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6 So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?" ~ Genesis 4:6-9
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 4 where we witness the first murder ever committed on earth by a human. In our last study, the Lord noted that Cain was angry and his countenance had fallen. Cain’s problem was not that his sacrifice was not accepted; Cain's main problem was that he did not receive the definition the Lord desired to give him. God simply communicated with Cain that his offering was lacking faith. This resulted in Cain becoming angry and discouraged. This is the background to the first murder of all of the history of mankind.
In v.6-7 of today's passage we read, "6 So the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.'"
In response to Cain's obvious discouragement, the Lord gave him His culture but Cain rejected it. God had communicated with crystal clarity His culture with Cain. In so doing, God gave Cain a clear invitation to do the right thing. By so doing Cain would have invited the definition of God into his life. God literally offered Cain the opportunity to be delivered from being defined by the devil and his sin. God spoke with Cain in the exact same way He had spoken with Cain's parents in Genesis 3. God did not seek information from Cain, He merely gave Cain the opportunity to take an honest look at his sinful heart and to come clean with God.
God's words to Cain revealed yet again that He is by nature a loving Savior. Essentially God said to Cain, "You don't have to be defined by the devil, you can confess your sin and you can turn away from it." These were the words that our gracious God spoke to a man who was broken not in contrition, he was broken in his own anger. Cain had a choice to acknowledge his sin and self-righteousness by turning away from it or he could be consumed by it. Essentially, Cain's self-righteous, impenitent response made him the vulnerable prey to the deadly power of the devil and sin.
Like Cain, we were all born sinners. Sin came in our DNA, but we do not have to be always mastered by sin. Once we have come to God through the Lord Jesus, repentant of our sin, embracing the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, then we will be triumphant over sin. This will never mean this side of heaven that we will be sinless, but it does mean that we will be victorious over sin and the devil's desire to define us.
In v.8 of today's passage we read, "Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him."
Abel was lured into a trap in a nearby field set by his evil brother, Cain. It was then that Cain killed him. Cain decided he didn't want God's righteousness. No, Cain decided to be defined by the devil and thus to let sin rule over him. The Lord Jesus put it this way, "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." Fallen man naturally loves his sin.
The word "killed" here is a common word in the Old Testament for intentional murder, not manslaughter. This was a murder performed out of envy, jealousy and hatred because did not respect Cain's offering. This was a murder done because Cain had embraced a definition that made him inferior to righteous Abel in his eyes. Due to this, Abel's righteousness became intolerable to Cain. Cain hated his brother's righteousness. And essentially, when Cain invited the arrogance of the devil into his heart, Cain hated God. This is why we must evaluate everybody in the light that they were created in the likeness of God. When we do not see someone's value through the heart of God, we will hate them.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?'"
The word "keeper" means "to watch over" or "to guard." This word is used in Genesis 2:15 of Adam as the keeper of the garden of Eden. It is also used in Genesis 3:24 of the angel that constantly guarded the tree of life to keep Adam and Eve away from it in their unredeemed, sinful condition. Cain used this word to justify his sin before God to no avail. Cain responded to God in this way because he was seeking to evade any responsibility for murdering his brother.
Cain’s response to God’s question was a sign of his inward, unacknowledged guilt. He tried to hide his sin and he also tried to hide from his sin but he was unsuccessful in both. Cain refused to listen to God and then he lied to God. This is the way sin wraps us up in its tentacles; we give in to it once and then the next time sin comes knocking on our hearts door, we find it much more difficult to resist. In fact, we find it much easier to be sins host, and before we know it, we are snared.
Cain's question, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" was an obvious attempt to evade the responsibility for his actions. The Hebrew word translated "keeper" means caretaker. Abel was a grown man, and so was Cain. Cain was being sarcastic, hoping God would not probe his devil-defined character any deeper. But God knew what had happened to Abel, and He also knew the depth of Cain’s responsibility for his slain brother.
The Scriptures speak often about our personal responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ. There are at least 64 admonitions containing the words "one another" in the New Testament. God commands us to love one another, admonish one another, forgive one another, submit to one another, confess to one another, be compassionate to one another, and carry one another’s burden. These responsibilities flow from the fact that we are children of our Father in heaven, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As believers in the Lord Jesus and as we journey through this life together, on our way home, let us take seriously our responsibility to be our "brother’s keeper." More important, let us recognize that on a daily basis we are either being defined by God or we are being defined by the devil. May we have the wisdom to recognize the difference between the two. All of this is done for the glory of the One who loved us and laid down His life for us.
