GENESIS 4

 "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?"

• CAIN AND ABEL

4:1 Eve is about to give birth to two sons. One son will represent the product of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (that is: relying on one's own will and succumbing to one's one desire) and the other will represent the product of eating from the tree of life (that is: relying on God's will and submitting to His plan).

• AN OFFERING UNTO THE LORD

4:2-7 Genesis describes Abel as a keeper of sheep; it is notable that that is the sole characteristic chosen to identify him. It is important that Abel was a shepherd because it is what God loved most about him. A shepherd embodies all of the qualities God finds most valuable. Shepherds gather, they foster, they nurture and lead. Shepherd's offer protection to the gentle and direction to the lost.

Abel was not simply a shepherd in life, he was a shepherd in heart; and because of that, his presentation to God was spiritually valuable and selflessly produced. Abel's life's work as a shepherd represented his dedication to the way of the Spirit. Abel dedicated to God the best of what his life had produced and thus God respected Abel.

Jesus is described as a shepherd too, one who knows His sheep intimately and they Him (John 10:27). Before He ascended, Jesus pressed Peter to feed His sheep, to lead and nurture His flock. Abel's description as a shepherd in the opening chapters of the Bible is an early declaration of the manner God wants us to live. Conversely, Cain's description as a tiller of the ground is a declaration of how God does not want us to live.

Genesis describes Cain as a tiller of the ground; that is the most important characteristic chosen to identify him. Abel was of the Spirit but Cain was of the world. Abel presented what his life's work had produced; Cain presented what his life's desire had procured. Cain's values represented his behavior. He lived for himself, he culled and acquired from the world things that were irrelevant to God. Abel dedicated the best of what his life had produced, Cain dedicated an insignificant portion. It was not Cain's life's motivation to produce well for God; Cain's sole motivation was to procure well for himself.

God rejected Cain's offering and it angered Cain not to receive respect from God. But we cannot live contrary to God and expect to receive his respect. God explained that Cain needed only to do well to receive His respect. Cain did not need to do better than Abel or different from Abel, he just needed to do well. To be good. And the way to do well is to produce not procure.

Cain's offering was not respected because God does not value things of the ground, worldly possessions. Wealth and fame, property and possession are meaningless to God. Therefore if that is all that one's life's work is able to present to God, it is a meaningless offer. God will not respect it. God's rejection of such things is not based on principle alone; God explained to Cain that within desire is sin. To dedicate oneself to worldly possessions is to yield to sin. God will never respect a child's submission to something that will harm them.

• THE VOICE OF THY BROTHER'S BLOOD

4:8-10 Cain murdered Abel. Yet in killing Abel, Cain displayed more than just one sin. He displayed the myriad of sins that crop up in a life dedicated solely to the world instead of Spirit. Cain's worldly lifestyle resulted not just in murder but in lies, jealousy, anger, injustice, and mercilessness. If he had had any compassion, any empathy, his lifestyle muted it, expelled it from him. 

God gave Cain the opportunity to be accountable for his actions but instead he lied, he disassociated himself from his own brother: Am I my brother's keeper? Yes, in fact. We are our brother's keeper. We are our sister's keeper, our mother's keeper, our father's keeper, our friend's keeper, and our neighbor's keeper. Like Abel, we should be keepers of God's sheep, shepherd's to His people. 

If you live for the world, you live for the self. And if you live for the self, you neglect your purpose for being here. You take and do not give. You receive and do not share. You disrespect the people your life could have nurtured. God will not respect anyone who struts instead of leads. He will not respect anyone who uses their power to control rather than protect, the position to procure instead of produce.

• CURSED FROM THE EARTH

4:11-15 For the act of killing his brother, Cain placed himself in opposition with God. And to live in opposition with God is to go against the very nature of life. For all life was created by a righteous hand; life's own character and process is styled after its maker. Cain's act caused him to become a vagabond; the earth would no longer willingly sustain him. He would have to wander to support himself, he no longer had a home within the presence of God.

Even Cain was afraid of the prospect of being hid from the face of God. That punishment was too much for him to bear. And yet God was lenient with Cain, protected him enough that he would not be killed for his action, perhaps because He had not yet specifically prohibited murder, or given the instruction to humanity was was to come (that is to come in later chapters and books of the Bible).

• IN THE LAND OF NOD

4:16-24 "And Cain went out from the presence of God..." Cain pioneered the lifestyle that is lived absent from God. He went to Nod, east of Eden, (more evidence that the world was populated beyond Adam and Eve's family).

Cain married, had a son, built a city: Enoch, named after his son. He had many descendants but they were like him, murderous, even to the point of pride, as his descendant Lamech exemplified.

• THE THIRD SON

4:25-26 Meanwhile, Adam and Eve were blessed with a third son: Seth, meaning compensation. Therefore the lineage of Jesus continued, though Abel was killed and Cain was lost to the cause.

GENESIS 3

The will and kingdom of God is transparent, peaceful and protective.

• PRELIMINARY INFORMATION

An infamous figure appears in this third chapter: the subtle serpent. How each individual perceives this evil entity differs widely. For some, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, also known as Satan, is an actual-being. For others, the serpent, represented in several forms throughout the Bible, is a negative force or ideology. For some, Satan is representation of the forms of evil and its influence on each individual. It is not essential to decide which form of Satan you believe, (it is a personal decision to interpret which aspects of the Bible are metaphorical or literal) but it is essential to understand a few things concerning Satan:

Number one: In whatever form he/it is in, Satan's influence, the force of evil, does exist. (Moving forward, for ease and in accordance with scripture, Satan will be referred to as "he.")

And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. Job 2:2

He exists and is indeed subtle. Ezekiel 28 and Matthew 4 most prominently demonstrate Satan's cleverness. From Ezekiel 28, we learn that Satan's initial crime was an abuse of power, which he accomplished through use of his talents and influence. From Matthew 4 we learn that Satan knows scripture. And he knows it well enough to tweak it, making changes that he hopes people will not notice and subsequently align themselves with his doctrine rather than God's. 

Number two: Indeed, he exists and is in open rebellion with God's kingdom of righteousness. 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

Number three (and most important): Members of God's kingdom of righteous have power over Satan, and most especially when they learn from God, through scripture, about his characteristics and tactics. He is subtle and wise, therefore we must be (Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16)

And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:18-19

With that introduction to the serpent, we now know precisely who Eve is about to meet in the Garden of Eden.

• THE SUBTLE SERPENT

3:1-5 Indeed the first thing Satan does is tweak scripture. Satan reminds Eve of Genesis 2:16 in which God gave Adam and Eve permission to eat of every tree in the garden. However, Satan has changed scripture in that he excluded Genesis 2:17, which immediately followed. In Genesis 2:17, God specified that He meant every tree except one. Eve was wise enough to notice the subtle change, and informed the serpent that she was not permitted to eat of, or even touch, the tree of good and evil.

Satan tried to trick Eve with scripture but failed, so he tried his next tactic on her: outright-deception. Satan contradicted God's word, effectively and incorrectly calling God a liar; he told her that she would not die if she ate from, or touched the tree. Satan is satisfied even to cause doubt in a once-faithful child of God. 

Once Satan successfully caused Eve to doubt, he struck while she was weak. He used his final tactic: temptation. In an effort to further damage her relationship with God, Satan told Eve that God was, rather than protecting her, limiting her with His rules. He inspired her to partake of the tree by tantalizing her with the prospect of power and wisdom. This tactic is unsurprising. Satan's own excessive pride caused his own downfall. So, he targets in others a weakness he has in himself. It is his area of expertise, after all. 

Satan's influence is the same today as it was then. It is our doubt of God's word that leads to our susceptibility to temptation. When we disengage from our relationship with God, we either spiral downward into anxiety and depression or inward into arrogance and ignorance. Either way, we ruin the quality of our relationship with God and others, our lives and our character.

There's no devil on our shoulder, no literal serpent coaxing us from a tree, but he exists in the cropping-up of doubt and pride, spite and lust, impatience and anger that occasionally exists in everyone's mind. We suppress his influence, and the power of those things over us, when we are steadfast in faith and communication with God.

• THEY DID EAT

3:6-7 Eve did not consult God and was therefore beguiled by Satan, and tempted by the prospect of power and wisdom (Satan had told her that she would be like a god). Satan convinced Eve and then Eve convinced Adam, for he also ate of the forbidden tree. And then, everything changed.

Suddenly, Adam and Eve were conscious of uncomfortable circumstances God had been protecting them from. There were "like gods" not in power or prominence but in consciousness. They became aware of nakedness, vulnerability, and shame. No longer was everything provided for them, they had to provide for themselves. They sewed fig leaves into aprons to cover themselves; they had never before had a lack or a problem but suddenly they found themselves needing to solve one.

Satan wanted Eve to reject God's will and exchange it for her own autonomy. He wants humanity to rebel against God's authority, as he did. Satan wants us to feel restricted by God's authority rather than protected by it. He wants us to fall victim to every weakness he fell victim to. Whenever Satan interacts with someone, his main mission is to stop them, their heart and spirit, from trusting God and to instead start trusting in the desires of their bodies and minds. But it is not a fulfilling lifestyle.

• WHERE ARE YOU?

3:8-13 Adam and Eve heard the voice of God as He walked in the garden. They hid. They hid from the One who loved them because they had trusted in one who did not. God called Adam: where are you? And Adam explained that he was hiding because he was afraid and naked. Interestingly, in that one sentence Adam explained the whole change: The will and kingdom of God is transparent, peaceful and protective. Conversely, separation from God's will and kingdom causes obscurity, fear and vulnerability.

Rather than accuse, God provided Adam and Eve a chance to explain how he came to know about their nakedness. He gave them each the opportunity to admit what they had done, because God values truth and communication. They admitted their mistake.

It is crucial that we communicate, and communicate truthfully, with God. It is a respect He deserves and we benefit from. Our problems, self-inflicted or not, become workable when we work with God. That progress however begins with discipline, as it must if change is to be accomplished.

• DUST, ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE

3:14-19 God then began to distribute due discipline. First to the serpent. God cursed him and subjected him to the dust. God ensured that Satan would never achieve the prominence he desperately desired. God continued: good and evil would constantly oppose and battle each other here on earth, (as they do); and finally: the bruise on the head and the heel.

The bruise on the head represents Jesus, who would come to crush Satan's rebellion. The bruise on the heel represents Jesus, hands and feet, nailed to the cross while doing so. Even then, God had the solution planned to the finest detail. He would retrieve humanity from Satan's grip... and here we are in the midst of that plan. 

Eve received her discipline as well: tumultuous labor would serve as a reminder, from generation to generation, of the value of life. God had given life to humanity and the tremendous pain that subsequently followed would be represented at each individual's birth. Moreover, Eve's discipline became what we know of today as the patriarchal society. God's plan was not to make Eve, or women, less important or undervalued, but to create the conditions within which she/they would strive to be their best. Superficially, discipline is harsh. But discipline is actually a gift and God knew that womankind would ultimately benefit from their new position.

Adam's punishment was labor also, in a sense. Life would no longer be a garden which yielded provision. He would have to work it, and often unsuccessfully, in order to provide for himself and his family.

And finally: death. Eternal life was no longer a gift guaranteed by God. Humanity would have to live and die here in order to determine whether we would live or die there, in God's kingdom.

• SENT FORTH FROM THE GARDEN

3:20-24 Adam and Eve, humanity, were no longer permitted to remain inside the garden until they accomplished a righteous life outside of it. Note that their lives did not end after the catastrophe of distrust and disobedience of God. God sent them forth from the garden but continued to love and provide for them. He clothed them, prepared them for the outside world. He continued to guide them toward the tree of life. And He continues to do all of that for us. 

We are not presently within the protective, peaceful, transparent sphere of the kingdom of God... but when we walk with God here on earth, we walk back toward it. Eve was still named the woman of all living, because through her would come the savior: Jesus. Jesus the One who revives and restores whoever is willing to life and to the kingdom of God, Romans 10:13.

And the kingdom of God is guarded and protected more than ever before; now, there is no possibility for the serpent to enter. There is no longer a possibility for anyone who does not adhere to righteousness to enter. God has created a system of life which offers redemption and prevents repetition of the same mistake.

Like Adam and Eve, we each need to be conscious of and intentional about what we sustain ourselves with. Do we submit to the word of God or to the lust of our body? Do we express the patience and compassion of God or do we express the anger and greed of our body?

In Revelation 20, we learn that Satan has already been sentenced to death. Satan has already been declared defeated... but he will go down swinging and grabbing. Therefore we must consciously resist him and everything he represents.

GENESIS 2

God is a haven for His children

• THE SEVENTH "DAY"

2:1-4 The creation of the earth was completed; the earth was inhabited, so God rested from all His work. He had created a system in which humanity subsisted on what the earth's plants naturally yielded.

• THE LINEAGE OF CHRIST: ‘ETH-’HA ADHAM

2:5-7 God then began the next phase of His plan: to create a human who would be more involved, a human who would farm the land. From the dust of the ground God formed 'eth-ha adham. Not only would this human farm the land and interact with the earth with more complexity than ever before, he would also begin the lineage through which Jesus would be born. This man, Adam, called "the man" in the original Hebrew text, would be a human who was not only more invested in the earth... but in spirit as well. This man's family would interact with God, and steadily introduce God's presence, authority and kingdom to the earth and humankind.

The Gospel of Luke contains the scripture that links Jesus, through Mary, all the way back to this man (Luke 3:23-38). The chapter lists the family history of Mary's husband Joseph's in-laws (Mary's family), as Joseph was not the father of Jesus.

• THE GARDEN OF EDEN

2:8-14 God planted a garden with fruit-bearing trees, every tree that was pleasant to the sight, and a river flowing through it that parted into four heads (Pison, Gishon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates).  It was a resplendent reflection of God's kingdom and He placed Adam in it.

In the Garden of Eden were also two significant trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

2:15-17 God placed Adam in the garden to dress it and to keep it. God gave Adam free-rein in the Garden, to eat of every tree, except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As long as Adam subsisted on the fruit-trees and the Tree of Life, he would remain within the protection and provision of God. The Tree of Life connected Adam to the eternal-life source: God.

But if Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God assured Adam that he would die. For to disengage from the Tree of Life, that is: God's eternal-life source, is to disengage from God's eternal plan. 

Adam did not need to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because God's knowledge already provided for him. God provided everything for Adam in the garden, but did not force Adam to remain there, or even to follow His rule. Though under God's authority in the garden, Adam was given enough free-will to choose to be there...or to choose not to be there. The presence of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represented his option to leave... to leave the garden, and to leave off subjection to God's will. But if Adam left God's will, he would have to rely on his own, and life would no longer be the resplendent garden that it was for him. 

• A HELP MATE

2:18-20 Adam remained in the garden and God had an idea to give Adam companions: livestock. God formed the animals and brought them to Adam to name. These animals would help Adam to become the tiller of the ground, the farmer, God had in mind. But although the animals provided companionship for Adam, it was not profound enough. 

• WOMAN

2:21-24 And so God put Adam in a deep sleep. While Adam slept, God created a human companion for him, a female. From Adam's rib, probably representative of Adam's DNA, God made a woman. God brought the woman to Adam and Adam said: this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh...". He recognized her as a true companion, his family.

By creating the woman for Adam, God established the family system: in which two marry and become one-flesh in the procreation of children.

2:25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed. They had no reason to be ashamed because they lived in a haven created by God. There was no embarrassment or disrespect, because those things are not the types of fruit the Tree of Life produces.