I am not the first to point out here that the Bible appears to
capture the memory of our transition from paleolithic to neolithic.
It's been discussed on this list in the past. Well, many of you
remember the story in Genesis of Cain and Abel, where in the first
murder Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy that God rejected
Cain's offering of grains for Abel's offering of meat:
"Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the
course of time Cain brought to the Lord and offering of the fruit of
the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of
their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his
offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard." (Genesis
4:1-7)
Fast forward: Cain kills Abel, Cain gets cursed, God replaces Abel
with Seth. The Bible then says that "...men began to multiply on the
face of the ground...." and also speaks of "...mighty men that were
of old, the men of renown" (the "giants of old.")
This morning, I came across the following commentary by a man named
Ephrem the Syrian on the Giants of Old:
"The house of Cain, because the earth had been cursed so as not to
give them its strength, produced small harvests, deprived of its
strength, just as it is today that some seeds, fruits and grasses
give strength and some do not. Because at that time [the descendants
of Cain the farmer] were cursed and sons of the cursed and were
dwelling in the land of curses, they would gather and eat produce
that lacked nutrition, and those who ate these were without strength
just like the food that they ate. As for the Sethites [descendants
of Abel], on the other hand, because they were dwelling in the land
along the boundary of the fence of paradise, their produce was
abundant and full of strength. So too were the bodies of those who
ate that produce strong and powerful."
Commentary on Genesis 6.5.1
Jim Swayze
www.fireholecanyon.com
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