Bible Quiz #3 -- Descendants of Adam & Eve

[See "Bible Quiz #2 -- Garden of Eden" ]

In addition to its obvious religious importance, the Bible is a significant work of literature. However, much of what we know about the Bible is through hearsay and forgotten lessons. The following is an educational lesson of sorts. It is in "quiz" format, but it will not affect your grade point average.

The Bible in this case refers to the Hebrew Scriptures: the TANACH. For the translation from Hebrew, I will use the American Jewish Version. This quiz will only cover the passages regarding the descendants of Adam and Eve in Genesis 4.1-6.8.

For atheists, don't slink away. This is not a religious or theological lesson, nor a conversion attempt. It's just a parsing of a unique piece of literature from a unique perspective.

QUESTIONS

1. The first reference to an act of murder is when Cain kills his brother Abel. What is the second reference to an act of murder?

2. Adam and Eve’s first son is Cain, who kills their second son, Abel. A third son is then born, and it is from him that all present-day people owe their ancestry. Who is this third son?

3. In the recounting of the first generations of humans, it is said of each descendant that he “lived” for so many years after having begotten a son. After a final tally of each descendant’s total years of life, the narrative notes, “and he died.” However, there is one descendant in which the phrase “lived after he begot” is replaced by the phrase “walked with God after he begot.” Also, the phrase “and he died” is replaced by “walked with God and he was not; for God took him.” Who is this person?

4. When Adam disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, God cursed the earth for as long as Adam lives (“cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life” -- Genesis 3:17). Who is the first descendant born after the death of Adam?

5. During the first 11 generations of humankind, the average age of each patriarch at his death is 834 years. During the next 11 generations, the average drops to 257 years. Why don’t the people live as long?

6. God decides to destroy humankind because of its evilness. What else does He decide to destroy?

ANSWERS

1. Lamech’s murder of two men
Lamech, the fifth generation descendant of Cain, tells his wives: “I have slain a man for wounding me and a young man for bruising me.”
Genesis 4:23

2. Seth
After the death of Abel, Eve “bore a son and called his name Seth: ‘for God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him.’”
Genesis 4:25

3. Enoch
According to the narrative, Enoch “walked with God after he begot” his son, Methuselah. After stating that “all the days of Enoch” were 365 years, it adds: “And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.”
Genesis 5:22-24

4. Noah
Adam dies at the age of 930. Lamech is born 874 years after the creation of Adam, and his son, Noah, is born in the year 1056. Lamech predicts: “[Noah] shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which comes from the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
Genesis 5:28-29

5. God limits human lifespans to about 120 years
After the birth of Noah’s son, Shem (the 11th generation), God states: “My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.”
Genesis 6:3

Note: The scientific community recently has determined that the maximum years that a human can conceivably live is approximately 125.

6. The land animals and birds
After realizing the evilness of humankind, God states: “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air.”
Genesis 6:7