Desire and Rule

I'm continually drawn back to read the creation account and other stories in the first part of Genesis. I think all the main themes of the entire Bible are found in the first few chapters. 

I noticed a really interesting repetition between the stories of The Fall and Cain killing Abel.

Once Adam and Eve failed by eating the fruit that gave knowledge, God said to Eve: “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;with painful labor you will give birth to children.Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 

Using the same words, God warns Cain to change his bad attitude. He said:“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

In both cases, there is the "desire and rule" relationship.

In the first case, I think this signifies the power struggle that will go on in a marriage. The two will be together, but each will try to exert their control over the other. Rather than a natural tendency to cooperate, there will be some level of struggle. Just look around, and it's pretty easy to see this going on.

What I find interesting is the second case. Basically, God is saying to Cain, "If you don't change, you and sin will have a marriage relationship, with the accompanying struggle. You must live with it, and you have to exert your will over it." Cain ended up killing his brother - so he decided to get married to sin.

I think God is indicating that some sin is a one-way trip. If we go down certain roads, we can't come back the same. After Cain kills Abel, God tries to start a dialog with him, but Cain will have nothing to do with it - he has chosen his path. This is hugely negative outcome with no "happy ending", and serves as a warning.

On the positive side, I think God wants a "desire and rule" relationship with us: our desire is to be for Him, and He is to rule over us. This is what we were made for...

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.