Not another Bible-blog!

Life outside the Garden, to me, means our life "down here", cut off from the presence of God... for now. The curse was that humans would strive with difficulties. God never cursed the first couple with their becoming mortal. Other writings in the Old and in the New Testament read that we are mortal because of the original sin, but Genesis has nothing to claim about this idea.

I think that life outside the Garden meant that humans were cut off from the presence of God: Some sort of spiritual death. I always thought that Adam and Eve could never see God after this, but I am not so sure now. Did God come visit them? He sure spoke with Cain, their son.

God had blessed the couple, back in the Garden, and had given them the commandment to pro-create. So they did. Eve exulted after she gave birth to her first-born son: Cain. God had given her the power of pro-creation. And she had eaten of the fruit of Knowledge, so it looks like she knew what she was on Earth for. We sometimes don't.

Eve gave birth to Abel. Cain means: "to create, to beget" and Abel means: "breath". He was not going to last... Yep, the first murder was about to take place...

We are not told how old the two brothers were when they gave their offering to God. The text just says that Cain the farmer gave "a gift of his farm products"; Abel the shepherd gave "several choice lambs from the best of his flock". God accepted Abel's offering; He did not accept Cain's.

It's been told that Cain did not give the choice part. In Hebrews 11:4, we read that the faith of Abel was stronger than Cain's, so God accepted Abel's offering. Genesis gives no reason.

Something else that is not explained: Who -God? Adam and Eve?- told Abel and Cain to give offerings, and what and how to offer. This might be because this episode comes from different traditions, put together in the Book of Genesis.

The passage tells us that Cain started to hate his brother. God knew the feelings of Cain's heart and told him to beware: If Cain let sin build a nest in his thoughts, it would get stronger and stronger and will end up having power over him. "Watch out" said God. "Sin is at the door. Its intent is directed toward you, but you are to master it".

Yes, Satan is at our door, willing to get in. He wants to pervert our souls and claim them for himself. This is what this passage tells me. Genesis just reads: "sin", not "Satan". What God meant is not so clear to us, but I think this is the idea behind it.

We can overcome Satan. What we can't do, is use the excuse of Satan to explain our failings, our gross errors and our own wickedness. We are sometimes cruel, we sometimes hurt and some of us rob or kill. We cannot blame God for what happens to us. We cannot blame Satan for what we do to others. We are our own person. God gave us free agency, with the privilege and the responsibility this gift brings. We have the knowledge, we have our free-will, we have God with us. And Satan only has the power we let him have!

Genesis reads that Cain was "angry" -although the translation should have read: "distressed"- and premedited murder. He asked his brother Abel to come with him to a quiet place - the unfrequented country rendered as "the fields". There Cain attacked his brother. And he killed him.

Yes, bad things happen to good people, and God lets bad people have their way. This is nothing new, this is in the first book of the Bible! Those who claim that if there was a God nothing bad would ever happen, should crack up a Bible before babbling such non-sense! We should know that God does avenge the righteous, in his own time...

"Where's your brother?" asked God. Because the Earth had "drunk" Abel's blood, God let it curse Cain: The murderer would never harvest again. He was to become a wanderer on the Earth all his life. Cain thought the punishment to be too severe: He would get killed! God then put a mark on him: If anyone killed Cain, he would be avenged. Some in the past have said that this mark was "red hair" or a "dark skin". How vile it is to make people with a different hair or skin colour the sons of perdition through Cain! Genesis does not reveal what the mark is! Just that blood vengeance has never been tolerated and that God punishes and avenges, but his mercy really never fails!

As for the first man and his wife, we are not told about their reaction or their grief. The first person who was ever born on this planet became a murderer! I wonder if they felt some guilt about their fallen nature begetting sinful children... The Book just reads that Eve gave birth to another male, Seth, which means: "granted", since God granted "another son in place of Abel". Because despite ordeals and personal tragedies, life goes on... This is what life is all about...