“Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to
Enoch.
He built a city, and called the name of the city,
after the name of his son, Enoch”.
Genesis 4:17.
Introduction
Pin-pointing
a geography for the antediluvian patriarch, Cain - the “Land of Nod” and the City
that he is said to have built in honour of his son, Enoch (Genesis 4:16-17) - has
turned out to be quite a challenge.
Firstly, I was drawn to the idea that the ancient
cities of Sumer (southern Iraq) were Cain-ite cities. David Rohl seemed to have
a point when proposing, in his book The
Lost Testament, that ancient Eridu was called after Cain’s grandson, Irad; Uruk
(Sumerian Unuki) and Ur (Sumerian Unuki) after Cain’s son, Enoch;
Badtibira (“City of the Metal Worker”) after Tubal-Cain.
Moreover, the Babylonian ‘Noah’, Ziusudra, is associated with Shuruppak.
All
ancient cities of Sumer with possible biblical connections.
“The Land
of Nod” could then be the region “beyond the Euphrates”, which tended to have
sinister connotations in the Bible (e.g. Jeremiah 2:18; Revelation 9:14).
My
interest in Sumer waned somewhat, however, when I came to realise that – thanks
to an article by Creationist, Anne Habermehl – Sumer was not the biblical “land
of Shinar”.
See my
subsequent:
Second attempt. I, now thinking that ancient Jericho - one of the oldest cities in the
world - must rank as a prime candidate for Cain’s city, found that Roy Schulz had
indeed argued for Jericho’s “Pre-Pottery Neolithic” (PPN) phase to have been
what he called “Cain’s Famous Walled City” (http://www.churchofgoddiaspora.com/pre-flood_world.htm).
But I later rejected PPN Jericho as
being stratigraphically far too recent for the era of Cain.
Thirdly, the view of Dr. Ernest L. Martin about the Land of Nod is the one that I
now accept and intend to build upon in this series. Dr. Martin embraced - as do
I - the traditional view that the Garden of Eden was located at the site of
Jerusalem. For him, the Land of Nod was the region beyond the eastern perimeter
of the Garden. He wrote about it, e.g., in “The Temple Symbolism in Genesis” http://askelm.com/temple/t040301.htm
Further Temple Teaching
Cain was sent into the land of Nod,
East of Eden, away from the presence of God. He became cut off from the
Eternal. God then gave him a “mark” to show that Cain was not completely
forgotten and that a measure of protection would be afforded him and his
descendants. Cain became a representative of all Gentiles. They were
reckoned as being in Nod (wandering — without a fixed spiritual home). And
while they could approach the East entrance to Eden, they could not go in. A
barrier was placed around Eden. The altar which Cain and Abel constructed in
the area of Eden near the East gate (door) of the Garden was out of bounds to
those who lived in Nod.
This condition existed throughout the
antediluvian period. But with the great flood of Noah, everything was destroyed
— the Garden, the altar, the barriers, etc. When Noah and his children began to
repopulate the earth, none of these former things were retained — except in the
memory of man, and only in symbol. In the time of Moses, however, God selected
the Israelites to be His nation — in favored status to Him. Moses was ordered
to build a tabernacle which resembled the condition that existed in the
pre-flood age. Outside the tabernacle was represented the land of Nod. The
court on the inside of the tabernacle (the court of Israel) was Eden. The Holy
Place was the Garden. The Holy of Holies was the center of the Garden. The
tabernacle not only represented Eden and the Garden, but it was also a physical
type of God’s heavenly abode.
The Israelites were reckoned as being
in Eden like Adam and Eve were. However, even the privileged nation could only
go to the East entrance to the Holy Place — which represented the Garden. Into
the Holy Place (the Garden) only the Aaronic priests could go at the time of
the morning and evening (the cool of the day) sacrifices. And even the priests
were barred from entering “the midst of the
Garden” — the Holy of Holies. They were only able to get close to
the curtain that separated the outer Garden from its midst.
Only once in the year was anyone
allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. On the Day of Atonement the High Priest,
after many ceremonies of purification, and after he clouded the entire inner
chamber with incense so that the mercy seat would be hidden from view, was able
to push the curtain aside and briefly step into the inner sanctum. After he did
his required duties, the curtain came down once again, and the Holy of Holies
(the midst of the Garden) became closed for another year. This showed that
while the tabernacle stood, God still reckoned barriers between Himself and
mankind. 12
While Adam and Eve before they sinned
were able to witness God’s presence, their sins caused them to be sent from the
Garden (the Holy Place). Cain and his descendants were sent further East — they
were expelled from Eden and went to Nod. But when the Flood came the Garden,
the altar, Eden, etc. all disappeared from earth. Mankind now found itself
without any physical area on earth in which God dwelt. That’s why the early
descendants of Noah wanted to build a tower “to
reach to heaven” (Genesis 11:1–9). They wanted to reach God, to have
access to His heavenly presence. But God would not allow it. He had been angry
with man for his ways, so He changed their languages and scattered them into
all the earth. He sent all mankind into a condition of “Nod.”
Finally, God selected Abraham to be
the father of a nation which would be responsible for leading man (in a
step-by-step way) back to God. By the time of Moses, the Abrahamic family had
now reached nationhood. Moses built the tabernacle, and Israel was brought back
into Eden once again. A middle wall of partition was erected, however, that
kept all Gentiles out. God even put restrictions on Israel. Even they were told
to stay out of the Holy Place (representing the Garden). The Aaronic priests
were allowed to go in. But no one was permitted in the Holy of Holies except
the High Priest on the Day of Atonement — and even then he (the holiest man on
earth, symbolically) was not allowed to see the mercy seat. All of this shows
that God still had several barriers which kept many sections of mankind away from
an intimate association with Him.
[End of quote]
This estimation greatly
limits the geographical boundaries so that any search for Cain’s city of Enoch
in far away Sumer, or even in much closer Jericho, is doomed to failure.
Our attention must
now turn rather to the region directly to the east of the Temple of Yahweh in
Jerusalem itself.
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