Enos (Bible)

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Enos or Enosh (Hebrew: אֱנוֹשׁ, Standard Enoš, Tiberian ʼĔnôš; "mortal man"; Ge'ez: ሄኖስ Henos) is a biblical name in the genealogies of Adam, and consequently referred to within the genealogies of Chronicles, and of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. He is the son of Seth, father of Kenan, and grandson of Adam (Gen. 5:6-11; Luke 3:38). He supposedly lived nine hundred and five years.

In his time “men began to call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26), meaning either (1) then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord (marg.) i.e., to distinguish themselves thereby from idolaters; or (2) then men in some public and earnest way began to call upon the Lord, indicating a time of spiritual revival.

The traditional Jewish interpretation of this verse, though, implies that it marked the beginning of idolatry, i.e. that men starting dubbing "Lord" things that were mere creatures. This is because the previous generations, notably Adam, had already "begun calling upon the name of the Lord", which forces us to interpret הוחל huchal not as "began" but as the homonym "profanated". In this light, Enosh suggests the notion of a humanity (Enoshut) thinking of itself as an absolute rather than in relation to God (Enosh vs. Adam).

According to the Book of Jubilees (4:11-13) in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, Enos was born in the Year of the World 235, and "he began to call on the name of the Lord on the earth." He married his sister, No'am (this necessary practice was discontinued after his generation, once there were more distant relations available to marry), and she bare him Kenan in the year 325. Ethiopian Orthodox tradition considers him a "faithful and righteous servant of God", and further credits him with the introduction, following a divine revelation, of the Ge'ez alphabet in its original, consonant-only form, "as an instrument for codifying the laws"^[1].

He is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30.

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v • d • e Genealogy of Adam to David according to the Hebrew Bible Creation to Flood Adam · Seth · Enos · Kenan · Mahalalel · Jared · Enoch · Methuselah · Lamech · Noah · Shem Origin of the Patriarchs Arpachshad · Salah · Eber · Peleg · Reu · Serug · Nahor · Terah · Abraham · Isaac · Jacob Nationhood to Kingship Judah · Pharez · Hezron · Ram/Aram · Amminadab · Nahshon · Salmon · Boaz · Obed · Jesse · David

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.