The third son of Adam and Eve. He is the younger brother of Cane and Able. Seth was born after the slaying of Abel by Cain, and Eve believed God had appointed him as replacement for Abel because Cain had killed him.
In
Genesis, Seth was born when
Adam was 130 years old (
Genesis 5:3), "a son in his likeness and image."
Genesis 5:4 states that
Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. It is stated in Genesis 4:25that Seth means "granted".
Josephus refers to Seth as virtuous and of excellent character in the Antiquities of the Jews, and reports that his descendants invented the wisdom of the heavenly bodies, and built the "pillars of the sons of Seth", two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions, notably in astronomy. They were built by Seth's descendants based on
Adam's prediction that the world would be destroyed at one time by fire and another time by global flood, in order to protect the discoveries and be remembered after the destruction. One was composed of
brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of
brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain, both reporting the ancient discoveries, and informing men that a pillar of
brick was also erected. Josephus reports that the pillar of stone remained in the land of Siriad in his day.
The Armenian Apostolic Church counts him as one of the Holy Forefathers, along with
Adam, Abel, and others, with a feast day of July 26.