“Genesis 4:9-15”

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.’ Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear! Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ So the Lord said to him, ‘Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Where is your brother Abel.” (verse 9) As He did when He asked Adam where he was (Genesis 3:9), so the Lord asked Cain concerning the whereabouts of his brother. In both cases the questions were not asked to elicit physical locations but to reveal spiritual conditions of the heart. Both Adam and His murderous son failed the test. Neither confessed with remorseful, godly sorrow, and Cain flat out lied—“I do not know.” Just like his dad, Cain thought he could hide from the Lord. He figured he could kill his brother, hide the body and God would be none the wiser.

Denis Prager observed: “Cain could have responded, ‘I killed him. What’s the problem?’ After all, God had not yet told people not to murder, so why did Cain feel he had to lie about what he had done? The implication in Cain’s response is that he knew that what he did was wrong… the human being has an inner voice—the conscience—that can perceive the difference between right and wrong. Clearly, however, conscience is not good enough for good to prevail in the world. It didn’t work for Cain…and it hasn’t worked much since.”

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” What a brash and shameful thing to say to the God of all life and love and benevolence. Especially after playing God by taking a precious life that only the Creator had the right to rule over. Maybe he was thinking of how his brother was “a keeper of flocks” (verse 2), and still stewing over God's delight in Abel's sacrifice, he scorned the Lord in his sarcasm for playing favorites. But, actually Cain convicted himself with his own, cold words. All human beings should view themselves as their brothers' protectors. It is true that no one is solely responsible for the health and safety of another full-grown, capable adult, but we deny our Maker when we selfishly and exclusively pursue our own personal interests to the neglect of the wellbeing of our brothers and sisters in the human family. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:3-5)

“What have you done?” (verse 10) Not a question but an exclamation of shock and disgust! “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.” Nahum Sarna notes that the stem of the Hebrw word for “crying” has legal significance, and “connotes a plea for help or redress on the part of the victim of some great injustice.” James Burton Coffman made some keen observations about what the blood of Abel says as it figuratively cries out from the ground, and as Abel continues to “speak” through his faith:

“What does the blood of Abel Say? “Abel...he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4).

1. The blood of Abel says that God will one day avenge the crimes perpetrated against the innocent (Romans 12:19).
2. The blood of Abel says that the righteous are hated without cause (1 John 3:11-13).
3. The blood of Abel says that it DOES make a difference how men worship Almighty God.
4. The blood of Abel says that faith is the only key to winning approval of God (Hebrews 11:6).
5. The blood of Abel says that the only righteousness is in obeying the Word of the Lord (Romans 1:16, 17).”

Nahum Sarna commented on Cain's punishment recorded in verses 11-12: “A breach of moral law inevitably sets in motion countervailing forces that must ultimately prevail because they are sustained by God Himself. Cain, tiller of the soil, whose criminal act was the outcome of his offering the fruits of the soil, stained the earth with his brother's blood. It is fitting, then, that the earth be the instrument of his punishment. It will no longer yield him its produce, and so he can no longer pursue his vocation. He must perforce become a vagrant and an outcast.”

“My punishment is too great to bear!” (verse 13) Still no remorse. Still no acknowledgment of his wrong doing. Still no recognition of appropriate justice administered. As is typical of calculating, calloused criminals when faced with their just desserts, Cain complained that, “It's just not fair!” Cain lamented to the Lord in verse 14 that as a vagrant on the earth and isolated from God's protection, someone would likely seek him out and avenge his brother's blood. This, of course, would be another sibling or cousin avenging the death of a righteous relative.

Surprisingly the Lord responded with mercy and not further reprimand. God promised that He would “appoint a sign” or a “mark” for Cain to announce to the world that he possessed a protected status. Whether it was some external mark or aura or even some sort of signal that Cain would give to ward off a possible assailant, we are simply not told. But somehow God made it conspicuous to Cain's contemporaries.

Please read Genesis 4:16-25 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

- Louie Taylor

Share