Genesis 5:12-14 “And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.”
The name Cainan comes from the Hebrew root word qên, contracted from kaw-nan’, which means to nestle, nest, or build and occupy a nest. (Strongs H7064, e-Sword app). Cainan lived up to his name and set a new “nesting” record by having his first child at the tender age of seventy, twenty years younger than his father Enos when he started his family. Not only did Cainan net 25 more years with his kids than his father had with his children, but instead of dying younger than his progenitor the way his dad did, Cainan had a lifespan five years longer than his dad’s, and fell just two years shy of reaching his grandfather Seth’s age. The record of his life might have disolved fears about a possible link between young fatherhood and shorter life expectancy, except that we can be fairly certain that nobody was thinking about those kind of statistics yet. With Adam, Seth and Enos all still alive, there wasn’t really any life-expectancy data in yet, nor would there be for several generations to come! The same year that his great-great-great grandson Lamech started a family of his own with the birth of Noah, Cainan was 731 years old and would still live another 179 years, while his father Enos was 821, and would still live for another 84 years!
Even in today’s supersonic digital world, it still requires time for natural developments to provide enough data to form a clear picture when something is new. Following popular trends and customs may often seem harmless to begin with, but as time goes by, the consequences will begin to reveal themselves. It's better to learn to be patient and not be too hasty in drawing conclusions.
Comments
Post a Comment