In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis 1-14Sýnishorn

Why Are Families so Painful?

The Bible is the most honest book ever written, and only a few pages in gives us the honest account of how sin makes family relationships so painful. Not long after God said that everything was “very good”, everything went very bad starting with the first marriage and first siblings. In varying degrees, we have all felt this particular pain of the fall firsthand. Often, it is our closest family members who cause our deepest pain and problems.

This passage in Genesis shows how quickly and tragically the sin of Adam and Eve spread to their sons. Importantly, this text also shows us that the first children in the history of the world were born after the fall which means that, without exception, every human being was thereafter conceived with a sin nature.

The account opens with Eve giving birth to her sons, Cain and Abel. The brothers worked as a farmer and herdsmen which are both honorable trades. As acts of worship, the brothers both brought offerings to the Lord, but the Lord rejected Cain’s offering but received Abel’s. This greatly angered Cain and the Lord warned Cain to control his anger lest it consume him and lead him into sin.

Bible commentators have been perplexed to understand why God rejected Cain’s offering. Some have speculated that Abel’s gift was an animal fit for sacrifice, while Cain’s gift was not and thereby an unfit gift which explains why it was rejected by God. But the text does not say there was anything wrong with either gift for four reasons. First, they brought “offerings” and not sacrifices, therefore Cain’s offering was appropriate. Second, both men brought their offerings to God, which is appropriate. Third, the men both brought offerings in keeping with their employment, which is also appropriate. Fourth, the men both brought “firstfruits” which means it was the first and best of their possession as is common throughout the rest of Scripture.

The problem with Cain’s offering was not what he brought to worship in his hands, but rather what he brought to worship in his heart, namely sin. Cain was jealous of his brother and sought to worship God apart from faith. This section of Genesis reveals to us that true worship must proceed from the heart of someone whose faith is in God otherwise their actions are an offense to God. In the same way, a loving father is not pleased with an unrepentant and stubbornly unfaithful and unloving, hard-hearted child that seeks to manipulate him with a token gift.

Cain then yielded to his anger which God had warned him to control and murdered his own brother, Abel. And, like his father Adam, when confronted by God, he fails to repent and instead seeks to cover his sin. God, however, named Cain’s sin as He had his father, Adam’s, and Cain responded to God’s rebuke in Genesis 4:13. How one interprets this verse determines how the rest of the chapter is to be understood.

In Genesis 4:13 Cain is either whining to God about the punishment for murdering his brother which God relented to and spared his life, he is lamenting the burden of his sin, or he is repenting of his sin by declaring it was more than he could bear to live with. In light of the way that God and people respond to Cain throughout the remainder of Genesis 4, the context of 4:13 makes it most likely that Cain indeed repented of his sin for three reasons, though admittedly the text is not clear on this matter. One, God gives Cain grace by sparing his life and sending him to live in a city of refuge. Two, God placed a mark on Cain to notify others not to harm him. And, though we have no idea what this mark may have been, it in effect branded Cain as God’s possession to be spared from harm. This kind of loving provision seems unjust unless Cain indeed repented. Three, the chapter concludes by declaring that the people in that day began calling on the name of the Lord which seems to indicate that they were simply following Cain’s example as he is the focus of this chapter.

Question:

How are you doing at giving your firstfruits to the Lord with a pure heart of worship?