With or Without: Genesis 4:17-26
The choice is yours. God gives us free will. We can choose as we please, although there are always consequences. Ultimately, we can walk with God or walk away form Him.
Cain heads off into the world to live the rest of his life having been cursed. He produces an heir because he has a wife. We aren’t told if Cain had a wife who went with him or if he found a wife as he was wandering through the world. Either way, Cain’s lineage would continue. Well, it would continue until the flood.
Cain’s offspring aren’t noteworthy until we get to Lamech. While I’m not a person who enjoys doing theology by numerology on a regular basis – especially as a teacher of mathematics I have to acknowledge that sometimes numbers are just numbers – it can occasionally by neat to see how numbers remind us of deeper truths. Lamech is Cain’s sixth generation, and the number six is representative of falling just short of God (which is why 666, or three sixes, is considered the number of Satan).
Like Cain, Lamech kills someone. Lamech feels enough pride over the event to brag about it. Lamech not only brags but he lifts Cain’s story up to make it more acceptable. Lamech claims if Cain was protected sevenfold, then he should be protected seventy-sevenfold.
This boast is considerably deeper than it seems at first pass, and I do believe the author of Genesis is evoking a bit of numerology here. When Lamech evokes Cain’s memory in conjunction with the number seven, he remembers that Cain was divinely protected. The number seven is considered God’s number of completion. When Lamech declared his protection is seventy-sevenfold, he is essentially claiming a double dose of divine protection.
There’s a rather significant issue with this declaration. Nowhere does Lamech mention God’s name. Lamech believes he deserves more protection from God than Cain received, yet Lamech doesn’t once give God credit. Lamech, like Cain, isn’t interested in genuine relationship with God. Lamech wants to invoke God when it suits him without having a true relationship.
From this account we see Cain’s legacy in full force. Cain’s story about how he murdered Abel certainly passed from generation to generation. Cain’s story about God’s protection over him was likewise passed along. Cain’s lack of relationship with God was also passed down the generations.
In contrast, we hear about Adam and Eve. They may have sinned, but they continued their relationship with God. When Eve bears a new son, she remembers God and His part of the act. Adam and Eve may not be perfect, but their relationship with God continues.
God doesn’t expect perfection, but he does desire relationship. He knows we won’t be perfect, but He accepts repentance and restored relationship. Like Cain, we have the freedom to walk away and leave that legacy if we desire. Like Adam and Eve, we can make mistakes and continue to walk with God. The choice is yours.
