Was Seth Called JEHOVAH?

From the Historic Magazine and Notes and Queries (Feb 1895)

Jehovah—A Name. Edward G. King, in his monograph on "The Names of God," Part I, p. 34, says:

"It is undoubtedly true that his name (Jehovah) is found in the 18th line of king Mesh's inscription (on the Moabite stone), but a little consideration will lead us to suspect that it there stands for the name of a man and not for the name of God at all."

Is there an instance in the Bible where the name Jehovah was the name of a man? (Vol. XI, p. 300.) A. Mason.

We reply to this "Mason" by giving the different renderings of a text in Genesis (iv, 26). Suidas, under the heading "Seth," says:

"Seth was the son of Adam; of this it is said, the sons of God went in unto the daughters of Men; that is to say, the sons of Seth went in unto the daughters of Cain. For in that age Seth was called God, because he had discovered Hebrew letters, and the names of the stars; but especially on account of his great piety, so that he was the first to bear the name of God."

Theodoret refers to this same verse, and renders it as follows:

"And to Seth, to him also there was also born a son; and he called his name Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;"

Or, as the marginal reading has it:

"Then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord." Aquila interprets it in a slightly changed form: "Then Seth began to be called by the name of the Lord." Theodoret says, "these words intimate his piety, which deserved that he should receive the sacred name; and he was called God by his acquaintances, and his children were called the sons of God, just as we term Christians after Christ."

Anastasius of Sinai, has the following in refernece to Seth: "When God created Adam after his image and likeness, He breathed into him grace, and illumination, and a ray of the Holy Spirit; but when he sinned this glory left him, and his face became clouded. Then he became the father of Cain and Abel. But afterwards it is said in Scripture, 'He begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth;' which is not said of Cain and Abel; and this means that Seth was not begotten in the likeness of fallen man and after the image of Adam in Paradise; and he called his name Seth, that is by interpretation, 'Resurrection,' because in him he saw the resurrection of his departed beauty, and wisdom, and glory, and radiance of the Holy Spirit. And all those then living, when they saw how the face of Seth shone with divine light, and heard him speak with divine wisdom said he is God; therefore, his sons were commonly called the sons of God."

The name Jesus was a common name of persons before and after the Christian era; and in new Testament times, several persons bore the name besides Jesus the Christ; see Acts vii, 43; Col. iv, n; Heb. iv, 8 ; Acts xiii, 6. Also, Christ is a well known proper name: One of the best translations of Homer's Iliad, with Prolegomena and critical notes, is by Dr. W. Christ, published at Munich, 1884.