Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Seth
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Genesis 3:13-15
Abel brought an acceptable offering to God, while Cain—who must have heard the same instructions—did not. One possible explanation for Cain's inappropriate offering can be inferred from these verses. We recognize verse 15 as a prophecy regarding the Messiah to come, whom Satan would bruise yet ultimately suffer crushing defeat. But did Cain understand this? Could he have thought the "Seed"—the offspring—of the woman referred to him? After all, he was the seed of Eve. Along these same lines, when Seth was born, Eve gave him that name because "God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed" (Genesis 4:25; emphasis ours). Her focus was still on her seed, and undoubtedly, the prophecy of the Seed who would "bruise the head" of Satan was still on her mind after her first two sons were precluded from fulfilling it. Is it possible that Cain saw himself as the great protagonist, the conqueror of Satan? Did Cain have a "Messiah complex," inserting himself into this prophecy? Did he assume that this prophecy must come to pass in his day, and thus, he must be the object of it? This is only a theory, but if it is true, it answers a great deal. If Cain believed that he was the promised Seed, it may explain the offering he gave. It was of the "fruit of the ground," meaning some sort of grain, pointing to his making a meal offering. The meal offering symbolizes a man's wholehearted commitment to his fellow man and is associated with the last six of the Ten Commandments. It is appallingly ironic, then, that following his offering, Cain coveted Abel's acceptance, killed his fellow man, dishonored his parents, and then lied to God by rhetorically asking, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). He may have brought an offering that symbolized devotion to his fellow man, but his heart was far from being devoted to much of anything except himself. Additionally, in God's instructions, the meal offering could only be offered after the whole burnt offering was given, symbolizing a person's wholehearted devotion to God (parallel to the first four commandments). The lesson behind these two offerings is that a man cannot be truly devoted to his brother without first being fully devoted to God. To offer the meal offering without the burnt offering is saying, in effect, that one could have a good relationship with one's neighbor without the proper worship of God. The offerings teach that this is impossible, and the story of Cain demonstrates the result of trying. Moreover, before a person could offer either the burnt or the meal offering, he first had to offer a sin offering to acknowledge his sins and to make propitiation (in type). In the symbolism, just as trying to be devoted to one's neighbor without properly worshipping God first is futile, so is trying to be devoted to either God or man without first acknowledging sin and seeking atonement and forgiveness. Yet it appears that this is exactly what Cain was signifying with his offering. God's intent behind blood sacrifices was to remind people of sin and point to the need for a Savior. Abel fulfilled this by offering "of the firstborn of his flock." By not offering a blood sacrifice, Cain was essentially saying that he did not need to be reminded of sin or to consider a Savior. Did he act this way because he believed that he was the Savior? The Savior would not need to atone for his own sin. If he believed he was the Messiah, it would also explain his extreme reaction when God corrected him. If Cain had been poor in spirit, meek, or pure in heart, he would have taken the correction, repented, changed, and moved on. However, his angry reaction does not indicate a willingness to learn but only a desire to be "right." God's rebuke, then, would have come as quite a shock—after all, why should the promised Seed be rebuked? His reaction may indicate one whose dream had just been shattered, who has suddenly come face to face with the sinful reality about himself. Even then, it was a reality he was unwilling to accept, seen in the fact that he destroyed the other human witness and then lied to the Judge. These are the actions of a self-centered man who felt deeply threatened. Who he thought he was—his position, his image, his role—was threatened, causing him to respond so defensively.
David C. Grabbe
Cain's Assumption (Part Two)
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Genesis 3:14-15
Six thousand years later, the Israelitish people and modern-day Christians living by faith are still anticipating the Promised Seed's second coming in glory. When God gave this judgment, there was little information within the sign to use as an identifier except that Eve was the only female at that time, and she had as yet no children. However, her first child was a son, and the anticipation began. She probably assumed that he was the Promised Seed. She was wrong—he was a murderer. She had a third son, Seth (Genesis 4:23-25), and he was not the Promised Seed either, but he did become an ancestor of the Promised Seed. The Promised Seed's lineage can be traced from Seth through Noah to Abraham, Jacob, Judah, King David, and finally, Joseph and Mary when He was born in Bethlehem, Judea. The sign took around 4,000 years to come to pass after God's judgment of the Serpent in Genesis 3. As the centuries slid by, God occasionally added reminders and more precise descriptions of the Promised Seed so that, if the Israelites believed Him, they could more accurately identify the Messiah's appearance when God sent Him. God kept His word. He did send Him, and He performed His responsibility admirably.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Leadership and Covenants (Part Eleven): Signs
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Genesis 6:1-4
Who were—and were not—these sons of God? The exact phrase, “sons of God,” appears eleven times in the Bible. Of the other nine appearances of the phrase outside of the two in Genesis 6, angels are called “sons of God” three times in the book of Job (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), and Psalm 29:1; 89:6 are additional examples of this usage. In places like Deuteronomy 14:1 and 32:8 (“sons of the LORD your God”), the phrase refers to the children of Israel. In the Greek New Testament, converted Christians are also called “sons of God” (see Matthew 5:9; Luke 20:36; Romans 8:14, 19; Galatians 3:26). Unconverted men are called “sons of God” as well, although, in some places, the exact phrasing is not used. For example, the idea of “sons of God” appears in Malachi 2:10, speaking of the unfaithful Jews of the prophet's time: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” We can find a similar meaning in Psalm 82:6-7: “I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men . . ..'” In the New Testament, the evangelist Luke calls Adam “the son of God” in Luke 3:38. Yet there is another option, which is to read “sons of God” to refer to a particular physical line of descent. After Cain slew his brother, he “went out from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16). Although God punished Cain for his sin, this verse demonstrates that he left God's presence willingly. He traveled to “the land of Nod on the east of Eden.” There he married a woman, had a son (and additional children), and founded a society in opposition to God. In any case, his actions show that he distanced himself from God as far as he could. The rest of the passage, Genesis 4:16-24, tells of an ungodly world that sprang from him and his turning his back on Eden. It is based on physical accomplishments, as exemplified by Cain's descendants. Moses relates the first example of polygamy when Lamech took two wives, and later, the same unrepentant descendant of Cain also commits murder, apparently in revenge. The verse (Genesis 4:23) could suggest that he may have committed at least two murders. Lamech's sons were quite accomplished: Jabal originated nomadic herding of livestock. Jubal invented harp and flute music. Tubal-Cain instructed craftsmen in working with bronze and iron. In other words, they were their time's talented and famous men, but they rose to prominence in a godless and amoral society. To close the chapter, in Genesis 4:25-26, Moses contrasts Cain's line and its deeds with another line of descent. He writes that Eve bore another son after the murder of Abel, whom she named Seth, saying, “God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” Seth means “appointed.” He, then, essentially took the place of the self-exiled firstborn, Cain, and the dead second-born, Abel. He was the son who would become chief over Adam's family. In the days of Enosh, Seth's son, “men began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). Many commentators say that Enosh means “weak or frail man; mortal, sickly man,” but a related word in Arabic, anas, means “to be sociable and familiar . . . not only in civil but in religious things” (Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible). Gill extrapolates that in Enosh's time, “the families of good men being larger, and more numerous, they joined together in social and public worship” in contrast to the descendants of Cain. Their aims seem to have been for personal enrichment and empowerment. Gill proposes that, at this time, Seth's progeny began to identify themselves by or with the name of the Lord. Considering it this way, these “sons of God,” the descendants of Seth, were distinct from the sons of men, the descendants of Cain. Through Seth's line, our Savior was born, as Noah and his family were among his descendants. It appears from what the Bible tells us that none of Cain's descendants, the sons of men, survived the Flood. It was their sinful lifestyle that God had to destroy to preserve the human race (Genesis 6:5-7).
John Reiss
Can Angels Marry Women?
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Find more Bible verses about Seth:
Seth {Nave's}
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