Am I My Brother's Keeper?

Genesis  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Call to Worship

Psalm 133 NKJV
A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.

Intro

Last week we saw the Fall of Man into sin.
Through one man’s disobedience, sin and death entered in and rule over creation
The serpent, the woman, and Adam were all given specific curses.
Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden Paradise they had been given to tend and were placed back to toil in the soil that man was taken from.
But even in the Curse given to the serpent, there was a promise of hope given to Man
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.””
This promised Seed gave hope of salvation from sin, death, and the curse, even while God was removing them from Eden.
This hope is reflected in Adam naming his wife ‘Eve’
Mother of all living.
Genesis 4:1–2 NKJV
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Adam knew Eve his wife
Scripture has an amazing way of portraying things in a way that conveys the point perfectly, without giving inappropriate details.
The word Scripture uses here beautifully encapsulates what ought to go on inside a marriage.
Cain refers to ‘possession’
Perhaps in the bearing of Cain, she understood this son to be the promised snake crusher and named him ‘Cain’ because God had given them possession of him so soon.
If so, she was sadly mistaken.
Abel, is related to ‘breath’ or ‘vanity’.
Perhaps believing Cain was the promise, Abel was overlooked.
We already have the snake crusher in Cain, Abel is just the extra.
Abel was a Shepherd, while Cain was a farmer.
Cain was the eldest, Abel was the second born.
Some think they were twins, like Jacob and Esau, and there are some parallels there, but we are not given that information.
Since Abel’s vocation is listed first, it seems like he may have taken up work before Cain, maybe pointing to the character of each.
Cain taking after his father Adam in tilling the soil, Abel being the first shepherd
Like Moses
Like David
Like Christ, the Good Shepherd.
Genesis 4:3–5 NKJV
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Cain brought “an offering of the fruit of the ground”
Abel brought of the “firstborn of his flock and of their fat.”
Abel brought of the best of the best, while Cain just brought some of his produce.
Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”
Some speculate that Abel’s was also a better sacrifice because it was of blood.
Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
We don’t ultimately know if this was the case
Abel’s heart was in the right with his sacrifice, Cain’s was not.
God, discerning the thoughts and intent of the heart did not respect Cain’s
How did Cain know God did not respect his?
Again, since we are not told, there is speculation that Adam was the priest, being the head of the family and all mankind.
Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to him.
Somewhere along in the process, it was made known to Abel and Cain, that one of their sacrifices was acceptable, while the other’s was not.
Cain became angry that his was not accepted and his brother’s was.
Genesis 4:6–7 NKJV
So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 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.”
Again, we see God being the evangelist, seeking out Cain that he might repent, just as he had done to his parents in the Garden.
God would have been just to kill him for his unwarranted anger towards God, but showed mercy.
God gives encouragement to Cain to repent, to seek reconciliation: “If you do well, will you not be accepted?
It’s desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
That same word from last week, ‘desire’.
Genesis 3:16 “To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.””
Sin’s desire was to rule over Cain, but it was his choice whether to give into it or to do what is right
Genesis 4:8 NKJV
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.
Now this verse is pretty straightforward. Not a lot of deep applications that I am wanting to pull out of here today.
But I do want to point out something interesting that appears in other manuscripts of Genesis.
Most modern translations of the Old Testament use the Masoretic Text,
which is the Hebrew Text that Jews used after the church was formed
The OT translation that the early church used (and was quoted most often by the NT) was the Septuagint, LXX
Was translated into Latin from Hebrew about 200-300 years before the birth of Christ.
Now I want to be clear, that though there are minor differences between different manuscripts, nothing here changes any core doctrines.
Looking into the biblical manuscripts is a fascinating study, but we do not have time this morning to get into.
All we really need to know is that God has preserved His Word.
It is perfect for making a man wise unto salvation.
We can have confidence that God has given us what we need in the English, through the work of Godly men.
In this verse, the LXX adds a little phrase: “Let us go out to the field” after ‘brother’.
If we just read the verse as translated, that phrase doesn’t really make sense.
But in the Hebrew, the literal translation of “talked with” is “said to”.
So with that in mind, with that additional phrase inserted, the literal translation reads:
“And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go out into the plain; and it came to pass that when they were in the plain Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
This makes better sense of the verse.
Cain deceived his brother, lured him into the field, then killed him.
Is that in the original text?
I don’t know.
It makes better sense to me.
But either way, it doesn’t really change the message of the text.
As we go through Genesis, we’ll look at the LXX some more.
So Adam and Eve, fell into sin.
They have two sons
One is jealous of the other and kills him.
The hope that Eve had that Cain would be the one to reverse the curse and crush the head of the serpent was misplaced.
Instead, he brings even more death.
Cain is more like the seed of the serpent crushing Abel, the righteous seed of the woman.
Genesis 4:9–12 NKJV
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 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.”
Yet again, God comes to Cain giving him a chance to repent.
Instead of repenting, Cain plays ignorant.
He lies to God bluntly: “I do not know”
Then he denies any responsibility: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Even more, with that dismissive question, he seems to place the blame on God.
“Shouldn’t you be the one looking after Abel? After all, you respected his sacrifice and not mine. Maybe you should take better care of your favorite?”
God, like in the Garden with Adam and Eve, obviously knows what has happened.
What have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
God was well aware of the murder that Cain had committed.
God, showing his loving-kindness and him being slow to anger, shows mercy and does not kill Cain on the spot.
Instead of giving Cain what he deserves, the ground is now double cursed for Cain
“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”
Even when Adam was exiled from Eden, he was still to be strengthened by the ground and to take dominion.
The act of cultivating establishes belonging to that plot of land.
Cain would not be able to do this.
He was a farmer by vocation, but now he would not be able to sustain himself
He had no claim on any plot of ground
he was to be a fugitive and a vagabond all his days
Genesis 4:13–15 NKJV
And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 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.” 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.
Cain goes from denying any knowledge of wrong doing, to now complaining that God’s punishment is too great.
Instead of repenting he blames God for being too mean.
He blames God for driving him away from relationship with God.
Who is going to kill Cain? His parents?
We are not given an exhaustive account of the history and beginnings of humanity.
Later, the text says Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters.
There is good reason to think that Cain and Abel were the first two, but that by this time, there were dozens of others.
Guinness Book of World Records - Russian Peasant woman had 69 children by 27 births in about 1725-1765
More recently, Maria Benita Olivera of Brazil had 32 children by 28 births between 1952-1989
Genesis 5:3 “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”
As the last portion of today’s text tells us, Seth was given to Eve after the loss of Abel.
This means Eve had about 132 years of child bearing before Seth
Taking the number of pregnancies those two prolific women had in 40 years and extrapolating that on Eve, in 120 years of child bearing, she very easily could have had over 80 births 12 years before Seth was born,
which even if no twins or triplets would make Eve the most prolific woman.
Aptly named the mother of all living.
Anyway, there could have been many other brothers who wanted to avenge Abel.
“Vengeance is mine. I will repay” says the Lord
For the second time, God spares those the immediate death they deserve.
God grants Cain more time to repent, yet, sparing him from death is part of the punishment
God places a mark on Cain so that no one will touch him.
He is to be a witness to the goodness and severity of God
Romans 11:22 “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.”
Killing Cain would not only put a damper on the growth rate of the fledgling human population, but would more easily allow the people to forget.
Keeping him alive, yet marked, would remind people of the wickedness he had done and be a warning to them.
As severe as the punishment Cain was receiving, anyone who killed Cain would have an even worse punishment.
7 is the number of completion, so 7 fold is not limited to being 7 times worse.
completely worse
Genesis 4:16–18 NKJV
Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 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. To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.
So Cain leaves the presence of the Lord
He forsakes any attempt of fellowship with the God of Adam and the rest of humanity.
Cain completely hardens his heart in rebellion against God.
Where did Cain get his wife?
Common atheist “gotcha” question.
As mentioned before, there were dozens, potentially over a 100 siblings.
Cain would have taken one of his sisters as his wife.
God did not condemn incest until the time of Moses.
There would have been a similar genetic bottleneck after Noah
All Noah’s Grandchildren married cousins
Abraham’s wife Sarah was his half-sister. Same dad, different mom
What about genetic defects?
Even evolutionists have to admit there was significant inbreeding throughout history.
What did the first fish that grew legs mate with?
What did the first ape that walked upright mate with?
What did their offspring mate with?
Scoffers will look for any excuse to mock and dismiss Scripture.
Why is incest and inbreeding wrong?
Morally? Because God says so.
The same for anything.
Atheists have no basis for objective morality.
They can prefer you don’t murder, but that is morally the same as preferring chocolate over vanilla.
Atheists hate that fact, but it’s true.
Genetically? Incest/inbreeding is bad because bad genes accumulate leading to genetic defects and eventually, the inability to reproduce at all.
These genetic defects are a result of the Fall.
Adam and Eve and their immediate descendants would have had few if any genetic defects to pass on to their offspring.
We see this even reflected in their lifespans
Most of the men recorded before the flood lived 800, 900, almost 1000 years.
So the short answer is, as stated already, Cain married his wife.
There is nothing gross or inappropriate about it
Today, yes. But not until the time of Moses.
Cain knows his wife and she conceives a son they name Enoch.
Not the Enoch that was the great grandfather of Noah and walked with God.
Cain ‘built’ a city.
the word here actually seems to indicate a continuation, or building.
Cain was building a city.
Seems to fit with his curse of being a vagabond, that he would continually build a city, but never be able to make it his home.
This ‘Lamech’ is also a different man from the father of Noah.
Genesis 4:19–22 NKJV
Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
The first case of Polygamy in Scripture
Lamech, 5th from Adam, takes Adah and Zillah, which names mean Ornament and Shade.
One for beauty, one for comfort.
Each of his wives bear him sons who become forerunners in different arts and skills.
The men who lived before the flood were not idiots.
Sometimes, even as bible believing Christians, we allow the naturalistic, evolutionary thinking to creep in.
We believe God created the world a few thousand years ago, created man out of dust and placed him in Eden, but then think everyone who lived before modern times were stupid.
We built automobiles
We built airplanes
We built rocket ships and skyscrapers and satellites.
We went to the moon
We have supercomputers that fit in our pockets.
The reality is, our technology is pretty advanced compared with most of history, but actual human intelligence is quite low.
Most of the founders of our nation mastered multiple languages and subjects and started a nation in their twenties and early thirties.
As a result of the Fall, humanity is slowly getting dumber and less intelligent.
It is quite possible that technology and civilization before the flood was more advanced than we can imagine, but was completely destroyed, and the technology lost to the waves.
Genesis 4:23–24 NKJV
Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, Even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
To show Lamech’s pride and his branch of the family’s separation from God, he misunderstands Cain’s curse and boasts in his own greatness.
Lest we think that God was okay with Polygamy, Jesus reminds us God’s intention in Matthew 19:4–6
“And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.””
We will talk more about Polygamy in future weeks or months, but God intended marriage to be one man and one woman for life.
Genesis 4:25–26 NKJV
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
Perhaps Adam and Eve put their hope in Cain as seed, who turned out to be the wicked one who killed righteous Abel.
To replace Abel as the righteous seed, God gave Eve Seth.
Seth means ‘compensation’.
Some believe Seth to be the third son, but there is no reason to believe there were not many sons that were born in the 133 years before Seth was born.
He is simply the 3rd son named in this account.
Seth had a son and named him ‘Enosh’
With Enosh, the righteous seed continues.
This would be the lineage that would ultimately give way to Christ, thousands of years later.
We don’t know what was going on with the rest of Adam’s offspring, but Cain’s descendants were building cities, developing industry, and crafting metal works while defying God
Looking to Chapter 5, we see that Enosh was not born until Seth was 105 years old.
That seems pretty old to have your first son.
Maybe the majority of Adam’s offspring were swayed by the craftiness of Cain’s descendants, forsaking God.
Maybe it took decades for Seth to find a godly woman to wife?
For some reason, after Seth had Enosh at the age of 105, Men began to call on the name of the Lord.
Maybe the birth of a son to the Godly line of Seth encouraged men to seek God again?
Hope for the foretold snake crusher was rekindled.

Conclusion/Application

As we wind down today’s sermon, I couldn’t help but notice some of the similarites between Cain and Abel and the parable of the prodigal son.
A better name would be the parable of two sons
Luke 15:11–32 NKJV
Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
Abel, like the younger son, understood his sinfulness and repented in offering a good sacrifice.
We don’t know much about the early life of Abel, whether he was a good sign the whole time or had a prodigal time, either way, their hearts were the same in desiring reconciliation with God/the Father.
God/ The Father accepted Abel/the younger son, but rejected the heart of Cain/the older son.
God/ The Father went to Cain/The older son, encouraging him have a proper relationship with God/ his brother.
John MacArthur speculated that this parable was incomplete.
based on the poetic structure of the parable, it was missing an ending.
The older brother went on to kill the father out of jealousy over the treatment of the younger brother.
But what would have happened if he was unable to kill the father?
He would have surely killed his younger brother, as Cain did with Abel.
So in this parable, I see the same pattern that has happened throughout history, almost since the beginning.
Instead of encouraging our brothers and sisters in the faith, and stirring up good works, we become jealous of other’s relationships with God.
Instead of taking the plank out of our own eyes, we seek to take the speck out of our brothers, or just kill him.
We are to be our brother’s keeper.
Biologically and spiritually.
We of course want our genetic brothers and sisters to do well
we want them to be successful and most importantly, to follow Christ.
But even more crucially for the church, we need to be our brother’s keeper for those in the church.
This does not mean that we tolerate sin and false doctrine or false application.
We must fight lies, sin, and deception within the church
But we fight to see the restoration of our brothers and sisters.
We leave room for repentance
We encourage one another to godliness, edifying one another.
God laid out a pattern for us in how he treated Cain.
Severe and good.
Excommunications are loving in properly practiced.
Church discipline is good when administered rightly
We should not be dividing over certain things.
It is good to have disagreements and to handle them as brothers, seeking reconciliation.
Christian men need to step up, be bold, and lookout for the spiritual well-being of our brothers and sisters by rightfully dividing the Word of Truth and applying it to modern issues in the church and world.
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