Why did Eve name him Seth?

Do you think Eve felt pressure?  Adam said he named her Eve because, “she was the mother of all the living” (Gen. 3:20, NASB).  That sounds like pressure to me.  I wonder how Eve felt when Cain killed Abel?  Do you suppose she blamed herself?

It’s interesting a little later Eve says of the name she gave her third child, Seth, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel; for Cain killed him.”  The Hebrew word Shayth which we translate as the proper name, Seth, means “put or substitute”.  Eve, essentially names her son “Substitute” for the one she lost.

Does Eve give him this name because as a mother she misses the son who is killed?  Or, does she say this because of the perceived role to bear a male child for Adam?  I don’t think we can know enough from this text to answer that question.  But we can know that this mother longed for a son.  She saw him as a gift from God.

Notice also that Eve placed the blame for Abel’s death at the right place.  She said, “for Cain killed him.”   It was Cain’s jealousy that took Abel from his mother.  Since the text is general in its depiction of this occurrence and the impact on Eve’s family we simply can’t make sweeping claims.  But we do know that this mother felt a loss; she loved her son.  God knew her pain and gave her another son.  Is it not good to know that our God sees and cares?

www.benbrookchurchofchrist.com