Discuss the following comments
‘Men are so hierarchical and competitive. They are always working out who is the top dog, and where they fit in the pecking order.’
‘Sibling rivalry – I could write a book. My boys seem to go looking for fights with each other.’
‘All labor and achievement spring from a man's envy of his neighbor.’
‘From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.’
‘At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.’
Note: In Genesis 2:18-25, God instituted the marriage relationship between the man and woman drawn from his body. However, the consequence of human sin is that the marriage relationship is marred by conflict (Genesis 3:16b), and will end in death (Genesis 3:19). The consequence of sin for the relationships outside the garden between the ‘men’ that come from Adam and Eve is played out in Chapter 4. Though Genesis teaches that all men are brothers, Genesis also teaches that their relations are not always fraternal, and the first brotherly relationship ended in fratricide.
What is the significance of the brothers Cain and Abel being conceived and born outside the garden?
Note that Cain (Heb qayin) derives from the word for ‘acquire, gain, gotten’, and Abel (Heb hebel) means ‘vapour, vanity, breath’ (cf Ecc 1:2). Note Psalm 144:4, ‘Man (Heb adam) is like a breath (Heb hebel); his days are like a passing shadow.’ Abel’s name gives us an inkling into the fate that awaits him.
Again, the name ‘Yahweh’ is used in Genesis 4 rather than ‘God’ (Heb Elohim), which is used in Genesis 1. What is the significance of this?
Has Yahweh abandoned Adam and Eve? Why or why not?
Cain and Abel share the same mother and are the first in scripture to bear the name ‘brothers’. What might we expect of their relationship? (see Psalm 133:1-3; Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; Hebrews 13:1; 2 Peter 1:17)
Why do Cain and Abel offer sacrifices to Yahweh?
Note that the time clause in 4:3 translated ‘in the course of time’ possibly alludes to the appropriate time in the agricultural year, ie harvest, or when lambs are born. The sacrifices that Cain and Abel offered are minhah, a word later used of ‘gift’ or ‘tribute’ offerings as opposed to guilt or sin offerings.
Is there any way to ascertain why Yahweh accepts Abel but not Cain’s offering? (compare also Matthew 23:35; Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:10-12)
How does Yahweh show love for Cain in Cain’s great jealousy, anger and disappointment?
What is the battle in which Cain (and we) must engage outside the garden of Eden? (compare Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:19-21)
Notice that similar phrases are used to describe the woman’s struggle with the man and Cain’s struggle with sin.
Genesis 3:16 and your [the woman’s] desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.
Genesis 4:7 sin couches at the door: and to you shall be its desire, and you must rule over it.
The phrases describe a great and passionate conflict between two enemies as a result of the fall.
The bible’s first brotherly relationship ends in murder. How are Cain’s actions like those of his parents, Adam and Eve, in the following areas?
Cain’s actions in spite of God’s clear word
The consequences of Cain’s actions for Abel
Cain’s dishonest response to God
The consequences of the act for Cain himself, his dwelling and vocation
God’s continuing care for the sinner
How would you answer Cain’s question, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ What does this mean? (see, for example, Leviticus 25:47-9)
What do God’s words in verse 10 indicate about:
his knowledge,
his attitude toward Cain’s crime
the principle of retribution (see, eg, Numbers 35:9-28; Hebrews 12:24)?
How is the punishment to which God sentences Cain appropriate and fitting given his crime?
Note: The Hebrew of verse 11 could be translated ‘you are more cursed than the land’ or ‘you are cursed away from the land’. In Genesis 3, the humans were not actually cursed, only the serpent and the ground. Now Cain is directly cursed for his murder (Wenham, Genesis: WBC, 1:107). This is how serious murder is.
What does the mitigation of Cain’s punishment, the mark of Cain, and the fact that Cain has a family and descendants until the flood, show about:
God
human life
Is Cain’s treatment by God an argument against the death penalty? (contrast Genesis 9:5-6)
Note
Sometimes it is asked why Cain should fear others killing him, and from where would Cain obtain his wife. We are not told directly. However, the answer must be that these other people were his own brothers and sisters and their descendants. Given the very long ages of Adam and Eve, the command to ‘be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it’ (Genesis 1:28) and the necessarily selective genealogies and recounting of births by the author (obviously many births are not mentioned, and girl children are rarely if ever mentioned), Adam and Eve had other children, who likewise had children. While they are not mentioned, we should probably posit the birth of other children to Adam and Eve before the birth of Seth. All Genesis 4:25 requires is that Eve view Seth as a replacement of Abel, not that she had no other children in the intervening years. Genesis 5:3ff only requires that Seth takes the place of Cain in the genealogy, not that no other children were born between the birth of Abel and the birth of Seth.
As to the fact that we would rightly regard this behaviour if it occurred today as incestuous and therefore unacceptable, a little thought will reveal that if humanity is to be a single unified whole coming from one pair, there is no option but that at the early stages people marry their relatives – that is, other humans. We see this in the case of Abraham, who married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12), and later Isaac and Jacob, who married their cousins (Genesis 24:15; 29:14ff). By definition, we are all related to some degree or another. That is what makes us humans.
However, by the time of Moses, conduct that Genesis portrays, such as marrying one’s sister (Leviticus 18:9; 20:17; compare Abraham and Sarah), or one man marrying two sisters (Leviticus 18:18; compare Jacob and Rachel and Leah), is prohibited by the Mosaic legislation. It may well be that the negative experiences faithfully recorded in the Genesis account partly explains why what was once permitted is now prohibited. Those negative experiences recorded include infertility (which may be linked to marrying close relations) and family rivalry (which characterizes Jacob’s family).
How does 4:17-24 show God’s continuing kindness to Cain and his line?
How does the bigamy of Lamech, the 5th generation from Cain, compare with the monogamy of Adam and Eve in chapter 2:18-25?
As readers of Genesis, we are meant to look for the one who fulfill God’s promise that the woman’s seed will bruise the serpent’s head, and the serpent will bruise his heel? Who do Cain and Lamech his descendant strike instead?
How is Lamech’s vengeful behaviour and attitude contrasted with God’s behaviour and attitude to Lamech’s line?
By Genesis 4:24, does the fulfillment of God’s promise in chapter 3 verse 15 look likely? Why or why not?
What indications are there in Genesis 4:25 to 5:3 that Seth and his line has become the true heir to the promise of salvation for Adam and Eve?
Note
Genesis 4:25 to 5:32 and the genealogy recorded therein shows that, for the purpose of finding the ‘serpent crusher’, God is starting the family of Adam and Eve again. In Genesis 4:25, Eve sees Seth as the God-appointed replacement for Abel. Cain as a murderer can never fill that role. In Genesis 4:26, the birth of Seth’s son is the occasion when it is reported that ‘men began to call on the name of Yahweh’. In Genesis 5:1 we again see the heading toledot, under which Seth, not Cain, is the generation that comes from Adam. Seth is the son made in the likeness of Adam, who is in the likeness of God. All this creates in the reader an expectation of the line of Seth, that the serpent crusher will come from him.
There are other positive signs in the line of Seth. While death continues to spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12, there is one exception. It is not said of Enoch ‘and he died’ (Genesis 5:21-24). Enoch is said to have ‘walked with God’ 300 years and then ‘he was not, for God took him’. This seems to indicate an assumption similar to that reported of Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). However, he is not the serpent crusher, because his part in the genealogy is to have a son. Moreover, Lamech looks to Noah as the one who will give ‘rest’ from the toil and labour of the cursed land (5:29). The fact is, Noah will indeed bring relief from the curse of the ground (Genesis 8:21). But it will only be through a severe judgment.
The great ages of people before the flood sometimes causes Christians problems, because we simply do not see this now. However, if Genesis 6:3 refers to the limiting of human life-span to 120 years (it is possible to take it as referring to the time God waited while the ark was being built), then we should take the spans as normal years. God is quite able to do that if he wants, and we who look forward to God giving us an everlasting embodied existence would be quite inconsistent to deny that God could have kept the ante-diluvians alive for a mere several hundred years. Then, Moses life of 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7) is presented as the most any mortal can expect. Moses wrote that during his time the general life expectancy was 70 or 80, if we have the strength (Psalm 90:10). This is not really different from what we observe today.
Reading Genesis 4.
Why do we study human disasters and failed efforts? Because there are salutary lessons in them. Those who do not study the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them. And so we teach our children the causes of the first and second world wars. We teach our children about the sad and horrible things in life. Because not only do we say, “Never Again” and “Lest We Forget”; But we do those things in our power to inform and warn of the dangers of going down there.
Even dead ends have things they can teach us. PhD’s are still awarded when the thing the candidate investigates is not successful. A friend of mine received a PhD for research in which he concluded that thing he studied didn’t and couldn’t actually do the thing he and his supervisor hoped it could do. Now to us, it might look like a waste of time. But it isn’t a waste of time if he points others in the right direction and away from the ‘dead end’. We don’t have to investigate that option, and we know it is unfruitful because of that person’s work,
We know when we are not in a hurry and have time for a bit of a drive, that going down a “No Through Road” and having a look around is sometimes interesting. You learn something by going on the adventure. And often at the end of it, there are good reasons that it is a dead end. An unbridged gorge, or a sheer cliff face, for example.
Today we start our search. The search will be conducted all through the book of Genesis. For last week, we saw that this is what readers of Genesis must do. The hope for humanity is found in the curse on the serpent. The seed of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). And so we need to look for the serpent crusher. The one who will stomp on the serpent’s head[1].
Today we are going to start at looking at two ‘dead ends’ in the search for the Serpent Crusher. They are two lines that fail. One is snuffed out in the beginning. One lives long and prospers, but shares more in common with the serpent than the seed of the woman. Yet we will see that even here, the victim is really the victor, and the fruitful one is really the failure.
So in light of this, Adam and Eve do the only thing they can do to bring about their salvation. They have sex. Genesis Chapter 4 verses 1 and 2:
1 Adam lay with his [literally, knew] 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." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
The woman, Eve, will be saved through childbearing (1 Timothy 2:15). So they get busy and start a family. And so we see that Eve’s joy at having Cain is not merely the joy of parenthood. It is also the hope of a saviour. Perhaps that is why she calls him not ‘a baby’, but ‘a man’. Here is the serpent crusher, the seed of the woman. The serpent’s head will be bruised forthwith. And hopes are high that the downfall of the serpent is around the corner.
With the birth of this second man, Cain, we have now come full circle. The woman was taken from the man. Now a man is taken from the woman (1 Corinthians 11:8, 12). So man is not independent of woman, nor is woman independent of man.
Notice, also that Eve recognizes Yahweh. She is the first person recorded using God’s covenant name, ‘Yahweh’ in her joy. She is not without faith.
But there may also be some pride in Eve’s words. Literally she says, ‘I have acquired a man with YHWH’. And this seems to go beyond rejoicing in her reproductive prowess. The name ‘Cain’ means something like ‘acquisition’. Now the woman has an ‘acquisition’ from the LORD, a man. She has acquired him.
I think there is a hint of misplaced pride in this. I am like God, I too have brought forth a man.
With the birth of Abel, we see brothers for the first time. Here we see men living together alongside one another on the face of God’s earth. They shared the same womb, the same parents. They too are of one blood. How will they act toward one another? What will their relationship be like? Will they too rejoice over their sibling as Adam did his wife, ‘this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’. Will they own each other as flesh and blood? And their decision about this will be paradigmatic for the human family.
And Abel’s name means something, too. It means ‘vapour’. It’s a bit like being named ‘morning mist’. The question is, ‘How long will Abel last?’
Billy Joel sang, ‘Only the good die young’. And in the case of Abel, he is right. King David says in Psalm 144 verses 3 and 4:
3O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? 4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow. (NIV)
And how true is this of the man whose parents gave him the name ‘vapour’. In the midst of many with what we consider as long lives, Abel flies in and out of the bible. And for this reason we rarely pay him any attention. At least, in my bible study I wrote, I didn’t pay him nearly enough attention. Just like the media focuses on the underworld figure that survives, not his many victims.
But let’s pay some attention to Abel. Let’s observe firstly that he is the younger brother. But in many ways he is the exemplar, and thus the leader. And we going to see this repeat throughout Genesis. That the older will serve the younger.
Abel is a shepherd, Cain is the farmer. And we read in Genesis 4 verses 3 to 5:
3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
At the appropriate time in the agricultural year, both brothers bring gifts to Yahweh . So the time of Abel’s offering is probably the lambing season. Both brothers bring their gifts[2] to Yahweh. The gifts they bring are appropriate to their vocation.
Abel’s gift is pointedly accepted, whereas Cain’s is rejected. And the question is, ‘Why?’ Why does Yahweh look with favour on Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.
Some say it’s because Yahweh prefers blood sacrifices. Cain offers cereal, the fruits of the earth. Whereas Abel offers lambs.
And it is true that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22 NIV). But these gifts in Genesis 4 aren’t characterized as what later became known as sin-offerings. These seem rather to be first-fruits gifts. Both gifts are described as minchah, and this word was used of the ‘grain offerings’ in Exodus and Leviticus. And grain offerings were accepted by God, and indeed commanded. So I do not believe the difference is in the type of gifts, grain versus meat. I believe the difference is in the attitude of the giver and the quality of the gifts.
First, the emphasis is on Abel himself. A literal translation of verse 4 is, ‘But Abel brought even himself
4:4And Habel brought also himself[3] from [the] first-borns of his flock [fs] and from the fat of them [suffix fp]
Notice the focus is on Abel himself. There seems to be a hint of his self-giving. The accent is on him in his role of giving the offering. Abel was ‘in’ the sacrifice. This points to Abel’s attitude.
The author to the Hebrews picks this up by saying it was ‘by faith’ that Abel brought his sacrifice. Hebrews 11:4:
4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. (NIV)
So the first difference is in the attitude of the worshipper. And surely this is confirmed in what later happens. When Yahweh in love pleads with Cain, we don’t see faith working in love as far as Cain is concerned. We see Cain’s anger burning in murder. So the first difference is in the attitude of the one making the sacrifice.
And the second difference is in the quality of the offerings themselves. The accent falls on the quality of Abel’s offering.
4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
Cain is simply said to give some of the produce of the earth. But in contrast, Abel is said to give the first and the best. The firstborn was considered special, consecrated to the Lord (Exodus 13:2; 34:19; Leviticus 27:26). And of course, those of us who are the oldest child think that the firstborn is best, too. Until of course we remember that this meant for the firstborn of Egypt and for sacrificial animals that they were slaughtered[4].
And Abel also gives the fat. And we all know that the fat is the best bits. That’s why our diets require us to have less of it. Later on, in Leviticus, Yahweh reserved the fat of the sacrifices for himself (eg Leviticus 3:17).
And so Abel gives the best bits from the best animals. And Abel is also in his sacrifice is giving himself.
And that’s why we read at the end of verse 4: The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering. Both the worshipper and the gift are accepted.
And so it seems that Abel would be an ideal serpent crusher. Until verse 8:
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
The promising seed of the Woman, the righteous one, whose person and offering is accepted by Yahweh, is snuffed out. Abel, the man of ‘vapour’ and ‘mist’ is cut off from the land of the living without descendants. Only his blood cries out for vengeance.
And here we are given a glimpse of life outside the garden. It is a life where the righteous die in the midst of their righteousness and the wicked prosper. And it is a reminder that outside the garden, you cannot read your blessedness off your circumstances. We live in a world were those whose persons and works are approved by God and righteous are attacked and murdered, cut off without descendants. And their murderers, those dominated by the sin that has mastered them, prosper and see long lives and their children’s children. And you cannot read off these circumstances who has God’s approval. This is the reality of Genesis chapter 4. And so it is the reality of our world, too.
Let’s now turn to look at Cain. And his character is revealed in his response to the rejection of both him and his offering by Yahweh. Verse 5, the last part.
5 … So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 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 master it."
Cain literally burned with great anger. The green monster of jealousy seems to have taken Cain.
And notice Yahweh’s compassionate appeal to him. Being accepted by God is not beyond Cain. God wants Cain to repent. This is why Yahweh appeals to him. Cain will be accepted if he does what is right.
However, he has a battle to fight. For we see here, for the first time, sin is personified. Yahweh speaks of sin as a power. It is crouching at Cain’s door like a wild animal, ready to pounce. Sin wants Cain. Perhaps it is lying down like a snake in it’s lair, ready to take another victim. It desires him with longing to possess him and take him. And Yahweh calls on Cain to rule over sin, to dominate it, and master it.
And friends, this is life outside of the garden. It is the time and place were sin seeks to master men. Sin as a power seeks to rule over and enslave precious people made in God’s image. It is energized by Satan, that ancient serpent, the ruler of the kingdom of the air. And in fact it does have dominion over sinners. Jesus says, ‘Anyone who sins is a slave to sin’ (John 8:34; Romans 6:16-17, 19-20; 7:14, 25). And the fact is that all of us at one time sought to gratify the cravings of our sinful nature and followed it’s desires and thoughts (Ephesians 2:3).
And even now, within the Christian, there is still the conflict of the flesh with the Spirit (Romans 7:14-25; Galatians 5:17). Even when we want to do good, evil is right there with us (Romans 7:21) What is the remedy to the conflict. Sin desires to have you, but you must master it. Rule over sin. Fight back. Fight against the power of sin. This is the language of Paul.
Sin shall not be your master (Romans 6:14). Count yourself dead to sin. (Romans 6:11). Do not let sin reign in your mortal body (Romans 6:12). Do not offer the parts of your body to sin (Romans 6:13). Put to death the misdeeds of the body (Romans 8:13). Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature (Colossians 3:4)
By the power of the Spirit that hovered over the waters, we are called to put to death, to vanquish, to slaughter, to crucify, whatever remains of our sinful nature. And if Cain did this, he wouldn’t have slaughtered his brother.
But Cain sold himself to sin (cf 1 Kings 21:25). So we read the horrific verse 8:
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
The bible’s first recorded death is a murder. It is pre-meditated. It is promped by anger and jealousy. And it for ever stands as a warning to the church as to what fallen man is capable of.
So the Apostle John writes:
12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. (1 John 3:12 NIV)
No wonder the New Testament commands us to put to death jealousy, envy, malice. For such things are but internal murder.
Very different is the way of love for brother. John, like his Lord Jesus, calls hatred murder. So the Apostle John exhorts us:
14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:14-16 NIV)
Have you gone the way of Cain? I’m not talking now whether you are up on manslaughter or murder charges. I’m asking you, heart to heart, whether you hate another human being who is now walking God’s earth. Is there another human being, for whom you secretly nurse a grudge? Perhaps you fantasise about hurting them, punching them, even killing them. And you get pleasure from that thought.
As a brother, I urge you to put this vengeance to death. Don’t put your enemy to death. Even in your heart. Put the animosity to death. If you have been wronged and cheated, leave room for God’s wrath. Do not be like Cain.
Well, Cain must now face Yahweh Verse 9:
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Just as Yahweh called , ‘Adam, where are you?’ He now calls to Cain.
And while Adam blamed but told the truth, Cain out and out lies. “I don’t know. And while Adam blames his wife, Cain renounces his brother. It’s not my job to shepherd the shepherd.” Sin is increasing and abounding more and more.
Sin made Cain forget God’s omniscience. And Yahweh reacts with horror at what he knows has transpired. Verse 10:
10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries [literally, thunders] out to me from the ground.
The all-seeing, all hearing God has seen and heard. The blood of Abel bellows and thunders out for vengeance.
Yet, in his outrage, Yahweh doesn’t visit Cain with vengeance. The God who later establish the yardstick of justice as ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life’ is remarkably restrained, though horrified. He doesn’t execute the murderer. He commutes the death penalty to banishment. Verses 11 and 12:
11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
Adam and Eve were not cursed. The ground was cursed. Their situations were cursed. But they were not cursed.
But now Yahweh curses an image bearer. Such is the horror of murder. Cain is cursed. Now Cain shares the punishment of the serpent, which was to be cursed. And maybe that is the reason why the Lord Jesus says that it was the devil who was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). And why the Apostle John says that Cain ‘belonged to the Evil One’ (1 John 3:12). Perhaps Jesus and John perceived that Cain shared the curse of the snake because Cain belonged to the ancient serpent, the devil, who inspired the first murder, and is the dark power that stands behind sin. One could translate the first part of verse 11 either as ‘you are cursed from the ground’, meaning you are banished from it. Or, ‘you are cursed more than the ground’, meaning Cain’s curse will be worse even than that of the earth.
Cain’s situation is worse than Adam. Adam was banished from the garden East to the cursed ground. But Cain himself is cursed and cannot even work the cursed ground. He is driven out further East. Adam was driven from the garden but not from Yahweh’s presence. But Cain was driven Yahweh’s symbolic presence. And Cain is now bound to wander and waver.
And our hopes of a serpent crusher are themselves crushed. The seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent’s head. But instead of crushing the serpent’s head, Cain has crushed the head of the seed of the woman. Cain seems in league with Satan, not his mortal enemy. And the question we ask is, who is left to fulfill the first gospel of Genesis 3:15? And at this stage, it is ‘no-one’! The tally is one dead, one cursed, and the hope of humanity is unfulfilled.
Still, Yahweh has mercy on this wretched shadow of an image bearer. We see that in the mark of Cain. He is protected from the vengeance he deserves. And Yahweh gives him a family. Cain cut off Abel from the joy of children. But grace upon grace, still Yahweh blesses Cain with children. Moreover, Cain builds a city – a walled fortress to protect himself. And his descendants develop all kinds of arts and crafts. Cattlemen, Nomads, Musicians, Metalworkers. All of these, no longer men of the land, like Cain their forefather, but still gainfully employed and developing technology and culture. Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
But if we think that the serpent crusher will be found in Cain’s line, we are sadly mistaken. For it seems that the sins of the fathers have been visited upon the sons. Despite all the technological and cultural advances, morally the line has degenerated. Music and Metallurgy are no replacement for Morality.
Cain’s line is doubly disappointing. First, it culminates in Lamech’s polygamy. This seems a degeneration from the monogamy of Adam and Eve.
Second, it seems to end as it began: in murder. When Adam sang, it was to thank God for his wife. When Lamech sings to his wives, it is exalt in his murder of a young man.
23 Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. 24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." (NIV)
Cain’s line has gotten worse, not better. Instead of crushing the serpent and saving men, they belong to the serpent and crush men. They turn the grace of God into a licence for immorality. They will not extend the mercy to others that Yahweh has extended to them. They are a dead end, if we are looking for a serpent crusher.
And their modus operandi is a dead end. Their path of ever increasing revenge is not our path. Jesus said that our way is diametrically opposed to that of Cain and Lamech. Peter came to Jesus and asked:
‘Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’ (Matthew 18:21-22 NIV)
Our way is not ever increasing vengeance, but ever abounding forgiveness. We mustn’t be the man who was forgiven 10,000 talents by the King. But then goes out and chokes the fellow servant who owes a hundred denarii. These words apply to us just as much as Cain or Lamech: ‘Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ (Matthew 18:33 NIV) Not vengeance seventy-seven times, but forgiveness seventy-seven times.
Well, Abel is dead, and Cain and his line is wicked. There’s only one thing to do. Genesis chapter 4 verse 25:
25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him."
A whole new start is needed. We need a new line. But it is not wholly new. The shape and character of this line has been set already. It is not a replacement for Cain, the firstborn, but a replacement for Abel, the righteous. And the name Eve gives recalls not only Abel but the promise she received in Genesis 3:15.
Literally verse 25 reads: And Adam knew again his wife, and she bore a son, and she called his name ‘Set’ because God ‘set’ for himself another seed instead of Abel, because Cain killed him.
Seth means ‘set’ or ‘placed’ or ‘granted’. And Eve recognized that Abel was the seed of the woman that needs to be replaced. The seed of the woman that would crush the serpent’s head has been killed. So a new one must be set or granted.
And we see here that what happened between Cain and Abel was not just sibling rivalry, though it was that. We see that Abel’s death at Cain’s hand was actually part of the battle between the seed of the woman and the serpent. Immediately we are taken back to the line of Abel.
But you say, ‘There is no line of Abel!’ ‘Abel was a dead end, because Cain killed him’.
Yes, it is true that like Isaiah’s servant of Yahweh, he was cut off from the land of the living, and who can speak of his descendants (Isaiah 53:8). Yet Jesus puts himself in the blood line of Abel. Let me read to you some of Jesus’ woes against the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23:
31… you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! 33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:31-35 NIV).
While Abel has no descendants, he has a long, strong blood line. The blood Abel sheds is the first in a long line of righteous suffering. It includes in it all the Old Testament prophets murdered for righteousness. It includes the New Testament Apostles and Martyrs. And it is fulfilled by the blood shed of Christ.
Jesus challenges the ‘snakes’ and ‘brood of vipers’, the Jewish religious leaders, to ‘fill up the measure of their father’s sins’ (Matt 23:32-33). Go one better than Cain. Strike me, and you will fulfill everything that Cain and his type are about.
Jesus puts his opponents in league with Satan and in the blood line of Cain. And in this respect, Jesus stands in the ‘bloodline’ of Abel.
Abel prefigures Jesus Christ. Abel is the seed of the woman, who as the righteous priest offers Yahweh a pleasing sacrifice. Yet his blood is shed by Cain, one who belonged to the devil and who acted like a snake.
Jesus fulfils the shed blood of Abel. Jesus is the one born of a woman, who as our great High Priest offered himself unblemished to God (Hebrews 9:14; cf 7:27). Yet his blood was shed by snakes and broods of vipers, the children of the devil (John 8:44, 49), and was betrayed by one whom Satan entered.
But Jesus’ blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). Abel’s blood thundered out for vengeance and retribution. But Jesus Christ’s blood, being our propitiation, speaks a better word. It thunders out ‘eternal redemption obtained’ (Hebrews 9:11) It bellows out ‘consciences cleansed’ (Hebrews 9:14) It cries out from the soil of Golgotha ‘forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22) and ‘sins done away with’ (Hebrews 9:26) and ‘the sins of many taken away’ (Hebrews 9:28) It declares ‘confident to enter the most holy place’ (Hebrews 10:19).
And so Abel’s line is continued through that of Seth[5]. The promising line of Seth provides us with the hope of the seed of the woman.
26Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.
Men in this line don’t rejoice in their seventy sevenfold revenge. They worship Yahweh. They walk with God, as exemplified by Enoch. Yet he won’t be the serpent crusher, because he was taken away. He is the one exception to the monotonous ‘and he died’. And that’s good for Enoch, but not so good for us. For we want someone to engage the serpent on our behalf. Chapter 5 fast-forwards us to Noah. And not just his parents, but also we as readers of Genesis put our hope in him for rest. But that will have to wait for next week.
For now, let’s pray.
[1] The image of the seed ‘stomping’ on the serpents head is suggested by the possibility that the member which bruises the head of the serpent is that which is in turn bruised by the serpent. It is also suggested by Romans 16:20, ‘the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly’
[2] Minchah refers to the grain gift of Cain as well as the blood sacrifice of Abel (Gen 4:3-5). The word refers to the gift Jacob sends to Esau (Gen 32:13,18,20,21; MT 14,19,21,22 ; 33:10) and that which Jacob sends to the Prime Minister of Egypt, unknowingly Joseph (Gen 43:11,15,25,26). The word Minchah was later used to refer to grain offerings (Exodus 29:41; 30:9; 40:29; Leviticus 2:1-15; 5:13; 6:7-16; 7:10, etc). But it can be used of a gift of any kind: See BDB.
[3] The Hebrew is gam-hu’. I have retained the word order. The LXX retains the word order and reads ‘and Abel offered also himself from the firstborn of his sheep…’ Every EVV and commentator treats the phrase as a pronoun modifying the subject of the sentence, ‘But Abel also himself offered’. There is no direct object marker so it is not clearly the object of the verb ‘And Abel offered even himself from the firstborn of his flocks’. But it is clearly an emphasis on Abel’s person, so I think my exegetical point still stands.
[4] Under the Mosaic law, the firstborn of clean animals were sacrificed, and the firstborn of unclean animals were redeemed. The firstborn sons always had to be redeemed (Exodus 13:12ff; 34:20; Numbers 18:13-17). Subsequently, Yahweh took the Levites in place of every firstborn of Israel (Numbers 3:12-13; 3:40-51; 8:15-19). The firstborn and firstfruits were given to the Levites and eaten at the sanctuary (Deuteronomy 12:6,17; 14:23; 15:19-20).
[5] Somewhat analogous to a Levirite marriage who will fulfill his duty to his dead brother’s line.
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