After Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden, their life drastically changed. In the garden everything was provided for them but now they had to work to get food to live. Life was not as easy as before. Then Eve became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. She named him Cain which means "acquired" or "got it". She said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord." She rejoiced at his birth because she thought she had gotten the seed of the woman the Lord had promised would crush the serpent's head.
Later Eve gave birth to another son and called his name "Abel" which means "vanity". By this time she must have realized that Cain was not the one who would crush the serpent's head. She was so disappointed she called his brother "vanity".
As their boys grew up, Adam and Eve must have told them of their own experiences, beginning with the garden of Eden and their life there. They would also have told them the tragic story of how the serpent seduced them to disobey the Lord's warning, and how this led them to having to till the ground to get food to eat. The way the Lord killed some animals to prepare proper clothes for them would have been a special memory to pass on to the boys.
Cain and Abel responded differently to the things their parents told them. Cain tilled the ground which is exactly what the Lord said they would have to do to get food to eat. It was hard work just as the Lord had said it would be. Abel, on the other hand, did not help his brother to till the ground. Instead he looked after sheep. This probably was not nearly as hard as the work Cain was doing and it wasn't as practical either. At that time, the Lord had not given them permission to eat meat so they couldn't even eat the sheep. So Abel must have been eating some of the food Cain worked so hard to produce.
After some time, both Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord. Cain's offering was of the fruit of the ground, some of the things he had grown. He had worked hard to get them and hoped the Lord would accept them. Abel brought an offering of the first born of his flock. He must have prepared it the way his parents told him the Lord had done. They had seen what the Lord did with the animals when He made coats of skins for them and now Abel did the same thing. The Lord was happy to receive Abel's offering which made Abel happy too. However, the Lord would not accept Cain's offering which made Cain very unhappy.
Cain was so angry that the Lord came to warn him about it. The Lord told him that if he did well he would be happy too. If he did not do well then sin was crouching at the door. Actually, it was Satan who wanted to use sin to capture Cain, and his remaining in his anger would make it easy for sin to get him. Cain did not listen to the Lord's warning, and he kept his anger. When Abel was in the field with him (probably to beg for some food), Cain hit him so hard that he died. Even then, Cain was not sorry, which shows how angry he was.
The Lord came to Cain again, and this time he asked him where his brother, Abel, was. Cain answered, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" The Lord responded that the voice of Abel's blood was crying to Him from the ground. He said that the ground would no longer produce food when Cain cultivated it and that Cain would become a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth.
Cain complained that his punishment was too great to bear. He was afraid that whoever would find him would kill him. The Lord promised him that vengeance would be taken sevenfold on whoever killed him. The Lord was still willing to help Cain but Cain didn't care and he left the presence of the Lord. Satan had succeeded in fully separating him from the Lord.
Questions: What was Cain's first mistake and where did it lead him? What lesson can we learn from this story?
Verses in the Bible that refer to this story: Genesis 4:1-17; Heb. 11:4; 12:24; 1 John 3:12; John 8:44; Matt. 23:35;