BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY

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BIBLE STUDY LESSON

For the week beginning Sunday June 17, 2018

CAIN, ABEL, AND SETH

Genesis 4

   Sin introduced “physical death” into the world. And even though, that physical death might not necessarily occur immediately, it is sure to come over time. On the other hand, what does come immediately with the commission of sin, is a “spiritual death”, or “total separation from GOD”, that, must be atoned for through repent, and, with a “blood sacrifice” of GOD’s choice, on a regular basis.

    In the Old Testament times atonement for sin came through “repent” and “the blood sacrifice of animals that were specified by GOD as being acceptable”. However, in the New Testament times, and now, “the Church Age”, “repent”, along with “the acceptance of the blood sacrifice of CHRIST JESUS, our LORD and SAVIOR”, is what is necessary to satisfy GOD’s requirement to reconnect us into a personal relationship of friendship with HIM.

    Here in Genesis 4, Moses records the origins of the spread of sin throughout the world, which has now rendered us the “near GODless society” that we’ve become today. The flight of Adam and Eve from the sight of GOD set in motion, the spiritual and physical effects of rebellion that now manifests itself here in the twenty-first century. And as we continue to become more and more “numb” and impervious to GOD, the more the effects of degeneration promises to destroy life before very long, unless of course, the LORD intervenes and ends it real soon.

    When Adam and Eve experienced each other sexually, she conceived and bore a son whom Adam named “Cain”. Then she gave birth to another son, and Adam named him “Abel”. And since the bible doesn’t say that she conceived again, it is possible, and even likely that Cain and Abel were twins.

    When the boys grew up, Cain became a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. At harvest time Cain brought GOD a gift of his farm produce, but he did not bring HIM a blood sacrifice to atone for his sin as Abel did. In fact, the bible doesn’t even say that he brought GOD “the first” of his pickings, but rather, only states that “he brought HIM a gift”. Abel, on the other hand, brought GOD several choice lambs from the best of his flocks as an offering. GOD accepted Abel’s offering, but Cain’s gift, GOD did not accept.

    In bringing the gift that Cain brought, he was, in effect, denying that he was a sinful person. GOD most likely likened Cain’s gift as one that a person might give to a friend or an acquaintance, perhaps, someone whom he was equal to in status. He approached GOD with “the attitude of personal worthiness”, pridefully excluding himself from under the sentence of Divine condemnation under GOD.

    In verse 5, when his offering was rejected by GOD, Cain exhibited an attitude of anger toward GOD, instead of being concerned about how he could remedy his situation, and repair his lost relationship with GOD. He failed to learn the valuable lesson that, we can’t worship and serve GOD any way we want to (via various Christian denominations, for example), but rather, we must worship GOD the way HE instructs us to. GOD has HIS OWN instructions as to how we should worship HIM, and all those ways and methods are recorded in HIS Scriptures.

    GOD instructed Cain that if he did not remain obedient, he would be leaving himself vulnerable to the wiles of satan. In verse 7, the Hebrew word used for “desire”, is “zuwd” (zood), and it is “the sin of pride and arrogance”. Like all sin, it can only overtake a person if that person’s emotions are not under control. The bible teaches us that all sinful behavior can brought under submission by practicing “self-control” and “Christian discipline”, and here GOD tells Cain that he must “subdue”, or bring his pride and arrogance under submission before it destroys him.

    GOD wouldn’t have told Cain that if HE didn’t already know that “sin is a choice” that we don’t have to make, because we share HIS nature from birth. JESUS knew it too, that is why HE told people over and over again, following their Divine encounters with HIM, to “go and sin no more”. This is resounding evidence that we sin because we choose to, not because we can’t help it.

    The power of GOD is in us from birth, as we all share HIS nature from our beginnings of life in this world, and we can make the right decisions every time when we totally submit to GOD and allow HIM to lead and guide us in all of our decision making. The problem is that, because we want so badly to do what we want to do, we find it far too difficult to give total focus to GOD the way JESUS did when HE operated on earth as a 100% human being.

    Remember, it is impossible for that “instinctive nature” that we share with GOD, or the HOLY SPIRIT, to lead us into a bad decision, we have to choose to do so of our own volition. Only a person working under his or her own power, or the power of an inferior source, satan, can lead a person wrong. We only need to reconnect to GOD’s nature that is already in us, so that we can hear the HOLY SPIRIT when HE speaks to us directly.

    Cain’s sin, just as all sin does, began with a hostile or rebellious attitude toward GOD. Instead of taking GOD’s rejection of his attitude as a motivation for improvement, he became angry at GOD, and jealous of Abel. And since he naturally couldn’t come up against GOD in a fair fight, he took both sins out on Abel, and slew him. And while Cain showed remorse because of the stiff penalty that GOD gave him (all of his sorrow was directed towards himself), his “pride” (“zawd”) never let him repent for the wrongdoing of killing his brother (Vs.9-14).

    And so the LORD banished Cain from the area where he had slain his brother Abel, because now, the land had, for the first time in man’s short history, been contaminated with the blood of murder. No longer would the land yield abundant crops, no matter how hard Cain worked. Furthermore, GOD made Cain to become a fugitive vagabond known all over the earth, wandering constantly from place to place.

    The events in chapter 4, taking place after verse 2b, likely occurred some 100 years following the union of Adam and Eve, and so, most likely, most people knew exactly how GOD wanted them to live, and, how HE wanted them to worship HIM and have a personal experiential, relationship with HIM. At this point Adam and Eve had had many offspring (Genesis 5:4), and those offspring began to intermarry with each other, as it was not forbidden by GOD at that time to do so. GOD had ordered Adam and Eve from the beginning to multiply and “replenish the earth” with people through childbirth (it was part of HIS plan). And so we don’t have to be so perplexed when we see in verse 17 that Cain also had a wife at this time.

    Cain and his wife conceived a child, a son, and he called him Enoch. He later founded a city and named it after his son, and when he grew up, he too conceived children through his marriage. And with each generation, society became more and more industrious, and, at one and the same time, became more and more GODless in their lifestyles.

    In verses 19-22, we see Cain’s grandson Jabal became the first of the great herdsman who began to live in tents. We also see another grandson, Jubal, becoming the first musician on earth (after satan), and he also invented the flute and the harp. A third grandson, Tubal-cain, became the first man to work with metal, forging instruments of bronze and iron.

    Verses 20-22 depicts the “Cainite civilization” (descendants of Cain) that began to develop a culture with leisure and entertainment, as well as a workforce that began to advance in a technology that was capable of smelting ores into tools and weaponry. And though they forged forward in human achievements, their spiritual lives seemed to drift farther away from GOD for quite some time.

    One day Lamech, Cain’s son, came home bragging to his wives how he had used one of the weapons his son, Tubal-cain had made, to kill a young man who had attacked him. Instead of feeling sorrowful for having to take the young man’s life, he took on a feeling of superiority, pride, and power, that, he could take the life of anyone he pleased. In fact, he was so full of pride and arrogance that he even issued “a GOD-like edict” telling them that, if GOD could punish anyone who takes revenge on Cain “seven-fold”, then certainly he could punish the person who tries to get revenge against him, “seventy-seven times more”.

    GOD granted Adam and Eve another son after the death of Abel, and Adam named him Seth. When Seth became a man and married, he and his wife conceived a son whom he named Enosh. It was during his lifetime that men began to regularly “call on” (“qara”- kaw-raw), and proclaim, the name of the LORD GOD, preaching HIS good name throughout the land, praising and worshiping HIM.

A Sunday school lesson by,

Larry D. Alexander