SEMESTER 1
414 – Man’s Early Economic and Social State
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: BIBLE SURVEY I LESSON # 14
MAN’S EARLY ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STATE
Read: Gen. 4:16-24
and Gen. 6:1-7.
INTRODUCTION:
1. This is another area where the Bible and evolution hopelessly clash.
2. Evolution claims that early man evolved through a process of improvements.
i. With the intelligence of animals.
ii. Eating their meat raw, then learning of fire.
3. The Bible teaches that the first two men born were:
i. Religious men, husbandmen, and herdsmen.
ii. That they built a very sophisticated society.
I. THE APPARENT TIME SPAN
1. We have the time span from Adam to the flood of 1656 years revealed in Scripture (through the lineage of Seth).
2. We do not have ages of the descendants of Cain, but we do show 7 generations.
3. If their life span was equal to that of Seth’s lineage, they would have continued to the flood. (There is no evidence of an age difference.)
4. This is based on the fact that Methuselah, the seventh generation from Adam, lived until the year of the flood.
II. DIFFERENCES AND LIKENESSES OF THE TWO LINES
1. Seth’s lineage has the age account, and the sons through whom Christ came. (Gen. 5)
2. Cain’s lineage has the account of their social, agricultural and technical achievements. (Gen. 4:16-22)
3. They had in common sin and judgment. (Gen. 6:1-7)
III. ANGELS OR MEN IN GEN. 6:2
1. There has been much discussion as to whether Gen. 6:2 “The sons of God,” refers to Seth’s offspring, or a race of fallen angels.
2. I have read good discourses on both, but hold peacefully to the “sons of Seth” persuasion for the following reasons:
i. The angel theory assumes reproductive ability of angels, which Scripture seems to deny. (Mat. 22:30)
ii. It supposes a pre-human population of angels on the earth, which Scripture in no way hints at.
iii. The observation of God, was of man’s condition, not angels’; (Gen. 6:5)
iv. The pronunciation of judgment and destruction was of men, not angels. (Gen. 6:7)
v. The means of destruction (drowning) related to a respiratory system which is not a revealed, or implied, property of angels. (Gen. 6:17)
IV. THE CIVILIZATION OF CAIN’S OFFSPRING
Very much contrary to the idea of “ignorant cave men,” Cain’s offspring was an industrious and ingenious people.
1. The first man ever born built some sort of a city, localized, recognized and named. (Gen. 4:17)
2. They named their children names with significant meanings.
3. They kept some manner of family history, since Lamech knew of God’s decree concerning Cain. (Gen. 4:24)
4. They knew the difference in murder and self-defense killing. (Gen. 4:23-24)
5. They did take wives, claim their offspring and basically practice monogamy.
6. They dwelt in tents and had cattle. (Gen. 4:20)
7. They made and played sophisticated musical instruments. (Gen. 4:21)
8. They wrought brass and iron. (Gen. 4:22)
9. This of necessity implies the knowledge and ability required for refining these metals.
10. We, thus, conclude that man was created upright with great amounts of knowledge.