Hi all, just got back from Life cell gp. Actually, the name's changed to BIOS (forgot what it stands for exactly so dont pester me hehe), but used to Life. But it's the Friday night cells that I go to, and to learn things from Dr. Ezra. Dr. Ezra was one of the founders of the English congregation in BCEC. He was the one who picked me up from the roundabout near University train station 2.5 years ago, and really have learnt a lot from him since then.
And today (11/3/11), we talked on Gen 4 till 6. It’s continuation of our series to answer more practical (or more common questions that we get asked) from Genesis 1. And for this post, I will try my best to recap what Gen 4 is all about first. It’s quite a bit to take in, so prep urself.
Anyway, here’s the passage: link. Take a mo to read it, don’t be shy.
Okay, so Adam and his Eve, erm…communed (meaning of the word here). And poof! Out came Cain. And later, Abel popped out too. First thing to note at v2-5:
Okay, Abel had flocks, where Cain grew vegetables, fruits and everything green. Cain was the Treehugger, Green peace, Say NO to CO2 kind of guy..
And during offering of sacrifices to God, Abel brought fat portions from the firstborn of his flock, whereas Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil. And God was pleased with Abel but not with Cain. Now there are 2 ways of looking at this:
Cain was of course hurt la, poor fella. Must have felt rejected. But it’s important to note this. the Lord spoke to Cain personally and gently told him to repent, warned him to to overcome his temptation to do evil, and offered a way out before Cain could kill his brother (first recorded murder too!). So, God actually gives us gentle warnings and prods us to the right direction before we fall. You see? God loves us to offer us a way out before things happen, like an alternate tangent.
Now, if I may direction your attention to v9 – 24 (Link to passage here).
Yeah, so Cain was punished and sent away from God’s presence to the Land of Nod, which is East from Garden of Eden. I googled for a map of this, but Land of Nod happens to be a shop that sells kids furniture haha…Anyway, here’s a visualisation of Cain fleeing, courtesy of Musee de Orsay (I was there!!):
Link to bigger pic: here. I suppose Cain is the old dude in front? Followed by his wives…maybe some servants?
But at this point onwards, you will notice a lot of sufferings, evil doers etc in his generations to come. From his son Enoch, all the way until Lamech. And Lamech was complaining to his wives at v23-24. Cain’s sin sort of was passed down (anybody can help me describe this?) and his many generations affected. Generation sin maybe? Anyway, so this branch of the family tree is full of evil.
And at v25, Adam was in the mood with his wife and had a son called Seth. And Seth’s generation was the one who really followed the Lord.
And so to summarise, under Adam and Eve, there are 2 branches: Cain and Seth. Cain was the branch with evil, and Seth was the one who followed the Lord.
On chapter 5 and 6, we will discuss about Seth’s family branch and which person really stood out (First recorded person who never died), and how only Noah and his family was set apart by the Lord during the Great Flood, and Cain’s generation was wiped from existence.
And today (11/3/11), we talked on Gen 4 till 6. It’s continuation of our series to answer more practical (or more common questions that we get asked) from Genesis 1. And for this post, I will try my best to recap what Gen 4 is all about first. It’s quite a bit to take in, so prep urself.
Anyway, here’s the passage: link. Take a mo to read it, don’t be shy.
Okay, so Adam and his Eve, erm…communed (meaning of the word here). And poof! Out came Cain. And later, Abel popped out too. First thing to note at v2-5:
"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 And Abel also brought an offering—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. "
Okay, Abel had flocks, where Cain grew vegetables, fruits and everything green. Cain was the Treehugger, Green peace, Say NO to CO2 kind of guy..
And during offering of sacrifices to God, Abel brought fat portions from the firstborn of his flock, whereas Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil. And God was pleased with Abel but not with Cain. Now there are 2 ways of looking at this:
- When you offer sacrifices, you normally offer the best you got. Something costly. Something dear to you, right? Abel offered the firstborn of his flock as opposed to Cain who offered just some of the fruits of the soil. Sure la God won’t be pleased...aiyoh, please la.
- Sacrifices involve shedding of blood. Something had to die. Hence, maybe God preferred the sacrificed flock rather than bak choi. After all, I prefer Steak over Lettuce. But the point is, shedding of blood must be there. But at that time, there wasn’t a set template on which people could follow on what to sacrifice.
"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 rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[a] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."
Cain was of course hurt la, poor fella. Must have felt rejected. But it’s important to note this. the Lord spoke to Cain personally and gently told him to repent, warned him to to overcome his temptation to do evil, and offered a way out before Cain could kill his brother (first recorded murder too!). So, God actually gives us gentle warnings and prods us to the right direction before we fall. You see? God loves us to offer us a way out before things happen, like an alternate tangent.
Now, if I may direction your attention to v9 – 24 (Link to passage here).
Yeah, so Cain was punished and sent away from God’s presence to the Land of Nod, which is East from Garden of Eden. I googled for a map of this, but Land of Nod happens to be a shop that sells kids furniture haha…Anyway, here’s a visualisation of Cain fleeing, courtesy of Musee de Orsay (I was there!!):
Link to bigger pic: here. I suppose Cain is the old dude in front? Followed by his wives…maybe some servants?
But at this point onwards, you will notice a lot of sufferings, evil doers etc in his generations to come. From his son Enoch, all the way until Lamech. And Lamech was complaining to his wives at v23-24. Cain’s sin sort of was passed down (anybody can help me describe this?) and his many generations affected. Generation sin maybe? Anyway, so this branch of the family tree is full of evil.
And at v25, Adam was in the mood with his wife and had a son called Seth. And Seth’s generation was the one who really followed the Lord.
And so to summarise, under Adam and Eve, there are 2 branches: Cain and Seth. Cain was the branch with evil, and Seth was the one who followed the Lord.
On chapter 5 and 6, we will discuss about Seth’s family branch and which person really stood out (First recorded person who never died), and how only Noah and his family was set apart by the Lord during the Great Flood, and Cain’s generation was wiped from existence.
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