Genesis 4:18

_AND UNTO ENOCH WAS BORN IRAD: AND IRAD BEGAT MEHUJAEL: AND MEHUJAEL BEGAT METHUSAEL: AND METHUSAEL BEGAT LAMECH._ Unto Enoch was born Irad. The genealogy of Cain's family is here given to the sixth generation. Since the persons mentioned seem to have been the oldest sons, they would be the successive rulers of the city of Enoch, and each in his day be possessors of power and influence. But no details of their personal history or public acts are given-no notice taken even of the duration of their lives, or the age which any of them had attained when his first-born son was born. This oblivion to which the Cainite patriarchs are consigned shows the little estimation in which the Spirit of Inspiration holds mere men of the world; because the growth of this branch of the human family is wholly identified with the progressive development of material forces. Living in a city, they early displ...

16-18 Cain cast off all fear of God, and attended no more on God's ordinances. Hypocritical professors, who dissemble and trifle with God, are justly left to themselves to do something grossly scandalous. So they throw off that form of godliness to which they have been a reproach, and of which they deny the power. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and we never find that he came into it again, to his comfort. The land Cain dwelt in was called the land of Nod, which means, 'shaking,' or 'trembling,' and so shows the restlessness and uneasiness of his own spirit, or 'the land of a vagabond:' they that depart from God cannot find rest any where else. Those on earth who looked for the heavenly city, chose to dwell in tabernacles or tents; but Cain, as not minding that city, built one on earth. Thus all who are cursed of God seek their settlement and satisfaction here below....

- XIX. The Line of Cain 17. חניך _ch__e__nôk_, Chanok, “initiation, instruction.” 18. עירד _‛__ı̂yrād_, ‘Irad, “fleet as the wild ass, citizen.” מחוּיאל _m__e__chûya'el_, Mechujael, “smitten of ‘El, or life of ‘El.” מתוּשׁאל _m__e__tûshā'ēl_, Methushael, “man of ‘El, or man asked.” למך _lāmek_, Lemek, “man of prayer, youth.” 19. עדה _'ādâh_, ‘Adah, “

EXPOSITION GENESIS 4:17 Domiciled in Nod, whither, impelled by woman's love, his wife had accompanied him, the unhappy fugitive began to seek, if not to find, relief from the gnawing agonies of remorse in the endearments of conjugal felicity and the occupations of secular industry. AND CAIN KNEW HIS WIFE. Who must have been his sister, and married before the death of Abel, as "after that event it can scarcely be supposed, that any woman would be willing to connect herself with such a miserable fratricide" (Bush). Though afterwards forbidden, the tendency of Divine legislation on the subject of marriage being always in the direction of enlarging rather than restricting the circle of prohibited relationships, the union of brothers and sisters at the first was clearly indispensable, if the race was to multiply outwards from a common stock. ...

AND UNTO ENOCH WAS BORN IRAD,.... But of neither of them is any other mention made, either in sacred or profane history; nor is it said how old Enoch was when Irad was born, nor how long he lived after; as is recorded of Adam, Seth, and their posterity: [AND] IRAD BEGAT MEHUJAEL, [AND] MEHUJAEL BEGAT METHUSAEL; of whom also we have no other account; [AND] METHUSAEL BEGAT LAMECH; and it seems for the sake of Lamech that the genealogy of Cain's posterity is described and carried down thus far, some things being to be taken notice of concerning him. The names of the immediate posterity of Genos or Cain, according to Sanchoniatho, and, as Philo Byblius l has translated them, were light, fire, and flame; who found out fire by rubbing pieces of wood together, and taught the use of it, from whence they seem to have their names. These begat sons that exceeded others in bulk and height, whose n...

CHAPTER 4 After the Fall and the Two Seeds _ 1. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1)_ 2. Their offerings (Genesis 4:3) 3. The divine remonstrance (Genesis 4:6) 4. Abel slain by his brother (Genesis 4:8) 5. Cain's judgment (Genesis 4:9) 6. Cain and his offspring and the progress of the world (Genesis 4:17) 7. Seth in place of Abel (Genesis 4:25)...

Cainite and Sethite Genealogies. Genesis 4:17 probably belongs to the earliest stratum of J, in which the progress of civilisation is not interrupted by the Flood, and the human race is derived from Adam through Cain. When the story of the Deluge was added and the race of Cain was believed to have been exterminated in the Flood, a Sethite genealogy was required. Only a fragment (Genesis 4:25 f) of this is given from J, the redactor having omitted the rest since it was given with dates by P (5). The Sethite table is modelled on the Cainite, for several of the names recur in the same or a slightly altered form. While P gives a bare list, J adds interesting details. This section, moreover, does not belong to the same stratum of J as the story of Cain and Abel. In the latter, Cain is a homeless wanderer in the de

IRAD. city of witness. LAMECH. powerful, 7th from Adam in Cain's line....

The Descendants of Cain: The Genealogy of the Cainites. (J.) See the Special Note on "the Antediluvian Patriarchs," see below. The traditions preserved in this section probably belong to a different J source from that of the verses immediately preceding. This will explain how it is that Cain, who has just been condemned to a nomad life and has withdrawn into the land of "Wandering" (Nod), is in Genesis 4:17 described as the founder of a city, and as the ancestor of men who originated the industries and callings of civilization. NOTE ON THE ANTEDILUVIAN PATRIARCHS According to chap. 5 (P), the interval of time between the work of Creation (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a) and the visitation of the Flood ...

UNTO ENOCH WAS BORN, &C.— It is observable, that while the genealogy of Seth is accurately deduced to Noah, and while an exact account is given of the age of his descendants, the genealogy of the descendants of Cain is carried but a little way, and no mention is made of their age. The reason is evident: Moses wrote this history for the _chosen seed,_ from whom should spring the great Messiah; and to deduce the grand original promise. REFLECTIONS.—The murder of Abel was secret, and no doubt carefully concealed. But there is a great eye, from which nothing is hid, nothing is secret: and he in this world orders his providence, often in ways almost miraculous, to bring the blood that is covered to light. Mark here the direct, wilful lie, and most insolent answer of Cain; and mark the reply of God, pointed with conviction, covering him with confusion, _What hast thou done? the voice of thy br...