WEBVTT 00:00:05.100 --> 00:00:08.859 Hey friends, so it's Thanksgiving week and we've 00:00:08.859 --> 00:00:12.339 decided to record this episode a little bit early. 00:00:13.259 --> 00:00:17.280 So last time we looked at the opening pages of 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.100 the book of Genesis and we allowed ourselves 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:24.399 to disentangle much of what we've been taught 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:28.239 about the book of Genesis and truthfully as a 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.859 result about what we think about the Bible. This 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:35.219 week, we're going to look at the next few chapters, 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.640 three and four of Genesis, that advance the story 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:43.799 of creation from the creating act to creation's 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:48.000 interaction with itself. And right on cue, humanity 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:53.079 begins to be confronted with a choice. The choice 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:57.719 to seek God's desire for us. or the choice to 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:02.299 seek our own desire. Chapters 3 and 4, we're 00:01:02.299 --> 00:01:06.780 calling apples, rocks, and sin. On this installment 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:10.560 of the Semi -Seminarians Study Series, we're 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:14.180 calling the Bible for Grownups, our look at Genesis. 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:23.540 This week, chapters 3 and 4. The book of Genesis 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.480 receives its English name from the Greek translation 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:32.379 of a Hebrew word, Toledoth. That word is recorded 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:37.560 13 times in Genesis and is translated as story 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:44.680 or record or line. In Hebrew, it's known Genesis. 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:49.739 like many books in the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. 00:01:50.099 --> 00:01:53.420 It's known by its first word, Bereshit, which 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:57.379 means in the beginning. Genesis is indeed a book 00:01:57.379 --> 00:01:59.739 about beginnings, the beginning of the natural 00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:03.400 world, the beginning of human culture, and the 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:06.859 beginning of the people of Israel, whose story 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:11.020 will eventually occupy most of the remainder 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:15.840 of the Torah. In the ancient Near Eastern culture 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.379 in which Israel emerged, beginnings were deemed 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:24.620 to be crucial. For the origins of things were 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:27.860 thought to disclose their character and their 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:32.560 purpose. In Genesis, the origins of Israel, the 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:37.300 people known later as the Israelite people, will 00:02:37.300 --> 00:02:40.800 eventually lie. in God's mysterious promise to 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.860 a Mesopotamian man whose name is Abram. And we're 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:48.479 going to find later in chapter 17 that his name 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:54.259 is changed to a more rememberable Abraham. The 00:02:54.259 --> 00:02:57.360 essence of the promise is that God will make 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:01.439 of Abraham a great nation, bless him abundantly, 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:05.539 and grant him this land that is called Canaan. 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:13.120 Absurd as it is when it first comes, this promise 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:20.539 faces one obstacle after another. And those obstacles 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:25.639 come throughout the entire book of Genesis, principally 00:03:25.639 --> 00:03:29.060 with the barrenness of Abraham's primary wife, 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:33.580 as well as of other matriarchs in the next two 00:03:33.580 --> 00:03:38.830 generations. Also difficult is the murderous 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:42.310 fraternal rivalry amongst descendants. And yet, 00:03:42.490 --> 00:03:46.550 by the end of Genesis, all the people of Israel 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:50.750 have indeed come into existence. There is an 00:03:50.750 --> 00:03:55.169 Israelite effectively ruling the superpower of 00:03:55.169 --> 00:03:59.550 Egypt. And the promise of the land, though far 00:03:59.550 --> 00:04:03.699 from fulfillment, which comes about only when 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.300 we get to the book of Joshua, is anything but 00:04:06.300 --> 00:04:12.560 forgotten. This book of Genesis is thus, in more 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:16.600 sense than one, a primary source for Jewish theology. 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:23.220 It presents its ideas on our relationship with 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:26.459 God. as well as the relationship of God to nature 00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:30.620 and to humanity, as well as to the people of 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:34.259 Israel in particular. In ways that are, however, 00:04:34.339 --> 00:04:38.139 foreign to the expectation of modern readers, 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:44.680 it is still containing a message of profundity 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:48.579 and seriousness. This first section in which 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:51.819 we continue to look, this primeval story takes 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:54.579 us. from the creation of the world through the 00:04:54.579 --> 00:04:58.839 birth of Abram's father, 19 generations later. 00:05:00.540 --> 00:05:04.060 Its stories are short, they're loosely strung 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:06.620 together, and then they're only connected by 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:10.420 genealogies that identify the generation in which 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:15.740 the action takes place. Despite this profundity, 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:19.689 there is... an overriding theme, and that is 00:05:19.689 --> 00:05:25.230 the spread of human wickedness. The refusal of 00:05:25.230 --> 00:05:28.970 humankind to accept their creaturely status as 00:05:28.970 --> 00:05:32.970 they blur the all -important boundary between 00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:37.850 the human and the divine. And every time that 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:42.009 humans blur that line, in the end, they bring 00:05:42.009 --> 00:05:47.129 catastrophe upon themselves. The center of attention 00:05:47.129 --> 00:05:51.189 here in Genesis is God, who is portrayed rather 00:05:51.189 --> 00:05:56.670 anthropomorphically and speaks directly and frequently 00:05:56.670 --> 00:06:01.329 to human beings, condemning or sparing, announcing 00:06:01.329 --> 00:06:07.290 his judgment or his merciful forbearance. Largely 00:06:07.290 --> 00:06:11.069 because of its focus on creation, the primeval 00:06:11.069 --> 00:06:19.740 story of Genesis Mesopotamian mythology. The 00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:22.480 account of creation with which Genesis opens 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:26.100 that what we looked at last week, for example, 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:29.480 has commonalities with the Enuma Elish, which 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:34.379 is a Babylonian epic which tells us how one god, 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:38.379 Marduk, attained supremacy over the others and 00:06:38.379 --> 00:06:42.339 created the world by splitting his aquatic enemy, 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:46.670 Tiamat, In half, the story of Adam and Eve's 00:06:46.670 --> 00:06:50.610 sin in the Garden of Eden displays very stark 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:53.350 similarities with Gilgamesh, an epic poem that 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:57.589 tells how its hero lost the opportunity for immorality 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:04.550 and came to turn with their own humanities. In 00:07:04.550 --> 00:07:07.589 the Gilgamesh epic, after Gilgamesh acquires 00:07:07.589 --> 00:07:11.209 the magic plant that will rejuvenate him, it's 00:07:11.209 --> 00:07:16.240 stolen by a snake. In the story of Adapa from 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.839 Egypt, one of the guardians of Anu's palace, 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:22.980 where Adapa is offered the food of life, is serpent 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:26.839 -shaped or accompanied by horned serpents. And 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:29.500 he is the guardian of the demons who live in 00:07:29.500 --> 00:07:32.620 the netherworld. In Egypt, the serpent, which 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:35.459 we will read about here in the Genesis epic, 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:43.730 is associated with both death and wisdom. both 00:07:43.730 --> 00:07:47.089 of these aspects in the wisdom dialogue between 00:07:47.089 --> 00:07:50.529 the serpent and Eve, and with the introduction 00:07:50.529 --> 00:07:55.810 of death after the expulsion from Eden. Because 00:07:55.810 --> 00:07:59.449 of New Testament developments in Christian theology, 00:07:59.529 --> 00:08:02.610 it's most common for people today immediately 00:08:02.610 --> 00:08:06.310 to think of Satan as the serpent in Genesis 3, 00:08:06.430 --> 00:08:10.250 but I want to remind the listener that the Israelites 00:08:10.250 --> 00:08:16.420 would have never made this connection. We can't 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:19.480 recover what Adam and Eve would have thought 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:22.740 about the serpent, but the ancient Near East 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:27.000 literature gives us an idea of some of the images 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.740 that came to mind for the Israelites as they 00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:35.820 heard this story and lived within their own time 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:50.809 and culture. So with that introduction in mind, 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:55.470 let's go ahead and begin reading chapter 3. Now 00:08:55.470 --> 00:08:58.470 the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild 00:08:58.470 --> 00:09:02.750 animals the Lord God had made. He said to the 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:07.350 woman, Did God really say that you must not eat 00:09:07.350 --> 00:09:12.190 from any tree in the garden? The woman said to 00:09:12.190 --> 00:09:16.309 the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees 00:09:16.309 --> 00:09:20.480 in the garden, but... God did say you must not 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:24.120 eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:27.659 of the garden. And you must not touch it or you 00:09:27.659 --> 00:09:32.120 will die. So let's stop here and back up and 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:36.940 catch the trick right away that Hasatan, the 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:42.419 deceiver, tries to make with Eve. By asking a 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:45.259 completely different question. Did God really 00:09:45.259 --> 00:09:50.409 say you couldn't eat of anything? Any tree? And 00:09:50.409 --> 00:09:54.570 Eve corrects him by saying, no, no, no, no. It's 00:09:54.570 --> 00:09:58.110 just that one that we can't eat from. Continuing 00:09:58.110 --> 00:10:03.730 with verse four. You will not certainly die, 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:07.409 the serpent said to the woman. For God knows 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:09.809 that when you eat from it, your eyes will be 00:10:09.809 --> 00:10:13.850 opened. You will be like God, knowing good and 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:19.889 evil. So in this story is this fruit that we 00:10:19.889 --> 00:10:22.649 are talking about, many of us believe to be an 00:10:22.649 --> 00:10:26.269 apple, although we've just read that apple's 00:10:26.269 --> 00:10:30.210 not mentioned. Is it that that fruit is magic? 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:36.450 Is there some supernatural or chemical agent 00:10:36.450 --> 00:10:39.830 within this fruit that will fundamentally change 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:45.899 Eve and Adam? No. What will fundamentally change 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:50.519 is that they will now be made aware of what it's 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:56.960 like to choose to disobey. Continuing with verse 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.700 5, When the woman saw the fruit of the tree was 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:04.059 good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:07.179 desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and 00:11:07.179 --> 00:11:10.879 ate it. She also gave some to her husband who 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:14.240 was there with her, and he ate it. and the eyes 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.980 of both of them were opened, and they realized 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:23.559 that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:28.080 together and made coverings for themselves. Then 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.879 the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:34.519 God as he was walking in the garden in the cool 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:37.759 of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:42.039 the trees. The Lord God called to the man, Where 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:48.320 are you? Now, did God literally and visibly walk 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.980 in the garden? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Because 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:57.980 we know from other scripture God is spirit. The 00:11:57.980 --> 00:12:04.080 sound of the Lord God walking in the garden is 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:08.120 a way of describing this infinite God that we 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:14.009 serve in finite terms. So real was the presence 00:12:14.009 --> 00:12:18.269 of God that it was as if they heard God's footsteps. 00:12:18.409 --> 00:12:23.669 However, God may have appeared to them as a theophany, 00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:28.169 which is a temporary manifestation or appearance 00:12:28.169 --> 00:12:31.169 of God. In the end, yeah, it could have been 00:12:31.169 --> 00:12:35.389 God. He answered, I heard you in the garden and 00:12:35.389 --> 00:12:39.129 I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid, Adam 00:12:39.129 --> 00:12:44.049 said. We discover that once a place of joy and 00:12:44.049 --> 00:12:47.690 of fellowship with God, the garden has just become 00:12:47.690 --> 00:12:53.750 a place of fear and hiding from God. God said, 00:12:54.029 --> 00:12:58.250 who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:01.129 from the tree that I commanded you not to eat 00:13:01.129 --> 00:13:05.649 from? The man said, the woman you put me here 00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:09.269 with, she gave me some fruit from the tree and 00:13:09.269 --> 00:13:12.450 I ate it. Then the Lord God said to the woman, 00:13:12.549 --> 00:13:17.889 what is it that you have done? The woman said, 00:13:18.029 --> 00:13:22.629 the serpent deceived me and I ate it. So the 00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:25.149 Lord God said to the serpent, because you've 00:13:25.149 --> 00:13:29.049 done this, cursed are you above all livestock 00:13:29.049 --> 00:13:33.070 and of all wild animals. You will crawl on your 00:13:33.070 --> 00:13:36.590 belly and you will eat dust all the days of your 00:13:36.590 --> 00:13:40.019 life. God tells the serpent that he will crawl 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:43.299 on his belly. There's not a suggestion here that 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:46.919 the serpent had legs. Somehow he's going to lose. 00:13:47.019 --> 00:13:52.539 Instead, the serpent is going to be docile rather 00:13:52.539 --> 00:13:56.840 than an attack position. The serpent on its belly 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:00.480 is non -threatening, while the one reared up 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:06.769 is protecting or attacking. God continues, And 00:14:06.769 --> 00:14:09.330 I will put enmity between you and the woman, 00:14:09.370 --> 00:14:12.330 and between your offspring and hers. He will 00:14:12.330 --> 00:14:15.370 crush your head, and you will strike his heel. 00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:18.210 To the woman he said, I will make your pains 00:14:18.210 --> 00:14:22.649 and childbearing very severe. With painful labor 00:14:22.649 --> 00:14:26.269 you will give birth to children. Your desire 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:31.169 will be for your husband, and he will rule over 00:14:31.169 --> 00:14:35.610 you. The word translated childbearing is actually 00:14:35.610 --> 00:14:39.669 the word for conception, not necessarily labor. 00:14:40.570 --> 00:14:43.710 This requires of us a bit of rethinking since 00:14:43.710 --> 00:14:48.590 there's no pain in conception. The word pain 00:14:48.590 --> 00:14:53.409 is often linked to the word anxiety. Therefore, 00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:56.669 this verse may suggest there will be anxiety 00:14:56.669 --> 00:15:02.840 in the whole childbearing process. Because with 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:06.039 death introduced into the world, the lives of 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:09.539 both mother and child will hang in the balance. 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:32.600 Chapter 3, verse 17 continues, produce thorns 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.120 and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.080 of the field. But the sweat of your brow you 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.799 will eat of your food until you return to ground. 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:47.419 Since from it you were taken, from dust you are, 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:56.500 and to dust you will return. Adam named his wife 00:15:56.500 --> 00:16:00.200 Eve because She would become the mother of all 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:04.379 the living. The Lord God made garments of skin 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:08.059 for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the 00:16:08.059 --> 00:16:11.539 Lord God said, the man has now become like one 00:16:11.539 --> 00:16:16.600 of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.940 allowed to reach out his hand and take also from 00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:25.000 the tree of life and eat and live forever. So 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.539 the Lord God banished him from the garden to 00:16:27.539 --> 00:16:30.220 work the ground from which he had been taken. 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:33.980 And after he drove the man out, he placed on 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:36.559 the east side of the garden of Eden cherubim 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:41.059 and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:57.740 guard the way to the tree of life. I think it's 00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:01.440 arguable that it's a mercy that God kept us from 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:05.559 the tree of life. By barring access to the tree 00:17:05.559 --> 00:17:09.779 of life, God showed compassion in his omniscience. 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:13.680 Knowing that because of sin, earthly life would 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:16.920 be filled with sorrow and toil, God graciously 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:21.079 limited the number of years men and women would 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:25.140 live. To live eternally in a sinful state would 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:29.910 mean endless agony for humanity with no hope 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:35.490 of the relief that comes with death. By limiting 00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:38.869 our lifespan, God gives us enough time to come 00:17:38.869 --> 00:17:43.670 to know him, to know his provision, and to allow 00:17:43.670 --> 00:17:47.369 for eternal life through Christ, but spares us 00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:51.490 the misery of an endless existence in this sinful 00:17:51.490 --> 00:17:56.900 condition. In three chapters, Genesis has set 00:17:56.900 --> 00:18:00.519 the stage for human history and now shows history 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:04.160 begins to play itself out. The first childbirth, 00:18:04.380 --> 00:18:08.119 imagine the shock, the first formal worship, 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:11.819 the first division of labor, the first extended 00:18:11.819 --> 00:18:15.039 families, the first cities, and the first signs 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:21.289 of culture all appear in chapter 4. But one first 00:18:21.289 --> 00:18:26.029 overshadows all others. The first death of a 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:32.069 human being. A death by murder. One brother killing 00:18:32.069 --> 00:18:37.990 another. Sin enters the world through the first 00:18:37.990 --> 00:18:42.069 family. And by the second generation, people 00:18:42.069 --> 00:19:01.210 are already killing each other. So let's continue 00:19:01.210 --> 00:19:05.809 now, beginning in chapter 4, verse 1. Adam made 00:19:05.809 --> 00:19:08.329 love to his wife, and she became pregnant and 00:19:08.329 --> 00:19:11.690 gave birth to Cain. She said, With the help of 00:19:11.690 --> 00:19:15.809 the Lord, I have brought forth a man. Later, 00:19:15.849 --> 00:19:19.349 she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now, in the 00:19:19.349 --> 00:19:23.829 Hebrew word, that name is Habel, and it means 00:19:23.829 --> 00:19:28.390 breath, or what passes away without leaving anything 00:19:28.390 --> 00:19:33.420 significant. It's commentary on the short life 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:36.859 of Abel and his lack of children and their heirs. 00:19:37.500 --> 00:19:42.019 Now Abel kept flock and Cain worked the soil. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.660 In the course of time, Cain brought some of the 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:48.160 fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord, 00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:52.319 and Abel also brought an offering, the fat portions 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:55.730 from some of the firstborn of his flock. The 00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:59.390 Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 00:19:59.450 --> 00:20:02.769 but on Cain and his offering, he did not look 00:20:02.769 --> 00:20:07.450 with favor. So Cain was very angry and his face 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:13.710 was downcast. Genesis doesn't record God asking 00:20:13.710 --> 00:20:17.029 for these sacrifices, though he does approve 00:20:17.029 --> 00:20:20.609 of the practice as a mean of his expressing thanks. 00:20:20.769 --> 00:20:24.359 Gratitude. would not be expressed when the gift 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:27.880 was given grudgingly, apparently, as possible 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:31.500 with the case of Cain. Then the Lord said to 00:20:31.500 --> 00:20:34.799 Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:38.980 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? 00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:44.500 But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching 00:20:44.500 --> 00:20:48.140 at your door. It desires to have you. But you 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:53.349 must rule over it. Now Cain said to his brother 00:20:53.349 --> 00:20:56.950 Abel, Let's go out into the field. While they 00:20:56.950 --> 00:20:59.130 were in the field, Cain attacked his brother 00:20:59.130 --> 00:21:03.589 Abel and killed him. The Lord said to Cain, Where 00:21:03.589 --> 00:21:08.789 is your brother, Abel? I don't know, Cain replied. 00:21:08.890 --> 00:21:15.789 Am I my brother's keeper? The Lord said, What 00:21:15.789 --> 00:21:20.980 have you done? Listen. Your brother's blood cries 00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:26.180 out to me from the ground. Now you are under 00:21:26.180 --> 00:21:29.279 a curse and driven from the ground, which opens 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:32.380 its mouth to receive your brother's blood from 00:21:32.380 --> 00:21:35.400 your hand. When you work the ground, it will 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:38.819 no longer yield its crops for you. You will be 00:21:38.819 --> 00:21:45.960 a restless wanderer on the earth. In Mesopotamian 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:50.420 thinking, the ideal lifestyle was not one of 00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:55.539 a farmer. It was of urbanization and civilization. 00:21:56.039 --> 00:22:00.619 Civilized life in the city is recognized in this 00:22:00.619 --> 00:22:03.519 time of the ancient Near East as a gift from 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.259 the gods, as something that is highly valued. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:09.940 Agricultural and pastoral activities are part 00:22:09.940 --> 00:22:14.490 of the urban landscape. foundational to the success 00:22:14.490 --> 00:22:18.349 of the city. In this way of thinking, nomadic 00:22:18.349 --> 00:22:21.849 groups, those that would be cursed to travel 00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:24.849 the ground, would be considered uncivilized and 00:22:24.849 --> 00:22:30.190 a threat to society. Chapter 4, verse 13 continues, 00:22:30.450 --> 00:22:35.470 Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is more 00:22:35.470 --> 00:22:39.369 than I can bear. Today you are driving me from 00:22:39.369 --> 00:22:42.359 the land and I will be hidden. from your presence. 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:46.579 I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and 00:22:46.579 --> 00:22:50.140 whoever finds me will kill me. But the Lord said 00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:54.380 to him, Not so. Anyone who kills Cain will suffer 00:22:54.380 --> 00:22:59.039 vengeance seven times over. Then the Lord put 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.400 a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.859 kill him. So Cain went out from the Lord's presence 00:23:05.859 --> 00:23:11.390 and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain 00:23:11.390 --> 00:23:13.490 made love to his wife, and she became pregnant 00:23:13.490 --> 00:23:16.970 and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building 00:23:16.970 --> 00:23:19.809 a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 00:23:20.410 --> 00:23:24.690 Enoch was born Erad, and Erad was the father 00:23:24.690 --> 00:23:28.250 of Hamuzajel, and Hamuzajel was the father of 00:23:28.250 --> 00:23:31.849 Methusajel, and he was the father of Lamech. 00:23:33.329 --> 00:23:38.430 Lamech married two women, one named Ada, the 00:23:38.430 --> 00:23:41.180 other named Zillah. Ada gave birth to Jabal. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:43.880 He was the father of those who live in tents 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:48.160 and raised livestock. His brother's name was 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.019 Jubal. He was the father of all who played string 00:23:52.019 --> 00:23:55.599 instruments as well as pipes. Zillah also had 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.980 a son, Tubal -Cain, who forged all kinds of tools 00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:03.400 out of bronze and brass. Tubal -Cain's sister 00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:08.380 was Nema. In ancient Mesopotamian lore, there 00:24:08.380 --> 00:24:11.019 are a group of sages, one for each generation 00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:15.339 of kings in the age before the flood. They introduce 00:24:15.339 --> 00:24:19.740 major aspects of human culture, just as the Bible 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:23.039 does here. The Bible teaches that these inventors 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:26.180 came from the line of Cain, although their work 00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:31.140 could be used for good, in this case, seems to 00:24:31.140 --> 00:24:35.150 have led to greater violence. Lamech says to 00:24:35.150 --> 00:24:38.069 his wives, Ada and Zillah, listen to me, wives 00:24:38.069 --> 00:24:41.630 of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man 00:24:41.630 --> 00:24:44.509 for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. 00:24:45.069 --> 00:24:51.190 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech 77 00:24:51.190 --> 00:24:56.170 times. The sin that Adam and Eve brought into 00:24:56.170 --> 00:25:00.269 the world passes on to their son Cain. In chapter 00:25:00.269 --> 00:25:02.809 4, it leads to envy and violence that results. 00:25:03.529 --> 00:25:06.750 and the murder of one brother of another. As 00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:10.230 these generations progress, the violence escalates 00:25:10.230 --> 00:25:14.470 so that Lamech, the last of Cain's line, commits 00:25:14.470 --> 00:25:18.769 murder to be avenged 11 times more than his ancestor 00:25:18.769 --> 00:25:24.849 Cain. Chapter 4 concludes with Adam made love 00:25:24.849 --> 00:25:27.490 to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son 00:25:27.490 --> 00:25:30.660 named Seth. saying, God is granted be another 00:25:30.660 --> 00:25:33.640 child in the place of Abel since Cain killed 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:37.559 him. Seth also had a son and he named him Enosh. 00:25:38.299 --> 00:25:41.720 At that time, people began to call on the name 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:45.980 of the Lord. This verse then represents the beginning 00:25:45.980 --> 00:25:52.980 of religion and that is where we will start off 00:25:52.980 --> 00:26:02.140 next time. Well, what can you say friends? There's 00:26:02.140 --> 00:26:06.309 a lot of moving parts there in the Third and 00:26:06.309 --> 00:26:09.990 fourth chapter of Genesis. I hope that this was 00:26:09.990 --> 00:26:12.690 illuminating for you as it was for me to prepare. 00:26:13.089 --> 00:26:15.869 Hey, listen, if you like what we're doing, make 00:26:15.869 --> 00:26:18.029 sure to give us a rating, however it is that 00:26:18.029 --> 00:26:21.890 you can give us a rating, whatever podcast aggregator 00:26:21.890 --> 00:26:24.289 you use. If you have the opportunity, if you're 00:26:24.289 --> 00:26:29.069 using Apple Podcasts, if you can rate us in reviews, 00:26:29.250 --> 00:26:32.170 we'd certainly appreciate it. It helps. Get the 00:26:32.170 --> 00:26:34.950 word out. Hey, listen, until then, I hope you 00:26:34.950 --> 00:26:37.529 have a happy Thanksgiving and you be blessed 00:26:37.529 --> 00:26:39.990 and be a blessing.