It's All in the Family (Genesis 4 - 7)

There are three areas that are worth talking about in this reading but I will focus on one and simply mention the others. 

Abel was good with livestock
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One: Cain & Abel. The first is the story of Cain and Abel. This is a story of two brothers. I have no idea how they got along as children or their age differences. These chapters tell me that Cain was gifted in getting plants and food to grow while Abel was good with caring for and breeding livestock. 

Cain was good with crops
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Apparently, they both had a relationship with God because they both gave offerings to Him. Cain offers the gift of his hands; crops. and Abel offers offers the gift of his hands: the best of the firstborn lambs. God accepts Abel and his gift but not Cain and his gift. Cain gets angry and God tells him to do what is right. "Sin is now crouching at his door looking to control you," is the warning that God gives Cain. 

Apparently, Cain did not follow God's advice and allowed sin to control him. Cain invites Abel out to a field and kills Abel. God asks, "where is your brother Abel?" Cain answers God with a question, "Am I my brother's keeper or guardian?" 

God tells him that he is cursed. The ground will no longer give him crops. He is now destined to be a wanderer. Cain complained that someone might kill him but God told him he would put a mark on him so that no one would kill him. If a person did try to kill him, they would suffer vengeance seven times more than Cain's suffering.

Random Thoughts & Questions: 

1. It appears that after mankind sinned, God still spent time engaging with the people of this time. When Cain finds out that he is cursed, he is saddened that he will no longer spend time in God's presence. He must have had time with God and most likely so did the other people of this day... but this is an assumption. 
2. I can't imagine what Adam and Eve must have felt like to experience the death of their child. Abel was no more. He was now a lifeless corpse. The ground now cradled his blood. I wonder if Eve spent countless nights feeling guilty about eating the fruit or did God or Adam ever console her.
3. The Bible says that Cain and his wife had a child. Where did his wife come from? I've heard quite a few people speculate on this. The truth is, the Bible doesn't say. Where did his wife come from and where did the people who would kill him come from? 
4. The Bible says that Cain has offspring and his offspring has more offspring. One of them takes two wives. His name is Lamech. This is the first place where we see two wives are taken by one husband. Although God put one wife and one husband together, the Bible never seems to say anything about taking more than one wife. In other words, Cain paid a price for murdering but the Bible does not say that Lamech paid a price for taking two wives. Historically, and even within the Bible, we see a lot of family problems when there is more than one wife and/or a mistress. The Bible does not say directly that more than one wife is wrong. As a reader, I am led to that conclusion. Any thoughts on this?
5. The Bible says that by the time Seth had his son Enosh, people started to call on the name of the Lord. It is in this chapter, we see the concept of calling or crying out to God. It doesn't say anything on how God communicated or answered them. It doesn't say why but I'm guessing that evil must have been prominent. 


Two: The Genealogy. The second point of interest to me in these chapters is the genealogies. They are often thought of as boring but they do tell us about people and culture during that time. For example, we learn that Cain has a wife and has children. We are also told that Adam and Eve have another son named Seth. We learn about their offspring all the way until the time of Noah. If I am not mistaken, there are seven generations from Adam to Noah but I could be wrong. 

Three: Noah. Noah's story is the third point of interest in these chapters. The Bible notes that during Noah's time, the world was increasingly wicked. In fact, God says  that it was so bad that all people did was to continuously have evil thoughts. God regretted making man. So he decided to destroy everybody and everything. Noah and his family were an exception. 

Noah found grace in the sight of God. So Noah became God's chosen one to re-establish man on earth. Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his sons' wives were the ones that entered the ark that God asked him to build. 

Noah gathered every kind of species of animals and birds. He also gathered food for them and the animals. Once they entered into the ark, God sealed the door. It rained 150 days and the water covered the whole earth. 

There is some controversy surrounding the story of Noah and the flood. Some people argue that the flood was localized; others say it is a fictitious story or like folklore; and still others take the flood at face value. For me, because others in the Bible take the flood at face value and refer to it as a real event, so do I. I have never seriously explored all of the evidence one way or another but when I stand in places far from the ocean or a body of water and discover shells, a global flood is a good explanation for why it is there. I guess I need to examine this further. 

That's it for today.