GENESIS 4, or, "Kinda makes those indian burns your big bro gave you not such a big deal"

Adam and Eve have children, taking the entire human population up to a record breaking 4. One of those children kills the other one, knocking it back down to three. I try to ignore the logistics of how a father, a mother, and one son will go on to populate an entire species.

Adam and Eve give birth to two children - Cain the older and Abel the younger. Chores are quickly handed out. Abel is in charge of the family's flocks, and Cain is in charge of working the soil. Both of them bring offerings to God, Cain brings some fruit, and Abel fat portions from the firstborne of his flock. God likes the fat portions better, and thus sibling rivalry is born.

Cain is upset, and God tries to console him by saying that as long as he is good, he will be accepted. Cain ignores this advise, takes his brother out into a field and kills him.

God being omnipotent and all figures out what Cain has done and curses him, telling him that he will no longer be able to grow crops (a big deal back then), and that he will forever be a restless wanderer. Cain tells God that this punishment is too much for him to bear, that people everywhere will want to kill him. So God agrees to put a mark on Cain and makes it so if anyone kills him, they will "suffer vengence seven times over". Cain leaves for the land Nod, east of Eden. Adam and Eve have more children, as does Cain.

Something I was unaware of until now is that the "mark of Cain" mentioned in Gen 4 had been widely used to justify various forms of racism. According to Wikipedia, certain (though not all) Christian traditions interpreted the mark of Cain as being expressed by black skin, The mark of Cain doctrine has been used to justify racism, slavery, bans on interracial marriage, and as a way of preventing black people from advancing into certain roles in the chuch. Mormonism has been especially criticized for using the mark of Cain to keep black people from becoming priests, though that ban was lifted in 1978.

I've also heard of Cain's curse being used as an explanation for the origin of vampires, though I think this is a very fringe idea.

But let's stick to what the Bible actually says. The passage I like best from Gen 4 is God's consoling words to Cain - "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." This chapter is first and foremost a cautionary tale against jealousy. Sometimes, just as a matter of arbitrary indiviual taste, a person will favor others over you. Gen 4 is trying to tell us that that's okay. Keep doing good, and you will be approved. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

Oh wait. Sorry. That last quote was Yoda.

Quotable Quotes: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Pop References to Gen 4: Whether they know it or not, the band Avenged Sevenfold is referencing Gen 4:15, "if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over"

Steinbeck's masterpiece "East of Eden" has many, many references to Gen 4.