Two Houses, Not alike in Dignity: Genesis 4.17-26

Last time, we explored the story of Cain and Abel and ended with Cain banished to wander, cast away from family and God’s presence. Yet, as we’ll see today, the story takes an interesting turn. Cain does not end up wandering in perpetuity, but rather settles down, builds the first city, and establishes a strong line of descendants. The chapter then ends with a return to Adam and Eve, who are given a fresh start at a family after their first is destroyed through murder and banishment.

Text

[17] Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch. [18] To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of Methushael, and Methushael the father of Lamech. [19] Lamech took two wives; the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. [20] Adah bore Jabal; he was the ancestor of those who live in tents and have livestock. [21] His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all those who play the lyre and pipe. [22] Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

[23] 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.
[24] If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’

[25] Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for she said, ‘God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him.’ [26] To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord. (NRSV)

Experience

This is a strange text, or really two texts, since verses 25-26 clearly form a separate mini-narrative. It’s interesting that just as Cain was treated in nuanced tones in the previous story (even where he murders his brother!), his line defies easy assessment. They are shown to be instrumental in the development of civilization, associated with things like urbanism, animal husbandry, music, and metalworking. At the same time, the section ends with Lamech boasting of his violence. This boast sets the stage for the narrative to return Adam and Eve, who conceive another son, Seth, who then establishes a line of his own.

The passage ends with a strange reference noting that it was then that people started calling upon YHWH — strange because, God has been known by this name since the start of chapter 2. This detail brings to mind other gaps in the narrative, such as who the enemies Cain foresees attacking him might be (when as far as the story is concerned he’s been banished from the only two other people in the world), and where Cain finds a wife. It makes me wonder how these stories fit together.

Encounter

There are many names in this story, but only three feel like characters to encounter:

• Cain, banished to a lifetime of wandering, does not in fact spend his life wandering; he settles down and establishes a line of descendants — the marks of a good life for an ANE man.
• While many of Cain’s descendants are mentioned, the only one who becomes a character in his own right is Lamech. He is known for a rather disturbing speech he gives to his wives, in which he brags about killing a man for a relatively minor offence and claims a greater protection than was given even Cain, a protection he claims for himself rather than to God.
• Finally there is Seth, born to Adam and Eve at the end of the chapter. His mother openly considers him a replacement for Abel. And the way the text is structured, it feels like he’s being set up as an alternative to Cain and his line.

Explore

These reflections set up the following questions to explore further:

• Why does much of the Cain narrative seem to come from a different narrative world than the broader story of Genesis?
• Is the story attempting to connect sin with urbanism and the marks of ‘civilization’? If so, why?
• What meaning might we take from the stories of the houses of Cain and Seth?

The Cain Narrative within Genesis

The Cain narrative plays an important role within Genesis, but also introduces plot holes into the story, almost begging us to ask questions about why it assumes the existence of other people without mentioning where they came from, and why a man sentenced to a life of wandering settles down and builds a city. Beyond the gaps in the story, this passage about the origins of specific markers of ANE civilization seems to come out of nowhere — a fact only exacerbated by the inclusion of the two verses about Seth at the end of the chapter — and does not fit nicely in with the flood narrative.

Because of all these narrative inconsistencies, it’s thought that the editors of Genesis reworked pre-existing and well-known stories to fit into their overall narrative (Carr).* One interesting suggestion is that this material came from outside the context of creation stories enetirely, and was about explaining the origins of the Kenites, a semi-nomadic group in the southern Levant who had a complex relationship with the ancient Hebrews. This proposed connection is based on a few connections: First, both ‘Kenite’ and ‘Cain’ share the same consonants (qyn) and therefore could easily have a common origin (or at least be thought to, by way of ‘folk etymology’). Second, the Kenites were known for exactly the things associated with Cain’s line here: a semi-urban lifestyle that included both cities and extended time wandering in tents, pastoralism, and metalworking. And third, their relationship with ancient Israel was mixed — an important trading partner due to their technological skills, but also known for their violence and perhaps not to be trusted (Carr). In other words, one couldn’t find a better origin story for this group (from a Hebrew perspective, of course) than having them descend from a nebulous figure such as Cain.

Whether the original material was an origin story for the Kenites or not, it makes sense for it to come from outside of a creation setting. This would explain the text’s assumption that there are lots of other people around, from whom Cain needs protection and from whom he could find a wife. Further evidence that the Cain material existed as a unit prior to being integrated into the larger narrative of Genesis could be that it mentions seven generations from Cain to Lamech’s sons, a symbolic number common in ANE genealogies (Sarna (1989) 31). In other words, the text considers Cain through Lamech’s sons to be something a complete unit apart from Adam.

Sin and Civilization

As we’ve seen, there’s been a long history of interpreters reading the Genesis 3 story in a far more ambivalent way from what has been the norm in the Christian tradition. There is something about the decision to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that feels almost like a necessary sin, for we would not be fully human without growing into moral agents. Yet, with greater knowledge, awareness, and complexity, come greater problems. We see this ambivalence reflected here in Genesis 4. As Sarna points out, taken as a whole, the chapter introduces us to seven key areas of ANE civilization — agriculture (Cain), shepherding (Abel), urbanism (Cain and Lamech), semi-nomadic pastoralism (Jabal), music (Jubal), metallurgy (Tubal-cain), and religion (Enosh) (Sarna (1989) 31). It’s hard to imagine anyone in the ANE thinking any of these were bad things, and yet Genesis ascribes them to a family marked from the start with bloodshed and about whom its final word is Lamech’s brutal boast, “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold!” (4.23-24).

It’s striking that all of this is told to us without comment. Greater complexity and development offer great blessings, but they have their associated dangers. Even if we may agree with the Latin proverb, ‘Abuse does not prohibit proper use’, we have to admit that the potential for abuse always comes along for the ride.

The Houses of Cain and Seth

If the Cain and Abel story shows the breakdown of the family, and the story of the house of Cain shows the growth of both civilization and violence, Genesis 4 ends on an encouraging note. Eve gives birth to another son, Seth. She openly considers him to be a replacement for Abel. And unlike Abel, he grows to maturity and has a family of his own. The text adds the comment that it was at this time that people began to call on YHWH. It’s a strange detail, considering God has been called by this name since the start of chapter 2, and is shown being in face-to-face dialogue with Adam, Eve, and Cain throughout. It seems likely the detail was added to heighten the contrast between the violent side of the Cain line and the fresh hopes of the new Seth line (Carr). However, if indeed the Cain narrative was originally an origin story for the Kenites, it could be that the association of YHWH-worship to Seth’s line was intended to undercut claims that it was the Kenites who were the first to worship this god (Brueggemann). (As it happens, the earliest evidence for this divine name comes from the regions south of Israel, including Midian, where Moses first encountered YHWH while married to the daughter of a Kenite!)

Seth names his son Enosh, which — like his grandfather Adam’s name — means simply ‘a human being’. This reinforces the hope the text has a for a fresh start.

Challenge

The picture developed here is pretty nuanced. Cain’s mark, given by God to protect him as he ventured out into the world without family or allies, did its job. Cain not only survives, but thrives. His descendants are shown to be not entirely wicked — and they introduce into the world some critical pieces of culture and technology — but perhaps not to be trusted. But, as Carr notes, this story, together with the post-flood genealogical record, has a dark interpretive legacy, often used to prop up marginalizing and even racist ideologies. There was, for example, a rabbinic tradition linking the mark of Cain to leprosy — no one would harm Cain because no one wanted to get near him. Medieval Europeans flipped the story on its head, seeing the mark of Cain as a symbol of circumcision. And, modern Europeans and early Mormons saw Cain’s mark as a reference to black skin, and the narrative hole about the origin of Cain’s wife as an opportunity to propose that Cain took his wife from a subhuman animal species, thereby creating a permanent racial hierarchy (Carr).

To call these interpretations unfounded seems not enough, and to call them ‘silly’ (which they are) seems to minimize the very real and awful impacts they have had in our world. It just goes to show the incredible lengths people will go to find biblical justification for their prejudices. The plain fact of the story is that Cain’s mark is a blessing, not a curse. It’s a sign of divine protection and care even for a violent offender like Cain. (To say nothing of the fact that, if we follow the logic of the whole story, all of Cain’s descendants would be wiped out in the flood, so would not be still around to oppress!)

It’s a good lesson in why eisegesis is dangerous, and why we must always allow the text itself to guide our interpretation.

Expand

If we take Genesis 4 as a whole, we see a common theme start to emerge. Genesis 3 has the story of the breakdown of paradise, but ends with a hint of grace in the form of God providing Adam and Eve with clothing. Genesis 4 starts with the breakdown of the family, but that story ends with a sign of grace in the form of the mark of Cain that will protect him from harm. And now the story of Cain’s descendants, which offers a rather ambivalent picture of human civilization, is balanced with the hope of a new beginning in Seth and his line.

There is human failure, yet there is grace.

 

* Please see the series bibliography for details