Ḥawwah was not a mortal wife and mother, but a creative deity taking
part with the supreme god in the production of man. See Cheyne,
TBI, 104, who thinks it "psychologically probable that Eve congratulated
herself on having 'created' a man."—That (
Hebrew characters) is not elsewhere
used of a man-child is not a serious objection to any interpretation (cf.
(Hebrew characters) in Jb. 33); though the thought readily occurs that the etymology
would be more appropriate to the name (Hebrew characters) (426) than to (Hebrew characters).
2. And again she bare, etc.] The omission of the verb
(Hebrew characters) is not to be pressed as implying that the brothers were
twins, although that may very well be the meaning. The
OT contains no certain trace of the widespread superstitions
regarding twin-births.—The sons betake themselves to the
two fundamental pursuits of settled life: the elder to
agriculture, the younger to the rearing of small cattle
(sheep and goats). The previous story of the Fall, in which
Adam, as representing the race, is condemned to husbandry,
seems to be ignored (Gu.).
The absence of an etymology of (Hebrew characters) is remarkable (but cf. v.17),
and hardly to be accounted for by the supposition that the name was
only coined afterwards in token of his brief, fleeting existence (Di.).
The word (= 'breath') might suggest that to a Heb. reader, but the
original sense is unknown. Gu. regards it as the proper name of an
extinct tribe or people; Ew. We. al. take it to be a variant of (Hebrew characters),
the father of nomadic shepherds (420); and Cheyne has ingeniously
combined both names with a group of Semitic words denoting domestic
animals and those who take charge of them (e.g. Syr. (Syriac characters) = 'herd';
Ar. 'abbāl = 'camel-herd,' etc.): the meaning would then be 'herdsman'
(EB, i. 6). The conjecture is retracted in TBI, in the interests
of Yeraḥme'el.
3. An offering] (Hebrew characters), lit. a present or tribute (3214ff. 3310
4311ff., 1 Sa. 1027 etc.): see below. The use of this word
even there, is established by Dt. 326, Pr. 822, Ps. 13913, Gn. 1419. 22.—(Hebrew characters)]
Of the Vns. TO alone can be thought to have read (Hebrew characters) ((Hebrew characters)); one
anonymous Gr. tr. (see Field) took the word as not. acc. ((Greek characters));
the rest vary greatly in rendering (as was to be expected from
the difficulty of the phrase), but there is no reason to suppose they had
a different text: G (Greek characters), Σ. (Greek characters), V per Deum, S (Syriac characters). Conjectures: Marti (Lit. Centralbl., 1897, xx. 641)
and Zeydner (ZATW, xviii. 120): (Hebrew characters) = 'the man of the Jahwe
sign' (v.15); Gu. (Hebrew characters) = 'man whom I desire.'
3. (Hebrew characters)] After some time, which may be longer (1 Sa. 293) or
shorter (2455). To take (Hebrew characters) in the definite sense of 'year' (1 Sa. 121 219
