Sastra Bait Kedua Kejadian 4:22: On the Posterity

[114] Of this shadow and its fleeting dreams a son is born, to whom was given the name of Thobel (Gen. 4:22), meaning “all together.” For it is a fact that those who have obtained health and wealth, the compound which is proverbial, think that they have secured absolutely all things. And should a governorship conferring independent authority fall to their lot, puffed up by self-conceit and treading air, they forget themselves and the perishable stuff out of which they were made.

[116] Accurately characterizing each one of these he goes on to say: “This man was a wielder of the hammer, a smith in brass and iron work” (Gen. 4:22). For the soul that is vehemently concerned about bodily pleasures or the materials of outward things, is being ever hammered on an anvil, beaten out by the blows of his desires with their long swoop and reach. Always and everywhere you may see those who care for their bodies more than anything else setting lines and snares to catch the things they long for. You may see lovers of money and fame dispatching on expeditions to the ends of the earth and beyond the sea the frenzied craving for these things. They draw to them the produce of every region of the globe, using their unlimited lusts as nets for the purpose, until at last the violence of their excessive effort makes them give way, and the counter pull throws down headlong those who are tugging.

[120] We are told that the sister of Thobel was Noeman (Gen. 4:22), meaning “fatness”; for when those, who make bodily comfort and the material things of which I have spoken their object, succeed in getting something which they crave after, the consequence is that they grow fat. Such fatness I for my part set down not as strength but as weakness, for it teaches us to neglect to pay honour to God, which is the chiefest and best power of the soul.