Was Eve the First Messianic and the Heart of True Worship — Thoughts & Reflections on Torah Reading 3

Greetings Saints of the Most High.

I pray that you, your families, and fellowships are well and blessed.

It was my intention to do, at the very least, an audio version of this teaching and discussion. However, since our return from our Kenyan missionary trip, I’ve been down with a severe flu. Today makes a full week since I first began feelings flu symptoms. As I’m posting this installment, I’ve lost my voice, although I am over most of the other flu-related symptoms I had been battling this past week.

I had thought to fore-go posting this discussion/teaching. But since I had already put preparatory work into it, it seems good to me to publish this as a blog post.

Our Study Text

I have titled this teaching “The Heart of Worship and Was Eve the First Messianic?” It embodies some of my thoughts and reflections on the 3rd Reading of our 3-year Torah Reading Cycle. I have taken the text from Genesis/Beresheit 4:1-26. For purposes of this teaching, we will focus only on verses 1 through 7 which reads as follows:

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4:1-7 ESV)

The Birth of Cain and Abel

4.1-2. The birth of Cain and Abel. Cain means to acquire and Abel means vanity. Abel was a keeper of sheep, while his brother Cain was a tiller of the ground. “Sarna (Nahum M.) regards agriculture as the original occupation.”

Michael Carasik, in his 2018 book Introduction and Commentary to Genesis, points out an interesting fact. Carasik points out that the Tanakh always connects subsequent births to their respective fathers. However, in the passage we are focusing on, Carasik notes that Cain and Abel are discussed in relation to their mother. Again, there may be something to the prophecy of Genesis 3.15 that Yah rendered specifically to the nachash/the serpent:

¹⁴ The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

(Gen 3:14-15 ESV)

Was Eve the First Messianic?

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, author of Messianic Christology, contends that a proper transliteration of the Hebrew for 4.1 is: “And the man knew Eve his wife, she conceived and bare Cain and said, ”I have gotten a man: Yehovah.”

Fruchtenbaum says that Eve believed that the event of her bearing Cain was a fulfillment of the Genesis 3:15 prophecy. She believed that her first-born was Mashiyach/Messiah, or the promised One. It would become clear to her she was mistaken with the birth of Abel, her second son, whom she named “vanity.” Some English translations incorrectly render this verse as “I have gotten a man with the help of Yehovah.” Clearly this construction is a scribal invention meant to steer the reader in a direction away from a possible Messianic application. The Aramaic-based Jerusalem Targum records Eve as declaring: “I have gotten a man: the angel of Yehovah,” while the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records Eve as saying: “I have gotten for a man the angel of the Lord.” Then there is the Targum Onkelos, which records Eve as declaring of Cain that he was “from before the Lord.” Clearly these renderings lean towards an understanding of the supernatural. Although I have a difficult time buying that Tanakh references to the “Angel of the Lord” being the pre-incarnate Yeshua Messiah, I cannot deny that Eve may have been perceiving the birth of her first son from a fulfillment of the Genesis 3.15. I would concede that conceivably, the mysterious “Angel of the Lord” that features prominently in the Tanakh may have been an angel Yah created as a foreshadow or precursor to Yeshua Messiah. The Midrash Rabbah on Genesis 22.2 comments on Genesis 4.1 that “it might imply that she (Eve) had begotten the Lord.” Whatever credence we may give to Fruchtenbaum as it relates to a possible Messianic connection to Eve naming her firstborn son, Cain, we cannot dismiss the likelihood that Yah’s prophecy of Genesis 3.15 left a serious impression on her and as she bore Cain, it is certainly conceivable her heart and mind went back to that historic event in the Garden. To our first parents, defeat of the nachash would have been at the forefront of their hearts and minds. And if Eve truly entertained Messianic thoughts for Cain, that he became the first murderer would have crushed those hopeful thoughts. And of course, history bears out that indeed this would be the case for her.

So, was Eve the first Messianic in recorded biblical history? I would say, why not? Who else better than Eve at the point in human history would still reel from her and her husband’s expulsion from Gan Eden? Indeed, it would not be hard to imagine that the expulsion haunted her for years and the prophecy Yah made regarding her husband, the serpent, and her would have been at the forefront of her mind every day. And no doubt, when she gave birth to Cain, she immediately thought: “This must be the promised serpent/nachash crusher.” Sadly for Eve, however, the promised serpent/nachash crusher would not come on the scene of human history for another four millennia.

The Heart of True Worship

In verses 3 through 7, the story of Cain and Abel takes a tragic turn. On one fateful day, Cain offered unto Yehovah a selection of his produce, while Abel offered the firstling of his flock and their fat portions. The text that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell (4.4-5).

If the apocryphal book of Jasher is to be believed, it records that Yehovah showed His acceptance of Abel’s offering/sacrifice by consuming Abel’s sacrifice on the altar where it lay with a fire from heaven (1:15) The reason Yehovah did not favor Cain’s sacrifice was because it comprised inferior fruit from the ground before Yah (1:26). Jasher discusses how Cain’s jealousy towards his brother over this incident led Cain to commit premeditated manslaughter. Jasper goes into great detail about the verbal altercation that preceded Cain’s slaying of his brother, which we can only note with caution (1:17-23). Seems the dispute between the brothers, according to Jasher, ran deeper than Yehovah’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s. The very ground Cain tilled to grow his produce would, from that time forward, deny him its increase. He would be a wanderer on the earth till his death.

Over the years, I’m sure you, like me, have come across several teachers and preachers who’ve been quick to offer reasons they believe Yehovah decline to accept to accept Cain’s offering/sacrifice:

• God only accepted animal sacrifices, but Cain’s offering comprised produce.
• The way Cain offered his sacrifice was incorrect.
• Cain’s inherent evil made any sacrifice or offering to Yehovah unacceptable.

Our text doesn’t explicitly address why God accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. Contextually speaking, however, I firmly believe the answer to this conundrum is clear from the text.

Since Yah is a God who searches the heart of man (reference 1 Sam 16.7; 1 Chr 28.9; Jer 17.10; Jer 29.3; Rom 8.27) — examines the intentions of His human creation, the outcome of this story suggests Yah declined Cain’s offering because of the negative state of the man’s heart towards honoring and obeying Yehovah. The consistency of Cain’s offering (i.e., produce) in relation to that of Abel’s offering (i.e., the firstling and fat of his flocks) had absolutely nothing to do with Yah’s refusal or acceptance of the brothers’ sacrificial offerings.

Of this central truth, Tim Hegg wrote:

“The point of the narrative…is not that produce offered to God is less acceptable than livestock, but that the heart motivation in giving the offering is the deciding factor” (Hegg, T., Commentary on Genesis; p. 33).

How do we know that this far-reaching observation is true? Well, our text goes into some detail as it relates to Abel’s gift, which Yehovah ultimately accepted:

“And Abel also presented an offering — some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions” (4.4; CSB).

We know from the instructions Yah gave the Levitical Priests that the choicest portion of any animal offering/sacrifice was its fat, and the fat of the animal sacrifice would always go to Yah foremost, as well as Abel offered the firstling of His flock — the best of the best of his flocks. It was the fat and the best of Abel’s flocks that featured prominently in his gift to Yehovah on that fateful day. Conversely, the text rather blandly states that “Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD” (4.3; KJV). Nothing distinguished Cain’s gift from that of Abel’s choice gift, both of which were obvious reflections of both men’s hearts. Rote habit and duty steered Cain’s motivation (i.e., going through the motions of worship as taught to him, no doubt by Adam, his father). Abel’s motivation, on the other hand, was “a gift of worship which spoke from his heart” (Hegg, T.; p. 34).

In reflection, these two scenarios put into beautiful perspective the contrasts that will always exist between humanity’s efforts to render worship unto Yah: Do we worship the Great I Am because we feel it’s our duty and responsibility to do so, absent any true adoration for Him; making up the rules for that worship as we go? Or do we worship Yah because we love and adore Him and His Ways and we would rather do anything else but be in His presence? What drives our worship of Yehovah is a question we all must answer and come to terms with. For whichever motivation drives our worship determines whether we catch Yah’s attention; whether He accepts our sacrifices of praise and our physical gifts of worship or not.

Because Abel displayed such a loving and pure heart in his worship of Yah, Jewish wisdom referred to him as righteous (Mat 23.55; Heb 11.4; Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 2.1.53).

And so it was, Yehovah regarded (i.e., regard in the Hebrew being “sha’ah” which means to turn and look) Abel’s sacrifice, but Yah did not turn and look upon Cain’s offering. Yehovah deemed Cain’s offering unacceptable.

When we go through the motions of honoring and worshiping Yah that our hearts’ motivations are absent from our worship efforts, we are effectively “inventing” our own form of worship (i.e., p. 34). Such invented forms of worship do not interest Yah. Indeed, believers show their genuine, heart-centered worship of Yehovah by living their daily lives in Messiah. Unfortunately, denominationalism has effectively shifted the attention of so many to the church building or meeting places as the fulfillment and symbol of all worship of Yehovah. However, the truth is that true worship of Yah is firmly rooted in the Messianic’s/Netsari’s day-to-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute walk in Messiah. Yah cherishes and honors the elect one’s worship because their unique existence is rooted in the deep and high commitment of their loving, obedient, covenant relationship with the Creator of the Universe. And if the elect one’s relationship with Yah is flawed, or if there is no viable relationship between Yehovah and a would be believer, any precipitative worship would be like Cain’s worship. Obviously, Abel enjoyed a true and loving-obedient-substantive relationship with Yehovah, while Cain’s relationship with Yah was likely challenged, if not absent altogether.

Closing

I pray this brief study discussion blessed you as much as it blessed me putting it together for you. Abba willing, our next posting will include audio. But until that time, beloved, may you be most blessed, fellow saints in training. Shabbat Shalom. Shavu’atov. Take care.