The First Sons

Adam and Eve had two sons, as found in Genesis 4. The first two were Cain and Abel. Cain was the gardener of the two- he worked the ground and produced food from the soil. Abel was the rancher of the two- he raised and took care of the animals. When the time came for them to give their first fruits as a sacrifice to God, God favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Abel was giving the meat from his first born animals, and Cain was able to give grains and vegetables from the ground. Cain became angry with Abel for that. God noticed this and talked to Cain.

"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 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 master it." Genesis 4:6,7

Cain had a chance to listen to God there. God told him that the feelings he was having were of a sinful nature, and to master them before it was too late. Cain didn't listen.

"Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him." Genesis 4:8

And then Cain was confronted by God as to his actions, and here is Cain's reply.

"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden." Genesis 4:9-16

Just as his parents before him, Cain did not confess to God his sin outright. He tried to hide it, but of course, God knew. And again, like Adam and Eve, Cain's punishment was exile. Sin was a part of man at this point, it was a matter of controlling it. As part of Cain's punishment, he was also unable to be killed, so he didn't have an easy way out of his misery. Instead he moved on, found a wife and produced a family. It was a productive family, each man contributing to the accomplishments of civilization- such as music and metal forgery. And by the 5th generation, we see that man once again begins to call on the name of their Lord God as their Lord.

We also see at the end of chapter four that God is a gracious God. For to Adam and Eve, he blessed them with another son, Seth. I imagine that Adam and Eve were pretty distraught over their sons. First their eldest son kills his little brother, so they are without their youngest son. Then Cain is exiled, so they are also without him. I am certain that Seth was a gift for them- to help them with their grief.

It's interesting as we move onto chapter 5. Right off the bat, we see that men at the beginning lived a very long time. Adam himself lived to 930 years old- having Seth at the age of 130. Then we see the descendants of Adam, through Seth right up to Noah. They all lived so long! All except for Enoch- here is what it says about Enoch:

"When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." Genesis 5:21-24

God simply took Enoch away! At that time, he was 365, which was young. The Bible says that he walked with God, so I like to think that God so enjoyed his company, that he took him to Heaven to live with him in eternity. It's interesting that all of these men lived so long- had one prominent son, and then "many sons and daughters". I imagine that over a lifetime that spans some 900 years, that could be a lot of sons and daughters! They certainly had ample time to be fruitful and multiply didn't they?

At this point, men were full of sin. And God was beginning to regret a few things about man. Up next, we discover God's plan for the future of men, and how one man found favor in God and saved the world for future generations.