Saturday, August 20, 2011

Family Tree

Family Tree

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<< Genesis 4 >>
King James Version


16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as havecattle. 21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.


Sermon

We continue where we left off in our last sessions. Cain has just murdered his younger brother: Abel. Then The Lord pronounced a very horrible and yet mild curse upon Cain, that he should be alone, a traveller, and without friends.

So we carry on:

16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

The name “nod” seems to mean wandering or wanderers. Presumably Cain was the first inhabitant of the land, and so the name probably was given by him.

East of Eden gives the impression that perhaps the land of Nod was in the northern part of India or Pakistan.

17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Cain’s likely took his wife after leaving the presence of the Lord, while dwelling in the land of Nod. I don’t believe that Cain’s wife had any biological parents, unless she was Cain’s full sister, which I feel is quite unlikely as it was forbidden of God in later generations. But I am highly opinionated in this case, so I advise that you search the scriptures diligently if you are any further curious.

Cain built a city, presumably due to his fear of being murdered, so he built this city for protection. But the population of this city must have been extremely small, as it would only have been Cain and his wife and children. Unless any of his brothers or sisters joined him. Tradition states that Adam and Eve had about 30 sons and about 20 daughters but there is no scriptural proof for this tradition.

18And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

If each of these decendants of Cain had 20 to 30 children, as was quite likely in those early years of the world, by the time of Lamech there would probably be a total of about 300 Million people, approximately the population of the United States of America. This just gives you an idea of how fast the population of the world grew in those days even in the relatively short time of 6 generations. And so Lamech would not have known the majority of people that he came across in those days!

19And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

This is the first mention of polygamy in the Bible, and may well have been a radical move in those days, as the family structure that was given to Adam and Eve at the beginning of creation was that there should be 1 man to 1 woman.

It must be noted however that in years to come it had become quite common practise for wealthy people to have multiple wives, for example: David, Solomon, and Jacob.

20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

Notice that this was the difference between Cain and Abel, one was a gardener the other a shepherd. But now seven generations on from Cain, Jabal takes up Cattle farming.

21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

You know that must have been very irritating for those two boys Jubal and Jabel to have such similar names!

And Jubal here seemed to be a music lover (just like me), and thus created the harp and the organ. This would not have been a church organ, but probably more likely a kind of a mouth organ.

I believe that music in itself is very good, as all references in Scripture to music are in a good light and it is often thought that music will be played by the angels in Heaven. But on the other hand there is some music which has been polluted by wicked words which it would be wise of us if we could as much as possible keep away from such the like!

22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

This must have been a very exciting period in history, as this were continually being invented, and everyone seemed to be famous for the invention of this that and the other.

Tubalcain seemed to be a craftsman in making items out of brass and iron.

Why Naamah is of importance is unknown. Perhaps she meant something to someone at sometime, but she’s lost in history now. And indeed we all shall be just a name in some historic record some day, I just wish that the record that I leave behind will show that I have laid down my life for my Lord Jesus Christ!

23And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

Lamech here confesses his sins to his wives! Don’t you think that maybe there is someone much more important that he should be confessing his sins to?

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

Lamech here is claiming some similarity to Cain’s murdering of Abel, but seems to have a very proud view of himself, as he thinks that the blessing should be much greater to him than to Cain.

25And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

God again gave Adam a son, who he called Seth. There were doubtless many more sons and daughters but Seth was of historical importance as the ancestor of Noah.

26And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

It seems that after the incident of Cain and Abel that The Lord stopped talking to mankind as it were face to face, and so the only way that mankind could contact The Lord was through praying. And it was in the time of Seth and his son Enos that people began praying.

I love the words of the hymn:

Wrestling prayer can wonders do

Bring relief in deepest straits

Prayer can force a passage through

Iron bars and brazen gates

May the good Lord add His blessing on this sermon, and may it be of help to someones soul.

Amen

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