The Book of Genesis

it shall be avenged sevenfold. And Jehovah set a sign for Cain, that no one finding him should smite him.

And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he was building a city; and he called the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

And to Enoch was born Irad. And Irad begot Mehujael; and Mehujael begot Methusael, and Methusael begot Lamech. And Lamech took to himself two wives. The name of the one was Adah; and the name of the second was 20 Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was father of those 21 who dwell in tents and with cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal. He was father of all who handle the

22 harp and the flute.

And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain,

a maker of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

And Lamech said to his wives:

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

Wives of Lamech, give ear to my word.
For I have slain a man for my wound,

And a young man for my hurt.

For sevenfold should Cain be avenged;
And Lamech seventy and seven.

V. 16. Nod; meaning, Flight. On the east of Eden, indicates the continued direction of population toward the interior of Asia.

VV. 17-24. Posterity of Cain.

V. 17. A city. In its primary use the word meant, as here, the entrenched encampment of a migratory family or tribe, for temporary security of themselves and their flocks against wild beasts and robbers. So it is used in Num. 13: 19, where we should translate: "and what are the cities they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds." The statement here is not inconsistent, therefore, with the one made in v. 12.

V. 19. The first recorded instance of that violation of the marriage institution, which has been so desolating in its effects on society throughout the eastern world. Some have said that it is here mentioned without censure; but the mere mention of it, in connection with the institution of marriage in the second chapter, is condemnatory.

V. 20. Jabal is mentioned as father of the nomadic tribes of Asia; that is, as the one who first followed their mode of life.

V. 21. The harp, the generic name of stringed instruments, as the flute is of wind instruments. V. 22. Cutting instruments of brass and iron; including weapons of war, with the invention of which the incident that follows is connected.

Naamah (pleasing, lovely, an appropriate female name) is here mentioned as having some important connection with the history, and very probably with the deed commemorated in the two following verses.

VV. 23, 24, are the oldest specimen of the poetical form of composition. It consists here of

25 And Adam knew his wife again. And she bore a son, and called his name Seth; For God has appointed me an26 other seed in place of Abel. For Cain slew him. And to Seth, to him also was born a son; and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call on the name of

Jehovah.

THIS is the book of generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 a male and a female created he them; and he blessed them, and called their name man, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. 4 And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight 5 hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters. And all

V. 25. Or, because Cain slew him

the parallelism of the lines in form and sense, the assonance and final rhyme, and the use of poetical words and forms.

These lines are preserved here as an illustration of the spirit of that period of violence and blood, which culminated in the state of society described in ch. 6:5, and 11-13, when "the earth was filled with violence." They celebrate the prowess of an ancient hero, who boasts that he had signally avenged his wrong upon his adversary, and that the vengeance promised to Cain was light, compared with what he had inflicted.

VV. 25, 26. Another line of descent from Adam, worshipers of the true God.

With the account of Lamech and his family, being the seventh generation from Adam through Cain, the character of that race is sufficiently shown; and the narrative now turns to another line of descent from Adam, the pious posterity of Seth.

V. 25. Seth; meaning, Appointed; namely, in place of him who was taken away. For Cain slew him; the explanatory remark of the narrator. If these are the words of Eve, as many suppose, they should be translated as in the margin, "because Cain slew him; that is, for the reason, that Cain slew him. The former meaning seems to be the more appropriate one. V. 26. To call on the name of Jehovah, means to utter his name, in prayer for divine aid, or, in a more general sense, in solemn acts of religious worship, as in ch. 12: 8, 13: 4, 21: 33, 26: 25; 1 Chron. 16: 8; Psalms 79: 6, 105: 1, 116: 17; Isaiah 12 : 4, 41: 25, 64: 7; Zeph.3 : 9. "To call on the name of Jehovah," is to recognize in him what the name expresses, the Eternal, the One Eternal God. The statement, that men now began to do this, shows that other and idolatrous worship was already practiced, and that the true God now began to be known and worshiped by this name.

There had now commenced that line of descent from Adam, in which God, in after-times, specially manifested himself by the covenant name Jehovah. Hence its use here by the narrator; while in the quoted language of Eve, in the preceding verse, the name of the Divine Being is GOD, and not JEHOVAH.

Ch. 5. Second part of the second division: Genealogy from Adam, in the line of Seth, to Noah. In this section, the name of the Divine Being is God.

V. 1. Book of generations; see the note on ch. 2: 4, second paragraph.

V. 3. In his likeness, after his image; in a spiritual and moral sense, as well as physically. V. 5. The great age of man previous to the Flood, gradually diminishing for some generations after, till it reached its present usual limit, has been the subject of much discussion. Some have

the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos. 7 And Seth lived, after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven 8 years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

And Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. 10 And Enos lived, after he begot Cainan, eight hundred and 11 fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years; and he died.

And Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalaleel. 13 And Cainan lived, after he begot Mahalaleel, eight hundred 14 and forty years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.

And Mahalaleel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. 16 And Mahalaleel lived, after he begot Jared, eight hundred 17 and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

attempted to account for the change in the duration of human life by physical causes, namely, changes in the physical temperament of our world, in modes of living, etc. Others have maintained, that the age of man did not then greatly exceed that to which men are known to have attained in later times; some supposing that each name represents several generations; others, that the "year" was not a solar year as subsequently, but some equally defined period, as a lunar month, or a period of six months between the solstices or equinoxes, or a season of three months marked by the passage of the sun between the equinoctial and solstitial points, or (according to the ancient division of the year into spring, summer, and winter) a season of four months.

But this assumed meaning of the word year, making it a twelfth, or a half, or a third, or a fourth of the solar year, has no historical support; there being no evidence that such portions of time were ever made the unit of measure for long periods, such as the duration of human life, or were ever used for any other purpose than as fractions of the solar year.

It fails, moreover, in its application. For though it might explain the cases occurring in this chapter, it fails when applied to ch. 11, tenth and following verses, where some are mentioned as having sons at the age of thirty, and as living to the age of four or five hundred years.

The term of life, in man as in all other animals, is God's ordinance. The progress of a human being from infancy, through childhood, youth, and manhood, to old age, is a law of his constitution ordained by his Maker; and the length of time assigned for each, together with the secondary causes on which it depends, is also his appointment. Our belief that it was ever otherwise than at present, depends on our confidence in the record which asserts it. It is not an unphilosophical supposition, that man was originally so constituted, that his term of life should go on diminishing till it reached its minimum, and there remain stationary.

V. 6. The one mentioned in these genealogies is not always the first-born son. It is the one through whom the particular line traced in the genealogy was continued, and the others are passed over. Compare the third verse.

18 And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and be

got Enoch. And Jared lived, after he begot Enoch, eight 20 hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 And Enoch walked with God, after he begot Methuselah, 23 three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five 24 years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

And Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, 26 and begot Lamech. And Methuselah lived, after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot 27 sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and 29 begot a son. And he called his name Noah, saying:

This one will comfort us,

From our labor,

And from the toil of our hands,

From the ground,

Which Jehovah cursed.

V. 22. Walked with God. This expresses the most intimate converse, founded on a unity of spirit and purpose. (Compare Amos 3 : 3.) It is said of no other except Noah (ch. 6:9). It is not implied that no others of the race were devout men; but that Enoch was pre-eminently so, and as such was distinguished by the manner of his removal from earth (v. 24).

V. 24. And he was not, naturally expresses sudden and mysterious removal, or disappearance. Compare Isaiah 17: 14; Job 27: 19; Psalm 103: 16. The phraseology and connection show that a removal from earth is meant; or as the apostle expresses it (Heb. 11 : 5), he "was translated, that he should not see death."

Was not, for God took him. Many have maintained that the Hebrew Scriptures contain no intimation of a future life, beyond the grave. But the thoughtful, reflecting Hebrew could not read this passage, without seeing in it decisive evidence of a state of happiness for the righteous after death. Length of life (so he would necessarily reason) is the promised reward of piety. Yet this man, specially distinguished as one who "walked with God," was taken away in the midst of his days, when he had barely attained to half the then usual age of man. And it is said, moreover, that "God took him;" that is, took him to himself, for such is the proper meaning of the word. He walked with God, and God took him to himself! What can this mean, but that He, with whom he held intimate converse on earth, took him to a still nearer and happier intercourse with himself, in a higher and purer state of being? On this view alone could the thoughtful Hebrew reader reconcile this statement with what he was elsewhere taught. V. 29. Noah; meaning, Rest.

In the following words (which have the form of poetry in the Hebrew) there appears to be no reference to Noah's subsequent history, as given us in the sacred records. They seem rather

the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

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The Book of Genesis: The Common Version Revised for the American Bible Union ...