Prototype People

Genesis 4:25-26 KJV

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

No doubt Adam and Eve had many man sons and daughters as:

·       This was the command of God before their sin and included in Eve's curse after

·       This is the only explanation for how Cain and Seth could have wives

·       This is the reasonable conclusion of a couple who thrive to an age approaching one thousand.

Just three of their children are named because the accounts of these three are significant to the story of the furthering of the human race:

Cain, the prototype sinner

Presumably the first born, Cain inherited his father's occupation (and, may I add, curse) of tilling the ground. He also inherits his father's sin nature.[1]

·       He is self willed

·       He is irreligious

·       He is dispassionate

Abel, the prototype of the persecuted

Of Abel we know little except that:

·       he tended sheep[2]

·       he offered an acceptable sacrifice to God

·       he was slain for nothing but the jealousy of Cain

Seth, the prototype believer.

Seth possesses the same sin nature as Cain but pursues an entirely different course of life despite it. It is intriguing to note the similarities between the names of Cain's family and those of Seth's they were both responding to the world around them and recording their responses through the names of their children.

But it is also important to note the differences. They each responded to the same stimuli but they interpreted those stimuli through different lenses.

·       Cain saw them as one who had departed from the presence of the Lord

·       Abel saw the same things as one who began to call upon the name of the Lord

We too have opportunity to respond to life situations as either a rejecter or embracer of God. How we respond will change the course of our lives and that of our children and children's children.

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[1] Every child does but Cain represents that inheritance.

[2] This may be viewed as an exception to the curse, a “one up” over the curse.