Treasures New and Old

Treasures New and Old

Genesis: Chapter Four: Cain and Abel

This month we will look at Genesis, Chapter 4. Adam and Eve are now living somewhere outside of the Garden of Eden. I would like to note that, obviously, we are not told everything that has happened, just the important highlights. The Holy Spirit directs the author of the Book of Genesis to write those things that we need to know.  What foods did they eat? Did they have houses built by this time? Live in caves? These are not the points God wanted us to understand, but those He did want us to know are captured in the text.

General Outline:

  • The birth of Cain and Abel (4:1-4:7)
  • The murder of Abel (4:8)
  • The curse of Cain (4:9-4:15)
  • A short genealogy (4:14-4:18) (not the line of Christ)
  • Lamech and his two wives (4:19-4:24)
  • Birth of Seth and Enos (4:25-4:26)

The First Murder

Genesis 4:1-5: “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

Eve is now bearing children. The first two are males named Cain and Abel. Cain was the oldest and became a farmer. Abel was a shepherd. This implies that Adam and Eve raised the animals for their milk and wool. Also, we note that Abel gives a sacrifice to the Lord of a slain sheep. He has learned well the the lesson that sin requires a sacrifice of blood. He listened to and harkened to his parents’ stories about their sin and how God had judged them and had had to shed blood to cover their nakedness.

Cain missed the point. He works in the field tilling the ground and raising crops. Nothing wrong with that career. His mistake is thinking that God wants his labor, his works, to satisfy God’s demand for holiness. But man can never satisfy God with his works. It must be by faith that we please God. Here is the first, albeit simplified, example of man trying to please God with works, works-based salvation if you please. The Bible teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God.

We don’t know exactly now Abel knew that God was pleased with his sacrifice or how Cain knew that his was rejected. But we do know that it was clear to them that Abel’s was accepted and Cain’s was not. Cain is now angry at God. He projects his anger at Abel. Why is my offering not as good as Abel’s? I worked harder than he did! I tilled, weeded, raked, watered, nurtured, and harvested the ground. He just tends to the sheep. Easy peasy! But Cain has not learned the lesson that Abel has, that God demands a blood sacrifice for sin, because sin is such a heinous thing in the eyes of God.

Genesis 4:6-8: “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And 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 slew him.”

God speaks to Cain. Perhaps that is how Abel and Cain knew about their offering being accepted or rejected, God simply told them (my speculation). God challenges Cain in his motives, not his actions. God is able to look on the heart beyond the actions. God is telling Cain that he is in danger of sin because his pride over the work of his hands is what he is trying to offer God.

Interesting statement by God: “And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”

  • This statement by God has been employed before to describe as part of the curse the woman brought upon herself by disobedience which is the forced subjection of her will to that of her husband (Genesis 3:16). The question is, who is the master and who is the servant? To whom do the pronouns his and him refer?
  • If because of sin, then the implication is that the entire submission and service of sin will be yielded to you, Cain, and he will in fact wallow in it. Cain’s case will no longer be a heedless ignorance, but a willful control and giving up of himself of all that comes by sin, and an unavoidable going on from sin to more sin. This is an awful picture of his fatal end of he did not instantly repent.
  • If the pronouns are referring to Abel, the meaning will come to much the same thing – a fatal end. The desire, the forced compliance, of Cain’s brother will be yielded unto Cain, and Cain will rule over Abel with a rigor and a violence that will ultimately terminate in his murder. In violating the image of God by shedding the blood of his brother, Cain denied God’s rule over his life.
  • Note Verse 7 – “and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Best interpretation I have seen was from Adam Clarke, and he said, “Thou shalt ever have the right of primogeniture, and in all things shall thy brother be subject unto thee. These words are not spoken about sin, as many have understood them, but of Abel’s submission to Cain as his superior, and the words are the spoken to remove Cain’s envy.”

So, God was right. Cain grew deeper in sin and in deep anger (towards God perhaps?) and slew his younger brother. How dare Abel be accepted and I – Cain, the one who works hard and is the oldest, be rejected!

God Pronounces Judgement Against Cain’s Sin

Genesis 4:9-15:

And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Clues to Cain’s Sin and His Heart

  • Cain brought the work of his hands.
  • Abel brought a sacrifice of a lamb strongly implying that Adam had conveyed the lesson that blood needs to be split for atonement.
  • I further assume the prophesy of a crushed head and bruised heel was explained so that both boys understood about sin and atonement.
  • How did Cain know his offering was rejected, and how did Abel know his was accepted?
  • Cain was wroth over his rejection. Why? Pride? Did he see it as a rejection of his efforts? Did he not understand that you can’t earn atonement – it costs a life?
  • But Cain’s envy and wrath was not appeased, and he slew his brother.

Some interesting notes:

  • Cain asks a rhetorical question when God asks Him, “Where is Abel thy brother?” “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain wishes to do three things: (1) deflect the absence of Abel and declare himself innocent of watching over his younger brother; (2) he wishes to hide his sin before God; and (3) he hopes that God is not the all-knowing, all-seeing God that he has been taught by his parents. Perhaps he can get away with the murder after all.
  • But God is all-knowing and already knows about the murder. God’s question is equally rhetorical, “What hast thou done?” He already knows. Then God tells Cain something that Cain I bet never thought of – that his brother’s blood cries out to God from the ground for justice. The life is in the blood. Blood reveals all kinds of things about us. We ought to remember this lesson: all the blood shed by sin, wars, murders, hatred, prejudice, etc. cries out to God for justice. In Revelations we see those who were martyred for Christ under the throne asking God “how long before we are avenged?” Their blood speaks to God as well.
  • Cain is then judged by God. (1) The earth is cursed to him; (2) it will no longer yield to him the fruit it once did (this strikes directly to Cain’s pride and salvation by works attitude); (3) Cain was to be a fugitive and a vagabond for the rest of his life, ever traveling, never settling down, always on the run as it were. Never accepted in any one place.
  • This was too much to bear, and Cain cries out for mercy. What does he get? A mark that all can see (perhaps you remember the book The Scarlet Letter when a woman bears a child out of wedlock and has to wear a scarlet letter “A” for adulteress for all to see?).
  • God, then, shows a form of mercy without removing His judgement. Cain will have a mark to warn others of who he is, and anyone who harms him will get seven times the judgement that Cain got.
  • I find it interesting that Cain’s mental attitude is that of fear of what he has done will be done to him. Why? Because that is how a sinner thinks. He thinks everyone thinks like he does.
  • God is talking directly with Cain. In person? Perhaps not, but speaking nonetheless.
  • Both knew somehow what God accepted and what God rejected.
  • Cain was the eldest and, therefore, the future leader. As a result of the curse he received, he lost all of that as he was to now be a vagabond and wanderer with no permanent home. A picture of the spiritually lost.
  • Murder was not against the law as yet. There was no law. However, Cain surely knew it was wrong and didn’t argue with God’s judgment.
  • Cain made an appeal to God not for clemency, but for protection. His heart is still caught up in his anger; he sees others doing to him as he did to Abel. Sinners often believe that others think as they do and act/react accordingly. 2 Samuel 22:27: “With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavory.” Psalm 18:26: “With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.” Proverbs 17:20: “He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.”
  • What was the mark on Cain? The Hebrew does not imply a specific form, scar, tattoo, or red skin on the forehead. It is unknown. It was not that he was turned black and that is where black people come from because only Cain had the mark – not his descendants. It was unique to Cain for protection.

Genesis 4:16-18: “And 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 unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begot Mehujael: and Mehujael begot Methusael: and Methusael begot Lamech.”

  • Where is Nod? Who knows for sure? After Noah’s flood, all the land was changed. Once again, we see the Holy Spirit allowing the human author to identify a place on the earth using a name that existed after the flood to depict a general area before the flood. The terrain was totally changed; therefore, it can only be a guess. It was “east of Eden”, but where was Eden?
  • I looked up several sources, and they all disagree as to the exact location. But all place Nod somewhere in the Middle East around where Iraq and Iran are today.
  • Where did Cain get his wife? “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named his Seth. Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. So, all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died,” (Genesis 5:1-5).
  • The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve had sons and daughters. Where did Cain and any of the sons of Adam get their wives? They married their sisters.

A Look at Lamech

Genesis 4:19-24: “And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.”

  • We are now given a short genealogy of Cain’s family tree. It is short because God is going to concentrate instead on the more important family line, that of Seth.
  • Adam-Cain-Enoch-Irad-Mehujael-Methudsel-Lamech (six generations later, two hundred to three hundred years after Eden). Man is filling the earth.
  • Lamech takes two wives – unusual at this time perhaps?
  • Look at the technology already in place:
    • Cities are built
    • Tents have been made
    • Cattle are domesticated
    • Gold and precious stones are important
    • Brass and iron are forged and used to create things
    • The harp and organ (piped instrument) are in use
    • Lamech slays a man. Apparently, he didn’t know the lad’s name
  • I assume weapons exist by now (brass and iron), at least knives to cut things. Wickedness is now spreading on the earth.
  • Lamech is prideful and thinks that he can declare a judgement on any who would try to harm him just as God pronounced a judgement on any who would harm Cain. Yet Lamech’s declaration is not from God, but is spoken out of arrogance, fear, and pride. Look how he exaggerates his status over Cain’s. Cain seven-fold, but Lamech seventy-seven times! Boastful, fearful, and prideful.
  • Note that these are men of import and may not be the only children of Cain or Lamech, just those God wants us to know about.

A Look at Seth and Enos

Genesis 4:25-26: “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.”

  • Eve saw Seth as Abel’s replacement. We don’t know how far apart these births were. This is her third son and born after Cain slew Abel. They were young men.
  • Assume this act was in parallel with the Cain family descendants – possibly early in Cain’s exile.
  • Daughters could be between the sons.
  • “Call on the name of the Lord” means to call out or preach the good name of the one being preached about – Yahweh. Call out is to preach not pray as some may have supposed.
  • I will also note that all we know about Adam’s other sons and daughters is that they apparently continued marrying and have babies and so on. But of their names and accomplishments we know nothing. We don’t even know how many. Assuming Eve had a child every five years, and assuming she lived as old as Adam, and assuming she had equal number of boys as girls, and assuming she stopped having babies (menopause) at around six hundred years old, she could have easily had as high as one hundred children: fifty boys and fifty girls. We can’t know that, but God did say multiply and fill the earth . . .
  • It is estimated by some that we are some three hundred or so years past the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and we are given to believe that Seth’s line has remained true to following God while Cain’s line has not. What the other sons and daughters and doing we can only guess. But noteworthy is the last phrase in Genesis, Chapter 4:
    • “[T]hen began men to call upon the name of the LORD.”
    • Scholars believe that up until this time God was, perhaps, only referred to as the Creator or some other title. But now, men are worshipping Him by His name. We are not given the pre-flood language name, nor are we given in that language God’s name. So, we are left with understanding that it was His name that is reflected in the text in Hebrew – that of Yahweh.
    • LORD in this verse is Yahweh and, therefore, we will accept what the Holy Spirit has had Moses pen in the Book of Genesis – Yahweh. It is God’s name and the name men began to worship Him by.

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

References

Clarke, A. Adam Clark’s Commentary on the Bible Meyers, R. (2005). e-Sword. [computer software] . Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation. (Original work 1762-1832)

Elkmont Baptist Church