ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Pulelulu Sanuali 18, 2023 

The First Two Humans

Ko e ‘Uluaki Tangata

GENESIS 4:1

NOW ADAM KNEW EVE HIS WIFE, AND SHE CONCEIVED AND BORE CAIN, SAYING, "I HAVE GOTTEN A MAN WITH THE HELP OF THE LORD."

SENESI 4:1

PEA fe‘iloaki ‘a ‘Ātama mo hono uaifi ko ‘Ivi pea ne feitama, ‘o ne fā‘ele‘i ‘a Keini [ko Ma‘u], pea pehē ‘e he fefine, Kuo u ma‘u ha tangata ‘ia Sihova.

Cain and Abel were the first two human beings - at least, in the ordinary sense. Being crafted from dirt and a rib makes Adam and Eve a little hard to identify with. But Cain and Abel were conceived during a roll in the hay. Both had birthdays. We get them. Most likely they were twins since there is no “and she conceived again” between  the report of their births. Cains’ name in Hebrew is Qayin, which is derived from the verb qanah. It can mean get, buy, create, or beget, depending on the context. Thus Eve’s nativity announcement, “I have qanah a man.”

Martin Luther argued that Eve thought she had given birth to the seed whom God had promised earlier (3:15). He read the Hebrew as "I have gotten the man of the LORD." It's a possible but improbable translation. That being said, had Eve thought Cain was the promised seed, she was woefully wrong. Cain, a murderer, would have scored a big, fat F in messiahship. No. Eve would have to wait, as did generations after her. But one day another "Eve" named Mary would qanah another son, a man who truly was "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

Conceive faith in us, dear Father, which receives from you all that Christ has won for us.