The Legacy Of Unrepentance-3

The LEGACY Of UNREPENTANCE-III— Genesis 4:16-24

Likewise we will leave a legacy to our families. But what of any value will they receive?

Background:

Previously we had looked at Cain’s willful disdain of God’s direction for his life, & discovered the ‘Tragedy of Unrepentance’(4:1-15).

Today we are going to examine the descendants of Cain & the resulting transfer of belief.

“the genealogy[:16-24] shows how sin disqualified Cain’s line as the people of blessing”..... God blesses the line of Cain. But notice, He blesses them in a temporal way. That is, only connected to time. Only in the physical were they blessed; not in the sense of the spiritual, or that which is eternal.”—John MacArthur

“Secular culture is a provision from God for man’s life. It is a common grace.”.....“And that contributes to communication, it contributes to culture, it contributes to society.”—John MacArthur

Cain’s legacy was a spiritually derelict/deficient progeny.

Personal unrepentance leaves a legacy of spiritually dereliction/deficiency.

What can a spiritually deficient legacy provide?

8 desires/determinations of a spiritually deficient/derelict population.

Last time we discovered that

Spiritually deficient populations seek some of the same things Christians seek...

1. SEPARATION/Segregation(:16)

2. STABILITY/Family(:17-18)

3. SATISFACTION(:19)

4—Spiritually deficient populations seek...

ADAPTIVE INNOVATION/Expression(:20)

Explanation: (:20)Ingenuity

:20—“And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents & have livestock.”

Thru Lamech’s wife, Adah, Jabal & Jubal were born.

Jabal’s birth is significant in that his descendants were itinerant livestock keepers. A lifestyle which relied upon erecting & dismantling “tents” wherein their families traveled nomadically. This evidently was a new innovation for Cain’s descendants. Keeping livestock was Abel’s trademark occupation(Gen. 4:2).

Mankind is learning to express himself early on, within the first few hundred years(?) of his existence. Since Jabal is the “father” of nomadic animal husbandry, he obviously left this legacy to his immediate family as well as to any others who would observe. This innovation would have helped mankind to travel deeper into various types of previously impenetrable terrain & allow the land to repair istelf without man’s intervention or work.

“Jabal”—lby yaw-bawl’—Jabal = "stream of water"

From—lby yaw-bawl’—1)A stream, watercourse.

“Father”(See :21)—ba awb—1) Father of an individual; 2) Of God as father of his people; 3) Head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan; 4) Ancestor; 5) Originator or patron of a class, profession, or art; 6) Of producer, generator (fig.); 7) Of benevolence & protection (fig.); 8) Term of respect & honor; 9) Ruler or chief (spec.). Strong—a primitive word; Father, in a literal & immediate, or figurative & remote application).

“Dwell/Live”—bvy yaw-shab’—1) To dwell, remain, sit, abide. Strong—a primitive root; properly, To sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); by implication, To dwell, to remain; causatively, To settle, to marry.

“Tents”—lha o’-hel—1) Tent—1a) Nomad’s tent, & thus symbolic of wilderness life, transience, 1b) Dwelling, home, habitation, 1c) The sacred tent of Jehovah (the tabernacle).

“Have Livestock/Raise Livestock”—hnqm mik-neh’—1) Cattle, livestock. Strong— Something bought, i.e. Property, but only livestock; abstractly, Acquisition.

Argumentation:

Ruth 1:1-2—“Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he & his wife & his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, & the names of his two sons were Mahlon & Chilion--Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab & remained there.”

Ruth 1:3-5—“Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; & she was left, & her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, & the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. Then both Mahlon & Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons & her husband.”

Ruth 1:6-14—“Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread. Therefore she went out from the place where she was, & her two daughters-in-law with her; & they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead & with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, & they lifted up their voices & wept. And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go--for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight & should also bear sons, “would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!” Then they lifted up their voices & wept again; & Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.”