Episode 4-Genesis chapter 4
Genesis Chapter
4: Cain and Abel
A story of
inadvertent killing?
Genesis 4 is crucial because its where
the onset of man committing major sins, the first biblical recorded murder,
shedding innocent blood and the need for atonement from those sins is
introduced.
Was this
premeditated murder?
Remember up until now no one had EVER
been killed before, no one had ever died before up to this point that was not
recorded, They did not have the knowledge per say to know how to kill someone at
this time we might even be able to suggest by scripture.
What supports a theory about Cain?
Cain is indeed an inadvertent murderer
and not a premeditated one is what happens to him afterward, how the Lord
handles this.
God does not kill him, the Torah
speaks of capital punishment for murder, premeditated along with some others
The Lord for this murder of Able says
to Cain:
Verbiage in Hebrew: (na vanad tihyeh
baaretz)
You will be a wanderer throughout the
land, you will never be able to settle down.
Condemned to live outside his
territory on foreign turf, exiled far from his home, much like the inadvertent
murderer who according to Torah law would be exiled as his punishment instead
of death.
Now the city of refuge protected the inadvertent
murderer from something called a revenge killing by a family member of the
deceased, because avengers would rise up within families to attempt to avenge
the death of the family member who was inadvertently killed.
An inadvertent murder basically means
one that was not premeditated, one that is accidental in nature HOWEVER there
is some suggestion through Scripture that Indeed Cain had time to mull this
over. The Lord only knows however what is in Cain’s heart.
So, After Cain commits this heinous ACT,
he is more concerned about the his own person, there seems to be little to no
remorse for killing his brother. Cain is more worried about his punishment than
what he has done!!
Look how he answers the Lord here:
Genesis 4:9-10: Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he [lied and]
said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s [innocent]
blood is crying out to Me from the ground [for justice].
In Genesis 4:11-12 we see the Lord as the Righteous Judge
giving the Verdict and sentence: READ
Cain is very worried about being
killed himself, thus the city of refuge to shield him from the possibility that
another family member would avenge Abel’s blood.
Now there are really not many other
humans around. So, who is Cain so worried about that
would kill him?
Abel was a shepherd and he loved his
animals these animals are loyal to Abel, so the likelihood of Cain being
attacked by the animals is high. As it appears the animals loved Abel.
Now there were not many cities for Cain
to go seek refuge as an inadvertent killer so what does the Lord do, he
provides Cain a movable a mobile city of refuge, the mark of Cain.
He treats Cain as an inadvertent
killer in a sense. This is a protective Mark; this is not a curse at all.
Genesis 4:15 -Hebrew: (vayomar lo hashem).
God says: (lichen kol-horeg Kain
shivatayim Vayasem hashem lekainot)-God placed a mark of his forehead.
Hebrew: (Levilti hakot-ot kol motzo)-
so that no one would kill him.
Genesis 4:15 translated:
5 And the Lord said to him, “[Therefore,
whoever kills Cain, a seven fold vengeance [that is, punishment seven times
worse] shall be taken on him [by Me].” And the Lord set a
[protective] mark (sign) on Cain, so that no one who found (met) him would
kill him. The land of nod which means wandering which was part of the
punishment the Lord gave Cain for the death of Abel.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free
gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers]
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Now Cain
in Hebrew Means: Acquired) The definition
of acquired: To buy or obtain for oneself.
Eve
Acquired Cain by paying through the pains of childbirth, one of the
consequences for her eating of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, she
paid through that pain to bring forth Cain her firstborn Son.
Abel in
Hebrew: A Breath of Vapor, now it was the breath of God that gave them life.
Abel was
a shepherd who brought the firstborn of His flock in time to present before the
Lord while his older brother Cain brings fruits and vegetables from the field.
What Abel
did was a foreshadowing and prophetic Act of what the lord would do when He
took His firstborn Jesus His only son and allowed Him to be sacrificed for our
sins.
So, Abel
was truly demonstrating the heart of God, the love the Lord had for humanity as
His son Jesus was the spotless Lamb.
Abel
presenting the firstborn of His flock was a greater sacrifice for him to give
up the life of that Animal to God where Cain was more interested in fruits and
vegetables and thought that was “Enough.”
I find it
interesting today how Vegans make it all about fruits and vegetables and grains
the Doctrine of their belief system and forgo the animal, its similar is some
ways to what Cain did!
The Lord
showed Adam and Eve the principle.
In the
lord’s great and Divine Mercy, the depths of which we cannot even fathom:
The lord
then ALLOWED keyword the blood of innocent animals to pay for men’s sins,
however the animals blood was just a covering for men’s sins.
The sin
was very much still there, it was just covered up like the covering the Lord
made for Adam and eve, to cover their nakedness, out of the skins of the first
animals that had to be killed to atone for what they had done.
Our
clothing we wear is just a means to disguise our nakedness hiding underneath,
our sin is still there. It did not get rid of it because under that covering or
disguise the sin was still there.
However,
atonement using the blood of animals did bring Divine Forgiveness, for
centuries the Lord allowed this ACCEPTABLE keyword, divine covering over the
sins of those who placed their trust in and served the lord God Adonai.
The blood
of the animals served the spiritual purpose of atoning for sin and the skin of
the animal was used to cover the nakedness of man, a physical covering.
This
provides a very profound illustration of what was transpiring in the spiritual
world to compensate for this sinful behavior.
Through
the course of time as the Lord allowed His plans for redemption to unfold, Jesus,
Yeshua, His one and only son would step in and change that!
Because
unlike the blood of animals which merely covered as an acceptable substitute
top atone for our sin, those animals would have to be sacrificed over and over
and over again,
The blood
of Jesus, Yeshua, did not just cover the sin, it nullified it Glory to god!
But until
Jesus, Yeshua, sacrificial atonement for that sin done in the right attitude
humbling themselves before Almighty God, brought forgiveness for that Trespass.
Leviticus 4:25-26: Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering
with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering;
and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the
altar of burnt offering. And he shall offer all its fat up in smoke on the
altar like the fat from the sacrifice of peace offerings; so, the priest shall
make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven.
So now back to Cain and Abel:
Cain has angry words with Abel, more like resented the favor
of God upon the life of His brother, so Cain returns and kills Abel.
The earths first family birthed through Adam and leave are
still living in the land of Eden, NOT the garden of Eden the surrounding land.
Eden was a special place that the Lord himself created for
His people.
The Lord banishes Cain from this special place for the
shedding of the blood of his innocent brother Abel.
Cain is banished and sent east to a land called Nod (Node
pronounced) which translates to wandering, restless. This is very profound
because of the punishment.
Genesis 4:12: When you
cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength [it will resist
producing good crops] for you; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond
[roaming aimlessly] on the earth [in perpetual exile without a home, a
degraded outcast].”
Cain goes
onto marry, have many children, descendants and even builds a city.
Now the
mark put upon Cain by God:
Kol-translates-anyone,
whatsoever, anything, all things. So, what indeed Cain was being protected from
was not only humans because the Hebrew Word kol is used.
There had
to be many people by now on planet earth. The perspective written is very male
oriented and that is why you do not hear mention of a female for a while again,
or significant mention we shall say.
Cain
committed unjustifiable homicide however it is treated more as an inadvertent
killing.
Cain from
that point forward was associated with wickedness.
Genesis 4:16: So, Cain went away from the [manifested]
presence of the LORD
and lived in the land of Nod [wandering in exile], east of Eden.
Literally
Cain is being sent away from Eden from the manifested presence of the Lord, is
it not true that when we are separated from the presence of Almighty God we are
in a state of wandering and unrest? We living ultimately a hopeless and
meaningless existence and even in a state that is without true direction
because true direction comes from Almighty God, for the Lord sees the end from
the beginning and the beginning from the ending, He is the Alpha and Omega and
can direct us from a whole perspective of our lives.
However,
when we leave the presence of the Lord we truly are going blindly, for we
surely cannot see our lives from beginning to end from a birds eye view
perspective, and when things go array, where do we yield to get a truly solid
perspective? You cannot get more omnipotent or omniscient than Almighty God. The only
rest that exists for us, for humanity is when we are in the presence of God.
Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all who are weary and
heavily burdened [by religious rituals that
provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following
Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and your yoke is light (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. For
My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.”
So, Cain is the beginning of the long line of wicked people
who turn their backs on Almighty God.
When Jesus comes back and sets up the millennial Kingdom,
towards the end of that satan is released again and men will wickedly rebel
against Jesus, and they will be completely destroyed along with evil itself.
Truly it is only then that this cycle of evil will truly once and for all be
broken and eradicated.
The lord is His incredible mercy gives Eve another child, Eve
thinks this child, Seth is in a way a replacement for the deceased Abel. Now
she names this baby boy Seth because in Hebrew it translates to compensation as
in a prayer that is granted.
We will see that Seth is regarded as the righteous line as
opposed to his older brother Cain who represents the line of wickedness and
evil.
Cain and his descendants just continued to wander further and
further away from the Lord.
In verse 26 of Genesis Chapter 4 that it was through the line
of Seth that people began to call on the name of the Lord, Adonai. NOTE: Adonai
translates to Lord, or Master.
Seth, he and his line lead people towards the lord, to look
to the Lord, Adonai for direction in their lives, also to praise the Lord, to
Worship Him, came through the line of Seth.
What has been established:
The descendants of Seth are the line of righteousness and
Good.
The descendants of Cain are the blood line of wickedness and
evil.
NOW this DOES NOT mean that everyone from the line of Cain
was predestined or predetermined to be evil or that the line of Cain would
completely lack good or decent people.
Which means there are good and evil people in the line of
Seth.
HOWEVER, the messiah Jesus, would come forth from Seth’s line
not through the line of Cain.
Food for thought:
ReplyDelete1)
“Israel and the United Arab Emirates will sign their historic deal normalizing relations at a White House ceremony on Sept. 15, officials said Tuesday. Senior delegations from the two countries will be led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince.”
https://www.wbay.com/2020/09/08/us-officials-israel-uae-to-sign-deal-at-white-house/
2)
Historically, Israel’s enemies launch major assaults on or around both Muslim and Jewish holidays. With this historical Peace Deal and many others -- with more countries lining up to make peace with Israel too -- we’ve all heard the enemies of peace grumbling and growling so, of course, the world is a bit tense about the coming major Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
“Rosh Hashanah for the year 2020 starts on the evening of Friday, September 18th ending the 2 day celebration at sundown on Sunday, September 20. For the Jewish calendar night begins before day, thus the holiday or festival begins on the sunset of the previous day.
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Jewish New Year for Jewish Americans. Rosh Hashanah begins on the first day of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar. The Day of Remembrance or the Day of Blowing the Shofar are other names for this holiday. Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are the two most important days of atonement that most practicing Jews will observe in the calendar year.”
https://www.calendardate.com/rosh_hashana_2020.htm
3)
I find it super interesting that Israel is shutting down – for the second time – due to CV19 on September the 18th the beginning of Rosh Hashana.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-israel-becomes-first-country-in-the-world-to-impose-second-national-lockdown-12071369
4)
At first I thought how silly; if you can wait until the 18th to shut down – not an emergency – then why not wait until the 21st so people could still fully celebrate this major holiday? Then I remembered something from the Bible; found in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 7:16 is says, “16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.”
5)
I find it insightful, for me, that I just happened to be listening to Amanda’s teaching (from February 2020) on Noah’s Ark.
I believe that God’s children are as dear to Him as ‘the apple of His eye’ and having them celebrate Rosh Hashanah indoors, at this time, will be safer for them. As Amanda said, “The ark is a vehicle of protection meant to spare God’s chosen from the destruction happening around them.”
Thank you, for your wonderful teachings! Peace & blessings, Rachel