Editor's Note
As we said on Sunday in our “Christian to the Core” series, we’re inviting the entire Harris Creek family to read the Bible over the next four years, one chapter per day, from cover to cover. If you’ve been following along with us, you know we read Genesis 1-6 last week. We’re going to repeat those chapters this week, then move on to 7-12 next week so we’re all on the same page.
Be on the lookout for our new Family Guide coming on Sunday so you can recap and discuss the previous week’s readings with your kids!
Read Genesis 4
Cain and Abel
1 Adam made love to his 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.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.4 And Abel also brought an offering—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. 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 rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 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.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear.14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
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.”
25 Adam made love to 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.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.
Go Deeper
Many of us may know the tragic story of Cain and Abel. Two brothers—same gene pool, same upbringing, same opportunities. Yet, very different in their personality and professions. Both maintained some kind of worship of God because both bring offerings to the Lord.
Abel brought an offering that was bloody and messy as he sacrificed the very best he had as worship to God. Cain, whose offering might have appeared pleasing, sacrificed “some” of what he had (Genesis 4:4). Scripture doesn’t tell us how the brothers knew that one offering was accepted and the other rejected. We only know they knew because Cain responds with anger and jealousy. Hebrews 11:4 says that “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.” Eventually Cain, consumed with rage and bitterness, kills his brother Abel. And we all collectively sigh because we know it was never supposed to be this way for the first siblings born into the world. Genesis 3 describes the fall of humanity and quickly on the heels we see the first murder in Genesis 4.
All throughout Genesis God’s character and kindness are repeatedly on display. Contrast God’s character with the plight of humanity in sin. Cain deserved death but God gave him life—God’s grace and mercy on full display. What’s true for Cain is also true for us. God promises us life through Jesus even though we don’t deserve His grace.
God’s character is unchanging. His promises are true. His precepts are for our good and His own glory. He expects us to give Him our very best offerings—time, talents, gifts, finances. How will we respond? How will you respond? Will we give Him all we have like Abel or will we withhold the best from God like Cain?
In Romans 12:1 Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Our true and proper worship is to offer God everything we have. Abel gave God the best he had, whereas Cain withhold the best. May we be people who worship God by offering Him everything we have.
Questions
- Abel’s offering represented what was most costly, and he showed his love for God above all else by giving a costly gift. When was the last time your offering to God cost you something (money, time, talent)?
- In Genesis 4:7, God lovingly confronts Cain. What do you learn about the character of God in this exchange?
- Why do you think Abel’s offering was accepted and Cain’s was rejected?
Did You Know?
Genesis 4:19 tells us Lamech marries two women. This appears to be the first example of polygamy in the Bible. While polygamy is common in the Old Testament, it’s clearly a violation of God’s created design and order as seen in Genesis 2:24. Lamech’s decisions provide further evidence of the downward spiral of humanity.
9 thoughts on “Genesis 4”
In this tragic narrative we see a hint of the redemption story to come, one where God meets us in the midst of our messes and offers us hope beyond anything we deserve.
The Lord consistently defies our human expectations. Adam and Eve sin yet get the blessing of another son, Seth. Cain sins and gets protection from those who would try to harm him. These scenarios illustrate God’s judgement is fierce and the consequences for sin firm, yet He shows mercy and “grace that is greater than all our sin.”
REFLECTIONS ON GENESIS 4
I can’t read Genesis 4 without being struck by the heartbreaking devastation of sin. Abel is dead, Cain is driven out … and Eve has lost both her sons.
Of the many lies sin likes to insist, perhaps the most insidious is this: it can stay hidden and isolated. “No one will know; no will get hurt.”
As JP reminded recently,, GOD sees!
We can’t EVER hide from him.
And the more we try to hide, the more we get caught in sin’s vicious cycle. I wonder how this story might have ended if Cain had fully confessed (ie, didn’t try to hide) his shortcomings and struggles? Instead, he turned from God, ignored God’s warning and allowed the sin “crouching at his door” to rule over him.
But as Proverbs 18:1 predicts, “whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”
HIDING sin … only EMPOWERS sin.
Desiring God offers more on the subject in “Me, Myself, and Lies: The Spiritual Dangers of Isolation”
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/me-myself-and-lies
Isaiah 29:13 13 The Lord says:“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.(NIV)l
Pride, self will, unbelief.
God gives us chance after chance, grace and mercy. God warned Cain and us that sin is crouching like a fierce beast at our door, so do not open it. Bearing grudges, harboring bitterness, and anger are things the adversary can us against us. BUT GOD doesnt give us what we deserve, through mercy and grace He gives us what we dont deserve. 1 John 2:17 (AMP) The world is passing away, and with it its lusts [the shameful pursuits and ungodly longings]; but the one who does the will of God and carries out His purposes lives forever.
Sin entered and it’s corrupation spread and defiled God’s creation. BUT GOD works out things for His pleasure. People can say and act like they are godly, spiritual people but their fruit shows otherwise.
God thank You for opening the eyes of my understanding to the ways and things that are not of Your good pleasure. God I know I am dead in the trespasses and sins in which I once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedienc among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved me, even when I was dead in my trespasses, made me alive with Christ—by grace I have been saved and raised up with Him and seated me with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward me in Christ Jesus. For by grace I have been saved through faith. And this is not of my own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that I should walk in them.(Eph 2) God Your ways are best, help me to go that way. God I give You praise for this day, these minutes, that I use them wisely and for Your glory and honor in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy, thank you for this!
I’ve been home sick all week, restless and miserable, especially vulnerable to the “prince of the air.” How I needed this reminder!
Thank You, Jesus, for AGAIN opening the eyes of my understanding to the ways and things that are not of YOUR good pleasure. Thank You for reminding me what is at stake.
And thank You for Your promise and assurance that the one who does the will of God and carries out His purposes lives forever.
We aren’t all that different from the first humans. We struggle with jealousy like Cain, we seek vengeance like Lamech, and we desire things that God tells us aren’t good for us like Adam and Eve. Sin has consequences, but there is hope in Jesus.
Interesting that Cain gave produce from the ground which the Lord had cursed due to Adams sin. Abel on the other hand was exercising dominion over the animals as God had commanded in Genesis 1:28., as well as offering the required sacrifice of shed blood found in Hebrews 9:22.
I also love that God gave Adam and Eve another son Seth, who hundreds of years later Noah would come this line. Genesis 5:28-32.
Finally I can’t overlook the beauty of God’s hand in the continued ongoing creation of mankind. Genesis 4:1 (“With the LORDS help I have produced a man”!
This is it! God cursed the ground, but provided salvation from “immediate” death (or capital punishment – Gen 2:17) for Adam and Eve when He killed an innocent animal or two in Gen 3:21. Abel was agreeing with the sacrifice God made on behalf of his parents only a few verses earlier, while Cain tried to offer what God had just cursed only a few verses earlier.
Good word, Peggy!
God is joyful when he sees us serving him and being fully honest. He was filled with anger and sadness when Cain chose to kill his brother, and then hide. God watched his child give into temptation and choose pain for his life. In so many areas, this is me— yet God chooses me all over again day after day. I pray that I resist the devil and give everything I am to Him.