Moses, the main character in the book of Exodus, appeared in the midst of that nation in an image similar to that of light in the midst of the powers of Egypt. He was chosen by God in order to carry out the work of separating out the Israelites who were living amongst the Egyptians in Egypt. Just as God had said, “Let there be light,” when the earth was without form and void, He now planted this man in the midst of the ruling powers of Egypt who were tormenting the Israelites with forced hard labor.
Yet, if you look carefully at the history of Israel, you can see that incidents of separation have occurred frequently within that history as it has unfolded. The Israelites came out of Egypt, and later, under the leadership of Joshua, they conquered the promised land. After that, the time of the judges began. A parade of judges adorn the pages of the history of Israel covering a long period of time, and then the Israelites adopted Saul as their king. But Saul failed, and then David rose up. As a shadow of the antichrist, King Saul appears as a person acknowledged by man—by the Israelites—while David, as a shadow of Jesus Christ, appears in the image of a man chosen and anointed by God. Also, there were many prophets within the history of Israel, but as they confronted the Israelites, the people became divided into those who carried out God’s will and those who opposed it.
In the midst of these chaotic events, the Israelites went through some great difficulties. Their country was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire, and the Jews were taken as captives to Babylon. At that time, the temple—which was at the center of the thoughts of the Israelites, indeed at the center of their entire lives—was destroyed. This was the temple in Jerusalem which the Israelites had continued to protect and hold dear, and later, Jews returned to their land and rebuilt the temple.
For about four hundred years after the time of the prophet Malachi—the last of the prophets to appear in the Old Testament—the word of God was not given to the Israelites. We can see this period as being like the time when the earth was without form and void. During that time, human powers intervened bringing about great confusion in regard to the position of the priests who were entrusted with the task of taking care of the temple and carrying out the work that had to be done in the temple. During that time, the Israelites were under the control of the foreign powers of Greece and Rome, and as a result, the priests themselves came to conspire with the political powers and even bought and sold the right to be a priest. Even the temple itself—the place where God dwelt for His chosen people, the Israelites—gradually changed to present a more human image.
It was in the midst of this chaotic situation that John the Baptist appeared. As the last of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist rose up to bear witness of the Messiah who was to come. Also, on the first page of the New Testament it says that Jesus came to this land. Just as Moses appeared in Old Testament times as a kind of light to the Israelites as they were living through times of suffering and hardship in the land of Egypt, Jesus appeared to the Israelites when they were being trampled by the Roman Empire. A Person had come amongst the Israelites who would clash head-on with the entire nation and the sacrifices they carried out in that land.
Jesus had pointed out precisely and sharply the faults of the Israelites, and in the end, they had Him put to death. This incident made a clear distinction between the Israelites and the Messiah. Similarly, at the time of the beginning of the Church in this world, the Jews who bore witness of Jesus in the early Church were also clearly distinguished from the Jews who were against them.
In order to understand Genesis chapter 4, it is necessary to have a precise knowledge of historical events such as these. Within the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4, we can see that a distinction is made between man’s righteousness and God’s righteousness.
Nevertheless, since we tend to think of everything with the focus on ourselves, when it comes to this passage in the Bible, again we generally make no effort to understand it any further than how it applies to us personally. If, however, you read this account of Cain and Abel carefully, having first thought about the general flow of the Bible as a whole, you can see that the nation of Israel and Jesus appear clearly here.
In the image of Israelites is revealed an image of the Cain, who became jealous and killed their brother because He hurt their pride in ignoring the efforts they made out of their own zeal. Then, in the image of Jesus Christ is revealed an image of Abel who was killed by His brethren as He offered up the sacrifice that was pleasing in God’s eyes. Also, in Seth—who was born in the likeness of Adam and in the place of Abel who had died—we have an image of the resurrected Jesus Christ. When we look at this from the historical point of view, the image of Abel can be seen as an image of the Church that arose in the midst of extensive persecution from the Jews as the believers testified of Jesus Christ.
References to two brothers appear often in the book of Genesis. There are Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, and then there are Joseph and his eleven brothers. Through these relationships between brothers, the Bible explains to us clearly the righteousness of God and the righteousness of man.
The Lord Respected Abel and His Offering
Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 4 and read from verse 1.
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. verses 1-2
Eve giving birth to Abel after she had given birth to Cain is similar to Jesus being born within the nation of Israel after the history of that nation had begun.
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Genesis 4:3
Cain was a farmer, and he brought some of the produce of the land and offered it to God. Just as his parents had made themselves coverings of fig leaves as soon as they had sinned, Cain also offered to God something he had produced with his own hands. This marked the beginning of religion in the history of mankind, religion by means of which man attempts to find God, or some god. Yet, the Bible tells us that even before this, God had come in search of man (see Genesis 3:8-9).
Ab
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