by
Damien F. Mackey
Initially, then, Cain did not wander very far at all. He may have later.
Introduction
Whilst most would regard the antediluvian period as narrated in the Book of Genesis (1:1-7:5), prior to 7:6: “And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth”, as a non-history, ‘Creationists’, who accept all of it as actual fact, would tend to think that, owing to the enormity of a global (as they believe) Flood, any evidence of that old world is now totally unretrievable.
What has encouraged me to think otherwise, that the antediluvian landscape was not altogether different from the post-diluvian landscape, is the fact that editor Moses had established a link between the antediluvian riverine system and the post-diluvian one - that, as I wrote:
Editor Moses Added Vital Geographical Clues for the Genesis Flood and Sodom
(4) Editor Moses Added Vital Geographical Clues for the Genesis Flood and Sodom
Paradise (Eden) and the Garden
The Edenic Paradise was therefore the very large portion of land irrigated by the four rivers (Genesis 2:11-14):
The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The wondrous Garden of Eden itself, which tradition associates with the site of Jerusalem - as did Jesus Christ (cf. Matthew 23:35) - was apparently situated, by Divine purpose, at the centre of this ancient paradisaïcal land (Ezekiel 5:5):
Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘This is Jerusalem;
I have set her at the center of the nations ...’.
The research of the late Dr. Ernest L. Martin has also proved invaluable with its recognition of:
http://askelm.com/temple/t040301.htm
The Temple Symbolism in Genesis
the parallels between the Garden of Eden and the liturgy associated with it and, later, that of the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem.
Fall and “the Land of Nod”
This, in turn, enables one to reconstruct the abode of Adam and Eve immediately after the Fall, and also to come to grips with the very tricky matter, with which many struggle, of the location of “the land of Nod” to where Cain was exiled after he had murdered Abel (Genesis 4:16): “So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden”.
On this, see my article:
Land of Nod and City of “Enoch”
https://www.academia.edu/28328715/Land_of_Nod_and_City_of_Enoch_
The “land of Nod”, we find, was immediately adjacent to the Garden, and east of it.
By this stage, humankind had not travelled very far at all.
So, to seek to identify “the land of Nod”, or Cain’s first city, “Enoch” (4:17):
Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son [,]
in, for instance, faraway southern Mesopotamia, as scholars do - and as I have certainly done in the past - may actually be, geographically, way off beam.
No doubt, however, after humankind had made its initial small moves, members of the antediluvian race would now have begun to explore further afield, heading for fertile regions like (what we now call) Syria and Mesopotamia, and northwards to (what we now call) the Black Sea, and, in a different direction again, to (what we now call) Egypt and Ethiopia.
The Bible calls Egypt “the land of Ham” (e.g. Psalm 105:22) - whether this name were given to the land before or after the Flood.
Ham was, of course, a son of Noah himself (Genesis 6:10).
Scholars, relying primarily on the information supplied by Josephus,
as a supplement to Genesis - but also using other legends, and by re-interpreting some of the ancient mythology - have made a pretty good fist of re-constructing
(but only in barest outline) the antediluvian world.
Whilst most, probably, would regard the whole thing as being fanciful and non-historical, some, taking seriously the early chapters of the Book of Genesis as rendering an accurate primeval history of humankind, have endeavoured to bring the whole thing to the fore again.
For this the Jewish historian Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews has proved to be essential.
Roy Schulz, using sources such as this, has managed to compile what I think is generally a plausible scenario of the antediluvian world (in his article “Exploring Ancient History – The First 2500 Years”):
http://www.book.dislib.info/b1-history/4036992-7-compiled-roy-schulz-social-studies-department-imperial-schools-pa.php
The following is taken from his Chapter 3 “The Ways of Cain and Seth”.
As I do not necessarily agree with everything written here by Roy Schulz, I shall be adding my own critical comments here and there.
The first point of interest is that Cain and Abel may have been twins:
Cain and Abel
The bible continues the account in Genesis 4 with the birth of Cain and Abel. No mention is made of how much time had passed since the expulsion from the garden of Eden but it probably was a period of several decades, possibly as much as half a century. It seems a logical deduction that Adam and Eve, under [God’s] direction, spent considerable time establishing themselves before beginning to raise a family.
The indication in verse 2, reports Adam Clarke in his commentary, is that Cain and Abel were twins because it says about Eve, "... she again bare" -- or added in baring -- "his brother Abel." It does not say that she conceived separately again later before Abel was born. So the implication, says Clarke commentary, is they were: born at the same time.
Understanding Cain's character is important for the early story of human history. His very name implies what type of person he was -- Cain means "gotten" or "acquired." Cain was selfish; he wanted to get for himself. He was a spoiled child.
This becomes very apparent as the story develops.
There are definite and startling reasons why Cain turned out as he did.
He was, first of all, the product of an unhappy marriage. Adam and Eve did not live in harmony. Eve blamed Adam for the expulsion from Eden and Adam blamed Eve. They probably never really forgave each other for having bungled their golden opportunity. Every argument they had must have ended up focused on this painful memory.
However, a savior had been promised (Gen. 3:15). This was something to look forward to. But this promise caused Eve to draw a hasty, false, and extremely harmful assumption. Notice her statement in Gen. 4:1. The King James rendering -- "I have gotten a man from the eternal" -- is not correct. In the original Hebrew, this statement reads, "I have gotten a man -- the eternal." She actually thought that her firstborn son was the promised child, God in the flesh. Under this deception, she treated Cain as if he were a god. And that is why he turned out to be such a monstrous delinquent. The full significance of this will be explained in chapter 6 when the actual meaning of Gen. 6:2 is revealed.
Mackey’s comment: The relevant part of Genesis 4:1 reads in Hebrew: קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת-יְהוָה
As far as I can tell, Roy Schulz’s interpretation of it, “I have gotten a man -- the eternal”, is reading too much into it - necessary for his explanation of Genesis 6:2 later on.
The standard reading: “I have gotten a man from the Lord”, I think still suffices.
Roy Schulz continues, now presenting Cain as a disobedient and irresponsible soil damager:
Now verse 2 states that Abel was a shepherd but Cain was a farmer. God actually wanted people in this early time to be mainly shepherds instead of farmers so that the soil could slowly be built up from animal waste, leaves from the trees, and so on.
He wanted elements to be added to the soil instead of removed from it.
But Cain was a farmer, which in itself, was not pleasing to God … he also FORCED the ground, and, by this method, damaged it even more than normal. Cain was selfish and greedy. He wanted what he wanted NOW! …. Thus, when reading of the offering of Cain and Abel in verses 3-5, it is easy to understand why God was displeased with Cain. He not only had a selfish attitude but he used wrong, methods in even growing the fruits he offered. He had not obeyed God at all.
….
The First Murder
In verses 5-7 God analyzed Cain's attitude for him. He told him he could triumph over sin if he wanted to and that his offerings could be found acceptable if he were genuinely repentant. But Cain never made any attempt to repent. He had an angry look on his face not only because he was disappointed, but because he was premeditating the murder of his brother. He thought this was the quickest way to solve his problem.
Verse 8 finds Abel naively out in the field in his wicked brother's company. Little did he realize he would be the victim of the first murder in all human history. How Cain accomplished the deed is not known but, being a farmer and reaper, he might have done it with a cutting instrument such as a scythe.
Mackey’s comment: The word for ‘slay’ (σφάζειν) is a link between this Epistle and Revelation (Revelation 6:4 …), occurring nowhere else in N. T. Its original meaning was ‘to cut the throat’ (σφαγή), especially of a victim for sacrifice.
Then, after it was over, Cain tried to hide his crime by burying the body. Human society was off to an appropriate start because war and murder have been its prime characteristics through all ages.
Mackey’s comment: Roy Schulz now proceeds to discuss the famous Mark of Cain.
His explanation of it, as “a WARNING MARKER or BOUNDARY LINE” is at least better than some of the strange attempts that have been made to account for it.
But does it accord with the Hebrew?
Cain's "Mark"
God confronted Cain with his sin. He could have done this in front of the family of Adam. (see Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown commentary.) But Cain was still not repentant. He tried to cover up (verse 9). The eternal did not waste time with Cain. He immediately told him his sentence (verses 10-12).
….
After the eternal told Cain that he would be a fugitive and a vagabond as a result of his sin, Cain still did not change his negative attitude. His reply (verses 13-14) shows his consistently self-centered outlook. He blamed God for his problems, not himself. In a sense, he said, "what you're doing to me isn't fair. I don't have a chance. I'm not getting a square deal."
God did not execute Cain for his crime. But he separated him -- excommunicated him -- from the rest of the human family. This is the meaning of Cain's "mark" (Gen. 4:15). It was not a brand on his forehead, a long horn growing out of his head, affliction with paralysis, his dog, or any other of the ridiculous guesses that men have put forth. It was a WARNING MARKER or BOUNDARY LINE set up to separate Cain from the rest of Adam's family.
A better rendering of the verse would make it more understandable: "and the eternal set up a marker (or, monument) for (or, against) Cain. Lest any finding him should kill him."
This was actually a religious segregation because Cain wrong attitude had made it necessary. God was saying, "I won't want Adam's family influenced by your selfish and sinful approach to life."
Mackey’s comment: Boundaries were considered highly important in antiquity, as they are now, and they were fought over.
We read of a famous Lagash-Umma border conflict, according to which (and compatible with Roy Schulz’s interpretation of the Mark of Cain) the “chief god Enlil” had actually marked out the boundaries of these states, and indeed “in the gu-edena”, in which we can even perceive the biblical word, “Eden” (some biblical overtones here). Moreover, one of the kings involved in the border conflict, Eannatum, even described himself as a “giant”.
For my radical biblico-historical reconstruction of Eannatum, though, see e.g. my article:
Hezekiah withstands Assyria - Lumma withstands Umma
(4) Hezekiah withstands Assyria - Lumma withstands Umma
http://studentreader.com/lagash-umma-border-conflict/
According to Inscriptions, the chief god Enlil had demarcated the Lagash-Umma border in the gu'edena (edge of the plain), and the Kish king Mesalim (~2600 BC) [sic] measured it out and set up a boundary marker. Thus, outside arbitration of conflicts had begun early in the Early Dynastic era. Though the boundary had been established, whenever Lagash was powerful enough it would seek to claim the gu'edena. The war was described as a dispute between Ningirsu, god of Lagash, and Shara, god of Umma. Lagashite inscriptions depict their kings as deputies acting on behalf of the gods; the Lagashite king Eannatum even described himself as the giant son of Ningirsu, thus engendering him to fight. Successive Lagashite kings stated in their royal inscriptions that Umma had illegally occupied the gu'edena and that Lagash thus defeated Umma. Since the Lagashite side wrote the inscriptions, they present Umma as the illegal and sacrilegious aggressor in the conflict. However, the continuation of the Lagash-Umma border conflict for centuries shows that battles were in fact inconclusive. The tension persisted so long as more agricultural area was still needed by both states.
It is assumed that other states underwent similar interactions, attempting to annex their neighbors' fields, though none are so clear as the issue between Lagash and Umma.
[End of quote]
Whether the Hebrew word, oth (אוֹת), in Genesis 4:15: “And the LORD set a sign for Cain …”, וַיָּשֶׂם יְהוָה לְקַיִן אוֹת can legitimately be translated as Roy Schulz has proposed, I shall leave it to experts in the language to decide. But certainly in Joshua 4:5-7, oth (אוֹת) is used in connection with some marker or boundary stones.
Roy Schulz continues, with reference to Deuteronomy 32:8: “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel”. He also introduces an old racial theory, which does not appear to me to have any solid biblical endorsement, namely, that Cain’s race was dark skinned, whilst the goodly line of Seth was fair:
Yes, Cain was unfit to live in the same land with the rest of the people. God told Adam's children, "you stay here in the area of Palestine. The rest of the world is for Cain to wander in" (see Deut. 32:8). Later, this separation included racial segregation; Cain became the ancestor of all the non-white people. ….
Mackey’s comment: Whilst Roy Schulz’s attempt to reconstruct the early geography of Cain (Genesis 4:16) is quite vague, Dr. Ernest L. Martin had explained, in “The Temple Symbolism in Genesis”:
https://www.askelm.com/temple/t040301.htm
that this verse actually refers to a properly identifiable place:
In the Garden our first parents were able to talk face to face with God. But note an important point. They only had conversations with Him at certain times of the day.
They did not see Him on all occasions. It was “in the cool of the day” that they came into “the presence of the Lord” (Genesis 3:8). The expressions “cool of the day” and “the presence of the Lord” were a part of temple language. 7 “The cool of the day” was the period when the Sun got lower in the sky and the cool sea breezes normally swept over the Palestinian region. This was the time of the evening sacrifice (1 Kings 18:36; Daniel 9:21) — about three in the afternoon. This was the time when the animals were being regularly sacrificed (and also in the morning about nine o’clock). At these times the people were then reckoned as being “in the presence of God” (2 Chronicles 20:19).
….
Cain’s punishment involved him being “driven out” from the land he formerly tilled, and away from the “face” of God.
“And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod [Wandering], on the east side of Eden.”
• Genesis 4:16
What marvelous teaching is found in this latter scripture once it is understood that temple language was being used by Moses. Note that Cain was sent OUT OF EDEN. He went East of Eden. And by leaving Eden, he “went out from the presence of the Lord.” Now look at the second diagram. It will be similar to the outline of the temple which we gave earlier, but this time we will involve the story of Adam and Eve, the Garden, the Cherubim with the flaming sword, the altar of Cain and Abel, the land of Eden, and the land of Nod [Wandering]. It has excellent teaching.
[End of quote]
Initially, then, Cain did not wander very far at all. He may have later.
Now, here is Roy Schulz’s account of it, in which he attempts an early chronology.
The Curse On Cain
Cain was now cut off from God. "Cain went out from the presence of the eternal."
(Gen. 4:16) he was now on his own; he was forced to wander; he could no longer call on God. He would have to solve his problems on his own. It was not a pleasant fate. This ostracizing of Cain is analogous to putting an individual out of God's church. Such a person is separated from God's people until he repents. But Cain did not repent. He wanted his own way at all costs and started his own society and practices.
When did the excommunication of Cain take place? The indication of Gen. 5:3 is that approximately a century and a quarter had elapsed since Adam's creation. A logical deduction based on this verse is that Seth was born soon after Cain's crime because he was to replace the murdered Abel (Gen. 4:25). Since Seth was born when Adam was 130, the death of Abel must have occurred shortly before that birth.
By putting the bible together with Josephus' account. It is possible to determine Cain's activities after he was separated from Adam's family and cut off from God. He and his wife who was, of necessity, his sister, (Gen. 5:4) went to live in an area called "the land of wandering". Which was east of Eden (verses 4:16). Then Josephus tells us that Cain and his wife "travelled over many countries." (Antiquities I, II, 2.) Here is an indication that, after the expulsion: Cain actually spent a century or more wandering over the earth.
Mackey’s comment: Roy Schulz will now also propose that Cain (who was apparently no Greenie) had to contend with a different topography and climate upon the earth:
Why did Cain become a wanderer or nomad? Why did he not settle down permanently in a specific area? Amazingly, the bible and geology provide the answer. As a result of the sin of Cain the entire history of human society and the earth's surface were remarkably changed.
Notice what God had told Cain before his expulsion: "and now art thou cursed from the earth...
When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive (or wanderer) and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth" (Gen. 4:11-12). Cain, Josephus records, was the first person who "contrived to plough the ground". In addition, he greedily tried to get more crops faster by "forcing the ground." Cain, in other words, sought to gain his livelihood by farming methods which depleted the soil.
For example, he probably used the following method. He would burn down a forest or other vegetation on the land. Then he would plant seed in the ashes which served as fertilizer. Such land would produce well for a few years but after that it was ruined through such harsh abuse. Cain destroyed the soil for the purpose of quick crops. He did not care about conserving fertility for future generations. God wanted the earliest humans to be shepherds so that the soil could be built up -- but Cain forced the ground before it was developed.
God put a stop to Cain's way -- the way of getting. If Cain and his heirs had been allowed to continue these agricultural methods, soils all over the world would long ago have been rendered unfit for cultivation. The curse on Cain was not some strange poisoning of the soil. Logically, it could mean only one thing -- A CHANGE IN THE EARTH'S CLIMATE!
The geological record tells us what God did to save the soil from utter depletion.
Mountain chains arose where there were none before. Seas dried up. The balmy semitropical climate of the world rapidly shifted into torrid and frigid zones.
Wherever Cain wandered, his agricultural pursuits came to naught. When it should have rained, the weather turned dry. Just as he was about to reap the ripening crop, in came a storm.
Nothing turned out right. Cain was forced to turn to food gathering -- to hunting and gleaning the wild fruits and berries.
He and the generations who followed him eaked out a wretched living. Both geology and archaeology testify to these conditions.
Mackey’s comment: Bravely, now, Roy Schulz will attempt to bring into line with this scenario the Geological Ages – something that I believe desperately needs to be done, whether or not Schulz has got it right (and I don’t think that he has, entirely):
The Proof of Geology
In the tertiary geological deposits, which follow the upper Cretaceous, many surface changes are recorded. The climate began to turn cooler. Desert regions developed in the wake of mountain building. Pluvial and arid periods fluctuated. The climate in the northern hemisphere became even cooler. Vast snow falls engulfed the regions now labeled Canada and Europe. The arctic zone expanded. Fluctuations in sea level occurred. All along, the continental shore lines the changing beach levels left their mark. Many may still be seen today. Geologists mislabel this pre-flood period "ice ages."
Cain's children were forced to adopt his level of existence.
Because of his sin, Cain initiated a degenerate way of life. His descendants became fugitives, wanderers, vagabonds. They too were reduced to hunting and gathering because the soil would not yield normal crops. They began living in caves in regions far removed from the main civilizations in the near east and became shockingly depraved.
Mackey’s comment: Dr. John Osgood has, in “A Better Model for the Stone Age” (http://creation.com/a-better-model-for-the-stone-age), surveyed the very same Stone Age scenario in which Roy Schulz has set Cain and his fellow nomads, known as the upper Palaeolithic phase, but Dr. Osgood has identified these nomads as post-Flood peoples.
I am more inclined to follow Dr. Osgood here.
Roy Schulz will now turn his attention to the city, “Enoch”, that Cain built (4:17).
However, I am convinced (in the context of Dr. Osgood’s preferable Stone and Archaeological Ages model) that Roy Schulz has identified a city that well post-dated, not only Cain, but also the Flood:
Cain's Famous Walled City
At this point Josephus' words about Cain need to be emphasized: Cain "built a city, and fortified it with walls..."
The bible speaks of this same city: Cain "builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." (Gen. 4:17) Though in a sense this is getting ahead of the story, it is appropriate at this point to tell of the significance of the famous walled city, Enoch. In recent years, archaeologists made a startling discovery. In their excavations at the site of ancient Jericho (which is adjacent to present day Jericho in Palestine) they were amazed to uncover a big town in an early "pre-pottery Neolithic" state thousands of years -- as they measure time -before any city of this type should have existed. This vast town existed at a time when only villages of tents or huts should have been in use -- but there it was. It was of large proportion, of great duration -- and had a huge wall around it. When the archaeological findings are correctly interpreted (see the chart on page 80 of the "Bible and the Ancient Near East", edited by G. Ernest Wright), it is evident this city must have existed before the flood.
Mackey’s comment: Though I had previously entertained Roy Schulz’s view, a closer study of the stratigraphy of Jericho - especially in relation to the Dr. John Osgood’s firm archaeological location of Abram - would suggest that this impressive “pre-pottery Neolithic” (PPNA) city was built approximately within range of Abram.
That is a very long distance, chronologically, from Cain.
That Cain’s city was built “in ‘Seth's land’ or Palestine”, according to Roy Schulz, might perhaps indicate that it was in the environs of the Garden (later the site of Jerusalem Temple). Schulz continues:
That's right -- CAIN HAD DARED TO COME BACK INTO FORBIDDEN TERRITORY. At an earlier time God had said: "this area is for Seth and his family -- the rest of the world [sic] is for Cain and his children to wander on." But, as we well know, Cain was not noted for being willing to obey any of God's orders.
….
…. Josephus said -- that Cain was the inventor of weights and measures implying that he was engaged in trading. But also recall that Cain procured "spoils by robbery." In other words, he must have forced surrounding peoples to pay tribute, and he must have engaged in looting and pillage.
….
The Way of Cain
The important truth we need to learn from all this is that Cain was the originator of civilization as we know it. Our entire society today is patterned after "the way of Cain" (Jude 11). It is a way of competitiveness, selfishness, and greed.
Satan used the family of Cain to perpetuate his philosophy.
Cain was "spiritually bankrupt." He had no love for his neighbor at all. The code of Cain was, "get the other fellow before he gets you. Do unto others before they do unto you." This is the way our world is today. Cain was cut off from God. He was wandering on his own. And we live in a world cut off from God too -- groping its way to destruction.
….
Cain's way led to the Flood -- the complete destruction of humanity except for eight persons! And it will lead to an unbelievable carnage again in the near future!
God has decreed that man must learn once and for all -- in complete finality -- that THE WAY OF CAIN SIMPLY WILL NOT WORK!!
When man learns this lesson by hard experience, then he will turn to God in real repentance! But he has not reached that point - yet!
Mackey’s comment: Humankind will find peace only when it embraces devotion to the Divine Mercy:
The following article by Blessed Michael Sopocko - whose feast day we celebrate Feb. 15 - was first published in the Spring 1956 issue of the Marian Helpers Bulletin. Blessed Michael was the confessor and spiritual director of St. Faustina.
As a house on a foundation so our faith is based on the truth of the Resurrection. "... and if Christ has not risen, vain then is our preaching, vain too is your faith." (1 Cor 15:14). In order that the faith of the Apostles in this truth might be strengthened, our Savior often showed Himself to them, permitted Thomas to touch His wounds, and greeted the Apostles with the words, "Peace be to you." Why did He not speak to them thus before His Passion? Because then the work of Redemption was not completed.
However, after the eternal enemy of mankind was crushed, original sin removed, reconciliation completed between God and man whom He adopted as His children, He permitted Himself to be called Father, and peace, therefore, returned to earth, "Peace be to you."
1. What is peace? Peace is tranquility of order which, according to St. Augustine, depends upon the order with oneself, with our neighbor, and with God. Peace therefore is not the same as concord. Concord may be had even among perverse people who pool their strength together for wrongdoing, but peace is not to be found among them: "There is no peace to the wicked." (Is 48:22).
Order with oneself rests upon internal harmony inasmuch as the lower bodily powers are subject to reason and will, which subjection gives us peace of conscience. Order with our neighbor is based on our loving them as ourselves and rendering to each his due. Finally, order with God amounts to our knowing, praising and loving Him as well as fulfilling His will.
Sin upset that order. It destroyed internal harmony within us so much so that in our present condition our intellect and will are beclouded and bound and dragged by our passions prompting us to acts contrary to reason, and causing in us qualms of conscience which are the greatest misfortune for man. Sin destroyed order with God because sin is a revolt against His will. It destroyed also the order with our neighbor; instead of mutual love people hate one another, do not render to each his due but rather wrong their fellow men by denying them the right to life and means necessary to keep them alive.
It is in that manner that every worldly man seeks peace and happiness without being able to find them. "Where are you hurrying, O man, on the road of life? Why do you strive for the summit so laboriously? Why all this toil, labor and fight?" "I desire peace," answers he, "I desire to reach the goal and rest therein. I seek comfort, delight, happiness because man exists for these." However, instead of peace, they find disputes, family quarrels, competition and war of social classes and states. Why? Because they refuse to acknowledge God as their Father, and, consequently, they cannot see themselves as brothers. They feel internal discord which nothing and no one can remove from their hearts.
2. There are two who want to give mankind peace; the world and Christ. The peace of the world is external; the peace of Christ is internal. The former ends in confusion and collapse; the latter terminates in victory, strength and everlasting peace.
Christ brings wonderful peace, true peace, "such as the world cannot give." His peace does not consist in external concord with others, but above all in concord with God, that produces concord within oneself, a peace of conscience. "A new commandment I give you, that you would love each other." This is a necessary condition of peace with our neighbor. "But I say to you, love your enemies." (Mt 5:44).
True peace is given by Him alone who removes the cause of unrest which is sin. The Most Merciful Savior by His death on the Cross created an inexhaustible treasury of His merits.
After His Resurrection He set up the Sacraments through which the Church applies those merits to individual souls. First of all, by the Sacrament of Baptism original sin is removed, and in the Sacrament of Penance, which was established on Resurrection day, sins committed after Baptism are forgiven. Through these Sacraments the Divine Mercy pours down true peace unceasingly on those who receive them worthily.
He who does not avail himself of those Sacraments finds his life a torture. Even though he be surrounded with the riches and splendor, without the Sacrament of Penance he is like one who lies on a soft bed strewn with thorns. On the contrary, he who properly uses those Sacraments of God's Mercy has internal peace and happiness; he is cheerful for he possesses true peace which soothes the sufferings and miseries of his life. He is at peace with his neighbors whom he loves as brothers, whose labors he respects, whose faults he forgives, and whose forgiveness he begs. Above all else he is at peace with God Whose Will he fulfills and to Whose infinite Mercy he is grateful for having forgiven him his sins.
True peace, therefore, flows only from God's Mercy in the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance. This is the reason why Christ after His Resurrection greeted the Apostles with the words, "Peace be to you," and repeated His greeting twice while instituting the Sacrament of Penance. This is also the reason why the Church in the Mass of Low Sunday reminds us of God's Mercy in those Sacraments and encourages us to praise His Mercy, "Praise ye the Lord, for He is good, for His Mercy endures forever." (Ps 105:1). ….
Roy Schulz continues:
We study history to learn the lesson of human experience so we don't make the same mistakes ourselves (I Cor. 10:6, 11; Rom..15:4.) The history of the past will help the citizens of the World Tomorrow see that God's way is the only way.
And so the great truth of these early chapters of the Bible is that Cain started an entire pattern in society which is with us to this day, a way of life which must finally be eradicated from the earth! It is a way which, though our human nature prompts us to follow it, we must exterminate from our daily practices and replace it with the way of God -- the way of love, giving, and sharing!" What was the effect of the "way of Cain" on society down to the Flood. And can we know what ultimately became of Cain? Also, what were the major contributions of the line of Cain to society in pre-Flood times? These are the interesting questions yet to be covered.
St. Augustine’s City of God “presents human history as a conflict between what Augustine calls the Earthly City (often colloquially referred to as the City of Man) and the City of God, a conflict that is destined to end in victory for the latter.
The City of God is marked by people who forgot earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The Earthly City, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_God
Antediluvian Man’s Devolution
Saint Augustine of Hippo had very much in mind here the divergent paths chosen, now by Cain, now by Abel. Ultimately, though, it was a warfare of cosmic proportions between God and Satan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_God
Augustine’s thesis depicts the history of the world as universal warfare between God and the Devil. This metaphysical war is not limited by time but only by geography on Earth. In this war, God moves (by divine intervention/ Providence) those governments, political/ideological movements and military forces aligned (or aligned the most) with the Catholic Church (the City of God) in order to oppose by all means—including military—those governments, political/ ideological movements and military forces aligned (or aligned the most) with the Devil (the City of Devil).
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Augustine himself wrote, in chapter 1:
…. I trust we have already done justice to these great and difficult questions regarding the beginning of the world, or of the soul, or of the human race itself.
This race we have distributed into two parts, the one consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God. And these we also mystically call the two cities, or the two communities of men, of which the one is predestined to reign eternally with God, and the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil. This, however, is their end, and of it we are to speak afterwards. At present, as we have said enough about their origin, whether among the angels, whose numbers we know not, or in the two first human beings, it seems suitable to attempt an account of their career, from the time when our two first parents began to propagate the race until all human generation shall cease.
For this whole time or world-age, in which the dying give place and those who are born succeed, is the career of these two cities concerning which we treat.
Of these two first parents of the human race, then, Cain was the first-born, and he belonged to the city of men; after him was born Abel, who belonged to the city of God. For as in the individual the truth of the apostle's statement is discerned, that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual, 1 Corinthians 15:46 whence it comes to pass that each man, being derived from a condemned stock, is first of all born of Adam evil and carnal, and becomes good and spiritual only afterwards, when he is grafted into Christ by regeneration: so was it in the human race as a whole. When these two cities began to run their course by a series of deaths and births, the citizen of this world was the first-born, and after him the stranger in this world, the citizen of the city of God, predestinated by grace, elected by grace, by grace a stranger below, and by grace a citizen above. By grace—for so far as regards himself he is sprung from the same mass, all of which is condemned in its origin; but God, like a potter (for this comparison is introduced by the apostle judiciously, and not without thought), of the same lump made one vessel to honor, another to dishonor. Romans 9:21
But first the vessel to dishonor was made, and after it another to honor. For in each individual, as I have already said, there is first of all that which is reprobate, that from which we must begin, but in which we need not necessarily remain; afterwards is that which is well-approved, to which we may by advancing attain, and in which, when we have reached it we may abide.
Not, indeed, that every wicked man shall be good, but that no one will be good who was not first of all wicked; but the sooner any one becomes a good man, the more speedily does he receive this title, and abolish the old name in the new.
Accordingly, it is recorded of Cain that he built a city, Genesis 4:17 but Abel, being a sojourner, built none. For the city of the saints is above, although here below it begets citizens, in whom it sojourns till the time of its reign arrives, when it shall gather together all in the day of the resurrection; and then shall the promised kingdom be given to them, in which they shall reign with their Prince, the King of the ages, time without end.
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As we have read - and is well known - Cain, a man of disobedience, committed the first murder. He slew his own (twin?) brother, Abel. The line of the righteous had to start again, through Seth, and Enosh [Enos] (Genesis 4:25-26): “Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him’. Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh”. The line of Cain, on the other hand, seems to have steadily regressed - devilishly devolved - from that fateful moment that Cain had killed his brother, whose effect was still reverberating at the time of Jesus Christ (Matthew 23:29-36):
‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation’.
King Solomon would reflect way back to this terrible deed by Cain as a “cause” of the great Noachic Flood (Wisdom 10:3-4):
But when the unrighteous went away from her in his anger, he perished also in the fury wherewith he murdered his brother. For whose cause the earth being drowned with the flood, wisdom again preserved it, and directed the course of the righteous in a piece of wood of small value.
Likewise, the Apostle Jude told about the Enochian judgment in store for any of those who had “taken the way of Cain” (Jude 1:11-16):
Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him’. These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
That is not to say that absolutely every person who would descend from Cain was a reprobate.
Nor would each one of those who belonged to the Seth-ite line be a paragon of righteousness. Especially by about the time of Noah, “when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them”, and “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”, and “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:1, 5, 11), did the Seth-ite line apparently begin to follow the way of Cain.
Perhaps one of the star attractions for the Seth-ites was the exciting new technology. For it was from the line of Cain, at the time of Lamech and Tubalcain, and their families, that there arose some marvellous technological developments.
With the rapid advancement of technology (though it was nothing as compared with our own times), there appears to have been a corresponding decline in wisdom, which betokens Deity - somewhat akin to how, in the modern Age of Enlightenment, the new physics would replace that higher form of human endeavour, metaphysics.
But, likely, even those more philosophically-minded amongst the Cain-ites and the Seth-ites had by now yielded to mere intellectual routine. That the frenetic pursuit of technology alone - which characterises our own era - is not actually civilising, is argued in the following section from Berkeley’s Renovation of Philosophy (Martinus Nijhoff, 1968, pp. 136-137), written by Dr. Gavin Ardley (by far my favourite philosopher of the modern sciences):
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(4) Emergence from tribe
Readers of Plato's Republic are wont to suppose, complacently, that the men in Plato's Cave are common vulgar men given to sensual enjoyment. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are ourselves. Especially are they ourselves insofar as we compliment ourselves on our intellectual attainments. When we allow techne to develop into tribe … [tribe: empirical routine devoid of insight e.g. Gorgias 463 b]; allow work (of whatever kind) to sink into meaningless routine, an end in itself; when wonder is no longer there to enliven; when humility has departed; and standards have drifted into identification with particulars: Then we are sorry Cave-dwellers.
The craftsman who allows his intelligence to atrophy, sinks into a state of contentment with routine, has forsaken techne for tribe. But his case is mild compared with the tribe of men given to intellectual pursuits. The vice is magnified by the exalted level from which such men have fallen. And most grievous of all is the case of the fallen philosopher: he is the guardian, the man who should be keeping wonder alive. When he allows wonder to die within him, he continues to go through the motions of philosophising; to outward appearance he is a wise man; but inwardly he is merely exercising his intellectual dexterity in an endless round of futility. Dialectic for him ossifies into conditioned response, or is transformed into its savage counterpart, eristic.
Metaphysics declines into mere system, or revolts into the realms of the absurd. Tribe is the art of the absurd.
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Dr. Gavin Ardley’s marvellous Plato-based distinctions between these two vastly different states of being complement St. Augustine’s more religiously-based assessment of the two cities. I suggest that these be kept in mind as we consider the two family lines descending from Adam and Eve.
I conclude here with Roy Schulz’s discussion (not all of which I would agree with) of the divergent lines, Cain-ite and the Seth-ite (op. cit.):
The Line of Cain vs. The Line of Seth and Enos
To put the picture in as simple terms as possible. It may be stated that the story of the pre-flood society is the story of the line of Cain as opposed to that of Seth and Enos. What was the interrelationship of these two major groups …? As indicated previously, Cain and Abel may have been twins. But they were un-like twins. Cain was originally separated because of religious reasons, because of his rebellious attitude. But, later, this division also became racial in significance. In other words, Cain was the father of the Non-white race before the flood. [sic] Seth was the ancestor of the contrasting WHITE line. And these two lines were to remain separate. This is what God wanted. And, for a long time, they were -- but this changed in Lamech's day (Gen. 4:19) who lived in the generation that existed just before the flood came upon the earth. The important concept to bear in mind, then, about the situation before the flood is this: biologically (racially), culturally, intellectually, and spiritually there were just two basic ways of life -- the way of God which was preserved in the family of Seth, and the way of Satan which was promoted by the descendants of Cain!
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Seth and Enos
What kind of a person was Seth, the son born to Adam and Eve after Abel's murder? (Gen. 4:25) (Josephus Antiquities I, II, 3) provides some interesting information. Seth was a man of character! His children were properly reared and imitated his good character. All of them had good dispositions and lived together in the same country without fighting and warring. This implies that the family of Seth was separate from the family of Cain as God had intended. As shall be noted shortly, the family of Cain carried on fights, feuds, quarrels, and dissensions. It is only natural that the philosophy of Cain should breed such results. But the family of Seth, for centuries, was separate from the sins and mistakes of the line of Cain. God certainly must have protected them and given them blessing and favour. ….
Seth was born when Adam was 130 years of age.
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Enos was Seth's first son (Gen. 5:6). Notice, at this point, that Genesis chapters 4 and 5 are not in direct sequence. To find out anything additional about Enos, it is necessary to go back to Gen. 4:26. "... Then began men to call upon the name of the eternal." Now understand this point: the Hebrew here rendered "call upon" can mean, just as correctly, to "preach" or to "publish." (compare, for example, Matt. 24:14 and Mark 13:10 -- in the first the gospel is prophesied to be preached but, in the second instance. It is to be published.)
In short, this verse may be properly understood as, "then began men to preach or publish in the name of or by the authority of the eternal." In other words, this Hebrew expression means to communicate in general without distinguishing as to whether it is writing or speaking. And it may include both these methods. A few Jewish commentators have understood this verse to mark the beginning or origins of WRITING! In other words, the first people to use the written language and records (as well as to spread the knowledge of God by preaching) was the family of Seth and Enos.
Adam and Eve, back in the garden of Eden, had a spoken language. God put into Adam's mind … the … knowledge necessary to understand and to speak a verbal language in order to communicate with God. But God did not give man a ready-made written system of communication. Something's God leaves to man to develop and perfect. Writing was one of these arts. God wants man to work and build character in acquiring and preserving knowledge. Thus he left the development of this skill to man. The fact that the line of Seth, in the lifetime of Enos, perfected a beginning form of written communication is supported by verse 1 of chapter 5: "this is the book ..." Records were being kept.
This chapter 5 is a simple genealogy, an uncomplicated type of writing with no particular style or form, another indication that this was the beginning of written records.
Eight Preachers of Righteousness
A verse in the new testament, II Peter 2:5, provides a major point about the line of Seth. Notice that the word "person" is in italics. The way the verse stands in the King James version, the impression is given that Noah was the eighth person of the eight that were in the ark, but, in the original Greek, the meaning of the verse is this: "and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly ..." Noah, then, was the eighth preacher of righteousness in his line, beginning with Seth, Methuselah is not included -- he died the year of the flood. For the other six preachers of righteousness before the flood, see Genesis 5 and the accompanying chart. To repeat: the major cultural and social contribution of the family of Seth, in the society before the flood, was the art and skill of written language. The next question is, "what were the contributions of the family of Cain?" And "what were the results of their contributions?"
Immense Length of Life Before the Flood
Before answering these questions, it would be helpful in arriving at an understanding of the pre-flood world, to realize the impact of the great length of life these people experienced and what effect they had on the entire society.
The oldest human fossil remains prove this. One of the chief characteristics of all these remains is the extreme longevity characteristic of the skeletons. The massive proportions of the body. The great development of the muscular processes, the extreme wearing of the teeth -- without our characteristic amount of decay -- the obliteration of the sutures or seams between the various bones of the skull and the indications of slow ossification of the ends of the long bones, all point to the inevitable conclusion that the earliest man matured slowly and attained great length of life -- just as Genesis declares. Such characteristics of the skeletal frame are completely absent from modern degenerate man. That these ancient men did attain great age is demonstrated by the fact that their remains are usually found with fragmentary skeletons of youths and babies not exhibiting those characteristics. (chapter 5, "The Meeting Place of Geology and History" by Sir J. William Dawson, pp. 62-63.) These genuinely scientific findings do not prove that man has evolved. Rather, they substantiate the truth of the Bible that men in ancient times, unlike today, experienced centuries of physical life. It is also worthwhile to note in regard to this topic that in Antiquities I, III, 9, Josephus lists eleven ancient writers -- Manetho, Berossus, and [Hesiod] among them -- all of whom "relate that the ancients lived (nearly) a thousand year." True science and the records of ancient times again serve to corroborate the Bible.
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… in [the] seventh generation -- starting to count with Seth -- both the population and the sins of man began to multiply tremendously. This is what is recorded in Genesis 6:1: "... when man began to multiply on the face of the earth" -- "explode" -- then sins began to increase to such an extent that God had to exterminate the human race and make a fresh start with the family of Noah. How, in greater detail, this result came about is the story that remains to be told.
