Genesis 10
Last week we looked at the story of how Cain killed his brother and was then banished from the land. A horrible event in the history of the world that ruined both brother’s lives.
We ended our studies last week with Cain asking for mercy from God because he felt like others would now be coming after him to kill him and avenge Abel’s death. Others? What others? As a matter of fact, we’re also going to read about Cain and his wife. Wife? Others? I thought there was just Adam and Eve and their two sons Cain and Abel? Just who was Cain afraid of? Just where did Cain get a wife? Did God create other people in some other area of the world?
Well the Bible doesn’t record God doing any other creating of human beings. As a matter of fact, when God rested on the seventh day it was because He had completed creation. So there wasn’t another group of people that God had created.
Also, when Adam and Eve were created they were created as adults; Adults who almost immediately were married. They soon had their two sons. When the story of their sons Cain and Abel is picked up they’re pictured as adult men working the fields and working the animals.
Now, Adam and Eve surely continued to be together as man and woman and surely continued to have children – only they were having daughters instead of sons. (Adam and Eve don’t have another son until Adam’s 130 years old. We’ll read about that in a few minutes.)
So Cain, and Abel for that matter, would be marrying their sisters and having children through them. I happen to think that there’s a great chance that they were already married to their sisters before Cain killed Abel. I mean they were grown men. Why wouldn’t they get married? Also, maybe Cain was fearful of Abel’s children rising up in vengeance against him. And look at the beginning of tonight’s passage.
[Read Genesis 4:16-17a.]
Right after Cain leaves him and his wife get pregnant. There’s no mention of when they got married or where she came from. It looks like they might have already been married when Cain was banished but Cain took her with him.
And we must remember this, it’s not unusual for daughters to not be mentioned by name when a biblical character’s family is being recorded. Sometimes even sons names aren’t recorded in Scripture.
[Read Genesis 5:4.]
So, the other people that helped fill in the family gaps were the daughters and even granddaughters of Adam.
Now when you think about something like this, that Cain and Abel were marrying their sisters, the first reaction you have is – ugh! “I mean, you want me to marry my sister! Dad, we live in Eden – not Alabama!”
But remember, human genetics was very different thousands of years ago. Our genes today have suffered thousands of years of mutations and diseases and deficiencies. I know some people think we’re evolving into better humans physically – but it’s actually the opposite. If you marry your immediate family today your offspring will more than likely come out deformed or something. But back then, with a incredible small and perfect gene pool, offspring would come out just fine.
But you know what I say, “Thank God our gene pools are messed up today so we don’t have to marry our sisters!” I just can’t imagine.
But anyway, that’s how civilization got started. And in tonight’s passage we’re actually going to see two civilizations get started. One from Cain and one from Adam. Both had to start over because their original family, and original intended family heritage, had been destroyed by Cain’s sin. Adam and Eve no longer had any sons, Abel was dead, and Cain no longer had any parents. But Cain starts a new family and a new family heritage. And Adam starts a new family and a new family heritage.
I. Cain’s new family
[Read Genesis 4:16-22.]
So Cain leaves the presence of the Lord and settles in the land of Nod east of Eden. He starts to have children and his children start to have children and on and on. He actually builds a city there and names it after his first born son Enoch.
It actually looks like things are going pretty well for Cain. I mean, an advanced civilization is actually forming right there through the lineage of Cain.
1. City of Enoch, (first real city?)
2. Ranchers, (4:20)
3. Music, (4:21)
4. Metallurgy, (4:22)
Life is happening for Cain. His family is growing, civilization and culture is growing, and
nobody can lay a hand on him for what he did to Abel. But progress and success aren’t substitutes for what family and heritage is really all about. I mean, how many countries do we have in the world today that are progressive and successful with rich cultures and advanced civilizations yet their families are falling apart. The moral fiber is torn. Life is filled with entertainment and innovation yet it’s empty and futile.
Yes Cain had a new family, but his family’s heritage would be characterized by sin.
II. Cain’s family heritage
[Read Genesis 4:19-24.]
Now there’s a number of things you can see in this passage, but remember, it all started with Cain building a city to live in when he was supposed to be a wanderer and a vagrant.
[Read Genesis 4:16.]
In defiance of the Lord Cain settled, he planted, he built a permanent place for himself and his family to live. The Lord told him to wander but he didn’t listen. He defied God and started his own thing. And that defiance of the Lord was the thread of ungodliness that ran through his entire family from generation to generation.
This great civilization and culture that had come from Cain was many things:
1. Defiant, (ungodly)
2. Bigamy, (4:19)
3. Violent killers, (4:23)
4. Prideful, (4:24)
They might have had been the most advanced society of the day when it came to
technology, business and the arts. But when it came to morality and godliness, they had none.
Now while this was going on, Adam and Eve also started a new family.
III. Adam’s new family
[Read Genesis 4:25, 5:3.]
So when Adam and Eve were 130 years old they finally had another son. To them this must have been huge. After all, how were they going to continue to populate the earth if all they had were daughters? And this was obviously many years after they had had Cain and Abel. How many years? We don’t know. But I tell you what, you can tell by Eve’s recorded excitement that to have a son was a momentous occasion for them.
[Read Genesis 4:25.]
The name Seth actually means “appointed one”, or “substitute”. Now Eve probably only thought of Seth as a substitute for her slain son Abel. He was appointed to be the replacement for her dead son and a means to continue to populate the earth. But he was so much more than that. Remember, through Eve’s offspring the Savior of the world would come.
[Read Genesis 3:15.]
How in this going to happen if Abel is dead and Cain has been banished from the presence of God? But nothing’s impossible for God. He knew this would happen from eternity even before He told Eve the Savior would come from her seed. His plan all along was that Seth would be the substitute for the lineage of Adam that should have come through Cain and Abel.
And Seth, the substitute for Abel, would provide the family line that would eventually produce Jesus, the One who was the substitute sacrifice for mankind’s sin. Not only would Seth’s family line be used to populate the earth, but to save the earth from it’s sins as well!
From Seth the ‘appointed one’ came the ‘appointed One’ Jesus! What a heritage!
But right at the beginnings of this new family line of Adam something definitive happened. Something characterized them and their own civilization that made them glaringly different then the family of Cain. The difference wasn’t the culture. The difference wasn’t the language. And the difference wasn’t the land. The difference was godliness. Adam’s descendents were viewed as willingly God-dependent people while Cain’s descendents were viewed as willingly independent of God. Let’s look at:
IV. Adam’s family heritage
[Read Genesis 4:25-26.]
Isn’t that an interesting phrase? “Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.”
Some people believe that it means that men started to be called by the name of the Lord from Adam’s family line. In other words, the godless people of the day recognized that Adam’s family called on God for help and for worship. And that was probably happening.
But the text says, “Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” So if Adam’s family was getting the reputation of being people who depended on the Lord it was because they were calling on the name of the Lord.
I think this marks the beginning of a more public and corporate form of worshipping the Lord. Remember, this is the beginnings of civilization. People back then didn’t grow up with a church on every corner and one in between. They didn’t know what religion was because there was none! Did they know God? Sure they did. They probably even heard His voice and were in His presence at times. But because of the low population and the newness of civilization their faith and dependence on God was more personal and private.
But here in the history of mankind something started to happen. It’s almost like some kind of a spiritual revival broke out and people started to publicly and corporately worship the Lord together.
Probably the more they realized their own sinfulness, and maybe even as they watched the folly of Cain’s family line, they turned to the Lord in a more direct and dependent way. I can see the family members sitting around and discussing the issues of the day.
One of the grandkids would say, “How are we not going to end up like Cain and His family. They’re killing each other over there!”
Then maybe Grandpa Adam would reply, “We need to follow the Lord. Let me tell you a story about two trees that were in this beautiful garden…”
Then Grandma Eve would say, “Let me tell you about how God sacrificed an animal so Adam and I could have clothing and have our shame covered.”
Then the Grandkids would ask, “So how do we do this? How do we depend on the Lord? What would He like for us to do? How do we show our appreciation and love for Him?”
And the first worship services began.
- Maybe they would pray or talk to the Lord and let Him know how they felt.
- Maybe they would play an instrument or make up a song for Him.
- Maybe the older folks would teach the younger folks about Him.
- Maybe they’d even invite others to join them in their times of worship.
Who knows, but I tell you what, even without a Bible to guide them, they called on the
name of the Lord! I’ll bet it was awesome! I’ll bet it was fresh! I’ll bet it was raw and real! Man we need some of that in our churches today.
We’re so caught up in dogma and traditionalism and preferences and politics that our worship is more about us than it is about the Savior!
Do you think that if Seth would have come into their worship services and said, “Look at this thing I made. I call it a drum. And when I bang on it it’ll help us keep a good pace when we sing. You know, that new thing we call music.” Do you think someone would have stood up and said, “Seth, we don’t allow drums in here. You come back when you have an instrument that meets our approval. Then we’ll think about letting you participate.”
No way. People were experiencing God in a new way and together they were calling on the name of the Lord! No pretension, no prerequisites, no presuppositions about what worship should look and sound like. Just individuals together calling on God!
What a difference between Cain’s family and Seth’s family. And guess what, we don’t hear any more about Cain’s family. But Adam’s family through Seth lives on. They live on through the flood because Noah comes through them – thus the world gets repopulated. And of course, Jesus Himself comes into the world.
And you know what, we should worship Jesus the Lord just like Adam and His family worshipped the Lord. No pretension, no prerequisites, no presuppositions about what worship should look and sound like. Just individuals together calling on God!
[Pray.]
