Grace and Devotion
Introduction: The grace of God was evident even after Adam and Eve had fallen to the temptation by the serpent. After Cain killed his younger brother Abel out of jealousy about Abel’s sacrifice, Eve gave birth to Seth. When Seth became father to his first son Enosh, men began to call on Yahweh’s name. God’s grace was always present, and devotion was seen in different ways of praise, prayer, or sacrifice: but evil became great among men and Yahweh brought judgment. Yahweh saved only eight people alive when he covered the whole earth with water. When Noah emerged from the ark, he gave sacrifices as he had been directed by Yahweh.
NOTE: Scripture passages are from the World English Bible.
A — Yahweh Provided Animal Skins to Clothe Adam and Eve
Genesis 3 “21 Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them. 22 Yahweh God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever… 23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.”
Comments: When Adam and Eve believed the serpent and disobeyed the command of Yahweh, they made coverings from fig leaves when they realized they were naked. Then they tried to hide from Yahweh when they heard him in the Garden. Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them: which can be seen as an element of provision by mercy that surpassed their own efforts. Perhaps it symbolically foreshadowed the future blood sacrifice that offers grace from God, which is the only sufficient atonement to provide the gift of sinless eternal life. Yahweh drove them out of the Garden of Eden — also an act of mercy to protect them from eating of the tree of life and living forever in their fallen state. There is no record of any sacrifices offered by Adam and Eve.
B — The First Recorded Sacrifices Were Made by Cain and Abel
Genesis 4 “3 As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, 5 but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. 6 Yahweh said to Cain, Why are you angry? 7 If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door.”
Comments: Cain offered from the produce of his work as a farmer, and Abel offered from his flock as a shepherd. Yahweh accepted the offering from Abel, but rejected the offering from Cain. Yahweh asked Cain why he was angry since his mood could be lifted if he did the right thing. But if Cain did not do that, sin was waiting with a desire for him. Instead of making the right choice, Cain murdered his brother Abel in jealousy. When Yahweh asked Cain where Abel was, Cain foolishly responded as if he thought God did not know all things. Yahweh pronounced a curse on Cain, yet also appointed an undefined sign for Cain to deter attacks by others, and said that vengeance would be taken sevenfold on anyone who kills Cain — judgment tempered with a degree of grace for a murderer who had been given advance warning by God.
C — Men Began to Call on Yahweh’s Name
Genesis 4 “25 Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for God has appointed me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. 26 There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on Yahweh’s name.”
Genesis 5 “22 Enoch walked with God after he became the father of Methuselah three hundred years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”
Comments: Eve said Yahweh had appointed another son to her because Cain had killed Abel — a quiet manner of praise by her to the Creator God. The text tells of the birth of a son to Seth, who was named Enosh, and then men began to call upon the name of Yahweh. Enoch has a standout place in the line to Noah. The phrase “walked with God” is used for Enoch for the last 300 years that he lived, and then Enoch was no more, for God took him. Noah was born as the first son of Lamech 926 years after the birth of Seth, and was 500 years old before he began to have children.
D — Noah Found Favor in the Eyes of God
Genesis 6 “5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 8 But Noah found favour in Yahweh’s eyes. 9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 22 Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
Comments: Yahweh was grieved in his heart that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that the thoughts in man’s heart was continually evil. Yahweh said in his sorrow that he would destroy man and all creatures he had made from the surface of the earth. But Noah found favour in Yahweh’s eyes because he was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, as he “walked with God.” Yahweh gave instructions to Noah to build an ark and bring in two of every living thing. Noah demonstrated his devotion and trust as he did everything that Yahweh had commanded him.
E — Only Eight People Were Saved from the Great Flood
Genesis 8 “20 Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.”
Genesis 9 “13 I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember my covenant.”
Comments: There is no record of sacrifice, praise, or prayer by Noah before the great flood; but the phrase “walked with God” satisfied righteousness. When Noah came out onto the dry land he built an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. This was described as a pleasant aroma to Yahweh, and in his heart he said he would not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake. Yahweh gave man dominion over all animals and plants, and He set standards about not eating flesh with life blood in it, and that whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed, for God made man in his own image. Yahweh set a rainbow in the cloud as a sign of his covenant never to destroy all flesh by a flood again.
Reflections in Prayer
Yahweh, I believe Adam and Eve no longer had only innocence in their thoughts after they had eaten the forbidden fruit which gave them the knowledge of good and evil. This established a trait of required discernment between right and wrong that has passed through them to all mankind in every generation. The coats of skins you provided to them, Yahweh, gives me a sense of your abounding grace and mercy. I believe that there will always be consequences in this life for wrong choices, but it is encouraging to know that there was a son named Enosh born to Seth, and men began to call upon Yahweh’s name. A few generations later Enoch “walked with God,” then he was no more because God took him. Yahweh, when the spread of evil was overwhelming among mankind, you chose Noah who was righteous in your sight, and saved only him with his family from the flood. Your mercy and grace then started life in a renewed earth, with the eight people and all animals that had the breath of life in the ark. May I be devoted in my heart to Yahweh, the only source of salvation of my soul by grace through faith. All praise, honor, and glory to my Creator and Redeemer. Amen.
Published 12 July 2021