God Speaks
Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son. 18 Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of those who raise livestock and live in tents. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, gave birth to a son named Tubal-cain. He became an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah. 23 One day Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
listen to me, you wives of Lamech.
I have killed a man who attacked me,
a young man who wounded me.
24 If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times,
then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”
25 Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
This reflection and prayer covers only Genesis 4:1-16. The rest of chapter four (verses 17-26), along with all of chapter five, will be covered in the next blog post.
Reflection: As she rejoiced over the birth of her first-born son, Eve likely remembered God’s promise of a deliverer over the serpent, one of her male offspring. God said to the serpent, “He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15b NLT). Some scholars think of that promise as the first reference to a messiah. When Eve’s sons Cain and Abel grew to adulthood, they both offered sacrifices to God. Abel’s was accepted; Cain’s was not. This made Cain angry and sullen. God’s instructions to Cain in verses six and seven show what we can and should do when we have a bad attitude. Instead of obeying God, Cain lured Abel out into a field one day, then attacked and killed him. When God confronted him with “Where is Abel?” Cain denied responsibility for Abel. Then God asked, “What have you done?” But God already knew because He said, “Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” God sentenced Cain to being a total failure as a farmer and a homeless wanderer. Cain was afraid someone would kill him, and in response God put a special mark on him so that no one would. Cain wandered the rest of his life in a territory called Nod (which means wandering) away from the Lord’s presence.
Prayer: Dear Creator God who keeps His promises, like Eve the first human mother, I look with anticipation to the deliverer You promised when You spoke the curse as a consequence of the fall of mankind. Also like her, however, I’ve learned that You are not bound by time or earthly circumstance. You are proceeding according to the plan laid out by You, the great Triune God, before creation. May the people I’m close to and responsible for (including myself) offer acceptable sacrifices to You, Lord God. Whenever I am angry and sullen, may I heed God’s instructions to Cain in verses six and seven. There You have shown us what we can and should do: Do what is right and just and (with the help of the Holy Spirit) confront our natural tendency toward sin, subdue it, and become its master. Obeying You, God, will keep us from making rash and tragic decisions. When You confront me with my sin, may I not be like Cain denying responsibility. When You ask, “What have you done?” may I remember that You already know and humbly accept whatever the sentence is. I never want to be a total failure and a homeless wanderer, away from Your presence, Lord.
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will tell three people how God has kept His promises in my life.
- I will list at least ten biblical promises that God kept or fulfilled.
- I will use God’s questioning method of asking “What did you do?” when confronting someone (child or adult) about a wrongdoing, rather than “Why did you _____?” which most often leads to excuses or shifting of blame.
- I will do research on how to practice the presence of God, then do it.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.