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16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. ~ Genesis 4:16-18
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 4 where we learn of the life of Cain. The name "Cain" means "possession." Cain was a rebellious man who ignored God’s warnings, and received God’s judgment.
In v.16 of today's passage we read,"Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden."
The worst thing that ever happened to Cain was that he went out from the presence of the Lord. Cain hated what he had to face of himself in the presence of God, so he left and started his own city. The name of the city was Nod which means "wanderer." This was the land that Cain inhabited, the land of the wanderer away from God. There was no comment, no response from Cain regarding God’s invitation to him to do the right thing which was to be defined by Him. Cain did not even comment on God sparing his life and giving him space to repent. There is no recorded response from Cain regarding God becoming His protector. What is recorded is that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.
There really is no leaving the presence of the Lord for He is omnipresent, He is everywhere at all times. This is why He is named God, the Supreme Being. Cain failed to lay claim to the presence of the Lord in his life. Like Cain, God surrounds us like the Atlantic surrounds an ocean floor sea urchin even though it moves about. The God of the Bible is everywhere: above, below, and on all sides. Cain chose to resist this merciful God rather than to receive Him. Cain chose to be defined by the father of lies who ushers all that follow him into the isolated darkness of loneliness.
In Hebrews 13:5 God tells us, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." We do well to grip this promise like the parachute that it is because it is the presence of God in our lives that is the one thing that we need for eternity. And, sin and death has separated us from God. This is why the Lord Jesus came to this earth to die on the cross, to reunite us with God.
In v.17 of today's passage we read, "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch."
After Adam and Eve begot Seth, Adam lived 800 years. During that time Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. Cain undoubtedly married one of his sisters. Which, at that time, didn't pose the genetic problem that it does today. This is due to the fact that the human gene pool is so much more polluted today due to the multiplication of sin over the last 6000 years. But before the pollution of sin had fully entered the human race, the gene pool was much purer and thus less threatening as it is now. This explains where Cain's wife came from, he just married one of the many daughters of Adam and Eve.
After Cain found his wife, she "conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son – Enoch." The word used here for "city" describes a place with walls constructed as a defense. The walls themselves were the city. Everything inside the walls was secondary to the protection the walls provided. Cain had successfully isolated and separated himself from anyone who could harm him. In addition, he likewise separated himself from anyone who could help him as well. In effect, he had shut himself off from the very presence of the Lord in his efforts to secure himself, even though had he repented God would have been right there in response to his cry.
The name of Cain’s son Enoch means "dedicated." Cain's son was born when he built his fortress city and he named or "dedicated" the city with the same name as his son. The cursed name of Cain wouldn’t have been an ideal name for starting out on a new life and so he deferred to the dedication of his son and his home.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech."
This genealogy led to a division between the godly line of Seth and the wicked line of Cain. The godly line continued to be defined by the Lord and by His plans and purposes. But, eventually even this godly line was found corrupted to the point where only one man and his family would be saved in order to repopulate the world.
The line of wickedness, even from the beginning, wandered from the presence of the Lord, just as Cain, and it was defined by the things of this world. Interestingly, two of the names of Cain’s descendants are the same names as the descendants of Seth, the son who replaced Abel. These are Enoch and Lamech. Two men who represent the two ends of the spectrum. Enoch walked with God and Lamech is the first polygamist in the Bible. Unlike other genealogies in the Bible, this one is strikingly short. It lacks any commentary and it lacks any other ancestral information. Yes, these people existed, but their lives were found to be unimportant to the greater plan of redemption.
This brings us the very important question of how will we be remembered? Interestingly, two of the names of Cain’s descendants include the suffix "El," Mehujael and Methushael. There was, even in the line of Cain, a knowledge of God and it was denoted in these two names. Mehujael means "smitten by God" and Methushael means "who is of God."
This underscores the idea that even man who lives apart from God has a knowledge of Him. Eventually though, even this disappears from thought as we moved toward a self-centered approach to life. In today's world, we’re moving in that same direction as they did, paying lip service to the name of God but denying His character and His sovereign authority in our lives.
Throughout the Bible there are contrasted two groups of people, those who were defined by God and those who were not. Over the course of a lifetime we will either reject God by our choices, deliberately move away from Him, and stake our claim in the land of wandering; or we will call on the name of the Lord for the help we need to survive.
Cain's city did not solve Cain's problem. He was restless, homeless, and alone. And in Cain's city, like every modern city today, the loneliest people in the world live shoulder-to-shoulder with others. Cain could not make a home for his restless heart of rebellion. He couldn't drive away the guilt that continually haunted him. God would hear the cry of his dead brother all of his life, and so would he. And his fear of violence didn't go away with the building of his city. His city became the home of the violent.
Eventually the civilization that Cain's city began ended up as described in Genesis 6:5 which reads, "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." Eventually, the civilization became so thoroughly wicked that it would need to be destroyed. This is what happens to the life that remains to wander from God and never returns.
