מנהיגות: ייעוד

(10) And it was at the end of many years when Zillah became old that the Lord remembered her, ‎and she conceived and bare a son and called his name Tubal-Cain, saying: After I have ‎withered away I have obtained pleasure and joy.‎ And Lamech became aged and advanced in years, and his eyes grew dim so that he could not ‎see, and Tubal Cain his son was his guide. One day Lamech and his son Tubal-Cain went out for ‎a walk, and as they passed on through the fields together, Cain the son of Adam was walking ‎to and fro in another field opposite them. Now Lamech was very old and unable to see and ‎Tubal Cain a mere child, and seeing something moving about in the distance, Tubal-Cain ‎directed his father's bow and bade him shoot at what he took for a wild animal. Lamech did ‎accordingly discharge his weapon and slew Cain with his arrows.‎ And as the arrows entered Cain’s body, he being in the distance, he fell prostrate upon the ‎ground and died. Thus the Lord repaid unto Cain evil according to the wickedness that he had ‎done unto his brother Abel, in keeping with the word of the Lord which he hath spoken unto ‎him.‎ And when Cain was dead, Lamech and Tubal-Cain went to see what kind of an animal they had ‎killed, and they found Cain their grandfather lying dead upon the ground.‎ And Lamech was greatly grieved for having done that deed and in his sorrow and lamentation ‎he clapped his hands together, and while doing so he struck his son with his hands, and killed ‎him.‎ And when the wives of Lamech heard what Lamech had done they sought to kill him.‎ And the wives of Lamech hated him from that day on, because of his having killed Cain and ‎Tubal-Cain, and the wives of Lamech separated from him, and would not even lis ten to his ‎explanation in those days. But finally La mech came and pressed them to hear him on that ‎matter, and he said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah listen to my voice, wives of Lamech give ear ‎unto my words. Now you believe and say that I have slain a man to my wounding and a young ‎man to my hurt, for no harm done to me. Do you not know that I am old and gray and that ‎mine eyes are heavy, wherefore I must have done all those things without my knowledge? ‎And the wives of Lamech hearkened unto these words and returned unto him, following the ‎advice of their father Adam. Yet they bare him no children from that day on, for they knew ‎that the anger of the Lord was growing daily against the sons of man in those days, to destroy ‎them by the waters of the flood, on account of their wickedness.‎ And Mehalaleel son of Cain lived sixty-five years and begat Jared; and Jared lived one hundred ‎and sixty two years and begat Enoch; and Enoch lived sixty-five years and begat Methuselah.‎ And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah; and he served the Lord and despised ‎the evil ways of the sons of man, and Enoch’s soul was wedded to morality to wisdom and to ‎understanding, and he learned the ways of the Lord.‎ And in his wisdom he separated himself from the sons of man, and he isolated himself against ‎them for many days.

(11) And after many days and years while engaged in services and prayers to the Lord in his hidden ‎chamber, an angel of the Lord called upon him from heaven, and he said: Here am I.‎ And he said unto him: Arise and leave thy house and thy hiding place, and go among all men to ‎teach them the ways of the Lord, and the good deeds they have to practice in following the ‎ways of the Lord.‎ And Enoch arose and he left his house and hiding place wherein he was, according to the word ‎of the Lord, and he went out among the people, instructing them in the ways of the Lord.‎ And he gathered together all the people at that time, and made known unto them the ‎instruction of the Lord.‎ And he ordered men to go about and publish in a loud voice in all the dwelling places of the ‎sons of man, as follows: Who is the man that is desirous to understand the ways of the Lord ‎and the actions which are good and just? let him then come to Enoch! And all the people ‎willing to learn those things gathered around Enoch.‎ And Enoch ruled over all the sons of man according to the words of God, and they came and ‎bowed down before him to the ground, and all of them obeyed unanimously to his words.‎ And the spirit of God rested upon Enoch, and he taught all his men the wisdom of God and his ‎ways, and they served the Lord through all the days of Enoch, and the people always came to ‎hear his wisdom.‎ And the kings of all the sons of man served unto the Lord through all the days of Enoch, and ‎they also came to hear his wisdom. All the kings of the nations, the highest and the lowest, ‎their princes and judges, all came unto Enoch when they heard of his wisdom, and they bowed ‎down before him with their countenances to the ground, and they greatly begged of him to be ‎their ruler, until he consented.‎ And they gathered together, about one hundred and thirty kings and princes, and they made ‎Enoch their king and all were subject to his hands and to his words.‎ And Enoch taught them wisdom and knowledge and the ways of God, and he made peace ‎between all of them, so that peace reigned through the whole earth in the days of Enoch.‎ And Enoch ruled over the sons of man for two hundred and forty-three years, and he ‎dispensed law and justice to all his people, and he directed them in the ways of God.‎ And these are the generations of Enoch: Methuselah, Elisha and Abimelech, three sons, and ‎their sisters, Milcah and Naamah.‎ And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and he begat Lamech.‎ And it was in the fifty-sixth year of Lamech’s life that Adam died, he was nine hundred and ‎thirty years old when he died, and his two sons, together with Enoch and Methuselah his son, ‎buried him with great honors according to the manner of the burial of kings, in a case, as the ‎Lord had spoken unto them.‎ And all the children of man held there a very great mourning and weeping over Adam, which ‎hath become a custom since then among the sons of man, even to this day.‎ And Adam died because he had eaten from the tree of knowledge; and like him so must die ‎also all his children, as the Lord hath proclaimed it.‎

(12) And it was in the year of Adam’s death, which was the two hundred and forty-third year of ‎Enoch’s reign, that Enoch put it in his mind once more to withdraw from the sons of man, and ‎to separate himself from society into seclusion, as he did once before, in order to serve the ‎Lord. Yet he did not maintain his solitude all the time, but he would stay away for three days ‎and show himself to the people for one day.‎ And during the three days of his solitary confinement he would pray to the Lord and sing ‎praises unto him, and on the fourth day he would come forth to his subjects in order to teach ‎them the ways of God, and whatsoever they would inquire after he would explain unto them. ‎Thus he would do during many days and years, when he began to stay in solitude for six days ‎and come among the people on the seventh day; soon after, he would show himself only one ‎day in each month, and lastly only one day in each year.‎ And the kings, and the princes, and all the people gathered together with a great desire to see ‎Enoch’s face once more, and to listen unto his voice. But they could not do it, for all the sons of ‎man were greatly afraid of Enoch and they dared not to come near unto him, on account of ‎the divine dignity resting upon his countenance.‎ And all the kings and all the princes held counsel together, and concluded to assemble all the ‎sons of man, that they might come one and all to Enoch their king, and that all could speak ‎unto him on the day he was to show himself again.‎ And they did assemble accordingly.‎ And on the appointed day Enoch came forward and all the people were gathered together, ‎and they came all at once around him, and Enoch imparted them all the words of the Lord, and ‎he taught them much wisdom and knowledge, and he instructed them in the fear of the Lord.‎ And all the people were greatly astounded and they wondered at his wisdom, and bowing ‎down before him to the ground they shouted: May the king live, may the king live! And soon ‎after, while all the kings the princes and the people were talking unto Enoch and he instructed ‎them in the ways of the Lord, all at once an angel of the Lord called Enoch from the heaven to ‎come up, because it was resolved to make Enoch ruler over the sons of God in the heavens ‎even as he ruled over the sons of man on earth.‎ And when Enoch heard these words he called together all the sons of man, and he instructed ‎them in knowledge and wisdom and in the fear of God, and finally he spoke unto them, ‎saying: I have been summoned to ascend into the heavens, and I know not the day that I have ‎to go and leave you.‎ And now before I part from you I want to teach you once more all the wisdom, knowledge and ‎morality you are to observe in future upon the earth.‎

(13) And he did accordingly teach them knowledge and wisdom and the fear of God, and he gave ‎them statutes and judgments to practice them on earth.‎ And he established peace between the people and instructed them concerning the life ‎everlasting. And he spent with them several days, teaching and correcting the people.‎ And while they were seated around Enoch listening to his words of wisdom, they lifted up ‎their eyes and beheld the figure of a large horse coming down from the heavens, and the ‎horse walked upon the air to the earth.‎ And the people were bewildered, and they informed Enoch of what they saw, and he said ‎unto them: It is for me that this horse is descending, the time has come and to-day I must go ‎away from you, and you shall see me no more forever. At the same time the horse came ‎down and stood before Enoch, and all the people around Enoch saw it.‎ And Enoch ordered it to be announced with a loud voice for the last time: Who is the man that ‎desireth to understand the ways of the Lord his God? Let him then come to-day unto Enoch ‎before he is taken away from us! And they gathered together and came unto Enoch on that ‎day, all the kings, the princes and the people, they did not depart from him the whole day.‎ And after he had once more instructed them to fear God and to walk in his ways, he ‎admonished them finally to maintain peace among themselves, and then he mounted the ‎horse that was waiting before him.‎ And he rode on slowly and all the people, to the number of eight hundred thousand men, ‎followed him, and they went with him one day's journey.‎ And on the second day he told unto them: Return ye unto your tents for why should you go ‎along with me, lest you die.‎ And part of them turned from him and went to their tents, but the remainder followed him six ‎day’s journey.‎ And each day Enoch said unto them: Return to your tents I pray ye, lest ye die. But they would ‎not return and insisted upon following him.‎ And on the sixth day many men still remained and clung unto him, and they said unto Enoch: ‎We will go with thee to the place wherunto thou goest, as the Lord liveth death alone can ‎separate us from thee.‎ And when Enoch saw that they firmly resolved to go along with him he ceased to urge them to ‎return, and they went with him.‎ And those kings that had returned counted their people, in order to ascertain how many of ‎them had followed Enoch.‎

(14) And on the seventh day a great storm arose and Enoch was carried heavenwards in a fiery ‎chariot, drawn by fiery horses.‎ And on the seventh day, all the kings that were with Enoch, sent to ascertain the number of ‎men that remained and followed Enoch to the place whence he ascended into heaven.‎ And when the messengers came to the place, they found it full of snow and large blocks of ice ‎all around.‎ And they said to each other: Let us break asunder these blocks of ice and see whether the ‎men going with Enoch did not die under them.‎ And they searched for all of them but Enoch was not found, for he had gone up into heaven.‎ And all the days of Enoch that he lived upon the earth were three hundred and sixty-five ‎years; and it was in the one hundred and thirteenth year of the life of Lamech, the son of ‎Methuselah, that Enoch was translated into heaven.‎ And after Enoch had departed from the earth all the kings of the earth assembled and ‎anointed Methuselah king over them, in the place of his sire." And Methuselah did whatever ‎was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, and he also followed the example of his predecessor, ‎teaching and instructing the people in all the knowledge and wisdom he acquired of his father ‎Enoch, and he himself did not turn from those teachings, neither to the right nor to the left. ‎But in the last days of Methuselah the people turned away from the service of God, and they ‎robbed and oppressed one another. They also rebelled and transgressed against the will of ‎God and corrupted their ways, for they refused to obey the words of Methuselah.‎ And the Lord became angry at the sons of man, and the earth became more barren, and there ‎was neither sowing nor harvesting in those days throughout the earth.‎ And whenever they would sow, in order to raise vegetables for the support of their lives, the ‎seed would degenerate and produce only thorns and thistles. But for all that the sons of man ‎would not turn from their evil ways, and their arms continued out stretched to do whatsoever ‎was wicked in the eyes of the Lord.‎ And they provoked the Lord with their sinful ways, and the Lord was exceedingly wroth and he ‎repented having made man, and the Lord resolved to destroy them and to wipe them out ‎from the face of the earth, as he did soon after. At that time when Lamech, son of ‎Methuselah, was one hundred and eighty-six years old, Seth the son of Adam died. And all the days that Seth lived were nine hundred and twelve years.‎