Tag: Adam

Cain and Adam’s Curse

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 3, Adam is told that the GROUND is cursed, and he will RETURN to it.

In Genesis 4, Cain is told that HE is cursed FROM the ground; the GROUND accepted Abel, but it REJECTS Cain.

Perhaps the ground is humanity, and Cain has cut himself off from it. A vagabond.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)

Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:11 (NIV)

An Echo

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 4 is not merely the consequence of Genesis 3. It’s a retelling of it. The stories have an echo that get louder every time.

In Genesis 3, we have:

Adam: A tiller of the ground -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (covering) -> the man has a son.

In Genesis 4, we have:

Cain: A tiller of the ground, -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (a mark) -> he has a son.

An Appropriate Sacrifice

Posted on by jovial_cynic
What did Cain do wrong? People have pointed to Abel’s “appropriate” animal sacrifice, pointing to God’s covering of Adam/Eve with animal skins in Genesis 3… but I think there’s something else going on here.

We are told that Cain “worked the soil” in the NIV. If you’ve followed along the previous weeks’ studies, you’ve heard this word “worked” before, but in a different form. And connected to a different man.

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
Genesis 4:2 (NIV)

It’s Cain’s own dad, Adam. In Genesis 2, we’re told that Adam’s role was to “till the ground.” This word “till” is the Hebrew word “abad,” which means to “labor” or to “work.” And in Genesis 2, the work is GOOD.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground.
Genesis 2:5 (NIV)

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)

But in Genesis 3, the ground gets cursed.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:17 (NIV)

So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Genesis 3:23 (NIV)

What does it mean that the ground is cursed? What does it mean that the work will result in painful toil, thorns & thistles? Why does this point to death?

Cain’s name means “acquired.” As in, “I worked to acquire this.”

This is death.

God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering is unrelated to his own accomplishment. He simply brought the best of what he had: the “fat” (or choicest/best part) of the “firstborns.” The best we have.

It’s the same thing God asks of us today. Not the sacrifice, but our heart.

Driven Out

Posted on by jovial_cynic
We read in Genesis 3 that after disobedience, God “drove out” the man from the garden. It feels like we’ve been kicked out. Banished. Hell?

The word is used again later in a story linked to something important: it’s the word used when Sarah drives out Hagar.

And she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
Genesis 21:10 (NIV)

While we wrestle with Sarah’s unkindness and Abe’s foolishness and Hagar’s slave-status, there’s something that Paul says later about this story that we have to understand. These characters represent something.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
Galations 4:22-23 (NIV)

There’s so much talk about “works” and “faith,” and Paul links these concepts to slavery and freedom as it relates to God’s promise to us.

When Sarah demands that Abe “get rid of” Hagar and the boy, she is using this same word of “banishing” as Genesis 3.

The link should be viewed through an eternal lens: God is banishing the slavery of works and our own attempts at attaining status and relationship from the garden. The Garden is Holy.

He’s not kicking US out. He’s kicking out the works of the flesh.

How do we know this?

Because if you read the text closely, God only banishes Adam from the garden, and not Eve, who represents Life. The spirit. The one through whom God promises to bring redemption. Not through through One born of the flesh, but born of the spirit.

And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:22-24 (NIV)

Separated from Life

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 2 and 3 mention a Tree of Life.

Adam calls his wife the “Mother of Life.”

Genesis 3 seems to separate the man and his wife and put them at odds with each other, right after God brought the together in the previous chapter.

We read that Adam is cursed to die, and that a flaming sword blocks Adam from the Tree of Life.

From Eve? Is Adam separated from both Life and from his wife?

There is so much being said here.

Connected by Dust

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Dust connects the serpent and the man in the weirdest way.

Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all the livestock,
And more than any animal of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And dust you shall eat
All the days of your life;

Genesis 3:14 (NASB)

By the sweat of your face
You shall eat bread,
Until you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19 (NASB)

Because You Did This

Posted on by jovial_cynic
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:14 (NIV)

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:17 (NIV)

God doesn’t say this to the woman. Unlike with the Serpent and with Adam, God does not appear to assign blame to her.

Wrestling with God

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 32, we read a story of Jacob wrestling with God, refusing to let go until he receives a blessing. This is not bad. It’s a defiant and hopeful tenacity that God honors.

After God pronounces death on Adam, perhaps Adam “wrestles” with God as well, defiantly naming his wife Eve… which means “Life.”

Who was Kicked out of the Garden?

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The text says that Adam was kicked out. “The man.” It doesn’t say the woman was kicked out.

Isn’t that interesting?

After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:24 (NIV)