Starting yesterday I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 4-7.

    Today’s passage covers from the birth of Cain to the Flood. I have always struggled with what Cain did wrong in his offering. I think the wording in the New Living Translation makes it clear. Cain presented “some of his crops” to the Lord. On the other hand, Abel brought the “best portions” of the firstborn of his flocks. The difference here was that Abel chose the best parts to offer to God, AND he made that offering from the first-born. Cain on the other hand offered some out of his total harvest. Cain was jealous of the blessings his brother received. Rather than change his behaviors so that he could get similar blessings in the future, Cain killed his brother. This is how sin works in us so often. We commit a lesser sin, one which can be made good with a little effort. Then, rather than admit our mistake and change our behaviors, we commit a greater sin, which cannot be made right no matter what we do.

    The account of the flood begins with the following sentence, “The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.” I am not sure what is meant by the “sons of God” in this sentence. However, the sentence reads to me that when they saw a beautiful woman, they took her as a wife, without her having any say in the matter. Which further suggests that men stopped viewing women as their partners and started viewing them as objects for their own pleasure. Further, the offspring of these unions were men who used violence to get what they wanted from others. As I read this, everyone became obsessed with sexual immorality and greed, using violence to get what they wanted from others. When things got bad enough, God chose the one man who was righteous, Noah, and wiped the slate clean.

    We can look at this passage and see a trajectory which sin takes. First, sin is just between us and God: Cain’s offering was not acceptable to God. Then, it is between us and our “brother”: Cain killed Able. Finally, sin corrupts all of society: everything people thought or imagined was evil. Sin never remains a small, private thing. It spreads and infects everything it touches.