In the book of Genesis, there is a great divide between God and humanity and humans from each other. Humans were created in the image of god but were slowly straying far from the expectations of God. The stories of Cain and Abel and Noah’s arch are great examples of this.

The story of Cain and Abel made me realize this the most. I felt a strange sympathy for Cain. God had expected him to bring a better offering. Cain brought fruits from his harvest, much to the dismay of god. God accused Cain of being selfish and praised Abel for slaughtering his flock of sheep. Genesis states ” if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” God rejected Cain’s offering and became upset enought that he killed his brother that was praised by god. Cain began to have a disconnect from God because he began to shrink his offerings. He did not want to have a bigger sacrifice for God. He went against God’s wishes. He then disconnects further from God and then his humanity by murdering Abel. He resented the praise that his brother got and ended up taking his life. He was disconnected enough from his human emotions and God to commit on of the greatest sins. The author uses this story to show the greater alienation of humans from god and each other telling this story of a man who rebelled from both God and his family. The author’s intention was to show the very human emotions that can cause a person to stray from the path of the lord. Humans were starting to submit to their desire rather than God’s desires.

Another story that the author uses to show this disconnect is the story of Noah’s ark. In a part of Genesis 6, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” This was a powerful quote in my eyes. It showed a huge alienation from God and his people. They became wicked and no longer respected the word of the lord. God even commented on the violence that humans committed against each other in Genesis 6. He no longer had control over the humans. The author uses the quote to show that God had given up. The humans no longer followed the will of God and rebelled. He ordered Noah to take two of every animal onto an ark. From there God would destroy the world with a flood. He chose Noah to repopulate the world due to his devotion pure spirit. God’s people were so wicked in his eyes that he had killed them all and started anew. I found this story interesting because God was the creator of humans, and he found them to be so alienated from his will that he had them all killed. The people were also so alienated from each other that they committed acts of violence from each other. I felt sympathy for God because he had to get rid of all these people because they strayed so far. I believe that the author’s intention was to make the reader feel the way I did.