Cain and Abel
I’m sure you noticed the prophecy regarding the coming Messiah being God Himself. This theme is found throughout the first book of Adam and Eve and, if God truly said this, would be a reason this book would have been banned by the first and second century Jews. I wonder how they felt about the book before the common era? Passages such as this one speak to the absolute divinity of Yeshua. When you put these together with the “Word of God” that keeps showing up to comfort Adam and Eve, one can’t help but see the obvious correlation between this book and the gospels.
The next sacrifice offered by Adam and Eve is what we call a grain offering. This offering happened after Adonai showed them how to turn wheat into bread. In fact, the actual quote from chapter 66:9 is: “And God gave Adam’s heart wisdom, to work out the corn until it became bread.” God has the ability to place knowledge directly into our hearts so that we can know how to do something without even knowing how we know. He also did this with Bezalel, whom He gave the knowledge to craft the furnishings of the tabernacle. (See Exodus 31) Adam and Eve harvested the wheat but before they had the chance to do anything more, they sat down to rest and fell asleep. They awoke to find the wheat burning and their water poured out (by the enemy himself) and cried out to Adonai. In His infinite mercy, He not only restored the grain field and their water, but also provided them with a tree with solid manna fruit that they could eat anytime they were hungry. Adam and Eve were so grateful that they took the wheat (corn) and offered it up to Adonai:
Then Adam and Eve took of the corn, and made of it an offering, and took it and offered it up on the mountain, the place where they had offered up their first offering of blood. And they offered this oblation again on the altar they had built at first. And they stood up and prayed, and besought the Lord saying, “Thus, O God, when we were in the garden did our praises go up to Thee, like this offering; and our innocence went up to Thee like incense. But now, O God, accept this offering from us, and turn us not back, reft of Thy mercy.”
Then God said to Adam and Eve, “Since ye have made this oblation and have offered it to Me, I shall make it My flesh, when I come down upon earth to save you; and I shall cause it to be offered continually upon an altar, for forgiveness and for mercy, unto those who partake of it duly.” And God sent a bright fire upon the offering of Adam and Eve, and filled it with brightness, grace, and light; and the Holy Ghost came down upon that oblation.” 1 Adam and Eve 68:10-13
Adonai’s response to their offering indicates to us that He accepts offerings from the ground, so that we can clearly see that Cain’s offering was unacceptable not because of what the offering was (grain), but because of some other reason. Could it be that Cain’s sacrifice was unacceptable because of the hardness of his heart towards God? What insight might this book give us?
Then God commanded angel to take fire-tongs, like a spoon, and with it to take an offering and bring it to Adam and Eve. And the angel did so, as God had commanded him, and offered it to them. And the souls of Adam and Eve were brightened, and their hearts were filled with joy and gladness and with the praises of God.
And God said to Adam, “This shall be unto you a custom, to do so, when affliction and sorrow come upon you. But your deliverance and your entrance into the garden, shall not be until the days are fulfilled, as agreed between you and Me; were it not so, I would, of My mercy and pity for you, bring you back to My garden and to My favor for the sake of the offering you have just made to My name.”
Adam Rejoiced at these words which he heard from God; and he and Eve worshipped before the altar, to which they bowed, and then went back to the Cave of Treasures. 1 Adam and Eve 68:14-17
There are two lessons we need to learn from this encounter with God. First, we need to understand that when we are down and out, hurting because of one reason or another, what we need to do is sacrifice something for Him. When we are hurting, the main problem is this (and we really don’t like to hear this kind of truth): we are often focusing too much on ourselves, which only makes the pain increase. If this behavior goes on too long, we become self-centered and more like Cain than we’d care to admit. Only is turning our focus back to Adonai El Shaddai can we break the cycle that Satan keeps leading us into. Focusing our attention on Him, through the sacrifice of something dear to us, even if it is only the sacrifice of praise, will bring about the second lesson: God sends His blessings down upon us when we willingly offer sacrifices to Him. The angel brought Adam and Eve heavenly fire, from the altar of God in heaven, which brightened their souls and filled their hearts with joy and gladness so that they couldn’t help but sing the praises of their Elohim. This is worship, God’s way.
Adam often would go to the mountain to offer sacrifices to Adonai and Abel would join his father, but not Cain. Cain was hard-hearted but Abel had a meek heart. When Satan saw this, and how Abel loved to sacrifice to Adonai, Satan appeared to him in the figure of a man and said to him, “Thou hast oftentimes moved thy father to make an offering, to fast and to pray, therefore I will kill thee, and make thee perish from this world.” Because Abel’s heart was tender towards God, he prayed to God and drove Satan away from him. Abel didn’t believe Satan’s words so they had no power over him.
But as for Abel, he prayed to God, and drove away Satan from him; and believed not the words of the devil. Then when it was day, and angel of God appeared unto him, who said to him, “Shorten neither fasting, prayer, nor offering up an oblation unto thy God. For, lo, the Lord has accepted thy prayer. Be not afraid of the figure which appeared unto thee in the night, and who cured thee unto death.” And the angel departed from him. 1 Adam and Eve 76:8
Satan could not curse Abel because of his love for Adonai. But what about Cain? How would he react to this stranger who comes during the night to whisper in his ear?
But as to hard-hearted Cain, Satan came to him by night, showed himself and said unto him, “Since Adam and Eve love thy brother Abel much more than they love thee, and wish to join him in marriage to thy beautiful sister, because they love him; but wish to join thee in marriage to his ill-favored sister, because they hate thee; now, therefore, I counsel thee, when they do that, to kill thy brother; then thy sister will be left for thee; and his sister will be cast away.” And Satan departed from him. But the wicked one remained behind in the heart of Cain, who sought many a time, to kill his brother. 1 Adam and Eve 76:10-12
Notice “the wicked one remained behind in the heart of Cain.” Remember earlier I stated that the name Cain has connotations of possession and here we can see that indeed, the enemy has possessed his heart.
There was a difference between Cain’s heart and Abel’s heart that was evident to all around them. This hard-heartedness is a concern to his parents, especially Eve, as we shall soon see. We will also soon see that their father, Adam, instigated the sacrifices that they both made.
“But when Adam saw that the elder brother hated the younger, he endeavored to soften their hearts, and said unto Cain, “Take, O my son, the fruits of thy sowing, and make an offering unto God, that He may forgive thee they wickedness and they sin.” He said also to Abel, “Take thou of thy sowing and make an offering and bring it to God, that He may forgive thy wickedness.” Then Abel hearkened unto his father’s voice, and took of his sowing, and made a good offering, and said to his father, Adam, “Come with me, to show me how to offer it up.” 1 Adam and Eve 77:1-3
Adam could plainly see that his sons were not getting along. Notice that he didn’t single either of them out as being the wrong one, only that their actions display a wickedness that must be dealt with. He understood that their sin was not against each other, nor their parents, but against God alone. David understood this as well when he said, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” (Psalms 51:4) Any evil that takes up residency in our hearts will cause us to sin against our Creator. Adam understood this principal and was hoping that once his sons understood this, they would repent of the evil within and turn to Adonai. Abel, it seems, did not have any evil dwelling within his heart and joyfully accepted his task, asking to be shown how to offer his sacrifice properly so that he may be found pleasing in God’s eyes.