Abel & Cain 1: Meanings in Relation to Their Entwined Genealogies. Discussion in the description:

The reconciliation of humanity's priesthood and kingship is a very important biblical motif that even the first two genealogies in the Bible are pertinent. As lists of names, genealogies are not insignificant for it is through the use of language and naming that enabled Adam and the builders of the tower of Babel to become conscious of their royal power and exert it (more about this in Chapter 3). It is also through the name of Jesus that the royal priesthood of humanity on earth is attained for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Before the first genealogy in Genesis 4:17-22, there is a story of conflict between the brothers Abel and Cain that is told in Genesis 4:1-16. There is a lot to point out in this story but I will restrict the discussion to the analysis of their names. Abel is Hebel in Hebrew and is related to the Hebrew word hebel which means vapor or breath. Through his name, it should be understood that Abel as breath represented priestly humanity while Cain, whose name came from the Hebrew word qānîtî which means to acquire or possess points to humanity's kingship and its grasping hands. Though Eve named him positively for she acquired him with God's help (Gen.4:1), Cain turned his name into a name of perdition when he spurned God's advice to him that he should rule over sin (Gen. 4:7), in other words God encouraged him to use his royal will-power against his own evil inclinations. He wanted power and prestige without God's help therefore he murdered his brother and when he was driven out of Eden, he settled in the land of Nod and founded there a city that he named after his son Enoch to point out that the city is his phallic achievement. Because of his sole focus on kingly power, Abel, who w his "priestly twin," became like a vapor lost in the air. In Hebrew, hebel has a negative connotation of being fleeting, futile, etc. and was used in this way in the Bible (e.g. Eccles.1:2; Prov. 21:6, Jer.10:15). In the Book of Ecclesiastes, hebel is used 24 times in connection with the word “vanity” pointing to the vanity of life “under the sun” or the that God made on Day 4. This vain way of living of royal humanity is caused by its lost of its breath-communion with God as sacerdotal humanity on Day 3 in the light of the light created on Day 1. The story about Abel and Cain shows the most fundame rift between humanity's sacerdotal calling to have breath-communions with God and its kingly status that is primarily determined by its erect posture and the power of its sight and dexterous hands that it uses primaril grasping in order to acquire and manipulate things. However, these two are not irreconcilable and this is conveyed through the two entwined biblical genealogies (see the illustration in the video). Seth's name is from a Hebrew word that means put, place or fix. In contrast to the vaporized Abel, Seth, though a substitute for Abel, is firmly placed like a firmly rooted tree to be the foundation of the priestly people of righteousness. In contrast to him is Cain, the wanderer, who established a city in trying to fix himself into a place. He named the city Enoch after his son's name as a sign of his proprietorship of it. To Seth was also born a son and his name is almost like Enoch—Enosh. It is written in Genesis 4:26 that at the time of his birth, people began to become priestly by using their breaths to call unto the name of the Lord. One of the most noticeable difference between the genealogy in Genesis 4:17-22 (Cain’s lineage) and the genealogy in Genesis 5 (Abel/Seth’s lineage) is that the former do not have numbers to indicate how many years that the people listed there has lived in contrast to the latter genealogy that has records of the age of each person in the list up to Noah. Why? The lineage of Seth is a sacerdotal one and it is consisted of people who had breath-communion with God; therefore, the duration of how long they had breathed are significant and must be shown. It is because of its kingly offenses why God limited humanity's natural lifespan to 120 years. This curtailment occurred before the Flood but after the Flood, we are told that Noah lived for 350 more years (Gen.8:28). Is there a contradiction in this? None at all because Noah belonged to the priestly lineage and fulfilled his calling by godly obedience. God's dictum on kingly humanity's lifespan cannot affect the obedient priestly line. There are lots of characters in the Book of Genesis but only those from the priestly lineage of Seth or those who are connected with Abraham's line like Ishmael and Esau had the number of the years of their lifespans recorded with the exception of the sons of Jacob who in the last chapter of Genesis were still alive.