Chapter 6: And the LORD Had Respect

When Adam and Eve were thrust out of the Garden, they began life in a fallen world. The first thing we read about them is that they begin having children. Let us read about them.

Genesis 4:1-16, 25-26: 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...

(4:25) 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.

Let us consider these two sons of Adam and Eve, and see the similarities and differences between them both.

1. Adam’s sons Cain and Abel were both born outside of the Garden of Eden and inherited their parents’ sin nature. While God created Adam without sin, in His image (Genesis 1:27; 5:1), these two sons were born in Adam’s sinful image (Genesis 5:3). They never knew life without sin; they were born in sin. The world in which they lived was no longer “very good” as God had created it. Cain and Abel were born servants of Satan. There is nothing that they could do about it, and there was nothing they could give back to God to pay for their sin. This narrative is only about two of Adam and Eve’s sons; they apparently had many children as time went by (Genesis 4:14; 5:4).
2. The faith of Eve is apparent in the naming of Cain. It seems Eve was thinking that the Savior of Genesis 3:15 had already come, saying that she had “gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1). However, we know that this was Adam’s son, and there was no way that this was the Savior. The name “Abel” is rather insignificant, meaning either breath or evanescence. It would appear that Adam and Eve saw great promise in Cain, and not so much in Abel.
3. The vocations of Cain and Abel tell us a lot about them. Cain was a “tiller of the ground” (Genesis 4:2). Most people in these ancient times were probably farmers, like Cain. There was no large human civilization yet. He would have been very familiar with working in the cursed soil day in and day out (Genesis 3:17-19).
   
   Abel, on the other hand, was “a keeper of sheep” (Genesis 4:2). This may not sound extraordinary, but let us consider a few things about the world up to this time. Human beings were vegetarian in those times (Genesis 1:29; 2:16). The human race did not consume meat until Genesis 9:3-4. The nomadic lifestyle was not known until one of Cain’s descendants, Jabal, began to live such a life (Genesis 4:20). Why did Abel choose to be a keeper of sheep? Abel chose his vocation because he believed the promises of God. His parents must have told him how God had to slay animals in order to make skins to cover their shameful nakedness. His vocation was bringing animal sacrifices to God, knowing that the shedding of the blood of the animal was a picture as to how God takes away sin: the innocent dies for the guilty.
4. The offerings of Cain and Abel also tell us about them. An offering is a gift to God. These two men both decided to bring an offering to God. We do not see that they were commanded to bring any manner of gift; they chose to bring gifts to God voluntarily.
   
   We just saw how Abel’s trusting in God’s promises, or his faith, drove him to choose his vocation. Abel brought “of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof” (Genesis 4:4). Abel brought the best of the best of what he had. He believed that if someone was going to die in place of his sin, that someone was going to have to be perfect and of the best sort.
   
   Cain, on the contrary, brought his leftovers. He was a tiller of the ground. He brought to God whatever he already had lying around. His offering was reminiscent of Adam and Eve’s fig leaf aprons they had made, that God did not accept. Remember how God had to provide animal skins because their own works, the fig leaf aprons, were not acceptable? Abel’s sacrifice, on the other hand, was reminiscent of the animal skins that God provided.
   
   We read in the Bible later that “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4). To be righteous means to be without sin. How could Abel be considered righteous, being born a sinner in Satan’s kingdom? Abel was a sinner, but he was declared righteous by God because he trusted God and believed His promises.
   
   A note of caution: We need to remember that the original animal skins were given by God. We in ourselves cannot offer anything to God to cover for our sins. The blood sacrifice of Abel is a picture of faith in how God will one day remove our sin by the coming Savior.
5. God respected Abel’s sacrifice but did not respect Cain’s. It was not the difference of vocation that made the difference. Though Cain chose to be a tiller of the ground, surely he could have made a trade with Abel to offer what God required. Cain and Abel both knew from their parents that they were helpless sinners before God, and that “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). Abel offered his blood sacrifice by faith, and Cain brought his leftovers. The result was that God was pleased with the one and not the other (Genesis 4:4-5).
   
   Cain was very angry, but God brought him great hope and consolation: “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 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” (Genesis 4:6-7). If Cain trusted God, he could have had God’s respect just as Abel had.
6. Cain killed Abel. We already saw how Cain was enraged by his rejection. He worked hard in the field all day, every day. It was not easy doing what he did, gathering food from the field, which grew thorns and thistles. But the work of human beings does not please God. It is trusting God that makes the difference, and Cain did not trust God.
   
   His mother had called him the man that was gotten from the LORD (Genesis 4:1). Perhaps Cain even thought that he himself was the promised Savior! Now his younger brother came along and threatened this prominence, and the possible favored status he had in the family.
   
   We already saw that Cain was angry, possibly for some of these reasons. He was probably very jealous of his brother too. I think something more sinister was at work, however.
   
   Cain knew God required a blood offering, so he decided to throw it in God’s face and killed his brother. “You want a blood offering, God? Since you love Abel so much, his blood should do just fine!” If this really is the case, then we see that not only did Cain not trust God, but he hated Him.
7. Cain is condemned as a wanderer. God knows everything, and does not need to ask us anything. As God questioned Adam and Eve in the Garden to elicit a confession of sin, He did the same with Cain: “Where is Abel thy brother?” (Genesis 4:9). Unlike his parents, he did not confess any sin, but rather retorted with a lie.
   
   “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16). As far as we can tell, he never sought God ever again, and God never sought him. Cain was condemned as a vagabond, and his work as a tiller of the ground was to be fruitless (Genesis 4:12). The last we see of him, he built a city in his pride, naming it after his son. His great-great-great-grandson was also a murderer, and departed from God’s decree of marriage (Genesis 2:24) by marrying two wives. (You can read more about Cain’s family in Genesis 4:17-24.)
8. Abel is still alive. Abel was murdered by his older brother Cain, but we see that God told Cain that “the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). His body may have been dead, but somehow Abel was alive and calling out to God. Because Abel believed the promises of God, he was not sent to the lake of fire, but rather still lived. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4).
9. Seth was given to Adam and Eve in Abel’s place. Adam and Eve, though naming Cain as if he would be the Savior, realized that it was Abel who pleased God. They blessed this new son, Seth, to be in place of Abel (Genesis 4:25).
   
   We see that this son’s family trusted God (Genesis 4:26), and that this son’s lineage would eventually be the family from which the Savior was born.

Like these first humans that walked the earth, we cannot please God in our own efforts. There is nothing intrinsically special about us that makes us acceptable to God. We are his enemies, helpless before him, and we must trust that He will save us from death and the lake of fire. Like Abel, the only thing left to do is to trust God’s promise of a coming Savior. Let us revisit these promises.

First, though our sin must be punished by God, God can punish our sin without punishing us. This was pictured in the animal skins given to Adam and Eve, and in Abel’s sacrifice. Remember, however these were just pictures of something bigger that God was going to do. These things did not permanently remove our sin, guilt and shame. The garments of Adam and Eve perished with time. Abel’s sacrifice was finally consumed by the fire. We need to trust God that He will provide a way to permanently remove sin from us and save us from the lake of fire.

Second, God was going to send a Savior to destroy Satan and his kingdom. At this point, it is not exactly clear how He was going to do this, but we need to trust God that He is willing and able to save us from sin, Satan, and the lake of fire.

Next: Chapter 7: And the LORD Shut Him In

Previous: Chapter 5: It Shall Bruise Thy Head

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