Through this lesson the student will learn how the Yahwist characterizes human nature through the stories of Cain and Abel, Lamech, the Flood, and the tower of Babel, and how the Priestly Writer structured the entire narrative.

Bible: Genesis 4-11

Lecture: Murder, the Flood and a Tower

Handouts: Traditional Sources of the Flood Story

Ancient Near Eastern Texts: Atrahasis: Human Rebellion, The Flood in the Gilgamesh Epic

Interpret the Yahwist's understanding of the human condition as presented in the stories of Genesis 4-11.

Your essay should be based on an analysis of the Yahwist stories in Genesis 4-11 (Cain's murder of Abel, Lamech's murder, the flood, Noah's drunkenness, and the tower of Babel). Your essay should address the question: How do these stories characterize human nature? What aspect of human nature explains human behavior and God's response in each of the stories? Your essay should focus on those passages that explicitly refer to some aspect of human nature in addition to the presentation of human nature in the stories.

The classical Christian doctrine (from Augustine) is that humans are born in "original sin" - that is, at the "Fall" in the garden, humans lost the ability to be sinless so that each new generation of humans is born sinful. How does the Yahwist's view of the human condition compare to this classical Christian doctrine?

Why does God have regard for Abel's offering but no regard to Cain's offering? Should the silence of the narrative in this respect shape your interpretation of the passage?

Why does the narrator use murder as the first human sin?

Why does God curse Cain "from the ground"? How has Cain's sin affected the relationship between himself and the ground? What is the significance of this altered relationship? What is the story's message about the consequences of sin? Why does God protect Cain from being murdered himself?

How do Lamech's actions compare to those of Cain?

In the short tale in Genesis 6:1-4, God decides to limit human life to 120 years. Why does God choose to limit human life in this story? Why does God think it is necessary to limit human life?

How does the Yahwist version of the flood differ from the Priestly version? What is the message of each? In the Priestly version, why does God assign the role of capital punishment to humans? How does this differ from God's actions with regard to Cain (prohibiting capital punishment)? Why has God changed his mind?

In the story of the Tower of Babel, is God threatened by the building activity of the people?

Other questions for discussion are raised in the lecture.

Frank Anthony Spina. "The 'Ground' for Cain's Rejection (Gen 4): adamah in the Context of Gen 1–11." Zeitschrift für die alttestmentliche Wissenschaft 104: 319–32.

Bernhard W. Anderson. From Creation to New Creation: Old Testament Perspectives. Overtures to Biblical Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994.

For a book that focuses on the significance of the violence in the Cain and Abel story, see:

Regina M. Schwartz. The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

For an interpretation of the flood, see:

Lloyd R. Bailey. Noah: The Person and the Story in History and Tradition. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1989.