The Wickedness of Man
Read Genesis 4:17–24. What was Cain’s legacy, and how did Cain’s
crime open the way for the increasing wickedness of humankind?
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Cain’s great-great-great grandson, Lamech, refers to Cain’s crime in
the context of his own. This comparison between the crime of Cain and
the crime of Lamech is instructive. While Cain keeps silent about his
only recorded crime, Lamech seems to be boasting about his, express-
ing it in a song (Gen. 4:23, 24). While Cain asks for God’s mercy,
Lamech is not recorded as asking for it. While Cain is avenged seven
times by God, Lamech believes that he will be avenged seventy-seven
times (see Gen. 4:24), a hint that he’s very much aware of his guilt.
Also, Cain is monogamous (Gen. 4:17); Lamech introduces
po­lygamy, for the Scripture says specifically that he “took for himself
two wives” (Gen. 4:19, NKJV). This intensification and exaltation of
evil will definitely affect the next generations of Cainites.
Following immediately this episode of evil in the Cainite family, the bibli-
cal text records a new event that counters the Cainite trend. “Adam knew his
wife” (Gen. 4:25), and the result is the birth of Seth, whose name is given by
Eve to indicate that God had put “another seed” in the place of Abel.
In fact, the history of the name Seth precedes Abel. The name Seth
is derived from the Hebrew verb ’ashit, “I will put” (Gen. 3:15), which
introduces the Messianic prophecy. The Messianic seed will be passed
on in the Sethite line. The biblical text gives, then, the record of the
Messianic line beginning with Seth (Gen. 5:3), and including Enoch
(Gen. 5:21), Methuselah, and ending with Noah (Gen. 6:8).
The phrase “sons of God” (Gen. 6:2) refers to the line of Seth because
they are designed to preserve the image of God (Gen. 5:1, 4). On the other
hand, the “daughters of men” (Gen. 6:2) seems to have a negative connota-
tion, contrasting the offspring of those in the image of God with those in
the image of men. And it is under the influence of these “daughters of men”
that the sons of God “took wives for themselves of all whom they chose”
(Gen. 6:2, NKJV), indicating the wrong direction humanity was heading.
Read Genesis 6:1–5. What a powerful testimony to the corrup-
tion of sin! Why must we do all that we can through God’s power
to eradicate sin from our lives?