Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son
and named him Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another child
instead of Abel, because Cain killed him.”
As we heard yesterday, Eve lost
her first two children when Cain murdered his brother Abel. Cain was then
banished, becoming a fugitive “East of Eden”. But God had not forgotten Eve,
and she bore another son. She named this child Seth, because God had given her
another child in “place” of Abel. Cain marries and has children (with whom? the
Biblical writers don’t seem to be bothered about where this mysterious wife
comes from!) and has children, but it will be Seth’s descendants who will now
take the story forward.
Those who have lost children, before
birth, in infancy or in adulthood, may rightly protest at this story. There can
be no “replacement” for a child who has died. There will always be a gap in
their family, however many other children they have. The child they have lost
will always be mourned and missed. If God did not “replace” Abel, however, the
grand story the Bible tells would end here. .
We have to wonder, though, what
it might have felt like to be Seth, growing up under the shadow of a terrible
family story and being reminded in his
very name that he is a “replacement” for the children Adam and Eve have lost to
death and to exile.
·
What do you think Seth would have to say
about his role in the family?
·
Was your childhood overshadowed by any
painful family stories or events?
·
Pray for families who have lost children, and
for children born after the loss of a
previous child.
https://www.uk-sands.org – help and information on stillbirth and
neo-natal death.
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