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