Genesis 4.1-16-Cain and Abel

Thursday September 1, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 4:1-16-Cain and Abel

Lesson # 20

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 4:1.

This evening we will study Genesis 4:1-16, which records the first murder in human history, namely, the murder of Abel by his brother Cain.

Cain and Abel typify respectively the unsaved and the saved, self-righteous and the righteous, the soulish and spiritual.

Genesis 4:1, “Now the man had relations (yadha (ud^y*), which is pronounced yaw-daw and means, “to have sexual intercourse”) with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain (Hebrew noun qayin (/y!q^), which is pronounced kah-yin and means, “one gotten, obtained, acquired”), and she said, ‘I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.’”

Cain is the firstborn child of humanity, however, he is also infamous in being the first murderer in human history.

The apostle John in 1 John 3 uses him as an example of one who hates his brother.

1 John 3:11, “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

1 John 3:12, “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.”

Eve acknowledges that Cain her first-born was a gift from the Lord.

Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Genesis 4:2, “Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”

“Abel” is the Hebrew proper noun hevel (lb#h#), which means, “vanity” and indicates that Eve was thoroughly aware of God’s curse on the world in which they lived.

The Lord Jesus Christ testified that Abel was righteous meaning a believer and that he was a prophet according to Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:50-51.

Genesis 4:3, “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.”

Genesis 4:4, “Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering.”

Genesis 4:3 reveals that Cain was a farmer whereas Abel was a shepherd.

Both men were sinners and approached the Lord with an offering to worship the Lord but only Abel’s offering was accepted since it was presented in faith meaning in obedience to the Lord’s commands whereas Cain’s offering was not accepted because it was offered in unbelief, which expressed itself in disobedience.

Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

Thus, disobedience and rebellion against God and selfishness and sin are the “way of Cain” as stated by Jude in Jude 11.

Jude 11, “Woe to them (licentious false teachers)! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

The Spirit and the flesh war against one another, thus we have Cain persecuting and murdering his brother Abel who obeyed the Spirit.

Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

Cain was not worshipping the Lord since he did so according to his own rules whereas Abel was worshipping since he obeyed the protocol that the Lord had ordained to approach and worship Him, which was through a blood animal sacrifice that portrayed the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God.

Cain adhered to a form of spirituality but denied its power.

2 Timothy 3:5, “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

By killing the lamb and offering it to God, Abel acknowledged the following:

(1) He acknowledged that God was righteous in driving fallen man out of the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24).

(2) He acknowledged that he was a guilty sinner and that death was his just due.

(3) He acknowledged that God was holy and must punish sin.

(4) He acknowledged that God was merciful and willing to accept the death of an innocent substitute in his place.

(5) He acknowledged that he looked for acceptance with God in Christ, the Lamb.

In order for Abel to have operated in faith and Cain to have not, both men had to have heard the Lord’s commands to bring a blood animal sacrifice since faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ according to Romans 10:17.

Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Genesis 4:5, “but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.”

Cain is bitter and angry that he could not worship the Lord according to his own rules and this was reflected in his face.

Proverbs 27:19, “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man.”

Genesis 4:6, “Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?’”

Genesis 4:7, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

“Sin” is the noun chatta’th (jaF*j^), which is pronounced khat-tawth' and refers to the indwelling old Adamic sin nature that every person born into the world receives through imputation and is through the function of human volition, the source of all personal sins, mental, verbal and overt.

Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

By failing to present the proper offering to the Lord, Cain was rejecting the promised “Seed” Jesus Christ as His Savior whose death for sin is portrayed in the blood animal sacrifice.

Therefore, God accepted Abel’s offering since it was a blood sacrifice whereas Cain’s offering, was not accepted since it was bloodless.

Hebrews 9:22b, “All things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Also, God did not accept Cain’s offering since it consisted of the fruit of his own work and the product of his own labors, or in other words, the work of his own hands, which expressed his self-righteous arrogance.

Cain was involved in relative human righteousness.

Isaiah 64:6, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

God only accepts the righteousness that is received through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

Genesis 4:8, “Cain told (verb `amar (rm^a*), “to have a conversation”) Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

Genesis 4:9, “Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?’”

The Lord knew that Cain murdered his brother Abel since He is omniscient meaning He knows perfectly, eternally and simultaneously all that is knowable, both the actual and the possible and thus has all knowledge of every event in human and angelic history.

The Lord asked Cain where his brother Abel was because He wanted Cain to confess his guilt and to make Cain aware of his need for forgiveness and a Savior and yet, Cain refused to accept responsibility for his crime.

Cain concealed all traces of his crime by burying the body of his brother Abel in the ground.

The fact that Cain lied to God and claimed that he did not know of the whereabouts of his brother Abel indicated that he was under the deception of Satan who is a liar and a murderer (Jn. 8:44).

It is interesting and ironic that here we see Cain unwilling to offer an animal blood sacrifice to God as was required by God, yet he has no problem shedding his brother’s blood.

Murder is one of the sins that God hates according to Proverbs 6:16-19 and according to Genesis 9:6 is to be punished through capital punishment.

Cain killed Abel in a jealous rage, which reveals the fact that he was an emotional person who was governed by his emotions.

Proverbs 6:34, “For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance.”

Cain was not only the first murderer in human history but also the first religious persecutor.

2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Abel is a striking type of Christ and his murder by Cain foreshadowed our Lord’s rejection and crucifixion by the Jews.

Like Christ, Abel was hated without a cause by his brother (Jn. 15:25) and like Christ, Abel was murdered because of envy (Mt. 27:18).

Genesis 4:10, “He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.’”

The phrase “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground” indicates that every drop of Abel’s blood that was shed by Cain was a testimony as to the guilt of Cain.

Genesis 4:11, “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.”

Genesis 4:12, “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.”

God can no longer speak to Cain in mercy but rather in judgment since he will not accept responsibility for his crime and confess it and recognize his need for forgiveness of his sin.

Genesis 4:13, “Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is too great to bear!’”

Genesis 4:14, “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.”

Cain is more concerned about his punishment than the terrible sin he has committed and is a manifestation of a great hardness of heart or insensitivity towards sin.

The phrase “whoever finds me will kill me” indicates that Adam and Eve had other children and not just Cain and Abel.

Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters, which would be in accord with Genesis 1:28, 3:16 and 5:4.

Genesis 4:15, “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.”

God deals graciously with Cain by setting a sign to protect Cain from those who would seek to avenge the death of Abel.

The Bible does not state the nature of this sign but only that it would protect Cain.

To be avenged sevenfold means that anyone who kills Cain in vengeance would be fully and completely avenged.

Genesis 4:16, “Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”

“Nod” means, “wandering” and this land was given that name because Cain wandered there.

Like Cain, those who did not exercise faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and live in sin and hate are simply restless wanderers who are not living in the presence of God but instead are walking in the spiritual darkness of sin and hate that constitutes Satan’s cosmic system.

1 John 2:11, “But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”