Genesis 4 (Bible Study)
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Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Introduction
To interpret the story of Cain, we must understand why God rejected Cain’s offerings. Many assume Cain was rejected because he offered grain while Abel brought animal sacrifices. But God asks for both cereal and animal offerings in the Bible (Deut. 26:1-11; Lev. 23:9-14). Both men were bringing the “fruit of their labour” to God in acts of worship. Both were, in substance, acceptable.
Genesis 4:9
‘Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”.’
1. (a) What is Genesis 4-5 a history of? (b) How does the prophecy of 3:15 shed light on what we read in Genesis 4-5 and the rest of the Bible? (c) Why is it important to understand this if we are going to profit from the Bible?
What is this a history of?
The Bible contains real and true history, but not the ordinary kind. All sorts of events that are important for the military, political, and cultural history of the ancient world are overlooked or touched on only briefly. The Bible does not give a complete account of any historical era or any particular region—not even of the nation of Israel. What we have instead is a history of redemption. What mattered to the biblical writers is the history of God’s unfolding salvation.
How does 3:15 shed light?
In Genesis 3:15, God prophesies that from now on there will be one great divide in the human race. There will be the “seed of the woman” and the “seed of the Serpent.” The “seed” of the Serpent is evidently those who resemble the Serpent and believe its lies—those who seek life and wisdom without basing their lives on the revelation of God. The “seed” of the woman seems to refer to those people who reject the Serpent’s lies and live in faith and hope in God’s promise of salvation. Genesis 4 is the first case study of this history. Cain turns out to be the seed of the Serpent and Abel the seed of the woman. This is a microcosm of the history of the human race. God will create a people who hate the lies of Satan and they will be in conflict (3:15, “enmity”) with those who believe the Serpent.
Derek Kidner asks why the faithful weren’t called the “seed of Adam.” Why was Eve named instead? He thinks this was deliberate, so that the term “seed of the woman” could have a double meaning. The Hebrew word “seed” (like the English word) can be singular or plural; it can mean many or one seed.
In Matt. 1:23 and Galatians 4:4 we see “the seed of the woman” referring both to a people and a person. From the New Testament, we see that in Gen. 3:15, God is saying both “I will save the world through line of faithful people” and “I will save the world through one born only of a woman, not of a man.” 1
In the rest of the Bible, we have a history of these two lines: the seed of the Serpent v the faithful seed, the people of God, through whom the Messiah will come. He is the Seed who will destroy the work of the Serpent and save the world. From now on, the Bible will trace the line of the family and people through whom Jesus came into the world. It will tell us about his forebears: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Moses, and David. The Bible is not just a collection of stories with “morals” to tell us how to live. Nor is it a history of a particular nation or region. Rather, it is the history of redemption.
What difference does it make to know this?
The history of redemption (the lives of Abraham, David, Moses, etc.) always shows us two important things. First, the accounts of these figures “typify” or foreshadow their great descendent Jesus in many ways, enriching our understanding of the meaning and operation of God’s salvation. Second, they “typify” or foreshadow us, we being sinners who struggle and fall but remain objects of grace.
This means that the Bible is not primarily a “book of virtues,” though there are many great examples in it. Rather, it is a record of the unfolding grace and saving purposes of God. It tells us all we need to know about (a) who God is, (b) who we are, and (c) what we should do about it. If we read the Bible primarily as a series of stories about people to emulate, we will be deriving a message that is the exact opposite of what the gospel teaches. It is God who will “put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.” Only God, intervening in grace, can open our eyes to the Serpent’s lies. Only God can save us. Thus, the history of redemption is a history of the gospel. Yes, it tells us how to live, but it shows us that our salvation is primarily through faith in the grace of God. “Right living” flows from that. The key idea of 3:15, then, sets the stage for the rest of the Bible.
2. (a) Read Gen 4:1-2a. Why does Eve seem so excited about Cain’s birth? (b) 4:2b-7. Why does God reject Cain’s offering? (See Psalm 51:15-17.) How does Cain take it?
a. Why does Eve seem so excited about Cain’s birth?
Eve’s cry—”With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man!”—seems to go beyond the normal expression of gratitude for a safe childbirth. “With the help of the LORD” indicates that Eve sees this as a mark of God’s grace and favor. “The LORD” is the covenant name, “Yahweh,” used by people in a personal relationship with him. Verse 26 of chapter 4 uses the phrase “call on the name of the LORD” to describe corporate worship. Eve’s statement is an act of worship.
“I brought forth a man” suggests that Eve is thinking of God’s promise that salvation would come through her “seed.” Having a child, any child, was evidence that God had begun to fulfill his promise. Some suggest that Eve may have thought that this child was the one who would crush the Serpent’s head, but that is speculation. What does seem certain is that Eve’s cry of gratitude to God was a cry of faith. She was looking toward God in dependence, at least for the activities and duties of life in the world, and probably also for his promise of salvation in 3:15.
Why does God reject Cain’s offering?
We don’t know how Cain and Abel knew their offerings were rejected and accepted. It may have been a direct communication into their hearts and consciousnesses, as were God’s words to Cain in verses 6-7. It is more likely that God’s favour or disfavour was something more concrete, like prosperity for Abel and his flocks and hard times for Cain and his crops.
But why was Cain rejected? As the background note at the beginning of this study shows, we can’t explain the rejection by saying that Cain didn’t follow the rules for sacrifices. At the time, there were no rules like those that we have in Leviticus through Deuteronomy. And when we go to those Mosaic rules, we see that both grain offerings and animal offerings were acceptable for different purposes. What seems pretty clear from verse 7, where God says “do what is right,” is that Cain’s life and heart did not match his acts of worship. The Bible is filled with warnings about people who come to worship and give their offerings when their hearts are far from God. (Read Isaiah 1:11-17 for a vivid example.) Psalm 51:15-17 is another classic statement of the principle. An offering poured out is meant to be a visible token of a heart “poured out” in humble love and surrender. (In the very same way, a financial offering to the church is of no value to God if it does not express a humble, loving gratitude for grace.)
How does Cain take the rejection?
Obviously, Cain does not understand the rejection, not even after God speaks to him. Surely, he simply saw it as unfairness on God’s part. Think of it from Cain’s angle for a minute and it is easy to see how he felt. Here were two men, both of whom were bringing essentially the same offering to God. Each brought part of his “work” (Cain his agriculture, Abel his animal husbandry) to offer to God. When you offer something, you lose it, of course. That shows you are devoted to God. So they both did the same thing. Why would God let Abel prosper and not Cain? They both work hard. It’s not fair! God is not being fair! This is the typical way we respond to differing “fortunes” in life. We cannot see what God sees; only God is in a position to know what is “fair.” However, we do get a tiny glimpse of God’s reason for Cain’s rejection. God seems to want him to look at his own heart. (See the next question.) Cain, however, looks on the surface of things and sees only unfairness.
The result is put vividly in the Hebrew. It says literally, “His face fell” (NIV, “his face was downcast”). This describes a kind of depression based on anger and resentment (“So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast,” v 5). Who was he angry at? It seems he was angry at both God and Abel. His resentment later broke out into murder.
3. How does Hebrews 11:4 shed light on the difference between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel? How does Genesis 3:15 shed light on the difference?
Hebrews 11:4 says that Abel offered his sacrifice “by faith” and Cain did not. It is possible that this simply meant that Abel offered his sacrifice with “stronger faith in God,” but that is not the most likely meaning. Did Abel believe in God more than Cain did? (If God can speak directly to Cain as he does in 4:6-7, 9, it doesn’t seem that he would have believed in God any less than Abel.)
We must not forget that just a few verses earlier, God speaks of the two races—the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman. Here the author of Genesis is giving us the first illustration of this development. The seed of the woman would be those who believed in the gospel, the promise of grace in 3:15. That seed of the Serpent would believe the Serpent’s lies that we must be our own saviours and lords. The promise of grace, however, was that God would send a saviour who would someday come and destroy the sin and death that now characterized life in the world. Abel’s sacrifice was offered “in faith”—in response to the promise of grace. Cain’s was not. From the perspective of Hebrews and the New Testament, this means Cain was offering his sacrifice expecting to merit God’s favor. He was saying, “Look what I’ve done for you! Look at my accomplishments! Now show favour to me.” The great paradox of the gospel, however, is that those who try to earn God’s favour are never sure of it and never find it. Those who go to God, admit their complete unworthiness, but put their faith in the gospel are the ones who experience objectively and subjectively the favour of God! That was what happened with Cain and Abel.
Both Cain and Abel approach God in worship and bring offerings. Outwardly, their lives look the same. Both are apparently good people who do religious exercises, but Cain’s heart is not right with God. Specifically, he either misunderstands or rejects the promise of salvation by grace. Thus he is of the “seed of the Serpent” while Abel is of the “seed of the woman,” those who believe the gospel. One sign that you are a Cain and not an Abel is that you are often resentful because God is not treating you as your good life deserves. Cain acts as an “elder brother” who resents his “younger brother” (see Luke 15:11-32). Like the elder brother in that parable, he feels the father has not treated him fairly.
4. Read Genesis 4:6-7, 9. (See Genesis 3:9-11.) What do we learn about God as we see him asking questions?
Derek Kidner comments, “In the Lord’s repeated ‘Why . . . ?’ and ‘If . . . ,’ His appeal to reason and His concern for the sinner are as strongly marked as His concern for truth (5a) and justice (10).” 2 It is striking to see how God asks Cain questions in the same way he did Adam. Kidner explains what this means. If God were only concerned with truth and justice, he would simply tell the sinner the truth and pronounce sentence. But God’s questions show his concern for the sinner, for repentance and grace. Here we see God as the wonderful counselor, not God the cosmic policeman. God’s questions teach us several things about him.
First, we see God’s wisdom. Sin progresses in stages and God intervenes early. He begins to confront Cain about his heart before there has been any eruption into violence.
Second, we see God’s gentleness and tenderness. He does not say, “I will show favor as I see fit! Who are you to question me?” Rather, he comes in like a good counselor, with questions. What is the purpose of questions in a situation like this? One purpose is to gain information for the questioner, but God does not need information! Questions can also be a way to get information for the one being questioned. Counselors ask questions of counselees to help them understand their own hearts.
Then the heart of Eowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. 3
God’s purpose in the interview is to bring the truth in love. If he were just after truth, he would not take such a roundabout way to confront Cain. If you are only after love, you don’t confront someone at all—it’s too unpleasant for you both. God wants to show Cain his sin, but in a way that allows him to discover it for himself and change. God insists on truth. Notice that he is saying, “Cain, you can’t blame either me or Abel for how depressed you are. It is your own wrong actions and attitudes that are causing the problem. It is you who must change!” On the other hand, God is clearly leading Cain lovingly. He shows great compassion. “Sin is going to get you! I don’t want it to take you over. Be on your guard!” God’s questions show how insistent he is on both truth and love. Even here we see a glimpse of the character of God that made the cross of Jesus a necessity.
5. Genesis 4:7 What do we learn about sin from this chilling metaphor?
First, we learn that sin hides itself from us. “Sin is crouching” means it is trying to avoid your view, or to make you think it is much smaller or more benign than it really is. To crouch is to stay low to the ground and not move a whisker. What does this mean? It means that your most dangerous flaws—the things most likely to destroy your life—are even now “crouching down” and presenting themselves to you as much smaller and less serious than they really are. You may know you are resentful, or selfish, or jealous, or that you lack self-control in a certain area, but almost always you underestimate the severity or depth of your problem. In so many cases, sin hides completely. Substance abuse counsellors know a lot about denial in the areas of alcohol and drug addiction, but the Bible tells us that all sin has the same dynamic. Most of us weave intellectual or psychological webs of deceit over our consciences so that we completely deny the sinfulness of our worst sins. We see workaholism as productivity, obsession with physical beauty as good care, stinginess as prudence, ruthlessness as being a “sharp businessman,” and so on.
Second, we learn about the growing power of sin. The word “crouching” depicts sin as a wild animal, “at your door,” ready to spring upon you and “to have you”—to devour you the moment you step outside. But notice that it only can do this because Cain has not been “doing right.” “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door . . . .” This means that sin does not immediately destroy you. First, we do it; then, it “does” us. The Bible indicates here that when we sin, our sins do not simply pass away. Somehow they take shape, shadow us, and become a presence of their own that takes us down. For example, Cain’s cold-blooded answer in verse 9 “betrays a hardening in comparison with the shuffling answers of 3:10ff.” 4
This need not be read in a completely magical or mystical way. The first time you lie to someone, it breaks a barrier and makes it easier to do it again. Psychologists call it “habit”—a useful psychological capacity that nevertheless can participate deeply in evil. Sinful actions become sinful habits of mind and heart that become virtually invisible (habits become unconscious) and difficult to change. But this metaphor probably goes beyond the simple psychological explanation. There is also something in the fabric of life that has been called “the law of sowing.” (Galatians 6:7: “A man reaps what he sows.”) This is not an absolute rule but a general principle of justice in the world that mirrors the justice of God. Gossipers tend to be gossiped about. Haters tend to be hated. Cowards tend to be deserted. He who lives by the sword tends to die by the sword. People who do anything to be popular often are very unpopular. Why? Even in a fallen world, there is a fitful reflection of the justice of God. Sin sets up strains in the fabric of the universe because of the nature of the One who created it.
Third, we learn a balance between respect for the power of sin and courage in its face. On the one hand, the metaphor is surely intended to warn Cain that sin is vastly more powerful than he thinks. On the other hand, God says, “You must master it.” In light of the rest of the Bible, this is certainly not a declaration that we can overcome sin by our own will-power without God. In fact, God’s questions show us that we will never even see our sin without his illumination! But with this last phrase, God is taking away our excuse. We must never say, “I couldn’t help it! I’m too weak!” (See 1 Cor. 10:13.) God is calling Cain to exert himself. He is saying, “We can overcome this.” God is removing over-optimism and over-pessimism in the face of sin.
6. Read Genesis 4:11-16. (a) Is Cain’s reaction repentance? (b) Many see the “mark of Cain” as a curse. Is that what it is? (c) What do we see here of the justice and the mercy of God? (d) God can be both just and merciful - Read Hebrews 12:24.
Is this repentance? (a)
Cain’s cry in verse 13 does not have the marks of repentance. First, he is not expressing any regret over what he has done, only regret over the pain of the punishment (v. 13a). Second, he is complaining that the punishment is unfair, that it is too harsh. He is not accepting blame for what he has done. Compare this with the lack of repentance and the self-pity of the rich man in hell (Luke 16:24, 27-28) and the penitent thief (Luke 23:41).
Is the “mark of Cain” a curse? (b)
Even though Cain’s response is not repentant, there is still a cry of helplessness within it that God responds to in mercy. Derek Kidner writes: Even the querulous prayer of Cain had contained a germ of entreaty; God’s answering pledge, together with His mark or sign (the same word as in 9:13 [for the rainbow]; 17:11)—not a stigma but a safe-conduct—is almost a covenant, making Him virtually Cain’s go-el or protector (cf. 2 Sam. 14:14b). It is the utmost that mercy can do for the unrepentant. 5
How is it both just and merciful?(c)
Just as we saw in the questioning of Cain, we see in the sentencing of Cain a God of infinite justice and infinite mercy. On the one hand, to simply forgive Cain would be unjust and unfair to the slain victim. God says, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (v. 10). This remarkable metaphor is seen also in Luke 18:7-8 and Revelation 6:9-10. God is a God of justice, and crimes against innocent victims “cry out” to him day and night for redress. He is the God of the oppressed. The enormity of “man’s inhumanity to man” cannot be overlooked. God responds to the cry for justice by putting a curse on Cain that is deeper than the one on his parents. (If we compare 4:11 with 3:17, we see that Cain is himself cursed, while in 3:17 Adam and Eve are sent into a cursed and broken environment. Deeper sin leads to deeper brokenness.)
On the other hand, as we have just seen, the “mark of Cain” is also a remarkable act of mercy, a “safe-conduct.” Kidner shows that God apparently responds even to the “germ of appeal” that exists inside all the self-pity, resentment, and blame-shifting of Cain’s complaint. He is a God who is merciful to the unrepentant, who loves and cares even for those who utterly reject him. God does not choose between justice and mercy but honors both—a classic case of “loving the sinner but hating the sin.” God judges Cain, but without the slightest hint of vengefulness, rancor, or ill-will. This is the hardest balance to strike. The Cains in our lives almost fight to force us to either accept them and all they do or hate, despise, and detest them and all they do.
Hebrews 12:24 (d)
The stunning phrase in Hebrews 12:24—that Jesus’ blood “speaks a better word [or, more graciously] than the blood of Abel” shows how the gospel of Christ resolves the tension between justice and mercy. It’s almost as if the author of Hebrews had read the narrative of Genesis 4 and, seeing the amazing love and severity of God, used the metaphor of “crying blood” to solve the mystery. How can God continue to offer mercy and hope to the Cains of the world who slay the Abels of the world? Hebrews’ author, in this brilliant metaphor, puts it like this: “The ultimate Abel, the ultimate man of faith, the only truly and literally innocent man, came into the world and we—Cains all— killed him. But this was not a random accident. This One came into the world to be our substitute, to bear the curse we Cains deserved. He was a wanderer without a home, rejected (Gen. 4:11) and killed—the innocent victim of injustice. But his blood cries out for grace! It cries ‘Grace! Grace! for all who believe in me!’ It cries, ‘Father, if they believe in me, they must be accepted, for I have paid the debt!’” The cry-for-blessing of the blood of Jesus can save us from the cry-for-cursing that the record of our deeds would otherwise make in the ears of God.
7. Read Genesis 4:19-24. What signs do we see of the unfolding development of sin and of the mercy of God in Cain’s descendants and in human culture?
The description of the human society that descends from Cain is remarkable for its mixture of darkness and light. On the one hand, we see the beginning of city building. (This, by the way, is a good thing, since God is a city builder [Heb. 11:10] and the new world will be a city [Rev. 21-22].) Cain’s descendants develop music (Jubal, v. 21), technology (Tubal-Cain, v. 22) and animal husbandry (Jabal, v. 20). This means that God did not withhold his gifts and help from them. Everything good has its source in God and is a gift from him (James 1:17).
On the other hand, we see a terrible spirit of pride and violence growing. First, Cain builds a city as a refuge from God. It is interesting to see in Revelation 21-22 that the heavenly city God creates for us at the end of time has the Tree of Life in it. The heavenly Jerusalem, then, is the garden of Eden built up into a God-honoring, glorious civilization. Cain, however, goes and seeks a life of security without God, and he begins by building an alternate city. He names it “Enoch” after his son. Later, we will see in Genesis 11 that, under the influence of sin, people go to the “big city” in order to “make a name for themselves” (Gen. 11:4). The city becomes a place where we forge power and glory for ourselves to build a life without God. This is the beginning of “mancentered” civilization.
Cain’s descendent Lamech shows the development of sin. He is the first to deviate from God’s marriage ordinance of one spouse (compare 2:24 with 4:19). As Kidner says, “The attempt to improve on God’s marriage ordinance set a dangerous precedent, on which the rest of Genesis is comment enough.” 6
Second, we see a terrible spirit of vengefulness and violence in him. He boasts in song that he kills people for harming him. The word “young man” (v. 23) means a “lad”. To kill a youth over a wound and then sing a song of joy about it shows how sin has developed. His commitment to vengeance, to pay back seventy-seven times for what happens to him, is matched by the love of Christ, who tells us to forgive seventy-seven times (Matt. 18:22). (Seventy-seven is a symbolic number that essentially means “infinite.”)
What we see, then, is the same severity and mercy of God in the lives of Cain’s descendants that we saw in God’s dealing with Cain. The curse is having its effect. God “gives us up” to our sin (Rom.1:18-32) and lets it take us over. That is our just punishment. But God continues to work in their lives, allowing them to develop art, industry, and culture that still have much good in them.
8. Read Genesis 4:25-26. What is the significance of Seth’s birth? (See the rest of chapter 5.)
Seth’s birth proves the truth of Genesis 3:15, God’s commitment to us that he will create a people of faith who are at enmity with those who believe Satan’s lies. Abel and Cain represent the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent. The “enmity” of 3:15 is literally played out in their lives. Cain kills Abel but he cannot kill off the “seed of the woman”. Seth is born, and the last verse, ”At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD” means that a faithful people are descended from Seth. In Genesis 5 Noah, a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), is born through Seth. God keeps his gospel promise and continues a line of faithful people through whom the Messiah will come. Gen. 4:25-5:32 tells us that God will build his church “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18)
1.Derek Kidner, Genesis (Downers Grove InterVarsity Press, 1967), p. 71. 2 Kidner, p 75. 4 Kidner, p 76. 5 Kidner, p 76. 6 Kidner, p. 78.
3 J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1955, 1994), p. 943.
Study notes adapted from www.redeemer.com Copyright © Timothy Keller, and Redeemer Presbyterian Church 2009
