This Is Appendix 21 From The Companion Bible. "Then
began men to call upon the name of Jehovah." If this refers
to Divine worship it is not true: for Abel and Cain both began, and
their descendants doubtless followed their example.
What was really begun was the profanation of
the Name of Jehovah. They began to call something
by the Name of Jehovah. The Authorized Version suggests "themselves",
in the margin. But the majority of the ancient Jewish commentators
supply the Ellipsis by the words "their gods";
suggesting that they called the stars and idols their gods, and
worshipped them.
The Targum of Onkelos explains it: "then
in his days the sons of men desisted from praying in the Name of the
Lord."
The Targum of Jonathan says: "That was
the generation in whose days they began to err, and to make themselves
idols, and surnamed their idols by the Name of the Word of the Lord."
Kimchi, Rashi, and other ancient Jewish
commentators agree with this. Rashi says: "Then was there
profanation in calling on the Name of the Lord."
Jerome says that this was the opinion of many Jews
in his days.
Maimonides, in his Commentary on the Mishna
(a constituent part of the Talmud), The name Enos agrees with this; for his name means frail,
weak, sickly, incurable. The sons of men, as "Enosh",
are so called for a similar reason (Job 7: If Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, became the
first idolatrous priest in Israel (see notes
on Judges 18: Moreover, what "ungodliness"
did Enoch, "the seventh from Adam" have to
prophesy about in Jude Surely this is sufficient evidence that this
profanation of the Name of the Lord was the reason why Enoch was raised
up to prophesy against it. |