Knowing The Word in Genesis 4:25-26, Seth's Family

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed [to place or replace] for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” [Seth’s name basically means “substitute.” He prefigures Jesus who is the ultimate substitute.] 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. [For the first time a father names his son. Like Adam, Enosh can be used as a proper name or just as a word for “man.”] At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. [People began to worship God, probably in prayer and sacrifice. There is hope in the line of Seth. This chapter has traced the line of the development of technology and the arts on one hand and on the other the growth of violence.]

The line of Cain and the anticipated line of Seth illustrate the divergent lines of man and are summed up well in 1 John 3:11-24: 11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.