Today I want to
introduce you to the 3rd member of our chronological bible
study: Her Name is Suzie and she has become such a dear friend to me.
Suzie, Tricia and I all have joined together to lead the ladies of our church
in studying the bible more and more in-depth. I hope you join us as we just
recently started for our 3rd year.
Genesis 4 - Cain and
Abel
(1) The birth of Cain.
Now Adam knew Eve his
wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from
the LORD.”
- And bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD”:
The name Cain basically means, “I’ve got him” or “here he is.” It is
likely Eve thought that Cain was the seed that God promised, the deliverer who
would come from Eve (Genesis 3:15). There is a sense in which Eve said, “I have the man
from the LORD.” Eve thought she held in
her arms the Messiah, the Savior of the whole world, but she really held in her
arms a killer.
(2-5) The birth of Abel
and the offerings of Cain and Abel.
Then she bore again,
this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a
tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain
brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the
firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not
respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance
fell.
- Abel’s name means ‘vanity’: Eccl. refers to vanity
as temporary. It appears that Eve had begun to realize that there would not be
a speedy victory over the serpent.
- Eve’s feeling for each son may have contributed to Cain’s jealous
behavior and attitude. She saw Cain first as a symbol of hope but saw Abel as a symbol
of despair.
- The boys each had a different occupation. Cain
was a farmer while Abel became a shepherd.** Nowhere in the bible does it imply
that one of these occupations is better/worse than the other. Cain’s problem
was not found
in what he did but was within him.
- The LORD respected
Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering: Abel brought an offering of blood (the firstborn of his flock) and Cain brought an offering of vegetation (the fruit of the ground). Many assume that this was the difference between their
offerings, but grain offerings were acceptable before God (Leviticus 2), though
not for an atonement for sin. The writer to the
Hebrews makes it plain why the offering of Abel was accepted and the offering
of Cain was rejected: By faith Abel offered up a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain (Hebrews 11:4). Cain’s offering was the effort of
dead religion, while Abel’s offering was made in faith, in a desire to worship
God in spirit and in truth.
- Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat: This shows Abel’s offering was extra special. The fat of
the animal was prized as its “luxury,” and was to be given to God when the
animal was sacrificed (Leviticus 3:16-17; 7:23-25). The burning of fat in
sacrifice before God is called a sweet aroma to the LORD (Leviticus 17:6). The offering of Cain was
no doubt more aesthetically pleasing; Abel’s would have been a bloody mess. But
God was more concerned with faith in the heart than with artistic beauty.Here, it is one lamb for
a man. Later, at the Passover, it will be one lamb for a family. Then, at the
Day of Atonement, it was one lamb for the nation. Finally, with Jesus, there
was one Lamb who takes away the sin of the whole world (John 1:29).
- Respected . . . did not respect: We don’t precisely
know how Can and Abel knew their sacrifices were accepted or not accepted.
Seemingly, there was some outward evidence making it obvious.There are Biblical
examples of having an acceptable sacrifice consumed by fire from God (Judges
6:21; 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1). Perhaps an
acceptable sacrifice, brought to the cherubim at the tree of life, was consumed
by fire from heaven or from the flaming swords of the cherubim (Genesis 3:24).
- Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell: Cain’s anger was undoubtedly rooted in pride. He couldn’t bear
that his brother was accepted before God and he was not. It is even possible
that this was public knowledge, if God consuming the sacrifice with fire
indicated acceptance.The epidemic of sin is
quickly becoming worse. Cain now commits the rather sophisticated sins of
spiritual pride and hypocrisy.
(6-7) God’s warning to
Cain.
So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you
angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be
accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is
for you, but you should rule over it.”
- Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? God dealt with Cain in terms of loving confrontation instead
of automatic affirmation. He made it clear that he would be accepted if he
did well.
- If you do not do well, sin lies at the door:
God warned Cain about the destructive power of sin. Cain can resist sin and
find blessing, or he can give in to sin and be devoured.
- And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it: We prevent sin from ruling over us by allowing God to master us
first. Without God as our master, we will be slaves to sin.
(8) Cain murders Abel.
Now Cain talked with
Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain
rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
- Now Cain talked with Abel his brother:
The sense is that Cain planned to catch Abel by surprise, lulling him with
pleasant conversation. This shows that Cain committed premeditated murder,
and therefore clearly ignored God’s way of escape.
- Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him: No human had ever died or been killed before, but Cain saw how
animals were be killed for sacrifice. He extinguished Abel’s life in the same
way. The downward course of
sin has progressed quickly. Now the hoped-for redeemer is a murderer, and the
second son is the victim of murder. Sin wasn’t “nipped in the bud,” and it
could not be contained.
(9) God questions Cain.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel
your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
- Where is Abel your brother: God knew the answer to
this question. He asked Cain because He wanted to give him the opportunity to
confess his sin and start to do right after doing wrong. How futile it was for
Cain to lie to God! It was madness for him to think God didn’t know where Abel
was, or that he could actually hide his sin from God.
- Am I my brother’s keeper? This reply of Cain
is famous. The fact of the matter is that he was supposed to
be his brother’s keeper, but was instead his brother’s murderer, and he
murdered him for the lowest of reasons. Able had not injured Cain in any way.
Cain’s murderous rage was inspired purely by a spiritual jealousy.Jude 11 warns of the way of
Cain, which is unbelief, empty religion leading to jealousy, persecution of
those truly godly, and murderous anger. There is no greater
curse on the earth than empty, vain religion, those who have a form of
godliness, but deny the power of God (2 Timothy 3:5). Many are deathly
afraid of “secular humanism” or atheism, but dead religion sends more people to
hell than anything else.
(10-12) God’s curse upon
Cain.
And He said, “What have
you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So
now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your
brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer
yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
- The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground: The idea of blood crying out to God from the ground is repeated
in the Bible. Numbers 35:29-34 describes how the blood of unpunished murderers
defiles the land. The blood of Abel spoke,
and it spoke of judgment. The blood of Jesus also speaks, but of better things,
of grace and of sin having been judged (Hebrews 12:24).
- So now you are cursed from the earth: The curse upon Cain
was that Adam’s curse would be amplified in regard to him. If bringing forth
food from the earth would be hard for Adam (Genesis 3:17-18), it would be
impossible for Cain (who was a farmer). If Adam were driven from Eden (Genesis
3:24), Cain would find no resting-place on all the earth (a fugitive and a vagabond you shall be
on the earth).
(13-15) Cain complains
of the severity of God’s judgment.
And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I
can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I
shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the
earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” And the LORD said to him, “Therefore,
whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone
finding him should kill him.
- My punishment is greater than I can bear! Cain
didn’t feel bad about his sin, but only about his punishment. Many are like
him.
- Whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold: As significant as God’s judgment against Cain was, God did not
want Cain killed by others. This is possibly because the population of the
earth was precariously low anyway.
- The LORD set a
mark on Cain: Therefore, God set an identifying and
protective mark upon Cain. Despite the speculation of some, nobody really knows
what this mark upon Cain was.
(16-17) Cain moves away
and marries.
Then Cain went out from
the presence of the LORD and
dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she
conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city
after the name of his son; Enoch.
- And Cain knew his wife: We don’t know where
did Cain got his wife. Genesis 5:4 says Adam had several sons and daughters.
Cain obviously married his sister. Though marrying a sister was against the law
of God according to Leviticus 18:9, 18:11, 20:17, and Deuteronomy 27:22 (which
even prohibits the marrying of a half-sister), this was long before God spoke
that law to Moses and the world.
- Here, necessity demanded
that Adam’s sons marry his daughters. And at this point, the “gene pool” of
humanity was pure enough to allow close marriage without harm of inbreeding.
But as a stream can get more polluted the further it gets from the source,
there came a time when God decreed there no longer be marriage between close
relatives because of the danger of inbreeding.
(18-22) The generations
following Cain.
To Enoch was born Irad;
and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot
Lamech. Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and
the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of
those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He
was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she
also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And
the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
- To Enoch was born Irad: The picture is one of
rapid advancement. Succeeding generations quickly made progress in areas such
as the founding of a city (Genesis 4:17), home building, music and the arts,
and metalworking. The idea that mankind
actually advanced very quickly goes against most modern theories, but
archaeology can only evaluate on the basis of what is preserved, and thus is
rather speculative.
- Lamech took for himself two wives: Lamech was the
first bigamist in history, going against
God’s original plan for one man and one
woman to become one flesh (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4-8).
(23-24) Lamech’s
chest-thumping boast.
Then Lamech said to his
wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If
Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
- I have killed a man for wounding me: The way Lamech boasts
about his murder of another, and the way he believes he can promise a greater
retribution than God, shows a progressive degeneracy among humanity. Things are
going downhill fast, a true devolution.
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