Adam and Eve have two sons. Abel is a keeper of sheep and Cain is a tiller of the ground. Both bring an offering to the LORD. The LORD respects Abel and his offering, but not Cain's. Hebrews 11 tells us that Abel offered “by faith.” The difference was in the heart.
Cain is very angry. God warns him lovingly that sin lies at the door, and that he must rule over it. But Cain rises up against his brother Abel in the field and slays him. When God asks, “Where is Abel your brother?” Cain answers, “Am I my brother's keeper?” Yet even as God judges Cain, He sets a mark upon him so that no one would kill him. Mercy runs alongside judgment.
God gives Adam and Eve another son, Seth, and in his days men begin “to call on the name of the LORD.” Genesis 5 traces the family line from Adam to Noah. Again and again we read “and he died,” reminding us that sin brings death. Methuselah lives the longest of all — nine hundred and sixty-nine years.
But one man breaks the pattern. “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” In a world growing darker, Enoch lived in daily fellowship with the LORD. His life tells us that it is possible to walk closely with God even when the world around us does not.