The first eleven chapters of Genesis are literary devises intended to deliver us a message about God and our human condition. They are not history for the voice of God is first heard by Abram in chapter twelve and the words of chapter four are most certainly not the words of Moses. Chapter four is a fictional look back to the first children of Adam and Eve, Cain being the eldest and then Abel. No one was there to document these events so we must look elsewhere for their origin and these twenty six words are the key.
The question we should want to ask of chapter four is who told this story about a God conversation with Cain and Able? Who tells Cain that a gift from the bounty of the field is not acceptable in the sight of God? Who tells Abel that his gift of a portion of a kill from his flock, this blood gift was acceptable in the sight of God? If one takes the words of the text at face value, God is doing the messaging to Cain and Abel but remember this is a story. The self interest of the storyteller, who links the voice of God with a justification for a particular religious practice, must be considered when assigning meaning to this passage.
If we accept that God is doing the talking to Cain and Abel, we must believe that God expresses himself and his character to all men through a particular religious organization. If the story was told by religious men in order to cement their power and extend control over believers, religion then becomes the enemy of God and lessens the character of God by binding him to human definitions. Which is it? Is chapter four a religious statement or are these the words of God himself?
The decision is for the reader to make but let me argue for a religious understanding of Genesis chapter four. The religious crowd at least a 1000 years after Abram, gave us this story about the supposed voice of God.
1. The text itself is the best evidence. If this chapter were only a morality play about the evil of murdering your brother, why is a religious motive assigned to this crime? The authors of this story were expecting that the telling would guarantee them a place of authority in Judaism by confirming the priestly practice of a blood sacrifice as central to the faith. God, however, wanted this story in the Bible to sound a warning, a warning that among men, religion kills.
2. Why has the Bible been preserved over thousands of years, through all manner of calamities and adversaries? Is the purpose of Scripture to engage men with God or engage us with religion? From the story of Cain and Abel given to us by the religious crowd we could assume that the job of the religious crowd is to engage God and our only job is to accept their religious cues. How does that sit with you?
3. Religion not only kills but it begins with dividing and marginalizing some people within our created order. Those of us who conform to the demands of the religious crowd are deemed to be “acceptable” in the eyes of God. This amounts to little more than a social religious cast system. The anger and downcast spirit that welled up into the life of Cain is to be expected of any of us who are so burdened by the religious crowd. The lack of empathy by the God character in the story is apparent as God says to Cain that these feelings are sin crouching at your door, you must control them. Religion always plays the blame game.
4. The entire Bible is either a witness to the voice of God or an orchestrated avoidance of the voice of God in the form of a man made religion. The voice of God in the biblical record is surrounded by facts, people and places that are verifiable in secular history. The voice of God as given through religion is surrounded by human intrigue, drama, politics and killing in the name of God. The voice of God is heard in the midst of dire human circumstance and the voice brings rescue or reform or both. The voice of God as given to us from religion is surrounded by political-social power and money grabbing to the extent that it kills body, mind and spirit. All religions are enemies to the voice, some being a lesser evil than others but there is no religion that pleases God.
The only plausible answer to this argument is that the voice of God in Chapter four was only a useful religious trick. The actual voice of God actually spoke to Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The voice remained silent during the four hundred year captivity in Egypt and then spoke to Moses. Upon reaching Mount Sinai, the people being lead by the voice were chained again by religious bondage lead by Moses who killed thousands of his people because they were having a party. (See: ggoslaw.blogspot.com:August 28, 2010; Holy Moses Wash)
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
