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Cain and Abel
Observations and questions
- Cain in its truest form means "acquired"
- Hebrew names were almost a legacy that someone was to live out - names have a lot of meaning
- Eve calls him this not in spite of Adam, like she got Cain without Adam's help, but rather that by God's assistance, she has been given a son (she acquired a son)
- Hebrew names could be lived out in a positive or negative sense...
- God looks with favor on Abel's offering but not Cain's, but we're not given any information about how they should know what they're supposed to bring
- Should cause us to question some stuff about the nature of God - because what kind of good father doesn't give his kids this information?
- Cain's legacy
- Should be about what he is given (what he acquires)
- When fear enters the equation, when Cain sees that God likes Abel's stuff more and Cain knows that he is dependent on God to acquire anything, then his story will be about being afraid that he will not acquire enough - Abel becomes a symbol of mistrust for Cain.
- This story shows us that God's position on humanity has not changed
- he still loves his creation, he still walks with humanity (there's nothing in the story so far that says that "sin has entered humanity" even though they're banished from the garden... that is not separation from God necessarily
- What we do see is that humanity's position on themselves has changed
- They now have shame, are angry, downcast... they are what Cain demonstrates
- God approaches Cain regarding his anger and God still thinks that Cain can live out the right legacy and trust the story... he gives him the direction to just do what is right, meaning that Cain can do what is right.
- Desire as a theme shows up in this story again - just like in Adam and Eve
- God reminds Cain that he is not a beast, which in the story of Adam and Eve is a defining characteristic of beasts over men, and that Cain can master it
- Cain and Abel is a retelling of Adam and Eve
- 2 characters enter the story in harmony with each other
- Desire is a central theme for the fall of the characters
- God asks "where are you [is your brother]?"
- Ends with cursing
Problems
- How does Cain know what he should bring to offer to God?
- A problem with God's character... what kind of dad demonstrates favor over one child to another so blatantly?
- shows that this story is not really about something as zoned in as this character quality... it's about something bigger