Cainan(kenan)
“Possessor, or possibly forger of weapons”
Summary
The name of one or two men in biblical genealogies: a pre-flood patriarch and a disputed post-flood figure in Luke's genealogy.
☩The Antediluvian Patriarch
Cainan was the son of Enos and father of Mahalaleel, the fourth patriarch in the line from Adam. According to Genesis, Enos was ninety years old when Cainan was born. Cainan himself was seventy years old at the birth of Mahalaleel, after which he lived 840 more years, dying at the age of 910. He appears in the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3:37. Rabbinical tradition attributed to him the introduction of idol worship and astrology, though this tradition was later transferred by some Hellenistic writers to the post-flood Cainan.
☩The Second Cainan Controversy
Luke 3:36 mentions a Cainan as son of Arphaxad and father of Sala, positioned between Arphaxad and Shelah in the genealogy of Christ. This figure, commonly called the 'second Cainan,' presents a significant textual problem because he is found in the Septuagint's rendering of Genesis 10:24 and 11:12-13, but is entirely absent from the Hebrew text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic versions. Even within the Septuagint itself, this Cainan is missing from the parallel genealogy in 1 Chronicles 1:24.
☩Scholarly Views
Several explanations have been proposed for this discrepancy. Some scholars suggest that Jewish scribes deliberately excluded the second Cainan from Hebrew texts to cast suspicion on the Septuagint and Luke. Others propose that a transcriber inserted the name into Luke's Gospel from the margin of Septuagint manuscripts. Evidence suggests the name was not originally in the Septuagint either, as early writers including Berosus, Josephus, Philo, and Jerome show no knowledge of it. Augustine is the first writer to mention it as found in the Old Testament. The chronological significance is substantial, as the second Cainan's generation adds 130 years to the post-flood timeline, contributing to the longer Septuagint chronology compared to the Hebrew.
Related Verses8 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Cainan," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. II (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Cainan," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Cainan," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).
- 4.James Orr (ed.), "Cainan," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 5.George Morrish, "Cainan," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 6.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Cainan," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).