“Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son – Enoch.” Genesis 4:16-17.
The skeptic and the scoffer love to show their ignorance by asking where Cain got his wife.
In all fairness many honest people ask the same question.
There is a vast difference between a question asked in a mocking derisive way and an honest inquiry.
The answer may have become quite apparent by now; Cain could have married a distant cousin or a niece, even a sister, anyone out of a population of thousands (one estimate is a population of 32,000 or more).
The unpolluted blood lines were much stronger then and birth defects and hemophilia were unheard of.
Cain’s great pride in his son is not just love it was also because the ungodly have only their progeny to serve as a reminder of their existence on earth.
That and great works, and huge monuments or cities named after them or attributed to them, such as the city of Enoch, which he surely thought of as a reminder which would last for eternity.
Yet Cain’s entire line and the cities they inhabited were extinguished as in a breath.
“Arise, O Lord, confront him, cast him down; deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword, with Your hand from men, O Lord, from men of the world who have their portion in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, and leave the rest of their substance for their babes.” Psalm 17:13-14.
The very next verse gives the believer’s reply to this.
“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” Psalm 17:15.
Only seven generations of the line of Cain are given. While no ages are mentioned it can be assumed that the longevity of these folks was similar to that of the Adamic line given in chapter 5, an average of 900 plus years. By this we can surmise that the average lifespan was at least 500 to 700 years and as much as 900.
“To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.” Genesis 4:18-22.
The genealogies given here do not need to be complete from Cain to the flood of Noah’s day because, as it is today the world of Cain was given over completely to commerce and worldly amusement with no concern whatsoever for the things of God.
The genealogy of the Adamic line given in chapter 5 however is complete because it fills in the godly line all the way up to the Lord Jesus, see Luke 3:23-38 for the full list.
While Cain’s line does not give much, what it does give is quite enlightening. Nothing is said about the first four names, so I looked up their definitions just to see if there was anything of use, but they were not terribly helpful, so I will put them here for you to think about.
Cain’s son Enoch, means teacher. His son Irad, means fleet, it would be interesting to know what that was all about. Irad’s son was named Mehujael, meaning struck, or smitten by God, again very curious. Mehujael named his son Methushael, meaning who is of God (perhaps he embraced the one and true God).
Methushael gave his son the name Lamech, meaning powerful, or strong man. This last name Lamech is brought up again in the next verse and elaborated upon. From this point on it gets interesting.
“Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.” Genesis 4:19.
This is the first case of polygamy mentioned in the Bible and it is against the word of God which indicated that it is one man and one woman only.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24.
As creative as ungodly men and women may be, this is still the rule. Anything else is again the rebellion of Cain.
Referring back to Genesis 4:18-22 quoted earlier, the name of Lamech’s first wife was Adah, meaning pleasure or adornment, and his second wife’s name was Zillah, meaning to “hide”.
Now Adah was more than just an adornment because she bore two rather extraordinary sons. Jabal, meaning, river or stream he was the father of those who dwell in tents and keep livestock.
The Darby Translation renders the words “keep livestock” as “[breed] cattle”, which seems to support what some other expositors say about this man; that Jabal was considered a pioneer in the art of livestock even after the flood.
Adah’s other son Jubal which means, river, or a moist country, it did not rain until the flood, instead a mist came up out of the ground (Genesis 2:5-6). Jubal was the father of all those who play the harp and the flute.
Lastly Zillah has a son who is truly extraordinary, Tubal-Cain, the meaning of which is quite obscure, either it means smith of scoria (of metal), presumably this means he was a blacksmith, or his name may mean, thou will be brought of Cain. Whatever it means, this man was an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron.
This was before the flood which liberal scientist deny happened. As a result the Bronze Age is said to have started around 3300 B.C. and the Iron Age is set at around 2500 to 3000 B.C.
It is also recorded here that Jubal was the beginning of those who play the flute and the harp. The harp is said to have come into existence around 3500 B.C.
It is possible that Tubal-Cain worked metal for Jubal who designed the harp and flute years before the flood.
It is curious that Tubal-Cain’s sister is mentioned without comment; Naamah, which means pleasant. Why? Probably because it was prophetic of her personality, only eternity will tell us.
“Then Lamech said to his wives: ‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; O wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’” Genesis 4:23-24.
Because this statement is poetic in nature, it is thought by some that Lamech was a poet. While this shows some of the characteristics of a society that rejects God, the intelligentsias of a society are often unbelievers.
Even so, there are many godly artistic people in every society. I refer you to the many beautiful Psalms by King David and the hymns and paintings and writings by reverent men and women throughout history.
However, Cain’s line was Industrious, artistic, musical, escapist; work hard, make money, spend it on pleasure, and because of greed and drunkenness, there is fighting, illicit sex, perversion, dishonesty, and decline of civilization.
Whether the incident with Lamech was one of self-defense or the result of a brawl is unknown, but this “strong man” displays arrogance similar to that of Cain and a self-centeredness that seems to say that God would hold him in higher regard than Cain. Thus ends the description of Cain’s line.
“And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, ‘For God has appointed another Seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.’ And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” Genesis 4:25-26.
Seth born perhaps within months of the death of Abel is rightfully called another Seed to replace Abel, though he is not the Christ, he is, after Adam, the beginning of the godly or Messianic line of Jesus.
Seth then has a son 105 years later and names him Enosh, which means frail man. Frail man, enosh, is a name which God often uses to refer to mankind.
“Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” This is a bit confusing because, did not men always call on the name of the Lord?
We have seen that Abel was a prophet and quite possibly led worship in his day, but it is possible the enthusiasm may have waned as men became comfortable with the many blessings of God; and as men often do they began to focus on the blessings and forget the one who blesses them.
But the death of Abel drew a sharp line between Cain’s sons of men and Adam’s godly line. Such a thing might well have brought on an ongoing revival which became strongest in the time of Enosh.
Another interpretation of this sentence is that in the time of Enosh the line of Cain was becoming so corrupt that a difference was made between those who called upon the name of the Lord and the sons of men who did not.
Just as those who called on the name of the Lord before the flood were set apart, so the children of the patriarch Shem were set apart and known as Hebrews or Israelites. And the followers of Christ were soon called Christians.
“The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.” Psalm 11:4-5.
Death of a Civilization, Genesis 4:17-26 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-21-14, updated on 11-1-21.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.