Genesis 4;1-26
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, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 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.” Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.
Adam and Eve, after their expulsion from the garden, have two sons: Cain, the farmer, and Abel, the shepherd. In due course, each brings his offering to God. Abel's is accepted, but not Cain's. It was not what Abel offered, but his faith which made his gift acceptable. Cain's bitter resentment shows a very different spirit. As the prophets will say again and again, God is not bought off by sacrifices. He wants the offered also to 'do well'. True faith cannot be divorced from the right behavior.
Cain kills Abel - it is s short step from rebellion to bloodshed - and God condemns him to a nomadic life, but provides protection against death, some of Cain's descendants, and show the beginnings of civilized life, Enoch builds the first city. His successors learn to play and enjoy music - also to forge iron and bronze. But creative skills are not matched by moral progress. Lamech takes two wives. The pain and problems this brings are all too evident in later stories. And he boasts of the murder he has committed, outdoing Cain.
The last two verses give a glimmer of hope. Seth is born to Adam and Eve, and people begin to call on the name of the Lord.
Why?
The offering is not as important as our behavior, for the Lord loves our faith better than offering.
So it is not what offering Cain and Abel delivered to the Lord. God does not lack anything from us, but our heart to the Lord.
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我們獻祭若是要神聽我的,我送東西給神,我很了不起,這是以自我為中心的奉獻。
神給該隱的懲罰是一生漂流,人心永遠不會滿足,人只有在耶穌基督裏才會滿足。
神對罪人該隱有憐憫,給他機會。我們很容易做審判者,少了憐憫罪人的心。
拉麥把自我中心發展到極致,說出來的話比神還要誇大、狂妄。今天仍然有許多人今像拉麥一樣。
塞特是神為人安排的路。
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How?
Do our best to walk in the right way of the Lord, obey God's command. Faith and love and righteousness is my way.
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