At last they came to a mighty tree and there Jehovah spoke to them and said:“Listen,for this is very important.Of the fruit of all the trees in this garden you may eat to your hearts’content.But this is the tree that gives forth the knowledge of Good and Evil.When Man eats from the fruit of this tree,he begins to understand the righteousness or the wickedness of his own acts.That means an end to all peace of his soul.Therefore,you must leave the fruit of this tree alone,or accept the consequences,which are very terrible.”
Adam and Eve listened and promised that they would obey.Soon afterwards,Adam fell asleep,but Eve remained awake and began to wander.Suddenly there was a rustling in the grass,and behold!there was a crafty old serpent.
In those days the animals spoke a language which could be understood by man,and so the serpent had no difficulty in telling Eve how he had overheard the words of Jehovah,and how foolish she would be if she were to take them seriously.Eve thought so too.When the serpent handed her the fruit of the tree,she ate some,and when Adam woke up,she gave him what was left.
Then Jehovah was very angry.At once he drove both Adam and Eve from Paradise,and they went forth into the world to make a living as best they could.
In due course of time they had two children.They were both boys.The name of the elder was Cain,but the younger was called Abel.
They made themselves useful around the house.Cain worked in the fields and Abel tended his father's sheep.Of course they quarreled as brothers are apt to quarrel.
One day,they both brought offerings to Jehovah.Abel had killed a lamb,and Cain had placed some grain upon the rude stone altar which they had built as a place for worship.
Children are apt to be jealous of each other,and they like to brag about their own virtues.
The wood on Abel's altar was burning merrily,but Cain had trouble with his flint.
Cain thought that Abel was laughing at him.Abel said no,he was just standing by and looking on.
Cain asked him to go away.Abel said no,why should he?Then Cain hit Abel.
But he hit him much too hard,and Abel fell down dead.
Cain was terribly frightened and ran away.
But Jehovah,who knew what had happened,found him hiding in some bushes.He asked him where his brother was.Cain,in a surly mood,would not answer.How should he know?He was not a nurse-maid,supposed to be looking after his little brother,was he?
But of course,this lie did not do him any good.Just as Jehovah had driven Adam and Eve from Paradise because they had disobeyed his will,so he now forced Cain to run away from home,and although he lived for many years,his father and mother never saw him again.
As for Adam and Eve,their lives were very unhappy.Their younger son was dead and their older boy had run away.
They had many more children and they died when they were very old and bent down with endless years of toil and misfortune.
Gradually the children and the grandchildren of Adam and Eve began to populate the earth.They went east and they went west and they went northwards into the mountains and they lost themselves amidst the sandy wastes of the southern desert.
But the crime of Cain had set its mark upon the early race.Forever the hand of man was lifted against his neighbour.People murdered each other and they stole each other's sheep.It was not safe for a girl to leave her home,lest she be kidnapped by the boys of the neighbouring villages.
The world was in a sad state.A false start had been made.It was necessary to begin all over again.Perhaps a new generation would prove to be more obedient to the will of Jehovah.
In those days there lived a man called Noah.He was the grandson of Methuselah (who lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years)and he was a descendant of Seth,a younger brother of Cain and Abel,who was born after the family tragedy had taken place.
Noah was a good man who tried to be at peace with his conscience and with his fellow men.If the human race had to begin once more,Noah would make a very good ancestor.
Jehovah therefore decided to kill all other people,but to spare Noah.He came to Noah and told him to build a ship.The vessel was to be four hundred and fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide and it was to have a depth of forty-three feet.This made it almost as large as a modern ocean liner and it is difficult to see how Noah constructed such an enormous craft entirely out of wood.
But he and his sons set to work with a will.The neighbours stood by and laughed.What a funny idea to be building a ship,when there was not a river or a sea for (a thousand)miles around!
