Sunday 19 July 2015

Cain and Abel Story in Bible



When it was time to offer sacrifices to God, Cain brought fruit from the ground and Abel brought the fat portions from some of the firstborn. And Abel also presented b – some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.c The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain, on the other hand, would marry her less beautiful sister. Now Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land. Cain was also warned that if he refused to do the right thing—sin was ready to consume him.

Genesis Chapter 4 The Story Of Cain And Abel | matrimonio da testimone

God had no doubt told them, too, that when they came to worship Him, they were to bring a lamb or a kid as a sacrifice for their sins; this Abel had done, but Cain had not. 3In the course of time Cain presented some of the land's produce as an offering to the LORD. The first son was Cain and he was a farmer. In that regard, Abel and Cain were the first two sons, each of whom was born with a twin sister, and Adam decided that, to avoid incest, Abel would marry Cain's sister and Cain would marry Abel's sister. However, this interpretation does not relate to the preference of the sacrifices by God, but rather to the acceptance or rejection of God's law. However, Cain refused because he wanted to keep his own sister, while Abel respected the paternal law. As a result of this preference, Cain killed Abel. Instead he took out his anger on his righteous brother, Abel. This rejection made Cain angry and God admonished Cain to do the right thing and his sacrifice would be accepted. Abel obeyed this law while Cain did not, and, as a result, Cain killed Abel.

Cain And Abel For Kids Picture Gallery - ImageFiesta.com

The oldest known copy of the biblical narrative is from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and dates to the first century CE. Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr; while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as an ancestor of evil. But Cain, a miserly farmer, offered only a bunch of grass and some worthless seeds to him. Indeed, in the Old Testament, in particular in the Judaic, Midrash Rabba, and Islamic versions, wherein Cain and Abel are not the only offspring of Adam and Eve, but born as twins with one sister each. So Cain was angry because God had accepted Abel's offering and not his; and now he hated his brother Abel.

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2Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel. Modern scholars typically view the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel to be about the development of civilization during the age of agriculture; not the beginnings of man, but when people first learned agriculture, replacing the ways of the hunter-gatherer.

Muslim scholars were divided on the motives behind Cain's murder of Abel, and further why the two brother were obliged to offer sacrifices to God. Cain and Abel also appear in a number of other texts, and the story is the subject of various interpretations. Some scholars believed that Cain's motives were plain jealousy and lust. The one whom God would accept his offering would marry Aclima. Freud’s theory of fratricide is explained by the Oedipus or Electra complex through Jung's supplementation. Blinded by anger and lust for Aclima, Cain sought to get revenge from Abel and escape with Aclima. God favored Abel’s sacrifice, but He didn’t extend that same grace to Cain. Adam suggested sacrificial offerings, and, in his absence, God accepted Abel's lamb rather than Cain's offering of grass. In a premeditated manner, Cain invited Abel out to the fields where he murdered him! Later God approached Cain about the whereabouts of Abel just as He did with Adam and Eve with their sin. Abel, a generous shepherd, offered the fattest of his sheep as an oblation to God. Cain (being a child of sin and the devil) lied and countered the all-knowing God with the infamous question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Sometime after Adam and Eve sinned against God and were forced out of the Garden of Eden, they began to have children. But how did Cain kill Abel?

Cain disregarded God’s admonition and warning. The next son was Abel who was a shepherd. Cain was furious, and he was downcast. Both Cain and Abel desired to marry Adam's beautiful daughter, Aclima (Aqlimia' in Arabic). God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's - an indication that Abel was more righteous than Cain, and thus worthier of Aclima. As a result, it was decided that Abel would marry Aclima. Some scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers. Seeking to put an end to the dispute between them, Adam suggested that each one of them present an offering before God.
Word Count: 827

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