Cain and Abel
2. I definitely can see how this whole situation could look like a set-up to Cain. God showed favor to Abel's offerings for no particular reason, and this probably made Cain pretty jealous. And if Abel was God's favorite, wouldn't god have protected him from his brother? I think this story is a kind of blueprint for a few of the ten commandments that appear a little later in the Bible.
4. I have always thought of the Mark of Cain as a literal forehead-tattoo kind of thing. I don't really know why, but that has always been the image in my head. I also interpret Cain being protected as more of a punishment. God tells Cain that he is "cursed from the ground", which means he can't grow his own food. And since he can't grow his own food, can't be murdered, and is a fugitive, he is cursed to wander the earth as a scavenger/hunter.
Noah
In class, somebody mentioned that the length of the flood changes in the middle of the text from 40 days to 150 days. But if you read carefully, you will see that it says the rain lasted for 40 days and 40 nights, while the flood lasted 150 days. I also noticed that the narrative is not chronological, especially in chapter 8. Another thing that i found interesting was that men and women are referred to as sons of God and daughters of men, respectively. Is this implying that women are not children of god, or does it mean that descendants of Seth were marrying descendants of Cain?
No comments:
Post a Comment