Ahhhh…the story of Cain and Abel…and some random filler.
So, here we have two brothers that are working hard doing what they can for their family. Cain, fruit and Abel, sheep. After they have worked hard to produce something and to be proud of what they have done; they give offerings to God from their first yield. God favors Abel. Cain naturally is upset about this. God did not like the fruit as an offering. This just seems odd to me. Is this where offerings began to be competition? The more extravagant the offering, the more you are in God’s favor? No where does God say, your offerings must be of meat only. How is Cain supposed to know that? The only consoling God gives is that as long as Cain does what is right he will be accepted. I understand the Bible is full of parables and vague lessons that we are supposed to determine and figure out ourselves, but I feel like this is…just odd. Shouldn’t the whole “I worked hard and gave the first bit of profit I had to you” be enough? I don’t know…seems mean. Seems unfair and a way of dividing the brothers. Now…did Cain need to go so far as to kill Abel…uh..no. So now Cain is a wanderer, but God protects him so he will not be killed.
I can’t put my finger on it. There is something that doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe it feels like a set up. God picks a brother and decides he will learn the lesson. I don’t know. Maybe God feels that the offerings should be of the same caliber. God feels like Cain took the cheap way out. I just can’t figure this one out.
Cain does pretty well for himself. Gets married, builds a city, and has a child. Then there is this weird filler. I get that this is the introduction of the lineage from Adam to…well…everyone else. Then there is this brief conversation that maybe will be revealed to me later on why the conversation between Lamech and his two wives needed to be recorded. I’ll put it here too just in case. Genesis 4: 23-24 “ 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. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” I am thinking; okay, thanks. As I said, maybe it’s referenced somewhere else.
This just seems like such an odd chapter. Like an awkward story to help bridge the other two chapters. We will see what comes next.