Danny Hickman Supporter Believer in The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

"Who would have harmed Cain if God had not put a mark on Cain?"

I think the bible is saying that Cain was a man who would get into skirmishes with others. He had a bad attitude that would lead to trouble. "Am I my brother's keeper," (Gen 4:9) asked by Cain TO GOD, shows the attitude of a disrespectful person. Genesis 4:2 says 'Abel was a KEEPER of flocks... '(livestock) Cain was likening his brother to cattle and sheep. TO GOD! Abel meant no more to Cain than the animals of the field. That's why God had "no regard for Cain and his offering" (vs 5). It was Cain that God rejected, so his offering is also rejected. It wasn't the offering that was the problem, it was the person offering it. 

God's evaluation of Cain is proven when Cain later kills his own brother. This is the description of a man who will do almost anything. He's headed for trouble. He will produce children who will be like him. That will hurt a man more than death.

God is grieved when His children do as Cain did. Listen to God: "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground" (vs 10). God is grieved... (I often wonder if we really hear the bible speak..) 

God puts "His mark," not just a "matter of fact" mark, on Cain. I don't think you can see it, but it's there. He has a protective shield that will sustain a man who goes from one ordeal to the next. The bible is telling us about a man who will meet his match and end up dead if he's not careful, and Cain is not the type to be careful. God wants him to live with what he has done. 

Cain says, in essence, he doesn't want to live with God's verdict: "My punishment is too great to bear" (vs 13). "Whoever finds me will kill me." Is anyone looking for Cain? What does he mean by 'whoever finds me'? The bible makes it sound as if Cain is a wanted man, an outlaw hated by society. Makes you think that Abel was a national hero assassinated by his own brother. AND THAT IS THE POINT. Something good, not someone good, but something good, died when Cain killed Abel. Murder was born on that day. The world is a different place now. The culprit will not get to hide in the grave. 

How did Cain die? Not important. He had offspring and Lamech (his great, great, great, great, grandson) was one of them. He "killed a man for wounding [him]; AND a boy for striking [him]." (vs 23). And this grandson to the fourth generation says "If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech (proudly referring to himself in the third person) seventy-sevenfold." What does he mean? How did this "curse" last this long? He sounds proud of it. He's saying he has "the mark" of not being killed by anyone for his depravity. I don't think he can declare it the way God did, so I think he's mocking God. 

How does this end? (The next verse): 
Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for she said, "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him" (Gen 4:25). Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and had sons and daughters. That's all we know about him. God cleared it all up. 

The moral of the story of Cain is that Cain wasn't killed but reproduced. Lamech testifies that Cain's offspring was just like him, murderous. His "curse" persisted to at least four generations after him. 

"For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me" (Exodus 20:5). 

Exodus 34:7 clarifies it: [God keeps] "steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generation." 

The bible teaches that this principle began with Cain.

February 26 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

In my opinion, Cain's words reflected the "intuitive" idea of blood-revenge, in which the taking of a human life was deemed serious enough (just by normal reasoning) to warrant the death of the perpetrator, either through individuals or society. However, God (perhaps in foreknowledge that He was going to destroy the entire population of the earth in the Flood) did not formally or generally institute death as a punishment for murder until His covenant with Noah after the Flood (Genesis 9:5-6).

Despite the heinous nature of Cain's act, it would thus not have been just for either God or another human to take Cain's life when there was no prior known standard that specified death as the penalty for murder.

July 11 2018 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report