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Please be aware that this post carries a trigger warning for very disturbing historical information.

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Adam and Eve had enjoyed a deep personal involvement and intimacy which culminated in a sexual relationship.[1]

As a result of that act, Eve “acquired a man,” naming him Cain. She then bore Abel, and gave him a name which means “vapor, breath, or futility.” [2]

In God’s words of judgment against the serpent after the fall, he had declared that people would align themselves either with the serpent or with the Lord as his “seed.”

The battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman began here.[3]

Despite the fall, both sons worked to fulfill the cultural mandate of Gen 1:28 by stewarding the planet’s natural resources.[4]

Cain continued in the profession of his father as “a servant of the ground,” while Abel shepherded domesticated animals.[5]

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At one point, they brought gifts of thanks to God for his generosity to them.[6]

 According to the author of Hebrews, Abel’s offering was made by faith while his brother’s was not.[7] Therefore, God rejected Cain’s gift.

When the Lord exposed his failure, Cain burned with anger against Abel.[8]

God warned Cain that sin was lying in wait for him,[9] and that he had to rule over it.[10]

Nevertheless, Cain chose the way of the serpent.[11]

In an act of consuming jealousy,[12] Cain killed his brother.

He vented his anger toward God on the most likely scapegoat, destroying the one the Lord had accepted.[13]

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When God confronted him, Cain’s reply belied a heart much harder than those of his parents.

He denied any awareness of Abel’s situation,[14] sarcastically saying, “Should I be shepherding the shepherd?” [15]

The Lord responded with indignation,[16]  “What have you done? The voice of the blood of your brother is crying out to me from the ground!”

As a result, God cursed Cain from the ground, banishing him from places where he could cultivate the land.[17] He became a restless wanderer.[18]

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Cain feared that he would be subject to the same treatment he delivered to Abel.

 Surprisingly, the Lord granted him a pledge and a protective action.[19] God would render perfect judgment against anyone who killed him.[20]

Then the Lord put a sign on Cain and exiled him. The mark which the Lord placed upon Cain worked. Not only did he survive, he produced a family.[21]

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Cain’s descendants introduced the first metal-working, poetry, and cities,[22] all hallmarks of great civilizations.[23]

However, in an ominous sign, the one who had slain the first martyr built the first city.[24]

Furthermore, Cain chose to honor humanity rather than the Lord by naming the city “Enoch” after his son.[25]

Living there put an end to his wandering alienation and provided security.[26]

Through Cain and his line depravity increased.[27] Consequently, all of them were facing God’s judgment.[28]

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Nevertheless, the Lord kept his promise of a godly line which would eventually destroy the seed of the serpent.[29]

Eve gave birth to another son. She called him Seth, saying, “God has appointed to me another seed instead of Abel.”

She recognized that redemption would come through him or one of his descendants.[30]

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In Gen 3, Moses recounted the fall of humanity; in Gen 4, he depicted the fall of the family; and in Gen 6, he demonstrated the fall of society through institutionalized oppression.[31]

Throughout the Ancient Near East, people believed that kings enjoyed a father-son relationship with a god.[32]

Moses wrote of these men, saying, “The sons of the gods saw the daughters of men, that they [were] beautiful. And they took to themselves wives, whomever they chose.”

 In the “right of the first night,” a king could demand that he spend a woman’s bridal night with her before she went to her husband.[33]

This tyrannical practice erupted into violence.[34]

Due to the behavior of these kings, the Lord limited human life-spans to 120 years.[35]

He would not permit tyrants to oppress and terrorize others forever.[36]

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Many of Seth’s descendants had deserted his godly way of living, until the people of God were nearly extinct.[37]

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” He would bring relief (noakh) for the plight of humanity, beginning a new era in history.

In a world terrorized by evil people, Noah stood firm.[38]

  A righteous and blameless man, Noah was wholeheartedly committed to his relationship with the Lord.[39]

Therefore, he would not suffer the destruction which would come upon the rest of humanity.[40]

Unlike other Ancient Near Eastern flood accounts, Noah’s salvation was neither an accident nor a thwarting of God’s plan.[41]

For example, the Lord specified how to build the ark rather than leaving the plan of escape to Noah’s imagination.

Moses mentioned no rudders or sails for the boat, indicating that navigation was never intended. Noah’s fate was in God’s hands.[42]

 Only after receiving the construction plans did Noah learn why he was commanded to build a gigantic boat.

One or seven pairs of each kind of animal would come to the ark before God brought a flood of water.[43] All others would perish.

By means of an ark, he would save the righteous seed of the woman (Gen 3:15) and representatives of the nonhuman creation.[44]

“Noah did according to all which God commanded him. Thus he did.”

This brief statement provides insight into Noah’s character.[45] It serves as an emphatic affirmation of Noah’s complete obedience.

Noah succeeded where Adam had failed.[46]

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Moses named two sources of flooding: an eruption of water from a subterranean ocean, which he called “the great deep” and a massive downpour from above.[47]

By releasing these waters, the Lord was returning the earth to its original chaos, undoing his great act of separating the waters above from the waters below. He was reversing creation.[48]

 Meanwhile, God sealed Noah and those with him inside the ark, emphasizing his divine protection.[49]

While the storm raged all around them, the one who shut them inside guaranteed their safety.[50]

Outside, eerie desolation reigned. The waters triumphed over the earth,[51] lifting the ark above the tallest mountains.

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 “God remembered Noah” emerges as the pivotal focus of the story.

The Lord sent a wind to blow over the surface of the earth, increasing the evaporation of the water and sealing the springs of the deep and the windows of the heavens.[52]

Just as the Lord had divided the waters on the second day of creation, he reestablished their separation.[53]

At the end of 150 days, the waters had receded to their original places. The ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.[54]

Two and a half months later, the tops of the mountains appeared, echoing the separation of the waters from the ground on the third day of creation.[55]

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Noah sought to ensure their safety before disembarking.[56]

After forty more days, he released a raven to determine the direction of the nearest land mass. As expected, it never returned to him.[57]

Then Noah sent forth a dove to determine whether low-lying areas had dried. Since the lower elevations were not yet habitable, she flew back to him.[58]

Noah waited a week and tried again. This time, the dove came back with a sign of fertility and new life: a freshly plucked olive leaf.[59]

When he repeated the experiment in seven days, she did not return.

At this point, Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw that the land had begun to dry. After almost two more months, the process was complete.

A new world had emerged from its watery grave, heralding the onset of another era in human history.[60]

Using our reckoning, he and his passengers had remained on the boat for exactly one year.[61]

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Based upon the failure of the dove to return and his own observations, Noah knew that the earth was prepared for habitation.

Yet, he waited to receive an “all clear” signal from God.[62]

 Before the flood, the Lord had commanded Noah to bring various creatures on board in order to preserve their lives.

Now he was ordered to release them so that they could reproduce and fill the earth.[63]

Once again, they could perform the mandate of the fifth and sixth days of creation.[64]

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Noah’s first recorded act upon leaving the ark was to make a whole burnt offering.[65]

When the rest-inducing aroma of the sacrifice rose, God accepted the offering and the one who made it.[66]

He chose to make a covenant with all of humanity that he would never again disrupt his creation by such a catastrophic flood.[67]

Then God ratified his oath with a sign indicating that his enmity toward the human race had ceased.[68]

Against the backdrop of clouds—which had previously wrought such great destruction—God placed an upturned bow.[69]

Every rainbow reminds the Lord of this covenant.[70]

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After a considerable time elapsed,[71] Noah planted a vineyard.

Rain came in amounts sufficient to grow luxuries,[72] such as grapes.[73] No longer did it obliterate life.[74]

While the wine Noah produced brought comfort from his toil, it became a mixed blessing.[75]

He drank enough to become drunk, strip himself naked, and lie uncovered in his tent.

Ham—the father of Canaan—took a good look at his father before informing his two brothers, humiliating Noah.[76]

   After coming out of his stupor, Noah learned what his youngest son had done to him.

He said, “Canaan be cursed. A slave of slaves he will be to his brothers.”

Noah may have singled out Canaan because he was Ham’s youngest son or,[77] perhaps, because Canaan adopted the behavior of his father, meriting Noah’s wrath.[78]

In contrast, Noah blessed the God of Shem,[79] implying that a godly lineage would issue from that son.[80]

Noah also requested that Japheth’s offspring would populate extensive territory,[81] and that Shem and Japheth would form an alliance.[82]

 Three hundred and fifty years after the flood, Noah died.

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The scene shifted to seventy descendants of his sons.

The Table of Nations forms a carefully-crafted theological assertion,[83] rather than a comprehensive list of peoples.[84]

Some names in this genealogy represent specific men, while others signify people-groups or locations.[85]

 These peoples represented the major groups known to Israel.[86]

By citing their linkage through Noah, the Table of Nations emphasizes the fundamental unity of those dwelling in the Ancient Near East.[87]

Although some exceptions exist, the Shemites were nomadic, Hamites lived in cities, and the sons of Japheth were seafarers.[88]

 One line of descent receives considerable attention.[89]

Although Eber lived at least three generations after Shem, his name occurs in the introduction.[90]

His prominence likely derives from the link with the designation “Hebrew.”[91]

Eber’s descendants include Abraham, through whom God would bring salvation to the world.[92]

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Moses’ final narrative of primeval history parallels both the account of the fall (Gen 3) and the judgment upon humanity due to the violence of the sons of the gods.[93]

He wrote, “And it happened that all of the earth [had] one language and one [set of] words. And they journeyed on the side of the East, and they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they remained there.”

 By traveling “on the side of the East,”[94] Moses implied that these people removed themselves from experiencing God’s blessing.[95]

Close to modern Baghdad,[96] by 3000 BC, a plethora of small villages, towns, and cities emerged in this area.[97]

Over time, the name of this region changed from Sumer to Akkad to Babylonia.[98]

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The people living there people produced kiln-fired bricks for erecting temples, palaces, and other official buildings.[99]

Since mud bricks readily absorbed water, they used a costly mortar to penetrate into the surfaces, making the building stronger than stone.[100]

The scarcity of fuel for kiln-firing added to the expense of this method.[101]

 Early Ancient Near Eastern cities existed for religious and economic development.[102]

In some cases, the entire city consisted of a temple complex.[103]

People in this region constructed imposing edifices called ziggurats to represent sacred mountains connecting heaven, the earth, and the underworld.[104]

A small room at the apex featured a bed and a table,[105] where priests provided food to refresh a traveling god.[106]

 Critical for their theology, [107] a staircase ran from the top to the bottom.[108]

The stairs permitted the gods to descend into the realm of humanity,[109] enabling people to contact the gods.[110]

What they constructed implied that the creator of the universe could not survive without their assistance.[111]

They reduced the Lord to their likeness,[112] triggering his wrath. [113]

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The ziggurat accomplished what the builders intended. A deity did indeed descend to them.

Speaking to his heavenly court of angels,[114] God said, “Behold, [there is] one people and one language for all of them, and this they began to do, and now nothing will be unattainable for them. Come now, let us go down and let us confuse their language.”

By demolishing their ability to communicate, the people could not continue to live in unity.[115]

No longer able to speak with each other, the people naturally scattered.[116]

 Here the primeval history of Genesis reaches its end.[117]

With the exception of a few individuals, Gen 4–11 reveals the deep corruption of humanity.

Not until the call of Abram several millennia later would the world obtain hope of redemption.[118]

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[1]Bruce K. Waltke and Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 96.

[2] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, “הֶ֫בֶל” (hebel), BDB, 210–1.

[3] Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 96.

[4] Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 97.

[5] Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 222.

[6] Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton, IVPBBCOT, Gen 4:7.

[7] Lane, Hebrews 9–13, 335.

[8]Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006), 182.

[9] Walton, Genesis, 264.

[10] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, “מָשַׁל” (mashal), BDB, 605.

[11] Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 100.

[12] Walton, Genesis, 264.

[13] Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 230.

[14] Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 106–7.

[15]Matthew R. Schlimm, From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 338, Http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/890/D_Schlimm_Matthew_a_200812.pdf?sequence=.

[16] Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 98.

[17] Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 107.

[18] Walton, Genesis, 265.

[19] Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 233.

[20] Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 165.

[21]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 237.

[22]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 99.

[23]Walton, Genesis, 276.

[24]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 182.

[25]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 100.

[26]Walton, Genesis, 277.

[27]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 238.

[28]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 114.

[29]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 100–1.

[30]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 193.

[31]Walton, Genesis, 298.

[32]Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton, IVPBBCOT, Gen 6:2.

[33]Walton, Genesis, 293.

[34]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 185.

[35]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 142.

[36]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 118.

[37]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 210.

[38]Waltke and  Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 119–20.

[39] Waltke and  Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 133.

[40]Walton, Genesis, 311.

[41]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 165.

[42]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 135.

[43]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 174.

[44]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 121.

[45]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 285.

[46]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 176.

[47]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 291.

[48]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 181.

[49]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 226.

[50]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 139.

[51]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 182.

[52] Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 299.

[53]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 128.

[54]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 300.

[55]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 129.

[56]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 302.

[57]Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton, IVPBBCOT, Gen 8:12.

[58]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 304–5.

[59]Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton,  IVPBBCOT, Gen 8:12.

[60]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 187.

[61]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 305.

[62] Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 306–7.

[63]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 187.

[64]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 129.

[65]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 307.

[66]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 142.

[67]Williamson, Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in God’s Unfolding Purpose, 62.

[68]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 317.

[69]Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 67.

[70]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 196.

[71]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 147.

[72]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 321.

[73]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 198.

[74]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 321.

[75]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 198.

[76]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 149.

[77]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 324.

[78]Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton, IVPBBCOT, Gen 9:27.

[79]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 325.

[80]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 151.

[81] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, “ףתה” (pathah) BDB, 834.

[82]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 326.

[83]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 162.

[84]Walton, Genesis, 367.

[85]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 165.

[86]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 214.

[87]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 163.

[88]B. Oded, “The Table of Nations (Genesis 10) – A Socio-Cultural Approach,” ZAW 98 (1986): 14, 22, 30. Http://www.elamit.net/depot/resources/oded1986.pdf.

[89]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 227.

[90]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 343.

[91]Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, “עֵבֶר” (ēber), BDB, 720.

[92]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 163.

[93]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 242.

[94] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, “min,” BDB, 577–83, 578.

[95]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 178.

[96]James R. Davila, “Shinar (Place),” ABD 5:1220.

[97]A. Kirk Grayson, “Mesopotamia, History of: History and Culture of Babylonia,” ABD 4:755–77, 757.

[98]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 351.

[99]Walton, Genesis, 372.

[100]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 164.

[101]Paul H. Seely, “The Date of the Tower of Babel and Some Theological Implications,” WTJ 63, no. 1 (1 September 2001: 15–38, 17.

[102]Walton, Genesis, 372.

[103]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 179.

[104]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 273.

[105]Walton, Genesis, 373.

[106]Matthews, Chavalas, and Walton, IVPBBCOT, Gen 11:4.

[107]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 239.

[108]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 179.

[109]John F. Robertson, “Temples and Sanctuaries: Mesopotamia,” ABD 6:375.

[110]Robert P. Gordon, “Babel: Tower of,” NIDOTTE 4:428–30, 428.

[111]Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, 377.

[112]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 169.

[113]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 239.

[114]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 180. The first volume of this series explores this issue at length in the exegesis of Gen 1:26.

[115]Walton, Genesis, 378.

[116]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 170.

[117]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 245.

[118]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 170.