.
From this point on in the book of Genesis, we will never again see another
normal human being. Every one of them is going to be a sinful creature; and
we are going to see just how wicked those sinful creatures can really be
when they put their mind to it.
†. Gen 4:1a . . Now the man knew his wife Eve,
There is more to knowledge than just facts and data. Some kinds of
knowledge can't be learned from a book or a lecture; they can only be
learned by personal experience. Carnal knowledge is one of those kinds of
knowing. It's one thing for a young man to learn things about girls from
looking at their pictures and reading about them biology books and/or in
magazines like Cosmopolitan, and Maxim; but it's quite another learning
experience to actually cuddle with a girl and sleep with her skin to skin.
Throughout the Old Testament, "knew his wife" is a common colloquialism
for people sleeping together.
Genesis records no human intimacy in the garden prior to Man's eviction;
but that doesn't prove none occurred; it just proves that none is mentioned
till the fourth chapter.
†. Gen 4:1b . . and she conceived and bore Cain, saying: I have
gained a male child with the help of the Lord.
God finished creating on the seventh day (Gen 2:2) and rested after that.
Not because He was tired, but because He was all done. At that time, the
human race was all done too. Everyone since then has just been a
reproduction of Adam.
†. Ps 139:13-16 . . It was you who created my consciousness; you fashioned
me in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am awesomely, wondrously
made; your work is wonderful; I know it very well. My frame was not
concealed from you when I was shaped in a hidden place, knit together in
the recesses of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed limbs; they were all
recorded in your book; in due time they were formed, to the very last one of
them.
The writer of that Psalm believed that God saw him way before he was ever
conceived in his mother's womb. In fact; saw his substance in the recesses
of the earth before his mom even conceived: which attests that everyone
pre-exists in Adam because he alone was actually created directly from "the
recesses of the earth". Everyone else stems from Adam's organic tissues and
it's just a matter of time before the right combination of genes brings them
out.
†. Ecc 11:5 . . Just as you do not know how the spirit of life passes into the
limbs within the womb of the pregnant woman, so you cannot foresee the
actions of God, who causes all things to happen.
No act of creation takes place when babies are conceived. No, man's
creation took place back when Adam was created. Babies are merely
reproductions of Adam via the blessing of fertility.
Adam received life from God on the sixth day of creation. When God formed
the woman, He didn't breathe the breath of life into her nostrils like He did
Adam. God simply used Adam's already-existing life to energize Eve. And
ever since then, parents have been passing their life onto their children. In
other words: human life-- like bird life, fish life, bug life, reptile life, and
beast life --is a transferable kind of life; passing from one generation on to
the next. It's not a miraculous process; no, it's a perfectly natural process;
and it's a pretty amazing process too.
According to ancient Jewish thought, Eve thought Cain to be a very special
boy.
T. Gen 4:1 . . And Adam knew Hava his wife, who had desired the Angel;
and she conceived, and bare Kain; and she said: I have acquired a man, the
Angel of The Lord. (Targum Jonathan)
Apparently Eve expected her firstborn son to be "the God-sent one" who was
supposed to fulfill the promise of Gen 3:15 and crush the Serpent's head.
But alas, Cain was just an ordinary kid; he wasn't the Angel of The Lord.
Note : the Hebrew word for "angel" is mal'ak (mal-awk') which doesn't
especially indicate a winged spirit. The word is a bit ambiguous and
essentially means a dispatched deputy or a messenger; e.g. an angel, a
prophet, a priest and/or a teacher. The New Testament equivalent is aggelos
(ang'-el-os) and means pretty much the same thing.
†. Gen 4:2a . . She then bore his brother Abel.
Abel's name is from hebel (heh'bel) and means: emptiness or futility.
Figuratively: something transitory and unsatisfactory. Poor Eve; she's only
had two kids and already motherhood has lost its appeal. Cain was her very
first pregnancy. It was a new, exciting adventure. Well, Abel's birth was no
big deal. He was redundant; just another bun in the oven. The first one is
the best. After that, they're all Same-O, Same-O.
Cain and Abel are very interesting and share a lot in common. In fact, they
share so much in common that their individual personalities must be an
enigma to behavioral scientists. Neither boy came from a large gene pool
because there were no grandparents. Their genealogy stopped abruptly right
in their own home with mom and dad and went back no farther. They both
had the same parents, lived in the same home in the same neighborhood,
grew up with the same customs, ate the same food, associated with the
same people, breathed the same air, survived in the same environment,
went to the same church, and worshipped the same God. Yet those boys
were noticeably very different from each other. Abel was an inspired man
(Luke 11:50-51) but Cain, though religious; was not. And he was violent too.
(1John 3:11-12)
†. Gen 4:2b . . Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a
tiller of the soil.
The Hebrew word translated "sheep" is either tso'n (tsone) or tse'own (tseh
one') which mean: a flock; which Webster's defines as a group of birds or
mammals assembled or herded together. So you can see there that "sheep"
is an arbitrary choice of words. Abel could just as easily have been a cowboy
wrangling bovine rather than sheep; but I won't argue the point. Sheep will
do.
Both men worked at honorable professions and their skills were essential to
the Adams' survival. Man at this time was a vegetarian so Cain farmed and
raised the family's food; while Abel kept them clothed and shod by tending
flocks for leather; and possibly fleece too.
Note : the Hebrew language didn't exist in Adam's day; nor would it exist till
some time after the Flood and the tower of Babel. Ancient names given in
Hebrew aren't the native-tongue names of people prior to Babel; but rather:
Hebrew equivalents of those names.
Cont.
/
From this point on in the book of Genesis, we will never again see another
normal human being. Every one of them is going to be a sinful creature; and
we are going to see just how wicked those sinful creatures can really be
when they put their mind to it.
†. Gen 4:1a . . Now the man knew his wife Eve,
There is more to knowledge than just facts and data. Some kinds of
knowledge can't be learned from a book or a lecture; they can only be
learned by personal experience. Carnal knowledge is one of those kinds of
knowing. It's one thing for a young man to learn things about girls from
looking at their pictures and reading about them biology books and/or in
magazines like Cosmopolitan, and Maxim; but it's quite another learning
experience to actually cuddle with a girl and sleep with her skin to skin.
Throughout the Old Testament, "knew his wife" is a common colloquialism
for people sleeping together.
Genesis records no human intimacy in the garden prior to Man's eviction;
but that doesn't prove none occurred; it just proves that none is mentioned
till the fourth chapter.
†. Gen 4:1b . . and she conceived and bore Cain, saying: I have
gained a male child with the help of the Lord.
God finished creating on the seventh day (Gen 2:2) and rested after that.
Not because He was tired, but because He was all done. At that time, the
human race was all done too. Everyone since then has just been a
reproduction of Adam.
†. Ps 139:13-16 . . It was you who created my consciousness; you fashioned
me in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am awesomely, wondrously
made; your work is wonderful; I know it very well. My frame was not
concealed from you when I was shaped in a hidden place, knit together in
the recesses of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed limbs; they were all
recorded in your book; in due time they were formed, to the very last one of
them.
The writer of that Psalm believed that God saw him way before he was ever
conceived in his mother's womb. In fact; saw his substance in the recesses
of the earth before his mom even conceived: which attests that everyone
pre-exists in Adam because he alone was actually created directly from "the
recesses of the earth". Everyone else stems from Adam's organic tissues and
it's just a matter of time before the right combination of genes brings them
out.
†. Ecc 11:5 . . Just as you do not know how the spirit of life passes into the
limbs within the womb of the pregnant woman, so you cannot foresee the
actions of God, who causes all things to happen.
No act of creation takes place when babies are conceived. No, man's
creation took place back when Adam was created. Babies are merely
reproductions of Adam via the blessing of fertility.
Adam received life from God on the sixth day of creation. When God formed
the woman, He didn't breathe the breath of life into her nostrils like He did
Adam. God simply used Adam's already-existing life to energize Eve. And
ever since then, parents have been passing their life onto their children. In
other words: human life-- like bird life, fish life, bug life, reptile life, and
beast life --is a transferable kind of life; passing from one generation on to
the next. It's not a miraculous process; no, it's a perfectly natural process;
and it's a pretty amazing process too.
According to ancient Jewish thought, Eve thought Cain to be a very special
boy.
T. Gen 4:1 . . And Adam knew Hava his wife, who had desired the Angel;
and she conceived, and bare Kain; and she said: I have acquired a man, the
Angel of The Lord. (Targum Jonathan)
Apparently Eve expected her firstborn son to be "the God-sent one" who was
supposed to fulfill the promise of Gen 3:15 and crush the Serpent's head.
But alas, Cain was just an ordinary kid; he wasn't the Angel of The Lord.
Note : the Hebrew word for "angel" is mal'ak (mal-awk') which doesn't
especially indicate a winged spirit. The word is a bit ambiguous and
essentially means a dispatched deputy or a messenger; e.g. an angel, a
prophet, a priest and/or a teacher. The New Testament equivalent is aggelos
(ang'-el-os) and means pretty much the same thing.
†. Gen 4:2a . . She then bore his brother Abel.
Abel's name is from hebel (heh'bel) and means: emptiness or futility.
Figuratively: something transitory and unsatisfactory. Poor Eve; she's only
had two kids and already motherhood has lost its appeal. Cain was her very
first pregnancy. It was a new, exciting adventure. Well, Abel's birth was no
big deal. He was redundant; just another bun in the oven. The first one is
the best. After that, they're all Same-O, Same-O.
Cain and Abel are very interesting and share a lot in common. In fact, they
share so much in common that their individual personalities must be an
enigma to behavioral scientists. Neither boy came from a large gene pool
because there were no grandparents. Their genealogy stopped abruptly right
in their own home with mom and dad and went back no farther. They both
had the same parents, lived in the same home in the same neighborhood,
grew up with the same customs, ate the same food, associated with the
same people, breathed the same air, survived in the same environment,
went to the same church, and worshipped the same God. Yet those boys
were noticeably very different from each other. Abel was an inspired man
(Luke 11:50-51) but Cain, though religious; was not. And he was violent too.
(1John 3:11-12)
†. Gen 4:2b . . Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a
tiller of the soil.
The Hebrew word translated "sheep" is either tso'n (tsone) or tse'own (tseh
one') which mean: a flock; which Webster's defines as a group of birds or
mammals assembled or herded together. So you can see there that "sheep"
is an arbitrary choice of words. Abel could just as easily have been a cowboy
wrangling bovine rather than sheep; but I won't argue the point. Sheep will
do.
Both men worked at honorable professions and their skills were essential to
the Adams' survival. Man at this time was a vegetarian so Cain farmed and
raised the family's food; while Abel kept them clothed and shod by tending
flocks for leather; and possibly fleece too.
Note : the Hebrew language didn't exist in Adam's day; nor would it exist till
some time after the Flood and the tower of Babel. Ancient names given in
Hebrew aren't the native-tongue names of people prior to Babel; but rather:
Hebrew equivalents of those names.
Cont.
/
