Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.’ 2Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ 10And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ 13Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’ 15Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. 16Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
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What is the worst thing that can happen? Going away from the presence of the Lord.
I always thought that Cain's question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" was a way of saying, "Am I supposed to be keeping track of my brother....isn't he old enough to do that himself?"
But after I read an article on this section of Genesis, I found out that according to the Old Testament "God is the keeper of God's people." So, really, Cain was saying to God, "Hey, it's your job, not mine to take care of my brother?"
This small passage is so packed with the revelation to come it bogels the mind.
We see the very 1st sacrifice for sins and the very 1st instance of self-righteousness by the disobedience of God's command as to what was a proper sacrifice. (Lev 19:24 - difference between a "thank offering" which is what Cain brought & a "sacrifice" which was commanded by God. A thank offering is equivilant to today's tithing, a share of our material wealth, a sacrifice is a blood offering representing the blood of the Christ who is to come for the atonement of sins, a sacrifice is a sign of true faith & repentance)
Actually, the 1st sacrifice in humankind history came when God sacrificed a living animal to make shelter(clothing) for man. Shelter in which to cover his sins fo the flesh. From this we must believe that the Adam & Eve passed this story of great sacrifice onto their children quite often & the story of the revelation to come, the promise that God would bring forth a savior. We must believe that these children were taught what a proper sacrifice was & Cain chose to disobey. He became the seed of evil. (1 John 3:12)
During the days of the old covenant, man was to bring unblemished living animals for sacrifice so as to remind them of the revelation(promise) from God that he would come forth in a living body & that His blood would be shed for their sins. Until that time, they were to bring the best of their stock, the unblemished as a sign of repentance for their sins and their faith in the promise of an unblemished savior.
We also see where self-righteousness breeds anger & murder.
But what does God do? He shows grace! He gives Cain a 2nd chance to repent. To come clean and turn away from his sin. But Cain having nothing of it, leaves from the presence of God and thus begins the history of the apostates, the false prophets & the mass spreading of evil in the world.
Heb 12:24
Jude 11
1 John 3:12
John 8:44
Romans 2:4-5
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