In the fourth chapter of Genesis, Adam and Eve use their newfound knowledge to reproduce. GLORY!
First, Adam and Eve had Cain. Then another son, Abel.
The children grew quickly, being born and catapulted into adulthood in the space of the first two verses of Genesis 4. Abel established himself as a shepherd, while Cain went into farming.
God Says: Meat Good, Grain Bad!
The Lord was pleased with Abel’s offering, but turned up His nose at Cain’s “fruity” sacrifice. This made Cain angry, and he had a long face.
God asked Cain why he was upset . . . after all, “if you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, [it shows that] sin is at your door!”
Do you think this was a particularly constructive thing of God to say?
How would you feel if you and your brother or sister worked equally hard at the things you do to make presents for your mommy, and she really loved your sister’s macaroni-and-glitter portrait of her, but ignored the reproduction Ming Dynasty vase you’d so carefully crafted?
Jealousy Introduced by God's Insensitivity
God told Cain that the voice of Abel’s blood cried to Him from the ground — proving God knew the answer to the question before posing it, being all-knowing — and laid a curse on Cain.
Cain would no longer be able to grow plants as he had; rather, the soil would not give him its strength, and Cain would be a fugitive for ever.
Cain was very scared. He said he couldn’t take that punishment, and that others would hunt him down and kill him!
God, not willing to undo His curse, added another curse atop the first. God decreed that anyone who would slay Cain would receive vengeance sevenfold upon himself. He marked Cain so everybody would know not to kill him.
Does that mean that someone killing Cain would be killed seven times? What do you think?
So, Cain left the presence of God and went to the land of Nod, east of Eden. He married and had a son named Enoch.
All’s well that ends well! Now for some discussion questions!
How does God feel about vegans? Does He respect them? Does He prefer a nice tossed salad, or some fresh sheep fat?
If your Sunday School teacher has told you that Adam and Eve were the first people and everyone descended from them, how could there be a “land of Nod” for Cain to go into? He was Adam and Eve’s firstborn . . . Thus the third-oldest human, if Adam and Eve were ancestors of all.
Where did Cain’s wife come from? If all were descended from Adam and Eve, wouldn’t that make Cain’s wife his sister?
Greetings,
I think you raise some good questions here Sister.
Yes, Cain was sentenced by the judge of the world to be, “a fugitive and a vagabond.”
A few verses later Cain raises a family and builds a city and named it after his son Enoch.
Not exactly what vagabonds and fugitives do, is it. God’s punishment for Cain didn’t hold up though. Cain must have contracted that same lawyer that got his parents out of the death penalty.
I always thought that the mark of Cain was a bad thing, but as you point out above, it was like a lucky rabbits foot, or four leaf clover that protected Cain, the murderer. Maybe the Bible god was feeling a littly guilty for his bad parenting?
Amen,
Infidel
first off, the death penalty you speak of was the ejection from eden and also “eternal life.” So, by taking eternal life away, that is the death sentence.. even tho they died old as …well..lol.
anyhow, the bible is gay.
Yo Mike,
“in the day (yom, 24 hour period) you eat of it, you shall surley die.” Gen.2:17 They surely did not die in the day (yom) they ate the fruit. So, the Bible god lied, and the talking snake told the truth. Adam lived to be 930 years old. Although the Muslims have preserved Eve’s grave site just outside of Mecca, we do not know how old she was when she died. And by the way, I am wondering how Eve’s grave survived Noah’s flood. God only knows.
Amen,
Infidel