Chapter 3.22
Cain and Abel
The Age old question is; why did God reject
Cain’s offering?
What was the Mark that was put on Cain?
If your eye is on the Mark, you will miss the
point.
Setting the stage
After
Adam and Eve were banished from the “Garden of Eden” they had twin boys;
[1] Cain the first
born and Abel the second. Cain is also
spelled Kane (possessed). Many times in scripture, God has accepted the
second born over the first born as blessed.[2] Scripture does not say why, just that God’s
ways are higher than our ways.[3] Anyway, they both made offerings to God, but
Cain
Genesis 4:4-5 –
God rejected Cain and his offering
4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the
firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on ABEL AND HIS OFFERING,
5 but on “CAIN”
AND “HIS OFFERING” he did not
look with favor. NIV
Background
In
ancient times there was always a conflict between the farmers who were
the tillers of the ground and the semi-nomadic shepherds, herdsmen who always
had to move on to “Greener Pastures” because sheep eat all the way down to the
root, decimating the foliage.
Adam
and Eve worshipped God and brought their children up to offer sacrifices
with Dual
Intent: Thanksgiving for what had been received and Faith that it
would continue. The boys had two different
trades; being able to exchange and trade with each other.[4]
Cain was a Farmer and raised
vegetables and offered the “first fruits” of the soil to God
Abel was a Sheppard and raised sheep
and offered the “firstlings” of the flock to God.
God looked with
favor on Abel’s offering and not upon Cain’s.
Much is made over the fact that God requires a meat offering, but The
Torah commands sacrifices of both animals and grain crops, so then, what was
the problem here?
Faith - Obedience
I don’t think it mattered
what was being “offered”, it was Abel’s FAITH in God that
commended him as a righteous man before the Lord.[5] Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.[6] Faith was something Cain lacked. When you read the account, you can see Cain’s
character was sullen, self-willed, haughty and vindictive.[7] He
harbored thoughts of murder in his heart.
Scripture supports obedience to God is far better than your sacrifice to
Him.[8]
What happened next?
God disregarded “Cain” and
his offering, but told him to cheer up, everything could still work
out.[9] This
was about Cain, not about Cain’s offering.
God extended Himself to Cain, but Cain’s pride was wounded which
produced envy, hatred, violence, unbridled anger and a spirit of revenge. Cain was ticked off and mad and Satan was
crouching on his doorstep ready to pounce.
Duly note; that it was not too late for Cain to choose the
way of God. You can almost paint the
picture. The brothers are two opposite
classes of man. Abel is God’s humble, believing man of Faith
and Cain is Satan’s proud, self-willed man.[10] Good and Evil.
NOTE: God
extended Himself in reconciliation to Cain; the hope of forgiveness and
victory; telling him that if you do what is right; blessings
are set before you,[11] if
you do what is wrong; then Curses.
It’s the same
today; we can try to do better or get angry with God. Life is choice driven.
Cain does the deed
Cain makes a life choice. Do what is right or do what is wrong; you are
the master of your life. A seed planted
in bitter resentment matures full grown in murder. Think about that. Cain is the “master” of the power of his
decisions; he CAN choose to
“master” his thoughts.
The next we know, Cain kills his brother Abel, probably with a spear. God shows up and asked Cain where his brother
is; Cain utters the famous selfish defiant line “Am I My Brothers’ Keeper”[12] In
other words; If Cain is missing, it’s your fault God; you’re the Keeper, the
one that’s in charge, not me. This was
not an accident from a wrestling match gone wrong. Cain conspired to get Abel to go into the
field with him and then attacked him; this was
premeditated murder.
Can’t you just jump into the story and see Cain set up the dirty dastardly
deed by getting Abel to come out into the field with him and then run him through
with his spear; dig a hole and roll his body into it and covered it up with
dirt; a premeditated murder.[13] Then he joins in the search with others to
find his brother. Cain lies and
denies
his act of murder[14]
and offers no evidence of remorse or repentance. Cain is banished to be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth; the ultimate penalty for a Hebrew
was Not Death, but to be exiled
from the roots of his own family. [15]
We
now have the first Murderer and the first Martyr.
The Mark
This was the first murder in
history. The boys were not kids, they were full grown married men[16]
and there were lots of brothers and sisters and families; it would be his
fellow kinsmen that would want to avenge the murder of Abel. The
atonement for this sin was the shedding of his own blood. He was a
dead man walking.
Cain did not say his iniquity was too great to forgive, he said his punishment
was too great to bear. There was no remorse; no cry of repentance, no cry for mercy
and a pardon. God in his mercy marks Cain so no one would try to kill him.[17] This is a good place to mention that the “heathen” would cut shapes on themselves
and rub colored dirt in it to make symbols.
(Tribal marks were well known in the Middle East.)[18] God
said Israel was a special people “a royal priest hood”[19]
and didn’t want them to do anything that looked like the heathen.[20] So it was a big deal to have a tattoo;
symbolically it meant YOU DID NOT BELONG TO GOD.
What was the mark? This is where your own BS, your Belief System
kicks in; some students of the Word believe it was a tattoo, others a disease
of the mind, lunacy,[21] a
maniac or leprosy, others say God turned Cain BLACK. What if
Cain was already black and God turned him white?
Why do we assume that Adam and Eve were white or even olive complexion? To say that God, as a curse, made Cain “BLACK” is allowing Satan to drive a wedge between the
races. Satan did the same thing with the
Jews and the Gentiles. Hate is sin and a foothold for Satan in your
life; the curse was on Cain; not on “a people.”
Satan shakes his fist at God, desiring to destroy Man; God’s finest
creation that was made in His own image Understand that Cain called out to God
for mercy, and it was out of God’s compassion that Cain received “THE MARK” instead of death. Bloodshed pollutes the land.
The Mark: A man’s hands and forehead are the most
prominent; and a discoloration like leprosy or a type of tattoo is the most
scripturally logical. I personally favor huge splotches
of discoloration on his whole body like leprosy that everyone could see. [22] Real Scary Stuff.
Some students of the Word feel the “City of Refuge”[23]
he built where you could go and be safe may have been his “mark of protection”.
Others feel it’s also possible, as a
mark or token, that God just “symbolically” assured Cain that He would
protect him
The purpose of the mark was to let
everyone know that Cain had murdered his brother and was sentenced by God to be
a perpetual fugitive and a restless vagabond cursed to wander the earth; not cursed to death, for he was NOT TO BE KILLED; death was
God’s prerogative alone.
Cain went out of the Lord’s presence; that means
Cain separated himself from God and there is no record that he ever came back.
Interesting
Cain went to the “land of Nod” which was just
east of Eden, built a city and named it after his son Enoch. (This is not the Enoch from the Godly line of “Seth” who took the place of
martyred Abel.) The location of Nod is a mystery, and the term
“land of Nod” may actually mean “Land of
wandering” prophetic of man’s condemned state to wander.
This city became a “City of Refuge” where a man could run to so as to
not be killed.[24] Cain’s mark may have been the city itself
that protected him. The building would
have probably started in a cave and over 500 years made into a small city of
mud huts as his family grew.
He was the ancestor of Tubal-Cain, the first metal worker, ancestor of
the purported “Kenites”;
a tribe of wandering metal workers. Woe, Woe they took to the ways of Cain.[25]
God took all the Kenites out; they gradually degenerated and become
spiritually and morally corrupt and finally God took out all of Cain’s descendants in the flood. You reap what you sow; at some point the
patience of God wears thin and there becomes no remedy; God will not be mocked.[26]
Adam and Eve had a third son; Seth, His
descendent Noah was the only family line to survive the flood. Noah lived to be 950 years old and Methuselah
lived to a ripe old age of 969.
Interestingly; to God a day is like a thousand years; no one
ever lived over one of God’s days.[27]
The Take Away
Life is “Choice Driven”.
The Lord looks on the thoughts and attitude of man’s heart. Cain could have learned from his experience,
but made a life choice to get angry.
Anger is a foothold for Satan; it’s a seed of sin that can mature into a
harvest of death.
Abel in Hebrew means; Vapor;
breath; futility; his life was a vapor.
Cain
in Hebrew means: Get; acquire; spear, he probably killed his brother with a
spear. The word Cain is related to us the
word meaning “to
forge in metal”; hence a “smith”. (Cain’s descendants were metal workers) Cain’s offering was unacceptable because
of Cain’s absence of FAITH and lack of
respect.
The Mark: We don’t know what the mark was, but when you
saw Cain; immediately you knew he was under sentence from God and you stayed
far away from him. The Purpose of the
Mark was to protect Cain’s life. We
find commands in the OT to build “Cities of Refuge” for man to run to
for protection till he had his day in court.
Anger is a foothold for Satan. Obedience is better than offerings.
Without FAITH it’s impossible to please God.
Matthew 12:34-35
– Good comes out of a good heart
34 For OUT OF THE
OVERFLOW
OF THE HEART
THE MOUTH SPEAKS.
35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up
in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored
up in him.
NIV
1 Samuel 16:7 –
God looks on the heart - the reason for actions
7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his
countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for
the LORD sees not as man sees; for
MAN LOOKS
ON THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE,
but THE LORD LOOKS
ON THE HEART.
KJV
Romans
28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one
outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.
29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and
CIRCUMCISION IS
CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART,
BY THE SPIRIT, not by the
written code.
NIV
Hebrews
12 For THE WORD OF GOD is
living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to
dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
JUDGES THE
THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES OF THE HEART.
NIV
In the multitude of
counselors,
there
is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:14
I am
grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical
information,
and scripture verses. Because of them I
can stand on their shoulders and see further that I otherwise ever could have.
101
Q&A on Demon Powers – Dr. Lester
Sumrall
90
Minutes in Heaven – Don Piper
A Commentary; Critical, Experimental and
Practical - Eerdmans
All the Women of the Bible – Edith Deen
Angels A-Z – Lewis Oliver
Angels: Gods Secret Agents – Billy Graham
Antiquity of the Jews – Flavius Josephus Matthias
Apocrypha – Edgar J. Goodspeed
Armageddon-Appointment with Destiny – Grant R. Jeffrey
Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White
Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer
Bible Dictionary – Nelson’s
Bible Hub.com
Bible on the life Hereafter; The – William Hendriksen
Book of Enoch – www.reluctnt-messinger.com
Book of Mormon; The – Latter Day Saints LDS
Can America Survive? – John Hagee
Cherubim Chariots – Josh Peck
Countdown to Armageddon, the 1980’s – Hal Lindsay
Creation
or Evolution – Lyle Albrecht
Customs
and Folkways of Jewish Life – Theodor H.
Gaster
Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The – Florentino Garcia Martinez
Doctrine of Last Things – Dr. John Harvey
Don’t know much about the Bible – Kenneth C. Davis
Encounters with Angels – L. W. Northrup
Escape from Armageddon – Thomas Reed
Exposition of Genesis – H.C. Leupold
Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein
Final
Battle; The – Hal Lindsey
Final Dawn over Jerusalem – John Hagee
Forgotten Books of Eden; The - World
From Daniel to Doomsday – John Hagee
Guide to Survival – Salem Kirban
Illustrated Bible Dictionary; The – Tyndale
Image of God; The – John Piper
In the beginning was the End – Wim Malgo
In Touch – Dr. Charles Stanley
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament - Baker
Invisible
War; The – Donald J. Barnhouse
Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible – Packer – Tenney
Islam 6th Edition – Caesar E. Farah
Islam and the Bible – David Goldmann
Islam; Christian Apologetics – Dr. Norman Geisler
Jerusalem Countdown – John Hagee
Last Days; The - Moris Farhi
Late Great Planet Earth; The – Hal Lindsey
Liberty
Commentary of the New Testament – J
Falwell
Lost
Books of the Bible; The - Bell
Lost
Books of the Bible; The - World
Loud Cry; The – David Curtis
Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Zondervan
Meredith’s
Book of List; 1&2 –Bethany House
Publishers
Missing
Books of the Bible; The – Halo Press
Mormon
Mirage; The – Latayne Colvett Scott
Mysteries of the Bible – Readers Digest
Mystery of the Ages – Herbert W. Armstrong
Nag
Hammadi Library; The – James M. Robinson
Nave’s Topical Bible - Zondervan
New International Dictionary of the Bible;
The – Douglas - Tenney
New Millennium; The – Pat Robertson
Nostradamus & the Millennium – John Hogue
Now that’s a Good Question – R.C. Sproul
On the Path of Immortals – Thomas Horn & Chris Putnam
One Minute after you Die – Erwin W. Lutzer
Other
side of the Good News; The – Larry Dixon
Present Day Evangelism – Arthur W. Pink
Revelation of Jesus Christ, the – Walvoord
Revelation Seminar, the – 1975 - Hilton Sutton
Revelation Study, the - 1973 – Dr. Warren Wiersbe
Revelation, the – verse by verse – Oliver B. Green
Satan’s Underground – Lauren Stratford
Satanism – Ted Schwarz & Duane Empey
Secret Kingdom; The – Pat Robertson
Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls – Hugh J. Schonfield
Teachings
of the Compassionate Buddha; The – E.A. Burtt
Ten Commandments – John Hagee
There
were Two Trees in the Garden – Rick
Joyner
Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee
Unseen Realm; The – Michael S. Heiser
Vincent’s Word Studies of the New
Testament – Mac Donald
What in the World is going on? – David Jeremiah
What the Bible says about Death - Signs of the times
Who’s Who in the Bible – Paul D. Gardner
Wikipedia –
Witchcraft,
puppets and Voodoo – Irene A. Park
Within Heaven’s Gates – Rebecca Springer
Wycliffe Bible Commentary; The – Pfeiffer & Harrison
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the
Bible; The – Tenney
[1] Genesis 4:1-2 Cain and
Abel were twins
[2] Malachi 1:2 – God chose
Jacob over Esau the first born.
[3] Isaiah 55:9 – God’s ways
higher than man’s ways
[4] Genesis
[5] Hebrews 11:4 – Abel had FAITH in God.
[6] Hebrews 11:6 – Without
Faith, it’s impossible to please God
[7] Proverbs
[8] 1 Samuel
[9] Genesis 4:6 – Don’t be
downcast and angry
[10] 1 John
[11] Deuteronomy 30:19 –
Blessings and Curses are set before you -- Genesis 4:7 – Do what is right and I will accept YOU.
[12] Genesis 4:9 - Am I my brother’s keeper?”
[13] Genesis 4:8 – Cain’s
Premeditated Murder of Abel
[14] Genesis 4:9 – LIES &
DEFIANCE;
I don’t know where Abel is
[15] Genesis
[16] Genesis
[17] Genesis
[18] Isaiah 44:5 – Tattoo on
the hand identifies who you belong to
[19] 1 Peter 2:9 - You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation,
[20] Deuteronomy 14:1 – No
tattoos on God’s people
[21] Daniel
[22] Exodus
[23] Numbers 35:25 – The slayer can go to the City of
Refuge to avoid death of the revenger of blood
-- Deuteronomy 28:16-19 – You will be cursed in the city and in the
county -- Genesis
[24] Genesis
[25] Jude 10-11 – Cain spoke
abusively and did not have understanding; Woe to them! They have taken the way
of Cain;
[26] Galatians 6:7 – Do not be
deceived; God will not be mocked -- 2 Chronicles 36:16 – After a while there is
just no remedy; God will not be mocked
[27] 2 Peter 3:8 – A thousand
years to the Lord is only a day
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