NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible CBSB_Digital Sampler | Page 17
Genesis 5:2 | 15
25
Adam made love to his wife a gain,
and she gave b
irth to a son and n
amed
him Seth, a s saying, “God has granted me
another c hild in place of Abel, since Cain
killed him.” t 26 Seth also had a son, and he
named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on b the
name of the L ord . u
4:25 s Ge 5:3
t ver 8
4:26 u Ge 12:8;
1Ki 18:24;
Ps 116:17;
Joel 2:32;
Zep 3:9;
Ac 2:21; 1Co 1:2
5:1 v Ge 1:27;
Eph 4:24;
Col 3:10
4:26 call on the name of the L ord . Just as there is no
implication that only Cain’s line had cities and the arts of
civilization, so the text does not imply that only the line
of Seth called on the name of the Lord. About a dozen
times in the OT people are said to call on the name of
the Lord — generally either calling for help in connec-
tion with a ritual or invoking God’s presence at a cultic
From Adam to Noah
This is the written account of Adam’s
family line.
5
When God created mankind, he made
them in the likeness of God. v 2 He created
a 25
Seth probably means granted. b 26 Or to
proclaim
site. Eventually humans sought to procure the presence
of God through establishing cultic places and perform-
ing rituals there, but here there is no indication of these
trappings. Thus it seems that people began to invoke the
Lord’s presence (the presence that was lost at the fall). This
verse, then, represents the beginning of religion.
GENESIS 4:26
T
The Name of God
he personal name “Yahweh” (NIV “L ord ”) is used frequently throughout Gen-
esis. The patriarchs address God by that name, and God identifies himself by that
name. But a problem surfaces in Exodus: At the burning bush Moses asks what
name he should give for the God who is sending him — even though God has already
identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ex 3:6 – 13). In Ex 3:15,
the name Yahweh (NIV “L ord ”) is introduced and it seems to some interpreters that
God is giving a new name not previously revealed.
The situation is made more confusing in Ex 6:2 – 3, where God says to Moses, “I am
the L ord [Yahweh]. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-
Shaddai], but by my name the L ord [Yahweh], I did not make myself fully known to
them.” Verses such as these have led some to postulate that the occurrence of Yahw eh
in the patriarchal narratives is simply the work of the editor of Genesis, showing the
continuity between the patriarchs and later Israel.
The fact that Genesis takes its final form no earlier than the time of Moses has
allowed some conservative scholars to be content with viewing the references to
Yahweh in the patriarchal narratives as purposeful intrusion. To them, the name of
Yahweh was added in appropriate places to affirm that the patriarchs really did wor-
ship the same God as the Israelites, though they called him by a different name. This
may be acceptable in some cases, but it does not explain the passages in which God
is presented as identifying himself as Yahweh.
In Ex 3:13, Moses is not looking to fill an information gap concerning God’s iden-
tity, but rather, is asking which previously known epithet is most appropriate to use.
In Ex 3:15, God explains that the epithet Yahweh (NIV “L ord ”) is the appropriate
one. In Ex 6:3 God explains that El-Shaddai (NIV “God Almighty”) was the epithet
most appropriately connected with how God interacted with the patriarchs and what
he accomplished for them. They did not experience firsthand the significance of the
epithet Yahweh, which was connected to the longer-term promises of God, specifi-
cally the land. In other words, it is not that the patriarchs were ignorant of the name
Yahweh, but the epithet El-Shaddai was appropriate for the aspects of the covenant
they experienced. The name Yahweh was one of many epithets they used to refer to
their God, but it was not the primary one in their usage or understanding. ◆