>CQ> ...my neighbor... got me a "living Bible"...
>CQ> ...and started reading it in good faith and was thoroughly irritated by the time I got done reading God's comment to Cain!
I've never encountered a book more dead than the so-called "living" bible. You should rather be irritated with that presumptious per-version of the truth in the paraphrase.
To what "comment to Cain" are you referring? Something said before he viciously murdered Abel, or afterward?
"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." (Gen.4:7)
Abel brought the required offering to the door, and Cain did not. The Lord plainly told Cain that Abel's "desire" would be unto Cain, and Cain being the firstborn had the right to "rule" over Abel. It is obvious in Gen.4:4 that Abel had plenty of "firstlings" in his flock, and I don't doubt that he was so happy at his acceptance that he would have given Cain the whole flock, if Cain had but asked. But Cain was so mad that he couldn't see straight, and he rejected Abel's genuine brotherly "desire" and instead of killing a sheep as a covering for his sin, he killed the shepherd.
Cain was punished less than he deserved. (Please feel free to inquire further about these things if you so "desire." :)
Grace be with your heart for Jesus' sake. Amen. --Richard
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