Key verse 4 : 17
Cain and his descendants came to accomplish non-negligible human works. His tribe was strong. Abel was already forgotten. God is He who remembers. He remembered Abel's work and had it followed. How? This is what we learn at the dawn of human history.
1. The wicked and talented tribe (17-24).
Cain had a son named Enoch. He built a town and dedicated it to his son. He disobeyed God therefore, for God said that he was to keep wandering. In his system of values, the name was very important. People seek fame, which is synonymous with popularity, or recognition. However, without spiritual content these things are only ephemeral. The 4th descendant of Enoch is Lemek. From generation to generation, Cain's wickedness kept increasing, without diminishing in any way, so that the plan conceived by Lemek was unimaginable. He killed a child as revenge for a wound, but his conscience was not affected. Paul was right to say that before the law came, sin, though existing, was not taken into account. He was like an animal. He bragged in front of his two wives about the promise of divine protection made to his grandfather to justify his act. Their sons had many talents, but they did not use them for God. God left them and turned these things into good for humanity.
2. Naive Seth (25-26).
Eve delivered her third child, and confessed that God had given it to her in Abel's place. God had comforted her. God remembered Abel and his innocent blood which was bshed for His cause. He wanted to honour him by giving him a descendant. The tribe of Seth showed no talent. Yet his son called Enoch was a man of God. When he was born, we began invoking the Lord. Surely, his father would have been the first. Seth's tribe, though not very talented, sought God and prayed to Him as the priority of their lives. If we see the next chapter, we find that they did not accomplish many things, and they only made the name pass on over the ages. Here, the name has another meaning. It's faith. Passing on faith from generation to generation makes one become renowned before God if though one has no fame in the World.
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