And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: For God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
25. called his name ] Here, as in Gen 4:1 (see note), the mother gives the name.
God ] Elohim (not Jehovah, as in Gen 4:1), probably because of Gen 4:26.
hath appointed ] Heb. shath. As was pointed out in the note on Gen 4:1, the resemblance to a Hebrew word in the sound of a proper name does not supply its strict etymology. The name “Seth” ( shth) = “setting” or “slip,” resembles in sound the Hebrew verb for “appointed” or “set” ( shth), and it is to this assonance that Eve’s words refer.
It is an instance of a play on a word, viz. paronomasia, of which there are many cases in the O.T. But assonance is a delusive element in etymology.
another seed ] We are not to infer that no other children were born to Eve, but that Seth was “appointed” to take the place of Abel, and his seed to form a righteous counterpart to the unholy seed of Cain. In Sir 49:16 Seth is united with Shem as “glorified among men.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
25, 26. The Line of Seth
These two verses begin the line of Seth which is parallel to that of Cain. The more complete genealogy, found in ch. 5, comes from a different source (P). But it is not unlikely that they are derived from the same materials as the previous section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
– XX. Sheth
25. shet, Sheth, placed, put.
26. ‘enosh, Enosh, man, sickly. qero’ beshem means, first, to call an object by its name Isa 40:26; Isa 43:1; Isa 45:3-4; second, to call an object by the name of another, who is the parent, leader, husband, owner Num 32:42; Jdg 18:29; Psa 49:12; Isa 43:7; Isa 44:5; Isa 48:1; Isa 65:1; third, to proclaim the name of Exo 33:19; Exo 35:5-6; fourth, to call upon the name of God, to address him by his proper name with an audible voice in the form of prayer. This is the most common meaning of the phrase. In this sense it is followed by Yahweh as the proper name of the true God among the Hebrews. It is not to be forgotten that names were still significant, at this early period.
This passage completes the account of Adams family. Henceforth, we generally meet with two parallel lines of narrative, as the human family is divided into two great branches, with opposing interests and tendencies. The main line refers to the remnant of the race that are on terms of open reconciliation with God; while a collateral line notes as far as necessary the state of those who have departed from the knowledge and love of the true God.
Gen 4:25
The narrative here reverts to a point subsequent to the death of Habel, when another son is born to Adam, whom his mother Eve regards as a substitute for Habel, and names Sheth in allusion to that circumstance. She is in a sadder, humbler frame than when she named her first-born, and therefore does not employ the personal name of the Lord. Yet her heart is not so much downcast as when she called her second son a breath. Her faith in God is sedate and pensive, and hence she uses the more distant and general term ‘elohym, God.
Yet there is a special significance in the form of expression she employs. For God hath given me another seed instead of Habel. He is to be instead of Habel, and God-fearing like Habel. Far above this consideration, God hath given him. This son is from God. She regards him as Gods son. She receives this gift from God, and in faith expects him to be the seed of God, the parent of a godly race. Her faith was not disappointed. His descendants earn the name of the sons of God. As the ungodly are called the seed of the serpent, because they are of his spirit, so the godly are designated the seed of God, because they are of Gods Spirit. The Spirit of God strives and rules in them, and so they are, in the graphic language of Scripture, the sons of God Gen 6:1.
Gen 4:26
A son is born to Sheth also, whom he calls Enosh. In this name there is probably an allusion to the meaning of sickliness and dependence which belongs to the root. These qualities were now found to be characteristic of man in his present state.
The closing sentence signalizes a remarkable event, which took place at the birth of Enosh, about two hundred and forty years after the creation of Adam. Then was it begun to call upon the name of the Lord. The solemn invocation of God by his proper name in audible and social prayer and praise is the most usual meaning of the phrase now before us, and is to be adopted unless there be something in the context or the circumstances demanding another meaning. This involves also the first of the meanings given above, as we call God by his name in oral worship. It includes the third in one of its forms, as in praise we proclaim the name of our God. And it leads to the second, as those who call on the name of the Lord are themselves called the children of God.
Some change is here intimated in the mode of approaching God in worship. The gist of the sentence, however, does not lie in the name Yahweh. For this term was not then new in itself, as it was used by Eve at the birth of Cain; nor was it new in this connection, as the phrase now appears for the first time, and Yahweh is the ordinary term employed in it ever afterward to denote the true God. As a proper name, Yahweh is the fit and customary word to enter into a solemn invocation. It is, as we have seen, highly significant. It speaks of the Self-existent One, the Author of all existing things, and in particular of man; the Self-manifest, who has shown himself merciful and gracious to the returning penitent, and with him keeps promise and covenant. Hence, it is the custom itself of calling on the name of Yahweh, of addressing God by his proper name, which is here said to have been commenced.
At first sight, with our habits and associations, it seems a very strange thing that calling upon the name of the Lord should only begin two hundred and forty years after the creation of man. But let us endeavor to divest ourselves of these limitations, and rise to the primeval simplicity of mans thoughts in regard to God. We read of God speaking to man in paradise, but not of man speaking to God. In the examination that preceded the sentence passed upon the transgressors, we hear Adam and Eve replying to the questions of God, but not venturing to open a conversation with the Most High. If the feeling of reverence and solemn awe did not permit such a liberty before the fall, much more would the super-added sense of guilt after that event restrain man from making any advances toward the infinitely holy Being whom he had so wantonly offended. The rebuking examination, the judicial sentence, and the necessary execution of this sentence in its preliminary form, were so prominent and impressive as to throw into the background any intimations of the divine mercy with which they were accompanied. The latter, however, were not unnoticed, or without a salutary effect on the primeval pair. Adam believed the indications of mercy, whether in word or deed, which God gave him. Faith was prompt and natural in that early stage of comparative nearness to God, to his manifest presence and his conspicuous wonders of creative power. It was also a native tendency of the human breast, and would be so still, had we not become so sophisticated by education that doubt has come to be the prominent attitude of our minds. This faith of the first pair led to confession; not directly, however, to God, but indirectly in the names Adam gave his wife, and Eve her first-born son. Here humble, distant, self-condemning faith solilloquizes, or, at most, the penitent pair converse in humble hope about the mercy of the Most High.
The bringing of an offering to God was a step in advance of this penitent, humble, submissive, self-accusing faith. It was the exact counterpart and representation by a well-devised symbol of the nature of the offerers faith. It was therefore a confession of faith and certain accompanying feelings toward God by a symbolic act. It was quite natural that this mute sign should precede the actual address. The consequences, however, of the approach of Cain and Habel were calculated to deepen again the feeling of dread, and to strike the onlooker mute in the presence of the High and Holy One. Still would this be so in that infantile state of man when one thought would take full possession of the soul, until another was plainly and directly brought before the attention. In this simple, unsophisticated state of the penitent, we can conceive him to resign himself passively to the merciful will of that Maker whom he has grievously offended, without venturing to breathe a wish or even to lift up a note of thanksgiving. Such mute acquiescence in the divine will for two hundred and forty years was well-befitting the humble penitents of that infantile age, standing in solemn awe under a sense of their own demerit and of the infinite holiness of the Majesty on high. There were even an eloquent pathos and power in that tacit reverence suited to move the heart of the All-searching Spirit more than ten thousand voices less deeply penetrated with a sense of the guilt of sin and the beauty of holiness.
At length, however, Sheth was given to Eve, and accepted by her as a substitute for Habel. Enosh, the child of sorrow, was born to him. Collateral with this line of descent, and all the anxieties and desires which it involved, was the growth of a class of men who were of the spirit of Cain, and receded further and further from God. In these circumstances of growing iniquity on the one hand, and growing faith on the other, believing reason comes to conceive the full import of the mercy of God, freely and fully accepts of pardon, and realizes the peace and privilege which it bestows. Growing man now comprehends all that is implied in the proper name of God, yehovah, Jehovah, the Author of being, of promise, and of performance. He finds a tongue, and ventures to express the desires and feelings that have been long pent up in his breast, and are now bursting for utterance. These petitions and confessions are now made in an audible voice, and with a holy urgency and courage rising above the depressing sense of self-abasement to the confidence of peace and gratitude. These adorations are also presented in a social capacity, and thereby acquire a public notoriety. The father, the older of the house, is the master of words, and he becomes the spokesman of the brotherhood in this new relationship into which they have spontaneously entered with their Father in heaven. The spirit of adoption has prompted the confiding and endearing terms, Abba, Father, and now the winged words ascend to heaven, conveying the adorations and aspirations of the assembled saints. The new form of worship attracts the attention of the early world, and the record is made, Then began they to call upon the name of the Lord, that keepeth covenant and mercy.
Here we perceive that the holy race has passed beyond its infancy. It has learned to speak with God in the language of faith, of conscious acceptance, of freedom, of hope, of love. This is a far nobler attainment than the invention of all the arts of life. It is the return from that revulsive dread with which the conscious sinner shrank back from the felt holiness of God. It is the drawing of the divine mercy and love let into the penitent soul, by which it has come to itself, and taken courage to return to the merciful Yahweh, and speak to him the language of penitence, of confession, of gratitude. These believing penitents, chiefly it is to be supposed in the line of Sheth, of which this paragraph speaks, began to be distinguished as the followers of the Lord; whereas others at the same time had forgotten the Lord, and renounced even the form of reverence for him. The seed of the woman was now distinguished from the seed of the serpent. The latter are in a spiritual sense called the seed of the serpent, because they cling to the principles of the tempter; and the former may in the same sense be designated the seed or sons of God, because they follow after him as the God of mercy and truth. Thus, the lamentable fact obtrudes itself upon our view that a portion of the human family have persisted in the primeval apostasy, and are no longer associated with their fellows in acknowledging their common Maker.
The progress of moral evil in the antediluvian world was manifested in fratricide, in going out from the presence of the Lord, in personal violence, and in polygamy. The first is the normal character of all murder; the second gave scope for the third, the daring and presumptuous violence of the strong; and the fourth ultimately led to an almost total corruption of manners. It is curious to observe that ungodliness, in the form of disobedience and departure from God and therefore of the practical breach of the first commandment, and unrighteousness in the form of murder, the crime of masterful passion and violence, which is the transgression of the first commandment concerning our neighbor, are the starting-points of sin in the world. They do not seem to have yet reached idolatry and adultery. This appears to point out that the prohibitions into which the law is developed in the Ten Commandments are arranged in the order of time as well as of nature.
The preceding chapters, if written in substance by Adam, formed the primeval Bible of mankind. But, whether written at that time or not, they contain the leading facts which occurred in the early history of man in relation to his Maker. These facts were well known to the antediluvian world, and formed the rule by which it was to be guided in approaching to God, presenting to him an acceptable offering, calling upon his name, and so walking with him in peace and love. Here we have all the needful germs of a gospel for the infantile race. If we ask why they were not effectual, the answer is at hand. They were effectual with a few, and are thereby proved sufficient to recover man from sin, and vindicate the mercy of God. But the All-wise Being, who made man a moral agent, must thoroughly guard his freedom, even in the dealings of mercy. And in the folly and madness of their self-will, some will revolt more and more. The history was written for our learning. Let its lessons be pondered. Let the accumulated experience of bygone wanderings recorded in the Book of God be our warning, to return at length with our whole heart to our merciful Father.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 4:25
Another seed, instead of Abel
Seth
To Eve is born a third son; and he comes to them as the gift of love and the pledge of hope.
Eve names him Seth, which means set or placed or appointed, as being expressly given to her in room of Abel, whom Cain slew. In this her faith shows itself again; for in the ease of her three sons it is she herself who gives the names, and in them displays her faith. In Cain, it was simple and triumphant faith, that had not yet entered into conflict, nor known what trials and crosses are. In Abels, it was the utterance of hope deferred making the heart sick, and realizing strangership on earth and vanity in creation. And now, in Seth, it is faith reassured and comforted, brought to rest in God, as able to fulfil to the uttermost all that He had promised.
1. She recognizes God in this. It is not the mere law of nature; it is the Lord. It is in the fulfilment of His sovereign purpose that He is doing this.
2. She gives a name expressive of her faith. She calls her infant the appointed one, the substituted one. She saw God making up her lose, filling up the void, providing a seed, through which the promised Deliverer was to come.
3. She fondly calls to mind her martyred son. The way in which she does this, shows the yearning of her heart over him who was taken away, as if his place was one which needed to be supplied, as if there were a blank in her bosom which God only knew how to supply. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. God-hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel] Eve must have received on this occasion some Divine communication, else how could she have known that this son was appointed in the place of Abel, to continue that holy line by which the Messiah was to come? From this we see that the line of the Messiah was determined from the beginning, and that it was not first fixed in the days of Abraham; for the promise was then only renewed, and that branch of his family designated by which the sacred line was to be continued. And it is worthy of remark, that Seth’s posterity alone continued after the flood, when all the other families of the earth were destroyed, Noah being the tenth descendant from Adam through Seth.
Though all these persons are mentioned in the following chapter, I shall produce them here in the order of their succession:
1. Adam;
2. Seth;
3. Enos;
4. Cainan;
5. Mahalaleel;
6. Jared;
7. Enoch;
8. Methuselah;
9. Lamech, (the second;)
10. Noah.
In order to keep this line distinct, we find particular care was taken that, where there were two or more sons in a family, the one through whom God particularly designed to bring his Son into the world was, by some especial providence, pointed out. Thus in the family of Adam, Seth was chosen; in the family of Noah, Shem; in the family of Abraham, Isaac; and in that of David, Solomon and Nathan. All these things God watched over by an especial providence from the beginning, that when Jesus Christ should come it might be clearly seen that he came by the promise, through grace, and not by nature.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
She gave the name, but not without Adam’s consent, Gen 5:3. She spoke by Divine inspiration.
Note that the word
seed is used of one single person here, and Gen 21:13; 38:8; which confirms the apostle’s argument, Gal 3:16.
Instead of Abel; to succeed his father Adam, as Abel should have done in the priesthood, and administration and care of holy things in the church of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Adam knew his wife again,…. The Targum of Jonathan adds, at the end of a hundred and thirty years after Abel was killed, see Ge 5:3 but, according to Bishop Usher, Seth was born the same year, which is most probable.
And she bare a son, and called his name Seth, that is, “put, placed, set”; not with any respect to Cain, who had no settled fixed abode, but wandered about; or to Seth as a foundation of the church and true religion, being a type of Christ the only foundation, though he may be considered in such a light; but the reason of his name follows:
for God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew; that is, another son in his room; and by calling him a “seed”, she may have respect unto the promised seed, whom she once thought Cain was, or however expected him in his line, as being the firstborn; but he proving a wicked man, and having slain his brother Abel, on whom her future hope was placed, has another son given her, and substituted in his room, in whom, and in whose family, the true religion would be preserved, and from whom the Messiah, the promised seed, would spring see Ga 3:16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The character of the ungodly family of Cainites was now fully developed in Lamech and his children. The history, therefore, turns from them, to indicate briefly the origin of the godly race. After Abel’s death a third son was born to Adam, to whom his mother gave the name of Seth ( , from , a present participle, the appointed one, the compensation); “ for,” she said, “ God hath appointed me another seed (descendant) for Abel, because Cain slew him.” The words “because Cain slew him” are not to be regarded as an explanatory supplement, but as the words of Eve; and by virtue of the previous is to be understood in the sense of . What Cain ( human wickedness) took from her, that has Elohim ( divine omnipotence) restored. Because of this antithesis she calls the giver Elohim instead of Jehovah, and not because her hopes had been sadly depressed by her painful experience in connection with the first-born.
Gen 4:26 “ To Seth, to him also ( , intensive, vid., Ges. 121, 3) there was born a son, and he called his name Enosh.” , from to be weak, faint, frail, designates man from his frail and mortal condition (Psa 8:4; Psa 90:3; Psa 103:15, etc.). In this name, therefore, the feeling and knowledge of human weakness and frailty were expressed (the opposite of the pride and arrogance displayed by the Canaanitish family); and this feeling led to God, to that invocation of the name of Jehovah which commenced under Enos. , literally to call in (or by) the name of Jehovah, is used for a solemn calling of the name of God. When applied to men, it denotes invocation (here and Gen 12:8; Gen 13:4, etc.); to God, calling out or proclaiming His name (Exo 33:19; Exo 34:5). The name of God signifies in general “the whole nature of God, by which He attests His personal presence in the relation into which He has entered with man, the divine self-manifestation, or the whole of that revealed side of the divine nature, which is turned towards man” ( Oehler). We have here an account of the commencement of that worship of God which consists in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, or in the acknowledgment and celebration of the mercy and help of Jehovah. While the family of Cainites, by the erection of a city, and the invention and development of worldly arts and business, were laying the foundation for the kingdom of this world; the family of the Sethites began, by united invocation of the name of God of grace, to found and to erect the kingdom of God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Birth of Seth. | B. C. 3874. |
25 And 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. 26 And 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.
This is the first mention of Adam in the story of this chapter. No question, the murder of Abel, and the impenitence and apostasy of Cain, were a very great grief to him and Eve, and the more because their own wickedness did now correct them and their backslidings did reprove them. Their folly had given sin and death entrance into the world; and now they smarted by it, being, by means thereof, deprived of both their sons in one day, ch. xxvii. 45. When parents are grieved by their children’s wickedness they should take occasion thence to lament that corruption of nature which was derived from them, and which is the root of bitterness. But here we have that which was a relief to our first parents in their affliction.
I. God gave them to see the re-building of their family, which was sorely shaken and weakened by that sad event. For, 1. They saw their seed, another seed instead of Abel, v. 25. Observe God’s kindness and tenderness towards his people, in his providential dealings with them; when he takes away one comfort from them, he gives them another instead of it, which may prove a greater blessing to them than that was in which they thought their lives were bound up. This other seed was he in whom the church was to be built up and perpetuated, and he comes instead of Abel, for the succession of confessors is the revival of the martyrs and as it were the resurrection of God’s slain witnesses. Thus we are baptized for the dead (1 Cor. xv. 29), that is, we are, by baptism, admitted into the church, for or instead of those who by death, especially by martyrdom, are removed out of it; and we fill up their room. Those who slay God’s servants hope by this means to wear out the saints of the Most High; but they will be deceived. Christ shall still see his seed; God can out of stones raise up children for him, and make the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church, whose lands, we are sure, shall never be lost for want of heirs. This son, by a prophetic spirit, they called Seth (that is, set, settled, or placed), because, in his seed, mankind should continue to the end of time, and from him the Messiah should descend. While Cain, the head of the apostasy, is made a wanderer, Seth, from whom the true church was to come, is one fixed. In Christ and his church is the only true settlement. 2. They saw their seed’s seed, v. 26. To Seth was born a son called Enos, that general name for all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty, and misery, of man’s state. The best men are most sensible of these, both in themselves and their children. We are never so settled but we must remind ourselves that we are frail.
II. God gave them to see the reviving of religion in their family: Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord, v. 26. It is small comfort to a good man to see his children’s children, if he do not, withal, see peace upon Israel, and those that come of him walking in the truth. Doubtless God’s name was called upon before, but now, 1. The worshippers of God began to stir up themselves to do more in religion than they had done; perhaps not more than had been done at first, but more than had been done of late, since the defection of Cain. Now men began to worship God, not only in their closets and families, but in public and solemn assemblies. Or now there was so great a reformation in religion that it was, as it were, a new beginning of it. Then may refer, not to the birth of Enos, but to the whole foregoing story: then, when men saw in Cain and Lamech the sad effects of sin by the workings of natural conscience,–when they saw God’s judgments upon sin and sinners,–then they were so much the more lively and resolute in religion. The worse others are the better we should be, and the more zealous. 2. The worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves. The margin reads it, Then began men to be called by the name of the Lord, or to call themselves by it. Now that Cain and those that had deserted religion had built a city, and begun to declare for impiety and irreligion, and called themselves the sons of men, those that adhered to God began to declare for him and his worship, and called themselves the sons of God. Now began the distinction between professors and profane, which has been kept up ever since, and will be while the world stands.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 25, 26:
“Adam knew his wife again,” once more following the murder of Abel, the first pair had sexual , relations, and another son was born to them. Eve called his name “Seth,” meaning “appointed, or compensation.” This is an expression of her faith, that Jehovah had compensated her for her slain son and that He had appointed this child to be the one to carry on the lineage through whom the promised Seed would come. This does not imply that Adam and Eve had no other children. The Scripture narrative is concerned primarily with the lineage of the promised Seed of the Woman.
Seth grew to maturity, married, and had a son whom he named “Enos,” meaning “mortal, decaying man.” This name reflects godly Seth’s recognition of the fact of man’s sinful and decaying state.
“Then” or in the days of Seth and Enos, “began men to call upon the name of the Lord (Jehovah).” The expression implies the beginning of formal, organized worship, is contrast to the individual worship prior to that time.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
25. Adam knew his wife again. Some hence infer that our first parents were entirely deprived of their offspring when one of their sons had been slain, and the other was cast far away into banishment. But it is utterly incredible that, when the benediction of God in the propagation of mankind was in its greatest force, Adam and Eve should have been through so many years unfruitful. But rather before Abel was slain, the continual succession of progeny had already rendered the house of Adam populous; for in him and his wife especially the effect of that declaration ought to be conspicuous, “Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth.” What, therefore, does Moses mean? Truly, that our first parents, horror-struck at the impious slaughter, abstained for a while from the conjugal bed. Nor could it certainly be otherwise, than that they, in reaping this exceedingly sad and bitter fruit of their apostasy from God, should sink down almost lifeless. The reason why he now passes by others is that he designed to trace the generation of pious descendants through the line of Seth. In the following chapter, however, where he will say, that “Adam begat sons and daughters,” he undoubtedly includes a great number who had been born before Seth; to whom, however, but little regard is paid since they were separated from that family which worshipped God in purity, and which might truly be deemed the Church of God.
God, saith she , has appointed me another seed instead of Abel. Eve means some peculiar seed; for we have said that others had been born who had also grown up before the death of Abel; but, since the human race is prone to evil, nearly her whole family had, in various ways, corrupted itself; therefore, she entertained slight hope of the remaining multitude, until God should raise up to her a new seed, of which she might expect better things. Wherefore, she regarded herself as bereaved not of one son only, but of her whole offspring, in the person of Abel.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
PART NINETEEN:
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MESSIANIC LINE
(Gen. 4:25 to Gen. 5:32)
1. The Birth of Seth
25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For, said she, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him. 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enosh. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.
2. The Two Genealogies
(1) The inspired author first traces the Line of Cain through seven generations, and at that point he terminates the genealogy of the Cainites. Why did he trace the Line no further? Apparently because this was far enough to accomplish his purpose, namely, the explanation of the universal wickedness which spread over the whole earth as a result of the intermingling of the pious Sethites with the irreligious Cainites. By the time we conclude reading his few terse statements about the Line of Cain, especially those descriptive of Lamech and his offspring, we are bound to see that Cains descendants were restless, proud, lustful, inclined to violence, and generally profane. Hence, in Gen. 4:25 the writer turns our attention to his basic purpose in giving us these early genealogical tables, that of recording the beginnings of the Messianic Line.
We must not lose sight of the fact that the fundamental design of the Holy Spirit in giving us the sacred Scriptures is that of providing the evidence to authenticate the Messiahship of Jesus (cf. Joh. 20:30-31; Joh. 16:13-14; Act. 3:13-18; Act. 10:39-43; Act. 26:22-23; 1Pe. 1:10-12). We sometimes wonder why all the genealogical tables scattered throughout the Bible, especially those in Genesis, in Chronicles, and in Matthew and Luke. They are there for a specific purpose: to give us the history of the Messianic Line, the Line of Promise, the Line destined to culminate, and to be fulfilled, in the Seed of the Woman (Gen. 3:15). The method of the author of Genesis is followed by practically all Bible writers, namely, that of taking up first the relevant collateral matter and then returning to the main theme. He first disposes of the Line of Cain, for the purposes as stated above, and then traces the line of Seth (substitute for Abel) through whom the Messianic Line is carried forward, concluding with Noah, a preacher of righteousness (2Pe. 2:5. Murphy [MG, 161]): This passage completes the account of Adams family. Henceforth we generally meet with two parallel lines of narrative, as the human family is divided into two great branches, with opposing interests and tendencies. The main line refers to the remnant of the race that are on terms of open reconciliation with God; while a collateral line notes as far as necessary those who have departed from the knowledge and love of the true God. Green (UBG, 49): The whole arrangement bears evidence of adaptation and careful thought, and is suggestive of one author, not the combination of separate compositions prepared with no reference to each other. A further indication of the same sort, implying the original unity of these chapters, is their correspondence with the general plan of Genesis in respect to genealogies. Uniformly the divergent lines are first traced before proceeding with the principal line of descent leading to the chosen people. In ch. 10 the various nations of mankind sprung from the three sons of Noah; then (Gen. 11:10 sqq.) the line from Shem to Abram. Nahors descendants (Gen. 22:20 sqq.), those of Keturah (Gen. 25:1 sqq.), and of Ishmael (Gen. 4:13 sqq.), before those of Isaac (Gen. 4:19 sqq.). Those of Esau (Gen. 36:1 sqq.) before those of Jacob (Gen. 37:2 sqq.). In like manner the degenerate and God-forsaken race of Cain is traced (Gen. 4:17 sqq.) before proceeding with that of Seth (ch. 5).
(2) On account of the similarities of certain names in both genealogical tables, some of the critics have supposed a mingling of both genealogies, or one common primitive legend in two forms. Lange (CDHCG, 261): Keil contends against this by laying emphasis on the difference of the names that appear to be similar, and the different position of those that are alike. For the sake of comparison we let the line of Seth immediately follow: 1. Adam (earth-man). 2. Seth (compensation or the established). 3. Enoch (weak man). 4. Cainan (profit, a mere like-sounding of Cain). 5. Mahalalel (praise of God [only an echo of Mahujael]). 6. Jared, descending, the descender (only a resemblance in sound to Irad). 7. Enoch, or Henoch, the consecrated. Here the devoted, or consecrated, follows the descending; in the Cainitish line he follows Cain. The one was the occupier of a city in the world, the other was translated to God; both consecrations, or devotions, stand, therefore, in full contrast. 8. Methuselah. According to the usual interpretation: man of the arrow, of the weapons of war. As he forms a chronological parallel with the Cainitic Lamech, so may we regard this name as indicating that he introduced these newly invented weapons of the Cainites into the line of Seth, in order to be a defence against the hostile insolence of the Cainites. It consists with this interpretation, that with him there came into the line of Seth a tendency toward the worldly, after which it goes down with it, and with the age. Even the imposing upon his son the name Lamech, the strong youth, may be regarded as a warlike demonstration against the Cainitic Lamech. Therefore, 9. Lemech or Lamech. 10. Noah, the rest, the quieter, or peacemaker. With Lamech who greeted in his son the future pacificator, there appears to be indicated in the line of Seth, a direction, peaceful, yet troubled with toil and strife. It was just such an age, however, as might have for its consequence the alliances and minglings with the Cainites that are now introduced, and which have so often followed the exigencies of war. This Sethian Lamech, however, forms a significant contrast with the Cainitic. The one consoled himself with the newly invented weapons of his son Tubal Cain, as his security against the fearful blood-vengeance. The other comforts himself with the hope that with his son there shall come a season of holy rest from the labor and pains that are burdened with the curse of God. In regard to both lines in common, the following is to be remarked: 1. The names in the Cainitic line are, for the most part, expressive of pride, those of the Sethic, of humility. 2. The Cainitic line is carried no farther than to the point of its open corruption in polygamy, quarrelsomeness, and the consecration of art to the service of sin. The Sethic line forms in its tenth period the full running out of a temporal world-development, in which Enoch, the seventh, properly appears at the highest point. 3. Against the mention of the Cainitic wives, their charms and their arts, appears in the Sethic line only the mention of sons and daughters. It serves for an introduction to the sixth chapter.
(3) Gen. 4:25-26. (a) Adam is now bequeathing his own image to his offspring, not the image of God that he had been originally by creation, but that image which has now become marred by sin. Of course, we have no means of knowing how greatly the descendants of Adam may have multiplied by the time he attained the age of 130 years (Gen. 5:3). In view of the penalty pronounced on Eve, however, his progeny must have been numerous (note Gen. 3:16unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception). The Bible is not concerned with any of these numerous sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4), but only with the three who figure in the Messianic Development, namely, Cain, Abel and Seth. (b) Said Eve, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, hence the name Seth (the appointed, substitute, compensation). Murphy (MG, 162): For God hath given me another seed instead of Habel, He is to be instead of Habel, and God-fearing like Habel. Far above this consideration, God hath given him. This son is from God. She regards him as Gods son. She receives this gift from God, and in faith expects him to be the seed of God, the parent of a godly race. Her faith was not disappointed. His descendants earn the name of the sons of God. As the ungodly are called the seed of the serpent, because they are of his spirit, so the godly are designated the seed of God, because they are of Gods Spirit. The Spirit of God strives and rules in them, and so they are, in the graphic language of Scripture, the sons of God (Gen. 6:1). Note that God here, in the words attributed to Eve, is Elohim. (Was Mother Eve in any sense aware of the implications of the Divine oracle of Gen. 3:15, concerning the seed of the woman?) (c) To Seth was born a son, and he called his name Enosh (A.V., Enos), i.e., weakness, frailty,probably a sorrowful remembrance of Abel (Psa. 8:5; Psa. 90:3).
(4) Note especially Gen. 4:26 b. This closing sentence points up a remarkable event which took place in connection with the birth of Enosh: Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah. The LXX gives it: He was the man who began to call upon the name of the Lord. This is a difficult passage. Lange (262) holds that what is narrated here must be the beginning of a formal divine worship. Murphy writes (162164): The gist of the sentence does not lie in the name Jehovah. For this term was not then new in itself, as it was used by Eve at the birth of Cain; nor was it new in this connection, as the phrase now appears for the first time, and Jehovah is the ordinary term employed in it ever afterwards to denote the true God. As a proper name, Jehovah is the fit and customary word to enter into a solemn invocation, It is, as we have seen, highly significant. It speaks of the Self-existent, the Author of all existing things, and in particular of man; the Self-manifest, who has shown himself merciful and gracious to the returning penitent, and with him keeps promise and covenant. Hence it is the custom of calling on the name of Jehovah, of addressing God by his proper name, which is here said to have been commenced. Murphy goes on to point up the fact that whereas we read of God speaking to man in Paradise, we do not read of man speaking to God. He writes: In the examination that preceded the sentence passed upon the transgressors, we hear Adam and Eve replying to the questions of God, but not venturing to open a conversation with the Most High. He proceeds to call attention to Adams belief of the indications of mercy, whether in word or deed which God gave him. The bringing of an offering to God was a step in advance, he says, of the humble, submissive, self-accusing faith of our first parents, yet the institution of sacrifice was essentially a symbolic act, a mute sign of the obedient faith being manifested by the worshiper, unaccompanied by invocation or address of any kind. At length, however, Sheth was given to Eve, and accepted by her as a substitute for Habel. Enosh, the child of sorrow, was born to him. Collateral with this line of descent, and all the anxieties and wants which it involved, was the growth of a class of men who were of the spirit of Cain, and receded further and further from God. In these circumstances of growing iniquity on the one hand, and growing faith on the other, believing reason comes to conceive the full import of the mercy of God, freely and fully accepts of pardon, and realizes the peace and privilege which it bestows. Growing man now comprehends all that is implied in the proper name of God, Jehovah, the author of being, of promise, and of performance. He finds a tongue, and ventures to express the desires and feelings that have long been pent up in his breast, and are now bursting for utterance. These petitions and confessions are now made in an audible voice, and with a holy urgency and courage rising above the sense of self-abasement to the confidence of peace and gratitude. These adorations are also presented in a social capacity, and thereby acquire a public notaries. The father, the elder of the house, is the master of words, and he becomes the spokesman of the brotherhood in this new relationship into which they have spontaneously entered with their Father in heaven. The spirit of adoption has prompted the confiding and endearing terms, Abba, Father, and now the winged words ascend to heaven, carrying the adorations and aspirations of the assembled saints. The new form of worship attracts the attention of the early world, and the record is made, Then began they to call upon the name of the Lord, that keepeth covenant and mercy.
Of course, the analytical critics speculate that this was an insertion from the J document or code, the author of which, they say, was interested especially in origins, and hence is the source of our information about the beginnings of nomadism, music, and metalworking (Gen. 4:20-22), the origin of the Nephilim (giants, Gen. 6:2), the origin of viticulture (Gen. 9:20), the first of the Gibborim (despots, or in terms of early Greek thought, tyrants, Gen. 10:8), and the origin of diversity of languages (Gen. 11:1-9). (See, for example, IBG, 526). Hence it is J who, according to this theory, reports in Gen. 4:26 the origin of what is called the cult of Yahweh. Skinner writes in similar vein (ICCG, 127): What historic reminiscence (if any) lies behind this remarkable statement we cannot conjecture; but its significance is not correctly expressed when it is limited to the institution of formal public worship on the part of a religious community (Delitzsch); and the idea that it is connected with a growing sense of the distinction between the human and the divine (Ewald et al) is a baseless fancy. It means that Enos was the first to invoke the Deity under this name; and it is interesting chiefly as a reflection, emanating from the school of J, on the origin of the specifically Israelite name of God. The conception is more ingenuous than that of E (Exo. 3:13-15) or P (Exo. 6:3), who base the name on express revelation, and connect it with the foundation of Hebrew nationality. Skinner goes on to say, however, that the expression (literally, call by [means of] the name of Y), denotes the essential act in worship, the invocation (or rather evocation) of the Deity by the solemn utterance of His name. It rests on the widespread primitive idea that a real bond exists between the person and his name, such that the pronunciation of the latter exerts a mystic influence on the former. (For the significance of names, see Platos Cratylus). It should be remarked here that these critics tear even separate Scripture verses into shreds in their useless speculation about which belongs to what (J, E, D, P), without benefit of external evidence of any kind whatsoever, a form of seminary nit-picking that is paralleled in no other branch of human study. They ignore the obvious fact of the repeated interlacing of the Divine Names, not only in various sections, but even in particular verses, throughout the Pentateuch. Perhaps the most significant fact of all is, that the critics are hopelessly at variance even among themselves as to the credibility of their conflicting suppositions. Even the few arguments that could be acceptable as legitimately supporting the Documentary Hypothesis are vitiated by this Babel of academic tongues. (For a critical examinationand refutationof these theories, the student is advised to study, along with the present textbook, the great work by William Henry Green, published in 1895, entitled The Unity of the Book of Genesis. The author was, at that time, Professor of Oriental and Old Testament Literature in Princeton Theological Seminary. Unfortunately for the spread of the truth, students in present-day standardized theological seminaries are never given any opportunity to become acquainted with this book or with any other of like content. The would-be pundits of our time seem to assume that no learning ever existed prior to the beginning of the present century.)
Concerning Gen. 5:26 b, M. Henry writes (CWB, 15): The worshipers of God began to distinguish themselves. The margin reads it, Then began men to be called by the name of the Lord, or to call themselves by it. Whitelaw summarizes (PCG, 90): Either (1) to invoke by prayer the name of Jehovah, i.e., Jehovah himself as he had been pleased to discover his attributes and character to men, referring to the formal institution of public worship. The expression is elsewhere used to denote all the appropriate acts and exercises of the stated worship of Godch. Gen. 12:8, Gen. 13:4, Gen. 21:33; 1Ch. 16:8; Psa. 105:1 (Bush). Or (2) to call themselves by the name of Jehovahcf. Num. 32:42, Jdg. 18:29, Psa. 49:12, Isa. 44:5. Rotherham (EB, 37 n.): Or, to invoke with the name Y. We suggest here Langes terse simple statement (CDHCG, 262): The language undoubtedly refers to a general honoring of the name Jehovah among the pious Sethites. (For a further treatment of this problem, see my Genesis, Vol. III, with respect to the correlation of Exo. 3:14-15; Exo. 6:2-3 with Gen. 22:14).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
SUBSTITUTION OF SETH FOR ABEL.
(25) Another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.Cain, the firstborn, and Abel, who had outstripped him in prosperity, were both lost to Adam. But instead of the third son succeeding to the place of the firstborn, it is given to one specially marked out, probably by prophecy, just as Solomon took the rights of primogeniture over the head of Adonijah.
Seth.Heb., Sheth, that is, appointed, substituted: he was thus specially designated as the son who was to be the chief over dams family.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
SETH AND ENOS, 25, 26.
Having traced the development of the race of Cain, the sacred writer now turns to record the origin of that godly line whose genealogy appears at greater extent in the following chapter.
25. Seth The name means placed, or appointed, as Eve explains in the words: For God hath appointed me another seed, etc. The mother of this divinely chosen seed speaks by a divine inspiration .
26. Enos Or Enosh . This name, according to most critics, means weakness, frailty, and according to Keil, “designates man from his frail and mortal condition . Psa 8:4; Psa 90:3. In this name, therefore, the feeling and knowledge of human weakness and frailty were expressed the opposite of the pride and arrogance displayed by the Cainite family . ”
Then began men to call Literally, Then it was begun to call in the name of Jehovah . That is, with the line of Seth began a more open and established mode of worship by calling directly upon God in prayer, and using the hallowed name Jehovah . Thus the Sethites came in time to be known as “the sons of God . ” Gen 6:2. These devout worshippers had probably now come to believe that the promised Deliverer, whom Eve had hoped to see in her firstborn, was to be God himself, and to him they now transfer the name Jehovah. “With a new divine race, and a new believing generation, there ever presents itself the name Jehovah, and even with a higher glory. Now it is for the first time after Eve’s first theocratic jubilee-cry of hope.” Lange.
Gen 4:25 to Gen 5:1 a The Birth of Seth
This section may have been written (from source material) specifically to connect the Cainite records with the following record of Seth’s genealogy, and also to interconnect the Cainite records with Genesis 2 and Genesis 3. This probably occurred at the stage when all these records were incorporated on a tablet as ‘the book of the histories of Adam’.
Gen 4:25
‘And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said “God (Elohim) has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ’
This is the first use of the name Adam without the definite article. Up to and including Gen 4:1 it always has the definite article. (This suggestion assumes an acceptance, probably valid, that earlier prepositions were wrongly pointed by the Massoretes). This would confirm that the section is a connecting link, with usage different from the previous records, a usage introduced by the writer of the ‘the book of the histories of Adam’ (Gen 5:1) to whom Adam is now a proper name.
Adam appears as a name in tablets from Ebla in the third millennium BC and also in early second millennium Amorite sources, but not later (although these do not refer to the Biblical Adam).
The play on words between Seth and sath (appointed) parallels that with Cain. Possibly Seth is seen as especially important because he replaces the first man described as dying. He is the evidence that life will replace death. It may be this grave realisation that results in what happens next.
Note that Eve uses the name Elohim. In Gen 4:1 she used Yahweh. This suggests that Eve has in mind here Elohim as Creator, producing life out of death, rather than Yahweh as the Covenant God (in the case of Cain she used Yahweh for she rejoiced that the covenant held).
Epilogue to the Genealogy of the Heavens and the Earth – The Generations of the Heavens and the Earth (Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26) concludes with God giving Adam and Eve a son to replace Abel. The significance of this son named Seth is that he is used to carry the redemptive seed of the Messiah to its fruition in Christ Jesus; thus, the closing statement, “Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” The following genealogy of Adam (Gen 5:1-32) reveals that this redemptive seed is carried to Noah, at which time God destroys the rest of mankind because human depravity degenerated beyond hope of redemption.
Gen 4:25 And 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.
Gen 4:25 Comments – The Second Book of Adam and Eve interprets the name “Seth” to mean “God has heard my prayer and delivered me,” and “power and strength.”
“But when Adam came and saw the child’s good looks, his beauty, and his perfect figure, he rejoiced over him, and was comforted for Abel. Then he named the child Seth, that means, ‘that God has heard my prayer, and has delivered me out of my affliction.’ But it means also ‘power and strength.’” ( The Second Book of Adam and Eve, 2.2) [111]
[111] The Book of Adam and Eve: Also Called The Conflict of Adam and Eve With Satan, trans. S. C. Malan (London: Williams and Norgate, 1882), 106.
Gen 4:25 Word Study on “hath appointed” Strong says the Hebrew word “hath appointed” ( ) (H7896) is a primitive verb meaning, “to place, or to appoint.” From this verb comes the name “Seth” ( ) (H8352), which means, “put, or substituted, or appointed” ( Strong).
Gen 4:26 And 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.
Gen 4:26 Gen 4:26 “then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” – Comments – The opening chapters of Genesis reveal Adam’s fellowship with God, walking with Him in the cool of the day, and sacrifices offered to Him after the Fall, and God speaking with Cain when he sinned; thus, mankind was designed to have a relationship with God. The statement in Gen 4:26 that men began to call upon the Lord may imply that Cain’s descendants did not worship YHWH and that Seth began a new seed of righteousness upon the earth. The next section, which gives the genealogy of Adam (Gen 5:1 to Gen 6:8), reveals a lineage of righteous men that led up to Noah. This lineage stands in stark contrast to the degenerating moral condition of mankind that brought divine judgment in the form of the Flood.
Gen 4:26 Comments In contrast to the genealogy of Cain, whose descendant Lamech killed a man (Gen 4:17-24), following the sins of his fathers, Seth’s descendants begin to call upon the Lord. We see this in the next genealogy of Shem in which his descendant Enoch walked with God, and we see it in the genealogy of Noah, who was a righteous man. Thus, mankind branched into two different moral characters, one of corruption, and one of righteousness. The seed of righteousness came through the descendants of Seth. The Genealogy of the Heavens and the Earth began with Adam tending the Garden and retreating to fellowship with God in the cool of the day. This genealogy concludes with man endeavouring to restore his fellowship with God after the Fall by calling upon the name of the Lord.
Seth and Enos
v. 25. And 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. v. 26. And 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. Gen 4:25. Called his name Sethfor God hath appointed, &c. Here you see, as before, Gen 4:1 the reason of the name given, Seth, i.e.. appointed, or given in the place of Abel, to continue the chosen line, the promised seed. Seth gave his son the name of Enos () expressive of the weak and miserable condition of man through sin.
Gen 4:25 And 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.
Ver. 25. She bare a son, and called, &c. ] Sic uno avulso, non deficit alter Aureus . a Dead bones may revive, and out of the ashes of a phoenix another phoenix spring. Iana iacet phoenix nato phoenice ,& c. The two witnesses that were killed, received the Spirit of life from God again. Rev 11:11 John Baptist reviveth in our Saviour ( qui huic succenturiatus est ), and Stephen in Paul; John Huss in Luther (the goose in the swan); and the suppressed Waldenses in the Protestants. The Papists gave out that when Luther died, all his sect would die with him: and when Queen Elizabeth’s head was laid, we should have strange work in England. A false Jesuit in a scandalous libel published it, b that she wished that she might, after her death, hang a while in the air, to see what striving would be for her kingdom. But she both lived and died with glory; her rightful successor came in peaceably, not a dog moving his tongue at him; the true reformed religion was established, and is hitherto maintained among us, evil the malice of Rome and hell. It was the legacy left us by our ancestors: the blood of those blessed martyrs was the seed of our Church, of which I may say, as he of his city,
“ Victa tamen vinces, eversaque Troia resurges:
Obruit hostiles illa ruina domos. ”
When the devil and his imps had got Abel into his grave, and saw Adam without another in his place for a hundred and thirty years’ space, or near upon, what a deal of joy was there, think we, among them, and sending of gifts! But God in due time sets up a Seth, instead of Abel, and so cuts the devil’s comb, confutes his confidence. He will have a Church, when all’s done. The Pope c “ Niteris incassum Christi submergere navem:
Fluctuat, at nunquam mergitur illa ratis. ”
a b Camdon’s Elis.
c Plus II. ad Imperat. Turc .
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 4:25-26
25Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. 26To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Gen 4:25-26 This contextually should go with Genesis 5. Chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original text of either the Hebrew OT or the Greek NT.
Gen 4:25 This is another word play between the Hebrew term appointed (shat, BDB 1011, KB 1483, Qal PERFECT) and Seth (shet, BDB 1011 I). This continuing literary (sound) play on the names in Genesis 1-11 shows its literary character.
Gen 4:26 he called his name Enoch This is one of the Hebrew terms for man (BDB 60), synonymous with Adam (cf. Job 25:6; Psa 8:4; Psa 96:3; Psa 144:3; Isa 51:12; Isa 56:2).
Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD This seems to imply regular public worship because of the use of the divine covenant name of YHWH (see Special Topic: Names for Deity and Special Topic: The Name of the LORD ). Many have seen a contradiction between this verse and Exo 6:3. Possibly, men had used the name of YHWH without knowing its full significance until the time of Moses. This is the beginning of the Messianic line (cf. Luk 3:38).
Seth = substituted. Figure of speech Paronomasia. Sheth (Seth) . . . Sheth (appointed).
God = Elohim.
seed = son, by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause).
Seth
i.e. Sheth = appointed.
am 130, bc 3874
and called: Gen 5:3, Gen 5:4, 1Ch 1:1, Luk 3:38
Seth: Heb. Sheth; i. e. appointed, or put
God: Gen 4:1-3, Gen 4:8, Gen 4:10, Gen 4:11
Reciprocal: Gen 4:2 – a keeper Exo 2:10 – Because Num 24:17 – all the children 1Sa 1:20 – when the time was come about Isa 7:14 – shall call Heb 11:4 – faith 1Jo 3:12 – as
The Promised Seed
The promised seed might have come through Abel, but he was dead. Man might have seen that as an end to the plan of salvation. After all, the one righteous man had been killed by a self-willed man. Thankfully, God is not so easily deterred. He caused Eve to bear another son, Seth. Eve said, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed” (4:25-26).
Conclusion
This chapter should teach us the importance of worshipping in God’s prescribed way. He is only pleased with sacrifices offered in accord with his direction. Also, it can be seen that God will reward the faithful and punish the disobedient. Those who would be rewarded of God should fervently seek to do his will.
Gen 4:25. In this verse we find the first mention of Adam in the story of this chapter. No question, the murder of Abel, and the impenitency and apostacy of Cain, were a very great grief to him and Eve and the more because their own wickedness did now correct them, and their backsliding did reprove them. Their folly had given sin and death entrance into the world; and now they smarted by it, being, by means thereof, deprived of both their sons in one day, Gen 27:45. When parents are grieved by their childrens wickedness, they should take occasion from thence to lament that corruption of nature which was derived from themselves, and which is the root of bitterness. But here we have that which was a relief to our first parents in their affliction; namely, God gave them to see the rebuilding of their family, which was sorely shaken and weakened by that sad event. For they saw their seed, another instead of Abel. And Adam called his name Seth That is, set, settled, or placed, because in his seed mankind should continue to the end of time.
The family of Seth 4:25-26
Seth’s name, from the Hebrew verb translated "granted" and meaning "to set or place," expresses Eve’s faith that God would continue to provide seed despite death. [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 101.]
Many commentators regarded Gen 4:26 as the first reference to prayer as we know it in the Bible. Prayer is basic to man’s relationship with God, which is a major theme in Genesis. However the phrase "call on the name of the Lord" usually refers to proclamation rather than prayer in the Pentateuch. [Note: Ross, Creation and . . ., p. 169.] Here it probably refers to the beginning of public worship of Yahweh.
"Genesis 4 concludes the story of mankind that was cut off in the flood, a tale that opened with Gen 2:4, ’This is the history. . . .’ With the aid of a genealogy from Adam to Lamek, the seventh generation, it traces the development of technology and arts on the one hand and the growth of violence on the other. Only in the last two verses introducing the descendants of Seth do we have glimmers of hope, for from him, as chap. 5 will describe, descended Noah, the survivor of the flood, and it was in Enosh’s day that the public worship of God was reintroduced." [Note: Wenham, p. 116.]
Chapter 4 also teaches that it is important for the righteous to preserve the knowledge of God when they live in an ungodly society.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)