Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jesus Creed

Home
Evangelical
And Cain Knew His Wife (RJS)

And Cain Knew His Wife (RJS)

Last updated on: April 19, 2016 at 6:33 am by RJS

And Cain Knew His Wife (RJS) 2016-04-19T06:33:08-05:00 RJS

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Where did Cain get his wife?

Did people really live 900+ years?

Who cares who begot who? Can we get to the action?!

Perhaps the most boring genre in the Bible is the genealogy – or at least it can seem so from our twenty first century perspective. They raise questions at times – especially for those who want to take the Bible seriously – but they don’t make for exciting reading. The author/editor of Genesis, on the other hand, clearly valued the genealogy as a key part of the story he was telling. There are a number of genealogies in Genesis each with an important purpose in the story line. The first of these come in Genesis 4:17-5:23 relating the descendants first of Cain and then of Adam’s third son, Seth.

How should we read these genealogies? What is the take-home message?

Bishop Ussher in the mid 1600’s famously used the biblical genealogies to October 23rd, 4004 BC. This was unfortunate. Among other things, it represents a misunderstanding of the literary form and structure of genealogies in the ancient Near East. In fairness to the bishop, this isn’t something he could have been expected to know in the mid 1600’s, but it is clear today. Tremper Longmann III (Genesis in the Story of God Bible Commentary) writes:

Not all these genealogies are of the same type or purpose, but no matter what precise type of genealogy we must remember that these are ancient Near eastern, not modern Western genealogies.

… Ancient genealogies are fluid; that is they can change order to reflect contemporary social and political realities. They can also skip generations rendering them useless for trying to compute how much actual time is covered by the genealogy. According to Wilson, “genealogies are not normally created for historical purposes. They are not intended to be historical records. rather in the Bible, as well as in the ancient Near Eastern literature and in the anthropological material, genealogies seem to have been created for domestic, political-jural, and religious purposes, and historical information is preserved in the genealogies only incidentally.” (p, 94, quoting Robert R. Wilson, Genealogy and History in the Biblical World p. 199)

Nor is the duration of time in the Bible always reported in a modern Western literal sense. As an example, the common occurrence of 40 days or years in a wide range of contexts is significant as a long time, but not always (probably not usually) intended with mathematical precision. Forty is the symbolic number for a generation.

The lifetimes reported in the list of Seth’s descendants are significant, but unlikely to be quantitatively accurate. The numbers themselves tell us this as they follow a pattern that is far from random. I posted on this a number of years ago in Genesis 4-5 – Biblical Genealogies. Where the numbers came from and what exactly they signify is lost in the mists of time. It is important to point out that this doesn’t diminish from the text as inspired, we are not searching for mistakes or errors that undermine the authority. The author didn’t lie – he used a legitimate genre of his time, in the manner of his time. The genealogies are key literary components of the story of Genesis, they relate key historical and, more importantly, theological truths. But…the genealogies of Gen 4 and Gen 5 are not and likely were never intended by the original author to be literal historical accounts of the generations of Adam. It is theologically significant that none of the lifespans exceed 1000 years, it is theologically significant that the lifespans are shorter following the flood.

Beyond the numbers, the genealogies are significant. There are similarities in the genealogies of Cain and Seth that probably serve to compare and contrast two lines that serve or stray from God. Cain’s line is distinguished by city building, tending livestock, the origin of music and metal working. It ends with Lamech, his children, and his boast of an escalation of violence, death for a wound (Gen 4:23). Bill Arnold (Genesis (New Cambridge Bible Commentary)) summarizes:

The escalation of violence in the world is captured in the limerick, “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (v. 24) The linguistic links with v. 15 appear to emphasize that the principle of justice appropriate to the crime is forsaken by Lamech’s generation. Yahweh could be expected to exact punishment against those who harm Cain, but Lamech’s irrational self-defense is inhumane. (p. 81)

Longman agrees and noted that “from the perspective of the narrator, people are not getting better as time progresses; they are worsening.” (p. 97) The fact that the first city, nomadic herding, music, and metalworking are assigned to Cain’s line may be “a reminder that there is a dark side to civilization.”(p. 101) John Walton (The NIV Application Commentary Genesis) doesn’t attach as much significance to the arts of civilization in Cain’s line. “There is nothing to reflect rebellion here, only an indication that even Cain’s line continues to enjoy the blessing by subduing and ruling.” (p. 277) The theological significance may lie only in the fact that these achievements are assigned to men rather than to gods as in the Mesopotamian literature. But the boast of Lamech is another matter. “The text has moved from unrepentant Cain to defiant Lamech. Violence is glorified, … The human situation is degenerating.” (p. 278)

In contrast, the line of Seth follows God. In 4:26 we read: “To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord.” This sets the stage. Bill Arnold notes:

Cain’s line established cultural and societal conventions for humanity, whereas Seth’s line is noted for religious contributions. To invoke (literally “call upon”) Yahweh’s name is likely a reference to the institution of public worship among all nations and the development of religious practices in general compared to the other achievements of civilization. (p. 82)

Whether the arts of civilization are intended to contrast good and evil or not, it is clear that Seth’s line is connected with the worship of God. The pattern is simple, a man is born, has a son, has more children, and dies. Only Enoch and Lamech are singled out in the genealogy of Seth before the segment ends at Noah and his sons. Enoch lived 365 years, and the text continues (v. 24): “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.“

The same terminology, “walked with God” (iterative Hithpael of hlk) describes Noah as an especially righteous individual (6:9), and connotes a life of consistent fellowship with God. The faithful devotion of this simple ‘walk with God’ is precisely the piety fostered by the Old Testament, in contrast to the harsh legalism so often associated with it. Enoch shows that there is more to life than living and dying; there is the possibility of consistent and steady relationship with God. (Arnold, p. 88)

Lamech, the grandson of Enoch became the father of Noah saying “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.”(v. 29)

The genealogies move the story along and set the stage for the next major scene. And they leads us to the flood.

What message should we take from the generations Cain and Seth?

Are the lifespans important? If so, how?

If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net.

If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 19, 2016

Paul, Not a Systematic Theologian

Next Post

April 19, 2016 Note-taking: By Hand or by Computer?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "I do not know how to speak; I am too young"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jeremiah Isaiah Moses Samuel