fame, who could thus yield to the authority of her parents, and suffer herself to be joined in marriage with an accursed murderer.
254. To myself, the first opinion appears to be much nearer the truth, that he murdered his brother after his marriage with his sister; because we have so clear a testimony in the text concerning the division of the inheritance. And in that case, the necessity lay on the wife to follow her husband. As wife and husband are one body and one flesh, Adam had no desire to separate them; moreover, the wife is bound to bear her part of the calamities of her husband. Just in the same manner as the posterity of Cain enjoyed a part of those blessings which were bestowed of God upon the innocent wife, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was saved in the time of Joseph, and the King of Nineveh was saved in the time of his calamity, although neither of them belonged to the people of God. And so I also believe that some were saved out of the posterity of Cain, although Cain himself had utterly lost the promise concerning the blessed seed.
B. The Posterity of Cain in Detail; The Generations of Cain
- The names were given to the descendants of Cain, not by accident,
but by special thought and with a definite meaning 255.
1. Of Enoch.
a. The meaning of his name 255-256.
b. Is the first in Cain’s posterity and the beginning of the temporal blessing 256.
- Why Cain built a city 257-258.
2. Irad and the meaning of his name. It was not given without a purpose 259.
3. Mehujael and the meaning of his name 260.
- The means the false church uses to suppress the true Church 260.
4. Methushael and the meaning of his name 261.
5. Lamech.
a. What his name signifies 262.
- Cain’s descendants persecute the true Church. Yet some of
Cain’s posterity were saved 263.
b. The reason he took two wives 264.
c. Who were his wives 265.
d. His sons, Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-cain, and his daughter Naamah 266-268.
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Why Moses mentions the various arts of Cain’s descendants
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Whether poverty drove Cain’s descendants to the arts 269-270.
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As the false church was before the flood so is she still, and
will remain so to the end of the world 271.
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How the Cainites increased and oppressed the true Church 272.
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Why the Scriptures do not mention that some of the Cainites
were saved 272.
e. Of his haughty speech, “I have slain a man etc.”
(1) This is difficult to understand, and has been poorly treated by interpreters 273.
(2) The fable explanation of these words by the Jews refuted 274-275.
(3) How others explained them 275.
(4) Luther’s understanding of them 276-277.
f. Whether Lamech slew Cain, and thereby made himself famous g. How he attempted to be ruler upon Adam’s death 279.
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How the Church is oppressed from both sides 279.
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Why Moses mentions the blood descendants of Cain with such
care 280.
h. Cain is not sorry for his deed, but even boasts of it 281.
- The nature of the Cain church 281.
i. How he seeks to avoid being slain by others 282.
- The pope has the conscience of Cain and Lamech 282.
j. He is a type of all the children of this world 283.
- How the devil drives the Cainites to rage against the Church
under the guise of being holy 284.
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The true Church from the very beginning had to shed her blood
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The tyranny of Popes Julius II and Clement VII 285.
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God at all times severely punished the persecutors of his
Church 286.
k. How Lamech still wished to defend his deed 287.
l. He had no Word of God, but was filled with pride 288.
B. The Posterity of Cain in Detail
255. As regards the names of Cain’s offspring, I believe that, in common with those of the holy patriarchs, they indicate not an absence of purpose or a random selection, but a definite purpose and a prophecy. Thus “Adam” signifies a man of, or taken out of, the red earth. “Eve” signifies the mother of life, or of the living. “Cain” signifies possession. “Abel” signifies vanity. And we find that also among the Gentiles many names have such a significance; not seldom names are found which are truly prophetic. “Enoch” is a prophetic name, expressive of hope in the future as a relief to Cain’s mind, or rather to his wife’s, for it was the latter who called the son she bore Enoch, from the Hebrew Hanach, which signifies, “she dedicated,” or “she devoted.”