Genesis 4

Genesis 4:1

C. Cain and Abel (Chap. 4)4:1 Adam knew Eve his wife in the sense that he had sexual relations with her. When Cain was born, she acknowledged that this birth was only by the Lord’s enablement. In naming him Cain (“acquisition”), Eve may have thought that she had given birth to the Promised Seed. 4:2-6 The process of time mentioned in verse 3a allows for a considerable increase in the world’s population. There must have been a time when Cain and Abel were instructed that sinful man can approach the holy God only on the ground of the blood of a substitutionary sacrifice. Cain rejected this revelation and came with a bloodless offering of fruits and vegetables. Abel believed the divine decree and offered slain animals, thus demonstrating his faith and his justification by God (Heb_11:4). He brought the firstborn of his flock, saying in effect that the LORD deserves the best. Abel’s offering points forward to the substitutionary death of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 4:7 Because Cain’s jealous anger was incipient murder, God spoke to him in loving warning. Verse 7 may be understood in several ways:

1. “If you do well [by repenting], you will be able to look up again in freedom from anger and guilt. If you do not do well [by continuing to hate Abel], sin is crouching at your door, ready to destroy you. His [Abel’s] desire is for you [i.e., he will acknowledge your leadership] and you will rule over him” [i.e., if you do well].
2. “If you do well (or, as the Septuagint reads it, “If you offer correctly”) will you not be accepted?” The well-doing had reference to the offering. Abel did well by hiding himself behind an acceptable sacrifice. Cain did badly by bringing an offering without blood, and all his after-conduct was but the legitimate result of this false worship.
3. The RSV says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
4. F. W. Grant says in his Numerical Bible, “If you do not well, a sin-offering croucheth or lieth at the door.” In other words, provision was made if he wanted it. 4:8-12 Cain’s evil attitude of jealous rage was soon translated into evil action, the murder of his brother. Though Abel is dead, he still witnesses to us that the life of faith is the life that counts (Heb_11:4). When the Lord’s loving question was met by an unrepentant, insolent reply, He pronounced Cain’s judgmenthe would no longer be able to make a living from the soil, but would wander as a fugitive in the desert. 4:13-16 Cain’s whimpering complaint reveals remorse for the consequences of his sin rather than for its guilt. But even then the Lord allayed the fugitive’s fears for his life by putting a protective mark on Cain and a curse on anyone who killed him. Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, the saddest of all departures. 4:17-24 Cain married his sister or other blood relative. As mentioned, Gen_4:3 allows time for a population increase, and Gen_5:4 specifically states that Adam had sons and daughters. Marriage of close relatives was not forbidden then (nor was it genetically risky). Verses 17-24 list Cain’s posterity, and a series of firsts: the first city, named Enoch; the first case of polygamy; the beginning of organized animal husbandry; the beginning of the art of music and of metalcrafts; the first song, concerning violence and bloodshed. In the song, Lamech explains to his wives that he killed . . . a young man in self-defense, but that because it wasn’t premeditated, like Cain’s murder of his brother, Lamech would be much more immune from reprisal. 4:25, 26 Now in striking relief, the godly line of Seth is introduced. It was through this line that the Messiah would eventually be born. When Enosh (meaning “frail” or “mortal”) was born, men began to use the name of the LORD (Jehovah) for God, or perhaps to call on the name of Jehovah in public worship.