Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 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 the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Cain lay with 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. 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.
Discuss.
The original version of the Laverne & shirley song: “Mehujuel, Methushael, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!”
And then,
Give us any chance, we’ll take it.
Give us any rule, we’ll break it.
We’re gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin’ it our way.
So there it is: God is Garry Marshall.
FYI, as a kid, the obvious illogic of this section of Genesis is what ruined the entire Bible for me.
@2
What illogic? On the literal level, the preceding sections seem more illogical, as do many other parts. On the symbolic level, isn’t this a tale of redemption, of tough but humane punishment, of doing great things even if you screwed up before?
Cain’s wife was Lilith’s daughter, either that or there was more than one god doing creations at the time
Yeah, but after he left God’s tattoo parlor, Republican business owners wouldn’t hire him, so he had to live on Democrat food stamps for the rest of his life.
@3 Is this an argument for giving early parole to hot car baby death parents?
Old Testament, Old Shmestament.. This is new:
Redemption has nothing to do with it.
This verse is an oft cited justification for racism by the crackers and Mormons, who until recently denied the “priesthood” to blacks (Cain and his descendants “marked” with a dark skin)..
Rebbi Goldstein can correct me, but I believe it’s woven into the mythology of Jewish “exceptionalism” as well.
@3, What @4 said. Where did all these other people come from?
It’s just befuddling that anybody could get past Genesis and still take the Bible literally. I mean, it includes two different creation stories!
I agree that Genesis is just not a logical book, or it leaves a whole lot out. I think the Arab version of the Cain and Able story interesting as it supplies a different reason for the murder of Able. That they were going to marry sisters and the fight is over over which sister. Still there are suddenly all these other people in the world that Cain is frightened of and he has this whole very personal relationship with god. Like he’s talking and dealing with someone or something he can see, hear, touch, smell ect and is really upset that god doesn’t like his offering of the fruit of the ground. So just where did Cain learn to till the ground? Where did Able learn to have goats or sheep? Why aren’t they hunter gatherers. So how many children did Adam and Eve son. Only three sons make it into the bible, and no daughters are mentioned. How long did Eve live and was she able to have babies for hundreds of years? And able to walk after 25 kids?
And does the story matter as after a few generations doesn’t the flood take out all of Cains off spring even though they figure out how to build a city, have cattle, make harps an organs and is the father of all who handle them. Please don’t tell Sting that clearly he can’t play guitar as that skill died in the great flood.
Of course there is plenty to interpret or misinterpret in Genesis and I do enjoy the UFO interpretations like “Chariots of the Gods.”
I do think there is something to the scholars suggestion that Genesis is partially about humans inventing agriculture and missing the freedom of hunting and gathering and the triumphs and challenges of that great change for good or ill.
Still some folk take the bible as a book of literal truth. Ok…eye roll…but that really is a cool ark in your amusement park….but I really think the earth is much older than your 6500 year calculation. After all the Samish tribes are positive they have been around here for over 10,000 years, though their society based on the great salmon obviously doesn’t exist because they are not in the bible and can’t exist as they are because of the great flood.