Lots of people begat lots of others, and there may be many reasons for this diligent recording of heredity. It sounds a bit folk story doesn't it? I don't mean that it's a pile of poo, I just think it was written with the audience in mind i.e. "Where did we come from"?
A couple of questions though:
1.) Cain kills Abel, a murderous act which we'll all agree is frowned on in all cultures. So God tells Cain he'll be punished. Cain objects and says he'll be killed, to which God replies he'll protect Cain against death. Why?
2.) The story goes on about people living for 800 and 900 years, but one poor lad (Enoch) only gets 365 years despite special mention of his dedication to God and right living. Generally, right-living is mentioned alongside long-life, so why did Enoch get snatched up by God so, errr, "early" in life?
3.) The story makes mention of people starting to pray and worship in the name of God around the time of the birth of Adam's grandson, Enosh. What did they do before that? Does this hint at the progression of an awareness of God moving from something like Pantheism into something more complex (in Freudian fashion maybe)?
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Maybe having only 365 years (as opposed to living to 800-900), before getting to the really good stuff was a gift. If that is the case, maybe God blesses us with short life?
ReplyDeleteI think the bible also says something about good men being taken away early to be spared from evil fits with that point-of-view?
thanks for the input rosski!
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