I have gotten a man from the LORD.
These are the words of Eve from Genesis 4:1 KJV.
The relationship is with her husband: “And Adam knew Eve his wife…” the conception is by her husband and the birth is through the woman. She conceived and bare a son, Cain, who is a man created in her womb by God.
Genesis 4
Cain and Abel
4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
Some time passes. Adam knew Eve, again (yada`).
2 And again, she bore his brother Abel.
More time passes as their boys grow up, as happens seemingly quickly in all families. Description of these young men now is of their vocations – work. It is a description of the purpose of their work and their attitude of relationship toward God in this land East of Eden.
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.
(No specifics here, just that both came to worship the Lord – a relationship and a thankfulness of an offering. Yet how thankful? God must judge.)
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.
(Imagine that! God likes someone else better than ME!) Is envy not also evil?
So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
Is the Lord God, your Creator who knew you in your mother’s womb not the loving Father who will accept what you do when you do well?
Of course. Do not compare your offering to your brother. Do what is good in the eyes of the Lord.
Again, a rule so simple. Yet Cain failed to rule over his sin.
Skipping over (though not lightly) his murder of his brother and continuing in the story of Adam and Eve and the first generation of this first family, evicted from Eden. Cain is driven even further from Eden and further from his biological parents, Adam and Eve.
How they must have grieved over the loss of the younger brother. And now God drives the older brother even further from the first parents of this first broken family.
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Genesis 4 continues the story of Cain, but let us remain on the ground absorbed with the blood of Abel and the grieving parents, Adam and Eve. (O, to be back in Eden; but it can never be.)
Adam and Eve age, even as Cain, a grown man continues to age and have children and grandchildren of his own in another place. (The Bible does not relate the beginnings of most of the women married to these men.)
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Grandchildren, blessed grandchildren; and they call on the name of the Lord.
Adam and Eve have not forgotten the Lord. They obviously raised Seth in the knowledge of the Lord.
Genesis 5
Adam’s Descendants to Noah
5 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
(Adam, 130 years old and his slightly younger wife, Eve, had another baby!)
We can barely imagine a mortal man living nine centuries, instead of struggling to survive just one… generally even fewer years of our mortality.
4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
The generations of the cursed ground are then counted in this first Book of Moses through the sons of Noah.
Then the Lord would have need to cleanse the earth and begin once more…
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