Genesis 4-9

1- The two themes of human passions relating to the society and the first attempt at religion are in correlation in these chapters. The feeling of wounded pride, anger, jealousy, fear, dread, death, crime, and punishment are all characteristics of Cain. Cain feels the first of these human characteristics. God doesn’t feel such traits. He isn’t fazed by jealousy, he has nothing to fear, and he has no reason not to have pride. This makes Cain even more alienated and human than god. God becomes fearful in these chapters. “And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” The last line is very powerful and I feel explains why we die, and why we aren’t meant to live forever. This could be the first time humans realize the power god posses and that we should pray to him so we don’t have the same fate as Cain. This was god’s way of holding is ground.

3- Cain was looking for a justifiable sarcastic excuse for killing his brother when he says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” This is Cain’s way of saying that his brother is not his responsibility. This is a very nieve and dishonest reaction. He’s saying this acting like he doesn’t know where he is and that he was not appointed to look after him. When god says that Abe’s blood cried out to him from the soil, it’s symbolic because that is in fact where Abe was murderd.Also, Cain is a farmer and spends his days working on the farm. God uses this against Cain and says, “And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand,”

5- The fact that civilization rises from a murderer enfources the natural ways of humans and life. It magnifies the idea that death is a natural way of life and god’s only power that is left is time and death. Death is used as a weapon against man kind to ensure god’s power and strength. It is to remind us that life is short and will be taken at his coast. It enforces the idea that our feelings have the strongest input on our actions. Our jealousy, desire, and hatred are all ways of civilization.