Adam and Eve have Children

Today I read Moses 5, which is the story mostly of Cain and Abel and the descendants of Cain. This chapter clears up a lot of the misconceptions surrounding Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve. The first part of the chapter is about Adam and Eve and how they rejoice that they had eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They recognized that it had tremendous benefits and that it was a small price to pay, being cast out of the Garden of Eden, for so much in return. It is also in this chapter that we learn from Eve herself that they could not have had children in the Garden.

This chapter also clarifies that Adam and Eve had other children before they had Cain and Abel. It always surprises me to learn that there are Latter-day Saints who believe that Cain was Adam and Eve's first born. Such is not the case, otherwise the first half of Moses 5 is REALLY redundant! We do not know how many children Adam and Eve had before they had Cain, but we know there were several, because Moses tells us that they had already begun pairing off two by two and having more children before Cain came around. It tells us later in the chapter that Cain took one of his nieces to wife and that could only happen if there were nieces around his age already available.

I have always loved this chapter because of the insight we get into their lives at this time. They all seem so casual in their relationships with God and Satan. When Cain kills Abel and gives his offering to God, he has an entire conversation with God, not just a prayer but has an honest to goodness conversation with Him. And we learn that Satan was actually physically there with the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. It is also important to note, that per verse 13, even the people who chose to follow Satan loved God. It never says they did not love God, it just says they loved Satan more.

One of my favorite books on this period of time is by Cleon Skousen called, "The First Two Thousand Years". He talks quite a bit about this period of time and Cain and how Cain is largely responsible for Satan's initial knowledge of how to tempt us. Think about it, Satan has never had a body, and prior to this time, never known anyone with a body who would tell him about it. But when Cain because Satan's master through the oath they both made, here Satan found someone who would be more than happy to explain all about human bodies to him. I wouldn't put it past Cain to have offered Satan the chance to have him or one of his followers possess one of Cain's children at some point. We really don't know. But we do know that this was the beginning of Satan's education on how to tempt mankind physically.

In all of this, it had to be extremely hard on Adam and Eve to have all their children, that we know of, reject the Gospel in favor of Satan and the one child they did have get murdered, which was also the first death as far as we know. Now, I don't remember exactly where we learn this, but we know Cain and Abel were NOT teenagers as is the popular thought process. For what I understand, they were both grown men and Abel had been baptized and ordained to the Priesthood so we can assume that Adam and Eve found comfort in the knowledge that he was saved and they would be with him again. But I can only imagine the pain and agony a parent must feel to have their children fall away from the Gospel. Poor Adam and Eve, I can only imagine the heartbreak they must have felt and the excitement and anticipation at each new child hoping that at last this one would accept the Gospel in its entirety.

Fortunately, this is the last chapter we have that focuses on Cain's lineage and that of his unrighteous siblings and the rest of Moses' vision is on the righteous line of Adam and Eve, including Enoch and his city of Zion. We will also learn that Adam did indeed have the entirety of the Gospel and was baptized and had the Priesthood. Until tomorrow.