Why does it have to get so sad, so early?

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

 1 Adam ^[a] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. ^[b] She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth ^[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
      Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” ^[d] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
      ”I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

 15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so ^[e] ; 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, ^[f] 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. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

 19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of ^[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

 23 Lamech said to his wives,
       “Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
       wives of Lamech, hear my words.
       I have killed ^[h] a man for wounding me,
       a young man for injuring me.

 24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
       then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

 25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, ^[i] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
      At that time men began to call on ^[j] the name of the LORD.

 

Sure, this chapter ends okay … “At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord”.  There is so much before that, though, that is troublesome and sad.  Right after the chapter on the fall, on sin coming into this world, the judgements that God spoke – now we have this.  I suppose that it is important to remember that without sin, this chapter would not be here.  WIthout sin Cain would not have killed Abel.

What makes me so sad, though is not only the distrust and hatred and murder.  What makes me sad is that little note early in the chapter where we are told that the Lord had no regard (no favour) for Cain’s offering.

I see the place that this leaves us in – if we feel that we are abandoned or rejected by God.  What do we do then?  How was Cain to respond to this situation?  I hear his question – “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  and I think of how strained, how impossible it was for either Abel or for Cain to know what responsibility or care meant.  Abel tried, I suppose, to care for Cain when he cautioned him against sin.  And Cain’s sin is not Abel’s fault.   Put it this way – I am glad that this chapter is not the last word on sin, judgement or forgiveness.  If this chapter was all I knew of God, well then …

But it is not all I know of God.  My first understanding of who God is comes through a consideration of who Jesus is.  This chapter – truth be told, could stand a little bit of Jesus.

Maybe then things would be different.  People started to call upon the name of the Lord, but the call and the name even, for me at least, can only be clear in the light of Jesus Christ.

The Kindness of God

22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side ^[a] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Right after the hard words, the outlined consequences of sin, God cares for Adam and Eve.  Eve is given a name, “mother of all living”, and then God makes garments for Adam and for Eve.  I see the way of things here.  This is not the way it is supposed to be, yet in this fallen world, God is caring for them, loving them.  In this act, God is entering the fallen-ness of humanity already.  And in this we see the pre-figuring of Jesus Christ.

So this day, I consider how in an imperfect, fallen world, God is expressing his love and care for us.  Even in the midst of our stubborness, our self-centredness, God shows his love.

Some questions from the text as well …  There seems to be another instance of the trinity in focus here in verse 22 “the man has become like one of ‘us’”.  Aside from the notes on the knowledge of good and evil, this is interesting in and of itself.  Indeed, there is a lot packed into these three verses.

Not the Way it is Supposed to Be

Back Blogging …  and now we will pick up the pace as we move through Genesis …

Today’s Reading … Genesis 3:13-19

13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said,^(A) “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 14The LORD God said to the serpent,

   ”Because you have done this,
   cursed are you above all livestock
   and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
   and^(B) dust you shall eat
   all the days of your life.
15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring^[a] and^(C) her offspring;
^(D) he shall bruise your head,
   and you shall bruise his heel.”

 16To the woman he said,

   ”I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
   ^(E) in pain you shall bring forth children.
^(F) Your desire shall be for^[b] your husband,
   and he shall^(G) rule over you.”

 17And to Adam he said,

   ”Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
   and have eaten of the tree
^(H) of which I commanded you,
   ’You shall not eat of it,’
^(I) cursed is the ground because of you;
   ^(J) in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
   and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your face
   you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
   for out of it you were taken;
^(K) for you are dust,
   and^(L) to dust you shall return.”

 

This is, to be sure, a tough passage of Scripture, the result of the fall, the consequence of sin.  It has the feel of pain, strained relationship to it – the whole passage describes things as they were not supposed to be.  When I read it words stand out to me, words like “enmity”.  There will be enmity between the snake and the woman, and this is not the way it was supposed to be – enmity between creation and humanity.  God says “I will increase your pangs (your pains) …”  How are we to take this?  I don’t at this point, try to figure it out, I hold it in my thoughts – I mourn over it.  This is not the way it is supposed to be.  Even the ground is cursed because of the sin of the people – that is plain to see – then and now.  And work becomes “toil”.

This is truly the fall, and we see the consequences then and now – we will see them in the stories that follow in this book.  The promise, though, is – that if we read this passage with Christ in mind – we can begin to see again how it WAS supposed to be.  Those words, “enmity”, “desire”, “rule over”, “toil”, … they all change in light of Jesus.

AMEN

It Really is ALL Your Fault

^{GE 3:8} Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

^{GE 3:10} He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

^{GE 3:11} And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

^{GE 3:12} The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

^{GE 3:13} Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 

As long as I can blame someone else, I keep them at a distance – relationship is hindered then, intimacy is impossible.  This scene in the garden is played out everyday in every home, every work place and to the highest halls of power.  It is elegant in its destructiveness.  “My problem is your fault.  My choice is due to your manipulation.”  Thinking politically this week in history – “It is the fault of the godless liberals.” or “All of this is because of the stupid Christian Right”.  It is a cautious line we walk because sometimes my desire to have someone else see their culpability in their own situation is not actually virtue.  I need to consider how I am so quick to blame others.  Sometimes after a lunch meeting with a friend or a conversation about things that matter, I can think to myself sarcastically – “There.  Now we’ve solved all of the problems of the world – and the problems are all due to other people.”  Our conversation can be like this.  Think today of how many times you have pointed out to a friend, family member or co-worker just how something that is wrong in the world is the fault of someone else.  Welcome to the garden after the fall.

 

Next post next Wednesday or Thursday.

The first separation

Read – Genesis chapter 3

The fall of humanity.   We were supposed to be higher than sin and blame and separation – this is truly the fall of humanity.  But the story seems so simple, and even trite.  Don’t get thrown off by that.  The sorrow in this story is immense.  Notice where a breakdown of relationship is marked – God speaking to Adam and Eve, but the relationship has deteriorated due to the decisions of Adam and Eve.  Mark this sorrow, hold this sorrow, even pray over this sorrow.  Sure, we are in many ways very far removed from this scene, but the truth of it is still everywhere around us – this is not the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to be in perfect relationship with one another and with God, but brokeness, distrust, blame and lies are all around and are too often present in our own lives.  We seek to protect ourselves often at the expense of others.  We live afraid of God, hiding – rather than finding life in relationship with Him.