Let’s read Genesis 6:5-10. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (NKJV).  If we were to read the rest of the chapter, we would see God telling Noah that He was going to destroy ALL FLESH “with the earth” (verse 13) and that Noah was to make an ark to prepare for a universal flood. Noah was obedient to God’s command and in chapter seven we see Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, entering the ark and then the flood came. The last verses tell us that “He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground…they were destroyed from the earth…Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive” (verse 23).

We know from these verses that only 8 souls survived the flood, Noah and his family. Were any of them from the line of Cain? We simply don’t know, for we don’t know anything about the wives of Noah, Shem, Ham, And Japheth. It would SEEM they were NOT from the line of Cain based on Cain’s genealogy in Genesis 4:16-24, for it ends with a son named Tubal-Cain in verse 22 (who was seven generations from Cain). Did they intermingle with the line of Seth? We don’t know the answer to that either, though we do know that the godly line of Seth was eventually corrupted for all but Noah’s family perished in the flood because of their wickedness. We read above of Noah being a “just man, perfect in his generations” and that he “walked with God.” This leads me to believe that he would not have allowed his sons to marry anyone from the ungodly line of Cain. I conclude then that all men and women who were born AFTER the flood are from the line of Seth.

Before we end this meditation, we can praise God that in His plan for mankind’s salvation, He made sure that the godly line of Seth was preserved. We read in Genesis 4:25-26, “And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth…And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD.” We have Seth’s full genealogy in chapter 5, ending with Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Even though most in the line of Seth became wicked, God, in His grace, preserved a godly line so that in time the Savior of the world could be born. We have two genealogies of Jesus Christ mentioned in the New Testament. The first is in Matthew 1:1-16 which is traced back to Abraham. The second is in Luke 3:23-38 which is traced back to Seth and Adam (see verse 38). Seth’s line is the “godly line” and I believe Cain’s “ungodly line” was all destroyed in the flood. After the flood Seth’s godly line continued through Noah and his three sons, which means they are indeed the ancestors of all who are alive today.  (DO)  (618.1)