Genesis 4:1-7.
Cain was the first born son of Adam and Eve. Their next son was a boy whom they named Abel. As they grew up both took responsibilities for making a living and Abel, took care of the sheep. Cain, on the other hand became a farmer. Cain's name meant "Smith or Spear,"(1) Abel's name meant "breath."(2) Both brothers in the space of time began to offer sacrifices unto God. Cain, being a farmer offered the produce of his fields, and Abel offered the first born sheep with its fat. God had respect for the offering of Abel but rejected the offering of Cain. Several questions arise. One is why did they began to sacrifice and another is why did God not accept both offerings?
First, why did they sacrifice? God, in Chapter 3:21, had shown Adam and Eve, that their covering of fig leaves of which they had made did not cover their nakedness. A spiritual truth was implied that they very well understood. God was showing them that only He could truly cover their nakedness. Their nakedness was representative their sin that was the result of their disobedience. God in making the covering was saying their action of making fig leaves was inadequate. The fact God killed animals and made clothes for them from the skins taught that the covering of their sin could only be accomplished by the shedding of blood. Hebrews 9:22, states, " . . .without the shedding of blood is no remission."
We can assume, Adam and Eve, fully understood these things and taught them to their children or that God told them directly. That also is possible. After Cain killed Abel, God spoke to him and questioned him concerning the whereabouts of his brother.
The next question is why was one offering accepted and one was not? Was it because Abel's offering was a slain first born lamb and Cain's was plants or was their another reason? Charles Ryrie, states it was because of Cain's attitude of unbelief that displeased God and that a bloodless offering of the fruit of the ground was appropriate. He notes that in Leviticus 2:1,4, God accepted the offering of grain and oil.(3)
Henry Morris, concludes God had instructed them to sacrifice and told them how. He believes that God instructed them to sacrifice a first born lamb and that Abel obeyed. Cain after first following the Lord's instructions in time rebelled and began to offer plants he had grown of his efforts.(4) This is most probably the way it was.
Two things are clear from the Scriptures, Cain's heart was not right in that envy and jealousy were present resulting in his finally murdering his brother. Cain must have understood why God rejected his offering and he became hot with anger and deeply depressed. God made the effort to reach out to Cain, and questioned him why was he so angry. God promises to accept Cain's offering "if he does well." (Gen. 4:7) That means if he does what is right and obeys God. God also makes it clear if he did not, then "sin lies at the door" (sin is present).
The KJV, renders the last of the verse, "And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." The New KJV, more clearly translates the verse, "And its desire (meaning sin's desire) is for you, but you should rule over it."
God was telling Cain, that sin's desire, referring to the carnal nature of man to sin, wanted to rule in Cain's life. Cain should then exercise discipline and not let sin take charge and rule his life. Cain, uneffected by God's reaching out to him, then talked with Abel, seemly luring him into the field, and then rose up and killed his brother. Cain's rebellious heart full of the sin of jealousy and hate, grew until he being, total consumed by it, murdered Abel. How true is Romans 6:23a " . . .the wages of sin is death." Sin allowed to grow, not dealt with, not confessed grows as a cancer until it breaks out and takes control. Sin nipped in the bud and confessed cannot grow. A should person take charge to rule over his life and determine by God's strength to do what is right. He should recognize sin's destructive nature and by confession and discipline over come it.
Yet, Cain, willfully, would not heed God's instruction. Can we see also that Cain's sin was not just of danger to himself? Sin effects not only the person to whom it controls, but causes its destructive forces effect others also. Most times it is innocent victims who suffer because of the sins of others.
The parent who does not obey God's clear command to teach their Children the love and respect for God, who set bad examples. They harm their children in not providing a good example. The sin of the parent will effect the child. Untold is the number of parents who believed in God, whose children reject Christ! Many fail to teach their child to love God by instructing them in the Bible and by living a Godly life before them. This is not always the cause, but a lack of teaching many times will result in the child going the way of the world..
How many lives does the professing Christian who practices sins effect? How many Christians refuse to obey God. Their failure causes others who other wise could be won to the Lord to never see or understand the wonderful salvation God offers.
Your sin, no matter how private, will effect others around you. How true is Genesis 4:7? Sin tries to rule over us, yet God says we can in Christ overcome it and not let it ruin our lives.
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
God's provision for us today is clear: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us {our} sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1John 1:9)
When God confronted Cain with what he had done, He ask, "Where is Abel your brother?" Cain's reply was a question also, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Are we our brother's keeper? Surely we are! We live our lives in close relation to our family, neighbors, friends, and even people we only casually meet. We responsible for how we treat them. Jesus said the second greatest commandment was: "And the second {is} like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. . ." (Matthew 22:39) Sin is a selfish thing, which sets us at odds with those around us. Jesus said we are responsible to love our neighbor, to care for those around us, and in that sense we are in God's eyes our brothers keeper.
What Cain did in secret, luring his brother into the field and supposedly out of sight clealy was seen of God. There are no secret sins. God knows and sees all things. Cain tried to deny his actions, but judgment will always come those who sin.
God confronted Cain directly, "the voice of your brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." In other words, the act of murder must be judged and justice done. Standing guilty before God, without any remorse or confession, Cain was judged of God and the sentence pronounced.
The curse or judgment on Cain was two fold.
1. The ground Cain had tilled would no longer yield fruit for him.
2. Cain would be a fugitive and a vagabond (wanderer) on earth.
Cain's response was that God had judged him too harshly and he could not bear the sentence. In response, God showed mercy in that He decreed that if anyone were to slay Cain, God would judge him seven times more than he had Cain.
God then gave Cain a sign, not a mark, to show him of God's protection. The Hebrew word used here is
"oth" that means "sign" not "mark." There was no outward mark on Cain. It is absolutely false to say the mark of
Cain was that God changed his color to black and that being black is the "mark of Cain." God does not say what
the sign was and to try to link race with this sign is a violation of every rule of Biblical interpretation! Also, there
were no races on earth until after the Flood. This will be explained later in this study.
Click here to read my article titled "The Origin of Race."
God's says that after this Cain went from the presence of the Lord and founded a city in the land of Nod. Cain left God. Cain's response to the God's instructions was to rebel. His response was to reject God's attempt at reconcilation. Cain's way was to continue down the path that leads to destruction and he then murdered his brother. Then under the chasing of God and God showing mercy even in this, Cain's response was to turn from God and leave God's presence. So Cain went and founded a city in a distant land, dedicated to the rejection of God.
Where was Nod? The Bible says it was east of Eden. We must remember that there is no way to place it on a map today because the earth being destroyed by the Flood was totally changed. Today, even archaeology, finds little evidence of the pre-flood world. This indicates how utterly was the destruction on earth.
Cain's first born son was named Enoch, and his father named the city after him.
The most asked question in the world concerning the Bible is probably, "Where did Cain get his wife? The answer is obvious. If Adam and Eve, were the first man and woman, and Eve was the mother of all living, then Cain married his sister. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." (Genesis 3:20). Genesis 5:4, states that Adam, begat other sons and daughters.
Many have asked, would that not have caused their offspring to be retarded or deformed as we see today when brothers marry sisters or close kin? The answer is no. An understanding of genetics helps to clarify the matter. Briefly, in Adam's gene pool was the potential of creating all traits found in man today. As generation, after generation was born the gene pools of Adam's off spring narrowed. After the Flood, Noah's three sons went out into the world in three geographic directions and isolation occurred. Thus after each generation was born, gene pool narrowing coupled with insolation from other peoples, caused the available genes to lesson and this inflenced man's characteristics. Also, because of sin man's genes were effected and this caused deformities. These two factors today, namely a smaller gene pool, and the present of bad genes causes children of close relatives to be possibly deformed in some way. (This will be covered more in Genesis 9, when we discuss where the races came from).
Within these passages we find the genealogy of Cain. His off spring is named and some information about some of them is included. In fifth generation of men, who did not worship God, Lamech was born and he began to practice polygamy. This is a further example of how sin works. The clear example of God's plan for man was monogamy (one wife, one husband). Adam and Eve were still living and so knowledge of God's plan for marriage was understood. Yet, sin allowed to reign pollutes. Lamech, Cain's offspring with no regard for how God created and set up the human relationship of marriage, took two wives. It was not right then nor was it ever right. It was contrary to God's plan and never brought any good.
One of Lamech's wives had a son named Jabal, and he was the father the nomads who tended cattle. Jubal, was the brother of Jabal, and he was the father of musicians, inventing the lyre and the flute (harp and organ). Lamech's other wife Zillah had a son who invented the use of brass and iron.
Henry Morris, notes the efforts of Cain's sons to thwart the effects of God's curse.(5)
1. Urban life was preferred by many who inhabited cities instead of tilling the ground.
2. Nomadic life was preferred by others, instead of staying in one place as agriculture would require.
3. Cattle raising was inaugurated, probably because meat eaters not being content to eat plants. This also Was in disobedience to God.
4. Metal working and tools were developed to ease the toil of the curse.
5. Musical instruments were devised to mitigate the sorrow of life. 6. Polygamy was introduced, instead of following God's stated plan for man.
7. Metallic weapons were invented to give those who possessed them greater advantage over other men.
8. Poetic boasting, as noted in Lamech's song is often characteristic of human poetry and writing asserting man's self-sufficiency and independence of God. (Good example Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way")
Lamech, Cain's son, boasts that he "killed a man for wounding me, and a young man for injuring me." Lamech by his actions set the stage and murder appears to have become an accepted way of life and there were no laws to govern it. Lamech's boast illustrates this. Lamech the mocked God. He stated that God had promised seven fold vengeance on those who would harm Cain, but he, the mighty Lamech, would vent his anger seventy times seventy on anyone who would try to avenge the murder he had committed. The strong ruled by the force of their weapons. Note the state of digression of men in this account. In Genesis 6:5, God states that man's wickedness had become great, and he did whatever he wanted to do. It shows the utter disregard of the Cainites of any morals and their total selfish way of life.
By rejecting God, Cain had fathered generation after generation of lawless men who as their father also rejected God.
When Seth was born, Eve understood that he would replace Abel. Abel was a man who loved and obeyed God and with his death the ungodly line of Cain only existed. Now Seth was born and he would be a man who loved God. Seth had a son also named Enos, and the Bible says that then men again began to call upon the name of God.
The acts of sin at times makes it appear the work of God is not being done. At times there seems to be no one who loves God and seeks to worship and follow Him. Yet, God will not leave himself without a witness. It is well to understand also that for a brief time it seemed the promise of God to Eve was not to be. Her seed was promiced to bruise the head of the serpent, and by that undo the wrong of bringing sin into the world. Therefore when Seth was born she knew God's plan and promise was to be fulfilled in the line of Seth. Abraham, was a descendent of Seth, and from him came the nation of Israel and ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ. The earth was still under the curse of sin, yet God's plan to provide a Savior was proceeding.
END NOTES
1. The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, Merrill F. Unger, Moody Press,
Chicago, 1988, pg 192.
2. Ungers, pg 3.
3. Ryrie, pg 12.
4. Morris, pg 137.
5. Morris, pg 147