{"id":4561,"date":"2019-03-09T09:37:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-09T15:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4561"},"modified":"2023-07-12T06:04:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T12:04:35","slug":"genesis-48-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4561","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 4:8-15"},"content":{"rendered":"

8\u00a0<\/sup>Now Cain talked with Abel his\u00a0brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and\u00a0killed him.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

9\u00a0<\/sup>Then the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0said to Cain, \u201cWhere\u00a0is\u00a0Abel your brother?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>He said,\u00a0\u201cI do not know.\u00a0Am\u00a0I\u00a0my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

10\u00a0<\/sup>And He said, \u201cWhat have you done? The voice of your brother\u2019s blood\u00a0cries out to Me from the ground.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup>So now\u00a0you\u00a0are\u00a0cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother\u2019s blood from your hand.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

13\u00a0<\/sup>And Cain said to the\u00a0Lord<\/span>, \u201cMy\u00a0punishment\u00a0is\u00a0greater than I can bear!<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

14\u00a0<\/sup>Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground;\u00a0I shall be\u00a0hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen\u00a0that\u00a0anyone who finds me will kill me.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

15\u00a0<\/sup>And the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0said to him,\u00a0\u201cTherefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him\u00a0sevenfold.\u201d And the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0set a\u00a0mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

The anger in Cain’s heart does not immediately vent itself in murder, but rather\u2014and in much more realistic fashion\u2014move incrementally from the stage of inner enmity to verbal dispute. This is implied by the initial reference in this verse to Cain “speaking” with Abel. … The verb [should be translated] in the rarer sense of “disputed,” as the same verb is also used in Esther 1:18. In any event, the progressive escalation of inner enmity\/anger, to verbal abuse\/dispute, and finally\u2014if not addressed\u2014the act of murder, is likewise the pattern supplied by Christ in Matthew 5:21-22<\/span><\/a>, for which the present passage is almost certainly in view (cf. v.22: “everyone who is angry with his brother”). \u2014 Wechsler, pages 118-119.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The seed of the Serpent was quickly striking at the Seed of the woman, corrupting her first son and slaying her second, thus trying to prevent the fulfillment of the protevangelic promise right at the beginning of human history. \u2014 Morris, page 139.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

When God had sought out Adam after his<\/em> sin, Adam had responded in confession and repentance, but not Cain. He compounded his wickedness by blatantly lying to God and challenging His right even to question him. …<\/span><\/h3>\n

God, therefore, can no longer speak to Cain in mercy, but only in judgment. Cain had been able to still the hated prophesying voice of his brother, but he could not still the voice of his blood! “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” For the first time, “blood” is actually mentioned in the Bible in this verse, although its significance had been intimated several times previously. Abel, the type of the seed of the woman, was righteous before God and yet died violently at the hand of the first of the Serpent’s seed. Thus, Abel’s blood crying from the ground is the prototype of all the suffering inflicted on the righteous through the ages by the children of the wicked one. Its climax and fulfillment are seen in the conflict of Satan and Christ on Calvary.<\/span><\/h3>\n

But the blood of Christ “speaketh better things that that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24<\/span><\/a>). The blood of animals could never really take away sin, though it might enable their skins to be used for a temporary covering. But “the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). \u2014 Morris, pages 139-140.<\/span><\/h3>\n

I think the verses Morris references are more evidence against the view that Cain’s sacrifice was rejected only because of his attitude. But his view (next quote) is much different than that of Wechsler (below).<\/h3>\n

God’s punishment of Cain is thus also a type of the ultimate crushing of the head of the Serpent, when he will be separated forever from God in the lake of fire. Cain was forever “driven out from the presence of the Lord”; likewise will all those who obey not the gospel of Christ “be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9<\/span><\/a>). \u2014 Morris, page 140.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Wechsler has a very different take on verses 13-15.<\/h3>\n

God shows Cain preemptive mercy<\/em>\u2014that is, He withholds from Cain, despite his lack of remorse, the full penalty that his sin deserves\u2014which is precisely what it takes to crack Cain’s hardened shell of unrepentance and bring him to his knees, pouring out as he does so one of the most heart-rending expressions of remorse and confession to be found in Scripture. (In this respect it is important to bear in mind that the negative New Testament references to Cain in Hebrews 11:4<\/span><\/a>; 1 John 3:12; Jude 1:11 apply specifically to his depravity as described in verses 3-12<\/span><\/a>, not<\/em> explicitly to the portion thereafter, let alone to his life as a whole.)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Any sense of confession would seem to be quite far\u2014even contrary\u2014to Cain’s statement in this verse as typically translated\u2014to wit, “My punishment is too great to bear!” … In point of fact, the Hebrew word typically translated “punishment” normally means “iniquity” or “evil,” and when used as the object of the verb “bear” always<\/em> has the idiomatic sense of “bearing away (that is, forgiving<\/em>) sin”! Thus, for example, these same two words are used by David in Psalm 32:5<\/span><\/a> in praise of God’s forgiveness: “And Thou didst forgive the iniquity (evil) of my sin.” For some reason, however, we recognize David’s legitimate use of this idiom but not Cain’s\u2014and yet David’s sin was even more extensive and premeditated, encompassing adultery, multiple murders (see 2 Samuel 11:16-17), and intentional cover-up (see 2 Samuel 11:22-25). Clearly it is inconsistent not to recognize this same idiom on the part of Cain, which is why it was recognized already in the ancient translations as well as by the majority of early Jewish interpreters that Cain is here expressing deep remorse and confession\u2014i.e., “My iniquity\/evil is too great to forgive!”\u2014as prompted by the recognition of God’s preemptive mercy towards him<\/em>.\u00a0 Nor does verse 14, as is often claimed, contradict this expected idiomatic meaning, for the way in which one understands verse 14 depends largely upon the way in which one understands verse 13. If verse 13 is a complaint, then so too is verse 14; yet if verse 13 is an expression of remorse over the recognition of a sin so wicked that God’s great mercy is unacceptable, verse 14 makes perfect sense as an expression of the just penalty that the sinner not only affirms but in fact desires<\/em> to be applied! Cain, in other words, is expressing the wish that someone else might execute the penalty of death from which God in His mercy refrained. Viewed in this way, per our straightforward idiomatic reading of verse 13, the latter part of verse 14 should therefore be translated (as is perfectly consistent with the Hebrew grammar): “And may it come about that whoever finds me would kill me!”\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

As with his parents, so also with Cain God piles grace on top of mercy, bestowing<\/em> upon His chastised and forgiven child that which he does not deserve<\/em>\u2014the very definition of grace (whereas mercy entails the withholding of the full punishment that one does deserve). Specifically, in response to Cain’s remorseful recognition of guilt (v.13) and consequent yearning for immediate, full punishment (v.14), God, with the parental foresight of His child’s best<\/em> in view, gracefully appoints a sign for Cain to indicate that he is under divine protection and so to prevent any others from enacting the full punishment from which God Himself mercifully refrained. In popular culture, however, this “mark of Cain,” as it is commonly referred to, is figuratively employed in exactly the opposite sense to denote anything considered a sign of infamy! It is all the more essential, therefore, that the reader appreciate this sign for what it really is: an abiding supernatural indication of God’s grace and parental care for Cain. The word here for “sign,” in fact, is the same one previously used in Genesis 1:14<\/span><\/a>, as normally, throughout the Bible, to denote miracles\u2014i.e., testimonies to God’s active involvement in human history, usually in connection with a redemptive (and by definition, therefore, gracious) purpose. \u2014 Wechsler, pages 120-122.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Wechsler’s take on Cain is brand new to me, but I like it. I find it consistent with the record of God’s grace throughout the Bible.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8\u00a0Now Cain talked with Abel his\u00a0brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and\u00a0killed him. 9\u00a0Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to Cain, \u201cWhere\u00a0is\u00a0Abel your brother?\u201d\u00a0He said,\u00a0\u201cI do not know.\u00a0Am\u00a0I\u00a0my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4561"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8099,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561\/revisions\/8099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}