Cain and Abel and The Long-Living Genesis Patriarchs | Middle East And North Africa

Home | Category: Genesis and the Early Parts of Bible / Genesis and the Early Parts of Bible

TIMELINE OF EARLY OLD TESTAMENT (3800-2001 B.C.)

Cain and Abel offer their sacrifices

Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It consists of 50 chapters, beginning with Creation, and covers 2,400 years of Biblical history. October 7, 3761 B.C. is the beginning date of the Hebrew (Jewish) calendar, according to scholar Rabbi Yossi ben Halafta, a 2nd century Rabbi. Adam and Eve were created in Year 1 of Hebrew calendar.

3630 B.C.: Seth born
3525 B.C.: Enosh born
ca. 3500 B.C.: Chalcolithic Period, first settlement
3435 B.C.: Kenan born
3365 B.C.: Mehalalel born
3300 B.C.: Yered born

3300 B.C.: First confirmed settlement of Gaza at Tell as-Sakan
3138 B.C.: Enoch born
3074 B.C.: Methusaleh born
2886 B.C.: Lemech born
2831 B.C.: Adam dies
ca. 2800 B.C.: Early Dynastic period (Akkad)

2704 B.C.: Noah born
ca. 2700-2400 B.C.: Old Kingdom period (Egypt)
ca. 2500-2200 B.C.: Ebla flourishes
ca. 2500 B.C.: First houses built in Jerusalem
ca. 2300-2200 B.C.: Priestess Enheduanna, first known author in the world
2203 B.C.: Shem born
2150 B.C.: The Flood
2100-1700 B.C.: Middle Kingdom period (Egypt)
[Source: Jewish Virtual Library, UC Davis, Fordham University]

Websites and Resources: Bible and Biblical History: Bible Gateway and the New International Version (NIV) of The Bible biblegateway.com ; King James Version of the Bible gutenberg.org/ebooks ; Bible History Online bible-history.com ; Biblical Archaeology Society biblicalarchaeology.org ; Judaism Virtual Jewish Library jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index ; Judaism101 jewfaq.org ; torah.org torah.org ; Chabad,org chabad.org/library/bible ; Internet Jewish History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu Christianity: BBC on Christianity bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity ; Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org ; Sacred Texts website sacred-texts.com ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Christian Origins sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Biblical Images: Bible in Pictures creationism.org/books ; Bible Blue Letter Images blueletterbible.org/images ; Biblical Images preceptaustin.org

Important Chapters of Genesis

Genesis is filled with murder, adultery, greed, jealousy, rape and incest as well as well as godly pronouncements and acts of loyalty and goodness. As is true with most of the Bible, most of the important figures are male. The female figures that are represented either mute or flawed, with Eve being the most famous example.

In Chapters 2 and 3, Adam Eve eat the forbidden fruit and are expelled from the Garden of Eden. The association of the serpent with the devil is something that was not implicit in the original story. The notion of "original sin" was first suggested by St. Augustine in the A.D. 5th century. There is nothing about it in the Bible as is the case with “the temptation of Adam,” “Seduction,” “the curse of Eve,” “Fall of Man,” or even “sin.” There is also in no mention of an apple.

In Chapter 4, Cain slays his younger brother Abel, then asks "Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain was the first person born by humans, the first man of religion and the first killer. According to the Bible, Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, developed agriculture and domesticated animals: “Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.”

In Chapters 6 through 9, the earth is engulfed by a catastrophic flood and Noah his family and lots of animals board the Ark. In Chapters 11, people build the Tower of Babel, God scatters them around the globe and creates different languages.

Genesis 4 Cain and Abel

Cain Slays Abel

Genesis 4 Adam[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. [b] She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. [Source: New International Version (NIV), biblegateway.com -]

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” -

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[f] east of Eden. -

Abel’s Funeral and Cain’s Marriage to His Sister in the Second Book of Adam And Eve:

The “First Book of Adam And Eve” and “Second Book of Adam And Eve: details the life and times of Adam and Eve after they were expelled from the garden and the lives of Cain and Abel. The books are considered by many scholars to be "Pseudepigrapha" — a collection of historical biblical works that are considered to be fiction. Because of that stigma, the books were not included in the compilation of the Holy Bible. Although considered to be pseudepigraphic by some, they carry significant meaning and insight into events of their time. It is doubtful that these writings could have survived all the many centuries if there were no substance to them. [Source: piney.com]

The first chapter of the “Second Book of Adam” goes: When Luluwa heard Cain's words, she wept and went to call her father and mother, and told them how that Cain had killed his brother Abel. 2 Then they all cried aloud and lifted up their voices, and slapped their faces, and threw dust upon their heads, and rent asunder their garments, and went out and came to the place where Abel was killed. 3 And they found him lying on the earth, killed, and beasts around him; while they wept and cried because of this just one. From his body, by reason of its purity, went forth a smell of sweet spices. 4 And Adam carried him, his tears streaming down his face; and went to the Cave of Treasures, where he laid him, and wound him up with sweet spices and myrrh. 5 And Adam and Eve continued by the burial of him in great grief a hundred and forty days. Abel was fifteen and a half years old, and Cain seventeen years and a half.

6 As for Cain, when the mourning for his brother was ended, he took his sister Luluwa and married her, without leave from his father and mother; for they could not keep him from her, by reason of their heavy heart. 7 He then went down to the bottom of the mountain, away from the garden, near to the place where he had killed his brother. 8 And in that place were many fruit trees and forest trees. His sister bare him children, who in their turn began to multiply by degrees until they filled that place.

After Cain

17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. -

19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.” -

25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[h] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on[i] the name of the Lord. -

Ten Patriarchs From Adam to Noah

Lamech and Cain

The Antediluvian Patriarchs is name that have been used to describe the earliest patriarchs or rulers in the Bible from Adam to Noah. The Bible enumerates ten patriarchs. A genealogical table of them is given in Genesis V. Their names, lifetime, and age at which they begot their successors are systematically listed. [Source: C. Van Den Biesen, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913]

The list of the patriarchs begins: "This is the book of the generations of Adam". The thread of the same narrative is said to be further continued in chapter vi, 9, by means of the same phrase: "These are the generations of Noah". The intervening chapters, scholars say, belongs to an older account of the primeval time.

Six of the ten patriarchs also occur in the list of the descendants of Cain. The table of Cainites is given in chapter iv, verses 17-18. The six names, supposed to be the same in both registers, are Cain or Cainan, Henoch, Irad or Jared, Maviael or Malaleel, Mathusael or Mathusala, and Lamech. The different manner in which some of the names are spelled in the parallel list is held to be insignificant.

Genesis 5: From Adam to Noah

Genesis 5 This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind”[a] when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. 6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[b] of Enosh. 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. [Source: New International Version (NIV), biblegateway.com -]

9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died. - 12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died. 15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died. -

18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. -

25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died. - 28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah[c] and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. 32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Ages of the Ten Patriarchs From Adam to Noah

The following table contains the names of the patriarchs with their respective ages according to the Hebrew text, Septuagint, and Samaritan Bible; also the names of the reign of the ten Babylonian kings. The first number is the age at which the patriarch begot his successor, the second the remainder of his years, the third the total number of his years. The list of Babylonian kings is taken from Vigouroux (Dict. de la bible):

Adam:
Hebrew: 130 + 800 = 930
Samaritan: 130 + 800 = 930
Chaldean: 230 + 700 = 930
King (Alorus): 10 sares (185 civil years; 36,000 astronomical years)

Seth:
Hebrew: 105 + 807 = 912
Samaritan: 105 + 807 = 912
Chaldean: 205 + 707 = 912
Babylonian king (Alaparus): 3 sares (55.5 civil; 10,800 astronomical)

Enos:
Hebrew: 90 + 815 = 905
Samaritan: 90 + 815 = 905
Chaldean: 190 + 715 = 905
Babylonian king (Almelon): 13 sares (240.5 civil; 46,800 astronomical)

Lifespan of the patriarchs, click to see it

Cainan:
Hebrew: 70 + 840 = 910
Samaritan: 70 + 840 = 910
Chaldean: 170 + 740 = 910
Babylonian king (Ammenon): 12 sares (222 civil; 43,200 astronomical)

Malaleel:
Hebrew: 65 + 830 = 895
Samaritan: 65 + 830 = 895
Chaldean: 165 + 730 = 895
Babylonian king (Amegalarus): 18 sares (333 civil; 64,800 astronomical)

Jared:
Hebrew: 162 + 800 = 962
Samaritan: 62 + 785 = 847
Chaldean: 162 + 800 = 962
Babylonian king (Daonus): 10 sares (185 civil; 36,000 astronomical)

Henoch:
Hebrew: 65 + 300 = 365
Samaritan: 65 + 300 = 365
Chaldean: 165 + 200 = 365
Babylonian king (Edoranchus): 18 sares (333 civil; 64,800 astronomical)

Mathusala:
Hebrew: 187 + 782 = 969
Samaritan: 67 + 653 = 720
Chaldean: 167 + 802 = 969
Babylonian king (Amempsinus): 10 sares (185 civil; 36,000 astronomical)

Lamech:
Hebrew: 182 + 595 = 777
Samaritan: 53 + 600 = 653
Chaldean: 188 + 565 = 753
Babylonian king (Otiartes): 8 sares (148 civil; 28,800 astronomical)

Noah:
Hebrew: 500 (before Sem's birth) + 100 (from Sem to the Flood)
Samaritan: 500 + 100
Chaldean: 500 + 100
Babylonian king (Xisuthrus): 18 sares (333 civil years; 64,800 astronomical years)

Total:
Hebrew: 1,656 years to the flood
Samaritan: 1,307 years to the flood
Chaldean: 2,242 years to the flood
Babylonian kings: 120 sares (12,220 civil years; 432,000 astronomical years)

Calculating the Ages of the Ten Patriarchs

In fixing upon the number ten as the number of patriarchs the author may have followed some ancient and perhaps widely spread tradition. The list of the ten patriarchs with their abnormally long lifetime resembles that of the first ten Babylonian kings as recorded by Berosus, Eusebius, Chron. Arm., I, i, t. XIX, col 107-108. According to Vigouroux,, the tradition of ten ancient ancestors is found also with other groups, such as the Hindus, with their ten Pitris or forefathers, comprising Brahma and the nine Bramadikas; among the ancient Germans and Scandinavians, with their belief in the ten ancestors of Odin. But it is equally possible that the number ten is simply due to a systematic method of computation. Thus the pro-historic age from Adam to Abraham was to comprehend twenty generations, ten from Adam to Noe, and ten from Sem to Thare. A similar systematic arrangement we have in the genealogical table of Christ in St. Matthew containing three times fourteen generations.

As the table shows, the original text and its two versions differ greatly in fixing the number of years from Adam to the Flood. In the Hebrew Bible the number is 1,656, in the Samaritan, 1,307; in the Septuagint, 2,242. On a closer examination it will be found that the difference between the Hebrew text and the Septuagint is chiefly occasioned by the systematic addition of 100 years which the Septuagint has made to the age of six patriarchs at the birth of their successors. The Samaritan on the contrary has in the case of three patriarchs deducted 100 years. No reliable clue that we know of has as yet been found for deciding which of the computations is the original. Presumption is on the side of the one in the Hebrew text being the oldest text of the three. On the other hand, the Samaritan has the advantage that the lifetime of the three patriarchs Jared, Methusala, and Lamech has been shortened, so that there is a gradual decrease in the number of years of each patriarch from Adam to Noe.

In the table of the ten Babylonian kings the length of their reign is calculated by means of sares. Berosus counts 120 sares. The sare has an astronomical value of 3,600 years and a civil value of eighteen and one-half years (Vigouroux). According to the first estimation of the sare, the total number of years for the ten kings would be 432,000, according to the second 2,220. The efforts made to bring the sares or 432,000 years of the Babylonian kings, into harmony with the 1,656 years of the patriarchs (e.g. by equating seven Hebrew days with five Chaldean years) have yielded no satisfactory result.

Methuselah

Methuselah was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He had the longest lifespan of anyone in the Bible, living to the age of 969. According to the Book of Genesis, Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah. Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1 Chronicles, Genesis, and the Gospel of Luke. Methuselah life is described in further detail in other texts such as the Book of Enoch, Slavonic Enoch, and the Book of Moses. [Source: Wikipedia]

As part of the genealogy linking Adam to Noah, Genesis 5:21–27 reads: When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him. When Methuselah had lived one hundred eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech. Methuselah lived after the birth of Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years; and he died.”

According to the Hebrew Bible, Methuselah begets Lamech and then lives 782 more years. When Lamech is 182 he begets Noah, and the Genesis Flood comes when Noah is 600 years old. This would imply that Methuselah dies the year of the Flood, but the Bible does not say anything about this.

Bible scholars have offered various explanations as to why the Book of Genesis describes him as having died at such an advanced age; some believe that Methuselah's age is the result of a mistranslation, while others believe that his age is used to give the impression that part of Genesis takes place in a very distant past. Methuselah's name has become synonymous with longevity, and he has been portrayed and referenced in film, television and music.

How Could the Patriarchs Live So Long

from the Autobiography of Methuselah, 1909

Various theories have been advanced for explaining the abnormally long lifetime of the patriarchs. They may be classified into three groups:

1) The Literal and Historical Interpretation: The genealogical table is accepted as a record of the past and as possessing the ordinary certainty of history. The ten patriarchs are held actually to have lived the long life assigned to them. The object which God intended by this extraordinary longevity is said to have been the increase of men on earth and the preservation of ancient tradition. In answer to the objection that the system of the human body does not permit of so long a lifetime, it is argued that a special providence of God had favoured the ancients with a peculiar organization and constitution of body, and had provided for them a special kind of food and climate. Thus already Josephus: "Let no one make the shortness of our lives at present an argument that neither the Patriarchs attained so long a duration of life; for those ancients were beloved of God and made by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the prolongation of life; and besides God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, etc." Furthermore in corroboration of the Biblical account he names as witnesses the historians Manetho the Egyptian, Berosus the Chaldean, Mochus, Hesitaeus, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and others, who all bore testimony to the longevity of primeval man. Ant., I, III, 9. [Source: C. Van Den Biesen, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913]

2) The Metaphorical Interpretation: The names of the ten patriarchs signify ten dynasties or tribes. Each dynasty might have comprised a succession of several rulers. The explanation is ingenious. It may be doubted, however, whether this was the meaning of the narrator. By naming the patriarchs he seems to have meant one individual. For he states the age at which the patriarch begot the son who was to succeed him. Others argue that the Hebrew word, Shanah, in the list of the ten patriarchs signifies the duration not of a year, but of a month. But in that case Enos begot his successor when he was eight years of age, and Malaleel and Henoch begot theirs when they were five. Others again, but without sufficient ground, say that the year is to be taken as a year of three months from Adam unto Abraham, of eight months unto Joseph, and only after him are we to allow for it the natural duration.

3) The Mythical Interpretation: We have already pointed out that according to the theory of the documentary composition of the Pentateuch, chapter v belongs to the original history named by the critics the "Priestly Code". If the genealogical dates recorded in that narrative are examined, a gradual and systematic shortening of man's lifetime is distinctly noticeable. From Adam to Noah the duration of man's life ranges from 500 to 1,000 years. From Sem to Thare it ranges from 200 to 600 (xi, 10-32). From Abraham to Moses, from 100 to 200. Abraham lived 175 years; Isaac, 180; Jacob, 147 (Gen.. xxxv, 28; xxv, 7; xlvii, 28). After that the average human life is 70 or 80 years. "And the days of our years in them are three score and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years" (Ps., lxxxix, 10). Critics, moreover, hold as we have seen, that according to the original structure of the "Priestly Code" the genealogical table in chapter v immediately followed the account of the Creation in chapter i. If so, the narrative of this Code contained no mention of paradise, nor of man's immortality, fall, and punishment. On the other hand it may have been the opinion of the author of this Code that the smooth and even course of man's life, the result of his continued state of innocence, contributed to the possibility of his attaining a preternaturally old age. But when this primordial innocence was lost the duration of man's life was shortened. Thus the longevity of the patriarchs would agree with the notion of the primeval oetas aurea, a fabulous period of innocence and happiness.

Image Sources: Wikimedia, Commons, Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bible in Bildern, 1860

Text Sources: Internet Jewish History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “ Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); “Old Testament Life and Literature” by Gerald A. Larue, New International Version (NIV) of The Bible, biblegateway.com; Wikipedia, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Times of London, The New Yorker, Reuters, AP, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2024