Atheist Commentaries Genesis 4

So here we have Cain and Abel show up. There's some fratreside and then there's people who seem to have come out of nowhere.

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought 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.

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 master it."

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

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."

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."

15 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. 16
So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

17 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. 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.

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 the harp and flute.
22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.

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.

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

25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, 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 men began to call on the name of the LORD.

My
Commentary

Alright, so Adam and Eve have Cain. First born son. Fine, whatever. Then, they have Abel. Abel is a Shepard and Cain is a grower. So, they are going to sacrifice to god and Abel scarifies some good baby sheep, but Cain sacrifices the leftovers. God doesn’t accept Cain’s sacrifice and Cain gets angry. So, he talks to his brother, they get in a fight and Cain goes ahead and kills him and buries him.

So, god goes a looking for Abel. Cain delivers his nice nifty one liner and the bottom line is that god finds out what happens. So, god curses Cain. He can’t till the Earth and he must be a wanderer forever. Cain gets scared because, being a wanderer and such, he feels that whoever sees him will kill him.

Now, the first problem with that is why would someone who sees a wanderer instantly assume that he deserves to be killed? That’s not a big problem though. The problem is, who is going to see him? Even if you accept that the writers of the bible weren’t always chronological, how many people could Adam and Eve given birth to, who then wandered off and created other communities. Further more, the bible tends to be very specific with who begot who. (leaving out the women of course). Why not in this case?

God takes mercy on Cain and he puts a mark on him so no one who sees him will kill him. Then, Cain goes and dwells in the land of Nod, East of Eden. In the land of Nod (who named it), Cain builds a city. A whole city. This can’t be just for him and his children and his wife, who must also be his sister or some other randomly created person. Then there’s some genealogy and then Cain’s son does a stupid thing that doesn’t seem to be of much consequence and then there’s Adam and Eve’s third son, unless the bible decided, in this one case, not to mention the others.

And, Seth, the third son gets married, once again either to an unmentioned sister or to some other random person who came out of no where and he has a son and people started worshipping god and then the chapter ends.

Note from Chelle: Sorry jsaj... your formatting was annoying me again, so I edited it.