Adam and Eve obeyed God’s command to multiply. This devotional reading looks at two of their children, Cain and Abel.
Nuggets
- Adam and Eve were obedient to God’s command to go forth and multiply (Gen. 1: 28).
- Though Adam and Eve probably raised their sons the same way, their relationships with God were totally different.
Adam and Eve had an interesting new normal going on. They were no longer in the Garden of Eden, but they were in this huge world – bigger than they probably realized.
And they were alone. They weren’t even in God’s “physical” presence at the end of Genesis 3.
The couple had been restored to God’s favor. They had repented.
True, they had the animals, but they didn’t have the face-to-face relationship with God, and there were no other humans – yet.
Ooo, baby. Their new normal was about to change again. Adam and Eve were obedient to God’s command to go forth and multiply (Gen. 1: 28).
Let's Put It into Context #1
To read devotions in the Creating Everything theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the The Influence of Sin series
Let's Put It into Context #2
Families were meant to be cohesive and harmonious. No, that doesn’t happen because of sin.
Blaikie addressed that. He wrote,
“One thing is very certain: if this unity be not realized, the relation of husband and wife, instead of being beneficial, must be irksome and even disastrous to both. To be forced to live, eat, sleep, and worship together, while their hearts are at open discord, is simply awful. On the other hand, where there is substantial unity, the necessary interlacing of all the events of their life makes the unity the greater, and invests the relation with a more tender interest and a profounder sanctity.”
Resource
Families are dysfunctional because of our sinful nature. Through faith in God, our relationships with our familiy members can be restored. This restores the unity to which God calls us.
Two Sons Named
Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, ‘With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!’ Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel ...” (Gen. 4: 1-2 NLT)
Adam and Eve were obedient to God’s command to go forth and multiply (Gen. 1: 28).
They had two sons whom they named Cain and Abel. We aren’t told the age difference between Adam and Eve’s boys.
We know they aren’t twins. We don’t know if their age difference is 10 months, 5 years, or more or less.
All we know is that Cain is the eldest. We can also interpret this to say that Adam and Eve raised their sons to acknowledge and love God because Eve acknowledged help from the Lord (Gen. 4: 1). (This is more evidence that Adam and Eve asked for forgiveness for the original sin.)
Gilfillan said something I don’t see. He said that Eve was disappointed at Cain’s birth. He wrote, “Overestimate of children may be traced sometimes to extreme love for them; it may also arise on the part of parents from an overweening estimate of themselves.”
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That makes it sound like Eve knew from birth that Cain was going to be a bad egg. I never thought of it that way.
Eve was correct if she meant “… ‘With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!’” (Gen. 4: 1 NLT). Child rearing is hard. Mothers do need to look to God for guidance.
I don’t see where there is anything negative here.
Maybe Gilfillan got this because of the names the children were given. We know names were very important in Old Testament times.
Babington helped us out there. Cain means possession. Abel means vain or unprofitable.
Resource
Did they think Cain was going to want physical things, as they had wanted the fruit? Did they choose a name meaning vanity and unprofitable because that was where they went wrong leading to their experience?
Or did they think Cain was going to have lots of possessions? Did they think their firstborn was going to be the best and the brightest? We know the firstborn was to be dedicated to God.
- “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me’” (Ex. 13: 1-2 NLT).
- “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Look, I have chosen the Levites from among the Israelites to serve as substitutes for all the firstborn sons of the people of Israel. The Levites belong to me, for all the firstborn males are mine. On the day I struck down all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both of people and of animals. They are mine; I am the Lord’” (Num. 3: 11-13 NLT).
- “Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him” (Deut. 21: 15-17 NLT).
- “The firstborn of every mother, whether human or animal, that is offered to the Lord will be yours. But you must always redeem your firstborn sons and the firstborn of ceremonially unclean animals” (Num. 18: 15 NLT).
But this is one more example where God didn’t call the firstborn. He wasn’t putting His eggs in the Cain basket. He put them in the Abel basket.
- God called Isaac. He did not call Ishmael, the firstborn.
- God called Jacob. He did not call Esau, the firstborn.
- God called Judah. He did not call Reuben, the firstborn.
- God called Ephraim. He did not call Manasseh, the firstborn.
- God called David. He did not call Eliab, Abinadab, Shimea, — or any of his other four brothers.
So, why did God establish the firstborn double portion? Because He wanted to.
Why did God a younger brothers? The younger brother was more righteous than the older brothers.
What these verses highlight is the fact that both sons had the same parents. Sure, that would highlight the nature/nurture debate.
Bottom line is each one of us make our own decisions as to whether we will obey God. Our parents don’t make it for us as more than our siblings do.
But they are brothers, not clones. They were similar, not the same.
The Shepherd and the Farmer
“... When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground” (Gen. 4: 2 NLT)
Though Adam and Eve probably raised their sons the same way, their relationships with God were totally different.
At first glance, it would seem good that Cain and Abel chose different occupations. That is true, but both were tied directly to the farm.
We know Adam was tied to the land. “And to the man he said, ‘Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it” (Gen. 3: 17 NLT).
With it being a struggle to make a living from the farm, it is logical that Adam enlisted his sons’ help.
It was also good that each chose a separate aspect of farming. They weren’t competing against each other.
Knowing how the story ends, we don’t want to say that God approves growing sheep over growing crops. That wasn’t the problem – but we’ll get into that.
But look at Adam’s descendants. Abel, Abraham, Jacob, and David were all shepherds. Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
Even though both occupations are clearly acceptable, shepherds show the meaning of the Gospel. Disciples are to nurture and grow others’ relationships with God.
What God doesn’t approve of is idleness.
- “Lazy people sleep soundly, but idleness leaves them hungry” (Prov. 19: 15 NLT).
- “Laziness leads to a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house” (Ecc. 10: 18 NLT).
- “Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper” (Prov. 13: 4 NLT).
- “Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich” (Prov. 10: 4 NLT).
Some probably think Paul took a harsh stand on this. “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat” (II Thess. 3: 10 NLT).
God knows it is better for us to work than be given a handout. He wants us to work.
A similar thing happens in the Church. “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4: 11 NLT).
We all have different jobs to do. If we all did one job, another wouldn’t get done.
Making the Connections
What would have happened if God created — as He is the One Who fertilizes the egg and the sperm — all Abel’s? Oh, yes. It would have been more of a straight line to another descendant — Jesus.
But free will would have gone out the door. God would have been a dictator. He didn’t want that.
God is in the business of separating disciples from non-disciples. It started from the first children and will end at the sheep and goats.
How Do We Apply This?
- Live as God would have us live – obedience to Him.
- Make our life of faith our sacrifice to Him.
- Raise our children to work honestly.
Resource
Father God. You don’t want us to be a lawless society. You want us to be ruled by order. But more importantly, You want us to be ruled by You. Birth order means nothing if You are not in our hearts and lives. Grow us to be more like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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