7/4 Reading (Genesis 4-6; Luke 2)

Genesis 4: Story of Cain and Abel. I’ve been reading a really fun series called the Belial Stone and there is a lot of references to Genesis. There are several characters from Genesis in the series. Pretty fascinating read that I recommend to others. I didn’t realize that Adam and Eve had a third son, Seth. Again this shows my lack of knowledge of the Bible. One thing I am curious about is why was God pleased with Abel but not Cain (4.4-5). The notes indicate this was not explained. Another question, if Cain and Abel were the first offspring, then who was Cain afraid of in 4.14 (Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.”)? I’m assuming that he would be afraid of his ancestors here unless there are other people around by this time. However, there must have been another ancestral line somewhere considering he married someone.

Genesis 5: Lineage from Seth. I do wish there was more information on the other children each person in the line had. The text only refers to one person from each generation and says that each person “had other sons and daughters.” Also, some of the names are the same as to Cain’s descendants (i.e. Enoch, Lamech). Just find this interesting. Also, each person lived a really long time: Adam (930), Seth (912), Enosh (905), Kenan (910), Mehalalel (895), Jared (962), Enoch (365), Methuselah (969), and Lamech (777). Kind of an interesting range.

Genesis 6: Start of the story of Noah and God’s anger towards humanity. This is where God decided that people wouldn’t live more than 120 years (6.3). My main question here is how did pretty much all of humanity become evil? The text indicates what this means, but I don’t see HOW this happened. This is where I see the first reference to Nephilim, which is pretty important to the Belial Stone series I referred to above. I find it interesting from reading the notes the similarities with the ancient Babylonian traditions.

Luke 2: Birth of Jesus. As I said for Luke 1, I do wonder what it must have felt like to be Mary and Joseph. After Jesus was born the shepherds came to them and said so many things (2.16-20). Then Simeon said many things and proclaimed many things about Jesus (2.27-35). This was followed by the prophet Anna (2.36). As a parent this must have been challenging to hear. Additionally, I have always found it interesting that Joseph stayed with Mary after she became pregnant with Jesus and he knew the child was not his. Not trying to say anything bad, just interesting. At the end of this chapter the text talks about Jesus as a 12 year old boy in Jerusalem (2.41-52). I’m really curious as to what happened with Jesus from his infancy to age 12. Based on conversations with Father Kevin we don’t know what happened. I’ve always wondered when did Jesus know that he was the son of God. He seems to know when he’s 12 when he says to Joseph and Mary that he “must be in my Father’s house” when they were looking for him. Is that when he learned who he was?