Who was Seth in the Bible?

Son of Adam and Eve, born after the death of Abel, and father of Enos. His name signifies 'appointed': God thus continued the line of Abel, whom Cain slew, through the appointment of Seth. Hence, in Gen. 4:25-26 it is said in connection with Seth, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." This is immediately followed by "This is the book of the generations of Adam," giving the lineage through Seth and his descendants, and making no mention of Cain and his descendants. From Seth the genealogy is traced to Noah, and the flood swept away all else. Gen. 5:3-8; Luke 3:38. He is called SHETH in 1 Chr. 1:1.

Seth is the man appointed instead of both Abel and Cain: God hath appointed, in contrast with I have gotten, as Eve said of Cain. So now, Seth from God.

After Abel had been slain by his brother Cain, God provided a replacement: Eve had another son. She called him Seth 'for God, said she , hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew' (Gen. 4:25). If Abel was a picture of Christ as the martyr, being slain for his faithful witness, Seth typifies Christ as risen, the One given 'instead' of the One who was slain. As Enoch was a descendent of Seth, so the origin of the Church goes back to Christ risen and glorified (who received the promise of the Spirit (Acts 2:33) and 'built' the Church (Matt. 16:18).

Gen. 4 closes with another son born to Adam. His wife called his name Seth ("appointed"), saying, "God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Seth thus took the place of the dead one, and so becomes the type of Christ risen. In Him all blessing is centred for those who believe in His name, and in Him a new resurrection world of light and love is opened up for those whom grace calls and separates from man's doomed scene. May we in spirit live and move there even while walking here.

The third son of Adam was Seth. From him springs the Seed. Seth is the type of Christ risen from the dead. Abel, the first, died; Seth, the second, lives. "Then people began to call at the name of Jehovah." True worship is only possible in the Second Man, Christ risen from the dead.

The two verses that conclude our chapter carry us back long before the days of Lamech, for the next chapter tells us that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. Many children may have been born between Abel and Seth, but they are passed over in silence for Seth was the seed appointed to carry on the line of faith, as contrasted with the line of Cain. That Seth was a man of faith we gather from the name he gave his son — Enos signifying mortal, weak.

One of the first signs of faith springing up in the heart is that a man acknowledges himself to be a sinful creature under the death sentence. The next thing is that in the light of this he begins to call upon the Name of the Lord. So the closing words of our chapter are very striking. In the New Testament we find that "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13).

But the chapter does not close until we find Seth, whom God* substituted (for this is the meaning of the name), or "appointed," as it is said, "instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." And so Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.

*As Eve at the birth of Cain seems to have been unduly excited, and expecting I think a deliverer in the child whom she named as gotten from Jehovah, so she seems to me to express a sobered if not desponding sentiment in saying at Seth's birth, "Elohim has appointed me another seed," etc. In the latter she only saw a child given of God naturally. Both appear to me natural and purposed.

In Genesis 5 we have the generations of Adam. Upon this I would not now dwell farther than to draw attention to the commencing words, "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created." But "Adam," it is said, "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." It was no longer in the likeness of God, but in the image of God always. For man, now as ever, fallen or not, is in the image of God; but the likeness of God was lost through sin. Seth therefore was begotten in Adam's own likeness, not in God's. He was like Adam fallen, not his representative only. And this is what is referred to in James 3, where he speaks of our having been made in the likeness of God. But it is the more important because, when it is a question of the guilt of taking man's life, the ground is that he was made in God's image. This, it is plain, was never lost; it abides, whatever man's state. Had the crime depended on man's retaining the likeness of God, murder might have been denied or justified, because if a man were not like God the unlikeness might be urged in extenuation of killing him. But it is a crime against man made in the image of God, and as this abides, whether he be fallen or not, the guilt of murder is unimpeachable and evident. This accordingly is the ground taken, to which I refer as an instance of the perfectness of scripture, but at the same time of the profound and practical power of the truth of God.

When Elohim made man, Gen. 1:26, He proposed it to be in His image, after His likeness. So He created him in His image, as it is said twice (Gen. 1:27). And we have already seen, that, as likeness resembles, image represents: a distinction which it is of moment to seize, as it holds everywhere in scripture. The "likeness" consisted of qualities corresponding to God, as no other nature on earth had; the image was man's place in presenting Him to others, as not even angels of heaven did or could. As man was made upright, so he was called to dominion over the lower creation. Angels fulfil His word and do His pleasure, yet they only minister, never rule. But now that the head of the race was fallen, he "begat in his likeness, after his image." It was in his own likeness, not God's; and it was not Cain but Seth that is said to be "after his image." Adam was represented by Seth, though he could not be said to be begotten after Elohim's likeness but Adam's. Yet it still remains true that man, even though fallen, is the image and glory of God (1 Cor. 11:7). Hence the guilt of murder demanded death, for it was the extinction of what represented God on earth, even when man was no longer after His likeness (Gen. 9:6). The comparison of our verse 1 makes it all the plainer: "in the likeness of God made He him" (Adam). The "image" of God was the emphatic point in Gen. 1:27, and even in 26 takes precedence, however important the "likeness" which sin destroyed for Seth, whom Adam "begat in his likeness, after his image." The race is fallen.

What progeny Adam had during this early time we are not told, but simply that his "days after he begat Seth were eight hundred; and he begat sons and daughters." How little is said of the line of faith, especially if we compare the striking picture which the preceding chapter furnishes of the world's rapid progress in all that life which nature deems worth living!

It may seem strange that Seth was not born till Adam was 130 years old. But whatever length of time passed, Adam could only bear a child in his own likeness and image. In measure this was still in God's likeness and image, though it had been spoiled by sin. After this Adam had more sons and daughters, but we are not told how many. Though he lived to the great age of 930 years, yet he died, as God had promised he would.

He was the seventh from Adam, as Jude informs us, and this we can easily verify from Genesis 5. He was number seven, counting from Adam through the line of Seth, which was the line in which faith was preserved in the days before the flood. When Eve bore Seth she said, "God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." These words were doubtless prophetic. Cain the carnal man had slain Abel the man of faith, and God had now appointed another godly seed by which faith should not perish from the earth. The seventh man on that line of faith was the outstanding man of the line. In him faith shone out with peculiar brightness.