Mother’s Helper / Daddy’s Helper
CAIN AND ABEL
Remember in our last story, Adam and Eve did something very bad. They ate of the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. This was bad because God said not to eat of that tree. After Adam and Eve ate of it, God made them leave the Garden of Eden. He placed an angel with a flaming sword to guard the place of the Tree of Life. God did not want them to eat of the tree and live forever in their sin.
Adam and Eve had a little baby boy, and named him Cain. Later Eve had another boy and named him Abel. Cain was a farmer. He planted seeds, took care of them, and gathered their fruits. Abel cared for sheep. He was an animal farmer.
Cain and Abel planned to give an offering to God. Cain gave the fruits of the ground. Abel gave the best of his flocks of sheep. Both boys made an offering to God, but God rejected Cain’s offering and accepted Abel’s sheep offering. Why? In Hebrews the 11th chapter, we are told that Abel offered by faith. To do anything “by faith” means that we obey what God has ordered or spoken on that subject. Anyone doing things for God should be sure he is doing what God has told him in the way God has told him.
When Cain saw that God rejected his offering and accepted Abel’s, he was very angry. God warned Cain that sin lay at his door, and God urged him to overcome it.
Cain did not listen to God. While he and Abel were working in the field, Cain killed Abel. Later God asked Cain, “Where is thy brother, Abel?” Cain said he did not know. But Cain did know because he had buried Abel. Cain claimed he was not his brother’s keeper. He said what Abel did, or where he was, was not important to him. God did not accept that. He told Cain He knew all about what had happened to Abel.
God made Cain a hunted man, and told him that every man's hand would be against him. Then Cain began to complain that he was being punished too much and that somebody would kill him. When people do bad things and are punished, they think they are being hurt too much. They should stop to think about how they have hurt others.
God placed a “mark” on Cain so that everybody would recognize him. He was not to be killed, for if anyone killed Cain, he too would be punished.
One of the saddest things about this story is the end. “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord” What a sad thing to go away from God. God is the best helper any boy or girl can have, and He is the best helper any man or woman can have. We should never want to leave God!
Questions
1 After they sinned, were Adam and Eve allowed to eat of the “Tree of Life”?
2. How did God guard the Tree of Life?
3. Name Adam’s and Eve’s first son:
4. What did he do for a living?
5. What was the second boy’s name?
6. What did he do for a living?
7. What did Cain and Abel bring to God?
8. Which was accepted by God?
9. What did Cain do to Abel?
10. What was the sad ending to this story?
