There’s a Christian theological concept that says we all killed Jesus. We’re all responsible, because we’ve all sinned; our flesh wages war against God.
Perhaps the pattern starts with Genesis 4: we’re all Cain, and we all killed Abel.
Tag: Cain
The Name of God
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord.”
Genesis 4:1 (NASB)
Eve is the first to refer to God by the Name.
Perhaps this points to intimacy. God is not merely “out there” to her, but close enough to call by name. God’s very own name.
What was Cursed?
It’s hard to understand what happened to Cain. This word “under” is either cursed “FROM the ground,” or “OUT OF the ground,” or “MORE THAN the ground,” or “ON ACCOUNT of the ground,” etc., etc.
Cain may be cursed (like the serpent), or the ground is further cursed (like w/ Adam). It’s difficult to determine.
Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:11 (NIV)
from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than
from (expressing separation), off, on the side of
H4480: מִן (min)
Cain and Adam’s Curse
In Genesis 3, Adam is told that the GROUND is cursed, and he will RETURN to it.
In Genesis 4, Cain is told that HE is cursed FROM the ground; the GROUND accepted Abel, but it REJECTS Cain.
Perhaps the ground is humanity, and Cain has cut himself off from it. A vagabond.
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)
Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:11 (NIV)
An Echo
Genesis 4 is not merely the consequence of Genesis 3. It’s a retelling of it. The stories have an echo that get louder every time.
In Genesis 3, we have:
Adam: A tiller of the ground -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (covering) -> the man has a son.
In Genesis 4, we have:
Cain: A tiller of the ground, -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (a mark) -> he has a son.
Brother’s Keeper
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:9 (NIV)
Cain’s question, “am I my brother’s keeper” is quite tragic. The word “keeper” is means to protect, to guard, to celebrate over, to watch for.
to keep, have charge of
to keep, guard, keep watch and ward, protect, save life
watch, watchman (participle)
to watch for, wait for
to watch, observe
to keep, retain, treasure up (in memory)
to keep (within bounds), restrain
to observe, celebrate, keep (sabbath or covenant or commands), perform (vow)
to keep, preserve, protect
to keep, reserve
H8104: שָׁמַר (šāmar)
It’s what God does for us, and what we are commanded to do for one another.
Yes. You are your brother’s keeper.
More than Merely Accepted
Every translation injects theology into it.
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:7 (NIV)
“Accepted” gives us a picture of seeking acceptance by God. But the Hebrew word is significantly richer.
The one who does right isn’t merely “accepted.” They are elevated, exalted, dignified…
elevation, exaltation, dignity, swelling, uprising
dignity, exaltation, loftiness
swelling
uprising
H7613: שְׂאֵת (śᵊ’ēṯ)
Leave Your Mother and Father
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (NASB)
One of the times a bible character actually does “leave his mother and father to be joined to his wife,” per the note in Genesis 2, is with the story of Jacob… where he fled home to avoid his brother’s wrath, and then ended up marrying two women – Leah and Rachel.
But the first time we see it followed, it’s here with Cain. It makes me wonder if this is a blessing or a curse.
Then Cain left the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city, and named the city Enoch, after the name of his son.
Genesis 4:16-17 (NASB)
An Appropriate Sacrifice
What did Cain do wrong? People have pointed to Abel’s “appropriate” animal sacrifice, pointing to God’s covering of Adam/Eve with animal skins in Genesis 3… but I think there’s something else going on here.
We are told that Cain “worked the soil” in the NIV. If you’ve followed along the previous weeks’ studies, you’ve heard this word “worked” before, but in a different form. And connected to a different man.
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
Genesis 4:2 (NIV)
It’s Cain’s own dad, Adam. In Genesis 2, we’re told that Adam’s role was to “till the ground.” This word “till” is the Hebrew word “abad,” which means to “labor” or to “work.” And in Genesis 2, the work is GOOD.
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground.
Genesis 2:5 (NIV)The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
But in Genesis 3, the ground gets cursed.
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:17 (NIV)So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Genesis 3:23 (NIV)
What does it mean that the ground is cursed? What does it mean that the work will result in painful toil, thorns & thistles? Why does this point to death?
Cain’s name means “acquired.” As in, “I worked to acquire this.”
This is death.
God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering is unrelated to his own accomplishment. He simply brought the best of what he had: the “fat” (or choicest/best part) of the “firstborns.” The best we have.
It’s the same thing God asks of us today. Not the sacrifice, but our heart.
A Firstborn Son
In Genesis 4, Eve gives an explanation for naming her first son. Upon careful inspection, the text doesn’t say that she gave Abel the same attention.
In the first 2 verses, I think we’re meant to understand that Eve favored Cain. Perhaps she believed the Promise of Blessing in the instruction to “be fruitful and multiply” was about this first son.
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Genesis 4:1-2 (NIV)