Cain & Abel Series

• God in essence uses the very item that blasphemed Him as a curse. The ground from where the insincere offering was made will not again produce an insincere offering for Cain.

• There comes a time when, through a lack of repentance, those things for which we went through the motions with, no longer satisfy or produce the same result.

Verse 12 notes that as a fitting punishment Cain the farmer no longer enjoys the fruit of the ground and is thus by necessity consigned to live as a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Because God owned and occupied the land among his people, it was declared holy in covenant-law, requiring ceremonial provisions; a dead body must be buried by nightfall lest its corpse offend God and defile the land (Deut 21:23). Abel’s corpse is left rotting in the open field. Cain’s expulsion from the tainted land has its later parallel in Israel’s experience of exile ... for choosing to live immorally (e.g., Lev 18:24–28; 26:33–35; Deut 28:64). Cain’s sentence adds to the alienation between man and the ground that has already been introduced in 3:17–18. Underlying these punishments is a principle that recurs throughout Scripture: human sin has a bearing on the fertility of the earth. Whereas God intended humanity to enjoy the earth’s bounty, sin distances people not only from God himself but also from nature (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (58). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.)

In verse 13, Cain laments his condition, but does not ask for forgiveness The context of v. 14 is more in keeping with complaint than request. Cain’s complaint (“you have driven me”) repeats the description in 3:24, where God “drove” (the same verb, gāraš) his parents out of the garden, but Cain adds that he will be left to himself and forgotten by God (“hidden”; cf. the psalmist’s tormenting fear of lonely abandonment by God in Pss 13:1 [2]; 22:1, 24 [2, 25]). Cain protests that his penalty is too harsh. There is a decided difference between his response to God’s decree and that of Adam (cp. 3:20). Cain expresses no inkling of remorse, only self-pity and resentment. That Cain does not receive divine forgiveness is shown by his expulsion “from the LORD’S presence” (v. 16).

• This is the complaint of criminals everywhere. Cain only sees himself. He does not think of what he has done to Abel. And he blames God for being harsh. But Cain was the harsh one. He slew Abel! One of the major problems in our sick society today is that courts are lenient on crime and ignore the suffering of the victims. There is no word of repentance here, for sin makes one selfish; and Cain thought only of his own suffering, not of Abel’s terrible suffering. Cain’s fear of being killed by “whoever finds” him indicates his realization that his crime merited death. Sin brings guilt and fear of judgment (Butler, J. G. (2008). Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis (40–41). Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.).

How does God respond to Cain’s complaint? Verse 15 notes that nothing more than the original sentence (banishment) will occur. Covenant law prohibited personal revenge (Lev 19:18). Reprisal is God’s business. God therefore sets out a warning that "If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." “Seven” as a figure of speech meaning completeness or fullness expresses the certainty and severity of God’s vengeance against a vigilante. The “mark on Cain,” indicates that a “Mark” is the common word for “sign” (ʾōt); the exact nature of the sign or its place on the body (“on Cain”) is unknown.