Tag: Cain

What’s in a Name?

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Perhaps there is a story in the name and lives of the sons of Adam and Eve:

Cain means acquired
Abel means a breath; vanity
Seth means appointed

“By the work of my hands, I attempt to acquire a name for myself. But this, too, is vanity, a grasping for the wind.
But God appoints another way. God’s way.

Violence begets Violence

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Cain strikes out in vengeance against Abel.
God marks Cain to protect him from retaliation, warning everyone about God’s own vengeance: a sevenfold, or TOTAL vengeance.

But seven generations later, the seed of wickedness grows into mockery and even greater violence. Perhaps this is the way of Cain.

Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,
Listen to my voice,
You wives of Lamech,
Pay attention to my words,
For I have killed a man for wounding me;
And a boy for striking me!
If Cain is avenged seven times,
Then Lamech seventy-seven times!”
Genesis 4:23-24 (NASB)

The Name of God

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord.”
Genesis 4:1 (NASB)

Eve is the first to refer to God by the Name.

Perhaps this points to intimacy. God is not merely “out there” to her, but close enough to call by name. God’s very own name.

What was Cursed?

Posted on by jovial_cynic
It’s hard to understand what happened to Cain. This word “under” is either cursed “FROM the ground,” or “OUT OF the ground,” or “MORE THAN the ground,” or “ON ACCOUNT of the ground,” etc., etc.

Cain may be cursed (like the serpent), or the ground is further cursed (like w/ Adam). It’s difficult to determine.

Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:11 (NIV)

from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than
from (expressing separation), off, on the side of
H4480: מִן (min)

Cain and Adam’s Curse

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 3, Adam is told that the GROUND is cursed, and he will RETURN to it.

In Genesis 4, Cain is told that HE is cursed FROM the ground; the GROUND accepted Abel, but it REJECTS Cain.

Perhaps the ground is humanity, and Cain has cut himself off from it. A vagabond.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)

Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:11 (NIV)

An Echo

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 4 is not merely the consequence of Genesis 3. It’s a retelling of it. The stories have an echo that get louder every time.

In Genesis 3, we have:

Adam: A tiller of the ground -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (covering) -> the man has a son.

In Genesis 4, we have:

Cain: A tiller of the ground, -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (a mark) -> he has a son.

Brother’s Keeper

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:9 (NIV)

Cain’s question, “am I my brother’s keeper” is quite tragic. The word “keeper” is means to protect, to guard, to celebrate over, to watch for.

to keep, have charge of
to keep, guard, keep watch and ward, protect, save life
watch, watchman (participle)
to watch for, wait for
to watch, observe
to keep, retain, treasure up (in memory)
to keep (within bounds), restrain
to observe, celebrate, keep (sabbath or covenant or commands), perform (vow)
to keep, preserve, protect
to keep, reserve
H8104: שָׁמַר (šāmar)

It’s what God does for us, and what we are commanded to do for one another.

Yes. You are your brother’s keeper.

More than Merely Accepted

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Every translation injects theology into it.

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:7 (NIV)

“Accepted” gives us a picture of seeking acceptance by God. But the Hebrew word is significantly richer.

The one who does right isn’t merely “accepted.” They are elevated, exalted, dignified…

elevation, exaltation, dignity, swelling, uprising
dignity, exaltation, loftiness
swelling
uprising
H7613: שְׂאֵת (śᵊ’ēṯ)

Leave Your Mother and Father

Posted on by jovial_cynic

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (NASB)

One of the times a bible character actually does “leave his mother and father to be joined to his wife,” per the note in Genesis 2, is with the story of Jacob… where he fled home to avoid his brother’s wrath, and then ended up marrying two women – Leah and Rachel.

But the first time we see it followed, it’s here with Cain. It makes me wonder if this is a blessing or a curse.

Then Cain left the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city, and named the city Enoch, after the name of his son.
Genesis 4:16-17 (NASB)