inner beauty

" ¹⁵ But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. ¹⁷ Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch." - Genesis 4

my understanding has always been that adam and eve were the only humans created and living in gods presence. then after their exile, they wandered together and had children. but they were still the only humans. so when cain was banished and wandered away, how did he go to this "land of Nod?" who else was out there? were there tons of cities like these, and tons of other people? an idea that came up tonight in convo was that adam and eve throughout the bible are symbolic for a group of people or the early mankind, not specifically two individuals. this is an interesting take, something i hadnt thought about before.

i love the symbolism in the bible. the way it is so open to interpretation. the layers of metaphors. crazy onion layers.
the bible is beautiful as a literal work, yet part of faith is taking the text as your own, what it means to you, what god is saying to you.

i pray i learn to see between the lines more often in our relationship, lord. show me what you want me to see.
everything doesnt have to be straightford, or black and white. you made many shades of grey.