This chapter list the first two recorded murders. The first is committed by Cain the second by Lamech. The first anyone who has been in church very long has heard about the second is usually overlooked. I want to look at both, though there is in this chapter other things that should not be overlooked. However, that may be for another day.
Cain is warned in the first instance by God that he is heading down the wrong path. Though in the King James Version this is hard to see. In verse 7 when the translators say, “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,” the last half of the verse loses something for most. When understood it is giving Cain a warning which the translators of the New International Version makes clear Cain was on the verge of doing worse than giving a poor offering. The New International Version of Genesis four says, “If 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.” God is warning Cain (and us) that once you have done wrong (what is not right) that it is waiting to take you someplace worse. God's solution is to confront it and rule over it. Cain does not seem to have taken God’s advice but allows the object of his jealousy to become the object of his hate and then his murder.
What we see in God’s warning is that sin will become our master if it is not controlled. In the New Testament, Paul tells believers in Rome that those who are in Christ are free from this control, where those who live in their own flesh (sinful nature) are going to keep doing wrong.
“Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through
Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened
by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to
be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to
the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God” Romans 8:1-8.
God
knew humanity, would naturally be ruled by sin and not rule over it. God made
the solution the Spirit of God in the followers of Christ. God warned Cain and
by example us. As Ravi Zacharias says, “‘Sin will take you farther than you
want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you
want to pay. –” Unfortunately it did for him, too.
We
see the last part of this in Cain’s plead that his punishment is too great and
God showing mercy, which takes us to the second murder. In this murder
something strange happens, Lemech in verses 23 and 24 claims that since God
showed mercy on Cain that he should get it and more. This claim by Lemech that
God will avenge him if someone tries to kill him for the murder because God
showed mercy on Cain is a twist in the truth. Yet how often do people expect
mercy on their misdeeds because they think someone else got away with it. It is
taking God’s mercy and using it as Paul warns against as a license to sin.
(“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
By no means!” Romans 6:1-2a).
LISTEN HERE
Gen 4:1-26
(1) And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
(2) And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
(3) And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
(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:
(5) But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
(6) And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
(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.
(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.
(9) And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
(10) And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
(11) And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
(12) When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
(13) And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
(14) Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
(15) And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
(16) And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
(17) And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
(18) And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.
(19) And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
(20) And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
(21) And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
(22) And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
(23) And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
(24) If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
(25) And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
(26) And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
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