Genesis 4

Genesis 4 begins outside the garden.Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain works the ground, and Abel cares for animals. Both brothers bring offerings to God, but God looks with favor on Abel and his offering.Cain becomes angry.Genesis does not fully explain what the issue was with Cain’s offering. It may have have been just fine or God may have taken issue with what he brought, how he brought it, or what was happening inside him.But the story quickly turns toward Cain’s response.God asks him:Why are you angry?Why has your face fallen?God asked Adam, “Where are you?” Now He asks Cain to pay attention to what is happening inside him.Cain has not harmed Abel yet.He is angry.He is jealous.He is disappointed.But he still has a choice about what he will do with those feelings.God warns him:“Sin is crouching at your door.”The picture is kind of like a wild animal hiding outside, waiting for the door to open. God tells Cain that sin desires to control him, but Cain must not allow it to rule over him.We sometimes act as though sin suddenly appears out of nowhere.But most of the time, it grows.Disappointment becomes jealousy.Jealousy becomes resentment.Resentment changes how we see another person.Eventually, we justify doing something we never thought we would do.God warns Cain before any blood is shed. He gives him an opportunity to stop and choose a different path.God gives us those moments too.A feeling that something is wrong.A friend who challenges us.A passage of Scripture that makes us uncomfortable.A voice inside us saying, You need to deal with this before it becomes something worse.The question is whether we will listen while sin is still outside the door.Pay attention to what is crouching at your door. What you allow to stay there will eventually try to come inside.

Cain ignores God’s warning.He takes Abel into a field and kills him.The distrust of Genesis 3 has now become the violence of Genesis 4. Sin has spread from humanity’s broken relationship with God into the relationship between two brothers.Then God asks Cain:“Where is your brother Abel?”That question should sound familiar.God asked Adam, “Where are you?”Now He asks Cain, “Where is your brother?”Once again, God already knows the answer. He is giving Cain an opportunity to tell the truth and accept responsibility.Instead, Cain says:“I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”Cain has taken his brother’s life, but now he acts as though his brother’s life was never his responsibility.We still ask versions of Cain’s question.Am I responsible for the person being excluded?Is it my problem if everyone is making fun of someone?Do I need to say something when a friend is making destructive choices?Why should someone else’s pain concern me?The rest of Scripture gives a pretty clear answer.Yes, we are our brother’s keeper.That does not mean we can control every choice another person makes. It means we are called to care about what happens to people. We cannot claim to love God while treating people made in His image as though their lives do not matter.God tells Cain that Abel’s blood is crying out from the ground.Cain tried to hide what he had done, but Abel’s life mattered to God.Throughout Scripture, God hears the cries of people who have been mistreated, forgotten, or oppressed. Their suffering may be ignored by everyone else, but it is never invisible to Him.Cain thought he could take Abel into an empty field where no one would see.But there is nowhere another person’s suffering becomes invisible to God.God’s question is not only “Where are you?” It is also “Where is your brother?”

After Cain kills Abel, God tells him that he will become a restless wanderer.Cain becomes afraid. He worries that someone will find him and kill him.There is something uncomfortable about his response.Cain has taken his brother’s life, but his main concern is what might happen to him. He does not apologize or ask how he can make things right.Yet God still responds with mercy.God places a mark on Cain so that no one will kill him in revenge. The mark of Cain is often treated as though it were only a curse, but in this story it is also protection.Cain will live with the consequences of his actions, but God will not allow his murder to lead to more uncontrolled violence.God’s justice and mercy appear together.Cain’s actions matter.Abel’s blood matters.But God does not completely abandon Cain.Cain leaves God’s presence and settles east of Eden. Adam and Eve had already been sent east of the garden. Now Cain moves even farther away from the place where humanity lived with God.Cain builds a city, his family grows, and human culture begins to develop.But sin grows alongside it.One of Cain’s descendants, Lamech, brags about killing a man who injured him. Cain feared being avenged seven times, but Lamech boasts of revenge seventy-seven times.Violence is not disappearing.It is growing.What began with eating the fruit in Genesis 3 has become murder and revenge in Genesis 4. One act of distrust has spread through relationships, families, and generations.But Genesis 4 does not end with Lamech.Adam and Eve have another son named Seth. Seth later has a son named Enosh. Then Genesis tells us that people began to call on the name of the Lord.Violence is growing, but people are still calling out to God.Humanity continues moving away from Eden, but God has not abandoned humanity.People wander.Sin spreads.Violence grows.But God continues to seek, protect, speak, and rescue.Humanity keeps walking away from God, but God refuses to give up on humanity.