HOW IS IT WHAT BE VII: DRYING OFF AND STARTING OVER

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And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. Matthew 8:28-34

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Jude 1:6-7

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 2 Peter 2:4-10

So, then God took any Angels that indulged in sexual relationships with the daughters of Man and chained them up until Judgment. But the damage had been done. Man had become corrupted and full of evil and disobedience to God, as we see such beginning to happen in our time.

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold,  I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms

in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Genesis 6:11-16) 

Now can you picture this? There is Noah and his family suddenly building this giant boat. People surely thought he was nuts. He must have spent a good while working on this thing. Even gathering enough gopher wood would take time. (By the way, no one knows what gopher wood was, only it came from some unidentified tree.) Scripture never tells us how long Noah worked on the Ark, but one can assume it was awhile. Knowing how people can be they probably traveled for miles just to laugh at this fool. And what could Noah tell them. “Hey, God told me to do this. God said:

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. (Genesis 6:17)

That probably just brought more division and laughter. “A Flood? What’s a flood?” Remember, it hadn’t rained yet, never been a thunder storm.. Up until now the earth was still watered by morning dew, underground springs and little streams, hardly any kind of threat to anyone and there certainly was nothing big enough to float the Queen Mary Noah was putting together. Besides people had grown so wicked they probably didn’t even recognize God anymore, so who cared what God said. 

Who did this Noah guy think he was anyway? If there was a God why would this God talk to Noah and promise to protect his family? How was he any different than anyone else?

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according  to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. (Genesis 6:18-22)

Something to be noted is it says “Of the birds”. The Hebrew word “`owph” (pronounced ōfe) means not only birds, but fowl, flying

insects and basically all flying things, so would include bats.

Now as to the question whether all the animals would fit in the ark. This is a common objection people raise. How could two of every animal in the world fit in a boat, after all, there exist 1,082,300 species. Ah, so how big was this boat? if you ask people saying all animals wouldn’t fit that question, they probably shrug their shoulders. They don’t know the size, nor can they say how many animals were coming aboard. 

It was a big boat. Depending on which scale of cubit you wish to use, and the standard scale was 18 inches at the smaller end and 22 inches at the larger. The Ark would have had a capacity of over 1,300,000 to over 1,500,000 cubic feet of space. Those cubic feet are a bit hard to grasp in the head, so think of it this way. The Ark had the same capacity as 565 train stock cars.  

Now we need to guess at how many animals we are talking about hauling in our 565 railroad cars. Using today’s number of species, which we said was 1,082,300, we can immediately eliminate about 1,060,000, meaning all the fish in the sea and a number of other species, simply weren’t on the ark. Some arthropods probably were brought aboard and those that were really didn’t take up much space. There are 838,000 species of arthropods, the largest group by far. We think of them basically as bugs.Many bugs don’t breath through nostrils, but through tubes in their bodies. In Genesis 7:22 notes, “Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.” All many arthropods would need to survive would be something that floated, like a fallen tree, the remains of a knocked down dwelling or a dead body, something they could crawl up upon out of the water.

Anyway, you subtract all the species that didn’t need be in the Ark, you are left with 21,100 species and 2 each equals 42,200. Round this up to 50,000 to include those clean species and calculate that the average one, (including dinosaurs) was the size of a sheep. You can transport 50,000 sheep in 208 train cars, only 26% of the Ark’s capacity. Plenty of room for all the animals and their feed and supplies, plus Noah and his family.

However, there were probably less than 50,000 creatures, far less. Over and over God told Noah to take birds according to their kind, creeping things according to their kind, beasts according to their kind. You wouldn’t be talking species, you would be talking about kind. To give an example of what this probably means is Noah would not need to take a Doberman Pincher, Collie, Labrador Retriever, Chihuahua, and other dogs. He probably only needed a male and female wolf because all our modern dogs come from the Wolf’s DNA through gene mutation, cross-breeding, natural selection, etc. This means Noah might have been dealing with less than 50,000 creatures.

But God had demanded this and Noah had the faith to follow God.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11: 6-7)

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing[c] that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Genesis 7:1-5 

It doesn’t say, but I don’t believe Noah had to go out and play Frank “Bring ‘Em Back Alive”Buck. I think God brought all the animals for the Ark to where Noah was for him to lead onto the boat.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. Genesis 7:6-10

Okay here, Noah was six hundred years of age when the flood water came. Noah and his wife and their three son’s and daughter-in-laws entered the ark just in time to escape the water. So we have to ask, just when did Noah begat Jepheth, Shem and Ham (and I still say Ham was an odd name to give a good Jewish boy, but maybe Ham wasn’t all that good). These three boys had to be old enough to have wives by the time the Ark was set afloat. Noah was six hundred years old and all we have been told so far is that Noah had three sons after he was 500 years old in Genesis 5:32. Now we know about a hundred years had passed between have any children and clambering aboard his boat. Do we know anything else?

These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. Genesis 11:10-11.

We see that Noah was 502 years old when Shem was born according to Genesis 11:10-11 Since Noah began having children at age 500, Shem was not the firstborn.  If he wasn’t, who was?

Well, process of elimination. In Genesis 9:24 we read

When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him.

So Ham was the youngest of the boys. How do we know? We get the answer from the context of the verses surrounding 9:14 

Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. Genesis 9:20-23

This says that Ham was the youngest.

Since we now know Noah was 502 when Shem was born and Ham was born after that as the youngest, and we know that Noah began having children at age 500, this only leaves Jepheth as the first born.

But there are other questions besides the ages of Noah’son. First, Noah was  considered a righteous man, yet one of the first things we learn after he and his family survive the great flood is that he planted a vineyard and got drunk on the wine he produced. This was not a good choice of behavior. 

In Ephesians 5:18 we are warned: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit.” Of course here we quote a New Testament verse, something written long after Noah, yet what is wrong in the eyes of God is wrong always. 

The Jewish Rabbis in their midmash tried to excuse Noah’s behavior. They argue that Noah was ignorant of the intoxication of wine not having any experience with fermentation. Maybe, but Noah was not born yesterday. he lived for 500 years during the evil that the world had become and probably in that time there were some drinking parties.

So Noah stripped down and fell asleep in his tent. What was the big deal that Ham stumbled upon his nakedness?

Adam and Eve were ashamed of being naked and be seen by a family member even way back that was a shameful act. Ham also acted shamefully. He should have simply covered his father and kept quite about it, but instead he decided to make it a display. He went out and told his brothers and probably expected they would go see what he had seen. 

Instead they respected their dad and walked in backward so as not to see him and covered his body.

When Noah awoke and found out how his youngest son made sport of him he declared a curse, not on Ham but on Canaan.

Why Canaan?

Because God can see the future as well as the present. He can also look into the heart of man and he must have seen that Canaan would contain the same features of disrespect and carnal nature of his father, Ham. He would see who generated from Canaan, Amorites, Jebusites, Sidonistes and others who would war against Israel. In this curse was the seed that sent Abraham and the Jews to possess the land of Canaan.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits[d] deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. Genesis 7:11-24

HOW IS IT WHAT BE V: BOYS WILL BE BOYS AND BEGIN THE BEGATS

I wish you would bear with me [while I indulge] in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me [as you read this]. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy because I have promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ. For [you seem willing to allow it] if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. You tolerate all this beautifully [welcoming the deception]. (2 Corinthians 10:1-4 AMP)

I am about to write what will cause the world to call me foolish. ignorant or crazy. Take your pick. That is okay, I think the world is wrong, too. I would rather be be told I was on the wrong side of history than be on the wrong side of God.

In the beginning God created the Earth and the Heavens in six days, six 24-hour days. Do you accept this?

Or do you accept a different gospel, tolerating the idea it took millions of years for what now exists to evolve by chance Do you welcome this deception?

Yeah, a lot of so-called intellectual and highly educational people will laugh at me, because once I thought like them. After all  I was kind of a highly educated person myself. I didn't know jack about God and His ways, though.

Even after I was saved, I still believed that a long period of time was required for creation, eons in fact. But how could I explain this versus Genesis? At first I jumped on the Gap Theory, that all this prehistory stuff existed and then somehow was wiped out. There must have been a great gap in time when the earth became void and dark and then God reinvented it to make it good.

Well, that doesn’t show much faith in the power of God, does it?

Then I assumed each creation day actually represented many, many years in order to squeeze in all those dinosaurs and cavemen. But I realize that cannot be. As a matter of faith I must believe in a literal six days of 24-hours or not in the Bible at all. If I can't believe in the Word of God, how can I possibly believe in God?

Everything God created from minute one was originally good. Sin hadn’t entered the world at the beginning and neither had death or the presence of thistles and thorns. Man did not have to scuffle for food. We cannot reconcile what is taught us in Genesis with centuries of animals and peoples killing and eating each other. We can’t even reconcile that in all that time there was no rain. Sin would have certainly entered the world well before Adam and Eve and in fact the salvation through Christ would never have happened. Where is our faith if we do not believe in six 24-hour days of Creation?

Do you believe Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea on dry land? (Exedus 7:10-12) Do you believe Joshua did the same at the Jordan River? (Joshua 3:14-17)  Do you believe in talking donkeys? Numbers 22:21-35) Do you believe the sun and moon stood still for a battle? Joshua 10:12-14) Do you believe God could create a fish large enough to swallow a man, then spit him out after three days? (Jonah 2:1-10)

Do you believe a virgin could give birth? Do you believe Jesus could have been crucified to death, buried and rose on the third day? Do you believe Jesus is coming back to Judge this world? If you can believe in all this, then how can you not believe God created the world in 6 days?

And how can you believe in Adam and Eve?

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:28-31.

Now a question sometimes arises. Did Adam and Eve go to Heaven? In early Jewish belief one could be forgiven by God for sin by practicing Teshuva, which literally means “return”.  The act of Teshuva includes:

• regretting/acknowledging the sin

• worrying about the future consequences of the sin

• acting and speaking with humility

• acting in a way opposite to that of the sin (for example, for the sin of lying, one should speak the truth)

• understanding the magnitude of the sin

• refraining from lesser mistakes for the purpose of safeguarding oneself against committing greater mistakes

• correcting the mistake however possible

• pursuing works of compassion and truth

• refraining from committing the same mistake if the opportunity presents itself again

• teaching others not to engage in the same behavior

This is according to a part of the Talmud called the Nedarim and was outlined in The Gates of Repentance by Rabbenu Yonah of Gerona (pictured right). He died in 1263. He wrote Sha’arel Teshuveh, Gates of Repentance, around 1250, although it was not published until 1505. 

Did Adam and Eve follow this path of Teshuveh? Again, we do not know. 

We know that after eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, a typical vain effort by man to hide his sin. However, God then killed some animals to provide hides as their covering. In my opinion at this point God instituted blood sacrifice as the means for forgiveness of sin. Teshuvev may have been a nice set of rules to follow, but only the blood of Christ is a true covering for sin. For centuries blood sacrifice of animals acted as a temporary repreive. The story of their sons is important in understanding this.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. (Genesis 4:1-2)

“Now Adam knew?” Knew what? His wife. Didn’t he already know her? But this is the Scriptures way of saying he experienced that mysterious intimacy we call intercourse. It other words, they had sex.

He had sex with his wife, Eve. Wait a minute, his wife Eve? When did this happen? Didn’t the Bible tell us Eve was created to be Adam’s helpmate? Yes, it did, but back there in Genesis 2 right after God formed the woman from Adam’s rib, he married them. They became husband and wife. 

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed or embarrassed. (Genesis 2:24-25)

There you go, the first marriage and thus when you marry, a man and a woman, they are joined as one flesh. Sin had not entered the world yet, so they didn’t notice they were naked. Notice also, Adam had his children by Eve, no one else and they remained together the rest of their lives, as marriage was meant to be, so when you fall in love and think about marriage, choose carefully, friends. My wife and I have been joined together for almost 58 years with a lot of help from God.

Now it says Adam had sex with Eve and she conceived. That doesn’t necessarily mean the first time they did it she conceived. It says Adam knew her and he could have known her many times. It says Eve conceived and that may have been after several attempts. At any rate, she conceived and bore a male baby they called Cain. The name Cain means "spear" or "possessed". Interesting choice of name. Perhaps possessed meant that now they possessed a man. Given what will happened can make possessed take on a different connotation.

Note, Eve gives credit to the help of the Lord. Actually, she said with the help of Yehovah (or Jehovah), which made Eve the first person in scripture to call God by his proper name, “Jehovah, the Existing One”.

After a bit, maybe the next year, she had a second son, who they named Abel. The name Abel means "Breath" or "Son". Abel didn’t get quite the attention from Eve as Cain did, but Cain was the firstborn, which probably already carried some weight.

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the

fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. (Genesis 4:3-4)

Why did they do this? I’ll give you my take.  We are already being pointed toward the sacrifice of Jesus; Jesus the Lamb if God. Jesus is always in the background of Old Testament  stories.

When our good buddies, Adam and Eve, sinned, they plucked some fig leaves to cover themselves, but those plants didn’t cut it. To cover their sin, innocent blood had to be shed and so God sacrificed some animals and made clothes for his errant couple. Probably the first deaths. So back to the question did Adam and Eve go to Heaven or Hell when they finally died. Scripture never tells us one way of another. It is my personal opinion that they went to Heaven as long as they continued blood sacrifices to atone for their sins going forward. I believe God instituted the sacrifice at that time.

Why else do we find Cain and Abel bringing an offering to God other than Adam and Eve taught them the necessity of doing it? So, Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground and Abel brought a firstborn sheep from his flock. This seems logical enough to us. Go back to Chapter 4, verses 1-2 and we discover Cain and Abel’s occupations. Cain grew vegetables and fruit from the ground and Abel herded sheep. Why wouldn’t we expect Cain to bring some fruit and Abel a sheep?

Ah, but there is something different in this description. Cain brought some fruit; it doesn’t say if he picked it fresh or if it had been lying around or if it was the first, second or fifteen batch he gathered. It is much more specific when we come to Abel’s offering, not just a sheep, but a firstborn sheep. 

The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”(Exodus 13:1-2)

At this point when Adam and Eve had children, this statement that all the first born were to be concentrated to God lay in the future. But past, present and future are always in play with God.

So does 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 lie in the future, but the two comings of Christ were planned at the beginning. As Genesis 3:15 looks forward to the first coming of Christ with His sacrifice and victory over Satan (bruise Christ's heel; bruise Satan's head), so does 1 Corinthians 15 both looks back on Christ’s sacrifice, calling him the first fruits, but looks ahead to his Second Coming when he exacts his final authority.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:20-26)

Christ’s Sacrifice upon the cross was the final sacrifice, but in between man was called to perform a series of blood sacrifices to cover his continuous transgressions. Before Moses, Noah sacrificed clean animals and birds in Genesis 8:20.  "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

 Job also made burnt sacrifices: " And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed[a]God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually." (Job 1:5)

And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:4-7)

See, it seems God gave instructions that a sacrifice was required and Adam and Eve taught this to their sons. Eventually we find Cain and Abel presenting a sacrifice to God. Cain bring some of his fruit and Abel brings a Sacrifice of a first born lamb, which again points to Jesus, the sacrificial lamb for the sins of men. 

God looked favorably upon Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. Why? I would say because Abel gave the offering God had instructed Man to make, a blood sacrifice. Cain did not follow this directive and felt he was justified by presenting some fruit. We see that this fruit offering was rejected and Cain was very angry about it.

Can we say this?

Yes, because look at the patient explanation God gives to Cain. If he was doing what God asked his sacrifice would have been accepted. Yes, he was a farmer, but he could have traded his crops to Abel for a sacrificial lamb, but he didn’t think this was necessary. That is pride.

It isn’t said that Satan whispered in his ear, so the indication is that Cain did this on his own. But the warning is that sin crouches at the door to lead him to even worse sins.

Abel came with offering in obedience to God, but Cain did not obey what he had been instructed. The rejection hurt his pride and caused him to be angry at God and jealous of his brother.

The History Channel chose to grasp at an ancient Jewish claim that Cain killed Abel over a woman. Supposedly the two brothers were to marry twin sisters. Abel was to marry Aclima who was more beautiful than her sister Awan. Cain would not consent to this arrangement and Adam suggested they seek God’s blessing through a sacrifice. Whoever God blessed would marry Aclima. God rejected Cain’s sacrifice and in a fit of jealous rage Cain slew Abel. This is one of the reasons I am not a fan of the History Channel’s telling of Bible stories. They presented this version as fact.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than

Cain, through  which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.(Hebrews 11:4)

Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and  whoever finds me will kill me.”

Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:8-16)

There is justice here. Cain receives a severe punishment for murdering his brother, the first murder ever. Cain, the farmer, was cursed to have the ground not yield to him and then to become a wanderer. The worse of the punishment was he was then hidden from God’s face. This is one of the harsh elements of Hell, that God will no longer be available to one. Note that at the end of the passage, Cain went away from the presence of the Lord. Cain had no further hope.

But Cain was also concerned that someone would kill him in retribution.

Here we also see God’s mercy. First God didn’t kill Cain outright. Secondly he placed a mark on Cain that warned away anyone who would threaten Cain, saying they would face an even harsher punishment. We will see in a bit that this warning was known and taken to heart by others.

The Land of Nod was not a place. “Nod” comes from a Hebrew verb meaning to wander. Cain would not find peace on earth. In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus said that Cain continued to be wicked, violent  and a robber. 

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. (1 John 3:12)

Now we come to the “begats".  A lot of people skip the “begats” as boring, but they are not.They are full of information.

Of course there are no “begats” for Abel. This tells us Abel did not live to be married and have children

So the first groups of “begats” we encounter are those of Cain.

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. Genesis 4:17.

Now there is an Enoch in the line of Seth and a number of similarities of names, so be careful not to get confused. This first son of Cain is not the same who wrote The Book of Enoch.

But whoa! Where did Cain find this wife in his wanderings out in the wastelands? Scripture doesn’t say he did. Scripture says Cain knew his wife, meaning he had sexual relations with his wife, but not that he met her after he was banished. He may have married before he killed Abel. Remember he was the older boy.

Now I know in Genesis 5:4 it says, “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” Because it says Adam lived 800 years after he fathered Seth does not necessarily mean he and Eve had all those other sons and daughters after Seth. Sons probably, but they may have had daughters even when they had Cain and Abel. Remember, women didn’t get counted in those ancient times.

Anyway, even though Cain was doomed to wander, he did take time to build a city. Careful in reading this, because it doesn’t say Cain’s son Enoch build a city; it says “he”, meaning Cain built it and named it for his son Enoch.

His wife also had to be his sister. God hadn’t created any other people. There were no cave people bopping around in or out of Eden. And God had told Adam and Eve to populate the earth. The only thing that could have happened in those beginning times was intermarriage between close relatives, first between brothers and sisters and then between cousins.

Ew, that sounds bad. Doesn’t incest lead to all kinds of mutations.

The Egyptians practiced marrying brothers and sisters and this led to the Pharaohs having breasts and hips like women. King Tut (right) was a pretty messed up young man with breasts and female hips, as was his father, Akhenaten (left). But Adam and Eve were created perfect. There were no mutations in their DNA and it took a long time before such mutations took place among they decedents. It was in the time of Moses that God forbid the marriage between close relatives.

To Enoch was born Irad, [The name Irad means “Wild Ass”, so one can infer that Iran followed in his father’s footsteps]

and Irad fathered Mehujael,[the name Mehujael means smitten by God. Smitten can mean struck with a hard blow.]

and Mehujael fathered Methushael, [Name’s meaning is uncertain]

and Methushael fathered Lamech. [ This name means to make low. [There is another Lamech in the line of Seth.] And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah [ornament], and the name of the other Zillah [shadow]. Adah bore Jabal [means mountain] Jabal ; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal [think jubalee]; 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 is the first bigamist. Some commentators called her the first wife of Lamech, and perhaps he did marry her first, but verse 23 indicates he had two wives at the same time.

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 4:23-24)

So Lamech follows Cain by becoming a murderer. (I thought for a moment we’d go into “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Mama, I've killed a man...")  Lamech’s statement about Cain’s revenge shows that the marking of Cain was made well known and came down through several generations.

The interesting thing about Cain’s decedents is they were of the world, not God.   They were the inventors and muscians. Jabal was a leader of those who lived in tents and had livestock. Jubal was the father of music and Tubal-Cain was the father of industry, working in bronze and iron

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, (anointed) for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh [or Enos, which simply means person.] At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. Genesis 4:25-26.

We come to the begats of Adam through Seth’s dependents, the people who did not become the world immediately, but called on the name of God, at least for a while, and then disaster would strike.

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.

Adam and Eve had died spiritually when they ate the forbidden fruit. God had warned Adam if they did this, on that day they would surely die. God did not lie. It wasn’t just spiritual, it was also physical. Before then Adam and Eve could have and would have lived forever, but on the day they ate the fruit they were no longer immortal and became susceptible to death. 

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8

I think we can quote Peter here.  Within the context of how God counts time, Adam did surely die on that day.

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.

Enosh means people, and according to the Torah “And to Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh, then huchal to call by the name of the L-rd.” Huchal comes from the Hebrew word hischil meaning "to begin". Some Jews taught people began the practice of prayer at this time, which they saw no necessity for before the birth of Enosh, they believed God had made up his mind and nothing would change it, so prayer wasn’t necessary. Preaching wasn’t needed either, because everyone was aware of God’s presence and power. 

But then this knowledge diminished and people began to give honor to the stars and planets. A practice of false worship was beginning.

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.

Kenan is in the genealogy of Jesus in the line Joseph in Luke 3:37. The name may mean either possession or stronghold.

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.

Mahalalel means “praise of God”.

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.

The name Jared contained the meaning “rose” and “servant”.

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.

Enoch means dedicated. It is believed Enoch did not die. At the age of 365 God took him alive to Heaven. It says he walked with God.
Hebrews 11:5 attests to this —By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

Enoch wrote The Book of Enoch. This book has long been controversial and some argue it should be included in the Bible. Two Christian denomination accept it as part of the Canon:  Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, but not by any other Christian groups.

 Part of this Book  is quoted in Jude verses 14-15. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes 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.”

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.

Methuselah means, “when he is dead it shall be sent.”  I have also

read it meant “After me, the deluge”. Either way, right after Methuselah died the great flood came.

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. 

Methuselah was the oldest person who ever lived. He had a son named Lamech. Lamech means “to make low”. Lamech lived a shorter life than the others, only 777 years. He died in the great flood. 7 is the Bible number for completeness and at 777 he completed the antediluvian generations.

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Genesis 5:1-32