Cain and Seth

16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 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. 18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.

19 Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20 And 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 harp and flute. 22 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.

23 Then Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, Even a young man for hurting me. 24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."

25 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." 26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. ^F7 Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

That's Genesis 4. So here it is. Adam has two sons, Cain and Able. Cain kills Able. God gives Adam Seth to replace Abel, which I think is a bit of evidence against the theory that Adam and Eve had a lot more kids, although I haven't really cared to look into that enough to find more truth. Anyway, that's not the point. Cain is the first recorded murderer. Then he goes and starts the first city. Amoung his decendants are the first polygamist, the first metal smith (and the first to take apprentences), the first nomad, and the first musician, not listed in order. Cain sinned and went away from the presence of the Lord and started civilization as we know it. Rather than living with and depending on God, they lived out of His presence and were self reliant, trusting in themselves and their new inventions. Also, 4: 23, 24 show an account of Lamech, who was wounded by a young man, so he killed him and bragged about it to his two wives. This shows all the sin that was already spreading through Cain's tainted line. All of this is to say that Cain's decendants were sinful and did not know God.
Seth's decendants, however, called on the name of the Lord, which is actually to say that they used the name YHWH, Yahweh or Jehovah, take your pick, either way it means the actual name of God, like George or Sam. Amoung Seth's decendants are Methuselah, Enoch, and Noah. Enoch was so righteous, rather he walked so closely with the Lord, that he never died. He just ceased to be. The technical term for it is being translated. God took him to Heaven. Methuselah was the oldest recorded man ever to live, and one could make the argument that he lived so long because he was righteous and sin didn't reign in his body, sin which has the power of death. Later on, Noah is spared amoung all of mankind because he's the only righteous man left.

So then we come to this verse that says

that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive ^F9 with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."

4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them.
Gen 6

Now people generally assume that this means angels had sex with women and they produced giants. But if you look at the logical progression of Genesis up to this point, it seems far more likely that the sons of God are actually the righteous decendants of Seth. Verses three and five confirm this. There were two strains of man, one righteous and one wicked. Then all of the sudden God says in v. three that "he is indeed flesh" and in five "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great." Man became wicked. The rational progression of Genesis three through six would suggest that when the "sons of God saw the daughters of men" it was the righteous strain of humanity, the sons of Seth who called on the name of the Lord, people who knew God by name, that saw the daughters of man, the decendants of wicked Cain who reveled in sin.

The word giants comes from the word nephilim, which can also be translated as mighty or fallen ones. In this context, it seems more likely the nephilim here weren't giants but mighty ones, perhaps even mighty in their sin. That's not to say there weren't ever giants, just not neccesarily here.

So what can we draw from all this interesting stuff? Sin separates us from God. Seth's decendants were righteous and close to God. Cain's decendants were self reliant and sinful (just look at Lemech, who brags to his two wives about how he killed a man) and never mentioned God. Cain knew God. Look at how God speaks to him before he kills Able. It's friendly and fatherly. But after he sins, he leaves the presence of God and starts civilization. Sin separates us from the great relationship we can have with God.

I think I'll start a series of blogs on some stuff I recently studied. This is part of it, although it goes further back to creation. God gave me some heavy revelation recently and I thought it was pretty exciting. So I'll share it with you in spurts, because some people probably won't even read this because it's so long and because I don't have time to throw it all out there right now. Peace be with you from the Lord God through our Savior from all sin, Jesus Christ.