Lesson for July 1, 2020
Knowing the Bible
Lesson 7
Cain and Abel
(Genesis 4:1-16)
Verses 1-4
“Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, ‘I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.’ Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So, it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 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; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.”
The first two offspring of our original parents Adam and Eve were Cain and Abel. Abel believed in Jesus Christ (Jehovah) as Savior, and Cain rejected Jesus Christ as Savior. The result was the first murder in human history when Cain killed Abel.
We are given enough information throughout the Bible to get a very clear picture of what happened and why it occurred. The story is a comparison between mankind’s religion and the grace of God. Religion is Satan’s most ingenious counterfeit to the truth of God both for salvation and spirituality. Satan’s subtle lies and deceit with regard to God’s absolute truth always lead to religion.
In the case of Cain, human good works which are at the core of all religions were substituted for divine good works, which led to jealousy and hatred for his brother Abel. In the book of Jude, we are given a warning not to follow the way of Cain. The way of Cain is the way of religion which is the way of human works, the way of good deeds, the way of ritualism, the way of a lot of empty ecclesiastical phrases, but no salvation, no relationship with God and no spiritual life. (Jude 11-13)
By reading the story in Genesis 4, we realize that both Cain and Abel had been taught about Jesus Christ and had heard the Gospel from their parents. So, they knew how to approach God in worship. We see this is the fact that both brothers knew that they were to bring a sacrifice to the place where they worshipped God (probably as a family). So, there obviously was a place from childhood designated for them to worship. So, they both knew to bring an offering to God. They also knew when to bring an offering to worship God. In Genesis 4:3 we have the phrase, “in the course of time,” which means at the proper time or at the end of a certain amount of days. So, Cain and Abel knew the proper means of worship, where to worship and at what period of time to worship.
Adam and Eve had been taught by Jehovah (Jesus Christ) Himself when they were in the Garden of Eden. Jehovah had taught them about His sacrifice for sin demonstrated by the killing of animal and covering them with its skin. After they were expelled from the Garden because of their sin, they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior by a simple act of faith in what He would accomplish at the Cross in the future. It is clear that they had also taught Cain and Abel about God from childhood. However, one son was negative toward God and one was positive. Remember that God never coerces a person into believing in Jesus Christ, it is always a choice of a person’s free will as it was for Cain and Abel.
So, we have Cain, who we see was a farmer and Abel who was a shepherd. When Cain approached God for worship, he brought fruit and vegetables as an offering and Abel brought a young lamb as an offering.
God accepted the offering from Abel but rejected the offering from Cain. So, we immediately ask why, what was the difference in these two offerings and why did God reject Cain’s?
First, we notice that both brothers came to worship, so that wasn’t the issue. They also both brought offerings to God, so that wasn’t the issue. The issue and the reason that God rejected Cain’s offering was based on Cain’s approach to God. Unlike his brother Abel, Cain came to worship God based on human works not grace. Cain came by way of religion and ritual without the reality of faith in Jehovah as Savior. He brought a sacrifice that illustrated the works of man, but Abel brought a sacrifice of the work of God. It was the hand of Cain that planted and harvested the crop. Abel, on the other hand, brought a lamb which he had slain, which was a picture of what Christ would do for him in the future and which had been taught to him by his parents.
God never accepts human self-righteousness as a substitute for His divine righteousness. Religion is characterized by human merit, good works and ritual without reality. Cain rejected God’s help and God’s provision. God provided help for both Cain and Abel. Abel accepted God’s help and Cain rejected it. The implication of Cain’s offering was that he did not need any help from God, he would do it himself. Cain had rejected the salvation message from his parents and was caught up in his own self-righteousness, much like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. (Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed tombstones, beautiful on the outside but on the inside full of dead men’s bones) Even though Cain brought what was probably a beautiful display of fruit and vegetables as an offering, it was not what God required in worship.
Abel’s offering was acceptable because it was what God required because it depicted the death of Christ on the Cross, a blood sacrifice. (Hebrews 11:4; I John 3:12) It was a grace principle, approach through the blood of an innocent victim, the blood sacrifice approach. The fat indicates that the animals were slain. Abel came by faith. Cain came in unbelief. Abel’s offering acknowledged the fall of man, the sin of his parents, the curse from God as a result and mankind’s total helplessness to redeem himself. There was no self-righteousness involved. Abel’s offering was accepted on the basis of the blood and the sacrifice, but God rejected the offering of Cain which was based on human works.
Verses 5-7
“So, Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then, the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin (offering) is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.’”
Cain’s response to having his offering rejected was one of anger. Genesis 4:5 says that his countenance fell. The Hebrew word for countenance is “paneh,” which means an angry face. Cain’s angry was a portal into his soul and his mental attitude. Cain became angry at God suggesting he thought God was unfair in rejecting his offering. We see in Cain’s response the mental attitude sin of anger directed toward God first and then toward his brother Abel, which lead to the murder of Abel.
Cain’s thinking immediately became flawed when the emotion of anger took control of his mental attitude. In a jealous rage, Cain began a pattern of chain sinning. The mental attitude of anger lead to self-righteous arrogance, when he got angry at God, jealousy when he saw that Abel’s offering was accepted, power lust when he realized that Abel was in God’s favor and he was not, and finally to the act of murder.
God confronted Cain regarding his anger. God, of course, knew that Cain was angry, and it showed clearly in Cain’s face. But God in His mercy once again offered Cain a salvation solution called a sin offering. The sin offering or offering for sin was Jesus Christ and the only way for Cain to do well, as these verses say, was for him to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. Even after killing his brother, Cain could have been saved by accepting the sin offering that was right before him in the person of Jehovah. Cain’s issue was emotional anger that had overtaken his soul and he could no longer think clearer. He was also upset because he was in jeopardy of losing his inheritance.
As the eldest son, Cain had three privileges: rulership, priesthood, and a double portion of all the family assets when his father dies. Cain was about to lose this because he was not acceptable to God. He was about to be disinherited and lose everything to Abel. Cain’s failure to find acceptance with God would eliminate this completely and therefore his brother would inherit his birthright, become the family priest and retain all of the family heritage. Therefore, he decided to eliminate his brother. So, his jealousy led him to hatred and his hatred led him to murder. Cain intended to be first regardless of the cost, even if it meant killing his brother.
Verses 8-16
“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. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 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.’ Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear!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.’ 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.Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
I John 3:12 tells us exactly how Cain murdered Abel. I John 3:12, “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 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.” The Greek word for slew means to kill with a sacrificial knife. This tells us that Cain had watched his brother worship. Cain, influenced by Satan, used the same type of knife that would kill an animal to kill his brother. In this passage, Cain was both a murderer and a liar. He killed his brother and then lied about it. Cain was an unbeliever (of the evil one). Because Cain was not a believer, he was easily influenced by Satan as his parents had been in the Garden of Eden.
The Lord is omniscient and omnipresent and knew of the murder. Jehovah, Jesus Christ questioned Cain as to the whereabouts of his brother Abel, knowing that Cain had already murdered him. Trying to hide his crime did not work for Cain. God asked the one question that would incriminate Cain, and Cain lied. Cain knew what he had done was a sin against God and so he attempted to cover it up by denying that he knew where Abel was when asked by God. He even spoke in an arrogant manner to Jesus Christ when he said, “Am I my brother’s keeper.” The answer was “yes,” he was to watch over his brother as his brother was to watch over him. This is the divine institution of family.
God asked Cain, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying unto Me from the ground.” Nothing can be hidden from God’s omniscience and there would have been forgiveness for Cain if he had just admitted his sin and accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. His sin of murder put him under a curse with regard to the earth. Though Cain was a farmer the earth would no longer respond to his efforts to plant, to sow and to reap. Now Cain would to live by killing and therefore had to become a hunter. In addition to that, he was also sentenced to be separated from the rest of the human race. Capital punishment has not been instituted yet or he would have been executed. Capital punishment will not be instituted until we come to the divine institution of nationalism in Genesis chapter 9. There was no permanent place for Cain on earth. He wandered throughout the earth and feared for his life.
Because Cain had been duped by Satan, he was not remorseful for his deed, but worried only about the consequences of his sin rather than the sin itself. Verse 15 is God’s grace to the unbeliever. God put a mark on Cain which had two purposes: 1) it permitted Cain to remain alive by forbidding anyone to kill him, so that he would still have the opportunity to be saved. The principle is that God’s grace permits the unbeliever to live on the earth even in direct defiance of God.
Cain always defied God. But as long as he lived, he could be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, and it was his own volition that kept him from having eternal salvation. (John 3:18) So God in righteousness gives unbelievers every chance to be saved. 2) God executed the punishment Himself and protected the human race from further violence by someone taking revenge on Cain. Whatever the mark of Cain was, it was the principle that was important, not the actual mark. Whatever it was, it indicated to people that he was a murderer and he was not to be killed.
Cain was exiled to the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Nod in the Hebrew means flight or the land of banishment. The results of living in the land of Nod are many to the human race. Cain was going to find restlessness, unhappiness, instability while trying to find pleasure in many different things but never finding that pleasure because of the absence of a relationship and fellowship with God.