Genesis 4:1 (KJV)
1 And
Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
Genesis 4:2 (KJV)
2 And
she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Genesis 4:3 (KJV)
3 And
in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Genesis 4:4 (KJV)
4 And
Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his
offering:
Genesis 4:5 (KJV)
5 But
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Genesis 4:6 (KJV)
6 And
the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Genesis 4:7 (KJV)
7 If
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his
desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Genesis 4:8 (KJV)
8 And
Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
and slew him.
What If?
What if one of your parents did what one of my parents did?
Last week we talked about
Adam and Eve having to leave the garden. God had asked them to leave but apparently
they did not want to leave so God had to drive them from the garden. Adam and
Eve had only known the presents of God and the garden of paradise, now they were to be sent to a land that was fallen and
to a land of thorns and thistles.
Not only that, but there
offspring and their offspring and their offspring and their offspring and their offspring would have to put up with the thorns,
thistles and the sweat.
Now we are about to see a
couple of kids born with parents that they can claim are dysfunction workers of the ground and parents that made mistakes
that we would never make if we were in the same place and time. We have better
teachers and better books and better ideas and better schools and more knowledge then our parents ever had. We will never make the mistakes that our parents did.
Genesis 4:1 (KJV)
1 And
Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
And Adam knew his wife.
The phrase Adam “knew his wife” means he had sexual relations with her and she conceived and bared him a son and
she named him Cain. And she said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD”. King James says, from the LORD but it’s by the LORD. (NASB) translates this
a little clearer from the Hebrew. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain [2]
[I.e. gotten one], and she said, "I have gotten a manchild [3] [Or man, the LORD] with the help of the LORD."
Now Eve wants chocolate chip
cookies and milk with pickles. The chocolate chip cookies are what my wife wanted
anyway. I would be willing to bet that we increased sales for Nabisco by 2% with
the birth of our six kids.
Considering Eve was the first
women ever to conceive, you can you imagine the questions in her mind. Will this take as long as an elephant? Will I have a litter? Will I grow 2 more otters like a cow? And
you thought you had question.
And she brought forth a son
and she named him Cain which means acquired and she said, “I have gotten a man by the LORD”, The LORD has granted
to me this man, and names him acquired [Cain]. Eve evidently believes what the Lord had told her in Gen 3:15 concerning the
promised seed.
Genesis 3:15 (KJV)
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.
This is it this is the promised
seed.
It didn’t take long
to realize that Cain was not a redeemer but one who was raising cane.
Genesis 4:2 (KJV)
2 And
she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel <H1893>
was a keeper of sheep, but
Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Root: the same as <H1892>, habel, hab-ale'; from <H1891> (habal); emptiness or vanity; figurative
something transitory and unsatisfactory;—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
I believe that this is what
Eve believed because she named her second son Abel which means emptiness or vanity. This is what gives me the idea that she
realized that this kid could not be classified as a redeemer. Cain raising cane. By the time she had the second son she realized that the first one had a few character
flaws.
Eve is witnessing the first
two children born after the fall. She is realizing that these kids have taken
on a sinful nature that would later be referred to as the sinful nature in the scriptures. There are some differences here
with some contentions between the boys while at the same time these two boys are more alike then any identical twins that
have ever been born. There is only one family tree here. Adam. The DNA is from him alone. Basically Adam married his rib.
Eve had the same DNA as Adam.
These boys were also identical
in that they were both sinners, they were born with a sinful nature. They both were born out side of Paradise. They were both being raised by parents that had fallen. Not only had there parents fallen but it was because of their parents that they were not able to live in
a perfect environment. They had parents who were trying to teach them right from
wrong when their parent had just set up the whole human race into a fallen state. Because
of their parents that they would never know what it would be like to have a job with out toil and sweat. Talk about dysfunctional
parents, these parents. These parents were trying to teach there kids to do what I say, not what I did.
These two boys also had the
same cultural back ground. Cain didn’t hang around with a bad crowd listening
to gangster rap and go to a public school that taught new age stuff while Abel went to a Christian school and only listened
to Christian Praise music.
As you will see, these boys
both had choices to make. Choices just like their parents and you and I have to make, Choices as to listening to The Word
God for the answers or to find answers outside of The Word of God. This was Eve’s
sin, trying to gain wisdom outside The Word of God.
One child defies God and
one yields to God while both had had the same teaching and back ground. Both
were free moral agents just as there parents were, And they would make their own choices just as their parents had to make.
These boys could have used blame shifting, in that they came from a dysfunctional family. Just look at the heartache in trying to survive because of their parents.
And yet one son chooses to follow in a way that would take care of the sin problem while one chooses to do it his own
way.
Genesis 4:3 (KJV)
3 And
in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
“In process of time”,
is not clear. Could it have meant on the Sabbath or at a time when the boys would become men and make a sacrifice for themselves?
We really do not know.
Genesis 4:4 (KJV)
4 And
Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat <H2459> thereof.
And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
“Brought”, evidently
there was a specific place, for it states that they brought.
We do know that there was
a time and a place for the sacrifice. We also know that there was a method, for
it states “an offering”.
fat <H2459> thereof <H2459> From an unused root meaning to be fat; fat, whether literal or figurative.; hence
the richest or choice part :- × best, fat (-ness), × finest, grease, marrow.—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
What we see here is that,
these two young men had an understanding of the whole sin covering process. There
had been a very good communication as to the how and why. I can only speculate
as to how the story was told to the boys.
I know from watching my own
children and from watching the children of others at play when they were young. Children really haven’t changed since
Cain and Abel when they were children. I still remember how I showed my son Michael
what a honey suckles was and how to suck out the honey when he was four years old. Every
discovery is new and exciting. “Dad, look at this”, “look at that”, “what’s this”,
“what’s that”?
I can hear the following
conversation taking place because I have heard the conversation of my own children.
It may have been over many years and only a part here and there but the questions were asked and the story was told.
Ha Mom, sometimes when I’m
out running and playing, like the other day. And I was running and saw this thing down by the river that was carrying its
house on its back and, and I ran to dad to tell him about it and dad just looked at my face, but it was like he was some place
else or thinking about something else.
I can only imagine but I
am sure that this conversation took place between Eve and her boys.
How can I tell you what it
was like on the other side of Paradise before the fall? On the other side of Paradise
we were clothed in light and we were able to fellowship with God in the cool of the day.
Boys we could never tell you what it was like, we made a terrible mistake we sinned.
Have you ever notice the
sweat on daddy’s brow when he’s working out in the field? Ever time he wipes the sweat from his brow he is reminded
of what we did and how God said that he would have to provide for himself and for us by the sweat of his brow.
When you are running hard
and playing and sweat forms above your eyes it reminds dad that that sweat was caused by the sin that he and I brought upon
you because of a curse that was put upon us.
But we were given the promise
that one day God will turn all of this around through a substitute. That is why
your Father will once in awhile take a lamb to the place were God told us to bring it and he will kill that innocent lamb
as a covering for our wrong doing. You too will one day do this when you are old enough.
They must have heard the
lamb’s bleating as the lamb would cry out and then Adam would kill the lamb as the LORD had, to make the covering for
Adam and Eve. Several hours latter the boys would see their father return with
blood on his hands but a face that had total piece. A face that no longer had
an, ‘I am guilty look’, because his guilt had been covered by the shedding of an innocent substitute. This act looked forward to the act of an innocent substitute, The Lamb.
Dad’s life had ministered
this massage to both Cain and Abel, but Cain would reject his father’s message as nothing more then a bloody religion. Cain would come to God without faith and invent his own way of coming to God and take
on bitterness because of the way that Abel’s bloody religion made Abel acceptable before God.
Abel understood how his parents
had fallen and also came to believe the redemption story from his fallen parents because he also brought and sacrificed a
lamb for his own covering and redemption.
Genesis 4:5 (KJV)
5 But
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, <H2734> and his countenance <H6440>
fell.
What God wants us to see
is, when one comes in faith with the blood of an innocent substitute God has respect for that.
And when one comes without faith with the product of his own sweat and labor God does not have respect for that.
It states in Hebrews 11:4
(AMP)
4 [Prompted, actuated] by faith Abel brought God a better and more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, because of which
it was testified of him that he was righteous [that he was upright and in right standing with God], and God bore witness by
accepting and acknowledging his gifts. And though he died, yet [through the incident] he is still speaking.
There was something in Abel,
an understanding that he had to have an innocent substitute a substitute had to die in his place because he could not come
to God in his own righteousness’.
And Cain was very wroth, <H2734>
a primitive root [compare <H2787> (charar)]; to glow or grow warm; figurative (usually) to blaze up, of anger, zeal,
jealousy :- be angry, burn, be displeased, × earnestly, fret self, grieve, be (wax) hot, be incensed, kindle, × very, be wroth.
);
—Strong's Talking Greek
& Hebrew Dictionary
<H2787> A primitive
root; to glow, i.e. literal (to melt, burn, dry up) or figurative (to show or incite passion) :- be angry, burn, dry, kindle.
—Strong's Talking Greek
& Hebrew Dictionary
and his countenance <H6440>
fell. <H6440> the face (as the part that turns);
—Strong's Talking Greek
& Hebrew Dictionary
His countenance or face could
be read like a book.
Let’s read Genesis
4:5 in the (AMP)
5 But for Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant,
and he looked sad and depressed.
Jesus said as written in
Luke’s Gospel that, “That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may
be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the
temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. Luke 11:50-51 (KJV)
In Matthew it is stated this
way, “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” Matthew 23:35 (KJV)
We are told in the book of
Revelation “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant,
and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Revelation 19:10 (KJV)
So these verses tell us that
Abel was a prophet, he was righteous, that he was justified in his giving and that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of
Prophecy.
So from the commentary of
the New Testament and the words of Jesus we see that Abel was a prophet. This
probably caused more contention in Cain because Abel would have tried to explain about the importance of a blood sacrifice.
Now we can understand that
the rejection of a blood sacrifice in faith or the disbelief in a blood sacrifice in faith for oneself or another is a disbelief
in the testimony of Jesus.
Genesis 4:6 (KJV)
6 And
the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Genesis 4:7 (KJV)
7 If
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. <H6607> And unto thee
shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
<H6607> from <H6605>
(pathach); an opening (literal), i.e. door (gate) or entrance way :- door, entering (in), entrance (-ry), gate, opening, place.
—Strong's Talking Greek
& Hebrew Dictionary
<H6605> (pathach);
a primitive root; to open wide (literal or figurative); —Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
Usage Notes: "doorway; opening;
entrance; gate." —Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
Genesis 4:7 (AMP)
7 If
you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you
must master it.
Cain's wrath was without
excuse, because God still offered to accept the right sacrifice.
When the law is given, the
sinner will come with a sacrifice that will have to be examined the sacrifice will be examined to make sure that there is
no spot or blemish. The worshiper will never be examined for a spot or blemish
because the worshiper has already acknowledged that he has many a spot and blemish and is sinful.
Cain silence is speaking
louder then his words. His anger is seething.
Is God saying that there is only one way to Him, the way that my brother and parents came to God? Yes there is only one way to God. Today people are coming
to God ether like Abel or like Cain. And when people reject the way that you
have come for your forgiveness or have a problem believing that you have been forgiven in this way they will question their
own forgiveness. It shows in their countenance, their actions, their words and
their life.
These scripture show us that
as an individual we can make a choice even if we come from parents that are fallen or abusive or drunks or drugies, or unbelievers
or the must upright and you can still choose to worship God as He asks or you can do it your way. The choice is still yours.
The problem that Cain had
was that his problem with Abel wasn’t being handled the way that he wanted it to be handled. So Cain devised a way to take care of his problem with Abel himself.
Genesis 4:8 (KJV)
8 And
Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain raised up against Abel his
brother, and slew him.
Cain had a real problem with
how sin was to be covered and dealt with in himself and in others. When Cain
didn’t have faith that a blood offering could take care of his own sin then Cain also had a problem with the way Abel
was taking care of his sin problem. Bitterness grew until Cain took care of the
problem he had with Abel himself.
Are you crying out for the
blood of the one you hold bitterness against or are you crying out for the blood that can make things right between you, the
Lord and the one you hold bitterness against?
Hebrews 12:15 (KJV)
15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby
many be defiled;
1 John 3:12 (AMP)
12 [And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation] from
the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious
and his brother’s were righteous (virtuous).
1 John 3:12 (KJV)
12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore
slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
Ephesians 4:31 (KJV)
31
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
How will you deal with this
issue?
Still your choice. The way of Cain or the way of Abel
Hope or generations of disastrous
history?
Next week we will cover what
Cain’s choice cost him and how six generations carried on the Cain principle.
Next weeks lesson is entitled, “What are you teaching your kids?”
