A beautiful family of, mostly, successful children. At the same time, few in number when we look at Genesis 5:1–32. There is the regular refrain: he begat sons and daughters. This refers to larger numbers than Lamech’s foursome. It is not said that he did not have more children than these four, but the (small) number does contrast with the refrain on the other side. The woman’s seed
grows into a large community of all those sons and daughters.
The genealogy of Cain runs up to the seventh generation, while that of the woman’s seed
is endless. The woman’s seed
and the serpent’s seed
have been the same until now, but it will not remain that way (see Matthew 13:24–30). The difference in length between the genealogies Genesis 4:1–26 and Genesis 5:1–32 also shows that.
20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.