Story and Themes of Cain and Abel

The story of Cain and Abel is very informative and it puts lights on a number of important factors. First of all the intentions of a person matters a lot. God sees the intentions and judges the deeds with the help of that therefore intentions should be pure. Secondly whenever jealousy is created in any heart the downfall begins. Envying other people not only destroys oneself but also the other people so it should be avoided at any cost. The personalities of both Cain and Abel have been shown really influential. Abel was a person with a clean heart while the Cain’s personality had jealousy in it. The innocence of Abel made him superior in front of God but the jealousy of Cain made him kill his brother. The main idea of this story of Cain and Abel is that the intentions should be clean and clear and no hatred and jealousy should be kept in heart.

Cain and Abel were twin brothers who grew up together in the BC. Abel was a shepherd while his brother Cain was a farmer. One can see that the professions of those two was clearly depicted in the bible. Their story is only highlighted as soon as they brought their sacrifices to God. Everybody brought what they had harvested from their jobs. Cain brought some farm produce while Abel chose the fattest of his flock and brought to the Gods’ alter. God rejects the sacrifice of Cain and that is where jealousy began. He wondered why God had rejected his offerings yet that was his harvest. Out of jealousy, he slays his brother Cain after tricking him to go to the fields with him. It is never told why God rejected his sacrifice or the main motive as to why he murdered his brother. Immediately after murdering his brother, God revealed himself and asked Cain why he killed his own brother. According to Wiesel, It is ironical that Cain knows too well that God sees everything and that he knows what he has done but when asked; Cain says he does not know what God was talking about. He says that he is not his brother’s keeper. On top of killing his brother, he still lies to God and that is where God became angry and cursed him. Cain was cursed to become a wanderer in the world and never settle. He was marked so that he could not be killed by anyone. Guenther states that the Ten Commandments were not given to Moses alone, it is evident that Adam and Eve also received rules to guide them as seen in Exodus 20:13 ‘thou shall not kill. And when Cain kills his brother he is punished by God. So, the commandments were given way back in the Old Testament. Human beings are always told to follow what the bible tells us but then again it still tells us of many instances of how the characters in the bible displayed immoral behaviors. It is then that we question ourselves.

The other significance is that Cain was the first human to be born in the world while Abel was the first human to die. The story teaches us that one should exercise patience and humility. If only Cain would have consulted with his brother on the best offering to present to God then he would have avoided the feeling of jealousy that crept up to him. Love obviously lacked in the relationship of the two brothers. Guilt is brought out by the fact that Cain told God that he would hide his face from him and whoever finds him would kill him. It is the guilt that is within him that made him say that. God is merciful and full of grace, and he decided to let him live even though he deserved to die. Instead of God sending him to his death, he put a mark on him that would make him live long and not be killed by any anyone. Cain is brought out as an angry and jealousy man (Crier 2). He did not give God his best harvest yet when his brother’s sacrifice gets approved by God, he starts plotting how to kill his brother. He is also portrayed as very witty person because he calls his naïve brother in the fields and kills him there. God the cursed the soil that he toiled and that how he left home and went to stay at Enoch. After he gets a wife she soon bore him a son called Enoch. It is also possible that God put a mark on his forehead to create a covenant with him. God is so merciful that He promises to protect Cain and that if anyone attempts to kill him he would be punished in sevenfold. The story of Cain and Abel is interesting because it has often brought many questions that one cannot fathom. First, they were divided by their parents since each inherit different things. It was evidently clear that Abel was the joy of everyone. They both loved their mother so it’s seen that it is not only Cain who has brought about his own predicaments. It is seen that their father and mother already committed a sin before them, so it is not a surprise when Cain commits a serious sin. It runs in the family.

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This story teaches us a lot of moral teachings that are depicted in our modern world. First, we learn that faith is the greatest gift one can offer to God. We can see that Cain offers his harvest but not with a genuine heart. God sees that and he refuses to accept it. According to Ashliman, most of the times we tend to pray but without faith nothing ever happens. Then we fall back on our faith in God. The same teaching of course refers to matters of sharing. If you decide to share a gift with someone, then it should come from the heart otherwise it will mean nothing.

In Jude 1:11, the bible warns us to avoid living “the way of Cain”. This means that we should not have anger in our hearts, and we should also not be jealous of our friends and brothers. It is obvious that in life people can never be equal, we can never have the same possessions. One should be happy with what others have, that way God will bless us and give us what we request from him. Another moral teaching, we get is lying. We should not lie especially after sinning. Cain lied to God yes, he knew that God had already seen all he had done. It is only right to tell the truth and ask for forgiveness. God will always forgive us. We should always walk in the way of Abel.

Nomadism was also started by Cain after he was cursed to wander around the world. He would not settle and thus the start of the tribes which walks around towns and when the area is dry, they move to the next fertile area. Abel represents the people who settle in one area and value their ancestral area. It is also from Cain that we got murderers in the world. He was the first to kill and since then people have killed each other over the many years. In addition, we learn these few points, that jealous can cloud our judgments, not to envy others, not to always blame others for our own mistakes, additional sins can lead to punishment, sibling rivalry which still occurs to date.

The Genesis story of creation is how the earth and heaven were created by God and how he made the first man named Adam. Adam lived a very peaceful life in the heaven and all the angels bowed down to him because God asked them to do so. Adam was strictly prohibited to go near a certain tree in paradise and eat its apple but the devil forced him and Adam made the biggest mistake of his life. This story highlights the sin or disobedience of Adam which brought him to the earth and removed him from heaven. Adam was really guilty because of the sin he committed but he asked for forgiveness and God forgave him. This story highlights how much important it is to obey the God and stay away from sins.

Covenant is basically the administered relationship of none other than the communion and union between the Lord and the people He has created. It is present in the form of the mutual love and loyalty (Faber, .n.d). The first covenant of the God with the Abraham was that God asked Abraham to do a number of specific things and as a favor God would take special care of the Jews. God made it clear that Abraham would be made the father of the great and good people and Abraham and all other people are supposed to obey the God. In the return of it God would provide them with a protection and would bless them with the land of Israel. God wanted the Abraham to change his way of life according to the teaching of God and in return God would bless his wife Sarah by making her pregnant. Abraham was blessed with the son Issac. So it got cleared that God has the power over everything (The First Covenant, 2009).

The male dominance has been seen in the old testaments because at various points the creation of Adam has been showed a complete success however the creation of women got failed at many points. “God created Lilith (woman) but for her He used filth and mud instead of pure dust (Yalqut Reubeni ad. Gen. II. 21)”. This verse clearly states the dominance of the man over woman. Then it has been observed in many other things like the representation of divinity, sacramental liturgy, family ethics, and religious symbolism (Jacoba, .n.d). The example of Sarah giving permission for the intercourse can be taken in this regard. There are a number of different verses which shows the male dominance.

Hebrew poetry is different from Indo-European poetry because it is properly documented. It was created in the lands of Jewish dispersion. It was enriched with a number of different traditions in style, theme as well as the lyrical form. But Hebrew poetry does not contain the clear dimension of the everyday speech. It was an example of unspoken and semi fossilized language. Its vocabulary is also very limited. It is dependent on a single word most of the times. Thus Hebrew poetry is really unique and different from Indo-European poetry (Hebrew Poetry, .n.d).

The Prophecy is not fortunetelling. Basically Prophets are the people sent by God to tell the truth to others. The work according to the commandments of God. The make themselves a living example for others to be followed. Although they are special than normal human beings and God communicates with them either through the angels or in dreams but this is not equals to the fortune telling. The Prophets just believe in God and do whatever God asks them without knowing anything about the future in most of the cases.

The concept of remnant focuses on certain people who are the survivors of battles and fights, who remain loyal to their God even in testing and difficult situations, and those who survive the critical times of judgements in the hope of seeing Messiah. For example the Noah and his family were chosen people and they built the ship without caring about the way they were ridiculed by the people and at the end everything got vanished in the flood except the ship of the Noah (Religious beliefs, .n.d).

There are certain verses in bible which indicates the prediction of the future like the one verse says that after the completion sixty two weeks Messiah will be left with nothing and the people of prince would be able to destroy the city and damage the things and all of this would happen with the flood and it will be taken to the end. This verse refers to the time when Noah was asked to build the boat because of the flood that would destroy everything in future.

Annotated bibliography

Crier, Christian. “Cain And Abel Bible Story: Lesson, Summary And Study”. Christian Crier, 2018, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/04/20/cain-and-abel-bible-story-lesson-summary-and-study/. Accessed 20 Apr 2014.

In this article the author describes about the conception of Cain and Abel, how Eve gave them names. Like Cain means acquirer and Abel means breathe. In this article, we get a glimpse of their lives, how they grew up and their adult life. The author summarizes the events that occurred between Cain and Abel. How they offer their sacrifices to God, the rejection of Cain’s sacrifice and how he eventually kills his brother.

Guenther, Leanne. “The Story Of Cain And Abel”. Dltk-Bible.Com, 2017, http://www.dltk-bible.com/genesis/chapter4-cv1.htm. Accessed 22 Oct 2018.

This article has been written in the simplest of languages as the author targets the young people. Leanne makes the story interesting and precise so it does not become boring. Her main aim is to capture the audience of young children as she feels they are left out in matters concerning the bible.Leanne brings out the characters of Cain and Abel as they appear in the bible. The story flows and one can be able to follow it without getting mixed up.She describes the events of their lives from when they were born until they grow up. The conclusion of the article shows how the big brother kills the younger brother and how God cursed him. It is educative and amazingly refreshing.

Wiesel, Elie. “Cain And Abel In The Bible – Biblical Archaeology Society”. Biblical Archaeology Society, 2018, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/cain-and-abel-in-the-bible/. Accessed 21 May 2018.

This article talks about the differences between Abel and Cain. The author brings out the themes of jealousy and faith. The story of the twin brothers who grow up together ,loving each other and doing a lot of things together. The author examines how the lives of Cain and Abel influences our lives, either positively or negatively. The article has been revised over the past years and is in its latest version, having been published in the year 2017.

Ashliman, D.L. “Cain And Abel: Scriptures And Legends”. Pitt.Edu, 2018, https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/cain.html#genesis. Accessed 15 Apr 2018.

The author in this article has written the contents in point form thus making it easy to note the most important ones. It makes it easy for readers to read a lot of story in a short time. The points contain the life of Cain and Abel in a summary form. The clear outline shown in this article hasstarted from the time Cain and Abel are born, grow up to become independent. Their faith in God and how they give incentives to Him. It is the rejection that divides the two brothers and Cain ends up killing his own brother.

Works Cited

• Ashliman, D.L. “Cain And Abel: Scriptures And Legends”. Pitt.Edu, 2018, https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/cain.html#genesis. Accessed 15 Apr 2018.
• Crier, Christian. “Cain And Abel Bible Story: Lesson, Summary And Study”. Christian Crier, 2018, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/04/20/cain-and-abel-bible-story-lesson-summary-and-study/. Accessed 20 Apr 2014.
• Guenther, Leanne. “The Story Of Cain And Abel”. Dltk-Bible.Com, 2017, http://www.dltk-bible.com/genesis/chapter4-cv1.htm. Accessed 22 Oct 2018
• Wiesel, Elie. “Cain And Abel In The Bible – Biblical Archaeology Society”. Biblical Archaeology Society, 2018, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/cain-and-abel-in-the-bible/. Accessed 21 May 2018..
• “SpindleWorks.” Martin Luther on Reformed Education – Dr. R. Faber, www.spindleworks.com/library/bratcher/Chapter_Two.htm.
• “Religions – Judaism: The First Covenant.” BBC, BBC, 25 June 2009, www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/firstcovenant.shtml.
• “WOMEN CAN BE PRIESTS.” Jacoba Felicie Barred from Medicine: Paris, France, 1322, www.womenpriests.org/scriptur/myth_ot.asp.
• Mfa.gov.il, mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA-Archive/2003/Pages/Hebrew Poetry in the New Millennium.aspx.
• “ .” The Religious Beliefs of Sir Isaac Newton, www.ldolphin.org/Remn.html.