“And He has made from one blood every nation of men …”
(Acts 17:26, NKJV)
We are currently discussing the implications of the covering of the first human beings, which becomes a prototype of all the innocent sacrifices that bring about forgiveness. To understand this in greater depth it is necessary for us to understand the history of the first two sons of Adam and Eve. In this way the history of the blood on the altar will be better understood. Gen 4:1-2 recounts this story – “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”
It is interesting to note that with Cain’s conception it is explicitly stated that Adam knew his wife (thus had sexual intercourse with her), and that she then gave birth to a son. In Abel’s case it is stated in quite a strange way – then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. The Hebrew word for again means, according to Strongs, “to continue to do a thing”. Various Scriptural commentators (such as Matthew Henry and Benny Hinn) conclude from this verse that Cain and Abel were twins. Personally I do not think that one can make any such conclusion, but for a completely different reason. From Acts 17:26 we know that all people were brought forth from Adam and Eve – “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings …” Where would Cain and Abel then have gotten the women they married? The Bible does not provide any explicit answers, but the Jewish rabbis (like Pirke Eliezer) suggest that both Cain and Abel were born with a twin sister, whom they married and had children with. (The law of Moses, which prohibited intercourse with one’s sister, only came into effect much later – Deut 27:22. At this point the gene pool was still largely uncontaminated by inequities.)
Thus if Cain and Abel were not twins it important to understand why the case of their births was explained in such a strange fasion – “Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.” I understand it in a completely different way. The Word teaches us that the entire Old Testament gains an allegorical level of meaning in the New Testament. The Rock that was struck is not a Rock, but Jesus. Thus Jonah, in the belly of the fish, also becomes a prototype of Christ. The Red Sea becomes a metaphor of the baptism of the believer, Egypt and slavery the way in which we are bound to this world, etc etc. Paul clearly states that all these things happened as examples for us (1 Cor 10:11). The prototypical meaning that Cain and Abel carry, is nestled in the fact that they are the first ‘products’ of the fallen original mother and father. Although they were not twins, their birth was clearly an action that spiritually aligned the two. The firstborn is named Cain, which means possession and smith. Eve was so impressed with the fact that she could bring forth a man that she gave him this name/identity. In the “futility of her mind” (Eph 4:17; 2 Cor 11:3) of the now very fleshly primal mother Abel did not count for much, and was named Vanity. What implications would this name have for us, interpreting it in a new dispensation?
- Sela: Come to a prototypical understanding of Cain and Abel.
- Read: Lev 1; Ezra 8; Isa 41 (especially verse 4)
- Memorise: Isa 41:18-20
- For a deeper understanding: Read Benny Hinn’s se book The Blood.
