Parallels

I was reading Genesis 3 and 4 today. I found some parallels that I have never noticed before:

Have you ever noticed that the Eden story and the Cain and Abel story are structured very much the same? God gives a command, which is disobeyed. God confronts his children, who try to justify their disobedience. The children (or child) are banished.

Cain was sent to Nod, which is east of Eden. My study bible told me that Nod was not really a place. Nod is a word for wilderness; desert -- a place devoid of God. That sentence brought to mind another parallel. The word wilderness made me think of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. I wonder if it was a place devoid of God. I wonder if the experience was a way to walk the path that we sinners walk -- the path that Cain walked. It was a journey that would culminate on a cross -- a path we should have taken.

Image: Fog on a hillside on the way to work.