Episode 242 - "Sin has devastating effects" - Genesis 4:17-24

Gen. 4:17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 19 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

Gen. 4:23 Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

24 If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,

then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”

The first thing I’d like to address in this episode is the genealogy that proceeds from Cain after he leaves the presence of the LORD. This may sound strange, but there is no small amount of discussion and disagreement about genealogies in the Scriptures. The reason for this is that genealogies don’t necessarily work the same way in the ancient Scriptures and cultures of the Bible as they do in 21st-century Western civilization. In our society, we are solely focused on connecting the dots as far back in our ancestry as possible to try to, as best as possible, find out who we are and where our ancestors were from. If we subscribe to ancestry.com or other genealogical databases, we are not likely to omit one or more generations if possible. Some genealogies in the Scriptures omit people in the genealogy. When people in our day and culture use an ancient and foreign culture’s genealogy to calculate the number of years back to Adam and Eve and then presume from that the age of the earth, you run into potential problems. Another problem we may encounter is figuring out some hidden meaning by learning the meaning of peoples’ names in the genealogies. My objective in this study is not to make some assertion about the age of the earth or discern secret messages from the meanings of people’s names. The reason is that the Scriptures themselves are not concerned about people knowing the age of the earth. Furthermore, the Scriptures are concerned about God’s clear revelation about God, humanity, and their relationship. Therefore, we will focus on that which is more evident in the text.

There are two things about this genealogy that are of concern to us. First, I believe scholars are in agreement that where a genealogy exists, the people who wrote it and read it understand that the people listed were historical people and that we’re dealing with historical narrative rather than fantasy. Cain and these descendants were real people. The second thing is that the list of Cain’s descendants moves the story along and reveals to us that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” I’m speaking of Cain’s descendant Lamech in comparison to his rebellious ancestor.

Before we get to Lamech, let’s return to the beginning of this segment of the story. It would seem that the first logical question we might ask ourselves is, “Where did Cain’s wife come from?” To this point, no clear statement in the Scriptures definitely answers this question. The best that we have is found later in Genesis 5:4 which speaks of Adam fathering “other sons and daughters.” A common assumption is that Cain’s wife was also a sister. Personally, I think it’s legitimate to say, “I don’t know. The Scriptures do not tell us” and not worry about it. It’s not that important.

What is important is how the story reveals that the first son of Cain and his wife is Enoch. Cain builds a city and names it after his son. Why is that important? Because God told Cain he would be a wanderer throughout the earth. (Gen 4:12) The story reveals that Cain has not changed his ways. He is going to do what he wants to do regardless of what God has to say about it. The fact that he names it after his son puts an exclamation mark on his act. God named the things he created and gave Adam the authority to name the animals. Now Cain is using that authority granted by God to spite God.

As this sub-story develops, we learn how the attitude is passed on and exacerbated by Lamech. “Lamech took two wives. (v. 19)” Why? Because like his ancestor Cain, he was going to do what he wanted to do. Then, in verses 23-24 he brags to his wives about the murder that he’s committed. Is he not mocking God? He doesn’t attempt to hide anything or disavow responsibility. Instead, he advertises his sin like a flag.

The point is that this story of Cain and Lamech serves to heighten the conflict in the greater narrative that began with Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Things are going to get worse. In terms of what we can learn from this for our own walk of faith is that our disobedience of God’s standards can have a much greater negative impact on other people than we can ever imagine. This reality should cause us to stop and think and ask ourselves if we care about what God says or are we going to do what we want to do?