Genesis Chapter 4
Now outside the garden mankind had to work harder to obtain their food. They were very intelligent people, and they quickly learned what they needed to do to work the land and grow their food. I believe in some sense God still walked the earth and talked with His creation, but perhaps not as visibly as He did before.
In this passage we learn the names of Adam and Eve’s first two sons. They were beginning to fulfil God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. Along with the beautiful gift of life there was also sadly a sin nature that was passed to their children and with it comes death.
When Eve bore her first son Cain it is possible that she thought she had given birth to the Messiah who would redeem them from the curse of sin as promised in chapter 3 verse 15. The language seems to refer to the fact she thought she had been given the man. Or she just may have known that her child would grow up to be a man. Either way, Eve could not have seen what was coming in the future and it certainly would not have been a future she dreamed of for her children.
Let's Reflect
1. Cain was followed by another brother and they each had their own jobs that they did. What did Cain do and what did Abel do?
2. We are not told exactly why the offerings the boys brought to the Lord were respected differently by God. One can only assume that there was a difference in the heart attitude of each boy. According to verse 5 what was Cain’s emotional response to his offering being rejected by God?
3. What did God tell Cain he needed to do about the way he responded?
4. He obviously did not listen to God’s warning about his sin problem of anger because his anger grew, and it led him to do something terrible. What did Cain do?
5. God knew exactly what Cain had done but when questioned by God, what did Cain do?
6. Cain left home and ventured even further away from God. What land did he go to live in? Cain most likely took one of his sisters with him who became his wife. This is hard for us to understand today, but at this time on earth, the gene pool was so clean that it was possible. Genesis 5:4The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. That is a long time to bring children into the world. And the next verse tells us that Adam lived to be 930 years old.
7. One of Cain’s descendants, Lamech brought about another sin which was against God’s law. God had said that in marriage it should be one man coming together with one woman to become one flesh. What did Lamech do?
8. What was the name of the son born to Adam and Eve that Eve felt was a gift from God to replace Abel?
