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Cain and Abel

The story of Cain and Abel begins by telling us that Cain and Abel were the children of Adam and Eve. Cain was the older brother of Abel, and was a tiller of the ground. The younger brother, Abel, was a shepherd, taking care of sheep. At some point both Cain and Abel took sacrifices to God, and we are told that Cain brought crops that he had tilled up from the ground as his offering, while Abel took the first lambs from his fattest sheep as his offering to God.

We are told that God respected the sacrifice of Abel, but had no respect for the offering of Cain. It’s not clear why this is. It could be that God didn’t like the offering of crops because it came from the ground, and that Cain should have become an animal tender instead of a tiller of the ground. It’s also possible, because of the emphasis on the fact that Abel took the youths of the fattest sheep, that Abel simply took more care in preparing the offering to God, and had Cain been careful to take only the best of whatever it was that he was tilling (presumably wheat) he too would have found respect from God. It’s also possible that God simply preferred Abel to Cain as a person, but whatever the case may have been, it resulted in the death of Abel.

Cain was angry at his treatment by God, and recognizing this, God told him that he would be accepted should he do well, and that sin was always close at hand and would overcome him should he not be careful. Soon, we are told, after speaking with Abel, Cain killed him. It was impossible for Cain to benefit from this, and very clear that he would be punished for doing this, but he did it anyway, and even believed he could get away with it without punishment. At some point, presumably soon after the killing, God asked Cain where Abel was. His famous response was first to lie, saying he did not know, then to ask whether or not he was his brother’s keeper. In modern days this is often taken as meaning he really was his brother’s keeper, and that he was responsible for him. This was almost certainly not the case. Cain was the equal brother of Abel, not his superior as a keeper, and this question was meant as a rhetorical in order to avoid the responsibility of knowing of his brother.

God, of course, sees through such a manipulation, and says he can hear Abel’s blood crying to him from the ground. God therefore curses Cain from the ground, forbidding him from being able to raise crops. He also banishes Cain from the area, naming him a fugitive and a vagabond. Cain protests this, saying that he will be killed be any people he meets on the road, so God puts a mark on him, so that all know that the killer of Cain will be punished seven times as harshly. This is also mostly unexplained as to why God would protect him in this way.

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On the Hierarchy Shown in Genesis 1-3

In Genesis 1 of the Bible, after creating light, dividing the heavens from the earth, and revealing dry land, God creates plant life, and then created the stars. Then does God create animal life in the sea, animal life in the air, and animal life on land before finally making Man. From the start God creates Man to be superior to all life previously created, and even tells him that it is his duty to subdue the earth, and to have dominion over all life.

Genesis 2 takes a deeper look at the creation of Man. It says that God formed Man of the dust of the earth, and breathed life into his nostrils, granting Man a living soul. After creating Man, God forms a garden known as the Garden of Eden, as a place for Man to reside. God is said to put Man in this garden to “dress it and to keep it.” as well as telling him he may eat of every fruit of every tree, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, showing God’s authority to create moral laws as well as the natural ones made during the creation of the world. God then decides to create a helper for Adam, but first brings all the animals to him, that he would name them. After naming every living creature, God grants Eve, the first woman, to Adam as an equal helper for him.

Genesis 3 begins with telling us that the Serpent asked of Eve whether or not she was allowed to eat of any tree in the garden. Upon telling him of the only moral law that God had ordered of her and Adam, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Serpent contradicted God, saying that neither she nor Adam would die were they to eat of the tree, as God had told them. The Serpent instead says that they would become like God. Eve eats of the tree, believing the Serpent, her inferior, instead of God, her superior, and takes the fruit of the tree back to Adam, who also eats it. Then they sew clothes of fig leaves in order to cover their bodies. God finds them doing this and asks Adam whether or not he ate of the tree. Adam then attempts, not to lie, but to displace his guilt onto both his superior, God, and his equal, Eve, by saying that the woman who God gave to him gave him the fruit to eat, as though God were responsible for all she did, and that Adam had no choice but to eat the fruit when she gave it to him. God then asks Eve why she took the fruit of the tree, and she too displaces the blame, not to Adam, but solely onto the Serpent, whom God asked nothing of, letting the blame rest.

God then punishes all three involved in the matter. First the Serpent, who God declares lower than any other beast, forces to crawl on his belly, and to forever more have a mutual hatred with all children of Eve. Eve then was punished with painful childbirth, and instead of being an equal helper to Adam, will now be ruled over by him. Adam’s punishment was to have to fight the earth for his food, tilling and farming the land instead of gathering fruits. All the animals who were previously servile to Adam, as their acknowledged master set by God, now turned on man, and would have to each be tamed and disciplined independently if they were to be controlled.

God is shown to be the Lord of all things, as he made all things and all life. He set up Man as his inferior, to be lord of all things through the authority of God, but when he rejects God he must become the master of the land and the animals through his own authority, which is far less than God’s. Eve is now the inferior to Adam for being beguiled by the Serpent, who himself is set as the inferior of all living things for contradicting God and lying to Eve, a representative of Man.

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Abraham to Moses

Abraham is a major character in the Old Testament of the Bible, and seems to have been a historical figure as well based off of genetic tests from the Jewish population. In the Bible, he is said to have been from the Mesopotamian city of Ur, before leaving the city to go to the land of Canaan, which was promised to him and his family by the Lord.

God, at one time, demanded the sacrifice of Abraham’s son Isaac. At the last moment, however, when it was clear that he was willing to kill his son, God told him to stop and kill a lamb instead. This was simply a test of Abraham, not a real human sacrifice.

Isaac doesn’t do much, but he does have two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau is very brawny, but not too smart, and Jacob tricks him into giving up his rights as the elder brother. Esau swears vengeance, and Jacob flees to his uncle’s farm. He works for his uncle for 14 years, and married both of his uncle’s daughters. He returned home and was forgiven by Esau. From his wives he had twelve children, the youngest of whom was Joseph.

Joseph was Jacob’s favorite, and the other 11 sons hated him for it, so the sold him to slavery. He was eventually bought in Egypt, where he became known for being able to interpret dreams. The Pharaoh was having disturbing dreams, and sent for Joseph to decipher them. He declared that a famine was coming, and with that heads-up the Pharaoh was able to successfully stock up for the famine. Joseph also became a favorite of this Pharaoh, so when his family came to beg for food during the famine they were welcomed with open arms.

Eventually Joseph died, and so did the Pharaoh, and so the Hebrews were turned into slaves. Eventually Moses was born, and he was told by God to demand the freedom of the Hebrews. He did so, but the Pharaoh denied the request. God then visited the 10 plagues on the Egyptians, which forced the Pharaoh to let them leave. Moses the split the Red Sea, and the Jews walked to the other side in search of the land of Abraham.

They find Mt. Sinai, which Moses hikes up to the top of. There, he receives the Ten Commandments, which forms the law of the people of God. Moses, however, is cursed to never enter the Holy Land due to his lack of belief. So they wander for thirty years before he died, and they were allowed to enter the Holy Land.