BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BROOKLYN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Vol. XII April, 1917 No. i 



STUDIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



By R. p. Dow, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



I. The Vengeful Brood of Lilith and Samael. 



There are certain discrepancies in Genesis, more apparent than 

 real, which have puzzled commentators in all ages, and of which 

 early explanations differ radically from present ones adopted 

 since it has become generally understood that Genesis is a com- 

 pilation of earlier narratives, notably the Elohistic and Jahvistic. 

 Dr. Briggs, of the Union Theological Seminary, has pointed out, 

 too, that the form of Genesis is wholly poetical. This leads to 

 a reasonable inference that if the text be regarded as dipping 

 into allegory, one may arrive much more nearly at the truth. 



A stumbling block which has puzzled almost every child at 

 Sunday School, as well as adults, is that Adam, the first man, 

 and Eve, the first woman, had two children grown to maturity 

 and both these sons had no difficulty whatever in finding human 

 wives. Whom and whence? In the efforts to explain one en- 

 counters an earlier apparent discrepancy. In Genesis i it is 

 stated that after the earth, sea and sky had been separated, after 

 the stars were set, after grass and herbs were grown, after whales, 

 fowl, cattle and creeping things, " God created man in his own 

 image — male and female created he them. God said unto them, 

 be fruitful and multiply."* After this a Garden of Eden was 

 created. Trees grew up to fruitfulness, "pleasant to the sight 

 and good for food." In ordinary nature this process would take 



* In this and all other quotations the King James version is used, unless 

 otherwise stated. 



