Answer
Seth, a son of Adam and Eve (the third of their sons named in Scripture), was born after Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:8). Eve believed that God had appointed him as a replacement for Abel and named him Seth, which means “set in place of” (Genesis 4:25). Later, when Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born (Genesis 4:26), and Enosh continues what is sometimes called “the godly line of Seth” that leads to Abraham.
The story of Cain’s killing the righteous “seed” (Abel) and God’s raising up another “seed” (Seth) becomes the central theme of the divine plan. Evil is always attempting to rid the world of good, and God is always thwarting evil’s plans. There is always a Seth to replace Abel. It was through the seed of Seth that Jesus was born (Genesis 5:3–8, 1 Chronicles 1:1, Luke 3:38).
After the birth of Seth’s son Enosh, the Bible tells us, “At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26), which confirms Eve’s foretelling of the purpose of Seth’s birth. The word call also means “to proclaim,” which refers to men testifying about God to one another. It was through Seth’s family that organized, corporate worship of the one true God began to enter the fallen world. Though the descendants of Seth are not the first in Adam’s line to develop inventions or advances in civilization, they are the first to praise and worship God.
Unlike Cain’s descendants, Seth’s prove faithful to God. From Seth come the patriarchs, the nation of Israel, and eventually Christ. And it’s Christ who not only destroys Satan but also condemns sin and death (Luke 3:23–38). It was through Seth that the “Offspring of the Woman” came who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).
Seth is also mentioned in other works, including the Apocrypha (Sirah 49:16), the pseudepigraphical works, such as the Ascension of Isaiah, Jubilees, and the Life of Adam and Eve. His name is also recorded in some of the Gnostic texts, e.g., the Gospel of the Egyptians and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth.
