Genesis 4: Cain and Abel

Genesis 4

¹Adam 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.”

²Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.

³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.

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⁴And 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,

⁵but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?

⁷If 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.”

⁸Now 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.

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

¹¹Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹²When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear.

¹⁴Today 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.”

¹⁵But 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.

¹⁶So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain 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.

¹⁸To 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.

¹⁹Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.

²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.

²²Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of^[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

²³Lamech 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.

²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

²⁵Adam 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.”

²⁶Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

Genesis 4 (NIV)

Adam and Eve had two sons: Cain and his younger brother Abel.

The story of Cain and Abel paints a picture of what jealousy can do: Cain became a murderer, Abel lost his life, Adam and Eve lost a son. Just because of one man’s jealousy, several lives were changed.

Some lessons from Genesis 4

Whatever you do for the Lord, do it well and with cheer: Genesis 4:4 shows how much love and care Abel put into the sacrifice he presented to God – carefully selecting fat portions from the best of his flock. Because of this attitude, God looked with favor on Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.
There is enough for everyone: one man’s blessings doesn’t take away from another’s, everyone can simultaneously be blessed. Society teaches us to focus on the finiteness of resources and to believe that survival is only fittest, thus instilling a sense of completion which is engrained right from early childhood years. This kind of competitiveness often is what leads to feelings of jealousy and resentment over others’ accomplishments and milestones. It is important to break out of this mindset and start seeing things the way God does – there is enough for everyone. In Genesis 4:7, God tells Cain that all he (Cain) needs to do in order to be accepted is to do right. See, Cain failed to understand that Abel’s acceptance wasn’t the cause of his (Cain’s) rejection and that Abel’s wins didn’t set him (Cain) up for failure – God could very well favor them both (Cain and Abel). The same remains true today, we can all be favored and blessed!
The duty to flee from sin and resist temptation falls on everyone: the excuse of “I was tempted and just could not resist” is not a valid one. Each of us has a responsibility to flee from sin and resist temptation, you cannot shift the blame for all your mishaps on the devil’s because the truth is you have power and authority to say no (James 4:7).
Dwelling on bad thoughts and negative feelings ultimately leads to bad actions: Cain festered on his negative feelings toward Abel and from that a plan was born to get rid of his brother. Cain gave in to sin and murdered his own little brother – 1st degree murder (murder with intent and premeditation). Make a conscious decision to let go of negative thoughts and negative emotions. When they come say “these thoughts are not my thoughts, these fruits are not my fruits. My fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control, faithfulness, gentleness (Galatians 5:22-23). I have the mind of Christ and I refuse to be corrupted by negativity!”. And when you do that, make conscious efforts to think of something honorable and pure and lovely, things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8-9).
God sees even things done in secret – actions have consequences: when God asked Cain where Abel was, it’s not because God did not know what had happened, God was giving Cain a chance to come clean but Cain did not. God sees even things done in hiding. Cain received a curse for what he had done, now, not only did he not get the favor he was craving so badly for, he lost even what he already had and he was doomed to a life of hardship and wandering. This is what sin does, it causes hardship, sorrow, doom and death (Romans 6:23).
God is merciful: after God told Cain what his life was going to be like now that he was cursed, Cain cried out to God and expressed his worry about possibly getting killed out there. God in his infinite mercy put a mark on Cain to deter anyone from killing him (Cain), God did not just let Cain go figure things out for himself even though Cain had done something horrible. That’s how merciful God is, protecting even the unrepentant and “undeserving”, so when you err, run towards God and not away from Him.

Reflection

Have you ever felt jealous?
Are you currently harboring jealousy or resentment towards someone?
Jealousy often stems from a place of insecurity, think about things you can do to increase your self confidence.
Other people’s wins don’t take anything away from you, what are some actions you can take to set yourself up for success?
Instead of killing Abel, Cain could have learned from him about how to make an offering that’s pleasing to God. Think about someone you feel jealous of, what can you learn from them?
God did not call us to be all the same, we all have different skills, talents, personality traits etc that make us unique and special. What are some of yours and how can you use them to be a blessing today?

Prayer

God thank you for making me ME. You have made me pleasant in your eyes and placed so many treasures in me that I can be a blessing to the world, help me see myself through your eyes and appreciate the gifts you’ve bestowed upon me instead of being envious of others. I rebuke every feeling of jealousy, resentment, bitterness and anger, and I boldly declare that I am full of love, joy and peace hallelujah!