‘And Seth, to him was born a son and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of Yahweh.'
Enosh is another word for ‘man'. It stresses the frailty of man. The phrase ‘call on the name of Yahweh' does not mean that men have not acknowledged Yahweh before, but that the worship of Yahweh was now regularised (compare Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:4; Genesis 21:33; Genesis 26:25). Some kind of systematic worship was introduced. Thus from the beginning the systematic worship of Yahweh is clearly linked with the family of Seth. We notice the use of the name Elohim and the name Yahweh within two verses, with their distinctive emphases. The writer of the tablet wishes us to see that the two refer to differing aspects of one God.
We note also the contrast between the lines of Seth and Cain. Cain's begins with fleeing for murder and ends with a plea for protection following a further death. Seth's begins with the institution of official Yahweh worship, continues with a man who walks with God (Enoch) and ends with the man who walks with God (Noah). But we must note that it is only Noah and his family, not the wider family, who are saved from the Flood. (Some of ‘the sons and daughters' must still have been around).