Genesis 4: Brother Against Brother

Synopsis:

Adam and Eve have 2 sons, Cain and Abel. Cain is a farmer, Abel is a herder.  They brought offerings of their work to God, God liked the smell of burnt meat a lot but he didn’t like what Cain offered Him at all.  God doesn’t understand why his rejection of Cain’s offering has upset Cain so much. After all if you do well, you do well, if you don’t you don’t. Cain is so upset and jealous, he kills Abel. God asks Cain where his brother is, Cain says he has no idea. God gets mad, says you killed him!  You are now a fugitive and your efforts to till the soil will reap nothing!  Cain says ok, but this is more than I can bear being banished is bad enough, but other people are going to try to kill me when they find out I’m a murderer. So God prohibits anyone else from killing Cain. Cain goes with his wife to Nod and they have a son and they have sons and eventually we get to a son named Lamech who has two wives, they bear him sons and daughters and he apparently kills someone and is afraid that he is cursed 70 times over. Adam and Eve have another child named Seth, Seth has a child named Enos.

In other words:

Lots of babies are born, they have babies, another murder is committed and Adam and Eve have yet another child as well.

Favorite bit:

That Cain is able to talk God out of the worst of his punishment and is able to go on and live a prosperous life and have lots of offspring.

Most confusing bit:

That yet another murder occurs, but god doesn’t intervene this time. We aren’t even given the name of the person killed.

Most interesting bit:

(Genesis 4: 20-23) The specific jobs held by the sons and daughters of Lamech. One is a cattle herder who lives in a tent, another is a harpist,  and yet another works brass and iron.

Moral Lesson:

Killing to revenge a killing is wrong (Genesis 4: 15)

Being merciful to people who have committed crimes is good. (Genesis 4: 15)