Ten generations there were from Noah to Abraham, to show how great is
the clemency of God, for all the generations provoked His wrath, until
Abraham our father came and received the reward of all of them.[1] For
the sake of Abraham God had shown himself long-suffering and patient
during the lives of these ten generations. Yea, more, the world itself
had been created for the sake of his merits.[2] His advent had been
made manifest to his ancestor Reu, who uttered the following prophecy
at the birth of his son Serug: "From this child he shall be born in the
fourth generation that shall set his dwelling over the highest, and he
shall be called perfect and spotless, and shall be the father of
nations, and his covenant shall not be dissolved, and his seed shall be
multiplied forever."[3]
It was, indeed, high time that the "friend of God"[4] should make his
appearance upon earth. The descendants of Noah were sinking from
depravity to lower and lower depths of depravity. They were beginning
to quarrel and slay, eat blood, build fortified cities and walls and
towers, and set one man over the whole nation as king, and wage wars,
people against people, and nations against nations, and cities against
cities, and do all manner of evil, and acquire weapons, and teach
warfare unto their children. And they began also to take captives and
sell them as slaves. And they made unto themselves molten images, which
they worshipped, each one the idol he had molten for himself, for the
evil spirits under their leader Mastema led them astray into sin and
uncleanness. For this reason Reu called his son Serug, because all
mankind had turned aside unto sin and transgression. When he grew to
manhood, the name was seen to have been chosen fittingly, for he, too,
worshipped idols, and when he himself had a son, Nahor by name, he
taught him the arts of the Chaldees, how to be a soothsayer and
practice magic according to signs in the heavens. When, in time, a son
was born to Nahor, Mastema sent ravens and other birds to despoil the
earth and rob men of the proceeds of their work. As soon as they had
dropped the seed in the furrows, and before they could cover it over
with earth, the birds picked it up from the surface of the ground, and
Nahor called his son Terah, because the ravens and the other birds
plagued men, devoured their seed, and reduced them to destitution.[6]