Genesis 4:1-5
The Offerings of Cain and Abel... [ Continue Reading ]
The Offerings of Cain and Abel... [ Continue Reading ]
And Adam knew Eve, his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. In the order of natural procreation, according to the blessing which the Lord had pronounced upon the man and his wife, Eve gave birth to a son, whom she named Cain (possession). The reason fo... [ Continue Reading ]
And she again bare his brother Abel. This was her second child, her second son, whose name Abel (vanity) indicates that she was feeling the vanity of this earthly life and hoped all the more eagerly for salvation. AND ABEL WAS A KEEPER OF SHEEP, BUT CAIN WAS A TILLER OF THE GROUND. Thus the two brot... [ Continue Reading ]
And in process of time, at the end of many days, at the expiration of a long period, IT CAME TO PASS THAT CAIN BROUGHT OF THE FRUIT OF THE GROUND AN OFFERING UNTO THE LORD. This shows the manner in which the earliest worship of the Lord took place. Both Cain and Abel, having been instructed by Adam... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. In the very mention of the gift there is an indication of the difference in the attitude of the hearts; for whereas it is said of Cain only in general that he brought of the fruit of the soil, it is stated concerning Ab... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT UNTO CAIN AND TO HIS OFFERING HE HAD NOT RESPECT. The Lord searches the reins and the heart. He noted the humble faith of Abel, whose one thought was to give the Lord a proof of the sincere gratitude for all the goodness and mercy which had been vouchsafed him. But God saw also the hypocrisy of... [ Continue Reading ]
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? The Lord's warning at this time had reference both to the cause and to the possible consequences of Cain's wrath. He implies, first of all, that the brooding posture assumed by Cain, was unreasonable, foolish, in the... [ Continue Reading ]
The First Murder... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. The fault lay altogether with Cain himself; for if he had done well, if he had had faith and shown this faith in truly good works, in acceptable offerings, then he would have experienced the appreciati... [ Continue Reading ]
And Cain talked with Abel, his brother. The warning of the Lord was disregarded, deliberately set aside, as he started a quarrel with his brother. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THEY WERE IN THE FIELD, THAT CAIN ROSE UP AGAINST ABEL, HIS BROTHER, AND SLEW HIM. Cain did not try to keep the sinful desire o... [ Continue Reading ]
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel, thy brother? The arraignment of God in this case is like that against Adam and Eve after their transgression. The Lord confronts the murderer with a direct question regarding the whereabouts of his brother Abel, with the intention of working repentance in... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON CAIN... [ Continue Reading ]
And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. The great Judge now flatly confronts the murderer with the evidence of his crime: The voice of the blood of thy brother, every single drop of it, is crying to Me from the earth. Blood that is shed in m... [ Continue Reading ]
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. The curse of God rested upon Cain in such a way that it denied him a form of sustenance by way of tilling the ground, the work with which he had till now gained his livelihood. Because t... [ Continue Reading ]
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. The irrational creature suffers and groans on account of the sin of man. The earth refuses to yield a crop to the murderer, no matter how hard he should attempt t... [ Continue Reading ]
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Instead of turning to the Lord in true repentance, Cain gives himself up to utter despair, declaring that the guilt of his sin is too great for him to endure, that the punishment meted out to him is too heavy for him to bear. His... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me. In bitter resentment the words pour forth from the mouth of Cain, accu... [ Continue Reading ]
life should be done on the six days of the week, and the words are not merely a permission, but a command; BUT THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF REST, AN HOLY CONVOCATION; YE SHALL DO NO WORK THEREIN. The Sabbath was to be distinguished not only by the fact that the Jews desisted from work, but chie... [ Continue Reading ]
his wife, journeyed toward the east of the land of Eden, where the garden of the Lord was situated. He cut himself off from all intercourse with the Lord and with His people.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PASSOVER AND THE OFFERING WHICH FOLLOWED IT These are the feasts of the Lord, in the narrower sense, EVEN HOLY CONVOCATIONS, WHICH YE SHALL PROCLAIM IN THEIR SEASONS. This instruction was carried out with strict literalness in after-years, the exact date of the new moon in each month being fixe... [ Continue Reading ]
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and bare Enoch. Since of one blood all nations of men are made to dwell on the earth, it was necessary, in the early days, for brothers and sisters to marry. Later, the Lord Himself changed this order, the marriage of close relatives at this time being appar... [ Continue Reading ]
And unto Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael; and Mehujael begat Methusael; and Methusael begat Lamech. In each case, of course, only the first-born or the most prominent son is named, the number of offspring being very large, as the entire Bible account indicates. There is a brief account... [ Continue Reading ]
And Lamech took unto him two wives; the name of the one was Adah and the name of the other Zillah. It was a descendant of Cain that first changed the order of God with regard to monogamy. He married two wives, thus instituting polygamy, by which the purity of marriage was perverted either into wife-... [ Continue Reading ]
And Adah bare Jabal; he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. Here was the beginning of the nomadic life, with the raising and grazing of cattle and no fixed dwelling-places.... [ Continue Reading ]
And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. This was the second son of Lamech and Adah whose name has been preserved, the inventor of the zither, a kind of stringed instrument, and the horn, or wind instrument. This, then, was the beginning of musica... [ Continue Reading ]
And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron; and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. Tubalcain was the inventor of various sharp tools for cutting metals, especially brass and iron. That was the beginning of crafts in the world. The entire narrative indica... [ Continue Reading ]
And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt.... [ Continue Reading ]
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly, Lamech seventy and sevenfold. Here is the first instance of the art of poetry, but even this is placed into the service of sin; for this is the form of the poem: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, listen to my speech; For a man have I ki... [ Continue Reading ]
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth; for God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. The names of other children of Adam and Eve are not mentioned, only that of Seth, who took the place of the first-born, and whose name Eve he... [ Continue Reading ]
Seth and Enos... [ Continue Reading ]
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. The family of Seth was the family of believers, and it was during the lifetime of his son Enos that men began formally to proclaim the name of Jehovah, to institute public se... [ Continue Reading ]