A Bible study of a Thomas; Genesis 4: 1-26

Genesis 4

New International Version (NIV)

Cain and Abel

Ok so it’s the story of Cain and Abel is this story the one in which they magic up a whole load of wives, for themselves?

4 Adam[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[b] She 

said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 

So far they have made love once and had twins seems reasonable but the whole time frame seems to be off a bit for that to be a case and yes they did know about twins while this was being written, I give you the tale of Romulus and Remus/ the twins that ended in creating Rome, but it only became Rome as Remus died he was killed by his brother, sounds similar to the story of Cain and Able but the Roman god Mars impregnated a woman But in this version a woman is impregnated by a man that thought of himself as a god.

3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast

So god hates fruit and vegetables but he likes some creature that Abel has just killed as an offering, now please allow me to put this in another context god that supposedly loves the creature ignores some perfectly decent fruit and vegetables and he moves onto an animal that he has created and this brute, Abel, has senselessly murdered and offered it to god, a life has been lost it doesn’t matter what it was that lost its life the fact remains that a short time after he was given flocks to look after he has murdered one of the first born,

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Why do you think it’s simple phycology you favoured his brother more than him, as if hang on, you actually favoured his brother but you forgot to favour him for doing the work that you asked him to do, and you knew what was about to happen so you’re as bad as Cain, as part of your all-knowing persona unless you aren’t Omniscience.

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d]While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

So within this tale Cain kills Abel sounds like Romulus and Remus all over again so now we have 2 dead things so far in this story so if he offered his dead brother to god, do you think god would favour Cain?

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Once again there is another bit of proof that god is neither omniscience or omnipresent, or he would have known where Abel was and he may have been a tiny bit discrete about it e.g. by saying what have you done to Abel, but then Can would have lied by saying nothing and then I think it’s time for god to throw a temper tantrum like the one he is just about to have.

10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Now he has got it but the bit about the blood crying out to you god is bogus it wouldn’t have cried out to you as it has no mouth but you may have just caught a glimpse of blood on the hands of Cain and then you put 2 and 8 together and got to an answer of 10.

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

But to where is he going? If god was really omnipresent shouldn’t that be a hassle for Cain.

15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,[f]east of Eden.

Talking about Cain in third person whilst he is still beside you? The land of Nod? Isn’t that the imaginary place of sleep? East of Eden wasn’t Eden supposed to be in the east?

17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

Where did Cain find his wife, then Enoch fathered Irad how, then Irad fathered Mehujael and then Methusael fathered Lamech something is missing I think ok now yes obviously what about all of the women that had to mother all of them and you can’t just say that they all Just went to Eve and raped her every time they wanted children as that would be a great way to muck up our gene pool and shouldn’t Eve had died a couple of generation ago? Anyway Cain was sent away from Eve and how did Cain get a wife to start with?

19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

Where did Lamech get his two women from? I’m sure quite a few of the other myths that aren’t as widely publicised as this are a lot easier to follow.

23 Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
    wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
    a young man for injuring me.

You’ve killed a man which man which man even lives within these parts of the earth as I was thinking that your family being as it is the first family to exist, at least in these barbaric times, at least since Lamech is the youngest male within this part of the world.
 

24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
    then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

But why, what is the point?

25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[h] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time people began to call on[i] the name of the Lord.

Meanwhile back in time to the time of Adam and Eve as the story just took a sharp turn off towards Cain’s family in the future and then back we have Seth, but this time Seth is a replacement? Why didn’t god just breathe life back into his corpse? Why did he force her to go through the pain of childbirth again? Why does she use the words, “God has granted me another child” so that’s three children that Eve has got?