Chapter 3 Video Sample -"Cain and Abel"
Welcome to our fifth prerelease of iBIBLE. Previously, we have shown you “The Great Flood (Parts 1 and 2),” “The Fall,” and “The Tower of Babel.” Today, we present Chapter 3: “Cain and Abel.” In this story, we see the events leading up to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, and the events that followed.
After Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, depicted in Chapter 2, they no longer lived in the garden of Eden. Though we don’t know how much time had passed since they were driven out of Eden, we know that they had two sons: Cain and Abel. These sons grew up and began working; Cain labored as a “worker of the ground,” and Abel as a “keeper of sheep.”
Over the course of time, Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought an offering of his firstborn sheep. The Scripture then reveals that God accepted Abel and his offering, but He did not accept Cain or his offering.
As the event transpired, we learn that Cain was filled with anger. God spoke to Cain and gave an important definition of sin:
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. —Gen. 4:7 [ESV]
SIDENOTE: God’s Words reveal a poignant truth about sin and its desire to control us. Anyone who thinks these stories are irrelevant or out-of-date need only to watch the nightly news! Sin continues to control this world—perhaps worse than ever before. But through Jesus Christ, we have the power to rule over temptations brought about by sin!
However, Cain failed to control his anger and rose up against his brother and killed him. A single generation had not even passed in the history of mankind, and we already have seen the first murder!
God punished Cain, but even in Cain’s guilt, God showed mercy. God set a mark on him so that no one would kill him for what he did. Scripture does not reveal exactly what the mark is, or what it looked like, but the mark was placed “lest anyone who found him should attack him,” suggesting a visible mark of some kind (Gen. 4:15b).
Following the account of Abel’s murder, we learn that Cain built a city, and his descendants became both workers of bronze and iron, and musicians. Jewish tradition teaches that Cain’s offspring made the first weapons of combat.
This chapter ends with the unusual story of a man named Lamech, another descendent of Cain, who had two wives, and seemingly boasted that he had killed a man. He then proclaimed that God would protect him like He had Cain. To read more about this unusual story, see the iBIBLE Behind the Scenes: “Seventy Times Seven.”
We also learn in this chapter that God blessed Adam and Eve with another son named Seth whose descendants led to Jesus! Even though Cain’s life was spared, God chose another offspring to bring about his only begotten Son. As the descendants of Cain are destroyed in the great flood after mankind turned their backs on God, God saved humanity through the line of Seth.
Watch iBIBLE Chapter 3: “Cain and Abel” now and thank you for helping us bring God’s Word—the entire story—to life!
