This chapter recounts the story of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve.

Here’s a brief chapter outline:

• Cain and Abel are the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain is the firstborn. He becomes a farmer, a "tiller of the ground". Abel is born second, and he becomes a shepherd. Each son brings an offering to Jehovah. Jehovah accepts Abel’s gift, but not Cain’s. Cain is enraged, and argues with Abel, and kills him. (Genesis 4:1-8)
• Jehovah rebukes Cain, curses him, but puts a mark on him to protect him from vengeance. (9-15)
• Cain leaves Eden, and the chapter traces four generations of his descendants. (16-24)
• At the end of he chapter, Adam and Eve have a third son, Seth. Seth's son was named Enos, and they were both men who walked with God. (25-26)

The Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, had a closeness to God that no other people in history had ever attained. But subsequent generations, represented by Cain and his wrath, lost this connection to God as they abandoned the teachings of their forefathers, and got more attached to self love, worldly knowledge, and a faith without charity. This chapter describes in greater detail how the degeneration and falsification of teachings split people into different sects and heresies under the name of Cain and his descendants.

Spiritual lessons from this chapter: In this chapter we learn about the basic truth of following God: love the Lord and love the neighbor. Cain represents faith in God, and Abel represents love to other people. These should go hand in hand but when we separate them, bad things happen. Cain (faith) kills his brother Abel (love). This story describes how the ancient peoples developed a doctrine that put the tenets of faith above love and charity, thus leading to the eventual death of any semblance of charity toward the fellow man. If you fast forward to the New Testament, there are several stories where the scribes and Pharisees - also in a hollowed-out faith - are angered when Jesus heals a person on the Sabbath day. (See Luke 6:6-11)

193. But they perceived that they were under the influence of evil. From the residue of perception left to them, which is meant by the statements about their eyes being opened and their hearing the voice of Jehovah, verses 7-8, and from the fig leaves with which they made themselves girdles, verse 7; also from their sense of shame or hiding themselves in the middle of the tree of the garden, verses 8-9, as well as from their acknowledgement and confession, verses 10-13 it is evident that natural goodness remained with them.