No kill-backs!

Finishing chapter 4. Actually I meant to do this section last time and didn't for some reason.

[Genesis 4: 16-24]
This shows the reason God didn't want people killing Cain. Since there weren't a ton of people on the Earth at the moment, I'm sure losing Abel messed up enough of the plan. From Cain's descendants we see Enoch, who later we learn was a pretty cool guy, and people who were apparently very influential in the creation of animal husbandry, music, and metal works. So even though Cain screwed up, God still had plans for his descendants so he let Cain stay alive for a while. Think of this when total jerks are becoming successful in life: God may have a plan He's working that requires them to be in that position for one reason or another.
There's also an anecdote in this passage about a guy named Lamech, who murders someone and gives a speech saying "Remember how God said He would avenge Cain seven times if anyone killed him? Well then that means I'll probably be avenged seventy-seven times! Right?....guys?" and probably was killed shortly after, since it doesn't sound like God Himself made any such statement.

[4:25-26]
So Adam and Even have another son that takes the job that Abel was supposed to have. There's a random possessive "me" in that verse that other translations say was Eve talking, but in the KJV and the NKJV it sounds like the author is saying it. Kinda weird.
But after this kid Seth is born, it says that men began to call on the name of the Lord. So it sounds like Abel was supposed to be an early spiritual leader before he was offed, so the plan was delayed until Seth was born. It's comforting to know that God can still make a way even when people don't step up that should have. The plan can still be delayed and possibly not be as effective as it was once going to be, but God is bigger than our mistakes and can find a way.

[Chapter 5]
Chapter 5 is one long genealogy leading from Adam to Moses. What immediately jumps out is that people were living hundreds of years. God's initial design was for no one to ever die, so even after the fall they got a lot longer than it eventually deteriorated into. In Creation Science there's also the whole Canopy thing where the climate was much better and the atmosphere much friendlier to long lifespans and large animals and what have you. But again, not getting into that.
Another standout is Enoch, who, according to this, walked with God and did not die. The earlier part of Genesis suggests that a lot of the walking with God came to an end after the whole Fall thing, so it's impressive that someone managed to get it back, and get so close to God that instead of dying, as was the curse everyone had, God just took him straight up into Heaven (or wherever he was taken.)
And all of this leads up to Noah, who will the focus of next time.