Gen 15: Early Days of Exile
Book of Genesis #15
Adam and Eve have been sent away from the Garden.
The Cherubim and the Sword guard the gates so that they can never come back.
Chapter 4 is the unfolding of the human drama as a consequence of original sin. It is also the demonstration that original sin affects us all and that nothing can take it away except the Lord Jesus.
In this lecture, we begin our study of this very important and rich chapter with a contemplative view. We walk slowly through its pages and observe Cain and Abel offer sacrifice, the murder of Abel by Cain, and the development of the Cainite civilization. We see the birth of Seth and his son Enosh.
Consider what this must have meant for Adam and Eve. Consider them hopeless to stop their older son from murdering his brother. We hear the voice of Eve for the last time in Scripture while once more the silence of Adam is deafening.
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ extends to the whole of Earth and this means that every family falls under the same covenant established with Adam and Eve with its accompanying blessing: Be fruitful and multiply and its curse: curse be the ground ... You are dust and to dust you shall return.
What is the effect of contraception on the family?
Is Respect due to the father a right or a privilege?
Could it be that the breakdown in the family that we witness today is modeled after the breakdown of Adam's family as seen in this chapter?
