Tag: blessing

Neither Cain nor Abel

Posted on by jovial_cynic
We always call it the story of “Cain & Abel,” but this ignores a critical part of the story.

Eve assumes God will use Cain – she says as much when she first speaks. And we, seeing Abel’s sacrifice, assume God will use the younger son to fulfill the blessing of “be fruitful and multiply.” But our assumptions are dashed by murder. Cain leaves the scene, and Abel dies. What will God do to solve this problem?

Perhaps the right name of the story should be “Not Cain, not Abel, but through Seth.”

Seth’s name means “appointed.” As in, selected by God to be used for a specific purpose. God’s purpose.

This is the nature of things.

Leave Your Mother and Father

Posted on by jovial_cynic

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (NASB)

One of the times a bible character actually does “leave his mother and father to be joined to his wife,” per the note in Genesis 2, is with the story of Jacob… where he fled home to avoid his brother’s wrath, and then ended up marrying two women – Leah and Rachel.

But the first time we see it followed, it’s here with Cain. It makes me wonder if this is a blessing or a curse.

Then Cain left the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city, and named the city Enoch, after the name of his son.
Genesis 4:16-17 (NASB)

Generations

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis is full of genealogies.

5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 10:32, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, etc, etc. SO MANY!

They appear linked to blessings. It shows the blessed ones receiving blessings: their offspring.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Genesis 5:1 (NASB)

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Genesis 6:9 (NASB)

Now these are the records of the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood.
Genesis 10:1 (NASB)

But the FIRST time this word “generations” (tôlḏôṯ) is used, it’s in an odd place, used in an odd way. It doesn’t appear to describe a blessed people at all.

It’s here, in Genesis 2:

[a] This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
Genesis 2:4 (NASB)

The footnote for [a] says: “Literally: These are the generations”

It’s a “genealogy of the heavens and the earth.”

In the same way the blessing of a generation show the blessed (the parent) and the blessings (the children), perhaps we humans are meant to be a blessing to the heavens and earth God created.