Some Teachings of this Story.  Back of this story are many truths worthy of most careful study.  They constitute the basal facts of all history and religion.  The following are put down as among the most vital:  (1) Back of all nature is a personal Creator and Ruler who has the tenderest solicitude and care for man, as the highest product of his creation. (2) There was an orderly progress in creation from the more simple and less important to the most complex and most important. (3) All things were made for man and his comfort. (4) Marriage is a sacred obligation growing out of the very character of man and woman who were made for each other and each can, therefore, meet the deepest needs of the other. (5) Sin does not originate in God but in man’s yielding to his baser instead of his nobler and diviner motives. (6) Sin as a cause brings its own punishment, the worst of which is the separation of the individual from harmonious relations with God, which is spiritual death.

For Study and Discussion. (1) The condition of the material universe when God began to prepare it for man’s abode. (2) The six creative days or periods and what was created in each. (3) The special emphasis upon the presence and activity of God in the creation of man and woman. (4) The divine interest in and preparation for the happiness of man. (5) The home prepared for them. (6) The lessons about marriage, its purpose, basis, etc. (7) The law and place of testing in the formation of character. (8) The ills of life that are the results of some one’s sin. (9) The nature and results of the curse upon the man, upon the woman, upon the tempter. (10) God’s care for man after the Fall and the provisions for his recovery. (11) The revelation of God made by these three chapters. (12) The image of God in man.

Chapter II.

From the Fall to the Flood.

Gen. Chs. 4-8.

Cain and Abel.  These two, who are apparently the oldest children of the first pair, were no doubt born soon after the expulsion from the garden.  One tilled the soil and the other was a shepherd.  They each appear to have been attentive to worship.  Their offerings, however, were very different and no doubt revealed a difference of spirit.  The superiority of Abel’s offering was in the faith in which it was made (Heb. 11:4), meaning perhaps that he relied upon the promise of God and that he apprehended the truth that without shedding of blood there is no remission. (Heb. 12:24).

Because God granted to Abel a token of acceptance of his offering and failed to grant a like token to Cain, the latter became jealous and finally slew his brother.  Thus early did Adam and Eve begin to reap the effects of sin.  The record, in kindness to them, makes no mention of the great sorrow that must have come to them as they saw their second son murdered by their first-born.  These two sons represent two types running through all the Bible and indeed through all history-the unchecked power of evil and the triumph of faith.  They represent two types of religion, one of faith and the other of works.  Then as in all succeeding ages the true worshipers were persecuted by false worshipers.