Genesis 4:1-13
Ge 4:1
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare
Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
Now the human race begins to expand by means of
precreation. Adam and Eve had
sexual relations and Eve now bore a son whose name was Cain.
The name “Cain” means “fabrication, acquisition, or possessed.”
Eve was joyful because she thought that Cain was the promised Messiah
from Genesis 3:15 and probably hoped that he would redeem them so they could go
back to the garden. In 3:16,
remember how God promised that in sorrow she shall bring forth children?
Well Cain was to become part of Eve’s sorrow.
Ge 4:2
And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a
keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Then Eve once again conceived and bore another man, the
brother of Cain named Abel. The
name “Abel” means “vanity, vapor, or meadow.”
At the outset they both took on different vocations.
Abel had become a shepherd and was responsible for keeping the sheep.
The word “keeper” means “let graze or pasture.”
Cain was a tiller of the ground and was in charge of keeping the fields
and the trees, he was a farmer who tilled the ground like his father did and
maybe Cain had more favor in Adam’s eyes because of that.
Ge 4:3
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Then it was time to bring an offering to the LORD for the
harvest they brought forth or it may have been a weekly offering.
Since Cain was a tiller of the ground, he brought to the LORD a sacrifice
of all plants and fruits, corn, herbs, seeds, etc.
Ge 4:4
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
Then Abel brought his offering unto the LORD which was
the firstling which was the firstborn of the flock.
He brought the fat which later under the law belonged to the LORD.
And the priest shall burn them
upon the altar: it is the food
of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat
is the LORD'S. (Leviticus 3:16)
Then the LORD looked upon the offering of Abel because it was brought in
faith after the way the LORD clothed his father and mother in the garden.
By faith Abel offered unto God a
more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
(Hebrews 11:4)
Ge 4:5
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And
Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
The LORD looked upon the offering of Cain and did not
consider it because it did not contain a blood sacrifice which looked forward to
Calvary. Since the LORD did not
accept his sacrifice, Cain became very wroth which means he burned with anger.
And his countenance fell which means his face turned from being joyful to
a seething anger which was very visible on his face.
His countenance falling represented what he was feeling inside toward
Abel and maybe even the LORD.
Ge 4:6
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why
is thy countenance fallen?
Then the LORD confronts Cain about his anger and asks him
a question in the same manner he asked Adam in the garden.
He wanted to confront Cain about his sin.
He asks him why is he so angry to the point that his face had shown a
burning anger on it? God is showing
his concern for Cain at this point as he diverts from the offering to Cain.
Ge 4:7
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if
thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his
desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Then God gives Cain a second chance to do well, that is,
to bring the proper offering to him and if he does that then he will be accepted
as Abel was. However, if he chooses
not to do well and stays on the path that he is on, then sin lieth at the door
ready to pounce on him like a lion on a baby antelope and sin takes no prisoners
as it will unleash itself within him.
The last sentence in this verse may be pointing to sin which desires to
take over Cain completely or it may point to the fact that if Cain brings a
proper offering to God, then his younger brother Abel, will be in subjection to
him and he will rule over him as the firstborn and older brother.
I personally believe it is the second understanding because Cain did not
have the spiritual strength to rule over sin as we shall soon see.
Ge 4:8
And 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 slew him.
Then Cain refused the counsel that God gave him instead,
he probably lured Abel into the field
with him and when he thought his parents could not see, he became the first
murderer of the human race. He then
rose up which means he planned to kill Abel out of that boiling hatred he had
for him. Cain did not listen to God
because he was an unbeliever in the service of Satan.
Not as Cain,
who was of that wicked one, and
slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother's righteous. (1 John 3:12)
Cain’s works were evil but his brother’s works were righteous and this is
the great contention between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan right
down to today.
Ge 4:9
And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy
brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
Then when Cain slew Abel, the LORD confronts him with his
actions by a series of questions.
He asks him, where is Abel they brother?
The LORD knew what happened but he wanted Cain to own up to what he did
by means of confession. Instead of
Cain answering truthfully, he then lies about where his brother was.
He tells the LORD that he does not know where Abel was and then he states
one of the most quoted phrases used in the human race “Am I my brother’s
keeper?” In other words, Abel is
old enough to take care of himself and I don’t need to look after him all day
like I did when we were young children.
Ge 4:10
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy
brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
Then God confronts him head on about the sin he
committed. He asks Cain, “What has
thou done?” Cain had attempted to
hide the murder from God but Cain being an unbeliever did not think that God had
already knew what he had done. God
does not forget the blood of the innocents.
That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the
altar. (Matthew 23:35) Abel’s
blood cried to the LORD God from the ground because of his murder but the blood
that speaks better things is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And to Jesus the mediator of the
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:24)
Abel’s blood cried out his murder but Christ’s blood cries out mercy to
the saved.
Ge 4:11
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath
opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
And now because Cain had killed his brother, his penalty
was that he was now cursed from the earth unlike Adam when he sinned and God
cursed the ground. Now Cain who was
a tiller of the ground would no longer receive any of the previous benefits of
the ground like abundant harvests.
The earth had received the blood of his brother Abel through the ground and
absorbed the blood as if the earth was more ashamed of the murder than Cain was.
Ge 4:12
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth
yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the
earth.
Now Cain receives his punishment for his crime against
Abel. The earth will no longer
bring forth the good plants and trees that he was used to and this would occur
wherever Cain had settled. He no
longer would have the ability to bring forth abundant crops since the earth
would not bring them forth as before.
Then the next part of Cain’s punishment was that he would be a fugitive
and vagabond on the earth. The word
“fugitive” means that he would be a “wanderer” on the earth and the word
“vagabond” means to “move back and forth” as a transient.
Ge 4:13
And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is
greater than I can bear.