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Cain Murders Abel
Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”
When Cain was born, she acknowledged that this birth was only by the Lord’s enablement.
In naming him Cain (“acquisition”), Eve may have thought that she had given birth to the Promised Seed.
Genesis 4:2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Genesis 4:3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
The process of time mentioned in verse 3a allows for a considerable increase in the world’s population.
Genesis 4:4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Genesis 4:6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” What can we learn from this?
Genesis 4:8 Now 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 killed him.
Genesis 4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
Genesis 4:11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
The word for vagabond is related to the word Nod in vs. 16 where he was eventually to dwell. He would be a homeless wanderer, banished from permanency and consigned to seeking out a living in whatever manner he could.
Genesis 4:13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! :14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” :15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
Cain’s whimpering complaint reveals remorse for the consequences of his sin rather than for its guilt. But even then the Lord allayed the fugitive’s fears for his life by putting a protective mark on Cain and a curse on anyone who killed him. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, the saddest of all departures.
The Wickedness and Judgment of Man
Genesis 6:1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, :2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
There are two principal interpretations of verse 2. One is that the sons of God were angels who left their proper sphere (Jude 6) and intermarried with women on earth, a form of sexual disorder that was most hateful to God. Those who hold this view point out that the expression “sons of God” in Job 1:6 and 2:1 means angels who had access to the presence of God. Also, “the sons of God” as a term for angels is a standard Semitic expression. The passage in Jude 6, 7 suggests that the angels who left their own abode were guilty of vile sexual behavior. Notice the words “as Sodom and Gomorrah” at the beginning of verse 7, immediately after the description of the fallen angels.
The main objection to this view is that angels don’t reproduce sexually, as far as we know. Matthew 22:30 is used to prove that Jesus taught that the angels don’t marry. What the verse actually says, however, is that the angels in heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage. Angels appeared in human form to Abraham (Gen. 18:1–5), and it seems from the text that the two who went to Sodom had human parts and emotions.
The other view is that the sons of God were the godly descendants of Seth, and the daughters of men were the wicked posterity of Cain. The argument is as follows: The preceding context deals with the descendants of Cain (chap. 4) and the descendants of Seth (chap. 5). Genesis 6:1–4 describes the intermarriage of these two lines. The word angels is not found in the context. Verses 3 and 5 speak of the wickedness of man. If it was the angels who sinned, why was the race of man to be destroyed? Godly men are called “sons of God,” though not in exactly the same Hebrew wording as in Genesis 6:2 (see Deut. 14:1; Ps. 82:6; Hos. 1:10; Matt. 5:9).
There are several problems with this view. Why were all the Sethite men godly and all the women of Cain’s lineage ungodly? Also, there is no indication that Seth’s line stayed godly. If they did, why should they be destroyed? Also, why should such a union between godly men and ungodly women produce giants?
Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but there is a limit.
Peter tells us that it was Christ who was preaching through Noah to the people by the Holy Spirit. They rejected the message and are now imprisoned.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, :19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, :20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
2 Peter 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
Genesis 6:4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Regarding the giants (Heb. nephilim, “fallen ones”) Here is one explanation by theologian Unger explains: The Nephilim are considered by many as giant demigods, the unnatural offspring of “the daughters of men” (mortal women) in cohabitation with “the sons of God” (angels). This utterly unnatural union, violating God’s created orders of being, was such a shocking abnormality as to necessitate the worldwide judgment of the Flood.
Macdonald, Farstad Grady Scott, Hindson, E. MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006).
