FIRSTS

It's a good exercise to look at the opening chapters of Genesis with fresh eyes, taking notes of the various "firsts" in human history and more specifically with human interaction with God as recorded there. 

Our theologies tend to put a huge emphasis on the first sin - Adam and Eve's disobedience in eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And certainly that was the beginning point of sin and death, but it is curious that the Bible itself does not revisit the scene of the crime outside of one reference in the Old Testament (in Job) and three in the New Testament.

It's possible other firsts are just as important or of even greater relative importance.

The first blessing by God is in 1:22 and is directed towards fish and birds! Human beings are second in line, in verse 1:28, followed closely by the Sabbath day in 2:3

The first talk of marriage is in 2:24 and the first birth takes place - outside the garden - in 4:1.

The first animal sacrifice to God is in 4:4.

The first mention of blood is Abel's and it cries out to God in 4:10.

The first city is built by Cain in 4:17.

The first mention of righteousness is in 6:9 and belongs to Noah.

The first covenant is with Noah and is mentioned in 6:18. 

The first use of the word clean is in 7:2 and applied to animals entering the ark.

The first mention of slavery is in 9:25 when Noah curses Canaan. 

All of these firsts should make the absence of one major theme of the Old Testament all that much more noticeable. But I had never noticed before that before the Tower of Babel incident there is zero talk of the worship of false gods. 

In the early chapters of Genesis, people either walked with God or they rebelled against God. You never see them chasing after some other sort of deity. 

Even after the nations are scattered with different languages, the false gods do not suddenly appear. 

This observation would fit with the interpretation of Deuteronomy 32 that has God disinheriting the nations and giving the lesser divine beings dominion over them. Apparently, over time, some of those being fell to the temptation of having human beings worship them and their power.