Tuban-Cain may not sound like the name of your next child or grandchild. Tubal-Cain was one of the first people on Earth. He came from a famous man in Genesis named Lamech. He and his brothers all contributed to human history in a major way.
After Adam and Eve have two sons, we witness the first murder, when Cain kills his brother Abel. From Cain, we see many sinful men and women, some of whom bring technological innovations into the world.
Today, we’ll dissect the descendants Tubal-Cain and what we can learn from him in the Bible.
We don’t get a ton of context about Tubal-Cain except in Genesis 4:19-22.
Something interesting happens with Lamech. He ends up being the first person in the Bible to marry more than one wife. Polyamory has a history in Scripture—notably, families divide, and disasters ensue each time it gets mentioned.
With his first wife, Adah, he has two sons. Jabal creates several innovations. Not only is he the first man to have his people live in tents—we can assume people didn’t live in shelters or caves prior—but he is also the first to raise livestock. He’s the first shepherd.
His brother Jubal is musically inclined, the first man to play stringed and wind-powered instruments (flutes, etc.).
As for their step-brother Tubal-Cain, he forges tools out of bronze and iron. We can assume no one else did metal work before Tubal-Cain.
The Bible also mentions Tubal-Cain had another relative, a sister named Naamah.
We don’t know much about this Naamah, but we know of another one who married King Solomon later in Scripture.
The Bible doesn’t tell us anything else about Tubal-Cain, but if we look at Genesis 4 further, we see something happening. We see the world becoming more corrupt. Lamech ends up killing a young man. We can’t tell if it’s out of defense or simply retaliation. I’d hazard a guess at the latter.
He brags to his wife that if God would punish the person who murdered Cain seven times, God would curse the person who wounded him 77 times.
The world goes from bad to worse in Tubal-Cain’s time, to the point where a Flood has to happen chapters later.
In this pre-Flood era, many people had a lot of children. The Bible doesn’t give us a specific lineage from Tubal-Cain or the rest of Cain’s descendants.
Why?
Well, many of them ended up being wiped out in the Flood.
Noah’s descendants come from a man named Seth, Adam and Eve’s third mentioned son in Scripture (they may have had several others that didn’t receive a mention in the Bible).
Perhaps the women Ham, Shem, and Japheth married came from Tubal-Cain’s line, but if they did, Scripture doesn’t tell us so.
It should strike us as incredibly sad that Tubal-Cain’s accomplishments did not translate to a family line that continued past his . God may have allowed humans to progress in artistic and agricultural achievements, but they perished because they turned away from them.
The canonical Bible, which all traditions agree upon, has 66 books with only one verse about Tubal-Cain. But do other books talk about him?
We can find more information in the Apocrypha. For those unfamiliar with the Apocrypha, certain church traditions believe that books outside the canonical 66 are also inspired. Some of these books include the book of Enoch and the book of Bel and the Dragon.
Other church traditions find these books to be insightful but not inspiring.
For the sake of this article, we will operate in the latter view.
Taking these extrabiblical books with a grain of salt, what do other books say about Tubal-Cain?
For that, let’s head to the book of Jasher (also called “the book of the upright”), one of the non-canonical Jewish texts.
The book of Jasher claims that demons started to sleep around with women around the time that Tubal-Cain was alive. This idea leads to the concept of the Nephilim—giant human-demon offspring that roamed the Earth before the Flood wiped them out (possibly returning after the Flood, the giants that the Israelites met in Canaan).
The book of Jasher passage prefaces its words about Tubal-Cain by describing a society where men gave women a liquid that kept their figures slim but also served as birth control, making their wombs barren. Zillah, Tubal-Cain’s mom, supposedly drinks the birth control and is barren until close to her life’s end. God then allows her to have a son and a daughter.
Later, when Lamech can no longer see due to his age, Tubal-Cain leads him by hand in a field. Cain is still alive and is charging toward them. Tubal-Cain hands Lamech a bow and arrow and has him direct the shot at Cain. Thinking Cain is some wild animal, Lamech strikes true and kills Cain.
If this did happen, Lamech would’ve received a seven-fold curse for murdering Cain, according to the Genesis narrative. Hence, his bragging to his wives would make sense: if he got seven curses, the next guy to kill him would get 77.
According to the book of Jasher, Lamech got so upset after realizing he had killed Cain that he struck and murdered Tubal-Cain. Scripture never tells us how Tubal-Cain died, so perhaps this theory holds some water.
Jasher says that Lamech’s wives leave him for a brief period for killing their son but return upon the advice of Adam. They still don’t have any more children with Lamech. The passage says this happened because God’s anger increased against people during this period, preparing for the Flood.
Other works, such as Josephus’ Histories, claim that Lamech had 77 children by his two wives. Perhaps a reference to his being avenged 77 times (maybe in a literal sense, he thought that all 77 of his children would go after the person who killed him).
Josephus says that Tubal-Cain excelled in martial exercises and started the craft of forging metals.
Certain Masoretic texts indicate that Tubal-Cain also explored magic and sorcery. This could make sense with the Genesis text. Although God allowed humanity to flourish, they found ways to become more and more evil.
Unfortunately, most of what we know about him stems from extra-canonical sources. So, we do have to take those with a grain of salt.
However, from the Genesis narrative, we know that Tubal-Cain grew up in an evil line of people in an evil time.
Although God blessed him and his brothers with abilities, this didn’t stop the Flood from happening. Humanity became more and more evil.
Tubal-Cain reminds me of incredibly talented people who stray as far away from God as possible. We can think of celebrities, athletes, politicians, and others who have extraordinary gifts but use them for all the wrong purposes.
Tubal-Cain forged instruments out of metal, and we see people using those instruments to kill each other. If the Apocrypha narrative holds weight, Tubal-Cain forged the arrow that killed Cain.
Although we should praise God for the giftings he gives people, we should never see those as divine favors or a promise for a good life. We should see people such as Tubal-Cain as cautionary tales. That talent can only get you so far and won’t save you from a time of judgment.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/1971yes
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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