Online reading of the book God disposes! LXIV. ABEL AND CAIN

Old Testament stories for children. Cain and Abel

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FIRST DEATH

EXILEMENT FROM PARADISE

Due to the slander of Satan himself, people disobeyed God. They violated the commandment and committed a sin.

The moment they did it, they realized that they had changed. That evil has now appeared in them. Do you think this knowledge was good?

No, absolutely not.

Remember, my good friend, in order to gain knowledge, a person must not harm himself or other people. Evil will never teach good. And don’t believe it if they say: you have to try everything in life: both good and bad. It's a lie. Satan's lies. There are things that cannot be done, because they cause damage to a person, his soul, they can even kill the soul. You cannot lie, deceive, steal, hurt others - all this harms, first of all, the one who does it.

So, we know that the cup cannot be dropped, it will break. We know this, but sometimes we really want to see how it shatters into small fragments. And we drop it. The cup is breaking. And no matter how we glue it together, it will never be the same again. Never.

If we break the image of God in ourselves by committing sin, we will no longer be able to return that image in its entirety. Only if God Himself helps us with this. But it will be very difficult for us!

So after sin, people changed. They realized that the seed of evil now lives inside them.

And God knew about it too. And therefore He expelled the first people from the Garden of Eden.

If you have ever been kicked out of class or from a room, you know how hurtful and bitter it is. But you also remember that when you are kicked out, you are more likely to realize that you did something wrong.

God expelled people from paradise so that they would understand the depth of their sin and begin to regret having committed it. So that they repent of their wrongdoing. And also because they could no longer be in heaven. After all, God planted heaven for man as a special place. A place for contemplation and communication between God and man. After sin, man began to hide from God. And the garden where love was supposed to grow suddenly became a garden of deception and betrayal.

And God decided that there is no place for a person who has evil in heaven. Moreover, the Tree of Life grew there. The fruits of which bestowed immortality. If an evil person ate that fruit, he could become immortal, and evil would then have no end.

And God expelled man from paradise and placed in the east near the Garden of Eden a Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned to guard the way to the tree of life.

LIFE OF ADAM AND EVE ON EARTH

The first years after the expulsion were bitter years. People still remembered the happiness of life in paradise. And they knew that they themselves had lost this happiness and would never be able to get it back. In addition to the bitterness of loss, worries and labors fell on their shoulders.

Now people had to take care of themselves, their food, warmth and safety. Adam began to cultivate the soil from which God had once created him. But this land also changed after the sin of people. It was full of weeds and stones. And Adam had to work until he sweated so that the earth would become suitable for seed to grow and feed man.

Nature has also become different. In paradise, man did not know cold, cold, or rain. On the ground, he had to sew clothes for himself and build houses or tents to keep warm and hide from wind, rain or snow.

The relationship between man and animals has also changed. Animals no longer obeyed humans. They stopped seeing him as their master. Moreover, now the man inspired fear in them. For this reason, most animals began to hide from humans in forests, mountains, and steppes. Only a few animals remained with humans. We now call these animals domestic: among them are cows, sheep, horses, cats and dogs.

FIRST CHILDREN

In paradise, Adam treated his wife as a helper, an equal to him. After the sin, God commanded the wife to obey her husband. He placed the husband at the head of the family.

Adam, as head, gave the name to his wife. Adam named her Eve. The name Eve means “Life”, because Eve became the mother of all living.

Eve had a son. And she said: I have acquired a man from the Lord.

So, all children are God's gift to their parents. The Lord gave us to our parents so that they would raise us and bring us to Him. Therefore, we need to obey our parents, trust them, love and care for them.

Eve named her first son Cain. And the second by Abel.

CAIN AND ABEL

The children grew up. Abel became a shepherd of sheep, and Cain a farmer.

On earth, people could no longer communicate with God as easily as Adam did in paradise. Although God continued to care for people and help them, people lost the ability to constantly feel His presence and constantly listen to His voice.

At that time, people had a custom of making sacrifices to God. For the sacrifice, they collected all the best from the new harvest or new offspring and set it on fire. If the smoke from the fire rose high up, it was believed that God accepted this sacrifice, and if the smoke spread along the ground, people believed that God did not like this sacrifice.

And then one day, Abel brought his sacrifice, and Cain his. And the Lord looked upon Abel and his gift. The smoke from Abel's altar rose high into the sky. But God did not look upon Cain and his gift - his altar did not even catch fire.

Cain became very upset and his face fell.

What does “his face fell” mean? He lowered his face in annoyance, hiding his anger and envy.

And this happens to you and me. For example, when we beg something from our mother. We stand at the kiosk, stamp our feet and shout: “I got an A in math today, and I want ice cream!”, and my mother doesn’t seem to hear us and doesn’t buy us anything. That is, she buys our little sister a bun, but not ice cream for us. And we turn away from mom, lower our face and don’t look at her. We're angry. And we don’t talk to mom. Especially with my sister.

This is a very bad condition. Very bad. And we should try not to do this: not beg for anything from our parents - they know better than us what we need, and never be offended or envious.

God saw that Cain had turned away from his brother and even from God Himself. And God asked Cain: “Why are you upset? and why did your face droop? If you do something good, don't you raise your face. And you lowered your face, and there is a bad feeling in your soul. Control yourself, otherwise you may commit a sin!”

Very often, when some bad thought or feeling just arises in us, our guardian angel, our conscience tells us: “Stop!” And we should listen, because in the beginning it is very easy to cope with bad feelings. You just need to turn to God for help, raise your face to Him! If we don't do this right away, it will be much more difficult to deal with the evil in ourselves.

This is how Cain could have obeyed God, but he did not listen to Him. And the evil feeling of anger and envy became stronger and stronger in him. Finally, it became so strong that Cain’s face completely darkened and his mind became darkened. And when the brothers were together in the field, Cain rebelled against Abel and killed him.

Brother killed his brother. This is how the first person on earth lost his life.

CAIN'S PUNISHMENT

And the Lord said to Cain: Where is Abel your brother?

God, of course, knew what Cain had done, but He wanted Cain to understand his guilt and repent himself.

But Cain answered: I do not know; Am I my brother's keeper?

And God saw that there was no regret in Cain, but only anger and hatred.

And God said: What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the earth!

Do you hear, God said: “the earth is screaming and crying because the blood of man has been spilled on it!” After all, God created man from the earth, and now the first blood has been shed back into the earth. And the earth shook and cried.

Do you remember, Cain was a farmer - he lived by cultivating the land and collecting fruits from it: vegetables and fruits. Now the earth refused to feed Cain.

God said: From now on you will be an exile and a wanderer on earth.

And so it happened.

Cain began to wander the earth, finding peace nowhere. The earth, nature, animals, people - everything inspired him with fear. Having become a murderer himself, he was afraid that someone would kill him too. And God made sure that no one dared to kill Cain. However, fear did not leave the killer. Because his conscience was unclean.

Cain and his children were the first to build fences to isolate themselves from the natural world. The fences became higher and higher, and the houses became stronger and more inaccessible. This is how cities appeared.

To be continued….

Book of Genesis. (Torah. Pentateuch of Moses)

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CHAPTER 4

1 Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 And she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and Cain was a farmer. 3 After a while, Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruits of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought from the firstlings of his flock and from their fat. And the Lord looked upon Abel and his gift, 5 but did not look upon Cain and his gift. Cain became very upset and his face fell. 6 And the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you upset?” and why did your face droop? 7 If you do good, don’t you lift up your face? and if you do not do good, then sin lies at the door; he attracts you to himself, but you dominate him. 8 And Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said: I don’t know; Am I my brother's keeper? 10 And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the earth; 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive the blood of thy brother at thy hand; 12 When you till the land, it will no longer yield its strength for you; you will be an exile and a wanderer on earth. 13 And Cain said to the Lord: My punishment is more than can be endured; 14 Behold, now You are driving me from the face of the earth, and I will hide from Your presence, and I will be an exile and a wanderer on the earth; and whoever meets me will kill me. 15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain will have sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord made a sign for Cain, so that no one who met him would kill him. 16 And Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city; and he named the city after the name of his son: Enoch. 18 Enoch was born Irad; Irad gave birth to Mechiael; Mechiael gave birth to Methuselah; Methuselah gave birth to Lamech. 19 And Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was the father of those who lived in tents with their flocks. 21 His brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all those who played the harp and pipe. 22 Zillah also gave birth to Tubalcain, who was a forger of all tools of copper and iron. And Tubalcain's sister Noema. 23 And Lamech said to his wives: Ada and Zillah! listen to my voice; the wives of Lamech! listen to my words: I killed a man for my wound and a boy for my wound; 24 If Cain be avenged seven times, Lamech seventy times seven. 25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son, and called his name Seth, because, she said

, God gave me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. 26 Seth also had a son, and he called his name Enosh; then they began to call on the name of the Lord.

Brother or sister as a gift

When a family already has a child, it is customary to say that the parents gave the new baby as a gift. A sense of ownership is a powerful incentive for the birth of love. But let the elder exercise his “property rights.” Consult with him on what hat to wear for his brother for a walk, what hair clip to buy for his sister, let him spoon-feed the baby, change his clothes. And what pride the elder feels when he chooses a name for the newborn! Give your youngest the opportunity to be proud of a brother or sister who can get a toy from the table or a ball from under the bed, read a fairy tale, swing on a swing, protect. MODEL SITUATIONS IN WHICH CHILDREN ARE ABLE TO COMPLETE EACH OTHER and show related care. Some childhood grievances that arise between siblings do not go away over the years. But almost always this is an offense against the parents, and not against the brother or sister. When children grow up in a family, it is very important that the obvious merits of one of them do not overshadow in your eyes the good that is in the other. Claims or inattention on the part of parents can sometimes drown out the voice of blood in children. After all, Cain was initially offended by his heavenly father.

Don't feed this beast

They will always find a reason for a quarrel, but your task is not to provide food for constant hostility between children.

Never compare children

Let's say you have two daughters, 14 and 10 years old. The older one is almost an excellent student, the younger one is a poor student, the older one is neat, the younger one is a slob, the older one helps you with everything, the younger one tries to sneak out of the house just to do nothing. According to three parameters - academic performance, accuracy, hard work - the younger one cannot stand comparison with the older one. Knowing this in advance, you nevertheless constantly compare them. For what? To humiliate the younger one? Lord, of course not, you answer, I PUT HER AS AN EXAMPLE with my sister, so that she strives to become the same - for her own good. I wish the best for my girl. Then stop poking her eyes with her shortcomings. Naturally, this does not mean that you should let your daughter not study and go unkempt. Overcome her bad traits with her for her own sake, and not so that she becomes like an exemplary sister. After all, by saying this, you ADMIT THAT YOUR SISTER IS BETTER THAN HER.

Divide equally

You have two sons, both need new jackets. There is no way to buy two at once. If you know that this issue cannot be resolved amicably, silently save (borrow) money and buy two. If the rivalry between children is not so obvious, discuss the purchase issue at a family council, but do not decide for yourself. When children are of different sexes, you should not explain the difference in your material care for them with this fact. The argument “she needs it more because she’s a girl” will not make your son treat his sister better, and he may retain his resentment against you for the rest of his life. Calculate how much money you spend on each of your children so as not to inadvertently deprive one of them. You may not suspect that the “deprived” person has already calculated everything and is harboring a grudge not only against you, but also against your brother (sister). He concluded: he is loved less.

Give what you deserve

Nothing hurts more than injustice. Let's say one of your children suddenly turns around during breakfast and hits the other. Do not rush to drag him out from the table and drag him into a corner, and caress and calm the crying victim. First, ask the fighter a simple question: “What happened?” Perhaps the “victim” secretly kicked him under the table and hit him on the bone, causing severe pain, so he could not resist. Just think: what if you unfairly punish the less cunning of the children every time? This is how you create pain in his heart and “unreasonable” anger towards his brother or sister.