead of being seduced. The consequences of eating the forbidden fruit were not long in coming: their eyes were indeed opened, as the tempter promised, and the forbidden fruit gave them knowledge; but what did they learn? - found out that they were naked. An indignant moral feeling revealed to them the awareness of their nakedness, which became a victorious sign of sensuality and the triumph of the flesh, and to cover it, they sewed fig leaves for themselves and made aprons from them - this primary form of clothing. But if those who sinned were so ashamed of even their own inner voice of conscience, then they now became completely afraid to appear before God. Evening came, and the coolness of its shadows spread bliss throughout the garden. At this time, they usually had an interview with God, which they had hitherto expected and greeted with innocent joy as the children of their father. Now they wish that this moment had never come. Meanwhile, he approached, and they heard a familiar voice. Horror seized Adam and his wife, and they “hid from the face of the Lord God among the trees of paradise.” And the Lord God called to Adam: “Adam, where are you?” And the unfortunate fugitive answered with trepidation from the thicket of trees: “I heard Your voice in paradise and was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid.” - “But who told you that you are naked? have you not eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?” The question was posed directly, but the sinner was not able to answer it just as directly; he gave an evasive and crafty answer: “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” He places the blame on his wife and even on God Himself. The Lord turned to his wife: “What did you do?” The wife, in turn, also deflects the blame: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The wife told the truth, but the fact that they were both trying to shield themselves from guilt was a lie. This immediately reflected the harmful influence of the father of lies, to whose seduction the first people succumbed, and this influence, like consumed poison, poisoned their entire moral and physical nature. Then the Lord pronounced the deserved punishment and, first of all, on the snake, as having served as an instrument of temptation: he was cursed above all animals and was assigned a miserable life of crawling on his belly and feeding on the dust of the earth 9 . The wife is condemned to submission to her husband and to severe suffering and illness during the birth of children; and the husband was condemned to a hard life, since the earth, cursed for the deeds of man, was supposed to become impoverished in its gifts, to produce thorns and thistles, and only in exhausting sweat could he get bread for food until he returned to the ground from which he was taken: “for dust you are, and to dust you will return,” said the Lord, condemning him to bodily death. The punishment for breaking the commandment of God was terrible; but as a merciful Father, God did not leave His sinned children without consolation, and then gave them a promise, which, with the bright hope of restoring lost bliss, was supposed to support their sad spirit in the days of subsequent trials and tribulations of a sinful life. This is precisely the promise of the Seed of the woman, which was to erase the head of the serpent, i.e. to finally defeat the destroyer of people’s bliss, and restore people’s opportunity to achieve bliss and eternal life in heaven. This was the first promise of the Savior of the world, and as a sign of His coming, the sacrifice of animals was established (apparently now divided into two classes - clean and unclean), the slaughter of which was supposed to foreshadow the slaughter of the great Lamb for the sins of the world. Having made Adam and his wife Eve (the mother of the living, as Adam now called her) leather clothes (from animals killed for sacrifice) and taught them how to dress, the Lord expelled them from paradise, “and placed in the east by the Garden of Eden a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned to guard the way to the tree of life,” of which they, through their sin, had now become unworthy. With the expulsion of people from paradise, among the labors and hardships of a sinful life, over time, the very memory of its exact location was erased; among different peoples we encounter the most vague legends, vaguely pointing to the east as the place of a primitive blissful state. A more precise indication is found in the Bible, but it is also so unclear to us given the current appearance of the earth that it is also impossible to determine with geographic accuracy the location of Eden, in which paradise was located. Here is the biblical instruction: “And the Lord God planted a paradise in Eden, in the east. A river came out of Eden to water Paradise; and then divided into four rivers. The name of one is Pison; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and onyx stone. The name of the second river is Tikhon (Geon): it flows around the entire land of Kush. The name of the third river is Khiddekel (Tigris); it flows before Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates” (Gen. 2:8–14). From this description, first of all, it is clear that Eden is a vast country in the east, in which paradise was located, as a smaller room intended for the habitation of the first people. Then the name of the third and fourth rivers clearly indicates that this Edenic country was in some neighborhood with Mesopotamia. But this is the extent of the geographical indications that are understandable to us. The first two rivers (Pison and Tikhon) now have nothing corresponding to themselves either in geographical location or in name, and therefore they gave rise to the most arbitrary guesses and rapprochements. Some saw them as the Ganges and the Nile, others as Phasis (Rion) and Araks, originating in the hills of Armenia, others as the Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya, and so on ad infinitum. But all these guesses are not of serious significance and are based on arbitrary approximations. Further defining the geographical location of these rivers are the lands of Havilah and Cush. But the first of them is as mysterious as the river that irrigates it, and one can only guess, judging by its metal and mineral wealth, that this is some part of Arabia or India, which in ancient times served as the main sources of gold and precious stones. The name of another country, Kush, is somewhat more specific. This term in the Bible usually refers to the countries lying south of Palestine, and the “Cushites,” as the descendants of Ham, from his son Cush or Cush, are found throughout the entire space from the Persian Gulf to southern Egypt. From all this we can only conclude one thing: that Eden was indeed in some proximity to Mesopotamia, as indicated by the legends of all the most ancient peoples, but it is impossible to determine its exact location. Since that time, the earth's surface has undergone so many upheavals (especially during the flood) that not only the direction of the rivers could change, but their very connection with each other could be broken, or even the very existence of some of them could cease. As a result of this, science is just as blocked from accessing the exact location of paradise as it was blocked for sinner Adam from eating from the tree of life there. IV. Sons and closest descendants of Adam. Cain and Abel. Two directions in the life of antediluvian humanity. The longevity of the patriarchs. Date of chronology 10. Having lost their former blessed home, the first people settled east of Eden. This eastern, non-paradise country has become the cradle of humanity. Here the first labors of everyday harsh life began, and here the first generation of “born” people appeared. “Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Cain, which means: I have acquired a man from the Lord.” At her first birth, Eva experienced completely new conditions unknown to her - pregnancy and the pain of childbirth. Their consequence was a new creature, dear to her, which brought her into delight, expressed in its very name, which obviously expresses the memory of God’s promise regarding the Seed of the woman. But she was cruelly mistaken in supposing in her first son the beginning of deliverance from the punishment that had befallen her: in him there appeared for her only the beginning of new, still unknown to her, suffering and grief. However, Eve herself soon realized that she too early began to cherish the hope of the fulfillment of the promise, and therefore, when her second son was born, she named him Abel, which means ghost, steam. Now the first people are not alone: ​​a family has been formed, and with it new relationships have begun to develop. With the growth of the family, the needs increased, the satisfaction of which required increased labor. Already from the first days of the new situation into which people were placed by the Fall, the needs turned out to be diverse: it was necessary to obtain food and clothing. Accordingly, the division of labor occurred among the first people: the first son, Cain, began to cultivate the land to satisfy the first need for food, and the second, Abel, began to engage in cattle breeding to obtain milk, as well as wool and skins. The choice of the type of work and occupation of the first brothers, of course, depended on the difference in their characters and inclinations. Their occupations divided them even more, and rivalry was not slow to emerge between the first brothers, ending in a terrible crime the likes of which the earth had never seen before. “One day Cain brought a gift to the Lord from the fruits of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord looked upon Abel and his gift; but he did not respect Cain and his gift.” The reason for this, of course, must be seen not only in the quality of the gifts themselves, but especially in the internal disposition to bring them. This forever taught the lesson that sacrifice to God must be combined with the inner sacrifice of a good heart and a virtuous life. Meanwhile, if Abel brought his sacrifice with faith, confirmed by a good life, then, on the contrary, Cain brought it obviously without internal participation, since in life “his deeds were evil” (1 John 3:12). Seeing the preference shown to his brother, and seeing in him a clear exposure of his “evil deeds,” Cain was greatly upset, and his gloomy face drooped. Ominous features appeared on him. But conscience (this voice of God inside a person) spoke to Cain: “Why were you upset, and why did your face droop? If you do good, don't you raise your face? And if you do not do good, then sin lies at the door; he attracts you to himself, but you dominate him.” Cain, however, did not listen to the warning and opened the door of his heart to sin. Calling his gullible brother into the field, he killed him, committing an atrocity unprecedented on earth. The terrible crime, which for the first time introduced destruction and death into the order of nature, could not go unpunished. “Where is Abel, your brother?” – the Lord asked Cain. “I don’t know: am I my brother’s keeper?” - answered the killer, showing with such an answer what a terrible step forward evil has made since the fall of the ancestors. This insolence, this shameless denial did not allow the possibility of further testing, and the Lord directly addressed the murderer with a definition of punishment. “What did you do? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the earth. And now you are cursed from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother at your hand. When you cultivate the land, it will no longer give its strength to you; you will be an exile and a wanderer on earth.” By virtue of this definition, the bloody land had to lose its former fertility, so Cain could no longer remain in the same place. The curse caused by original sin also fell on the earth and only mediocrely on man; now, when sin has reached the point of murder, the curse falls on the murderer himself, but not an unconditional curse, but a curse of exile, by virtue of which the earth, as the executor of the will of God, not giving its fruits to Cain, had to force him to leave the primitive cradle of humanity. Due to the severity of the punishment imposed, Cain's tenacity broke down and turned into cowardice and despair. “My punishment,” he exclaimed, “is more than can be endured. Let anyone who meets me kill me.” But this desire of Cain, caused by his despair, was criminal and therefore could not be fulfilled. As a punished murderer, he should have served as a warning to others. Therefore, anyone who decided to kill Cain had to take sevenfold revenge. His drooping face, distorted by villainy, was supposed to serve as a sign so that no one who met him would kill him - be it a wild beast or one of his brothers. And Cain went to wander the earth, and finally settled in the land of Nod, even further east of Eden. It is difficult to determine the exact position of this country. Some researchers point to northern India, China, etc. In any case, this is a land remote from the primary settlement of people, a country of “exile,” as its very name shows. But Cain did not go there alone. No matter how great his crime and insult inflicted on the purity and holiness of brotherly love, from among the brothers, sisters and subsequent generations who multiplied during this time, there were people who decided to follow Cain to the country of exile, so he settled there with his wife. Here he had a son, whom he named Enoch. Removed from the rest of human society, left to his own fate, Cain, naturally harsh and stubborn, now had to fight with even greater tenacity against nature and the external conditions of life. And he really devoted himself entirely to hard work to ensure his existence and was the first person to build a city as the beginning of a settled life. The city was named after his son Enoch. Some researchers object that it is unthinkable to allow the construction of a city at such an early time. But before this event, several centuries could have passed from the origin of man, during which people could have come to the idea of ​​better means of protecting their existence from external enemies. Moreover, by the name “city”, of course, one cannot mean a city in its current sense, but simply a fence erected to protect the dwelling located in its midst. Cain's generation began to multiply quickly, and at the same time, the struggle against nature (culture) begun by its ancestor continued. From among him came people who, having inherited from Cain a stubborn will in the fight against nature, continued to tirelessly seek new means to successfully fight it. Particularly remarkable in this regard is the family of Lamech, the sixth member in the generation of Cain in a direct line from him 11 . Lamech himself is remarkable in the history of mankind in that he was the first to violate the natural order of marriage relations established at the beginning and introduced polygamy, which later became a source of terrible violation of the human dignity of women, especially in the east. Submitting to his passionate nature, he took two wives - Ada and Zilla. From them were born sons who were the inventors of the first crafts and arts. Jabal was born from Adah. He was the first to invent tents and with them began to lead a completely nomadic life, carrying tents and driving herds from one place to another. His brother Jubal was of a more poetic nature and became famous for the invention of instruments through which one could express the impulses and feelings of the soul. He was the first to invent the harp and pipe and is the father of all who play them. The gusli or harp (kinur in Hebrew), as described by Josephus, had ten strings, which were played using a plectrum - a special musical stick. Jubal's invention was, of course, the simplest form of a stringed instrument. It is remarkable that the first musical instruments were invented by the brother of the first nomadic cattle breeder, who probably took a close part in the latter’s activities: the great and happy leisure of this activity provides most of all reasons for such an invention. From Zillah Lamech also had a wonderful son named Tubal-Cain. He became famous for the most useful invention for the fight against nature; it was he who came up with the idea of ​​​​using metals to prepare strong weapons of defense and economy from them, and began to forge these tools from copper and iron. Before him, all weapons for defense or tools for household chores were probably made from stone, wood or bones. Savage peoples still use such tools, and as they gradually approach civilized peoples, these primitive tools are replaced first by copper and bronze (in South America - gold), and then by iron. Tradition calls Tubal-Cain's sister Noema - "the Beautiful" - the inventor of tones and songs. But poetry, in the proper sense, owes its origin to Lamech himself, that father of so many inventors. Admired by the inventions of his sons, and especially Tubal-Cain, he addressed his wives with the following speech: Ada and Zillah, listen to my voice, Wives of Lamech, listen to my words: I would kill my husband for an ulcer; I'm 12, If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then for Lamech seventy times seven 13. In this six-line line the first example of poetic speech proper in the primitive era is presented, and this song is a true reflection of Jewish poetry, as the most ancient. As for the content of this primitive poem, then, in general, its meaning is as follows. Amid the violence and cruelty of that time, which was especially rampant among the descendants of Cain, Lamech consoles his wives with the assurance that with the help of copper and iron weapons, now in his hands, thanks to the invention of Tubal-Cain, he can kill anyone who would dare to insult him; and if Cain was promised that he would be avenged sevenfold, then in the hands of the descendants of Lamech there is now a means of avenging themselves seventy times sevenfold. This poem expressed the spirit of arrogance and self-confidence that distinguished the offspring of the criminal and gloomy exile in their life and character. Lamech looks at the newly invented weapon that his son has forged, and a song of triumph bursts from his chest. How far ahead of him was his ancestor Cain, who was forced to wander helplessly on earth! He no longer needs outside help and will be able to protect himself at all times. Not only is he not afraid of murder, but he himself glorifies murder. This is what the descendants of the first murderer came to. The descendants of Cain directed all their activities towards ensuring material life. These purely worldly concerns absorbed all the strength of Cain’s generation to such an extent that it obviously completely neglected the interests of spiritual life. Distinguished by stubborn arrogance, it apparently lived in complete enslavement to the vanity of life and was distinguished by gross unbelief, with its inevitable fruits - vices and crimes. With this direction, it obviously could not be a true representative of the human race and, even more so, the keeper of great spiritual treasures - the first promise of the Savior and the primitive religious and moral institutions associated with it. It, in its crude one-sidedness, only threatened to distort the historical course of development intended for humanity. This one-sided direction needed a counterbalance. And he really appeared in the generation of the new son of Adam - Seth, who was born in the place of the murdered Abel. Seth begins in history that generation of people who, in their spiritual mood, represented the complete opposite of the offspring of Cain. In the generation of Cain, people, worshiping only material power, turned all their abilities (to the point of complete oblivion about God) to the development and acquisition of means that increased this power; here, on the contrary, a completely different, more sublime direction was developed and developed, which, awakening in people a humble consciousness of human helplessness and sinfulness, directed their thoughts towards the Supreme Patron, who gave the promise of future deliverance to fallen people. This direction declared itself already under the son of Seth, Enos: “then, the biblical chronicle says, they began to call on the name of the Lord God (Jehovah).” This, of course, does not mean that before that time there was absolutely no use of prayers as invocations of God. Religion began to be expressed in external forms, and, consequently, in prayer, even with the first sons of Adam - in the offering of a gift to God. This expression only means that now in the generation of Seth, calling on the name of the Lord God became an open confession of their faith in God, a banner that distinguished them from the Cain generation with its gross unbelief and wickedness. The highest exponent and representative of this trend was Enoch, who “walked with God,” i.e. throughout his life he reflected the height of original human purity and holiness. At the same time, He was the first to realize to what abyss of depravity and sinfulness the Cain direction could lead, and He acted as the first preacher and prophet to foretell the terrible judgment of God over the “wicked.” “Behold,” he said, “the Lord comes with ten thousand of His holy angels to execute judgment on all and to convict all the wicked among them of all the deeds that their wickedness has done, and of all the cruel words that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 15:16). As a reward for this high piety and great faith, God “took him up” from the sinful earth and thereby freed him from death caused by sin (Heb. 11:5). The new generation, in which the opposite direction to Cain's was manifested, being the bearer of true religion and the promise associated with it, naturally had to become the root from which the entire tree of humanity was to develop. And it really became one. The course of historical development, starting from the first man and dividing into two currents, directed its main course towards this particular generation. In this generation appear one after another those great representatives of primitive humanity or patriarchs who, strong in spirit and body, were called upon by long-term labor to develop and preserve the principles that were to form the basis of the life of all future generations. For the most successful fulfillment of their purpose, they, by the special providence of God, were endowed with extraordinary longevity, so that each of them for almost a whole millennium could be a living guardian and interpreter of the promise entrusted to them. The first man Adam, this first culprit of the revolution that took place in the history of mankind and the first witness of the great promise of the Savior, lived 930 years; his son Seth - 912 years old; son of Seth Enos - 905 years old; representatives of subsequent generations: Cainan - 910 years, Maleleel - 895, Jared - 962, Enoch, whose life was interrupted by being taken to heaven - 365, Methuselah - 969, Lamech - 777 and the latter's son, Noah - 950 years. The tradition of all ancient peoples unanimously testifies to this extraordinary longevity of the patriarchs. When judging it, one must keep in mind that they were close descendants of newly created people (and, moreover, created immortals), the natural conditions of life were different from the present, life itself was simple and natural, and in general, in the state of nature after its heavenly state, those changes did not suddenly occur that made its influence often destructive to life. Even now, human life expectancy reaches up to two hundred years and among African Arabs, according to travelers, this is not even rare. Why can’t a life expectancy of more than two hundred years be considered possible in primitive times, when primitive fossil remains indicate the enormous size and gigantic strength of the creatures that lived then? It has been proven that some animals, and especially birds, still live 300–400 years. It is not impossible, therefore, that man, in the country of his original origin and with a way of life more in accordance with nature than now, could live as long as the biblical chronicle testifies. The chronology of the life of the patriarchs also serves as the basis for a general definition of the life of mankind on earth, for establishing the chronology of primitive history. Its construction is facilitated and simplified by the fact that the number of years of the patriarchs in the biblical chronicle is threefold: 1) from the beginning of life to the birth of the first son, 2) from the birth of the first son to the end of life, and 3) the number of years of their entire life. The first count is especially important. It makes it possible to draw a continuous line of years from Adam to any subsequent patriarch: one should only add up the years of each person lived before the birth of his first son. So, Adam was 130 years old when his son Seth was born, Seth was 105 years old at the birth of Enos, Enos was 90 years old at the birth of Cainan. The sum of these years amounts to the period from the creation of Adam to the birth of Cainan: 130† 105† 90,325 years. In the same way, you can determine the number of years from Adam to Noah, from which a new era in the history of mankind began 14. But despite its apparent simplicity, chronology presents almost insoluble difficulties in another respect. In order to establish the chronology of this primitive era, it is necessary to first find a solid basis in the very count of the years of the life of the patriarchs - both throughout and before the birth of their first son, since this count differs significantly in the three most ancient and authoritative texts of the biblical chronicle: Hebrew, Samaritan and Greek. This difference can be seen from the following comparative table: The numbers indicate the columns: 1) Years before the birth of the first son; 2) Remaining years; 3) Whole life. Numerous interpreters have worked to resolve and agree on this difference in the number of years, but the matter has not yet been clarified with sufficient completeness. All sorts of assumptions were made. Some explain this difference from random errors of St. scribes. books; others see in the deviations of the Samaritan text a consistent desire to reduce the supposedly incredible longevity of the patriarchs, and in the deviations of the Greek text from the Hebrew - the desire of seventy interpreters to bring the biblical chronology under the forms of the Egyptian; others, finally, see in the reduced readings of the Hebrew text a deliberate distortion of the text by the Jews, who thereby wanted to prove that “the fulfillment of the times has not yet come,” which, according to ancient prophecy, was to take place in the sixth thousand years from the creation of the world. The first and last assumptions are more likely, although perhaps there were other reasons not yet discovered by science. In any case, the testimony of the Greek translation has more grounds for itself, and they formed the basis of the chronology adopted by the Orthodox Church and supported by many famous scientific researchers. According to this chronology, the period considered covers (before the flood) 2,262 years 15. Life 1:1–25, 30, 31; 2:1–6. The verb bara corresponds to the Latin. creavit. This is partly indicated by the very phrase of the Hebrew original in the first verse: “Bereshit bara Elohim et hash-shamayim ve et haaretz, i.e. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” By heaven we mean both the starry and, mainly, the highest spiritual world, the creation of which took place before the creation of the earth, so that the angels, as serving spirits, were already fulfilling the will of God and glorifying the Creator when He performed individual acts of creation (Job 38:7). Chaos - from Greek. I pour it, pour it all together, mix it. This word is not used in the Bible, but the concept itself is contained in the narrative and is confirmed by the fathers of the church, for example, by you. the Great and Gregory the Theologian. Heb. togu-wa-bogu corresponds to this idea. See the first appendix at the end of the book. The form of the curse on the snake: “you will walk on your belly” (Gen. 3:14) gave rise to the subsequent legend that before this curse the snake walked in a standing position. But this is contradicted by the very structure of the snake’s body, which is obviously adapted specifically to crawling, performed with remarkable skill. The meaning of the curse is that, as a punishment for the deceit that made the serpent a pernicious instrument of the primordial enemy for the destruction of the human race, the natural way of its movement, by no means humiliating or pitiful in itself, but on the contrary, arousing surprise with its remarkable agility and amazing resourcefulness, now became a sign and seal of the curse of God and, as such, should have aroused (as it does now) horror, disgust and contempt. “Crawling” has now become a synonym for baseness and shame. Here is a succession of representatives of this generation: Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mechiael, Methuselah and Lamech (Gen. 4:18). The names of Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech found here should not be confused with similar names in another generation - Seth. In the synod, translation of Gen. 4:23: “I killed the man to hurt me.” The form adopted in the text, although less precise, is more consistent with the general meaning of this place. According to the Hebrew text, the number is presented in the following form: Adam - 130, Seth - 105, Enos - 90, Cainan - 70, Maleleel - 65, Jared - 162, Enoch - 65, Methuselah - 187, Lamech - 182, Noah - 500, Shem before the flood - 100. The sum of these numbers - 1656 is the number years from the creation of Adam until the flood. For notes on biblical chronology, see the end of the book, appendix. II. You might be interested in: