God’s Word for You

Genesis 4:26 Pastor Enosh

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, October 14, 2026

26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to proclaim the name of the LORD.

We don’t know for certain what the name Enosh means. It might be an attempt to bring an ancient name of uncertain meaning into the Hebrew of Moses’ time. However, Luther considered that if it were Hebrew, it would mean “frail” or “afflicted.” In Psalm 8:4 David wonders, “What is frail man (enosh) that you are mindful of him?”

The reason for this little bit of speculation is that in the second part of the verse we are told that it was in the time of Enosh that public preaching began, and men like Enosh “began to proclaim the name of the LORD.” Perhaps, it is sometimes thought, the true church of believers was growing frail, and afflicted, and there were fewer and fewer who knew God’s name and God’s gospel promises. Some of the ancient Jewish rabbis thought that this showed the beginning of idolatry, and that men gave the name of the Lord to animals or other idol forms. But Moses isn’t talking about the people of Cain’s family and their heretical church. He is talking about the line of the Savior. It is more in keeping with the verse and the context that the population of the world had by now grown enough that wise believers saw the need for more than home worship, and began to be called into service for public worship and preaching.

Adam was 235 when his grandson Enosh was born, and by this time there were probably many thousands or tens of thousands of people in the world. Public worship at set times is a natural impulse of God’s people. With increasingly longer distances between tents or villages, and with the adoption of the nomadic life (Genesis 4:20), people would have needed a pattern for worship. The Sabbath day was already introduced during the creation week as a holy day (Genesis 2:3), and perhaps the regular darkening of the moon (the new moon) was also a time for gathering for special worship, although the New Moon as a festival is not mentioned until Numbers 10:10.

We see an example here of the way that we should keep the Second Commandment. That Commandment forbids profaning God’s name and prescribes calling on it. “The doing of this commandment always flourished among the patriarchs. In Genesis 4:26 [the verse before us] when the Cainites had profaned the hallowing of God’s name, Enosh ‘began to call upon the name of the Lord’” (Gerhard). And again, “The public ministry of teaching which had been weakened and hindered by the Cainite persecutions was restored at about the time [of Enosh].”

Here in the work of Enosh and others in his time, we see certain virtues on display that relate to the way we keep the Second Commandment:

1, To think reverently about the name of God, pondering with a grateful heart what a great benefit it is that has come from God from the hidden light of his majesty, who is “the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17), and who has revealed his name to us. By attaching his name to the wonderful things that he does, our God gives us a clear opportunity to give him praise and thanks for the specific things he has done and his gospel promises.

2, To call on the name of the Lord. He invites us to pray to him and to ask for his help in all adversities and troubles, invoking his true name, whether we call him the LORD, our God, our Lord Jesus Christ, heavenly Father, or his other names that he has revealed to us in his word. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name” (Psalm 105:1).

3, To give thanks to the name of God (that is, to confess with heart and voice) all of the benefits that come down to us from God: Spouse and children, house and home, clothing, flocks and other animals, the useful tools and utensils he has provided for us, the joys of music, poetry, art, fellowship, friendship, good neighbors, good weather, and the like. And in addition, the privilege of knowing and invoking his holy name. “I shall sing praises to the name of the Lord” (Psalm 7:17).

4, To preach the name of God; which is to proclaim, teach, explain, and apply the heavenly doctrine which God has handed down to us, and to instruct others about it so that they, too, may be drawn to the true knowledge of God. This is both for the benefit of those we teach, but also for our benefit personally. “I will declare your name to my brothers” (Psalm 22:22). This is especially what Enosh was doing.

5, To confess the name of the Lord. This is to profess with courage and without fear the truth as it has been learned from God’s word, without any consideration of ill will from our enemies or perils from the state (Acts 9:14) or from the false churches (Acts 7:54), in order to show the glory of God and to lead others to a true knowledge of God (2 Timothy 2:25).

6, To praise and glorify God’s name. This means to praise God not only with our words, but with our lives, doing everything to the glory of God, as when Joseph gave God glory by asking Potiphar’s wife, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 29:1).

7, To swear by the name of God. This means that when the glory of God or the well-being of a neighbor requires it, we call on the name of God in an oath to be a witness that we are speaking the truth and to punish those who lie. Enosh was preaching against the adversity of the descendants of Cain who rejected the true God and who opposed God’s law and his gospel promise of the Savior. “He who takes an oath in the land must swear by the God of truth” (Isaiah 65:16).

8, To be zealous for the glory of God’s name, out of genuine love for God and zeal for his glory. We grieve, as Enosh surely did, when God’s name is insulted and despised, and we rise to defend his name in the proper place. “Zeal for your house has consumed me” (Psalm 69:9).

Enosh rose up to defend God and to give him honor and glory, and set an example for us all. For when people, certain ministers, and whole churches do not understand God’s name but give equal honor to other gods, other religions, and antichristian beliefs, claiming that they are merely paying them respect (or worse) they must be pointed out as committing a sin. They are leading themselves and their hearers to hell. Our Confession proclaims, “A false idea about sacrifices clung to the wicked priests in Judah, and in Israel the worship of Baal continued; yet the church of God was there, condemning wicked services” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XXIV).

We give Christ glory because he rescued us from our sins. We give the Holy Spirit glory because he has planted faith in our hearts through the gospel in word and sacrament and he dwells in each of us as his temple today (1 Corinthians 6:19). We give glory to our heavenly Father because he chose us from eternity to be his own (Ephesians 1:4). We honor, serve and obey him, and give him our love and respect.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive