(In the Beginning - Part 1 | Part 2)
In the first part of this study we learned how God created the earth and mankind, and we also saw the beginnings of Satan and how he corrupted Adam and Eve.
In this section, we will see the other beginnings in the history of mankind.
The Scripture: Genesis 4:1-2
"Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain....Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.”
1. Who were the first children?
2. How were they occupied?
The Scripture: Genesis 4:3-5
"In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast."
3. What were the brothers' offerings?
4. How did God respond?
5. What was Cain's reaction?
The Scripture: Hebrews 9:22
"Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
6. What must happen before forgiveness can take place.
Some have questioned God's response, thinking that Cain was treated unfairly. But we must remember that God undoubtedly told the brothers how to make offerings. Also Abel's offering involved the shedding of blood and was from the firstborn of his flock. In making his offering, Cain was rebellious.
The Scripture: Genesis 4:8
"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."
7. What did Cain do to Abel?
The Scripture: Genesis 4:10
"The Lord said to Cain, 'Now you are under a curse...When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
8. What was Cain's curse?
The Scripture: Genesis 4:13-14
"Cain said to the Lord, 'My punishment is more than I can bear....I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
9. What was Cain's complaint?
The Scripture: Genesis 4:15
"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."
10. How did the Lord protect him?
The Scripture: Genesis 4:16
"So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod."
11. Where did Cain go?
The Scripture: Genesis 4:17
"Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch."
12. What happened to Cain next?
Some are perplexed by this scripture, asking who Cain could have married. The probable truth is that although the Bible does not specifically say so, Adam and Eve had daughters as well as sons, and Cain married one of his sisters. The fifth chapter of Genesis gives the chronology of Adam's family up to the time of Noah.
The Scripture: Genesis 5:32
"After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth."
13. What were the names of Noah's sons?
Mankind became more and more wicked.
The Scripture: Genesis 6:6-8
"The Lord's heart was grieved that he had made man on the earth… [and he] said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.'…. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."
14. Why was the Lord's heart grieved?
15. What did He decide to do?
16. Who was the one person who found favor with the Lord?
Most of us are familiar with the story of Noah and the flood - of how the Lord told him to build an ark and take his sons and their wives, as well as two of every kind of animal into the ark with him. Then the Lord sent a terrible flood upon the earth for 150 days, destroying all living creatures.
In time, the flood ceased and Adam, his family, and the animals he took with him came out of the ark.
The Scripture: Genesis 8:20
"Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and...he sacrificed burnt offerings on it."
17. What did Noah do?
The Scripture: Genesis 8:21
"The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart; 'Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done'."
18. What did the Lord promise?
The Scripture: Genesis 9:17
"God said, 'Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth....This is the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.'"
19. What was the covenant God made?
God gave the rainbow as a sign of the covenant He made with man that He would never again flood the earth. As He does in all lives, no matter how many times we sin, He provides a new beginning, a new opportunity to live a life pleasing to Him.
The Answers
- Cain and Abel
- Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil
- Cain brought fruits from the soil; - Abel brought fat portions from the first born of his flocks.
- He was pleased with Abel's offering, but not with Cain's.
- He was angry.
- Blood must be shed.
- He killed him.
- The ground would no longer yield crops for him. He would be a restless wanderer.
- That whoever found him would kill him.
- He put a mark on him.
- To the land of Nod
- His wife had a child, Enoch.
- Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Because of man's wickedness
- To wipe man from the face of the earth.
- Noah
- He built an altar to the Lord and burned sacrifices on it.
- That never again would He curse the ground because of man and destroy all living creatures.
- The rainbow
All scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version
(unless otherwise indicated)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, New International Bible Society
Copyright © 2005 by JoAnne Sekowsky