LESSON 7 – THE CAINITE CIVILIZATION
Genesis 4:17-26
Preparing for Lesson 7
In Lesson 6, we discussed an important Christian doctrine: the Doctrine of Total Depravity.
I admit that when I first learned about this, I thought to myself, “Gee whiz, I don’t feel depraved.” That is what every ‘natural’ person believes. (A ‘natural’ person is one who does not know God). Depraved is what we call serial killers, child molesters and dirty old men.
In Genesis 2:17, God said to Adam, “…for in the day you eat from it (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) you shall surely die.”
Yet, Adam and Eve did eat from the tree and still, they awoke to see another sunrise. Yes, their physical bodies awoke but they were fundamentally different. The moment they ate from the forbidden tree, they died spiritually and every human being born since that time, beginning with Cain and continuing down through today, has been born spiritually dead. The unsaved who do not understand the difference between the physical and the spiritual can use this verse to suggest that God does not mean what He says. And as they continue to break God’s moral laws on a daily basis and yet see no consequences for their actions, they are unaware that the hole they are digging for themselves is already way too deep to escape. They will never escape it without bringing Jesus Christ into their lives and because they see nothing wrong with their lives just as they are, they are not likely to cry out for salvation; they don’t believe they are sick so they aren’t going to call the doctor.
Lesson 7 is about a civilization that thought this way. They passed from generation to generation, knowing about but not fearing God, living in a totally depraved state and teaching their children to live exactly the same way. And even as their society ascended, it also descended, just as God had warned, and eventually all traces of the Cainite Civilization were swept away in the Flood.
As you read this lesson, think about what it would be like to live in a society like that. I don’t think our present day society is even close to being as evil as it could be, but then, the influence of the Restrainer is still at work on earth. (What does the Bible say about the Restrainer? See 2 Thessalonians 2:7) I believe the Restrainer is the indwelling Holy Spirit who is at work within and through the Church, and when the Church is raptured, His ministry of restraining evil will be removed. In the world at that time, it will be like the Cainite Civilization all over again, only worse considering the much greater capacity of modern human beings to bring about complete destruction.
As Christians living in these times, what should we do? We should spread the truth of the gospel message. We must simply plant the seed of the gospel within the unsaved; the Holy Spirit will nurture it and bring it to maturity. (For more information about how you can be effective at planting the seed of the gospel, click on the THIS IS THE GOSPEL button in this website.)
And now please read Genesis 4:17-26 in preparation for our next lesson about the Cainite Civilization.
LESSON 7: THE CAINITE CIVILIZATION
“Our race had a noble beginning, but man spoiled his chances by sinning. We hope that the story will end in God’s glory, but the other side seems to be winning!
I don’t know who originally authored this limerick, but it does a good job in expressing the feelings many Christians have today: it is the ungodly who seem to prosper. But we know the promises God makes in the Bible to the faithful and that their prosperity is not only far greater but it will last into eternity.
At the end of Lesson 6, Cain was severely cursed for his crime and forced out of his homeland to make his own way in the world. After all, according to Jude 11, that’s what Cain really wanted. And, perhaps to our shame, we’re glad he was sent away. We really want him to suffer for murdering Abel and we hope he has a really miserable life. And that’s what happened, right?
Well, not exactly.
Scripture tells us that the Cainites developed a sophisticated society with new ways and new occupations and it excelled both technologically and culturally. They were creative, artistic, intelligent and strong and it was at that time that the people began trending from rural to urban life.
Jabal, only five generations from Cain, was considered the father of those who dwelled in tents and raised livestock. People in cities needed to eat, and it has been suggested that perhaps Jabal recognized there was a market among city dwellers for agricultural products. He was the first pioneer in this field.
Jubal was an artistic person who developed music. City dwellers desired to be entertained and perhaps this is where Jubal made his mark.
Tubal-Cain was a metalworker, and the words used in Scripture tend to suggest metalworking in an ornamental sense. Those who dwelled in the cities would have been lovers of beautiful things, including jewelry and other ornamentation.
The Cainites continued to build cities and put all of their energy into creating conveniences and luxuries for themselves. They had no fear of God and they did not concern themselves with humanitarian matters. And although they were indeed creative, artistic and intelligent, they were also arrogant, violent, competitive and vengeful.
How did this happen? Let’s go back to Cain to see where the society he built went off the rails.
Cain left Eden for the land of Nod (the word Nod means “wanderer”) and we do not know how long he wandered before he settled down and decided to build a city. He probably wandered for decades because we must assume that he married one of Adam’s daughters or granddaughters. (Unlike today where the marriage of close blood relatives is considered taboo, the gene pool was much, much deeper in those days.)
In any case, Cain took a wife and fathered a son. This was the beginning of the Cainite civilization. (Do not confuse this with the Canaanites who were descendants of Noah’s son, Ham.) Cain built a city which he named after his son, Enoch.
Think About This: Archaeologists believe that Enoch is the earliest word for city in any human language.
The Bible gives us the names of Cain’s descendants up to and including Lamech:
Enoch: Name means “City”. Do not confuse Enoch, the son of Cain, with Enoch from the line of Seth who was raptured to heaven. Enoch, the son of Cain, was the father of Irad.
Irad: Name means “Witness to the Glory of Man”. Irad was the father of Mehujael.
Mehujael: Name means “Smitten of God”. Mehujael was the father of Methushael.
Methushael: Name means “The Death of God”. Methushael was the father of Lamech.
Lamech: Name means “Strong” or “Powerful”. Do not confuse Lamech, the descendant of Cain, with Lamech, descendant of Seth, who was the father of Noah. Lamech, the descendant of Cain, was a braggart and a bully. The Cainite line was surely in a downward spiral even before Lamech, but being the exceptionally proud and violent man that he was, things were about to go from bad to worse.
Lamech took for himself two wives. His first wife was Adah whose name means “Ornamental”. Lamech and Adah had two sons:
Jabal: Name means “Traveler”
Jubal: Name means “Trumpeter”
Lamech’s second wife was Zillah and her name means “Seductress”. Lamech and Zillah had one son and one daughter:
Tubal-Cain: Name means “Metalworker”
Naamah: Name means “Beautiful”
We are told the names of these first generations of Cain’s descendants, and even in this we are given a hint as to the type of society they were forming: it was a godless society. When sons are given names meaning “Smitten of God”, “Death of God” and “Witness to the Glory of Man”, we know for certain that God is not at the center of their lives.
But Lamech wished to make a name for himself. Even his name gives us a clue as to his personality: He was a “strong and powerful” man and he wanted everyone to know it.
Lamech is a bigamist and his descendants were polygamists. This open acceptance of sexual excess, permissiveness and promiscuity resulted in pain, anguish and division that struck at the very heart of family life.
The following song of Lamech is recorded in Genesis 4:23-24. These verses are sometimes referred to as the Song of the Sword:
“Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech; give heed to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me; If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
Imagine being married to this guy! Lamech’s song is a reflection of moral failure in the Cainite society as a whole. As stated by author D. Macleod, this song “breathes a spirit of wild, arrogant and inhumane vindictiveness. He will requite wrongs not according to sober and equitable laws, but according to his own prowess and the dictates of wounded pride.”
It appears this is the attitude that prevailed among the Cainite Civilization. They shook their fists at God and said, “See! Look what we have accomplished, all without your help! We don’t need you and we don’t want you!” They developed a new morality in which individuality trumps community, people were able to do whatever they wanted to do, and no one was shocked by even the most outrageous acts. They valued self-reliance and independence, and like any godless society they had no logical basis for law and order.
Eventually their metalworking was diverted to the making of weapons, and their art and music were dedicated to self-aggrandizement, denigration and impurity. And within the span of 1,500 years or so, they stumbled downward to the calamity of the Flood, where all traces of the Cainite Civilization were swept away. And except for where it crosses the godly line of Seth, the ungodly line of Cain is never mentioned in the Bible again.
This makes me think about Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew 24:37-39.
“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Meanwhile, back in Cain’s original homeland after the death of Abel, Eve gave birth to a son whom they named Seth. This name means “Appointed”, because he was the appointed replacement for the godly Abel. It was through the line of Seth that the prophesied seed of Eve would come.
So here we see two lines of civilization: the godly line of Seth and the ungodly line of Cain. Future descendants of these men would choose whether to live a life devoted to themselves or a life devoted to God. Even today, this is a decision that every person must make for themselves.
The societal development of the Cainite Civilization was really societal degeneration: it descended even as it ascended. As technology and culture advanced, rebellion against God’s word also advanced. A civilization’s advancements apart from God have untold potential for evil and this will be evident in our future lessons.
Think About It, Talk About It
For followers of Christ, it can be difficult to see ungodly people prosper from their evil deeds. Why does this seem to happen so often? As believers, what should we do in the face of this apparent unfairness?
What might it have been in Cain that made him so rebellious against God? Was it a failure on the part of his parents to teach him about God?
What does it mean to say that a godless society descends even as it ascends? Apart from God, how does a society’s advancements have the potential for evil?
Sources
Hughes, R. Kent, Preaching the Word – Genesis
Macleod, D., The Cainite Civilization (www.christianstudylibrary.org)
Pascoe, Roger, The Legacy of Cain: Departure from God (www.bible.org)
Steadman, Ray C., The Devil’s Burden (www.raystedman.org)
Steadman, Ray C., Too Much, Too Soon (www.raystedman.org)