The First World City
Genesis 4:16-24
We continue on in the record,
“And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land
of Nod, on the east of Eden” (Gen.4:16).
It was in Eden that Jehovah
Elohim planted the garden where He put His first man (Gen.2:8). There in
the garden Jehovah fellowshiped with His man Adam and his wife Eve,
which Jehovah had given to Adam (vv21-24). The presence of Jehovah
made the garden a sanctuary. There Adam and his wife Eve were completely set
apart unto Jehovah Elohim. The time came when Adam and Eve must be sent
forth from the garden to fulfill their purpose to multiply and fill the earth
after their kind, male and female bodies of human flesh, who would continue to
multiply, and to have dominion over the earth (see Gen.1:28-29).
Cain was the firstborn son of
Adam and Eve (Gen.4:1). After having murdered his twin brother Abel, Cain went
out from the presence of Jehovah, and located east of Eden. This was the
first separation in the family. With one blow, Adam and Eve lost the twin sons
of their first conception, the beginning of their multiplying after their kind.
Cain had accused Jehovah
of taking away his occupation and driving him out of that portion of Eden on
which Cain had formerly been a prosperous farmer (Gen.4:11-14). Driven out,
Cain would be hidden from the face of Jehovah. But Scripture tells the
truth. Cain deliberately left his country and his father’s house and his
kindred and looked for a different place to live and build a city. Cain had had
an alternative offer from the old serpent, the liar. Did Cain’s evil mentor
lead him to the new location?
Scripture gives us the location
of the land as east of Eden and calls it “Nod.” Nod does not refer to a literal,
physical, geographical location on the earth, but refers to “the way of life”
Cain had chosen. “Nod” has the meaning “wandering.”
With the fear of vengeance having
been removed by Jehovah’s gracious mercy and loving-kindness, Cain
willingly and willfully went out from the presence of Jehovah. Cain went
out to the life of which Jehovah had forewarned him, a life of
instability and without satisfaction, a restless, shifting life without
foundation or grounding.
Cain turned his back on the
righteousness of God and the eternal life offered in God’s Covenant Son as a
Gift from heaven above. Cain refused to believe the purpose of his having been
brought into being is that he follow a holy calling to become a son of God (see Jn.1:1-14; 2 Tim.1:9-10; Tit.1:2).
Cain went out from all that was
in his father’s house - to his life of instability and uncertainty. Cain went
out to a life without God, without the Anointed Son of God’s Covenant, and
without the hope of eternal life, no hope for all eternity.
Cain left the love of God to be
used by the evil one. Cain, having already become a liar and a murderer, would
do the works of his father, the Devil. The Devil was “a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it” (see Jn.8:40-59). The lies of the world
city are the brainwork of the old serpent, the Devil. He seeks out men who, in
the deceit of their own lust, will buy his lies and do his wicked works for
him.
“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” (Gen.4:17).
Here we have the first mention of
Cain’s wife. The question is often asked, “Where did Cain get his wife?” If Nod
is not a geographical location, Cain did not find a wife in Nod. He took her
with him when he went out of the presence of Jehovah.
As all mankind is of the seed of
Adam, Cain would have married a sister or possibly a niece. Though Moses did
not make a point of it, children were being born in Eden, as Adam and Eve and
their children fulfill the command of Jehovah to “be fruitful, and multiply,
and fill the earth” (Gen.1:28). In the beginning that would not have been
considered incest. It would have been a necessity. The human race was
genetically pure in the beginning.
This is the first mention of a
city in Scripture. In the Hebrew, a “city” is a “permanent settlement with
inhabitants.” Generally a wall is built to enclose the city. Men who do not
have the protection of Jehovah Elohim must provide their own protection.
Moses does not give any details concerning the city. We are not told whether
other brothers and sisters and families accompanied Cain to his new location to
become inhabitants of the city.
Cain named his first son Enoch,
and he named the city he was building after his son. “Enoch” has the meaning
“initiation,” or “dedication.” It was a new beginning for Cain, an initiation
of parenthood and an initiation of a whole new way of life.
Cain had a new goal in life. He
would build a city to be remembered. Jehovah would see Cain had
achieved. He would prove Jehovah wrong concerning His prophecy of an
unstable, uncertain life outside the presence of Jehovah. Cain would
make a name for himself.
In dedicating his new endeavor to
his firstborn son as a memorial, Cain had a city for which he hoped to be
remembered. We see throughout Scripture that children born at the time of an
event and being named after the event was a way of preserving history. Of
Cain’s son Enoch we have no knowledge other than he had a son named Irad
(Gen.4:18). Cain is remembered to this day as having built the first city,
though how many remember the name of it?
Cain dedicated himself to
building the city. In the true sense of the Hebrew, Cain began building and he
kept on building. Cain was building the first world city for the evil one. The
city was truly a system of organized society, a political, economic, religious
system built in opposition to the Kingdom of sons of God, which Jehovah
was building in Eden. Jehovah’s Kingdom was a Theocracy under the
government of Jehovah Elohim.
The purpose of the world system
is to entice mankind away from the righteousness of God preached in the Kingdom
of God through true prophets of righteousness, who speak for Jehovah Elohim,
that God might fulfill His purpose to fill His earth with sons of God, and man
might fulfill the purpose of his having been brought into being and be born
again to follow his holy calling as a son of God.
The world city was built to keep
mankind in the darkness of lies concerning Jehovah and man. Mankind,
with a darkened mind, is self-oriented and self-loving and self-serving. Being
self-willed, man will therefore have his manner of life in the lusts of the
flesh and of the mind. The God of this world, the prince of the power of the
air, need only set his course to fulfill man’s lusts of the flesh and of the
mind and man will follow (see Eph.2:1-3).
The Devil, like a roaring lion,
was seeking a man whom he could devour, whom he could take in with his plan for
a world city (see 1 Pet.5:8). The lion is the king. The Devil’s desire is for
the kingdom. The Devil needs a man of flesh to represent him as the king of the
city. The Devil, a spirit being, must have men with bodies to carry out his
plan to have God’s earth for himself. As the Devil watched Adam’s firstborn son
grow up, he could see the self-will and the resistance to the truth being
taught him concerning Jehovah and His Covenant plan. He could sense
Cain’s pride and his desire to be somebody in his own right. He knew he had his
man. In Moses’ brief account we see how it all played out. We have no record of
the timing of the beguiling of the Devil to entice Cain through his own lusts
to build his false world city on God’s earth (see Jas.1:13-15).
In the brief account in verses 16
through 24 in Genesis 4 we have the city of the world system of a society fully
built and established in six generations, counting the sons of Lamech. In
Scripture “six” is the number of “man. “Five” is the number of “grace.”
With the works of Lamech, God’s grace
came to an end. Judgment must come (see
Gen.6:1-13). The works of mankind must be destroyed from off God’s earth
and man’s breath will be taken away. The lifeless bodies of human flesh will go
back to the dust of the ground from which they came (Gen.3:19). As Jehovah
had said, all was unstable and aimless. The goal of the evil one could not be
accomplished. All is vanity and futility.
Again, Moses’ record is brief and
simple, with only the main facts and the main characters of the narrative
given. Cain began the building of the city after the birth of his firstborn
son. Cain memorialized the initiative of the city in his son’s name Enoch,
“initiation,” and unto Enoch was born Irad, meaning “city of witness”
(Gen.4:18). Enoch continued the memorializing of the city to the glory of man’s
works. The name shows that Enoch followed his father in building the Devil’s
city. Enoch also became a world ruler of darkness (see Eph.6:12).
Irad begot Mehujael, which has
two different meanings. One is “smitten of El [God]. The other is “blot
out that Jah is El [God].” Jah is short for Jehovah.
Irad, with the birth of his firstborn, makes the issue of the city religion.
The noun “el,” a common
noun, signifies “a hero” or “a potentate,” and also “power and might,” hence,
“a mighty one.” In Scripture, the noun el is used of any god. When El
is used of the only living and true God, the capital letter is used and the
definite article “the” is added, “the El.” It is the Potentate or the
Almighty One (see 1 Tim.6:13-16; ).
In English Bible versions in the Old Testament, this is translated as “the
Lord God.” When the lower case is used for the noun el,
it is the word “mighty,” and is used for gods so-called, false gods.
In naming his son Mehujael, Irad
puts his el, his god, in opposition to the Jehovah, whose name
must be blotted out. Whose name must be blotted out? Who has put himself in
opposition to the Jehovah? Who is it that has it in his heart to replace
the Jehovah, the Almighty God? Who is it that would make man think that
he must save himself from Jah, Jehovah? Who in his city is demanding
worship? Who was it that offered Jesus, the Son of God, all the kingdoms of the
world and all the glory of them if He would fall down and worship him? The
Devil (see Mt.4:1-11; Lk.4:1-13; also,
Is.14:12-14; Ezek.28:12b-19).
God’s name Jehovah is
associated with His Eternal Covenant of hope of eternal life and with the
Covenant Son bringing eternal life down from heaven (Is.42:6; 49:8;
Heb.13:20; Jn.5:26; 6:38-40). In the
city being built through Cain’s line the righteousness of God through faith in
the Anointed Covenant Son must be blotted out. Men must be kept in darkness,
lest the light of the knowledge of the glory of God should shine into the heart
of men and they become sons of God and the Anointed Son build His Kingdom (see 2 Cor.4:4).
Blotting out the Jehovah
did not become the issue in the first generation after Cain. It was Enoch’s son
Irad, Cain’s grandson, who raised the issue. And Mehujael named his son
Methushael, with one meaning of “man of prayer (asking),” and another, “man who
is of God” (Gen.4:18). Here is another name that ends in the common noun el,
meaning “mighty.”
We have seen that in Cain’s line
the descendants are false prophets like Cain. With the issue become “blot out Jah
is God,” the religious fervor is in need of a religious leader, an authority
over the religion of the worship of man. The city is in need of a priest.
At the birth of his son, the
false prophet Mehujael prophesies his son is the man to lead the way of
blotting out the Jehovah is God, and blotting out the living and true
Son, the God of the Eternal Covenant. The Anointed Covenant Son, also known as Jehovah,
must be blotted out. Man has become “as God.”
In the stellar heavens is seen
the longest constellation of the serpentine Hydra, the symbol for “the
lifting up of man’s will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer.” That is sin,
lawlessness (1 Jn.3:4). In the perversion of the gospel of the Son of the
Covenant, the serpent - meant to be the symbol for sin - was adopted for a
symbol of man’s power of rule, as seen in the early kingdoms and dynasties.
Methushael, “the man of God,”
begot Lamech. “Lamech” comes from an unused root, which makes the meaning
uncertain. The meaning has been put forth as “destroyer,” “conqueror,” and
“unto bringing low.” Lamech was born to Methushael, the man of el.
Likely his father expected him to be a conqueror. In the sense of the thinking
of the world city, Lamech was a powerful man, conquering this world’s power and
goods. Today Lamech is remembered as the first bigamist. “Lamech took unto him
two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other,
Zillah” (Gen.4:19).
“Adah” has the meaning “beauty,”
“adornment.” These two definitions speak of Adah’s appearance. One adorns
oneself to beautify oneself and to make oneself attractive. The name of the
other wife, Zillah, has the meaning of “shadowy” and “a tinkling sound,” or “sounding.”
Zillah was more ethereal in her presentation of herself than the bold adornment
of Adah. We do not know whether the tinkling sound was from jewelry, or a
musical instrument, or whether from songs sung.
Lamech may have been a conqueror,
but he was enticed through the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and
was conquered by these two women. Each one appealed to the sensuality of the
proud Lamech. In the worship of man, the design of the Jehovah Elohim
for marriage could be bypassed (Gen.2:24). The absolutes of the laws of the Jehovah
Elohim could be ignored. Lamech
would take two wives.
Adah bore Lamech two sons. “And
Adah bore Jabel. He was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as
have cattle. And his brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all
such as play the harp and pipe” (Gen.4:20-21).
Each of the son’s names comes
from a root with the meaning, “a stream,” “to flow.” Each is called the father
of that which streams forth in a continual flow. The first son, Jabel, was the
father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. The Hebrew has the sense of
acquiring cattle or livestock. Jabel had cattle ranches and hired help. Jabel
acquired livestock, but not as a pastoral way of life. Jabel kept a flow of livestock.
He controlled the market.
If, in the new order of the world
city, the inhabitants were not forbidden to eat meat and animals were being
sold for food, the cattle market would provide a lucrative means of livelihood.
If they were yet restricted to the herbs of the field and fruit and grain,
there would still be a need for domestic animals (see Gen.1:29). And it would stand to reason that the man of God
practiced animal sacrifices.
Adah’s other son Jubal was the
father of all such as handle the harp, stringed instruments, and the pipe, wind
instruments. What streamed forth and flowed from the expertise of Jubal was
that which makes music, a jubilant sound. Jubal was the inventor and maker of
both stringed and wind instruments of music. Being the father of these, it is
likely that Jubal taught others how to make the instruments and also how to
play the harp or lyre and pipe. Again, a very lucrative livelihood with power
and influence in the city.
Zillah also bore a son for
Lamech. “She bore Tubal-cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and
iron” (Gen.4:22a). “Tubal” also comes from the same root, “to stream,” “to
flow.” The addition of the name “cain” to Tubal may have been a memorial to
Cain, the father of the whole venture of the city. Or it may only have referred
to what Tubal himself had acquired or gotten for himself. Tubal being the
father of metallurgy and having the formula for working with metals would have
given him a monopoly on the metal industry.
The names of Lamech’s sons seem to
have been chosen for a memorial to Lamech’s own ambition for power and wealth.
Did Lamech take credit for the flowing forth of his own power and rule? We
gather Lamech had political influence in the new city. His father represented
the religion and his sons had the economic power and influence of the livestock
market, and the music and entertainment industry and the industrial power of
metals.
Lamech had built a powerful
family dynasty with great prominence and wealth. We see from the beginning of
Satan’s world city the strategy of the evil one in one family holding the
wealth and power. To this day men with wealth and power have ruled over
politics and controlled economics and religion. The city is a system of
politics, economics and religion - each using the other for gain.
Tubal-cain had a sister, Naamah,
a daughter of Zillah (Gen.4:22b). Her name means “pleasant” or “pleasantness.”
Naamah is the first daughter of man to be recorded by name in the Scriptures.
The first daughter is connected with power and wealth and privilege, the things
supposed to make life pleasant. The women of the family would have had maid
servants to help them with the adornments wealth would buy. And theirs would be
a life of ease, with men servants also and housekeepers.
Here is a record of the first
powerful family dynasty of the world city and the grandfather is the man of
God, the religious leader. Was it enough? Did it take care of the inner
security? Or was there yet an inner emptiness, something unsatisfied in the
heart? Did the power and wealth create another set of fears? Fear of losing
what one had worked hard to gain? Fear of being robbed? Is the gaining of
wealth and the use of power on the up and up? Is there no challenge to the way
it was gained? Or no jealousy?
Satan’s world city is designed to
entice mankind to believe that to follow him in life on this earth you will be
rewarded with power and wealth and privilege. You do not need the Jehovah
Elohim and His Eternal Covenant and His Anointed Covenant Son to make you
happy. Follow the wisdom of man and you can have your world just the way you
want it. Today education and technology play a large part in promoting this
thinking. You can keep it all covered. And so the competition-comparison game
is played.
In Cain’s civilization, we have
the first recorded poem, written by the conqueror, Lamech, who had the power to
bring low. With poetry you have the culture of literature. The first recorded
poem expresses defiance of the Jehovah Elohim. Lamech voiced his poem to his wives, Adah and
Zillah:
“Hear
my voice, you wives of Lamech,
hearken unto my speech;
for I have slain a man who
wounded me,
and a young man for hurting
me.
If Cain shall be avenged
seven-fold,
truly Lamech seventy and
sevenfold” (Gen.4:23-24).
The
record of the line of Cain began with the murder of his twin brother Abel and
it ends with the murder of a young man who hurt Lamech, wounding him. Lamech
makes his proud confession in the form of poetry. The words are metrical and
are the first instance of poetry given in Scripture. The form is the same as
later Hebrew poetry, which depends upon parallelism of ideas in couplets. Every
pair of lines is a parallelism, with the second line reiterating to put emphasis
upon the first line.
Lamech
exulted in the solemn threatening by which Cain’s life had been guarded by Jehovah.
He claimed for himself tenfold security from punishment on the basis of Cain’s
freedom from the consequence of his sin, far greater than Lamech’s, seeing that
Abel was Cain’s brother. Cain’s impunity rested upon the authority of Jehovah
Elohim. On what ground his rested, Lamech did not make clear.
In
Cain’s family we have eight men named who were willing to build in Satan’s
world city, a political, economic, religious system of organized society in
which Satan can mentor ungodly men and over which he can be god.
In
Scripture, “eight” is the number of “new beginning.” Here was a new thing begun
on God’s earth. A new civilization, which was not of God and other than God and
against God’s Covenant Son having the earth for His inheritance.
Back
in Eden Jehovah Elohim was building His Theocracy and continuing to
carry out His Eternal Covenant of the planned Kingdom of sons of God, as He had
purposed in eternity past. Jehovah Elohim sits in the heavens and does
as pleases Him (Ps.115:3). He has His timing. He has appointed the son of Adam
who will carry the seed for the coming Anointed Covenant Son. All was not lost
in the death of Abel. Moses continues the record with the birth of the
appointed son (Gen.4:25-26).
This
concludes our lesson.
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