Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. In this episode I’m bringing you another edition of Bible study content I’m creating for my church. This content is every bit as professionally produced as my normal episodes on MHB — and my intent is to continue cross-publishing them for your benefit. So without further delay I bring you: Summit Bible Study.
Hello friends and thank you for listening to another Bible Study. Today we’re continuing our work in Genesis chapter four. This is the story of Cain and Abel. I would contend this story presents the two most important archetypes of the human condition. Cain and Abel were the first two human beings to be born into our shared experience. Adam and Eve may be our first parents, but Adam and Eve were directly created by God as adults and began their lives in paradise. Cain and Abel were born of Eve and were raised in a cursed creation. In the previous study we examined the names given to Cain and Abel as well as their God-ordained callings. We explored how Cain’s name meant possession whereas Abel’s name meant breath or vapor. Eve may have mistakenly believed Cain was the promised redeemer. It turns out Abel’s name was a much more truthful description of the humility of man’s nature under the curse. Even the greatest among us live lives that are here today and gone tomorrow.
We discussed how Abel was a keeper of the flocks and Cain was a tiller of the ground. We view these callings as modest professions today, and indeed biblical Jerusalem grew to view farming as a lower-class enterprise. But maintaining the ground and caring for God’s creation was actually an honorable privilege God gave these two men. Adam himself tended the garden and cared for the animals before the Fall. Even today the most noble careers remain dependent on these more primary trades. No farms no food, as they say. In the previous study we saw how Abel’s offering was accepted while Cain’s offering was rejected. Instead of practicing introspection, Cain became angry with God and this darkness would evolve into murderous hatred of his brother Abel. In this study we pick up with the fruit of Cain’s hatred – the world’s very first homicide. Let’s begin by reading verse 8:
Genesis 4:8
8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
There are two perspectives by which we may examine the murder of Abel. We can see it as Cain’s sin and we can also see it as Abel’s suffering. First we’ll look at it from Cain’s spiritual perspective. We mentioned in our earlier studies how Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit was a heinous sin because it was the original sin which propagated epochs of suffering and curse. Cain’s sin shares a similar dimension of depravity because it was the original murder. Ever since this first murder, human beings have been using homicide in their efforts to become their own gods. Every murder extends from our heart’s desire to claim the divine right over what’s around us. Human beings are designed by God and their existence is foreordained from eternity by God Himself. So when we reach out and slay another person, we make a direct affront against God Himself.
When we read about Cain’s homicide it’s easy for us to put distance between ourselves and him. He’s the evil villain. We could never do what he did. It’s normal to think this way if you haven’t seared your own conscience, but I would urge caution. I do think our own sins rest on a common substrate with more shocking sins like murder. Every sin is a violation of God’s commandments and is therefore an encroachment on His authority. While we never actually steal authority from God, we certainly try to and we make this effort every time we sin. So it’s not a good idea to view yourself as fundamentally different from Cain.
If you’ve sinned, you’ve drank from the same poisonous well which corrupted Cain to murder. Perhaps a more precise way of putting it is to say your sin testifies of the darkness which already exists within you. Scripture says without God humanity is totally depraved. When you read accounts from atrocity like Cain’s murder or even the Holocaust, you should not read the accounts as if you would be the victim. You should read the accounts as if you would be the villain. Fostering this kind of self-awareness keeps you humble and reminds you of your dependence on the righteousness of Christ.
Adam and Eve were not innocent in connection with Abel’s murder. Certainly they didn’t conspire with Cain, but their original sin introduced the tragic consequences of corruption on the human heart. Eve never imagined eating the forbidden fruit would lead to second-order sins like Abel’s murder which undoubtedly buckled her under the burden of grief. I don’t believe that all sins are equal in offense. This is a misapprehension from scriptures like 1 John 3:4, 1 John 5:17, James 2:10, and Romans 3:23 (just to name a few). These scriptures are pointing to the truth that all sins share a common spiritual substrate. They are not suggesting all sins are equal in depravity. In spite of the disparity between sins, lesser sins commonly open the door for greater sins. Such was the case with Adam and Eve opening the door for Cain’s homicide.
Cain’s murder of Abel was also the fruit of the enmity which is in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman. We’ve talked about how the lives of Cain and Abel are archetypal and all of humanity categorically fits under one archetype or the other. Another reason for this is because Cain is the original persecutor and Abel is the original martyr. Righteous Abel leads the caravan of noble martyrs. Cain establishes himself as the primary example of persecuting the righteous so much so that Jude refers to unrepentant sinners as following the way of Cain.
Scripture describes a principle wherein the sons of a bondwoman persecute the sons of a free woman. This is an allegory provided by Paul in Galatians 4:21-31 so he could remind his Christian brethren that they were children of promise. Just as Abel was a child of promise and was slain by Cain who was a child of the flesh, so too can liberated Christians expect to be persecuted by those still enslaved to sin. This kind of persecution and conflict is a reality we must deal with in perpetuity until the spiritual war ends with the eternal salvation of the saints and the eternal condemnation of those who hate them.
Earlier I mentioned how we shouldn’t distance ourselves too much from Cain and what he was capable of. I said if you’ve sinned, you’ve drank from the same well which corrupted Cain to murder. Cain didn’t start out with murderous intent for his brother. The homicide emerged from more common feelings of envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness. These are emotions and motivations which all of us have felt at one time or another. The difference between yourself and Cain, if there is a difference, is that Cain indulged these emotions and ruminated on them until he became homicidal. In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said,
Matthew 5:21-22
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’
22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
Hatred combined with rash anger is functionally equivalent to murderous intent. Christ says if you feel this way towards another person then you’ve already murdered them in your heart. You’ve been proven a murderer in the sight of God, and if your circumstances would allow the opportunity, you have what it takes to be proven a murderer before the world. This is why I think it’s extremely important for us to continually evaluate the condition of our hearts and ask God to clarify our motivations. We don’t want to end up in a situation where our only reservation against heinous sin is our own cowardice and fear of being caught. To live that way means to have your moral structure tossed to and fro on the chaotic waves of culture. You’ll be ready to participate in whatever the culture deems good and necessary, regardless of what you know is true from God.
Murder is evil on its own, but in Cain’s case this evil was aggravated by several factors. First is that Abel was his brother. Abel was his own mother’s son. By rights Cain should have loved his brother. His assault is made all the more tragic considering Abel was the younger of the two. When God asks Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” Cain responds with, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the answer to that question is yes. Absolutely yes he should have been. Furthermore we have no evidence to suggest Abel was anything less than a good brother to Cain. Nothing in scripture implies Abel provoked Cain or had been disrespectful towards him. In fact I would argue the opposite. Scripture calls Abel righteous, and if Abel was righteous then he would have held a deep respect for Cain as his older sibling.
We also know that God Himself had given Cain ample warning his resentment would evolve into barbarism if he failed to resist it. It’s very likely Cain used subterfuge to set Abel into a circumstance where he could murder him easily. We see this happen with Joab, the commander of King David’s army, when he murders Amasa. Amasa was the commander of Absalom’s rebel army, and Joab went to greet him with a kiss. Amasa was not on guard and he didn’t see the sword in Joab’s other hand, and Joab struck Amasa in the stomach, killing him. Absalom himself gave a similar show of friendship to Amnon when he courted him with a wine-filled feast, and then commanded his servants to execute him once he was drunk. The point is that evil-spirited murder rarely comes in the form of a noble challenge. Cain was not going to give Abel a fair fight. Scripture tells us Cain’s motive for murdering his brother was that his own actions were evil while Abel’s actions were righteous. Hear the explanation articulated in 1 John 3:10-12
1 John 3:10-12
10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
What’s important to understand about Cain is that he was a child of the devil. His animosity was with God Himself, with righteousness itself. His murder of Abel was simply his way of attacking the ideal of righteousness. God was visible in the person of Abel insofar as Abel was righteous. That’s why Cain killed him. If Cain could have murdered God Himself he would have. Scripture says the thief has come to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10) and the thief in this context is Satan. Satan hates God, and he hates all who are Christlike. This is also true of those who are children of Satan, those who are possessed by a spirit of evil. They are not the kind of people you can reason with, because their worldview was never built on reason at all. They view the free expression of honest truth as nothing more than a bastion of God’s oppression against them.
Cain hated Abel because God loved Abel. Scripture says, “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.” Anytime a faithful Christian dies, this death matters to God. It was especially so when Cain murdered Abel because at this moment there were so few people on earth. It’s not as if there was a great population of righteous people to take his place. Abel was not expendable by any measurement.
So we know Abel’s death has a story to tell about Cain’s wickedness, but we can also analyze the murder from the perspective of Abel himself. We remain within the boundaries of biblical perspicuity to view this murder as an expression of Abel’s suffering. Death reigned over God’s creation from the moment Adam and Eve consumed the forbidden fruit. Abel’s murder became the first instance of a person being taken captive by death. It’s not by accident that the first person who should die in a cursed creation was a saint. It’s not by accident that this saint was killed because of his own righteousness. The protoevangelium given by God in Genesis 3:15 reminds us our Savior will reign victorious over Satan and over death itself, but until then we all live in a space where there are forces diametrically opposed to God Himself. This means that the world will hate us because it hated Christ first.
It’s worth noting the first person who died also went to heaven. Righteous Abel was the first-born of the dead and God secured him to Himself. As terrifying and heartbreaking as death is, I do think it helps to maintain a proper perspective of it. I believe in the comprehensive sovereignty of God. This means I believe God’s hand is on every single living thing as it dies and leaves this world. Some Christians argue whether this means God Himself is instrumental in tragedies like Cain killing Abel. I would maintain at the very least that Cain was not beyond God’s sovereign control. I actually think this view, when held properly, provides a peace which goes beyond comprehension more than it does a fatalism which leads to despair. I think it’s more biblically accurate to remember God is still present when the worst evils are taking place.
Abel’s death was the first martyrdom. Since he died on account of his righteousness, we know that he met God in heaven with the glorious crown of life. Abel’s suffering was real insofar as he really was murdered. His life really ended in this world. But there was no curse in Abel’s death. His death should not be taken with offense because we know God viewed it as precious and honorable. The murder of Abel, while a great testament to Cain’s evil, is an even greater testament to God’s power to redeem. God is able to redeem Cain’s murder and present it as what it really is: Abel’s glorious martyrdom. So as Christians we should never be afraid of evil men who seek to do our bodies harm. We should fear only God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. We should trust God that by His power our own deaths will be used to glorify Him, especially if we die at the hands of those who are enemies of God. As a Christian, your death is precious in the sight of God and He will not waste it anymore than He will waste your life. Listen to what Jesus says to His followers at the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:
Revelation 2:8-11
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’
God has conquered death and the grave. God is in control just as much today as He was when Cain murdered Abel. And we can take comfort in that. Let’s continue our study by reading verses 9-12:
Genesis 4:9-12
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.
11 “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
12 “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.”
This passage presents the account of Cain’s sentencing after God convicts him of Abel’s murder. There was not yet a covenant with humanity concerning God’s law, so God Himself sat as the Judge in this case. Once God gave humanity the law in His covenant, then other human beings would be able to serve judgment against sinners concerning their crimes. But Cain had to face God Himself. This is the final destination of all sinners who die without the saving grace of Jesus Christ. God is the keeper of vengeance, and He is sure to make inquisition for spilled blood – especially the spilled blood of His saints. God is the same today as He was in this moment of sentencing Cain.
Cain’s arraignment begins with God asking him: Where is Abel your brother? It’s possible this happened at the next Sabbath following Abel’s murder. The sons of God would have gathered as usual on the Sabbath to present themselves before God in religious worship. Abel being missing would have been a telling sign something was wrong. I’ll mention as an aside here that God notices when you miss church. Church attendance doesn’t save you, but it is important to worship on the Lord’s Day. It’s important because it’s good for own spirits and it’s important because it befits how we should think about God.
God’s questioning Cain is not unlike His questioning Adam in the garden. God already knew Abel was dead and He knew Cain murdered him. So by asking Cain where his brother is, He’s giving him the opportunity to confess. We’ve looked inside the mind of Cain and found depravity. Even despite this, God gives him an opening to repent and be justified. This should be encouraging to us. Most of us have not been so badly warped by sin as to commit murder. If God can give opportunities for forgiveness to the prime murderer, certainly He can give opportunities for forgiveness to us.
Of course Cain did not confess, rather he plead innocent. His plea adds deception and rebellion to his already devastating sin. Cain’s first response to God’s question is to lie: I do not know where Abel is. The principal reason we know Cain was inhabited by a satanic spirit was his enmity with God. But further evidence includes the fruits of this spirit being murder and lies. Listen to what Jesus says about Satan and those who are children of Satan in John 8:44:
John 8:44
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
It’s very tragic to witness what sin does to a man’s soul. Cain’s case is one of the clearest examples in scripture. Sin made Cain so blind as to believe he could conceal his misdeeds from a God who sees all things. Sin hardened Cain’s heart so much that he would desire to conceal his sin from a God who demonstrably pardons those who confess. This is why sin is said to separate us from God. It makes zero logical sense to think you can hide your sin from the omniscient gaze of the Father. It’s even worse that you would want to conceal it knowing God is willing and able to forgive you for all of it. You see how sin encapsulates us and draws us away from the One who loves us and who is for us. Sin does the same thing between human beings. Countless relationships have been severed by one person’s unwillingness to repent. Unrepentant sin has deceived enormous numbers of people into walking away from those who love them most. It is the cruel work of a cruel devil.
Cain’s lie was quickly followed by an arrogant rebuttal of God’s question. Cain said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” So he’s impugning God’s question as if God is foolish for asking. A humble response would have been for Cain to ask, “Am I not my brother’s murderer?” His arrogant retort also calls into question God’s own providence. It’s as if Cain is saying, “You’re God. You’re the great provider. Aren’t you supposed to be Abel’s keeper? If Abel is missing, the fault is your own.” This would be the second time we’ve witnessed the sinner shift blame onto someone other than himself. We witnessed the same shift happen in the garden when Adam blamed his wife and then blamed God for giving him his wife to begin with. A good rule to remember is this: unrepentant sinners will always default to blaming someone or something else for their sin. Part of being unrepentant means being unwilling to take responsibility for what you’ve done.
Just as Cain should have been his brother’s keeper, so should we be keepers of our brethren today. Paul writes to the Galatian church that they should bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2). If we are unconcerned about the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are allowing ourselves to fall prey to the same spirit which corrupted Cain. If we take no care when their bodies are hurt, their goods are stolen, their good names are tarnished, or their souls oppressed, then we are much closer to becoming like Cain than I think any of us are comfortable admitting. You can keep it between you and God, and understand He knows your true motives.
God didn’t answer Cain’s question but instead rejected his plea as false and frivolous. He skips straight to asking Cain, “What have you done?” This question is meant to reveal the seriousness of Cain’s crime. Cain was making light of it and being dismissive, but God reminded him how evil his action was. God called attention to how heavy the burden of guilt would be for Cain moving forward. God follows His rhetorical question with the proclamation that Abel’s blood is crying to Him from the ground. It’s presented as hard evidence of Cain’s guilt. Abel’s blood is providing incontestable testimony against Cain.
In this way the victims of these kinds of crimes are never truly forgotten or left without justice. Scripture is clear that God avenges the blood of His saints. When the prophet Zechariah is calling attention to king Joash’s idolatry, he has him stoned to death. It didn’t matter that Zechariah was the son of the priest Jehoiada who had shown Joash kindness. As Zechariah was dying he cried out, “May the LORD see and avenge.” We see a similar sentiment in Revelation chapter six where the martyrs are calling for God’s justice on the wicked. Listen to Revelation 6:9-10:
Revelation 6:9-10
9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Even when martyrs patiently suffer in silence and opt to follow Christ’s example by saying, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” Their blood still cries out to the Lord for vengeance. The blood of the innocent is a loud and constant cry and the ears of our Holy God, Righteous and True, are always listening.
This passage in Genesis tells us the earth opened its mouth to receive Abel’s blood from Cain’s hand. Based on what we know about God’s creation and how it reacts to the curse, we might surmise the earth was ashamed to receive such righteous blood as that of Abel. This wouldn’t be the first time some measure of personification is used to describe the creation enduring the curse. In Job 20 Zophar the Naamathite is describing the temporary success of the wicked man and says it’s followed by the creation turning on him. He says, “The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him.”
There are forces in this world which are evil, but the creation itself is not evil. Scripture says it’s subjected to man’s curse against its will. Listen to how Paul explains this idea to the Roman church:
Romans 8:19-22
19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Of course all of this is very likely a poetic way of saying Cain buried Abel’s body and his blood after murdering him. He would have done this to conceal his crime. But he didn’t bury Abel deep enough to prevent the cry of his blood from reaching heaven. It’s also worth noting how the Hebrew for Abel’s blood signifies “bloods” as if it is plural. We might consider the blood of Abel also represented all the blood of those who might have descended from him had Cain never murdered him. This isn’t the only time in scripture where we see the blood of the righteous viewed as a collective. When Christ is pronouncing condemnation on the scribes and Pharisees He frames it in a similar way:
Matthew 23:34-35
34 “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,
35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
In the final analysis the testimony of spilled blood reminds us why we should be thankful for Jesus Christ. Hebrews says the blood of Christ speaks better than the blood of Abel. This is because Abel’s blood cried to God for vengeance, but Christ’s blood cries to God for pardon.
Cain’s sentence for murdering Abel was to be cursed from the earth. When scripture discusses God’s wrath on the unrighteous it says this:
Romans 1:18-19
18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”
This is what Cain was experiencing at this moment. He knew the truth about God because God made it evident to him. The creation itself would reject Cain under a curse for his unrepentant sin.
You’ll notice a key difference between Adam’s curse and Cain’s curse. With Adam, God terminated the curse on the ground. He said the ground is cursed for Adam’s sake. With Cain, God laid the curse directly upon Cain himself. In this way Cain’s punishment was much more akin to the serpent’s curse than to Adam’s. This is because God had mercy on Adam but did not have the same kind of mercy on Cain. If God Himself curses you, you will be cursed indeed. Who really knows the weight of this burden except for those who carry it? Who knows how deep into the mind, heart, and spirit a curse from God reaches? One thing is for certain: all of us deserve to some extent this same curse God laid on Cain. It is only by the mercy of Jesus Christ that we are saved from it. When Paul writes to the Galatian church concerning God’s law he says this:
Galatians 3:10-13
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.”
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”—
If we try to satisfy God’s law on our own righteousness independent of Jesus we end up cursed. This was the circumstance of the scribes and Pharisees. They were legalist, religious hypocrites who were advanced in the scriptures but unwilling to see God. Even if you start out well-intentioned with your self-righteousness you have no other option but to become a religious hypocrite. No human being can keep God’s law perfectly. If you depend on God’s law for your salvation, then you need perfect adherence. What ends up happening is you start to fail but you don’t let others see how you’re failing. You cast an image of feigned perfection and then you begin to hold others to that same perfect standard which you yourself are not meeting. You convict them and shame them when they sin, all the while being so self-deceived you may not even see your own sin anymore. That’s what it looks like to be under the curse of God’s law. We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ to atone for and expunge us of our imperfections.
The cry of Abel’s blood came up from the earth to God’s hearing. God’s curse came up from the earth to Cain. You might wonder why God didn’t simply strike down Cain in this moment. He certainly could have killed him in an instant and He would have been justified in doing so. Instead He gives Cain what is effectively a prison sentence. Cursing him from the ground meant there was nowhere Cain could go to get away from this curse. No matter where we stand we’re never far from the ground. The curse of the ground would always be there waiting for Cain, just like sin itself was crouching at the door and its desire was for him.
Another reason why the ground was central to Cain’s curse is because Cain was a tiller of the earth by trade and by calling. There’s no doubt Cain was a skilled farmer, but for the rest of his life the earth would no longer yield its fruit for him. The way we interface with God’s creation depends on God Himself. Way back in our earlier Genesis studies we discussed the causal chain which results in our daily provisions like food and shelter. We think we are the ones who raise up our own crops and livestock, but that’s because we don’t search back far enough in the causal chain. There is no photosynthesis without the sun and there is no sun without God. There’s no livestock without cell division and there’s no cell division without the breath of life from God. So Cain may have made the mistake of trusting too much in his farming acumen, but he was being reminded now by the curse that none of his provision originated within himself.
We would do well to remind ourselves of this biblical truth everyday: that all things we need and enjoy come to us by the hand of God. Just like God is able to bring all good things to us, so is God able to curse all good things to our displeasure. A curse from God doesn’t confine itself to one area of your life. Moses expands on this truth to the Israelites when he sets before them a choice between obedience and disobedience. Listen to his warning in Deuteronomy 28:
Deuteronomy 28:15-19
15 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 “Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
19 “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
The more accurate perception of the curse of unrepentant sin is that it bleeds into and infuses your entire life. You are not capable of keeping such things neatly confined and tucked away in secret.
God said Cain would be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. That’s the second major loss Cain would experience as a consequence of his sin: he would find no ground upon which to make settlement. You might wonder how God would enforce such a nomadic lifestyle on Cain. Couldn’t Cain just build a house and settle down? We may explore a couple options as to how this happened. First is that Cain would become a reproach to all men. He would live in perpetual disgrace for what he did to Abel. Harboring Cain would be considered a scandalous project and even having conversations with him would hurt your reputation.
This condition is what we call “infamy” today. It sounds like a harsh punishment, but it still happens regularly all around us. This kind of punishment is normative for pastors who have moral failures. Overnight they become pariahs to be avoided at all costs. All of their relationships crumble because no one knows how to trust them anymore. They are bound to the prison of their own disgrace and sometimes the only way to alleviate it is to become a nomad and move to another region of the world. It’s a painful curse to be sure, but in many contexts including Cain’s it is not undeserved. Cain divested himself of all humanity when he murdered his brother. It only makes sense he would be abhorred and abandoned by all mankind. We run this same exact experiment every time a person is caught practicing inhumane barbarism today. Just think about the difference between how you treat a pedophile as opposed to how you treat your friends or your neighbors. In this way Cain became persona non grata.
Cain’s inability to settle down into a quiet life didn’t stop with how others treated him. It was also a factor of his own mind. He had a guilty conscience haunting him wherever he went. His thoughts ran in such a way that they prevented him from ever having any peace. Having a guilty conscience before God will quickly ruin any restful sleep you might get. It will sully any enjoyable experience you might encounter. A guilty conscience is the kind of punishment which truly follows you wherever you try to hide.
Cain was sentenced to a lifetime of of restlessness. If you experience this kind of restlessness yourself, there’s an easy way to diagnose it as a guilty conscience before God. Before you go to bed at night, when you’re in the dark stillness of your room, ask God these two questions: What am I doing that I shouldn’t be doing and what am I not doing that I should be doing? This kind of prayer is guaranteed to have an answer, and you probably won’t like what the answer is. But it’s necessary if you want to be reconciled with God. The fugitive who is driven from place to place by his own guilty conscience is pitiful. The vagabond who is tossed to and fro by his own lusts is reprehensible. To be led by the Spirit means being set free from both of these masters.
I mentioned how God had mercy on Adam but God didn’t have the same kind of mercy on Cain. This doesn’t mean God was merciless toward Cain. Even with such a difficult sentence, God weaved in divine grace. Restraining from killing Cain immediately meant Cain would have a life of opportunities to repent. And we’ll also see in the next passage that God takes steps to ensure Cain won’t be killed by others either, even though such a fate would be fitting for the world’s first murderer. Let’s finish this study by reading verses 13-15:
Genesis 4:13-15
13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is too great to bear!
14 “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.”
15 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.
Cain’s expression of despair could mean several things. He could be saying his sin is so great that it will never be forgiven. If this is the case then he’s presuming on the limitations of God’s grace. God is able to forgive even the greatest sins and redeem the most depraved sinners. One of the most common ways people forfeit the grace of God is by despairing of it. They assume God is not capable of redeeming them and so they harden themselves against Him. They become comfortable with their identity as a rebellious sinner and eventually they wouldn’t have it any other way. If Cain really did go from a place of presumed self-righteousness to a place of despairing of God’s grace this progression would be illustrative of Satan’s work. Satan deceives us into thinking our sins aren’t that bad, and then once the corruption lays hold of our souls he allows us to languish in the reality of what we’ve done. Satan himself becomes an accuser who seeks to shame sinners into fleeing from God.
I think in this instance it’s more likely that Cain is speaking a language of indignation concerning God’s sentence upon him. His claim is that the justice of God is not fair. God has punished him more harshly than his sin deserved. This perspective is more in keeping with Cain’s mindset from his first recorded interactions with God. Cain is attempting to throw the condemnation back on God Himself by taking umbrage with God’s decision to punish him. Instead of allowing God’s reprimands to humble his own heart, Cain views them as God’s own wrong-doing against him. Cain believes he has been hurt unjustly by God’s reprehension.
You can imagine how this process would harden the heart of a sinner. You commit a sin and the Spirit of God convicts you for it. Instead of understanding the pangs in your conscience as God calling you to repent, you write them off as the consequence of some injustice against you. You’re oppressed by the system and that’s why you feel this way. An unrepentant sinner will always be more concerned about his own sufferings than about his own sins. This was the case with Pharaoh during the Exodus narrative. After God brought the plague of locusts over all the land of Egypt, Pharaoh panicked and feigned repentance for his own self-preservation. Listen to Exodus 10:16-17:
Exodus 10:16-17
16 Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.
17 “Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and make supplication to the LORD your God, that He would only remove this death from me.”
Pharaoh was more concerned about the death brought on by the plague than he was about his own sins which led to it. Scripture indicates that no living man should offer complaint against God considering the depravity one’s own sins. Jeremiah describes it like this in Lamentations 3:37-40:
Lamentations 3:37-40
37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?
39 Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins?
40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.
Cain deceived himself into believing God was being harsh with him when really God was extending undeserved mercy. Cain was being favorably treated, especially in light of his sin, but his judgment was too clouded by false narratives of oppression to be able to see it. He wails against God because he thinks he is being wronged when in actuality he should be marveling that he somehow is not yet in Hell. Cain was entering into judgment against the divine Judge and this is never a good idea. I would say a good test of your biblical understanding is to ask yourself whether you make moral indictments against God. If you think God is being immoral or cruel with a certain doctrine then that’s an excellent indication you’ve misunderstood the doctrine.
Before committing the murder, Cain believed God was biased against him and favored Abel. He was wrong. God does not choose favorites. Now that he came under the curse one of the revelations Cain had was what it really felt like to be hidden from God’s face. Now he could see what it was like to be excluded from God’s favor. Damnation can effectively be defined in a single sentence. Damnation is God saying to you, “Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.” The true essence of being cursed is to be shut out from God’s love and cut off from all hopes of His grace.
When Cain says, “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground.” He’s realizing he has been expelled from all the comforts of this life. There would be no home for him, no place to settle or to rest. We don’t know this for certain, but suicide may have been on Cain’s mind at this moment. By his lights it would be better to rest in the grave than to never rest at all.
In addition to being driven from the face of the ground, Cain is also excommunicated from the church. He could no longer attend public worship because he had blood on his hands. He could not join the sons of God to present himself before the Lord. Any sacrifice or offering would be worthless vanity. It’s important to understand God does not treat unrepentant sinners the same way He treats His saints or those who are walking through humble penitence. To gain some insight on God’s perspective concerning unrepentant sinners, listen to Him speak through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 1:13-15. This is Isaiah speaking to the reprobate people of Judah and Jerusalem:
Isaiah 1:13-15
13 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
If God seems missing in your life or your prayers seem to fall in empty space – you should ask yourself if you are living in unrepentant sin. God’s curse on Cain exposed him to the displeasure of all mankind. Cain himself believed everyone hated him so much they would try to kill him on sight. This sounds a bit like paranoia but again we must remember we still behave this way today. If notorious sinners like Osama Bin Laden or Jeffrey Epstein walked in public today, it really wouldn’t be long before some person took justice into his own hands and killed him. Some sins are just so heinous that they wrap you in an aura of infamy and repulsion. Your very presence becomes enough to enrage others against you.
It’s true Cain’s contemporaries were filled with enmity against him. If it wasn’t true then God wouldn’t have needed to mark him against assassination. But I think this reality was exacerbated in Cain’s mind as well. Scripture says the wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Unresolved guilt has a way of playing tricks on your mind and convincing you everyone is against you. Or at the very least everyone is suspicious of you and trying to find you out.
When it comes to sin we have no choice but to feel fear. Our only choice is which fear we want to feel. It’s better to fear God and not sin than it is to sin and then fear God. It’s better to fear the consequences of sin than to be captured by the fear of unresolved guilt after you commit it. I mentioned the possibility of Cain being suicidal in the wake of this curse. Some interpreters read his comment, “whoever finds me will kill me.” as something like a wish. It’s not unusual and there is clear biblical precedent for suicidal ideation among those who suffer spiritual torment. The unrepentant sinners in Revelation 9:5-6 are being attacked by locusts who God prohibits from actually killing any of them. They can torment them but not kill them. Listen to what the scripture says about their suicidal intent:
Revelation 9:5-6
5 And they (the locusts) were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
Whether Cain was suicidal or not, his punishment was more than he could bear because God’s face was turned from him and he could find no peace in this life. Just like God would not permit the tormenting locusts from killing the sinners in Revelation 9, so He would not permit any of Cain’s fellow men from killing him all the days of his life. We can understand God’s protection as a kind of mercy here insofar as Cain would have many opportunities to repent and seek forgiveness. But I think we can also view this protection as a feature of God’s wrath. God is the Judge who set the terms of Cain’s sentence and so God would protect the integrity of this sentence Himself. If someone killed Cain they would effectively defeat God’s sentence against him.
We practice this same sort of principle in our justice system today. Even the most reprehensible criminals are given protection so the public doesn’t murder them before they’re given a fair trial. Even after they’re sentenced, we lock down prisons in part to keep the prisoners inside, but also to keep the general public outside. Our prison system works to prevent members of the public from attacking or assassinating convicted criminals. The most hated criminals may even be segregated from the population within the prison itself. A sophisticated society prefers public justice over private revenge. In the same way, God does not share His right to vengeance with anyone else. Vengeance belongs to God. So if one of Cain’s peers stole the sword out of God’s hand and used it himself, this would be a direct affront against God Himself – and therefore would be avenged sevenfold.
I believe God knew Cain would never repent even if he was given a lifetime of future opportunities. But even if God’s protection wasn’t for the purpose of mercy, God will sometimes protect the lives of the wicked for the purpose of His own glory. In Psalm 59, King David prayed to God concerning Saul’s men who were watching his house in order to assassinate him. David asks God that He should not kill the men, because if God kills the men then David’s own people would quickly forget about them. It would be better if God would scatter them and humble them. The same was true of Cain. If God had killed Cain right away, he would have been forgotten to the ash heap of history. Listen to King Solomon describe the fate of the wicked who are killed in Ecclesiastes 8:10
Ecclesiastes 8:10
10 So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.
Cain’s cursed life would be a testament to God’s justice, but only if Cain continued to live and not die. We don’t know exactly what the mark was which God used to label Cain and prevent his assassination. But I think it’s reasonable to suggest it was like a kind of branding. The mark distinguished Cain from the rest of mankind and advertised to everyone that he is the man who murdered Abel. The mark communicated to others that they must not kill Cain, although it also prohibited them from forming relationship with him. It was a mark of infamy and disgrace as much as it was a mark of divine protection. Despite the love and righteousness of Abel. Despite God’s continual warnings for Cain to step back and look inside himself. Despite all of this Cain resigned himself to a cursed future as a fugitive and a vagrant. And he did so at the bloody expense of his own ideal.
I think that’s a good place for us to end this study. We’ve thoroughly explored the nature of God’s curse and in the next study we’ll examine how the rest of Cain’s life unfolded. We’ll also take a look at the intergenerational ramifications of Cain’s evil actions. Until then, I hope this study has blessed you as much as it has blessed me while working on it. Godspeed.
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