Cain and Abel and Seth

Genesis 4:1–26

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture. Also see: Dt.12:20–25, 15:19–23; Mt. 23:29–36; Col.1:15–20; Heb. 11:1–6; 1 John 3:11–15.

1.    First born of Adam and Eve was Cain, the second born was Abel. Abel “keep” sheep while Cain farmed the land, and from each of which they brought offerings of their produce to the LORD.

2.    Abel would have killed a sheep, the firstborn of his flock, shed its blood, in order to present his offering. Is this a prophetic event, pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross?

3.    Cain’s reaction to the rejection by the LORD of his offering was one of anger, and the LORD reached out to him but then out of Cain’s anger he kills his younger brother.

4.    As a result Cain becomes a “fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” This “punishment,” and fear sets deep into his being.

5.    But the LORD issues a protection for Cain even gives him a “mark” to protect him. (The nature of the “mark” remains a mystery. The best thought is that it was something visible like a tattoo.) The need for the protection is that others may seek to harm him. Who these others are also remains a mystery.

6.    Cain and his wife have a son, Enoch, who builds a city. Five generations after Cain Lamech is born, who would have two wives.

7.    Lamech’s kills a young man for “wounding” him, a severe reaction and Lamech understands that his punishment will be greater than that of Cain.

8.    This segment of Scripture concludes with the birth of Seth, born of Adam and Eve, who would supplant Cain. After a period of time, “people began to call upon the name of the LORD.” And this is a hopeful sign of a better future.

The Fall, part 2

Genesis 3:14–24

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture.

1.         Yahweh Elohim spoke to the serpent, indwelled as it was by Satan itself, and pronounced a “curse” upon it, which would be dramatized by having to crawl on “your belly.”

2.         Furthermore, and most importantly, there will be a prolonged and cosmic spiritual warfare between Satan’s offspring (the demonic kingdom) and the woman’s offspring (Christ and His Church).

3.         Indeed, the offspring (or seed) of the woman would deliver a death blow to it’s offspring while Satan’s offspring is only able to bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring.

4.         Here is the first revelation of what is called, in Latin, the protoevangelium, the first mention of the Gospel, which is the defeat of sin and Satan by means of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Messiah.

5.         The breaking of the first and only commandment would also result in a disturbance in the relationship between husbands and wives.

6.         In addition, life would from then on be lived not in a paradise, but in a world full of misery and woe. Surviving would be no easy task

7.         A second looking forward to the work of Jesus on the cross in the passage is prefigured by Yahweh Elohim making coverings of the hides of animals for Adam and Eve (the name Eve means “life giver”).

8.         Sadly now, Adam and Eve are driven away from the paradise originally intended for them. The way to the tree of life is now barred.

The Fall

Genesis 3:1–13

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture. Also read: Psalm 139:1–12; Isaiah 14:12–20; Ezekiel 28:11–19; 2 Cor. 11:12–15; 1 Peter 3:6–11.

1.         The story begins with a demon possessed serpent, which is somehow present even in the paradise created by Yahweh Elohim, the LORD God, speaking to the woman.

2.         A carefully crafted question is asked of the woman by the serpent. We note that the serpent did not use the full title Yahweh Elohim, only Elohim.

3.         The woman’s response is nearly correct except she adds, “neither shall you touch it,” which God had not said.

4.         The serpent contradicts what God had said and denies that death would be the result of eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge or good and evil. May we wonder how the woman even knew anything about death?

5.         The serpent misrepresents the intention of Elohim by saying that to eat of the tree will bring enlightenment even to the point of being like gods, and this rendering we find in the Septuagint, LXX, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

6.         Now the woman, in looking at the fruit of the forbidden tree, sees it is good for food, a delight to the eyes, and will bring one wisdom—the deadly triple enticement. The meaning of “seeing” has been debated forever.

7.         The woman shares the fruit with her husband whereupon both shockingly discover they are naked. Such mystery here and with little understanding by scholars over the centuries. By some mysterious mechanism they devise a covering, and they suddenly “hear” the LORD God approaching, who calls out to the man and asks, “Where are you?”

8.         Is this an opportunity for the man to confess and repent? Perhaps it was, but the man says he was afraid and so he hid himself. And we do the same still; so then we identify with the man.

9.         He was naked: is this a way of expressing guilt? Then comes from the LORD God another chance to be honest and confess. The response is one of blaming, blaming the woman for the trouble.

10.       The LORD God turns now to the woman and asks her what it was she had done. She admits that the serpent deceived her and that she did eat of the forbidden fruit.

11.       Is this to be considered a confession or an excuse?

The Fall

Genesis 3:1–13

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture. Also read: Psalm 139:1–12; Isaiah 14:12–20; Ezekiel 28:11–19; 2 Cor. 11:12–15; 1 Peter 3:6–11.

1.         The story begins with a demon possessed serpent, which is somehow present even in the paradise created by Yahweh Elohim, the LORD God, speaking to the woman.

2.         A carefully crafted question is asked of the woman by the serpent. We note that the serpent did not use the full title Yahweh Elohim, only Elohim.

3.         The woman’s response is nearly correct except she adds, “neither shall you touch it,” which God had not said.

4.         The serpent contradicts what God had said and denies that death would be the result of eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge or good and evil. May we wonder how the woman even knew anything about death?

5.         The serpent misrepresents the intention of Elohim by saying that to eat of the tree will bring enlightenment even to the point of being like gods, and this rendering we find in the Septuagint, LXX, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

6.         Now the woman, in looking at the fruit of the forbidden tree, sees it is good for food, a delight to the eyes, and will bring one wisdom—the deadly triple enticement. The meaning of “seeing” has been debated forever.

7.         The woman shares the fruit with her husband whereupon both shockingly discover they are naked. Such mystery here and with little understanding by scholars over the centuries. By some mysterious mechanism they devise a covering, and they suddenly “hear” the LORD God approaching, who calls out to the man and asks, “Where are you?”

8.         Is this an opportunity for the man to confess and repent? Perhaps it was, but the man says he was afraid and so he hid himself. And we do the same still; so then we identify with the man.

9.         He was naked: is this a way of expressing guilt? Then comes from the LORD God another chance to be honest and confess. The response is one of blaming, blaming the woman for the trouble.

10.       The LORD God turns now to the woman and asks her what it was she had done. She admits that the serpent deceived her and that she did eat of the forbidden fruit.

11. Is this to be considered a confession or an excuse?

The Creation of Man and Woman

Genesis 2:4–25

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture. Also look at Exodus 3:13–15, Job 12:7–11; 1 Cor.15:42–49; Ephesians 5:25–33; Colossians 1:15–20; Revelation 22:1-5.

1.         It is largely understood that our passage is a second account of creation because of the difference in vocabulary, style, and order of events, plus the use of LORD God—Yahweh Elohim—in place of Elohim for God in the earlier account.  

2.         In addition, there is no day-by-day account of the order of creation, rather the author moves directly to the creation of the first human.

3.         Before there was any vegetation, Yahweh Elohim formed ‘adham from mere dust of the earth. Thereupon the LORD God brought all manner of vegetation into being.

4.         He created a paradise/garden and in the center of it was the “tree of life.” The LORD God also created the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” the location of which is uncertain.

5.         The location of the garden or park is described by giving the names of four rivers, two of which are known, the Tigris and Euphrates; the other two are unknown, Pishon and Gihon. The Tigris and Euphrates, still with the same names, are found in modern day Iraq.

6.         The LORD God put the man in the garden to work and keep it, produce food and guard it, and He warned the man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

7.         Created a social being, the single man had no other being to relate to, so God created the animals and the birds (no mention of fish) in order to find a “helper” for the man.

8.         These did not satisfy so the LORD God put the man asleep and out of his side or rib, a being was created with whom the man could relate. And the man was indeed happy and thankful for this.

9.         So then, ever after, the man, ish, would leave his parents and hold fast to his woman, ishshah. They would be considered “one flesh.”

10.       These two, the man and woman, were naked yet were not ashamed; there was no guilt or shame attached to their sexuality. This would change, and radically so.