Genesis 4
Notes
Transcript
Tonight we begin in chapter 4…
But… we’re actually not, beginning in chapter four. There are some important things in chapter three that tie into the events of four that we need to consider. And, there are some things in chapter three that were simply missed.
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So real quick, let’s look back at a couple things in chapter three before we move on.
The first thing has to do with the promise that God made to Eve.
The promise was given, along with some unpleasant news… and we, the reader, have a way of focusing more on the unpleasant stuff… and sometimes we overlook the promise. We don’t over look the fact that the relationship between man and woman will now be difficult. We don’t overlook the fact that childhood will be painful. But, it’s easy to pass over the promise, as if… the only thing Adam and Eve were thinking about… was the bad stuff.
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God gave Eve an incredible promise. Her seed would crush the serpents head.
They were in a predicament. They were separated from regular fellowship with God, and they were being cast out of the garden.
As they wandered out into the real world… they obviously longed to be back where food was easily harvested and the conditions were perfect.
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So, what do you think they were focusing on? The curse, or the promise?
I’m sure, their minds were on the promise.
It was the serpent’s fault that this happened… so if the serpent’s head could be crushed by her seed… then maybe, they could go back to Eden.
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I think this hope was the re-naming of Eve. She was called woman… But after the promise, Adam changed her name, declaring that she would be Eve, the mother of all living things. How could she be such a mother? If her seed, her child, were to conquer evil… then her child would usher them, and everything else, back into a place of life.
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This idea will play into the story of Cain. In fact… this idea will play into the story of Noah also… and many others.
From the first son born, moving forward… there were many who believed, that their child, would be the offspring of Eve, who would conquer evil, and restore Eden.
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One more thing I wanted to take note of in chapter 3… is from vs. 24… where it says, ‘God drove out the man...’ -
I can’t believe I missed this the first time around… it’s so obvious.
This should spark a thought… a memory… an idea… of something else that happened in our Bibles.
Is there another place, where God drove someone out?
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12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
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Jesus was driven out too.... - and we will see some incredible similarities… between Adam… and Jesus..
And we must not forget… the NT refers to Jesus as the Second Adam.
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Rom 5.14 tells us that the first Adam was a type of the the one who was to come.
14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
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and then, in 1 Cor 15… Paul says it more clearly.
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
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So… the first Adam was driven out of the garden...
The second Adam was driven out, into the desert.
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Why is this significant? Because it’s going to show us a few things…
mainly… Jesus is above and beyond… VICTORIOUS…
Adam had comfort, an abundance of food, everything he needed… and when Satan came along, he sinned.
Jesus did not have comfort. He had fasted for 40 days. He was hungry. He was not in a comfortable place. And when Satan came along and tempted Him… He was victorious.
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The lesson that the law extensively taught… was communicated with great clarity in the contrast between the first and second Adam.
Humans cannot please God in their own efforts. Even if every circumstance is in their favor, they will, inevitably fall short of the glory of God.
But Jesus did what we could not… even in the midst of His most dire circumstance… when the enemy was strong, and Jesus, in the flesh, was weak… He still maintained His own righteousness.
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OK… now… let’s move on into chapter 4…
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1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
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First off, let’s consider Eve’s statement. “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD”. - This is a complicated interpretation. There is one preposition here… and in this verse, it is translated ‘with’. But, the words ‘the help of’ are not present in the Hebrew.
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Translators who were trying to determine how the preposition was originally intended, added those word to better explain what they thought was going said.
This could read, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh.”
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Translators then had a problem. Vs. one just told us that Adam was the one who impregnated Eve. So, to say that this was a situation like that of Mary… and this was an immaculate conception… well, that doesn’t work… even though, Eve’s words could clearly be saying this.
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But Luther had a different view on how this should be translated, and it’s a view that makes a few other things fit together well.
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This preposition in the Hebrew… which our translation interprets as being, ‘with’… could also a word that ‘re-names’ or ‘further identifies’… - So Luther, along with a couple other Hebrew scholars I’ve read up on… propose that Eve actually said, “I have gotten a man, namely the Lord.”
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What would the implications of this be? - It would mean, that Eve thought that her son would be the divine offspring, that would crush the serpent.
It would mean… that when Eve heard the promise, of her offspring crushing the head of this powerful elohim… the devil… - that she knew… her son must be remarkable. He too must be divine, and must be like Yahweh.
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So even as the Bible has yet to speak of a Messiah, or a Savior, in a broad prophetic sense… Luther believed, that Eve intended for her first born son to be the one, who would save mankind. That Cain, would be the Messiah.
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If they were banking on, and desperately hoping that this promise would be fulfilled… so they could return to Eden… then surely, they would be eager to hope in their first born son as being the one to fulfill it.
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I’m not sold on this interpretation… but it does explain a few things.
It explains why the birth of Abel is barely worth mentioning.
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Cain’s name means, spear… and the Hebrew word for spear sound very similar to the Hebrew word for acquired, or as vs. 1 puts it, ‘have gotten’. This sentence is an example of how the OT Hebrews uses a lot of wordplay… things that we don’t notice in our English translations… but here, when Eve says, I have gotten… it was a play on Cain’s name… which is why some translators will say, that Cain’s name actually means ‘acquired.’.
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Much is said of Cain’s birth.
But vs. 2… simply says, ‘she bore his brother Abel’. Even the birth of Abel is identified… not with his parents, or with Yahweh… but with Cain. And what does Abel mean? It means, ‘vanity’.... or ‘breath’.. -
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So, Adam and Eve thought of their first son… possibly, as a Messiah who would conquer a divine foe… and his brother… as something not worth mentioning… just a breath… just, vanity.
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Verse two identifies the jobs that these two brother took on… Abel took care of sheep… and Cain did what his father Adam did… he took care of the land.
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3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
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So, before there was a priesthood… before the book of Leviticus was written… people knew that it was appropriate to give offerings to God.
And some people have speculated… that the type of offerings brought, were significant.
But I don’t think the error was in the item.
Cain grew produce, so he brought produce.
Abel raised sheep, so he brought sheep.
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The problem wasn’t, whether God preferred meat over vegetables…
The problem was one of obedience and faith.
3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
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22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
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We don’t know, simply by looking at verse three and four, what was in the hearts of these men when they made their offerings. Was their righteousness? Was there justice? Was there obedience? When we get to verse 5… we get a peek into Cain’s heart, but we have to go to Heb. 11 to see what was in Abel’s heart.
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4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
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Abel offered what he had, by faith.
It was his faith, that made his offering acceptable… - Not because it was meat over plant… - It was something in the heart of the giver.... which is a consistent principle in the Bible… God is always more interested in the heart than He is, in the deed… in the gift… in the work… or in the offering.
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in vs. 5… Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
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If Cain grew up, always being told that he was the one… that he was the offspring… that he was going to deliver divine victory upon the serpent… -then it’s possible, that Cain was a man who relied more heavily upon his title, rather than, upon his faith.
“SURE, GOD IS GOING TO RECEIVE MY OFFERING. I AM THE CHOSEN ONE. I AM THE OFFSPRING. I AM THE ONE WHO WILL CONQUER WICKEDNESS...” - “Who is Able next to me? He is vanity. He is but a breath.”
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So, imagine the shock, when Cain realizes.... that this thing he grew up believing… wasn’t true.
It was a given. His offering would be accepted.
And he was horribly disappointed… and angry.
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6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
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Cain wasn’t accepted… and the Lord told him… “If you do well, you will be accepted.”
This was an invitation from God, to Cain… encouraging him to change his tune.
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Cain, if you want to make an offering God will accept, then do well. Have faith. Do justly, love mercy, give to the Lord, ‘obedience’.
God made the gracious offer… but then, He followed it up with a warning.
If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
This should have been an immediate word for Cain. The offering proved, that he was already, not doing well… so even at this moment, sin was already there, crouching at the doors.
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God was letting Cain know… at this very moment… sin was ready to change him, and rule him.
And he heeded himself fully to it.
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8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
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Here is God, again, asking questions He already knew the answer to. Asking them, simply, as an opportunity for Cain to confess. So what does Cain do? He lies. In a way, he throws it back on God. “am I my brother’s keeper?” - At this point, Cain probably wasn’t sure what he was… but, since God accepted Abel’s offering… it made sense to Cain, that God would be more interested in Abel’s location, than Cain was.
Cain is having an embittered conversation with the boss who just passed him up for the promotion he was sure he was getting.
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Then the Lord says something interesting.
“the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground”
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God is saying… that the blood of Abel, has a voice, that God can hear.
Now, much can be said of this… and much will be said, one day, when we get back into the book of Leviticus..
But for now, let’s jump all the way forward to Heb. 12:24
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This is the reason we sang, “Nothing But The Blood”… tonight.
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
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Hebrews is all about Jesus… specifically… it’s all about how Jesus is better.
And here, we see a comparison. We already know that Abel is a man of faith… someone whom God is pleased with… and we know, that Abel’s blood spoke to God. But the blood of Jesus, by fair outweighs the significance of Abel. In Hebrews… it goes on to say in vs. 25… that we should not refuse him… that is Jesus… who is speaking, by way of His blood.
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This is one of those places where… the Bible gets weird…
But the Bible has set up a system, that holds great significance upon the blood. The life is in the blood. Blood protected the household from the angel of death. The blood of Jesus is the very thing, that enables us to be clean, holy, and sanctified before God.
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The blood of Abel told Cain, that his sins were not hidden… his secret was not kept.
The blood of Jesus tells us the same thing… If we, like Cain, are guilty and unforgiven… there is a blood, speaking a better word to us… that, according to Heb. 12.25.... we need to see, that we do not refuse it.
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11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
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Cain lost his profession. His job, was to work the land. His sin… cursed the land on his account.
So, Cain didn’t have any land to work and had to leave his home and wander the land.
I find it sad, that his remorse, wasn’t for the death of his brother… but it was for himself.
He considered his punishment to be, ‘too great’.
He assumed, that someone would find him, and kill him… probably because of what he just did to his brother.
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But God shows him mercy.
Yes, God punished him.
But God did not kill him, and in fact, God placed a mark of protection upon him… one that people would see, and recognize as a message, that Cain was off limits.
God declared, that the one who kills Cain… vengeance would be sevenfold… and yet… the one who killed Abel, didn’t suffer any vengeance that was ‘in kind’ to the crime.
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When God declared this vengeance law… I’m sure it spoke to Cain. I’m sure that Cain recognized, that God’s response to murder, is great. Seven deaths, for one… - and Cain, he only lost his job and his land… He continued to live.... even though his crime would now be paid, with the death of seven people.
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Maybe in this, Cain recognized the grace that God extended to him.
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People are really curious what the mark of Cain is… - the answer is: Nobody knows. They only can guess.
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Gen 4.17-24.... we get a list of Cain’s descendants and some of the things they did… along with a curious little poem that a guy named Lamech quoted to his wives…
23 Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”
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So, Lamech must have killed a man in self defense… and as an encouragement to his wives… he was letting them know, that he was such an important person, (most likely, in his own head)… that nobody would be seeking revenge.
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It does show, that even after hundreds of years… a few things that God spoke to one man, remained preserved. It was probably easier to preserve the stories of Genesis, when the people who were there in person, lived for hundreds of years.
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The chapter ends with the birth of Seth.
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
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Eve named this third son… a name that literally means, ‘compensation’. She claimed this child as a replacement for the one that was lost.
Many years pass between vs. 25 and vs 25, and now Seth has a son… - and at this time, ‘people began to call upon the name of the LORD’.
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And this is true… that people must have been calling upon the name of the Lord..
But the Hebrew says something a little different…
This says… in the day’s of Seth… that people began to be called ‘by the name of the Lord’ -
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What does this mean?
It means, that some in this world, began to actively and openly live for God. They truly must have been calling upon the name of the Lord. And this created a contrast, between them, and those who were not living for the Lord.
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So, in the days of Seth’s first son… people were not only identified by their faith in God… by default we see… that people were distinguished, by a lack of faith.
Which means… many of the things that God calls His people to… will be relevant… namely, the call to separate. The call to not follow in the ways of the world. The call to honor God, over the world.
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Things go south from here.
Many will follow in the line of Seth, and be good, faithful people… but many will not… and very soon… the world is about to find itself in a place of irreversible wickedness.