Wednesday: The Punishment of Cain
Read Genesis 4:9-16. Why does God ask the question “Where is Abel your brother?” What is the connection between Cain’s sin and of his becoming “a fugitive and a vagabond … on the earth” (Genesis 4:12, NKJV)?
God’s question to Cain echoes His question to Adam in Eden: “Where are you?” This echo suggests the link between the sin in Eden and this sin now: the latter sin (Cain’s) was the result of the former one (Adam’s).
Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com
Cain, though, will not acknowledge his sin; he denies it, something that Adam didn’t do, even though he tried to put the blame elsewhere. Cain, in contrast, openly defies God, who doesn’t waste any time confronting Cain with his crime. When God asks the third question, “What have you done?” He does not even wait for an answer. He reminds Cain that He knows everything, for the voice of Abel’s blood has reached Him from the ground (Genesis 4:10), an image that signifies that God knows about the murder and will respond to it. Abel is in the ground, a direct link back to the Fall and to what the Lord has said would happen to Adam (see Genesis 3:19).
Read Genesis 4:14. What is the significance of Cain’s words that “I shall be hidden from Your face” (NKJV)?
It is because Abel’s blood was poured on the ground that the ground was now cursed, again (Genesis 4:12). As a result, Cain is then condemned to become a refugee, far from God. Only when Cain heard God’s sentence does he acknowledge the significance of God’s presence; for without it, he fears for his own life. Even after Cain’s cold-blooded murder of his brother and his defiance in the face of it, the Lord still shows mercy to him, and even though “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16, NKJV), the Lord still provided him with some kind of protection. Exactly what that “mark” was (Genesis 4:15), we haven’t been told, but whatever it was, it came only because of God’s grace to him.
| “Hidden from Your face” (Genesis 4:14, NKJV) — what is hidden from the face of God? What a tragic situation for anyone. What is the only way that we, as sinners, can avoid that situation? |
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If only Cain and Abel had got their act together and made up and lived as friends instead of rivals, humanity might not have fallen so far away from God and the history of salvation might have been very different. But as we see the sins of envy and anger and jealousy which led Cain to murder, we need to trust in God’s help to escape those very sins ourselves.
Of course God was not asleep while all those things were happening and Cain attacked and killed his brother. So he asks Cain that vital question.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
God didn’t ask that question to find out the answer. God already knew what had happened. God was watching. God asks him, “Where is your brother Abel?” to give Cain an opportunity to confess his sin and repent and be forgiven. But Cain ignores that opportunity and compounds his sin by lying.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
No sign of repentance there. Cain dodges the question with a feeble joke. How different history might have been if only Cain had taken that God-given opportunity to confess and repent and be forgiven. Instead the lie he chose to tell condemned Cain to bear that guilt and shame forever.
Josiah,"If only Cain and Abel had got their act together and made up and lived as friends instead of rivals, humanity might not have fallen so far away from God and the history of salvation might have been very different."
Can you enlighten me as to why you believe there was animosity, and rivalry between Cain and Abel? What I see is Abel choosing to be obedient to God, Cain chose to not be obedient. They both brought offerings. Abel brought the offering that God required which prefigured his death on the cross to pay our sin debt. Cain's offering did not.
This was between each of them and God not between each other.
My thought is that God 'set', put enmity between the two seeds. Cain had chosen to be rebellious against God, and Abel chose to believe God and want what God wanted. Biblical definitions for set are: put, station. Definitions for enmity: spite, envy, malice, rivalry, internal conflict (the great controversy between God and Satan all over again; or continuing)
A sort of corollary/comparison. God on the first day spent or did only one thing: made the first day. He made light and then divided the light from the dark--the first day. He put something between the two for his purposes. But something was put, stationed, set between the two.
Later, in Heaven, there is no night there.
Another thought, if Cain had learned one thing from his brother it was that God loved Abel, God regarded Abel's offering, God talked to Cain and advised him to/showed him how he could be regarded too.
These ideas above I am sure are not all the reasons for putting the enmity between them, but this I proffer as somewhat of a short comment on the issue. There are larger thoughts regarding.
Samuel, could you clarify your statement that God put enmity between Cain and Able? Do you believe the God caused the enmity or just foretold the enmity? I just don’t see God causing anything negative, but that it is always a result of choices someone makes.
God said at the two people in the trees (Gen 3:15) that He would put enmity between two seeds.
In the murder, Abel represented the Godly seed.
In the murder, Cain represented the Serpent, Satan seed.
The enmity we see throughout the drama of the murder.
Put= Seth, to put or station. See below from Thursday’s editor blog.
Enmity= hostile action, rivalry, internal conflict (think, The Great Controversy)
God also says to Noah, that His Spirit would not always strive with man: both sides of the enmity perhaps included. So even though He has set the enmity there, He also is among the two and striving there.
Additionally, in the end of time God will perform death, and death is a mathematical negative: No life whatsoever.
“Following immediately this episode of evil in the Cainite family, the biblical text records a new event that counters the Cainite trend. “Adam knew his wife” (Genesis 4:25), and the result is the birth of Seth, whose name is given by Eve to indicate that God had put “another seed” in the place of Abel.
In fact, the history of the name Seth precedes Abel. The name Seth is derived from the Hebrew verb ’ashit, “I will put” (Genesis 3:15), which introduces the Messianic prophecy. The Messianic seed will be passed on in the Sethite line….” –From the SSnet Day by Day editor’s blog (Thursday).
Yes,a great question. I didn't precieve the rivalry between Cain and Abel. I understand that the jealousy, envy, etc. was simmering with Cain. May GOD continue to draw each of us ever closer to THEE 🙏❤️🙂
Every story in the Bible is historical, physical reality as well as spiritual symbolism. I'm taking a moment to unpack the symbolism of "Cain's mark" (Gen 4:15). It seems that the mark had at least two purposes for Cain: (1) it protected him from enemies and those who would hurt him and (2) it reminded him always of his sin and how his choice to sin marred him for life. That's the historical reality.
The spiritual symbolism, I think, mirrors these 2 applications. (1) Jesus, too, bore marks on His body for sin (Is. 53:5-6; 1 Peter 2:24). For Cain's sin and for our sin and for all sin that ever was and ever will be. Jesus's scars don't protect Him, because He has never sinned and needs no protection, but they protect US from attacks from our only true Enemy, the Evil One who wants to steal our souls (Eph. 6:12; Matthew 10:28). If and when I exchange my scars caused by sin for Jesus's scars caused by Divine Love (Gal 6:17), I am protected.
(2) Jesus's scars were still there after His resurrection (John 20:20,27; Luke 24:39-40) and Scripture indicates that the Slain Lamb's scars will always be there throughout eternity (Rev. 5:6,12; Rev. 7:14; Rev. 12:11; Rev. 13:8; Rev. 21:27). Sin won't resurface because we will always see the reminder that the endpoint of sin is death (Rom 6:23). We will ALWAYS be reminded that Jesus is our fully human and fully divine elder brother (Heb. 2:17) who died in our place. We will ALWAYS be able to SEE God's love for us in His scars (Rom 5:8).
Esther, your beautiful soul shines through these words. Thank you for sharing.
Praise God! Thank you for your encouragement, Sister Celeste.
Esther well said ! This could not have been stated any better.
Thank you for your kindness, Doreen. Have a Blessed Sabbath!
Regard:
Regard= "a consideration; a judgment"
The regard of Abel
The regard of Elijah
The regard of the 144,000
When God judged Abel’s offering, fire came down and consumed the offering.
When God judged at Carmel, fire came down and consumed the offering
When God judges the 144,000 at the end of the world, a fire of acceptance will come down and consume the offering
There is another very special offering that had to do with the Cross. At the river God sent fire down and it lighted on His Son. God made men know that He loved His Son and was well pleased.
God was well pleased with Abel, Elijah, and the 144,000 (He shows His well-pleasure with the 144,000 by showing them before hand as they learn a new song before the throne. Rev. 14)
This Godly ‘regard’ is attached to ‘fire’, and when we have the ‘fire’ we will incur the envy, jealousy and murder from the direction of those who are in the way of Cain.
The Way of Cain:
The way of Cain
The way of Jezebel
The way of the unrighteous
The way of Cain, Jezebel, and the unrighteous filled their world:
The way of Cain filled the earth for 2,000 years and then a judgment was set.
The way of Jezebel fill all Israel, and then a judgment was set.
The way of the unrighteous at the end of time fills the whole world, and then a judgment is set.
The way of Cain is the way of Lucifer: envy, jealousy and murder.
The origin of this way is the family, the home, from among brethren.
Cain: killed a family member
Jezebel: killed family members
Unrighteous: will kill family members
Christ: killed not for himself, and by family members
The Intensity of This Way:
Over such a little thing as the ‘look’ of God, murder spreads and there is a huge amount of the shedding of blood. This way of Cain is intense, violent and powerfully packed with sin. Ultimately the ‘way of Cain’ leads individuals to violently slash their own creator.
Cain's sin will always haunt him (marked) and those of that seed of Satan.
Innocent blood cries out for justice.
Matthew 23:35
The legacy of Cain is quite remarkable – Gen.4:12-23. Though the ground was cursed for his deed and did not ‘yield her strength’, Cain’s future was still watched over by God who protected his life by giving him a mark to be recognized by. It was obvious enough to protect him from others who might come after him to kill him. I find Gen.4:14 interesting in that it shows God still protecting Cain and directing him to find a new home “in Nod, on the east of Eden.” Now mankind developed into two factions – the by self directed, self-willed, and those who relied on God for direction to be applied by faith.
A fugitive and a vagabond from now on, he forged his way. Verse 14 states: ”…thou has driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid.” This appears that God made a judgement and allowed the life of Cain to continue to develop independent of Him; Cain’s life had been based on ‘Cain’ and would continue in the same way.
It appears that the line of Cain’s ancestors lived their lives without the guidance of God – worldly and lawless – the way of the world. From the line of Seth taking the place of Abel came the line who stayed close to God showing in their life their desire to live godly and faithful lives.
And this is what mankind’s history shows – two camps, separated by their pursue of worldly wealth vs. those who pursue spiritual wealth. Cain's mark could be considered the mark which distinguishes the faithless from the faithful until the end of time.
We know that God still rains on the just and the unjust, but with these two accounts, Lamech and Cain, living so close to the 'sin at the tree' event, He quite surely worked in their conscience and their eidetic memories to try to save them. Their almost perfect memory would carry forth with them the 'Bible'as it was spoken. Our bibles today similarly hold for us all the words of God given to our generation to offer salvation to us. Only our memories are so faulty. Their's were much more powerful. We also should note that the way of Cain filled the whole earth so that the ratio of those who loved God and those who disregarded God at the time of the flood was a ratio of (as it were) 100 billions souls to 8. This being the reason God spared Cain, and Lucifer as well from instance obliteration. To show where it would lead. (incidentally, we may think of Lucifer as having perhaps the most powerful eidetic mental capacity, and as covering cherub had memorized every single word God had spoken at the throne. This he could still be carrying...could be, could just possibly be.)
Samuel - I can see Cain having lived 'close to the sin at the tree' event. Lamech is mentioned at the end of the lineage of Cain's ancestors, implying hundreds of years, even thousends of years later.
Cain and his lineage listened to different gods. With Enosh born in Seth's lineage, 'men began to call upon the name of the LORD' - Gen.4:26. Enosh was the first-born of Seth, beginning the time of teaching that man should 'call upon the LORD' for all who were born after him.
These events took place many generations after the 'sin at the tree'-event. I do not know what today's ratio is regarding believers vs. unbelievers. When all is said and done, we might be surprised by the numbers when we find out how many are accepted and living already in the kingdom of God as brothers and sisters in the Faith of Christ.
The spirit of prophecy has ever been with every generation from Adam. And is not the spirit of prophecy the bible in perhaps all perspectives related to mankind. Many, many prophets in it who are revealing and telling the glory of what is to come. God has preserved his word even before he preserved the written pages of the bible in our ages.
Yes, sin has marred all of Adam & Eve ancestors that include Cain and us, but we have not all lived worldly and lawless lives. I don't know if there is any scripture that attest particularly to Cain ancestors living the way you describe but let us not forget Cain was the father of Enoch and Enoch was a faithful and righteous man .
Genesis 4:17-18
17 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.
Genesis 5:24, NIV: Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Doreen - thank you for the comments. Both Cain and Seth's lineage included a man named Enoch. Enoch from Seth's lineage was the one walking close with God and taken up to heaven - Gen.5:22.
In my opinion, 'worldly' and 'lawless' are based on spiritual concepts manifesting themselves as leanings which all man are enticed by to give into.
Even the believer is confronted with urges to give into these temptations. We are asking to have our hearts and minds cleansed of all unrighteousnes by the Grace and Mercy of our heavenly Father. This is why we are told to stay 'hid in Christ and His Righteousness', which protects us from judgement.
Brigitte is right. See Gen 4:17-18. The one Enoch was a son of Cain and the great-grandfather of the wicked Lamech.
The other Enoch was in the line of Seth and the father of Methuselah who helped Noah build the ark. (Methuselah died shortly before the flood.) See Gen. 5:18-22.
There are also two Lamechs - a wicked one in the lineage of Cain and the righteous one who became the father of Noah. Genealogies can be interesting. I had not noticed before that Noah was the great-grandson of Enoch.
Hi Brigitte .
Yes, sin has marred all of Adam & Eve ancestors that include Cain and us, but we have not all lived worldly and lawless lives. I don't know if there is any scripture that attest particularly to Cain ancestors living the way you describe but let us not forget Cain was the father of Enoch and Enoch was a faithful and righteous man .
Genesis 4:17-18
17 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.
Genesis 5:24, NIV: Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Thank God for grace and mercy that we too can live a different life from that of our ancestors , a life dedicated to God.
The words of God regarding the ‘sevenfold’ was obviously passed down to Lamech--and as with the words spoken at the ‘Tree of Eve’ event-- Lamech changed some of them to fit his own irrational wants. This is also what Cain himself did: he altered the offer of God to give His Son at a cross. Cain changed the guidelines, the pattern showed to him to think he could use fruit and no blood of the animal.
Ellen White delineates that both young men had the same instruction (they had the same loving parents) and that Cain was the elder, so he was instructed longer than Abel and did have direct opportunity of the offered Cross prophecy given after the tree event. See in PP page 77.
Further, the hearing and memory of all the persons mentioned in these chapters was only a son or two removed from Adam’s birth so the vitality and acumen that allowed Adam to remember millions of names and details of creatures in only a few hours of an evening shortly after he was ‘born’, was quite certainly passed on to these two as his sons.
Whether Lamech wanted to or not, it is consistent thinking to see that Lamech had to have been still hearing the stories of old, those ‘Spirit of Prophecy’ instructions passed down from God—to them these ancient words would resemble something we now call the Bible. Only these persons had eidetic memories and faculties tens of times more vital than ours. The precision of memory they each had would seem to give them a ‘without excuse’ verdict for not knowing what God had actually said.
Even though Cain and Lamech would change the words, the words of God in the minds of many of their compatriots would still proliferate about in exact ‘one language’ terms, no translation needed, but God allows false translations to appear from the mind of Lamech and others, as their right of choice.
So, despite their knowing the ‘Bible’ from memory, Lamech—and Cain too—invented their own workarounds and said, ‘did not God say sevenfold, I’m telling you seventy-fold….”
What have I discovered about studying the Word of the LORD this week? When all the details are not in the immediate passage then I need to seek the answer in the principles found in the Word that could apply, like those found in Amos 3:7 and 1Chron 21:26.
What have I learned from the LORD's interaction with Adam & Cain so far?
The LORD gave them instructions that they ignored, He came down to them and discussed the issue, then applied the consequence based on their choices. Both were expelled from their homes, life became harder, however there was still a second chance.
The LORD offered to give them eternal life if they accepted the atoning sacrifice of the promised Messiah.
Abel by his offering of the lamb accepted the substitution and the LORD by fire on Abel's sacrifice showed He accepted Abel.
Cain did not and was angry that he was not accepted so the LORD reminded him - if you do what is right, you will be accepted. Or in other words - accept Me and I will accept you. Much later Jesus Christ repeated the message - for God so loves the world that he gave His Son to be the sacrifice and whoever accepts Him will have eternal life.