A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

When Cain determined to abandon the Lord, he appears to have determined to create his
own utopia. Perhaps he remembered his parents talking about how wonderful life was when they
had lived in the Garden of God. For whatever reason, Cain chose the region of that garden paradise
for his new home. But when he arrived east of Eden, all he found was the land of Nod which
literally means wandering. He began his family and determined to settle down in a great city he
would build and name after his son Enoch. But the use of the imperfect tense in the verb “built”
(Gen. 4:17) suggests he never completed that task; the city remained unfinished.
Cain’s failure to accomplish his objectives was also characteristic of his descendants for
several generations. In fact, there were no significant recorded accomplishments for six generations.
It was the children of the seventh generation from Cain that existed before the Flood which washed them
from the face of this earth.
But there was another darker side to this advanced godless society. It is typical of every society
which rejects God to the point of being abandoned by God, a society where “the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5). So
prevalent was evil in the world of Cain that “the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He
was grieved in His heart” (v. 6). It was a world so calloused that it could for 120 years reject the preaching of
Noah and ignore the recorded warnings of Enoch.
The poet has rightly observed, “The saddest words of tongue or pen, are these four, `It might have
been.’ “ By this standard the failure of Cainite society was indeed sad. No man sins unto himself and when a
man removes God from his life, he also robs future generations of their potential spiritual heritage. This
principle is particularly evident in the experience of Cain when the lives of representatives of the seventh
generation are compared.
The seventh from Adam in the line of Cain was a man named Lamech. His name means
“powerful” and he appears to have been obsessed with his own strength. In his song to his wives he boasted,
“I have killed a man,” using a continuous present tense of the verb to be (4:23). He was the first recorded to
violate God’s law of monogamy and marry two wives. Throughout the Old Testament plural marriages are
normally closely related to turning after false gods. Further, we know that Lamech was proud of his
association with Cain. He chose in his song to identify with Cain personally (v. 24) and named one of his
children after Cain (v. 22).
The only other man of the seventh generation identified in Scripture was Enoch. Enoch was the
seventh generation through the line of Seth. Enoch was a man who had power with God and walked with
God. While Lamech might talk of his great accomplishments, Enoch was the first to tell others of God’s
accomplishments (cf. Jude 14-15). Enoch was a preacher of righteousness. While others boasted of
their great superiority, Enoch declared something of the majesty and grandeur of God Himself. In a
world that constantly worshiped a variety of pagan deities (Gen. 4:26), “Enoch walked with God
three hundred years” (5:22). Others might be proud of their family heritage, but Enoch was
humbled in his association with God. He was the second great man of faith in history recorded in
Hebrews 11--God’s Hall of Fame. One can only wonder if Cain had at any point responded to
the Lord’s gracious appeals, could Lamech have been another Enoch?
THE SEVENTH GENERATION
Lamech Enoch
1 His name means He had power with
powerful God