Read Genesis 4:17-24. What was Cain’s legacy, and how did Cain’s crime open the way for the increasing wickedness of humankind?

Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, Lamech, refers to Cain’s crime in the context of his own. This comparison between the crime of Cain and the crime of Lamech is instructive. While Cain keeps silent about his only recorded crime, Lamech seems to be boasting about his, expressing it in a song (Genesis 4:23-24). While Cain asks for God’s mercy, Lamech is not recorded as asking for it. While Cain is avenged seven times by God, Lamech believes that he will be avenged seventy-seven times (see Genesis 4:24), a hint that he’s very much aware of his guilt.

Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com

Also, Cain is monogamous (Genesis 4:17); Lamech introduces polygamy, for the Scripture says specifically that he “took for himself two wives” (Genesis 4:19, NKJV). This intensification and exaltation of evil will definitely affect the next generations of Cainites.

Following immediately this episode of evil in the Cainite family, the biblical text records a new event that counters the Cainite trend. “Adam knew his wife” (Genesis 4:25), and the result is the birth of Seth, whose name is given by Eve to indicate that God had put “another seed” in the place of Abel.

In fact, the history of the name Seth precedes Abel. The name Seth is derived from the Hebrew verb ’ashit, “I will put” (Genesis 3:15), which introduces the Messianic prophecy. The Messianic seed will be passed on in the Sethite line. The biblical text gives, then, the record of the Messianic line beginning with Seth (Genesis 5:3-4), and including Enoch (), Methuselah, and ending with Noah (Genesis 6:8).

The phrase “sons of God” (Genesis 6:2) refers to the line of Seth because they are designed to preserve the image of God (Genesis 5:1, Genesis 5:4). On the other hand, the “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2) seems to have a negative connotation, contrasting the offspring of those in the image of God to those in the image of men. And it is under the influence of these “daughters of men” that the sons of God “took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (Genesis 6:2, NKJV), indicating the wrong direction humanity was heading.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/thursday-wickedness-of-man/

This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.

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You can view an in-depth discussion of Cain and His Legacy; in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S16sPm7sg4I&w=560&h=315]
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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Read Genesis 4:9-16. Why does God ask the question “Where is Abel your brother?” What is the connection between Cain’s sin and of his becoming “a fugitive and a vagabond … on the earth” (Genesis 4:12, NKJV)?

God’s question to Cain echoes His question to Adam in Eden: “Where are you?” This echo suggests the link between the sin in Eden and this sin now: the latter sin (Cain’s) was the result of the former one (Adam’s).

Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com

Cain, though, will not acknowledge his sin; he denies it, something that Adam didn’t do, even though he tried to put the blame elsewhere. Cain, in contrast, openly defies God, who doesn’t waste any time confronting Cain with his crime. When God asks the third question, “What have you done?” He does not even wait for an answer. He reminds Cain that He knows everything, for the voice of Abel’s blood has reached Him from the ground (Genesis 4:10), an image that signifies that God knows about the murder and will respond to it. Abel is in the ground, a direct link back to the Fall and to what the Lord has said would happen to Adam (see Genesis 3:19).

Read Genesis 4:14. What is the significance of Cain’s words that “I shall be hidden from Your face” (NKJV)?

It is because Abel’s blood was poured on the ground that the ground was now cursed, again (Genesis 4:12). As a result, Cain is then condemned to become a refugee, far from God. Only when Cain heard God’s sentence does he acknowledge the significance of God’s presence; for without it, he fears for his own life. Even after Cain’s cold-blooded murder of his brother and his defiance in the face of it, the Lord still shows mercy to him, and even though “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16, NKJV), the Lord still provided him with some kind of protection. Exactly what that “mark” was (Genesis 4:15), we haven’t been told, but whatever it was, it came only because of God’s grace to him.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/wednesday-punishment-of-cain/

Read Genesis 4:3-8. What is the process that led Cain to kill his brother? See also 1 John 3:12.

Cain’s reaction is twofold: “Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell” (Genesis 4:5, NKJV). Cain’s anger was directed, it appears, at God and at Abel. Cain was angry with God because he thought that he was the victim of an injustice and angry with Abel because he was jealous of his brother. Jealous of what? Just the offering? Certainly, more was going on behind the scenes than what is revealed in these few texts. Whatever the issues, Cain was depressed because his offering had not been accepted.

Cain slays Abel

God’s two questions in Genesis 4:6 are related to Cain’s two conditions. Note that God does not accuse Cain. As with Adam, God asks questions, not because He doesn’t know the answers, but because He wants Cain to look at himself and then understand the reason for his own condition. As always, the Lord seeks to redeem His fallen people, even when they openly fail Him. Then, after asking these questions, God counsels Cain.

First, God urges Cain to “do well,” to behave the right way. It is a call for repentance and to change his attitude. God promises Cain that he will be “accepted” and forgiven. In a sense He is saying that Cain can have acceptance with God, but it must be done on God’s terms, not Cain’s.

On the other hand, “if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:7, NKJV). God’s counsel has revealed the root of sin, and it is found in Cain himself. Here, again, God is counseling Cain, seeking to guide him in the way he should go.

God’s second word of counsel concerns the attitude to take toward this sin, which lies at the door and whose “desire is for you.” God recommends self-control: “You should rule over it.” The same principle resonates in James, when he explains that “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (James 1:14, NKJV). The gospel offers us the promise of not only the forgiveness of sin but victory over it as well. (See 1 Corinthians 10:13.) In the end, Cain had no one to blame for his sin but himself. Isn’t it generally that way with all of us as well?

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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