Genesis 4:17 - 5:32: Generations - Seth to Noah

Following Genesis’s specific story of history’s first broken family, we come to the book’s first transition: hundreds of years go by after the story of Cain and Abel, and at least ## generations of their family multiply greatly. But as they do so, most don’t fill the earth with God’s image. Instead, they pursue their own image by their own power. Humans establish new family norms (4:17-24), new forms of wickedness (6:1-8), and new ways to pursue and independence from God. And yet, in the midst of evil, division, and broken power dynamics, God preserves a remnant of his faithful sons and daughters – from the redemptive son Seth, born to Adam and Eve; to the people in chapter 5 who walked faithfully, God continued to show faithfulness to his purpose in the world, to and through his people. Every day we have a decision to make: whether to pursue God’s ways or the wickedness of the world. As we pursue the first, we can look to and rely on Jesus to lead us, as a greater “redemptive son” than Seth, and as the one who is faithful to us even in our unfaithfulness to God.

[If you’re following along with Salt & Light’s story-by-story walk-through of Genesis, here are Nicole Tatum’s teachings on Genesis 3 & Genesis 4:1-16.]