1 Unit 1: Creation to Babel OT1.3 Cain and Abel Scripture: Genesis 4:1-17 Lesson Goal: Life for Adam and Eve was not the same outside the Garden of Eden. In this lesson we going to learn about their son Cain who learned a very hard lesson about anger and sin. Introduction: This is the third lesson in Unit 1: Creation to Babel. In this lesson we will learn about Adam and Eve's son Cain and how he became angry and sinned against God. The lesson is found in the first book of the Bible It is called Genesis which means "beginning." Genesis is the first book of Law which are the first five books in the Old Testament. Let's say the books of Law together. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Attention Getter: Fighting and Anger Have you ever been in a fistfight? What started it? What does it mean to be angry? When have you been angry? Encourage students to think of specific time when they were angry. Have several of the children tell about being angry. Prompt them with questions as necessary. Discuss: What happened when you got angry? How do you feel when you are angry? Help the children understand that they need to think carefully when they are angry. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and say or do something that they will later regret. Guide the children to give examples of a time when this happened to them. Say: 'When people fight, it's usually because they are angry. Sometimes ball players get angry when the game is not going their way. They may be losing, or their team may not be playing well. Often when people get angry they say or do things that hurt others. The Bible tells us to be careful when we angry. It is easy to get caught up in the moment and say or do something that we will later regret. Today we are going to learn about a man who was very angry at his brother." Alternative: Lead the children in a game of Simon Says. Give the children commands to perform like touch your nose, jump up and down, turn around preceded by the command Simon Says. They must perform the task in order to stay in the game. Also include commands without the preceding Simon Says. If you do not say Simon Says, they must not perform the task or they can no longer stay in the game. Explain to your class that following commands is very important to God. When He tells us what to do, we must do just as He says. All of His commands are good, and they are all given to us for very good reasons, whether or not we know what those reasons are. God desires obedience. Opening Prayer: "Dear Jesus, help us to understand that being angry can lead us into doing wrong. When we are angry at others we have sinned against you. Help us to be sorry for what we have done that is wrong. Help us to believe that you died on the cross to pay for our sins. Please forgive us and help us to accept the gift of eternal life. In Jesus' name. Amen. Memory Verse: The memory verse is James 1:20 "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." Lesson Video: https://youtu.be/ivg-vxi83kw After Adam and Eve sinned, they were forced to leave their beautiful home in the Garden of Eden. Life was now very hard for them. They began to realize more and more what the punishment of their sin had brought upon them. No more would they enjoy all the protection and food in the Garden of Eden. First they had to build a home for themselves. Adam had to work long and hard at farming to try to get enough food for himself and Eve. The ground was filled with weeds, thorns, and briers. Adam had to make his own tools to plow and till the soil. There were bugs and insects to fight, too. In the heat of the sun, it was certainly true that Adam had to "struggle to earn his living by the sweat of his brow." Every day Eve was also learning the meaning of sadness, pain, sorrow, and
heartache. Life was not easy living outside the garden. But the punishment that they felt worst of all was that God no longer came in the cool of the day to walk and talk with them. Sin had made a wall of separation between God and them. How many times Adam and Eve must have wished they had not disobeyed God. Although Adam and Eve could not talk to God as they did in their garden-home, they remembered God's wonderful promise to them. They remembered how God had killed an innocent animal, and shed its blood. Then God used the skins of the animals to make them clothes instead of their wearing fig leaves. They knew that they must come to God to get their sins forgiven. God had told them. "You must build an altar by piling up stones or rocks. Then you must cut some wood and lay it on top ready to be burned. Next you must bring your offering of a little male lamb to Me. You must kill the lamb and lay him on the altar as a sacrifice for your sins." The lamb was to be a picture of Jesus, the "Lamb of God." God said that Adam and Eve needed a "blood sacrifice" to have their sins forgiven. That is the same promise that we have today. We too must believe in Christ's death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. One day God made Adam and Eve very happy; He sent them a baby son. Adam and Eve named him Cain. My, how they loved little Cain! Soon God soon gave them another little boy; they called his name Abel. Cain and Abel were the first children ever born on earth. As Cain and Abel grew older, Adam and Eve told them about the beautiful Garden of Eden and their great Creator-God. The boys also heard about their happiness there as they walked and talked with God face to face. But Adam and Eve also told them about God's enemy, Satan, and how he entered the serpent and tempted them to disobey God. Then they told them how sin had entered into the world and ruined everything. Adam and Eve wanted very much for their sons to love God and obey Him and not disobey God like they had done. But...Cain and Abel were born with the same desire to do wrong just like their parents Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were very careful to teach Cain and Abel about the "blood sacrifice." They wanted them to know about the promise God had made to send a Savior who would destroy sin and Satan. Cain and Abel understood very clearly that they were to bring an animal offering to God in order to have their sins forgiven. As they boys grew up, they had jobs to do. Life was hard and there was much work to do. God had told Adam and Eve to have many more children. Now there were lots of people to feed. Crops had to be raised for food. Cain's job was to help in the fields. He grew food for the family to eat. It was hard work because there were so many weeds to pull. Abel was a shepherd. He cared for the family's sheep. Animals were needed for food, clothing, and for transportation. Adam and Eve had lots of sheep and goats. Cain and Abel remembered what their parents had told them. God said it would be hard work to live outside the Garden of Eden. Cain and Abel knew that they too had done wrong things and they wanted to have their sins forgiven. So they built an altar upon which they could offer sacrifices to God. Abel offered his best lamb as a sacrifice and prayed: "Lord, I'm sorry for my sins, please forgive me." God heard Abel's prayer and forgave him. Abel was happy because he had done things God's way. 2 Cain also brought an offering but it was not an animal like God had commanded. Cain thought to himself, "I'm a farmer; I'll bring my best grain, vegetables, fruit, and nuts to the Lord as an offering." But that was not what God had said. Cain brought what he wanted to rather than obeying God. Cain became very angry because God had accepted Abel's offering and rejected his. God said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face so disappointed? If you bring the right kind of offering, I will accept you! Why don't you go get a lamb for the offering right now?" But Cain was so angry he would not listen to God. He kept on being angry and he was very jealous of Abel. Cain kept telling Abel, "You think you are better than me because God accepted your offering but He wouldn't take mine!" Abel said, "You know that's not true, Cain. Go over there to the flock, get a little lamb and offer that to God as a sacrifice. He will accept that." Cain replied, "I won't do it. If God won't take what I bring, then that's too bad!" One day when Abel was out in the field, Cain went out to look for his brother Abel. He wanted to pick a fight with
him. When Cain found Abel he began to shout at him at the top of his voice. He was so angry that Cain killed Abel! His own brother! Cain committed the first murder. Cain was terrified and said, "Oh, look what I have done; I've killed him! I've got to get out of here quick before God finds out what I have done. I must run far away!" Cain ran across the field but God called to him, "Cain, Cain." Cain said, "Yes?" God said, "Where is Abel, your brother?" Cain replied, "I don't know," thinking he could fool God. "Am I my brother's keeper?" He meant, am I my brother's babysitter? He was being disrespectful to God. The Lord said, "Cain, what have you done? You have killed your brother, Abel, and now I will have to punish you! You must leave home and your family. From now on you will run for your life; you can never settle down anywhere. You will just wander from place to place." "My punishment is too hard!" cried Cain. "You have driven me from my farm and from You, and made me a runaway and a tramp; and everyone who sees me will try to kill me!" Cain felt very, very guilty! He was probably afraid that his other brothers and sisters would want to kill him. The Lord replied, "They won't kill you, because I will put a special mark on you as a warning that you are not to be killed." As far as we know Cain never was sorry for his sins instead he just ran from God for the rest of his life! The Bible tells us that Cain married one of his sisters and had a son named Enoch. They had many children and grandchildren. His family even built a big city and named it after Cain's son Enoch. There were many people in this family. Some lived in tents and raised livestock. Others made instruments and played the harp and flute. Some made tools out of bronze and iron. But sadly Cain's family did not worship God. They did not obey or love Him. They were like their father Cain. They lived a very wild life. Their sin just kept making them worse and worse. This story tells us an important truth. Cain disobeyed God by bringing the kind of offering he wanted to; he thought he could come to God his own way. Then he got mad and refused to come to God the right way. Anger does that. It can make us say and do things we later will regret. Next he killed Abel and lied to God about it. One sin always leads to another sin until they just pile up. Our memory verse is James 1:20 "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." Cain's anger led him into more and more sin. Let's say our verse again. James 1:20 "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." Did you know that we are like Cain? We have done things that are wrong and our sin is keeping us from going to heaven. Some people think that they can do good works and earn their way to heaven They think that giving to the poor, going to church, or doing best they can will get them into heaven. We call these things "good works." But that is man's way to try to get to heaven. It won't work! To be accepted by God into heaven, we have to come His way. Jesus says, "No man comes to the Father but by Me." You can't go to heaven unless you accept Jesus as your Savior. The lamb which was killed and offered by Abel on the altar is a picture of our Lord Jesus, who offered Himself as a sacrifice on the cross for our sins. As the lamb's blood was shed, so Jesus shed His blood on the cross. When we ask Jesus to be our Savior, the blood of the Lamb of God covers our sin. By trusting Jesus we can have a clean heart before God and be ready to go to Heaven. This is God's way of making us right with Him. Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of the wrong things you have done? Has Jesus' blood taken away your sins? If not, wouldn't you like to ask Jesus to be your Savior today? Let's pray. "Dear Jesus, I have sinned against you. I am sorry for what I have done that is wrong. I believe that you died on the cross to pay for my sins. Please forgive me and give me the gift of eternal life. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's worship God His Way! 3
4 Review Questions: "Stomp the Balloon" Say: "In this lesson Cain got angry and killed his brother Abel. When we get angry we sometimes can act very loud and violent. Today we are going to play a very loud and "violent" game by trying to stomp a balloon until it breaks. As each balloon is broken we will answer a review question." Pick one child to start, then go around the room. No need to keep score unless you really want to. Stomp with their feet or sit on the balloon to break it. Read the question. Have the student who stomped balloon answer the question. Have the child pick up the balloon pieces and throw away. (This is not a quiet game with the loud pop of the balloon.) 1. What was life like for Adam and Eve after God made them leave the Garden of Eden? (Life was very hard. Adam had to work hard to grow crops for food. Eve had a lot of pain in giving birth to children.) 2. What happened to the earth when God punished Adam and Eve? (The earth began to grow weeds and thistles making plants that gave food hard to grow.) 3. What happened to the animals when God punished Adam and Eve for their sin? (The animals began to fight each other for food and were hard for Adam to control.) 4. What promise did God make to Adam and Eve after they sinned? (God promised to have a Savior born that would die for the sins of the world and bring salvation.) 5. What command did God give to Adam and Eve to help them remember this promise? (God told them to offer an animal sacrifice for their sin.) 6. Who were the first children born on earth? (Cain and Abel were the first children born on earth.) 7. What job did Cain do on the earth? (Cain was a farmer and grew crops for people to eat.) 8. What job did Abel do on the earth? (Abel was a shepherd and herded cattle, sheep and goats to provide meat and milk for the family.) 9. What sacrifice did Cain offer? (Cain wanted to offer the first fruits of his harvest of food crops instead of obeying God.) 10. What sacrifice did Abel offer? (Abel offered a sacrifice of a young innocent lamb.) 11. Which brother gave his sacrifice because he had faith in God? (Abel had faith in God because He obeyed.) 12. Why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's? (Abel's offering was what God had commanded. God wanted them to remember the promise that He had made to send a Savior. Cain's offering was what he wanted to do rather than obeying God and it did not represent God's promise.) 13. What punishment did God give to Cain for murdering his brother? (He would have a seal on his forehead telling everyone what he had done wrong. People would hate him but they would not kill him.) 14. What was Cain's family like? (They were very numerous but they were wicked like their father Cain and did not obey God. They built cities and raised cattle, made musical instruments, and metal tools but they did not worship God.) 15. How are we like Cain? (We have sinned against God. We need to have a sacrifice made for our sin if we are going to go to heaven. Jesus is the Perfect Lamb who was sacrifice for the sin of the world. If we believe in Him we can go to heaven.) Bible Memory Verse Activity: "Very Puzzling" Say: The memory verse is James 1:20 "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." Have students look up the verse in scripture and read it aloud in unison several times. Cain's anger led him into more and more sin. Let's say our verse again. James 1:20 "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." Divide your class into two teams. Give each team a puzzle to put together; but leave two pieces out of one of the puzzles. Tell each team that you are going to time them to see who can put the puzzle together the fastest. When the team with the pieces missing discovers that they are not finished, but have no more pieces, they will let you know. After everyone is done, explain that a puzzle with missing pieces is frustrating and imperfect. No matter how much time you spend on it, it will never be right. Cain s sacrifice was like that. He spent a great deal of thought and effort in presenting it, but it was missing pieces; it was not done the way God said it should be. God desires obedience.
5 Group Learning Activity: Act out the Story (Grades K-3) Purpose: To help students visualize the Bible account of Cain and Abel Procedure: Create an altar by draping a bed sheet or blanket over a table. Lay real or artificial fruits and vegetables on the altar. Also lay a stuffed sheep or a picture of a sheep on the altar. Place a candle on each side of the altar. With the older kids, you may want to light the candles. Read aloud Genesis 4:1-16. Say: What does God want? God wants us to have hearts that are willing to do as He commands and not go our own way. Alternative: Give children each a rock, a square piece of cardboard, twigs and glue. Have kids each create an altar by gluing the cardboard onto the rock and the twigs to the other side of the cardboard. When kids are finished, discuss ways they can worship God with the proper attitude of obedience. Group Learning Activity: Cain and Abel's Hearts Object Lesson (Grades K-5) Procedure: Half fill one clear glass with water. Half fill an identical clear glass with white vinegar. Say: "These two glasses of water represent Cain and Abel s hearts. (Point to the glass of water) Abel s heart was good and he wanted to give his best to God. (Put a drop or two of green food coloring in the vinegar glass and give it a stir.) The green glass represents Cain s heart. He was jealous of his brother and he didn t give his best to God. Let s see what happens to their hearts when they gave gifts to God. Ask one child to put a teaspoon of baking soda in the glass of water (nothing will happen to the water). Abel gave his gift and God was pleased. Abel felt good in his heart because he knew he had given his best. Now let s see what happened to Cain s heart. (Have another child put a teaspoon of baking soda in the green vinegar glass). As the water bubbles and boils talk about how jealousy made Cain s heart upset and angry." Group Learning Activity: "Be angry and sin not" (Grades 3-5) Purpose: To lead students in a study of what the Bible says about anger and sin. Say: "The Bible tells us to be careful when we are angry. We must not sin when we are angry." Ask students: How can we be angry and not sin? How can we appropriately express our anger? How should we NOT express our anger?" Have students look up the following scriptures and read them aloud. Discus the principle God is teaching in each one. Discuss with the children that there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express anger. You may want to role-play situations when a child is angry and what to do that is appropriate and what is inappropriate. Genesis 4:3-8 Cain was jealous that God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not his. Jealousy leads people to take revenge against others. Cain sinned by killing Abel. Cain also wanted to do things his own way rather than God's way. Whenever we do things our own way, it will inevitably end up in sinning against God's way. Proverbs 29:11,22 Foolish men allow anger to control them. Wise men learn to control their anger. Anger is contagious. It will cause others to be angry and sin too. An angry person not only sins himself but leads others to sin as well. Matthew 5:21-24 Anger is just as bad a sin as murder. Murders are often the result of anger that is allowed to get out of control. Anger will interfere with a person's relationship with God. They cannot worship God with the right spirit when they are angry. Whenever you have a dispute with a enemy it is better to get the matter settled quickly. Don't let it simmer for a long time. Otherwise you may have to go to court to settle the matter and you might end up going to prison! Ephesians 4:26-27 Do not allow your anger to go on and on. Settle the matter before sunset. Satan will use your anger to tempt you to take revenge or be jealous. Jealousy and revenge are sins against God. God is the One who will take revenge not us! He is the judge not us!
6 Group Learning Activity: God's Commandments (Grades 3-5) Purpose: To help students understand what sins that Cain committed Procedure: Review the story of Cain and Abel emphasizing the major events in the lesson. Say: "Let's think about the story of Cain and Abel and compare their actions to the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were the rules that God gave to men in the Old Testament. These rules were written on tablets of stone and given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Although these rules had not been written at the time of Cain and Abel they will help us understand why God was not pleased with Cain. (Read the ten commandments to the students. These can be posted on a chart in the classroom.) Name each commandment and decide if it fits into the story. Then describe how that commandment applies to you/me. 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not worship any graven image. 3. Thou shalt not take God s name in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. 5. Honor thy father and thy mother. 6. Thou shalt not kill. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness. 10. Thou shalt not covet. The commandments that Cain broke were 5. Honor thy father/mother hurting your brother doesn t respect your parents would only hurt them. I should follow parents rules, not back talk, and treat parents nice. 6. Do not kill Cain killed Abel. I shouldn t try to hurt anyone. and 10. Do not covet Cain was jealous because God loved Abel s sacrifice. I shouldn t wish for other people s stuff, I shouldn t get mad when other people have better things than I do. Talk about sibling rivalry. Ask: Do you fight with your brothers/sisters? Why? How can we improve? Why is fighting with your brothers and sisters not a good idea? Is it pleasing to God or your parents? Group Learning Activity: God's Wonderful Creation Object Lesson (Grades 3-5) Purpose: To illustrate how God's creation is a perfect plan held together by His power Preparation: Assemble 10 tin cans of food. Make new labels for the cans that say "people, plant life, animal life, water, land, soil, temperature, light, air, and distance." Cover the cans with the new labels. Stack the cans in a pyramid style with the "people" can on top and the other cans below in the sequence shown. See illustration at right. Say: "The perfect conditions for human life on Earth are very much like the pyramid of cans shown at right. Each part of creation is a building block that is set just right in order to sustain life on this planet. The pieces build upon each other perfectly, and one cannot be removed without the whole structure tumbling down. The pieces build upon each other and interact with each other to provide an ideal physical environment for us to live in. For example God placed this planet at just the right distance from the sun to provide the correct amount of light and just the right temperature we need. Water and soil and plant life work together to give us food to eat and fresh air to breathe. God in His infinite wisdom, engineered this marvelous world in which each piece is perfectly designed and fits together perfectly with all the other parts in just the right way so we can survive. this could not have happened by accident! God put this all together out of His love for us!" Write the following statements on the dry erase board with the underlined word missing. Read each of the statements aloud and see if the students can show how much they know about God's wonderful world. Answers come from the words written on the labels of the cans. 1. 93 million miles is the approximate distance from the earth to the sun. 2. Although many different gases make up the air we breathe, oxygen is the most important to us. 3. Photosynthesis is the process where plants use light from the sun to convert water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and other important stuff we need to stay alive.
4. As the planet orbits the sun the distance between them changes somewhat, resulting in the changes in the temperature we relate to the four seasons. 5. Dry land is our living space and makes up about one-third of the total area of the planet. 6. The other two-thirds of earth is covered by water which is essential to life on the planet as well as home to many spies of plants and animals. 7. The top layer of the land is called soil and it provides the base for land plants to grow and living space for many insects. 8. Both plant life and animal life depend on all the other parts of creation to survive. 9. God put people at the top of this pyramid because He made this wonderful world for our pleasure and so that we will be in awe of Him and give Him all the glory due His name! Group Learning Activity: "Obeying God Game" (Grades K-5) Materials: 3 sheets of paper, marked with the letters A, B, and C Procedure: Select three corners or sections of the room, and mark with one of the paper sheets displaying A, B, or C. Explain to the kids you will read several situations, and then give them the chance to run and gather under with A, B, or C to indicate their choice. You may need to do a couple of trial runs to get the activity started. Next, read the following situations, and options. If the children feel the correct answer is A, they run to be in the A section, if B is the correct answer, they run to the B section, etc. Explain what the best choice would have been after everyone has moved to a section. 1. Your mom tells you it's time go to bed, do you: A.) Say, "Not now, I'm busy" B.) Go right to bed C.) Don't know what to do 2. You finish playing with your new toy, that has many pieces, do you: A.) Walk away and do something else B.) Ask you older brother or sister to put it away for you C.) Put the toy away neatly before doing something else 3. You are visiting relatives and for dinner they give you something you don't like, do you: A.) Eat it anyway without complaining B.) Stomp your foot down and push the plate away C.) Tell them you hate it and ask for something else 4. A friend comes over and wants the same toy you are playing with, do you: A.) Keep the toy for yourself B.) Keep the toy and ask your friend to play together with you C.) Give the toy to your friend and pick something else 5. It's time to go to church, but you are not dressed, do you; A.) Hurry up and get dressed so no one is late B.) Make up an excuse not to go to church this time C.) Not sure what you would do 6. You want to bring an offering to God next Sunday, do you: A.) Ask mom or dad for something to give B.) Look for some extra coins laying around the house C.) Bring some of your allowance that you have earned 7 Craft Learning Activity: Cotton Ball Lamb (Grades K-4) Purpose: To help students learn what an acceptable sacrifice to God is-- the blood of a slain animal in the Old Testament and the offering of a contrite humble heart in the New Testament. Materials: White card stock; Cotton Balls; 2 spring-style clothespins; Black and red markers; Paste or glue Directions: Copy the lamb pattern shown on the next page onto card stock. Cut out a lamb for each child. Use a red marker to color the lamb s mouth. Use a black marker to color both clothespins and to outline the lamb s facial features. Cover the lamb s body (but not the face) with paste or glue. Attach the cotton balls to the body. Clip the black clothespins to the bottom of the lamb so it can stand alone.
8 Craft Learning Activity: Family Tree (Grades 2-5) Purpose: To help students learn about their family background and to understand how Adam and Eve's children became the people of the world. Materials: Print out the picture of the tree below--one for each child--on cardstock and copies of the apples; colored markers; glue Procedure: Have students color the family tree and the apples with the colored markers. Have students cut out one apple for each of their family members. Have student write the name of their family members on each of the apples. Help students organize their apples on the tree with the child's apple first at the top along with their siblings. The next row should include parents and the final row, grandparents. Have the students take their family tree home and interview each family member to find out where they were born, their favorite things. and an interesting story about them. Life Application Challenge: "Tell a story" Read the following scenario: "Jenny's mom knocked on her door and asked Jenny if she could please clean up her bedroom. Jenny nodded at her, but as soon as her mom left, Jenny thought to herself, " I don't feel like cleaning my room -- it's such a mess! And I have a really neat homework assignment from school that I've been looking forward to doing. And homework's a good thing too, right? I'm going to do that instead." Although it's true that it's good to do your homework, that's not what Jenny's mom asked her to do. And it's not what Jenny promised she would finish. In fact, doing her homework instead of cleaning her room might be worse than doing nothing at all! Jenny could have talked to her mom about homework versus cleaning and made a decision together about which would take priority. But Jenny made a choice on her own to do the one she preferred without taking her mom's feelings into account. In the story of Cain and Abel, Cain could have prayed to God obeyed His command to offer an animal sacrifice. He could have done what God wanted. God wants us to obey Him and not try to justify our actions. Are you willing to obey God even when you may want to do something else? That is truly loving and worshipping Him!" Cain was punished for what he did wrong. Talk about how things might have been different if he had listened to God. God knew that He must punish Cain for the act he did. When we sin, we are doing wrong. God must punish us for the wrong things we have done. However, God s Son, Jesus, did something to pay for all the wrongs we have done. Jesus died on a cross for all our sins. Then, three days later, Jesus came back to life. If we believe in Jesus, we can tell God we are sorry for all the wrong things we have done and ask Him for forgiveness. God will forgive us and clean away all the wrongs we have done. God also expects us to start doing right. He does not want us to keep doing wrong but if we do what is wrong, we need to ask God to forgive us and He will.
9 Cain and Abel James 1:20 "Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."
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13 Family Tree
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15 Cotton Ball Lamb