The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Cain vs. Abel

Jamieson, Fawcett & Brown translate Gen 3:24 as, 'And He [God] dwelt at the east of the garden of Eden between the Cherubim, as a Shekinah (a fire tongue or fire sword] to keep open the way to the tree of life.'

I am not sufficiently familiar with Hebrew to know if that is a good translation or not, but if it is, then it appears that after the Expulsion from the garden, God established a mercy seat so that Adam and Eve, and later Cain and Abel, could come and worship Him. In that case, the NKJV marginal reading of Gen 4:3 is interesting. 'At the end of days it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.' Is that a reference to the Sabbath day? Anyhow, Cain's offering was unacceptable because the Mercy Seat could not be approached without a blood sacrifice (Heb 9:7 ).

Here's a transcription of a sermon on Cain and Abel which touches on this subject:-

http://spurgeonunderground.blogspot.com/2006/02/prophet-abel.html

Steve