Genesis is a theological narrative, which is very different to most things we read these days, especially as a software engineer.
1. The general consensus is that there were more people. This is assumed in Genesis and it (annoyingly!) doesn't bother to explain it, as the audience at the time already assumed it. Also, the authors weren't interested in all the logistics and technicalities that we are today.
2. Cities referenced in Genesis were likely fortified settlements, rather than like modern cities.
The idea that people in Africa could only build simple huts is a myth that came from the colonial era. Africa had large cities, architecture and metallurgy while parts of Europe were still tribal.
If you're keen to learn more, there are some good books that explain this much better than a comment can, such as "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Fee & Stuart and "Genesis for Normal People" by Pete Enns. I haven't read it but "African Civilizations" by Graham Connah is probably the go-to book on how African cities and technologies were so much further ahead than traditional European/US narratives place them.
The best resource for these kinds of questions is probably "The Bible Project". They have a load of YouTube videos and podcasts that cover these kinds of questions.
thanks.
if there were more people, then how can we all get the sin from adam and eve:
The biblical data consistently understands Adam and Eve to have been real individual human beings from whom all humanity’s descent may be traced. This representation begins as early as Genesis 4, where Adam and Eve have sexual relations and produce children, one of whom kills another. In Genesis 5, there is a lengthy genealogy of Adam’s descendants, whose offspring eventually form all the nations of the world listed in Genesis 10. The contents of these stories are reproduced in similar genealogies in the books of Chronicles and Luke, which trace Adam’s descendants down to those who returned from the exile (1 Chronicles 1–9) and to Jesus Christ (Luke 3:23–38).
I don't fully know, however, I will note that to my understanding, since Moses wrote the fist five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) if you will note... Moses came long after these events. I don't know what his source material was, but if it was word of mouth or other scrolls, its possible people in his time had access to those other scrolls which are now lost to time. If he felt that anyone could read the other scrolls for more information I could understand why there's not more information about these people.
I have no idea why some people do what they do. I will say I am very jealous of the Amish because they don't have the stresses I have, or half of the issues I have. No money for gas? I don't think they need to worry or care about it.
The other thing is, what does it really mean that he made a city? It could mean that he started an encampment elsewhere. we don't know how many other people God would have made during Adam / Cains time, I would imagine God would have made Cain a wife at some point.
Once we get to Cain and Able, it is far easier to understand if we think of these names as tribes of humans, and if we accept that there were other humans outside of the area of Adam an Eve.
This is my thoughts as well, I think God made other people they were just not entirely necessary to be captured in Genesis itself. There's probably other scrolls about them elsewhere.
Genesis is a theological narrative, which is very different to most things we read these days, especially as a software engineer.
1. The general consensus is that there were more people. This is assumed in Genesis and it (annoyingly!) doesn't bother to explain it, as the audience at the time already assumed it. Also, the authors weren't interested in all the logistics and technicalities that we are today.
2. Cities referenced in Genesis were likely fortified settlements, rather than like modern cities.
The idea that people in Africa could only build simple huts is a myth that came from the colonial era. Africa had large cities, architecture and metallurgy while parts of Europe were still tribal.
If you're keen to learn more, there are some good books that explain this much better than a comment can, such as "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Fee & Stuart and "Genesis for Normal People" by Pete Enns. I haven't read it but "African Civilizations" by Graham Connah is probably the go-to book on how African cities and technologies were so much further ahead than traditional European/US narratives place them.
The best resource for these kinds of questions is probably "The Bible Project". They have a load of YouTube videos and podcasts that cover these kinds of questions.
thanks. if there were more people, then how can we all get the sin from adam and eve:
The biblical data consistently understands Adam and Eve to have been real individual human beings from whom all humanity’s descent may be traced. This representation begins as early as Genesis 4, where Adam and Eve have sexual relations and produce children, one of whom kills another. In Genesis 5, there is a lengthy genealogy of Adam’s descendants, whose offspring eventually form all the nations of the world listed in Genesis 10. The contents of these stories are reproduced in similar genealogies in the books of Chronicles and Luke, which trace Adam’s descendants down to those who returned from the exile (1 Chronicles 1–9) and to Jesus Christ (Luke 3:23–38).
I don't fully know, however, I will note that to my understanding, since Moses wrote the fist five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) if you will note... Moses came long after these events. I don't know what his source material was, but if it was word of mouth or other scrolls, its possible people in his time had access to those other scrolls which are now lost to time. If he felt that anyone could read the other scrolls for more information I could understand why there's not more information about these people.
I have no idea why some people do what they do. I will say I am very jealous of the Amish because they don't have the stresses I have, or half of the issues I have. No money for gas? I don't think they need to worry or care about it.
The other thing is, what does it really mean that he made a city? It could mean that he started an encampment elsewhere. we don't know how many other people God would have made during Adam / Cains time, I would imagine God would have made Cain a wife at some point.
Once we get to Cain and Able, it is far easier to understand if we think of these names as tribes of humans, and if we accept that there were other humans outside of the area of Adam an Eve.
This is my thoughts as well, I think God made other people they were just not entirely necessary to be captured in Genesis itself. There's probably other scrolls about them elsewhere.