Cain and the Seed of the Woman

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." (Gen 4:1 ESV)

From Genesis 3 to the end of the Old Testament, the entire story centers around the promise of a coming Messiah who would crush the serpent's head. Chapter three ends with the punishment upon Adam and Eve for their sin in the Garden of Eden. Yet mingled in the curse upon the Serpent there is a promise of a seed. There would be enmity between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman which would one day be culminated when a specific descendant of Eve would defeat the Serpent of old. Chapter three ends with the grace of God when he made coverings for Adam and Eve out of animal skins, and the discipline of God as Adam and Eve were exiled from Paradise--East of Eden.

The next passage in the narrative picks up with a birth. The curse foretold that Eve would have seed, and that there would be difficulty in childbearing, so it is important to see a connection between these stories. The announcement of Cains birth was in answer to the promise of God. Yet the words used suggest that there is a problem before Cain and Abel ever bring their sacrifice. Eve names Cain with a word based on the verb for what she says she has done. She says, "I have "Cained" a man, with the LORD." The word means to acquire or to get, and while the ESV says "with the help of the LORD," the Hebrew text is more ambiguous. When she says this, is she meaning with God's help? Or is she meaning alongside him? Did Eve mean to take credit as though she had acquired Cain in her own effort--in a manner equal with what God can do? Ultimately, it is too ambiguous to be dogmatic about, but it would fit with a repeated theme within Genesis if she does claim to do it on her own. It would fit with the Tower of Babel when the people sought to make a name for themselves, and it would fit with Abraham and Sarah, when Sarah gave Hagar to her husband to acquire a seed through the work of man. Either way, there is reason to think that Eve saw Cain as a fulfillment of the promised seed. The question in an attentive reader's mind must be, "Is Cain the one? Is he the seed that was promised in 3:15?"

As the narrative continues it becomes clear that this expectation is wrong. Instead of destroying the seed of the Serpent, Cain appears to BE the seed of the Serpent who had enmity with his brother. This brings a tension to the story. Up to that point, the only sons of Adam and Eve that we had read about were Cain and Able. The first born was a murderer, and the second was dead, and the question remains, "how will God's promise of a seed be answered?" 

The last verses of chapter four answer the question. After tracing the line of Cain's descendants, the narrator returns to Adam and Eve and tells us that they had another son--Seth. It also tells us that in the days of Seth's son, men began to call upon the name of the LORD. Chapter 5 consists of Seth's genealogy and it comes to an end in Noah, another seed who was expected to bring the people rest and who saved all of mankind. The last verses of this story tell us that the LORD provided a seed who though whom the promise would ultimately come to fruition. As Genesis continues, the seed promise is narrowed down to the line of Abraham, and even to the line of Judah. And as New Testament believers, we know that the seed was ultimately fulfilled by Jesus the Son of David. 

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him." (Gen 4:25 ESV)