Genesis
4:19 ¶ And Lamech took unto him two
wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of
such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the
father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an
instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain
was Naamah.
Genesis
4:23 ¶ And Lamech said unto his wives,
Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for
I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly
Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Here are listed
some originators of professions, crafts, and cultures such as the nomad who
herds animals, the musician, and the iron and brass worker. This is not to say
that these were the only professions, crafts, and cultures but the way they are
listed they may only be meant for examples. They are representatives of the
endeavors of man down through the ages, their beginnings. The Pre-Flood
civilization may have been far more advanced than we would ever realize. Most
of history is buried in the dirt and all the spades and shovels of
archaeologists will never dig it up as the historians, Will and Ariel Durant
noted. Also, an article in the MIT Technology Review from April, 2018 went over
in detail how unlikely it would be for us today to uncover an advanced, ancient
industrial and highly advanced technological society assuming one existed.[1]
Here also,
according to a disputed and controversial extra-Biblical tradition, is the wife
of Noah, Naamah. If that were true, and we have no proof or even suggestion in
the Bible that it is, then mankind also descends from Cain, as well as Adam’s
son, Seth. The knowledge and skills gained by these men would be passed on to
the three sons of Noah who began populating the entire earth after the Flood.
Here also
continues the abuse of God’s word and of His commands and of His ordinances,
going beyond what He said as Eve did or using His words as an excuse for sin as
Christians often do. Just as Job’s three friends misrepresent God, insisting
that if something bad happens to you then you must have done evil to deserve it
so Christians will say, just because God allowed something, even an opinion of
a Bible writer or a cultural reference specific to the time in which it was
written, that God meant it for a rule that is to be enforced mercilessly on the
congregation. Christians often choose to either twist God’s words, His
intentions, or even to go beyond what He has said with alcohol, dress,
relationships between men and women, and many other issues that reflect their
own bigotry, fear, and paranoia rather than a desire to please God. Here, God
specifically protected Cain from revenge for his murder of Abel but Lamech will
murder another man and insist that he is worthy of even more protection than
Cain. “After all,” Lamech would say if he were a fundamentalist preacher today,
“God said it, its Bible, so it must mean what I want it to mean and who cares
about the context?”
This begins the
justification for the extreme violence of the pre-Flood civilization that must
have been characterized by a callous disregard for life, a savagery that would
have maintained powerful warlords at the top of the heap, with people seeking
their protection. This is not unlike our European, Asian, and African heritage
and in countries like Somalia and the Sudan today.
[1]
Emerging Technology from the arXiv, “If we weren’t the first industrial
civilization earth, would we ever know?” MIT Technology Review, April
20, 2018, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610886/if-we-werent-the-first-industrial-civilization-on-earth-would-we-ever-know/?utm_campaign=site_visitor.unpaid.engagement&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social_share&utm_content=2020-01-26&fbclid=IwAR3TNeFdeSFNTw298a11coyfkAhISkTLu8CJr8p3JDo347GJOq0HOrxivVM.
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