As Earth Churns…23. Heaven

The Heavenly Herald had become a huge success. Angels could be seen everywhere reading and discussing the events about which Rafael’s tabloid told in much detail. The specifics of Cain’s murder of Abel, as the editor had gleaned from both the Son and the Father, had only been embellished slightly.

The big news on this day was what had occurred just East of Eden, about 16 years after that infamous murder. The Herald headline read, “Adam and Eve become grandparents!” The story reiterated what all knew from a previous article years before. The facts were that Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Adam and Even were 130 years old when this third son of theirs was born.

Seth had grown up well in the footsteps of his brother Abel to be a good son and respectful of God and all He expected. Now Seth’s wife had given birth to a son. They called his name Enosh. A sideline to the story was that at that time men began to call on the name of the Lord. Seth made no secret of his desire to praise and proclaim his faith and love for his heavenly Father.

In the same issue of the tabloid, as was Rafael’s custom, there was an extensive update as to the happenings in the life and times of the criminal outcast Cain. Cain’s wife had given birth to a son whom they named Enoch. Cain had settled down in his wanderings around Nod long enough to build a city. He named it after his son. True to God’s word and the mark of Cain, the murderer lived to an old age seeing his first three children, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain and even his great-great-great-great grandson Lamech.

Rafael detailed how Jabal was becoming the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock; his brother Jubal was the father of all who played the harp and flute, a very musically-talented man. Jubal would often go out to the fields in the evening and serenade the herds that Jabal tended. Jabal welcomed the distraction.

Their half-brother Tubal-Cain was talented in his own right. He forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. By all accounts their father Lamech was quite a warrior and took no guff from any man. Evidence of this was recounted by Rafael in that edition of the Herald about the time when 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. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.

[to be continued]