The East of Eden

[okieinexile]

Genesis 4
1And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
15And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
/***/

I like to revisit Genesis. In some sense, the rest of the Bible is spent elaborating on issues first raised in Genesis.

We who in Kansas know that it’s not a book without controversy. There are those who would have us read the Book, especially the first three chapters, in a certain way. This is a way that is in conflict with modern science. That doesn’t bother me so much. I’ve been around scientists enough to know they are as human as anybody else. Science is not a collection of eternal truths. Science is a process, and its practitioners are human beings just like you and me.

What does bother me is the folks who would have us read Genesis in a certain way are reading it wrong. That is my opinion, and I’d like to take a little time today in order to persuade you that I am correct.
Let us take the scripture I began with as an example.
This is the story of Cain killing Abel.

There have been all sorts of questions asked about this particular scripture.
Where did Cain get his wife? Folks can make a big deal out of this. They ask it with sort of an “Aha, I got you now attitude.” If you don’t give them an answer, they don’t have to go to church, they can cheat on their taxes, they can leave their lawns un-mown, and still be as good as you are.

Then, for those who like to read things closely, in the first two verses it specifically mentions that Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore Cain, but it doesn’t repeat that sequence about Abel so there must be something about Abel’s birth that was different.

Whole religions have been established with ambiguities such as these for a basis. We might laugh at this, but I am not kidding. I could point to examples—but I won’t—of sects which have taken nonstandard readings of a verse here and a verse there and have kissed thousands of years of the Judeo-Christian tradition off as they went off on their own.

The problem these folks have is in treating the Bible as an idol. It is something they can go to and use as a means of power over someone else. It has become so ingrained in parts of the Christian culture that the people doing it don’t realize they are.

The Bible was inspired by God, but it was written by people—or a people, I should say. It is to be interpreted using tradition, experience, and reason.
So what does tradition, experience, and reason have to say about today’s passage. What is it about?

Cain was jealous of his brother and killed him. The power of jealousy is so strong it can overcome the power of brotherly love. This is an insight into the darkness of the human spirit that we need to meditate upon. When is my criticism of a brother, friend, or co-worker justified, and when is it just jealousy?

Cain reacted to his crime just as his parents had to their eating of the fruit. He covered it up—and God found out about it. Even though God had never told him not to kill his brother, he still knew it was wrong.
How did God react? Did he issue the death penalty?
No he sentenced Cain to live. He put a mark on him so that no one would kill him.

These are just the things on the surface. We can also discuss subtler things which can be tied to threads that run through the whole Bible.
Why was Cain’s sacrifice refused? The sacrifices Cain and his brother were performing were imitations of the sacrifice God had performed when he had killed animals so that Adam and Eve could have clothing. In that sacrifice, blood was shed; an animal lost its life. When Cain made his sacrifice it was not a real sacrifice because there was no shedding of blood. Ironically, blood was shed when he killed his brother. This did not please God. It was not what he was after.

This establishes there is some right sort of action that God wants. Neither too little nor too much.

I could go on. There is a bundle of threads that pass through this story and weave themselves into the whole fabric of the Bible. And that is the key. To follow the threads and see what they mean over the fullness of time.
This is our lot as we live here in the East of Eden.