Genesis 4-7

Day 2: Genesis 4-7 Notes & Takeaways

My Bible and notes @myrenewedfaith

Gen 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired. In the Hebrew Bible, Abel is a favorite of God who is slain by his brother Cain. Refreshingly, Abel doesn't mean anything so sinister. Instead, it means “breath” or “vapor,” a calming association that will remind baby Abel of the powerful life force within him.

Both brothers bring an offering to the Lord in Gen 4: 3-5, God accepts Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. He accepts Abel’s because he came to God in faith (Hebrews 11:4)

Note that when Cain is angry the Lord says, “sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Which reminds us of Romans 3:23, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” See also 1 COR 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Genesis 4:8, Cain kills Abel, the first murder in history, and what makes it worse is that it is towards his own brother. Abel was righteous, but Cain, “belonged to the evil one” (1 John 3:12 and Matt 23:35) Not only did Cain commit a monstrous act but his statement in Genesis 4:9 is a statement of callous indifference. Even when God stated his punishment in Gen 4:11-12 Cain felt, not remorse, but self-pity.

Do you see the similarities in Genesis 4:9 and Genesis 3:9 through God’s questionings? It’s not that he doesn’t already know the answer, it’s that the Lord confronts them in their sin. Cain then gets banished from his home, just like Adam and Eve did from Eden. He left and lived in the land of Nod, which means wandering. God could have slain Cain for his sin, but maybe God thought that if he killed him Cain would have been forgotten, but by allowing Cain to live “he lives a more fearful and lasting monument of God’s justice” (Matthew Henry commentary of the Whole Bible). See Ps 59:11.

After reading that Cain had a child named Enoch in Genesis 4:11, I right away looked up the genealogy of Adam until Noah and found this wonderful graphic the lineage until Noah’s children, which brings us to chapter 5.

“There are two slightly different genealogies for Jesus listed in the bible - one in Matthew 1:1-16, and another in Luke 3:23-38. Although both are assumed to be the family line of Joseph, the father of Jesus, Luke's listing is actually that of Mary.
Matthew lists Jesus' legal claim (by primogeniture - state of being the firstborn child) to the throne of King David, through Joseph, while Luke establishes His actual physical descent from King David, through Mary as specified in Prophecy” (The Nazarene Way, The Genealogy of Jesus)

Genesis 4:19 polygamy first enters history. Although it’s what Lamech does, God’s original divine intention is monogamy, not polygamy. Perhaps he thought if he married two women he’d get a double portion of the blessing in Gen 1:28.

It is through the line of Seth that Noah is born and in chapters 6 & 7 we get to see just how faithful Noah was. Genesis 6:9 tells us that Noah was righeous and blameless and that he walked faithfully with God. How amazing would it be to hear people describe you like this? Reyna (or insert your name) is righteous and blameless and walks faithfully with God. Wow. I want to be spoken about like this! Do you?

God tells Noah that a flood is coming and we don’t even know if Noah’s ever seen rain, yet he is faithful and trusts the Lord. I love what our Daily Grace Co., Eden to Eternity commentary says, “His life reminds us to trust the Lord, even when it does not make sense, and rest in the grace that He [God] has shown us.”

Tomorrow we move on to chapters 8-11. I hope you’re learning a lot and enjoying it all at the same time! Make sure to follow RF on Instagram, join our FB Group to stay up to date for our upcoming weekly zoom sessions!