lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years. The people became very numerous. Some were herdsmen and lived in tents; others built cities and became mechanics[1] and musicians. The descendants of the pious Seth[2], whom God had given to Adam instead of Abel, were good, feared God, and hence were called the children of God. The descendants of Cain, however, turned away from God[3], were wicked, and were called the children of men.
Henoch [4], one of the children of God, was noted for his faith and piety, and was taken up [5] alive to heaven. Unhappily, the children of God began to associate[6] with the children of men, and soon they themselves became wicked. Then God said: “My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
“And seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, God repented [7] that He had made man on earth, and He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth."
- ↑ Mechanics. They practised various arts and trades, such as building, stone-cutting, carpentering, weaving, forging, and the making of musical instruments.
- ↑ Seth. Seth, being just and holy like Abel, was a compensation to his parents for his loss. God chose Seth to be the heir of the promises, and the forefather of the people of God, and later on of the Redeemer Himself who, according to St Luke (3, 38), was, as Man, descended from Seth.
- ↑ From God. i. e. they did not seek God or serve Him. They were called sons of men, or of this world, in contradistinction to the children of the just Seth, who were called the sons of God, because they loved and honoured God as their Lord and Father.
- ↑ Henoch. He “walked with God", i. e. lived in God’s presence, prayed without ceasing, and was united to God by the most intimate love. He was the saint of the primitive ages. His zeal for the glory of God, and his sincere love of his neighbour, urged him to convert sinners, so as to save them from eternal loss.
- ↑ Taken up. He did not die, but was translated to paradise with his body and soul, as happened later on to the prophet Elias. He, too, was a holy preacher of penance, and was translated without dying.
- ↑ Associate. In the course of centuries, the children of God intermarried with the children of men, and let themselves be led into their godless ways, so that impiety increased, and at last became general. Then God resolved to exterminate the human race, which was now living so shamelessly in accordance with its own evil passions. But He gave them a hundred and twenty years for repentance and amendment.
- ↑ Repented. This is a human way of speaking of God who, because He foresees all, does not change or regret His plans. But in order to express that God felt in His divine heart the terrible ingratitude of man and that it deserved punishment, the sacred writer says beautifully “it repented Him that He had made man”.
