CHAPTER FOUR
SOWING THE SEED
Adam, as we have seen was not an individual but was a unique society separated by his religion and spiritual wife (Eve). They had children; Cain and Abel. Of course these are not real people either so just what are they? In order to answer this we once again turn to Christianity. Jesus created Christianity but it was some 300 years before the Church was ratified at the council of Nicea. After a time Christianity begat Catholic, then Lutheran, then Anglican, then Protestant then Methodist and so forth all these denominations and many more are all children of the one Mother; Christianity! Every offshoot of the religion is viewed as offspring. Each has a name and each a particular curriculum which differs from the parent. Cain and Abel are just such offspring. The Bible tells us all we need to know in order to resolve their mystery. For example their name meanings are freely given to us, in fact the Bible always tells us the name meaning of important people especially if the name meaning is crucial to understanding the meaning of their story as are Cain and Abel.
Abel (Abel means 'vanity') he was a keeper of sheep. A keeper of sheep is called a shepherd. Ever since Jesus called himself the 'good shepherd', pastors have likewise been referring to themselves as shepherds and their flock as being the congregation.
Joh:10:14: I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
So from this insight we learn that Abel (vanity) was not a man but was a doctrine (a congregation) born from the Mother religion Eve (Foundation of Life). If this is so then what is Cain?
The text says that Cain (Cain means ‘Possessions’) was a tiller of the ground. Remembering that the ground is God's field (the population) we can assume that a ‘tiller’ of mankind must be some form of worldly business based doctrine or theory. This would tie in nicely with his name meaning “possessions” a business could have worldly possessions.
Both Cain (Possessions) and Abel (Vanity) are doctrines because they were both born from the mother religion, Eve. They were called sons because Eve knew the dark truth that there are no such things as gods. Cain (Possessions) is even worldlier than Abel (Vanity) because he was a 'Tiller of the ground-population'. God is Truth and a worldly doctrine born of atheistic truth can be likened to a scientific attitude (the theory of evolution would be a good example of this belief). Seeking knowledge is good but people also need to appreciate their spirituality, consciousness and moral obligations. Science has no morals and promotes atheism which denies a person’s right to spiritual comforting. Religion gives us morals as well as a comforter.
So we have this scenario.
Ge:4:1: And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
Ge:4:2: And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Ge:4:3: And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Ge:4:4: And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
Ge:4:5: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Ge:4:6: And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Ge:4:7: If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Ge:4:8: And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Abel (Vanity) - a keeper of sheep - the shepherd and his flock offered a sacrifice to the Lord and is blessed because of it. The Bible tells us that this sacrifice is the 'firstlings of the flock'. Does this mean the church sacrifices children? Not really. The sacrifice that a zealous following make, even today, is the sacrifice of reason. In order to bolster their faith they make it immovable in their head. This process often makes it necessary to have fixed ideas about certain things so typical in fundamentalist doctrines and dogma. The believer becomes unwilling to question his doctrine for fear of blasphemy. Such a doctrine creates and sustains a wealthy income for the religion proposing it through tithing a populous held captive in the fear of being damned eternally. Naturally, Abel's offering is blessed by God because he has a devoted congregation totally dedicated to the belief.
By contrast the Lord showed no favour to Cain's (Possessions) offering of the “Fruit of the Ground-population” which is the product of the people their atheistic reasoning, questioning and doubting. How could the Lord bless an atheist attitude? Just as the attitude does not acknowledge God, the Lord does not acknowledge the attitude. There can be no blessings from the Lord e.g. the comfort of the shroud which belief induces. Perhaps Cain also indicates a certain self-indulgence and decadence typical of materialistic attitudes.
In today’s terms, Cain (evolution theory) and Abel (creation theory) are still with us, struggling one against the other to win favour over the minds of the population. Cain slew Abel; how? The Bible said they talked! Cain slew Abel with words.
Ge:4:8: And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
It is easy to imagine this happening when one realises that the larger part of the population is agnostic, not unlike Cain. It seems that Abel just became very much outnumbered. He became a minority group whose blood (spiritual life or energy) calls out from the dust of the ground (mankind), just as it does today.
It is also interesting to note that the Lord replaced Abel with Seth (whose name means Substitute).
Ge:4:25: And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Now here is an interesting fact that reinforces the view that Cain and Abel were doctrines. Seth also was a doctrine. Seth was one of the major religions of Upper Egypt dating back as far as the fourth century B.C. and it is thought by many scholars that the Egyptian Seth is the same Seth represented in the Bible. So we see that Seth also represented a religion as did Abel. In fact Seth is one of Egypt’s founder gods who battled Osiris. In the second century BC we know of the Sethites who claimed perfection as being the Son of Adam.
By this time of course religious delusion had taken hold of the world in a big way and many splinter groups developed, not to mention the great civilisations such as the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Minoans and many others all with their own version of gods.
So we learn that name meanings are as important as metaphor and imagery in order to understand biblical texts. This is how the spirit leads us on in our investigations. This way of ‘hiding meaning’ is called the spirit of prophecy.
Re:19:10: And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ and the metaphor, numerology, imagery and name meanings are His insights.