Genesis 4: Jealousy Turns to Murder

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Cain and Abel (v. 1-26)

Adam and Eve had 2 sons, Cain and Abel. Abel kept sheep and Cain worked the ground. They both brought sacrifice to the lord, Cain brought fruit from the ground and Abel brought the first born of his flock. The Lord was happy with the offering from Abel, but he was not impressed with Cain's offering. Cain got angry and God asked him why he was angry, he just had to do better and the sacrifice would be accepted, if not he is opening himself up to sin.

So Cain offers fruit from the ground, and he works the ground so this seems reasonable, but God is not happy with his offering. Is it because it is fruit, or because he is offering a poor selection of his fruit? If it's just because it is fruit that seems pretty unfair for God to be upset. On the other hand, Abel didn't just bring a lamb, he brought his best. As a kid I remember this story being told as if Cain just brought scraps and that is why God was upset, I'm not sure I read that in the story here, except perhaps verse 7 where God tells him to do better. I wish there was a little more detail here, oh well.

I looked at a couple of different commentaries here (Guzik, Matthew Henry), they both don't really have a good answer, but they do seem to read a lot into this. It seems that they have the same wish as me that this was explained better. 

Cain responded to all of this by killing his brother.

That seems like a bit of an over reaction. So what is the lesson here? Don't be jealous? Perhaps not to let your emotions get that far out of control.

Guzik says this is a message about the destructive power of sin.

God asks Cain where his brother is, and Cain responds "Am I my brothers keeper?" God then says that Abel's blood calls out to him from the ground, and he then curses Cain saying the ground won't yield its strength to him anymore. Cain says it is more than he can bear and is worried that anyone who finds him will kill him. The lord puts a mark on him and says that anyone who kills him will have vengeance in return sevenfold.

God punishes Cain, takes away his livelihood but doesn't allow him to be killed by other people. I'm not really sure how I feel about this, Cain clearly needs to be punished and he is, but God also shows mercy by not allowing him to be killed. It's good I guess.

Guzik brings up a good point that I missed, he points out that when Cain said "My punishment is greater than I can bear!" he didn't feel bad about what he did, only about his punishment.

Cain went away from the presence of the lord and ran east to the land of Nod. We hear about 7 generations of Cain's descendants before we get back to Adam and Eve.

Cain's family tree. Hope you enjoy my MS paint skills :)

This raises a few questions for me. First, how get Cain get away from the presence of the lord? Yesterday we had a similar situation where Adam and Eve were hiding from God in the garden and he was asking where they were. I argued that it is possible God was feigning ignorance of their position. This is different, verse 16 is not from the perspective of Cain thinking he was getting away from God, it is just stated as fact from the narrator. Clearly the God described here is not omnipresent or omniscient.

Second. where did Cain's wife come from? We say yesterday (Gen 3:20) that Eve is the mother of all of humanity, and yet Cain is going to another land to find a wife. Further, we will see shortly in verse 25 that Eve is given a son to replace Abel, implying that Abel is her third son. Again, where did the other people come from? Given that God in this story apparently only can see a small area of the planet, and there are people outside of his influence, maybe he is only one of many God's creating life on this planet. 

Guzik says that he must have married his sister. Still doesn't explain when she was born or where she came from. Also, there was apparently this whole land of Nod to the east, where did all of those people come from?

Adam and Eve then had another son and called him Seth, a replacement for Abel as Cain had killed him. Seth had a son named Enosh.

I'm guessing this didn't have to happen in this order. We don't necessarily have to take Seth's birth as happening after all of the descendants of Cain right? If they tried to interleave them it would be confusing. I hope this isn't the reason why people say Adam and Eve lived so long. [edit - Tomorrow's reading specifically says Adam lived 930 years]

For the verses of note post

--Jealousy--

Genesis 4:1-8 Jealousy leads to murder

"...the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell...And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him."

--Properties of God--

Genesis 4:16 God is not omnipresent

"Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden."

1 John 3: Hate and Murder are the same

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Children of God [cont.] (v. 1-10)

We are children of God and we shall be like Jesus because Jesus is pure and we purify ourselves in him. If you sin you are with the devil, if you know Jesus you will not keep on sinning. By this is it evident who is of God and who is of the devil.

Didn't we just learn in 1 John 1 that we are all sinners? That anyone who says they are not a sinner is a liar? Now this says that if you are with God you are no longer a sinner. It follows logically that no one is with God.

Guzik tries to explain this with grammar. He argues that in 1 John the grammar indicates occasional acts of sin, whereas the grammar here indicates living a life of sin. Let's examine this, for the verse here, it says "keeps on sinning", I suppose this could go either way, but it feels to me like it is saying that there is never a point in which you stop sinning altogether. What does it mean to say no one who abides in Jesus keeps on sinning? It sounds to me like it is saying once you are with Jesus you never sin again. What about 1 John 1:8? It says "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." I suppose his argument works here, if everyone has a little sin now and then, then they can't say they have no sin. Given the source material, I think he has done the best that can be done, but it looks to me that we have contradictory messages here. I guess you just have to judge for yourself.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown say that we are talking about the ideal of a Christian. They say "Not that 'whosoever is betrayed into sins has never seen nor known God'; but in so far as sin exists, in that degree the spiritual intuition and knowledge of God do not exist in him." So their argument is that as far as you sin, that much you don't know God. As far as I read it, this goes pretty contrary to what the actual book says. Furthermore, we have seen plenty of times in the bible where all sins are equated, if you lie you deserve hell just as much as if you murdered. With this in mind, I think this way to justify the verse falls flat.

Love One Another (v. 11-24)

You should love your brother, not hate him. Cain hated Abel because his deeds were righteous so he killed him. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.

Whoa, let's stop right there. Hate and murder are the same thing? I know you are making a Cain and Abel analogy here, but hate and murder are quite far apart.

Here is Guzik's take on this: "To hate our brother is to murder him in our hearts. Though we may not carry out the action (through cowardice or fear of punishment), we wish that person dead. Or, by ignoring another person, we may treat them as if they were dead. Hatred can be shown passively or actively." I could not disagree with this more, and honestly, the fact that he would read this passage and then have this take-away demonstrates the negative impact reading the bible could have on someone who is so invested in it being correct. I've hated people, I've never wanted to kill anyone, to say that I have murdered someone in my heart is absolutely ludicrous. To imply that I have only not killed those people because I am a coward or that I fear punishment is also quite silly.

v13 "Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you."

Persecution complex once again.

Both Guzik and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown take this as a given.

Jesus laid his life down for us, we should be willing to do the same for our brothers. If you have worldly goods and are able to help someone out who is in need, and you refuse, how is it possible that God's love abides in your heart. Don't just talk about loving your brothers, let your deeds speak for you.

You should help people out who are in need, this I can get behind.

Sometimes your heart might condemn you, but God is greater than your heart. If you keep the commandment to believe in Jesus, then God is in you.

Had a bit of trouble summarizing that paragraph, but basically it seems to be saying that you might sometimes want things that you are not supposed to want, but with God you can overcome your impulses.

Guzik says that "our heart condemns us before God" is about us feeling like we aren't really worthy of God, and the part about God being greater than our hearts is that we shouldn't take those feelings too seriously, because God is with us even though we have those feelings.

If we keep God happy with us, he will give us whatever we ask for.

We are back to faith I guess, this is basically the thing that Jesus talked about, if you really believe then you can move a mountain with a prayer. What nonsense. But even if we assume that moving a mountain is hyperbolic talk from Jesus, here we are still saying that we can get whatever we want if we really believe. I would argue there are plenty of believers who have cancer and really believe that prayer will heal them, and yet God doesn't cure their cancer.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 3:17 Love each other and help those in need

"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"

1 John 3:18 Talk is cheap, show love with your actions

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."


Bad:

1 John 3:6 If you sin you can't be with God

"No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him."

1 John 3:13 Persecution complex

"Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you."

1 John 3:15 Murder and hate are the same

"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

1 John 3:22 God will give us whatever we ask for

"and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him"