Instruction in Good and Evil
This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:12
The Lord loved the work of His creation, especially man, made in his own image. Adam and Eve were more special and blessed than any of God’s created ones. The Lord had been like a father instructing them and walking beside the man and the woman in Eden.
In our last look at Adam’s temptation and original sin we established the radical change required now that man knew good and evil. At first Adam had only one rule to obey. The Lord commanded. DO NOT desire the knowledge of good and evil. That’s it; don’t eat that fruit! Everything else? Fine.
Now man will require some instruction as to what is good and what is evil. Not so easy. The Lord will instruct them.
Adam and Eve have children (after all, not only was it pleasurable and fulfilling, but the Lord had commanded it). These first parents had a relationship with God and could ask the Lord for help with their children. (We do that, right? … or at least we should.)
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” – Genesis 1:28
God had instructed them like a loving father; now these original parents will instruct their children in that same love. Children who know nothing of evil and have never seen paradise will learn of good and evil, with God’s help.
Godly Instruction in Good and Evil
You will recognize sin leading to a later Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not murder;’ but note other sins present here as well. Our familiarity with two of Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel, could obscure some of the Lord’s instruction.
Your full consideration of Scripture linked here is always welcome, however let’s read just an excerpt.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?
For our instruction in good and evil, note the Lord’s two descriptive emotions: furious and despondent. Think of your own emotions related to jealousy or envy of another, as was the case with Cain of Abel.
“Why art thou wroth,” reads the King James, for translation from Hebrew of Charah חָרָה speaks of a burning anger.
Do you suppose that Adam, also now knowing good and evil instructed his sons in righteousness? What parent doesn’t? And for that matter what parent does not also need the help of the Lord?
(God help me with this child! What parent has not made this plea?)
The other emotion mentioned also causes us much anguish, perhaps as consequence of our powerless ability to please others. Again, the King James translates, “and why is thy countenance fallen?”
Despondent is apt image of the fallen face of one so disappointed. If we have eyes to see the face of another we can always see it, just as a face may also reflect radiant joy.
Our sin and guilt will cause a fallen countenance, translated from the Hebrew: פָּנִים paniym or face נָפַל naphal or fall. After man’s fall, a fallen face due to our inability to please the Lord.
What instruction could the Lord have for the son of Adam about his fallen condition?
A Caution to choose Good and not Evil
Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted?
We do not automatically receive God’s blessing. The Lord instructs us to consider our choices.
In this case, Abel had received blessing, but Cain’s offering to the Lord was not accepted. It begs a weighty question for us when we fall short of the Lord’s expectation (and we all do at times).
What should I do to be accepted by God?
The Lord’s answer seems so simple, ‘do what is right,’ yet it comes with a caution as well.
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.
Again, a helpful picture, ‘sin crouching at the door.’ This is actually the Bible’s first reference to sin, חַטָּאָת chatta’ath, from the root word חָטָא, meaning ‘to miss the mark.’ I can easily picture the Lord’s caution to not trip over the obstacle of sin before the doorstep of heaven.
Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
Do you also find it interesting that the Lord personifies sin here as having desire for you?
Desire is certainly a human trait; but as we learned from Satan’s fall, also an angelic trait.
Sin! crouching at our door: its desire is for you and for me.
But we must rule over it, says the Lord. We must defeat sin in the great and ongoing battle between good and evil.
Cain failed and sinned. Yet do not condemn Cain like the son of another, but rather have pity for him like you would your own son. And have compassion on other sinners. With God’s help some who fall short will do good and gain the Lord’s acceptance. And in Christ even a sinner like you and me has hope.
Now That We Have the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Perhaps on occasion your face falls at the thought of our past and inevitable sin. For the task of our earthly knowledge of good and evil weighs heavily upon us. ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23
Do you recall that Adam and Eve had more sons? For we are sons of Seth, Son of Adam. Therefore our instruction in good and evil must progress.
The Lord will not only give us the Law through Moses, but also redeem us from our sin by the Son of Man.
To be continued…
