ALIVE: Chapter Three - On the Road

Scarfing down strawberries, Cain thought seriously about the angel’s advice.  

He was a torn man, at the same time the first-born human being, son of the original humans sculpted by God in His image, and an impulsive killer. Adam and Eve had been born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God. It would take millennia before anyone could claim that again, not until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and not until after their baptisms.

Like his parents, Cain met God, but he lied to Him; when asked where Abel was, Cain answered, "I don’t know, am I my brother's keeper?" Cain appeared to be self-centered and sassy. Of course, it was a trick question, since God knew where Abel was.

Musing over his conversation with God, Cain rmembered, “He told me that I would be accepted like Abel if I did well. But if I didn't do well, He warned me that an enemy wants to destroy me! Am I my own enemy, or is there another that speaks to me in my own mind? God said that I would have to master ‘him’. Who is he?”

Cain didn't understand what God meant by doing well or what mastering meant. Instead, he followed his impulse to lead his brother to the field where he stabbed him. Did Cain think that by eliminating his competitor, he would win God's favor by default? Did the serpent make him do this too? Did Adam and Eve eating that piece of fruit make Cain a killer?

Cain's response is not surprising. He wanted to eliminate the victor before the next competition. What is surprising is that although Cain wanted to run away but was afraid of being killed- as he felt he deserved, God blessed him with a mark to protect him from any murderers that he may encounter, showing His tolerance and love. Even though Cain killed, God did not want Cain to be killed. Cain left his precious garden and went to a world populated by ‘children of men.’

Cain thought and walked his way to the land of Nod. Once there, a man approached him who looked human, except the man was very hairy and stern; Cain was scared. God was silent.

Cain and the man communicated with facial expressions, dancing hands, and sounds. Translated here is what they said to each other.

"Who are you? And where did you come from?"

"I am a wanderer, but I want to stay here. My family is from Eden. I met a man from Nod many moons ago. He told me about this village. I have come to look for him. I grow food. I had to leave my farm because I want fresh rich soil. May I live among you?"

Cain said nothing about his crime, or about God. The man said nothing about God because he didn't know that God existed. The man from Nod was hairy, Cain was smooth skinned. Cain was a tall muscular man with shiny white teeth straight as piano keys, smooth olive colored skin, and with green eyes and glistening light brown hair. Cain was glad the man didn't say anything about God. His fear gradually melted as his confidence grew with the thought that he might be accepted for his farming skills.

Three other hairy men came on the scene. When they saw the stranger, they wondered if they should kill him.

"What is that animal?" said one of the three to the others.

"I know him! I met him near Eden. He told me that he is called a human."

Recognizing that being, Cain shouted out. "Hello there, remember me? I have come to live among you. Give me land and I will give you food. I have seeds." No reply.

The tallest of the men of Nod was not as tall as Cain. The man Cain had been speaking with walked over to his friends leaving Cain alone to wonder if he should run or stay. He was too physically and mentally exhausted to run.

The four men argued loudly. Cain did not understand what they were saying to each other. He wondered if he should slip away and find another place to settle, but besides being tired the soil looked rich and fertile, so he waited. He wondered whether the ground's curse on him for receiving his brother's blood stretched this far.

The four natives quieted down and walked over to Cain.

In their language the one most familiar to Cain spoke. He said, "You take my sister as wife, and you may have land."

Cain replied. "Take me to your sister so that I may see her."

The troop walked in procession to the center of the village where the women were cooking the day's meal together. The women were as hairy as the men. They all had dark brown eyes and wavy long black hair.

The brother shouted, "Farley, come."

With her head bowed demurely she obediently walked over to her brother and the weird hairless man.

"You will take this man as your husband. Come, I will show you the land you may settle in."

For centuries readers of Moses' creation story have wondered where the other people came from who lived in Nod when Adam and Eve were the only humans mentioned. Anthropologists have contemplated the evolution of humankind from Neanderthal. Perhaps, not all homo sapiens were formed in the image and likeness of God as were Adam and Eve.

But when Cain, a child of God married a daughter of man, his children and grandchildren, became human, gradually the brilliance of the human mind made in the image of God, and the sensitivity of the human heart dominated growing stronger with each generation. For the most part, the hairy body disappeared. Being alive gradually started to mean being sensitive and aware of the divine and most complex design of life. Godliness was a dominant gene.