Seraphim Hamilton

If we accept that Genesis 4-6 happened, then there must have been a lot of history that’s not reported to us. If the history of the world from the creation to the Flood is more than a literary construct, then there are 1,656 years of history that are condensed into three chapters. For context, this about the amount of time from the cutting of the Abrahamic covenant to the arrival of Christ. This is something which interests me, and luckily, there are clues in the text as to what is actually going on. James Jordan has written some interesting essays called “Getting Real in Genesis” that have stimulated my thought.

Genesis 4. Cain kills Abel. Most of what we imagine about this situation is dead wrong, and we should be able to figure that out. Cain and Abel are clearly not the only people on the scene here, because Cain goes out and builds a city. Moreover, we see from Genesis 5 Adam is 130 years old when Eve bears Seth. If we assume a period of two years between Abel’s death and the birth of Seth, then the murder of Abel takes place 128 years after the expulsion of man from Paradise. Given that man lived to nearly a thousand, the time when childbearing was possible was much more extended in the antediluvian world. And we know from Genesis 5 each of the antediluvian patriarchs had plenty of children unreported to us.

So in Genesis 4, there are many more people than Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were their first two kids. But then they continued to have children. Cain and Abel probably had their own children. And grandchildren. And great grandchildren. There are thousands of people on the scene once we get to 128 AM (Anno Mundi, in the Year of the World). Moreover, the text informs us this occurred at the “cutting off of days” or harvest-time, the turn of the year.

This is a time for liturgical celebration in Israel’s festival year, as well as the festival years of most ancient cultures, indicating this is a part of God’s primeval revelation to mankind. We’re told Adam was to “guard and cultivate” the world. Guarding is priestly, cultivation is royal. Adam is Priest-King. But Cain is a cultivator of the ground, and Abel is a guarder of sheep. As with Christ and His children, the roles of priesthood and kingship devolve separately upon the descendants of Adam. So, in 128 AM, it’s the turn of the year, and it is time for Adam to lead the entire human race in worship. Cain is crown prince and Abel is high priest.

This has been going on for over a century, so Cain and Abel know what to do. Abel would bring a blood sacrifice to the gate of Paradise (just a little west of where they lived), and Cain would bring the firstfruits of his harvest on top of Abel’s blood sacrifice. But one year, Cain decides he should be able to celebrate his own liturgy. We know what this looks like from Israel’s history as well — the kings decide liturgical celebration shouldn’t be the exclusive privilege of the priests. And we know God does not like it when this happens.

So when Cain celebrates his independent liturgy at the gate of Eden, the flaming sword of the cherubim come crashing down upon his offering, and he is publicly humiliated in front of the entire human race — thousands of people.

This is what enrages Cain. He brings Abel out into the field and murders him.

Given the sheer amount of people involved at this time, the result was likely chaotic. God publicly demands Cain move east, to the land of Nod, and Cain summons whomever will join with him to ally with him. Hundreds do. And Cain builds a city after the name of his son — City (or Enoch). A couple years later, Eve bears a new priest — Seth, who begins again to lead Adam’s faithful children in liturgical worship. All the while, Cain’s civilization begins to expand.

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. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 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 lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 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. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:17-24).

This is Cain’s dynasty — the kings of the city of man. From their names, we can tell something about who they were. According to James Jordan (read more in his series of studies, Trees and Thorns)

• Enoch: City
• Irad: Man of the Untamed City
• Mehujael: He Who Strikes Out Against God
• Methushael: He Who Kills the Peace of God
• Lamech: King

Whether these were the actual names of the heirs of Cain’s dynasty or a commentary on the nature of Cain’s dynasty by the Sethites is irrelevant: this is the text as we have it, and we are to understand the progress of Cain’s civilization by it. It’s not that difficult to decipher what is occurring here. Cain builds a city after the name of his heir, City. Enoch bears the man of the untamed city — the city of man is descending further into evil, and beginning to expand. The Man of the Untamed City bears He Who Strikes Out Against God. Mehujael is a conqueror — he moves out of the land of Nod and begins to dominate the other lands of the world, as the Cainite civilization goes global. He Who Strikes Out Against God bears He Who Kills the Peace of God. Methushael’s eye is on the land of Eden, where the Sethites are. He’s beginning to attack the people of God. We’ll discuss why in one moment. The wickedness of Cain’s dynasty reaches its fullness in King:

And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 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 lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 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” (Genesis 4:19-23).

King is the fullness of Adam’s fall. Adam seized the Tree of Kingship, and in Lamech, kingship reaches its very worst. As Moses warned in Deuteronomy 17, and as Samuel reinforced, kings want to take, take, take. So Lamech takes two wives — an attack on marriage. He’s the climax of Adam’s history through Cain, so he bears a New Cain: Tubal-Cain. And a New Abel: Jabal. Tubal-Cain gets ores out of the ground as Cain was a cultivator of the ground. Jabal develops new modes of animal husbandry as Abel was a guarder of sheep. But there’s something new. Jubal begins to compose music. Remember another king, much later in history: King David does the same thing. He organizes the Levitical choir around the Tabernacle, and he writes Psalms. King Lamech also writes a Psalm, but it’s an evil one:

What we see here is the great sin of all kings: presumption against God. God, in spite of Cain’s sin, swore to protect king. King Lamech therefore presumes God will protect all sinners, no matter how wicked — after all, he’s the true king. If I commit a sin an order of magnitude worse than Cain’s, then God is my servant — He will avenge my blood an order of magnitude more.

With this said, let’s turn to the line of Seth and figure out what’s going on.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him (Genesis 5:1-24).

Just as with the dynasty of Adam through Cain to Lamech, I’ve taken you seven generations through the line of Adam through Seth to Enoch. We ought to assume the generations of Seth and the generations of Cain moved roughly contemporaneously with each other, and when we do that, we discover something very interesting. Remember that Enoch means “city.” What we should figure out from this is Enoch’s father Jared began to build cities in the land of Eden. Up to this point in time, while Cain’s civilization (recall He Who Strikes Out Against God) had been developing into a global society, the Sethites were building villages in the land of Eden. As with later in history, the wicked often reach cultural advances first, because they’re willing to break the rules. But with Jared, the Sethites finally develop enough technology to begin to construct cities.

This is when we get Methushael: He Who Destroys the Peace of God.

In other words, once the Sethites began to construct cities, their civilization looked ripe for conquest. The armies of the Cainites began to invade the land of Eden.

Now, what do we know from later in Israel’s history? We know that when the Gentiles begin to invade the land, the temptation is for the royal house to make an alliance with the pagans in order to defend the land. This is what is happening in Isaiah 7, when King Ahab fears the alliance of Assyria and the Northern Kingdom. Take a look at the language Isaiah 30:1-2 uses for this sort of temptation:

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!”

And what happens when Israel’s kings begin to make marriage alliances with the wicked? Prophets begin to prophesy against them. This is what occurs with Elijah, who confronts Ahab and his wicked pagan wife, Jezebel. Elijah, of course, is ultimately taken into Heaven in a chariot of fire.

Back to Genesis 4-6. So what’s happening? The Sethites have begun to build cities. Methushael is leading his armies into the land of Eden, ready to conquer it. And the Sethites are utterly terrified. So here’s what they do:

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were beautiful. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown (Genesis 6:1-4).

The refrain of Genesis 5 is the sons of Seth had “other sons and daughters.” The “sons of God” here in Genesis 6 are, as in Deuteronomy 32, the fallen angels. And in Genesis 12, Pharaoh sees Sarai is “beautiful” and wishes to make a marriage covenant with Abram through her. Remember that Abram is a prince, and Pharaoh wants to extend his dominion over the land of Canaan through a marriage alliance with Prince Abram. This is what is going on here. Satan already dominates the world through Cain, but he wants to dominate the last little bit of the world through the Sethites.

When he sees the Sethites are terrified of conquest, he makes an offer: Make a marriage alliance with me, and I’ll give you victory.

The sons of God then go into the daughters of Adam, and they bear Nephilim, giants. These Nephilim were the “mighty men” before the flood. Later in the Bible, Nimrod is called a “mighty man.” He’s a conqueror. Joshua and his armies are righteous “mighty men.” They conquer the land of Canaan through the power of God. We ought to understand the mighty men of Genesis 6, then, as the conquerors who resulted from the union of the sons of God with the line of Seth.

Now, we can find something very, very interesting. I noted that when the kings of Israel began to make marriage alliances with the pagans, Elijah came to prophesy against them and was ultimately taken up into heaven. This is what happened with Enoch:

Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah (Genesis 5:14-21).

Note the contrast here. It takes longer to bear Enoch than it takes to bear any of the other sons. Why? I submit that this is because Jared’s earlier sons went astray — they gave their daughters in marriage to the sons of God, and they produced conquerors. Enoch is a later son born to Jared, and Enoch begins to prophesy against the royal house of Seth:

It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 1:14-15).

And just like Elijah, Enoch is taken into Heaven.

Let’s recap where we are:

Cain moved into the land of Nod with hundreds of people. He built a city, and over time, Cain’s city began to expand into a global civilization with high technology. Once the Sethites began to build cities in the land of Eden, Cain’s heir decided to conquer it. The Sethites were afraid, and made a marriage alliance with fallen angels. Through this marriage alliance, the Sethites produced conquerors of their own, and Enoch began to prophesy against the fallen royal house of Seth. Enoch is the seventh from Adam, and King Lamech from Cain’s line is the seventh from Adam.

So here’s the question. Why, after Lamech’s three sons, do we not see any more descendants of Cain?

My suggestion is the key is in the identity of the Nephilim — conquerors. Through their union with the sons of God, the Sethites produced conquering kings. My suggestion is these conquerors were successful, and they defeated the Cainites and wiped out their royal house. The line of Seth ruled the world, but they had done so at the expense of their own relationship with God.

It’s when their victory was secure, and when half-demon, half-human (I’ll write more about the mode of their union another time) kings were ruling the throne, that:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:5-8).

Thanks for reading.