How can Shems blood be untainted if his mother was of Cain?

[soaren]

If I am understanding this right, Shem is Israel's Ancestor, yet his mother Emzara (known as Naamah to the Jews) is a descendant of Cain...

Wouldn't that mean that all of Noah's sons are tainted, and therefore, Noah was the last true blood Israelite?

Thanks!

Soaren

[Nayto]

Why do you think Shem's wife was of Cain?

[Joe]

The Midrash Genesis Rabbah 23:4 links Emzara to Naamah. Emzara is mentioned in the book of Jubilees, you then have to use the verse below to link Naamah to Cain. ButI am not sure if Emzara is Naamah based on a quick look.

(Edit: I forgot to point-out that the mid rash is jewish trash).

Gen 4:22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

From a Bible site

There does not seem to be any passages in the Bible referring to Noah's wife other than the account beginning in Genesis 7:7. It does not give her name, however, according to Jewish tradition her name is Naamah - the sister of Tubal-cain, a descendant of Cain, the son of Adam and Eve (see Genesis 4:22). Why Tubal-cain's sister (a daughter of Lamech by his wife Zillah) should be specifically mentioned is unknown. Jewish tradition made her Noah's wife. Her name, meaning "the beautiful" or "the pleasant one," reflects the worldly mind of the Cainites, who looked for beauty rather than for character as the chief attraction in women.

I don't think Noah would have been righteous if his wife was a canaanite.

[NicoChristian]

One thing that sometimes confuses people is names. Son of Cain Enoch, seventh from Adam Enoch, same person? No. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah, so if Noah's wife was called Naamah that immediately means they were the same person? Doubtful.

[Staropramen]

Names indeed become very confusing.

What the heck is Galilee of the gentiles?

However, if one is knowledgeable concerning Israel’s early migrations into Europe, then reading Isaiah 9:1 “... and afterward did more grievously afflict them by the way of the sea opposite Jordan, in the region of the Nations” makes perfectly good sense! And where did the lightbearers of Benjamin go after the Passion, upon leaving Palestine? To the people who walked in darkness – in Europe and Asia Minor.

http://christogenea.org/essays/galilee-gentiles

[wmfinck]

The Midrash is basically a copy of the Torah with many stories interpolated that represent late Jewish additions to Scripture. Nearly all of what is known as the Midrash was written between the 5th and 12th centuries AD and it is all garbage, not to be trusted. Midrash does not belong in Christian discourse.

The Ethiopian versions of certain apocryphal books such as Enoch and Jubilees have many sentences not found in older fragments or versions of such works, referring of course to the Dead Sea Scrolls but also to surviving Greek fragments. I do not trust the Ethiopic versions, and therefore I generally refrain from quoting them, although I have cited them on occasion. The Ethiopic manuscripts have no describable archaeological provenance, and therefore it cannot be properly determined as to whether they were transmitted from ancient sources, or by post-Jerusalem jews into Ethiopia.

I do not trust the Book of Jubilees since it follows the illegitimate Masoretic Text chronology, rather than the much more reliable Septuagint chronology. Therefore I would dismiss it as a work of great antiquity or as consideration for Canon. However the passages in question are not found in the fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls version of Jubilees.

With this it should be clear that one need not accept this tale concerning the nature of Shem's wife. From the earliest times there was a belief that the flood was global, and as the world expanded to encompass the globe, the perception of the scope of the flood expanded with it, to the point of ridicule.

With the belief in a global flood men found it necessary to explain how the seed of Cain may have survived it, and fantastic stories were created to explain that. Targum Jonathan has Og of Bashan hiding himself on the roof of the ark.

In reality, the Genesis narrative itself precludes the possibility of a global flood, allowing only for a flood which covered the whole land, and not the whole planet.

From a theological viewpoint, the Spirit of Scripture regarding race-mixing and the descendants of Cain is quite clear. Any apocryphal work which contradicts that Spirit should be deemed suspect by Christians.

[Kentucky]

Wouldn't that mean that all of Noah's sons are tainted, and therefore, Noah was the last true blood Israelite?

It would then mean that Christ was tainted, right? Noah was not an Israelite as Jacob-Israel was not even born yet. Jacob was not an Israelite until God changed his name to Israel. There's approximately several hundred years between the Flood and the birth of Israel and hence Israelites.

It is customary for new people to introduce themselves in their first post in the Welcome page.

Mark

[fistofyahweh]

Before I would even ask about Shem's bloodline, I would want to know who did Seth marry? Is Adam & Eve a plural representation of the white race being created or did the white race start from a single man and woman? Did Seth marry a sister? If so that would be incest and against Yahweh's own law.. But then again the law wasn't written down until the time of Moses...

[wmfinck]

http://christogenea.org/podcasts/two-seedline

[Staropramen]

Did Seth marry a sister? If so that would be incest and against Yahweh's own law.. But then again the law wasn't written down until the time of Moses...

Eve was formed from Adam's rib. Wouldn't that be an even closer, more intimate relationship than marrying one's sister? Bill pointed this out in one of his podcasts.