From bad to worse
This week's study is on Genesis 4:1-16:
Last week, we saw a rupture in the connection between God and mankind. This week, we see how things get worse with the first man born of fallen men and women. Cain was the first man born from childbirth. He embraced the curse of toil in the ground. His brother, meanwhile, lived more by faith, tending the flocks. When you're following a flock, you're even more dependent on God than a farmer is. A farmer can plant his seeds, develop his soil, and plan more or less when his harvest will come, assuming the weather cooperates. A shepherd has to always trust that there will be food and water for his flock, and he and the flock are subject to the mercies of wild animals. It's a bit edgier.
The time came to give an offering, and Cain brought God a representative farm-share basket from his harvest. God was supporting his farm, so Cain made sure he got a cut. But it wasn't necessarily the best. "I can turn more profit selling the good produce at the farm stand, so you'll get the best of what's left." Abel, on the other hand, knew where his bread was buttered, and gave God the best he had. God favored Abel, and Cain was incensed.
Cain's attitude towards God goes from dismissive to antagonistic. He no longer sees God as one of his shareholders, but as a prejudiced enemy. Have we ever done that? We offered ourselves to God, but he chose someone else instead, so we begin to resent them and hold a grudge against God? "Why did that person get rich? How come their prayers got answered? I tithe too, don't I? He must hate me. Well, two can play that game."
God seeks him out and has a conversation with him. He describes the mechanics of how the world works. It's interesting how he describes sin. In the Garden of Eden, temptation came in the form of a sort of intellectual serpent teaching the first Philosophy 101 course and baiting the trap with a little identity politics. This time, sin is described as a violent beast, like a panther lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce. Sin has a mind of its own, and if you're not strong, it'll knock you down and eat you alive. If ever there was a reason to take things seriously, that would probably be it!
Instead, Cain decides to eliminate the threat to his reputation. He invites his inconveniently righteous brother out to the field and kills him. It's the first genocide, done for much the same reasons as the genocides of the 20th century: He is consumed by envy. If he can't win the game by playing by the rules, he'll eliminate the other players and win by default. But now he's even more of a loser.
God seeks him out again and has another conversation with him, this time not as an advisor, but as a judge. Cain is dishonest with God, just as both of his parents were in the Garden of Eden, and just like them, he is cursed. Just like his parents, he is banished, and just like his parents, his first impulse is to hide. But instead of blaming the serpent, Cain shifts the blame to God himself, and accuses him of being unjust. He goes from bad to worse, to worse still!
If I was God, there probably wouldn't have been anything left of Cain but a smoking crater at that point. What a horrible man! He's the first sociopath in history! Luckily God has more love than I do, and he gives Cain the gift of his protection, even though Cain is pretty much the very embodiment of everything that is wrong with mankind.
This story is important because it illustrates what happens when we approach God in a spirit of pessimism and contempt. Cain's attitude is "I'll never be the favorite, but I'll do anything not to come in last." He's hopeless because he refuses the hope God gives him in the nugget of wisdom about sin. He blows God off in his jealous funk, and in doing so, he misses out on the counsel that would have gotten him out of the situation.
Pessimism and contempt lead to rebellion and lawlessness. God tells Cain how to succeed, but Cain wants to define the rules of the game. The result is tragedy, judgment, and condemnation. How might Cain's life have been different if he feared God? What might he have done differently if he'd listened to God and applied his advice? How might our world be different today? Instead, Abel is dead, his parents are heartbroken, and he's a marked man, homeless and rejected.
In some ways, Cain's life is our life too. We're born in sin. We pick up bad habits from our family and peers. We react to inequality with envy and rage, and turn grudges into persecution and violence. We expect to be rewarded for any little contribution we make, even if it isn't our best. And that twisted "modern" world view results in a contemptuous, legalistic view of God that discounts his ancient advice and tries to define the rules of the game on our own twisted terms.
But unlike Cain, we have a chance to turn things around. Thanks to Jesus, it's never too late. When he places his mark on us, it's his redeeming blood. When it comes time to defeat the heavy beast of sin, we can call on him to help us. We no longer have to struggle alone.
If you're tired of going from bad to worse, listen to God's advice and call on him before it really is too late.
Now the man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!” Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground.
At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock—even the fattest of them. And the Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”
Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! So now you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
Then Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure! Look, you are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me!” But the Lord said to him, “All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down. So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Last week, we saw a rupture in the connection between God and mankind. This week, we see how things get worse with the first man born of fallen men and women. Cain was the first man born from childbirth. He embraced the curse of toil in the ground. His brother, meanwhile, lived more by faith, tending the flocks. When you're following a flock, you're even more dependent on God than a farmer is. A farmer can plant his seeds, develop his soil, and plan more or less when his harvest will come, assuming the weather cooperates. A shepherd has to always trust that there will be food and water for his flock, and he and the flock are subject to the mercies of wild animals. It's a bit edgier.
The time came to give an offering, and Cain brought God a representative farm-share basket from his harvest. God was supporting his farm, so Cain made sure he got a cut. But it wasn't necessarily the best. "I can turn more profit selling the good produce at the farm stand, so you'll get the best of what's left." Abel, on the other hand, knew where his bread was buttered, and gave God the best he had. God favored Abel, and Cain was incensed.
Cain's attitude towards God goes from dismissive to antagonistic. He no longer sees God as one of his shareholders, but as a prejudiced enemy. Have we ever done that? We offered ourselves to God, but he chose someone else instead, so we begin to resent them and hold a grudge against God? "Why did that person get rich? How come their prayers got answered? I tithe too, don't I? He must hate me. Well, two can play that game."
God seeks him out and has a conversation with him. He describes the mechanics of how the world works. It's interesting how he describes sin. In the Garden of Eden, temptation came in the form of a sort of intellectual serpent teaching the first Philosophy 101 course and baiting the trap with a little identity politics. This time, sin is described as a violent beast, like a panther lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce. Sin has a mind of its own, and if you're not strong, it'll knock you down and eat you alive. If ever there was a reason to take things seriously, that would probably be it!
Instead, Cain decides to eliminate the threat to his reputation. He invites his inconveniently righteous brother out to the field and kills him. It's the first genocide, done for much the same reasons as the genocides of the 20th century: He is consumed by envy. If he can't win the game by playing by the rules, he'll eliminate the other players and win by default. But now he's even more of a loser.
God seeks him out again and has another conversation with him, this time not as an advisor, but as a judge. Cain is dishonest with God, just as both of his parents were in the Garden of Eden, and just like them, he is cursed. Just like his parents, he is banished, and just like his parents, his first impulse is to hide. But instead of blaming the serpent, Cain shifts the blame to God himself, and accuses him of being unjust. He goes from bad to worse, to worse still!
If I was God, there probably wouldn't have been anything left of Cain but a smoking crater at that point. What a horrible man! He's the first sociopath in history! Luckily God has more love than I do, and he gives Cain the gift of his protection, even though Cain is pretty much the very embodiment of everything that is wrong with mankind.
This story is important because it illustrates what happens when we approach God in a spirit of pessimism and contempt. Cain's attitude is "I'll never be the favorite, but I'll do anything not to come in last." He's hopeless because he refuses the hope God gives him in the nugget of wisdom about sin. He blows God off in his jealous funk, and in doing so, he misses out on the counsel that would have gotten him out of the situation.
Pessimism and contempt lead to rebellion and lawlessness. God tells Cain how to succeed, but Cain wants to define the rules of the game. The result is tragedy, judgment, and condemnation. How might Cain's life have been different if he feared God? What might he have done differently if he'd listened to God and applied his advice? How might our world be different today? Instead, Abel is dead, his parents are heartbroken, and he's a marked man, homeless and rejected.
In some ways, Cain's life is our life too. We're born in sin. We pick up bad habits from our family and peers. We react to inequality with envy and rage, and turn grudges into persecution and violence. We expect to be rewarded for any little contribution we make, even if it isn't our best. And that twisted "modern" world view results in a contemptuous, legalistic view of God that discounts his ancient advice and tries to define the rules of the game on our own twisted terms.
But unlike Cain, we have a chance to turn things around. Thanks to Jesus, it's never too late. When he places his mark on us, it's his redeeming blood. When it comes time to defeat the heavy beast of sin, we can call on him to help us. We no longer have to struggle alone.
If you're tired of going from bad to worse, listen to God's advice and call on him before it really is too late.
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