The following study is one that I archived prior to understanding Messianic Christianity. This is a blend of Jewish teachings from the Old Testament and New Testament teachings which bring a fuller understanding of Yeshua (Jesus) our Messiah (Christ). Replacement Theology has thrown out much of the Jewish understanding of the scriptures. In my opinion, it is nearly impossible to fully understand the scriptures without understanding Torah, or biblical instructions to the Jews in the Old Testament. I am working to rewrite my work in these studies and hope to eventually rewrite everything on this website. The task is enormous. As you read through the studies, keep in mind that I am editing them slowly. Once a page is edited, this disclaimer will be removed. Thanks for your understanding.
Genesis 4:1-8 (NASB95)
1 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.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 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; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 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. [1]
Eve worshipped the Lord for the two children that she had. Cain was the oldest, and Abel the younger. “In the course of time” indicates that they had grown and had come to a point where they were both old enough to work and to develop their trades to where they had offerings to the Lord. This is the first time that we see man sacrificing to the Lord, consider for a moment the offering of Cain and the offering of Abel. Later in the Bible, guidelines are given for both offerings of animals and offerings of grain. Both offerings will later be implemented as a part of worship to the Lord. The difference between God’s acceptance of the two offerings may have hinged on the fact that one was an animal sacrifice and the other grain, or it could have been because God saw the heart of the one offering the sacrifice. Abel may have been offering his offering out of a pure act of worship. I say this because Cain’s first response was anger, a killing anger toward his brother. How can you offer a sacrifice to the Lord, then kill your brother if your heart was right during the sacrifice? I would guess that Cain didn’t have his heart in the right place when he offered the sacrifice. To support this look at these verses:
1 John 3:11-12 (NASB95)
11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 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.
Hebrews 11:1-4 (NASB95)
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. [2]
Also notice the warning that God gave to Cain. The Bible records that God warned Cain about the sin that wanted to master him, and he ignored the warning. This is similar to the warning that God gave to Adam and Eve regarding the tree of life. This indicates that God had a one on one relationship with man at that point. Also consider that God had regard for Abel’s offering, Cain would not have known that unless there was some sort of personal interaction with God.
Genesis 4:9-17 (NASB95)
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 “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.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear! 14 “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.” 15 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. 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. [3]
God placed a curse upon Cain, he was to wander the rest of his life, and his life of farming was over since God would not bless his crops. Consider Cain’s words for a moment, he was upset because his penalty was so great, but he was alive, also consider that there was not any repentance in his statement. God did not take his life, or require that his life be taken. As a matter of fact, God protected Cain giving him a second chance at life. God even placed a mark upon him so that he would not be killed by another man. Consider this for a moment, Cain had a chance to comply with God’s punishment and wander the earth as a vagrant. Yet Cain chose to settle in the land of Nod, directly opposed to God’s divine will for his life. This was an outright, blatant sin against God, he moved to Nod, which means the land of wandering, and founded a city there.
One of the problems with this chapter is that people scoff at the idea of other people being in the world. The Bible says that the world started with two people, Adam and Eve, then fast forwards to this chapter where we see that Adam and Eve have two sons. Cain is banished, and concerned about the other people in the world. I have been told that Jewish tradition says that Eve had thirty pairs of twins, in other words, 60 children over the span of their lifetime. It is well known that families who have twins sire children who have twins. Josephus records that there were 56 children. If that were the case, then the following story makes perfect sense. Those figures could have been even greater, Benjamin Franklin was one of 19 children in a single family. Considering all this, the population by the time of the flood could have easily climbed to 200 million according to “The Genesis Flood: Continents in Collision”. One other thing that we don’t know is when in Cain and Abel’s life that this incident took place, they could have already raised large families. We also do not know if Adam and Eve had had daughters for them to marry yet. It was obvious that they had developed their trades to successful levels. In other words, don’t get tripped up over a seeming contradiction. It was very possible for the earth to be populated in a very rapid manner, especially considering the long lives of the first people, and the fact that they bore children for years. Looking forward to Genesis 5:32, Noah had children at the age of 500 years. If all the generations of Adam and Eve were recorded in the early years, it would probably have filled a huge book. Consider that God had created them as perfect, there wasn’t any worry about genetic defects yet. Incest was necessary between siblings during the early years of the world, but later on, by the time of the Mosaic Law, it was strictly forbidden.
Genesis 4:18-24 (NASB95)
18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; 24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” [4]
There are a few notes of interest here, remember, there were no cave men according to the Bible. Cain was part of the second generation on earth, and he built a large city which had organized livestock, musicians, and the ability to forge implements out of bronze and iron. This was also a very evil city, look at Lamech; he was the first one in the Bible to take more than one wife. He was also a man who laughed in the face of God and killed out of spite for others. The thinking is that since Cain got away with murder, it was OK to murder others and he was very safe. This demonstrates the evil that ruled the people of Cain’s city.
God gave Cain a second chance at life because God is a God who wants to forgive His people. Cain chose to ignore God’s warning and to do things his own way. He went as far as building a city which was filled with rebels who were like himself. The sins of his youth were passed on to his children, and to their children. This may be where the Jewish idea of generational sin started.
Genesis 4:25-26 (NASB95)
25 Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.[5]
I would like to remind you of Erik’s remarks the other day regarding God’s sacrificing of animals to make clothing for Adam and Eve. This is in direct contrast to the story that we just read concerning Cain. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they tried to cover up the sin and tried to blame others for the sin, but they repented of their sin. That is evident in these verses, Eve gave glory to God for giving her another child. Eve demonstrates by her words and her actions of naming in accordance with God’s actions that she followed God. The result of this is that Seth’s descendants began to call upon the name of the Lord.
There were two separate and distinct lifestyles described and introduced in this chapter of Genesis. We see the lifestyle of the unrighteous contrasted with the lifestyle of the righteous. Those who defy the Lord, and those who live according to and call upon the name of the Lord. The unrighteous demonstrated an ability to develop the arts in music, agriculture and metal tools. The city which was born in sin abounded with success, it raises the age old question as to why the unrighteous prosper. Folks, Satan gained the title as prince of the earth when he defeated Adam and Eve, it was his world until Jesus defeated him on the cross. Lamech demonstrated for us that even though the city was prosperous, it had no moral standards and therefore the appearance of prosperity was shadowed by the need of self preservation. It was a land where every man was out for himself, as compared to Adam’s family which was out for God.
I am going to close here, there are lots in this chapter and I did not address all the issues. If you would like to add your comments, be sure to write in.
Father, as we consider Your word today, open our eyes and enable us to understand about the way that sin works in our lives. Enable us to understand the way that it works in the world, and give us the words to convince others to turn from it.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.Joe, Thanks. You follow the commonly given interpretation of Genesis 4:7, i.e. that sin is like an animal crouching at his door of his life and that Cain must master it. However, note that the word for “sin” (CHaTTa’TH) is used 296 times in the KJV; it is translated as “sin” 182 times, as “sin offering 116 times. The context and sense is the controlling factor in each case. In Genesis 4, the context is the acceptance of Abel’s animal offering and the rejection of Cain’s grain offering (fruit of the ground). Cain is very angry. That is sin. Therefore, the Lord leads Cain to realize he has sinned (countenance fallen; “if you do not do well”) and provides for a proper offering. A sin offering is crouching right outside, it is a willing sacrifice (desire [TeSHUQaH] – compare Genesis 3:16, Eve’s desire for her husband), but you must master it (master, exercise dominion [MaSHaL]). Consider the sense of the interpretation commonly offered. Cain is told that sin is crouching at the door, ready to devour him (a thought which is not in the text), but Cain must somehow master that sin before it controls him? We can control sin? What a horrible demand for the Lord to place on Cain! It cannot be done (Rom. 3:10-20)! Apart from the Spirit’s influence (Rom. 8:2), even a born-again believer in Christ is vulnerable to sin because of his or her un-glorified body (Rom. 7:14-25, esp. vv. 18 – in my flesh, 23 – in the members of my body, 24 – the body of this death). I believe this alternate interpretation was pointed out to me by J. Dwight Pentecost and I prefer it. Lifted up the requests. IHG, Erik