Genesis
Chapter 4
And Adam knew Eve his wife;
And she conceived, and bare Cain,
I have gotten a man from the LORD.
And she again bare his brother Abel.
And she again bare his brother Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
But Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass,
That Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
An offering unto the LORD.
And Abel, he also brought
Of the firstlings of his flock
Of the firstlings of his flock
And of the fat thereof.
And the LORD had respect unto Abel
And to his offering:
But unto Cain and to his offering
He had not respect.
And Cain was very wroth,
And his countenance fell.
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?
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.
And Cain talked with Abel his brother:
And it came to pass,
When they were in the field,
When they were in the field,
That Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
And slew him.
And the LORD said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother?
And he said, I know not:
Am I my brother's keeper?
And He said, What hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood
Crieth unto me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth,
Which hath opened her mouth
To receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
When thou tillest the ground,
It shall not henceforth
Yield unto thee her strength;
Yield unto thee her strength;
A fugitive and a vagabond
Shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the LORD,
My punishment is greater than I can bear.
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,
Every one that findeth me shall slay me.
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.
And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD,
And dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
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.
And unto Enoch was born Irad:
And Irad begat Mehujael:
And Mehujael begat Methusael:
And Methusael begat Lamech.
And Lamech took unto him two wives:
The name of the one Adah,
And the name of the other Zillah.
And Adah bare Jabal:
He was the father of such as dwell in tents,
And of such as have cattle.
And his brother's name was Jubal:
He was the father of all such
As handle the harp and organ.
And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-Cain,
An instructor of every artificer in brass and iron:
And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
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.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
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.
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.
Commentary:
Genesis Chapter 4
The biblical account of the downfall of Cain sets the course for succeeding history, for if it is true that the sin of the parents of Cain brought death into the world, which it did; Cain carried out that sinful nature with a vengeance that has had far reaching results to this very day. Man is the only species of life that routinely murders its own kind, by that act is set forever apart from all the rest of God’s creation in embracing pure evil.
Adam and Eve were our first parents, and Cain was their first child. What a bitter disappointment to his parents he must have been to his parents to have killed his own brother. Patricide is killing one’s parents; Fratricide is the killing of a sibling by a sibling. These killing acts are so evil that we have given them special names.
Man was created by God to be an omnivore, able, and intended to eat both meat and plants. It is not without significance that Cain the Vegetable grower killed Abel the shepherd of meat producing animals. Abel was not a hunter of wild animals, but a raiser of of domestic animals used for food.
To this day we have had this conflict between “vegetarians” (Hitler was one of them) and those who raise and eat meat.
Eating things that come from the ground is pretty straightforward, understood and accepted, but eating meat has always been somewhat controversial for a lot of reasons.
For one, meat is more expensive than vegetables, for another it involves spilling blood and killing living things, things that are in some ways close to humans biologically. On this ground most vegetarians take their stand.
- Yes, meat is more expensive to eat, but who does that mostly affect? Slave owners, for example, want maximum work done at minimum price, and feeding slaves (workers) vegetables is a lot cheaper than feeding them meat. Hence the slave (worker) owning classes stand to substantially benefit by vegetarianism. No wonder Hitler was a Vegetarian.
- Then there is the matter, (well documented) that eating meat causes a person to be a stronger warrior. The Hindus, who are taught religiously to be vegetarians, make an exception in Gita (general name for their holy books) for warriors to be able to eat meat. This is very telling, and opens vegetarians to the charge that they want to tamp down the Western warrior instinct and abilities, and turn us all into domestic obedient worker bees.
- Meat eating is controversial for a lot of reasons, while there is no controversy at all about eating vegetables. Meat eaters eat lots of vegetables and fruits, but vegetarians tend to completely omit meat from their diets.
- Another point about eating meat is the act of killing an animal has a profound psychological effect on anyone who does it. Generally, there are two major reactions. There are those (thankfully a limited number though we have no statistics on this) who kill animals and find they enjoy it. These, we know, tend to go on to commit horrendous crimes. Then there are those who kill animals and feel pity and contrition (hopefully most of us). These go on to be better persons for the experience. When they see the pain and suffering of animals being killed they are moved to compassion and by extension to compassion for all life. Therefore, the act of killing animals for food may well serve a valuable purpose in teaching compassion and kindness and the ability to care about the feelings of others. These types would most likely also oppose any sorts of cruelty to human beings such as the tyrannies and dictatorships of Communism and Nazism.
- Could it then be that the vegetarian instinct is not at all what it claims to be? Not humanitarian at all but a facilitator of slavery, exploitation, and degradation of human kind. This is surely a question that needs further research.
- Yet one more problem with vegetarianism is that it indirectly damages the soil, and leads to lower food production in the long run. By contrast, in an ecologically balanced system of agriculture and husbandry where animals are used for food to supplement the vegetable diet, their manure enriches the soil leading to more bountiful harvests. Soil enriched in this way, (which is the mode of traditional farming) is very supportive of the health and vigor of plants, such that such plants have greater resistance to disease and pest predators.
- Thus, Vegetarianism works to reduce crop yields where widely practiced. This leads to a rise in the price of the harvested grain, vegetables and fruit. On this basis, vegetarianism is not a sound ecological practice. We are excluding here factory farming of all sorts.
These are some of the reasoning of what God is trying to teach us concerning the murder of Abel by Cain. And it may help us understand why God preferred the gift of meat from the herds of Abel over the gift of grain from the fields of Cain. Even if Vegetarianism was not practiced by Cain, his choice of gift to God, shows that he failed to understand the mind of God on the matter of placing domestic grain as equal in value to, or higher than the value of domestic animals. Certainly, Cain made a poor choice and Abel made a wise choice in the matter of pleasing God (who was, and is, the Boss).
Cain was the son of Eve, but was Adam his father? We cannot be sure from a close reading of the Scripture. Remember Lucifer was very active in the Garden of Eden before these two boys were born, and it stretches credulity that man fell from Grace simply because Eve ate an simple red apple from a forbidden tree.
Of course, it was a sin of gluttony, exemplified as eating that which was it was not prudent to eat, but where the Bible is silent we are welcome to speculate, as long as the speculation does not contradict what the Bible says elsewhere. Therefore we are free to speculate as to what other sins might have been going on in Eden besides the metaphorical apple eating.
Did Lucifer sexually and in other ways corrupt both Adam and Eve? Was he, indeed, the lover of first Adam, and then Eve, and did he impregnate Eve in her fallen state with the result that Cain might actually be Lucifer’s son and not Adam? If true, it could explain a lot. Keep in mind that Lucifer is described as being in the form of the most beautiful man imaginable, a literal angel of light.
The Bible says that the mystery of God is the glory of God, and that the glory of man is to try to understand that mystery, even though we never shall unravel it completely.
As the Bible says, “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bare Cain, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” but what does that prove when there is another rooster running around the hen house at the same time? She, and even Adam, may be crowing loudly at the birth, but in their totally sinful and fallen state who can place much stock in anything they might say. We need to think and pray mightily on these things for they have vast portent in their understanding.
Cain then brought his offering “unto the LORD.” But, which “lord” was he, in his deepest heart, bringing it unto, God the Father, or perhaps his real father, and thus his real “lord,” Lucifer?
Then we have the reaction of Cain to God, (Boss of the universe) who was choosing between the work of two of His employees, who gave one a raise and a promotion, while telling the other to try harder and come back to get his employee evaluation in the “board room” next year.
At this turn of events, “Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” Here we have a real bad attitude to say the least. He stormed out of the Boss’s office with a terrible look of anger on his face. He was about to “go postal.”
But the LORD, ever kind and willing “that all be saved,” turned to him, called him back, and gave him an encouraging pep talk, which predictably fell on deaf ears, and only hardened Cain’s heart even further. God asked Cain to think on the cause of his poor performance, and consider this sage advice, “if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”
Then Cain “talked with Abel his brother.” And we can just imagine what he “talked” about. Likely it was more raving and bitter recriminations.
After this, Cain laid his murderous plans carefully, nursed his hate and savored his planned vengeance. “And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, and slew him.”
Cain’s reasoning was along the lines, I am the oldest, and therefore have Union seniority in this company; at least I deserved to be treated equally, if not actually in a preferred manner. Cain was thinking like a typical Socialist Labor Union worker. He thought he had his rights, dead to rights, so to speak, regardless of his performance, and despite doing a bad job, on the job.
Monday morning at the customary prayer meeting, before the start of the workday, the boss, (God) inquired of Cain, “Where is Abel thy brother?” Cain immediately lied like the professional criminal he was, (keeping in mind that Lucifer is called the father of liars) and said, “I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Cain spoke like many Christians feel, and speak today, along the lines that everyone should paddle his own canoe. They say this sort of thing when they repeat over and over the refrain, “All I need is Jesus, All I need is Jesus.” Fellow Christian, unless you come to God with your “brother” by the hand you might as well stay home. God will only hear you when you approach him, two by two, or more. Cain said to God, in effect, don’t we, don’t you and I, have a one on one relationship? Are you not all I need? What does my salvation have to do with my so-called brother? Don’t we, that is, you and I, have something exclusive going?
But God said, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” God then pronounced sentence, that pronounced, the very earth now curses you with her very mouth, the mouth that opened to take in your brother’s spilled blood.
Cain, predictably, like every criminal, started then a long extended whine, complaining bitterly about even this relatively light sentence for muder, complaining that it was too harsh, despite the fact that God had mercifully spared his worthless life.
Now God is manifest in being both a harsher judge and a more lenient one than man would be, depending on the circumstances. Man’s judgment of Cain is that he should be executed, tooth for tooth, whenever, and wherever, he was to be found. So God gave Cain the mark of Cain to protect him from the rest of mankind (Conservative Believers) who longed to execute him as he deserved, and richly had coming. But, man is not God, and God has His own purposes and methods which man will never understand, hard though he try, and as God is the Boss of Bosses we had better be about understanding what God’s will is.
But what is that “mark upon Cain” that the LORD set on him? A good guess and the best modern equivalent, in the context of modern day America, is that the Mark of Cain is upon our Liberal Unbelievers, who are the very Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes that tormented Jesus.
We all know these types, both inside and outside our churches. Yet many of them are very talented, such that God pleases to clearly uses them in His grand design of perfecting His Kingdom, just as He used Cain and his descendants. Truly, they are the biblical unrighteous that God allows the rain to fall upon equally with the righteous.
But everything of God has a happy ending, if we just wait long enough, does it not? And so we are told, Cain and his murderous brood multiplied throughout the earth, committing murders and preaching godlessness without ceasing, and these Cainites, or Kenites, are certainly with us to this very day, even building cities and such, all the while working unintentionally to further God’s master plan.
Adam and Eve being older but wiser moved on in the Grace of God, and with His blessing, had another son who was to be the true founder of the lineage of the children of God. And as the Bible says, “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.”
“Then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. “
Looking for meaning in the Scriptures is a fruitful quest, for there is much to be learned by closely discerning the Word of God.
