Genesis 4: 1 – 15
They were mean to me
4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell 6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 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.” 8 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. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 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.” 13 And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 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.” 15 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.
Today we read about the first murder. It involved a man killing his brother. Fratricide (from the Latin words frater "brother" and cida "killer," or cidum "a killing," both from caedere "to kill, to cut down") is the act of killing one's brother. In today’s descriptions the victim need not be the perpetrator's biological brother. In a military context, fratricide refers to a service member killing a comrade.
I love history and not coincidentally I came across a military massacre on the History Channel that was committed against Americans by NAZI SS troops during the battle of the Bulge which occurred around this time over 70 years ago right before Christmas time.
You cannot keep horrible things that you do under wraps. In 1944 the German army did a surprise offensive action against the American forces. The SS forces were led by a Hitler radical by the name of Joachim Peiper. Hitler had instructed him and his military commander Sepp Dietrich to break the Allied front in Belgium.. They were to move speedily because supplies were in short amount. They were to take no prisoners.
Peiper’s unit captured about 120 of US Soldiers from the 285th field artillery unit observation battalion. Peiper’s soldiers kept these men in an open field. A few transport trucks arrived at the field and the US soldiers at first thought that they were going to get on the trucks for transport to a prison camp. Instead the trucks backed up and when the rear tarp was opened the NAZI’s preceded to machine gun down the US soldiers. Some escaped to later testify about this massacre. A week later the frozen bodies of the slain were identified with a total of 85 innocent prisoners gunned down by the NAZI’s
Ultimately Peiper and those German soldiers who managed to stay alive through the war were captured and put on trial. Many received the death sentence including Peiper for their participation in this atrocity.
The reason I share this story with you is because of our study today. What caught my attention in the TV documentary was the fact that I witnessed the killer Peiper complain to US military reporters that the US army personnel were ‘mean’ to him. A few times he didn’t get a meal and proper treatment of an officer. Man what nerve. Today we are going to look at another whiner. His name is Cain. He will kill his brother and after being found out he also will complain that he was not treated properly. Amazing!
4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
The account of Cain and Abel was very suitable for the purpose of following chapter 3, for Cain’s occupation caused him to wrestle with ‘the thorns and the thistles’, the wrestling with which was the consequence of the curse (3.18), whilst Abel as a caretaker of flocks was able to provide the coats of skins with which man now covered himself (3.21).
Cain’ - ‘qayin’ - later means a spear. It may be that his parents were hoping he would be a hunter to bring meat to the family and that the original word translated qayin meant a throwing instrument of some kind. Instead he becomes a hunter of men. It is interesting to me that we will see in the upcoming chapter a guy by the name of Nimrod, which you will see was also a hunter of men. He bullied and killed his way to dominance over people.
Abel was a keeper of ‘sheep’ So God in His mercy had made available in the area animals that were not difficult to hunt down and were mainly placid. This raises interesting questions which were of no concern to the writer. Does this mean sheep and goats were eaten at this stage?
Hebel’ - ‘Abel’ - could mean a ‘breath’ or ‘vapor’, indicating man’s frailty and unconsciously prophetic of the fact that he will have his life cut off before it is fully developed. It is often used to suggest the brevity of human life.
‘Cain was a worker of the ground.’ We avoid the word ‘till’ as being too advanced, but some kind of primitive assisting of ‘herbs of the field’ is in mind, possibly by tearing away the thorns and thistles, although it may only have in mind just gathering the edible plants. Thus man is fulfilling his functions to have dominion over the animals (1.28) and to ‘work’ the ground (3.17-19), and is having to wrestle with the thorns and the thistles, something unknown in Eden where all the food came from trees which were self-producing.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering.
Adam and Eve had witnessed personally the horror of killing of innocent domesticated animals such as sheep, goats, and cattle by God in order to provide clothing for them. We also can surmise that our Lord had prescribed to them the proper way in which they could come and approach Him. In the book of Hebrew chapter 9 we read this,” And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
So, the requirement to approach God is to be purified by the shedding of innocent blood. A substitute had to offer its life and blood for a human to have temporary remission of their sins.
We need to stop and ponder this fact. Cain could have bargained with his brother Abel for a lamb in order to make an offering to our Holy God. He wouldn’t do that but felt that all his labor in his occupation should be accepted by God. We will see that though Cain would not go to the effort of obtaining a sacrificial animal per God’s way, He will later in his rage kill a human being and shed his blood not as an offering but as a murder. Do you see the significance here?
And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell
Cain was clearly extremely furious (the description is powerful), and the more he thought about it the more the anger showed on his face.
6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 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.”
Are you a person that on most occasions at work that you experience that no matter what you do it is not appreciated? You look around and the ‘kisser up’ person does less work and less quality that you do yet this person is praised by his boss as an outstanding person and worker?
I think Cain focused on the words from Adoni Yahweh, ‘you’re not doing well. If you do better than come and see Me.’ there was something wrong with Cain’s attitude and behavior. Cain’s very failure to feel good was, as God reminds him, because of his own behavior. Thus he is promised that joy will return with obedience.
If he would but behave and do things properly, then his offering would be accepted, and he would prosper. But if he continued as he was, then sin, which sat couching outside his tent like a wild animal waiting for its prey (a vivid picture), would seize him and carry him off.
Right from the start then we learn that ‘to obey is better than sacrifice’ (1 Samuel 15.22). But Cain let his grievance fester in his heart until finally he came to his ultimate decision, and allowed sin to ‘carry him off’. What an important lesson there is here for us. If we allow a grievance to fester in our hearts, who knows what it can lead to?
8 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.
As I mentioned previously that Cain could have negotiated with Able to trade crops for an animal. This is possible since we now see that the two brothers are out in Cain’s field. Perhaps he is showing Able what he can choose if he trades him crop for a lamb.
Somehow the conversation or negotiation did not go well and Cain’s anger went to rage against his brother.
In his pent up anger he killed his brother Did he in his blind fury even see Abel’s blood as a viciously conceived alternative ‘sacrifice’ basically saying to God ‘if you want blood, here it is’? Whatever his reason, for the first time of which we have a record a man’s blood is shed by his fellow kinsman. The eating of the fruit in Eden has indeed produced bitter fruit.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The question parallels the ‘where are you?’ that he said to Cain’s dad Adam. Again God is giving the man an opportunity to express his repentance. Cain’s reply demonstrates how far he has fallen. Unlike Adam and Eve he does not run to hide. He tries to brazen it out. ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s guardian?’ There is little remorse and something surly and unfeeling in what he says and the way he says it. The answer to his own question should, of course, be ‘yes’. But his use of the term ‘keeper’ demonstrates his sense his rebellious position. In a way he is sinfully telling our Holy Creator off.
There is possibly here an ironic reference to Abel’s profession. As though he was saying, ‘Abel is the shepherd, not me, I work the ground.’ To which God replies. ‘Yes, Abel’s blood cries out to me from the ground that you work’. He responds, Sure the one who you love so much is a keeper of animals. You want to thrown on me the responsibility to be his keeper?’
10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
The plural for blood is intensive, referring to shed blood. It may also vividly suggest the different rivulets of blood that are staining the ground, sown by the ‘worker of the ground’. It is not said to be the dead body that cries out, but the blood soaking the ground. Is this ironically seen as Cain’s latest ‘offering’ of his fruits? And it is an offering of blood. By these words God makes clear that nothing is hidden from Him. Even the blood of a victim cries to Him in a loud voice, for the blood is the life, and the life belongs to him (Deuteronomy 12.23).
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 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.”
What dreadful seed Cain has sown, and what dreadful consequences it will bring. Cain will no longer be able even to ‘work the ground’, that pitiful alternative to the fruit of the garden. He will be driven out into the desert to survive as he can. So as man’s sin grows, so do the benefits he receives from God decrease? Please take note that it is Cain who is cursed directly in contrast with the curse on the ground in chapter 3. And the curse lies in the fact that he can no longer work the ground. Instead he will wander in the desert (he will be in the land of Nod - the land of wandering).
Cain is to be banished to a place where the ground is totally unfruitful, driven as a consequence of his own sin. There will be nowhere for him to go, for his blood will be sought by the whole family of men. The only safe place will be the ‘land of wandering (nod)’, the desert where nothing can be grown and a man must be constantly on the move in order to find food and water. This is confirmation that there are many children of Adam and Eve by this time.
When we started this study I spoke about the evil murderer Joachim Peiper. I didn’t tell you the ultimate ending of his life. You might have thought that he was hung by the Allied forces. In truth he was given the death sentence by hanging but the worthless judges who never served in the front lines changed his sentence to life. After 11 years they let him out and he moved to France. There was a group called the ‘Avengers’ who found him and dealt with what they considered improper justice. He was at a later time found dead in his burnt down home.
13 And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!
Cain can only think of the consequences for himself of his sin. Here is one who defies the Lord Most High to His face then when he realizes the consequences doesn’t like the judgment on him. There is no repentance, no sadness on killing his brother, only regret over what he has lost. How can he cope with a life of loneliness and wandering being ever afraid of every kinsman he meets? He knows that he will be living in terror and that he will be hunted down in vengeance.
14 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.”
He has lost his two most treasured possessions. The ‘face of the ground’ ‘refers to cultivable ground, in contrast with the barren ground on which he must now live on which he has labored, which has been his interest and has mainly looked kindly on him, and the face of God which has meant protection. Now his food has gone and his protection has gone. God will not look when men seek him out and kill him. He must for ever avoid the places where men dwell for fear of what they will do, for God will not watch over him or take account of his death.
Cain has slain a member of a family and knows that the family will not rest until he too is dead. Even at this stage ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’, man’s natural sense of what is just and right, applies. But notice how he blames God. It is as though God is to blame for all that he faces, when it is mainly the consequence of his own wrongdoing. He shows not a bit of regret or sorrow for what he has done, he only regrets what it will mean for his future. How typical of the natural man in his approach to God.
15 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.
Please note that these words are in the form of a pronouncement. Cain is mentioned in the third person and not as ‘you’. Our Lord makes a proclamation which somehow His word is distributed amongst other living relatives.
Also take notice the reference to ‘sevenfold’. In antiquity seven meant uniquely the number of divine perfection and completeness. Sevenfold vengeance was the totality of divine retribution. Thus total retribution would come on anyone who slew Cain. So in exacting His justice, God yet again shows mercy. In the end it is He who will determine the sentence on Cain, and no one else.
It is of no avail to discuss what kind of mark it was for we can never know. But it must have been something that was quite distinctive, possibly some distortion of the features or disease of the flesh, brought on by guilt, or possibly his hair went white or fell out through the greatness of his stress, but whatever it was, it was something that men would recognize and defer to. When they found him they would back away, for they would acknowledge the mark of God (this would suggest something very unpleasant or awe inspiring to others).
