Wednesday, 23 September 2009

• Bible Study Reflections on Genesis 4: The Murder of Abel

  To read Genesis 4 click here.

  This passage is incredibly interesting. So first here are some observations without my input of illustrative details or outside talk:
  Cain and Abel are two different types of people in terms of their occupation--what they do, for livelihood. One works with vegetation, another with moving organisms. One offered to God the firstfruits--the best of his labor, the other is recorded to have simply offered some of his labor to God. God favored and showed this favor upon the one who gave the best of his labor--who is Abel, not Cain. Cain felt ill natured about this, and God confronted him about it. God also warned him of sin, which already existed--and the relationship that man has with sin: sin desires man, but man must command and take control of sin. Cain still felt resentment, so he killed his brother Abel.
  
  From an earlier reading of former chapters, we remember that due to Adam's sin, God cursed the ground, but this did not mean that God's relationship with the ground was completely severed. The ground would simply be harder for man to work.However, for Cain individually, the ground would become even harder to work because he spilt his brother's blood into it. God marked Cain so that whoever would lay a ill-natured hand on him would feel God's vengeance in seven times the magnitude of the original murderous sin's consequences. God would take the vengeance, Cain would not, nor anyone else for Cain.
  
  What's interesting is that later, Lamech killed a man for doing him wrong (basically insulting him). It is not written what happened that caused Lamech such hatred and desire for claiming vengeance for himself, but obviously he rethought the whole incident since he brought together his two wives to claim God's vengeance for himself. Lamech claimed God's vengeance for himself, saying that others would be retributed up to seventy-seven times the magnitude by God, as God would do for Cain. God did not claim this for Lamech himself, rather Lamech told his wives it would be that way.
  
  Another interesting thing to note is the land of Eden which is named here. Cain was driven away, to the east of this land called Eden. People often refer to the Garden of Genesis as the Garden of Eden--but there is no textual evidence that garden was indeed in Eden. This is something that people have fabricated due to botched memories of putting together readings in ways they were never written.
  
  It is also written, to take note of, that with the birth of Enosh men began to call on the name of the Lord. until then, there is no conversation noted between God and men--besides the conversations God held with Cain to confront him, warning about sin, and then later to confront him of the sin committed and punish Cain. The punishment is both terrible, yet merciful. While the ground is more resilient to Cain, Cain has a mark on him that is both cursory and saving; if others mark him or kill him, they will pay for it seven times over. The mark is like a warning sign, that keeps Cain safe to a certain degree, but other blessings, like the land's willingness to work with him, is taken away.
  
  One last thing to note: Adam laid with his wife after Cain was cursed and Abel killed. Also, after a genealogy of six generations was produced starting with cain. we can only imagine adam and eve's ages. but regardless, they are both of fruitful body and able to birth.
  
  So since Adam and Eve lay together and conceive---at what age uncertain---the sense of time for those first generations of people is vastly different from our conceptions of time and age/lifespans. People wonder about incestuous relations and what not. Think of how many people must have been born! Think about the wives for Lamech, which two are recorded, how are they related to Lamech? Apparently it does not matter, since all the people ever born are not recorded here. But to recognize this puts into perspective that putting the Bible entirely to conformity with our current world, and our standards, and our normatives does not work. Putting it into historical context, and literal context, makes this more than apparent. So to demand such things as updating the Bible's meanings to fit our needs, our interests, and our times, is rather ridiculous. We never do that with regular novels, why do that with a religious text? Let it speak for itself.
  
  We see that even in early times, pre-history (pre-written history) people liked to make things mean whatever way they wanted it to. Lamech said something to his wives that God himself did not declare. God only declared the curse (which had an element of protection in it via God's vengeance) for Cain. God did not speak aloud the curse for Lamech. Lamech assumed it for himself, but it does not mean that is what God explicitly means or stated for himself. It is just what man constructed, fabricated on his own.
  
  Again, I conclude my entry with this statement, as I have with the former entries:
  In my first entry for this adventure, I laid my position of not being a theologian etcetera and I'd just like to echo this statement. I open up my post to comments from other Bible-Readers

  What is your reaction to this passage? Thoughts?

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