Genesis 4:1-26 continuing…

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground” Genesis 4:1-2.

As we begin looking at the life of the man and the woman outside paradise, and outside the best of God, we find Adam and Eve filled with promise and hope. Remember they had had a perfect environment, only to reject God, and to be cast from it for the entire remainder of their natural lives.

We have in these first two verses the first evidence of their copulating and bringing children into their world. We do know that they produced more children. For one thing we will see later is that Cain marries a wife. She had to come from somewhere. That is going to turn some people away to think that a man married his sister, but that was at that time the only way to propagate the race of man. At that time their would have been no problem with marrying so close of kin as there is now. The Word of God later forbids a man marrying his sister, but until that law was given, it was allowed.

We do not need to be alarmed by this chapter and learning of the brother sister marriages and such. After all it was the LORD God who commanded Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth. That is what they were doing. There are some who believe that sexual intercourse was the “Original sin” which caused the fall of the man and woman. That is not so, because God had already given them commandment to multiply, and fill the earth. Sex is a God honored act of marriage between a husband and his wife, a wife and her husband. In the book of Hebrews we read, “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4 NKJV).

The phrase, “Adam knew Eve his wife” is refering to the intimate, pleasurable act of marriage. It is a means of pleasure between a man and his woman in marriage, and for the purpose of procreation.

In these two verses God fulfills a promise. In chapter three and verse 16 we read, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…”. Though it seems a bit shadowed by the curse there is within it the promise of “children”. The promise of children was not only a promise of continuation of the human race, but also the promise of a Savior. What good, or what count would this life be without the hope of a Savior who would come and be our substitute for sin? Expecting pain in the childbearing, she still looked longingly for that time those children would be born.

The birthing of that first son, Cain, gives her encouragement, meaning, and purpose for living. While Adam tills the ground “From whence he was taken” by God’s hand, “So Eve the woman with divine help produced the man, Cain. She sees in creating Cain the realization of her divinely assigned role.” KENNETH A. MATTHEWS, N.A.C. Commentary Vol. 1a, page 265. The woman is God’s instrument of continuation. She is the one who endures nine months of pain, excess weight, and the agony of the birth. Yet, she is joyful all through this time, full of expectation and hope. God’s promise fulfilled in the woman’s bearing children (1 Timothy 2:15).

Eve brought forth another son. The first, Cain, and Eve could have expected him to be the deliverer, but she soon learns otherwise. The second son is Abel.

Cain is a tiller of the ground walking in his father’s footsteps. Abel is a shepherd. Remember, God has cursed the ground (3:17). To labor in the field is the efforts and works of the man. The sheep on the other hand, another form of farming or ranching, grow as they are blessed by God. This is in no way to denegrate farmers or agriculture. This way of living is one of the most honorable and rewarding of all forms of vocations or occupations. There is no other, whether it is the raising of cattle, or the sowing of seed, that requires more work, faith, patience, and endurance. Anyone who has ever planted a garden seed could tell you the truth of the curse of the ground. Weeds spring up and choke off, and/or hinder the growth of the seeds planted, unless there is a tending to that garden, and weeds are pulled, cut back and/or destroyed.