Genesis 4:1-6

Hey everybody, welcome back.
Thanks for joining us today as we continue through
the early part of Genesis and as we move into a new,
not only a new chapter literally, but
also a new chapter figuratively in the story
as we join the man and woman Adam and Eve
now known in the text consistently
outside of the garden.
And as they come into this new reality,
we really jump right to the story.
So there are connectors,
be fruitful and multiply,
hangs in the background as does their disobedience.
And we see these things come together.
So the first thing that we read as we open the chapter,
verse one, chapter four.
“Now the man knew his wife Eve
and she conceived
and bore Cain saying,
I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.”
Oh, we can just briefly stop there, Michael.
So this word no in Hebrew is really important
in the scripture and particularly in the book of Genesis
to know someone,
obviously there is physical intimacy,
even sexual intimacy here,
but there is relational intimacy.
To know someone is in this context,
something personal and deep,
far more than a friendship,
far more than passing.
So here it is used synonymously with
they,
he makes his wife pregnant.
So the man knew his wife Eve and she conceived
and bore Cain saying,
“I have produced man with the help of the Lord.”
And very interesting that outside the garden
in the punishment, which she has just undergone,
remember that God told her her punishment
for the disobedience would be difficulty of childbirth,
having now come through that difficulty to Eve’s credit.
She stays relationally grounded in who she is as creature
and looks to the creator giving thanks saying,
“I have brought forth a man
with the help of the Lord.”
So she acknowledges even outside the garden,
even through difficulty that the Lord has been involved.
Yeah, right.
We should, I think read this positively
that ultimately God has been faithful
even following the consequences of the fall.
This is good news.
I mean, ultimately that this thing
that was going to be more difficult childbearing
is still possible, that they can still on some level
keep this promise that God made,
that they would be the people who would carry on,
populate the earth, that they would be fruitful and multiply.
Here is the first mark of that happening.
And there’s a sense in which this is the first positive note
that’s followed all of the negative notes
that we’ve had thus far,
that amidst all of the struggle,
sacrifice,
the shame,
the guilt, the vulnerability
that the man, the woman have experienced thus far,
now there’s birth and there’s new life
and there’s the hopefulness that comes with that.
And she properly attributes that blessing
to the help of the Lord.
And so,
it is an interesting contrast,
of course, in the sin narrative,
both Adam and Eve take what’s not theirs
from the Lord’s own garden,
from his own command,
the thing that he told them do not do.
They chose to take their own action
and to take for themselves.
Now,
as this good thing happens,
Eve ascribes praise to the Lord.
And that is,
I mean, fundamentally,
that is a kind of movement of faith.
It’s a positive thing, certainly,
to follow what we’ve had thus far.
Right, and let me read on a ways,
and then there’s a lot to talk about here.
Next, she bore his brother Abel.
Now, Abel was a keeper of the sheep
and Cain the tiller of the ground.
And in the course of time,
Cain brought to the Lord an offering
of the fruit of the ground.
And Abel,
for his part,
brought of the firstlings
of his flock and their fat portions.
And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
but for Cain and his offering,
he had no regard.
So, we’ll stop there kind of mid verse.
There is a lot happening here,
and we begin to see the introduction of some themes
that will be important throughout the rest of Genesis
that have to do with siblings,
specifically brothers.
The brother relationship in the book of Genesis,
which is filled with family stories,
is one of
an adversarial nature, often a kind of competitiveness,
a kind of againstness,
brother against brother is often the case,
particularly as we see here,
that the younger brother often gets a favored spot
or a favored judgment over the older.
This is a theme we’ll return to a couple of times
in this book.
We also have the kind of,
there’s a little bit here,
this is more of a cultural story,
but remember that
the people of Israel,
by and large, are agrarian,
they’re herders.
So,
there is also,
I think we can probably read,
perhaps, a slight bias here
in the animal,
the raising of animals versus the tilling of fields and farming,
at least some Bible scholars have suggested
that there is a very subtle nod given here
to a herding lifestyle versus a farming lifestyle.
Now,
how much you wanna put into that,
I’ll leave that up to you.
The obvious question is,
why does God prefer one sacrifice over the other?
And there is perhaps a very subtle clue
in this idea that Abel brought the firstling,
but the truth is,
be very suspicious of anybody
who tells you they know because the bulk of both Jewish
and Christian Bible study has been,
we don’t really have a clear answer to that question.
Yeah, that’s exactly right.
We are probably most interested in answering the question,
why would God show favoritism?
And the author seems far less interested
in answering the question,
why God chose one sacrifice over the other.
The author seems interested in the question,
why did
Cain respond in such a way
to the way that God responds?
And we’re about to see how distinct of a difference
that really is.
But what is really interesting,
maybe if you’re willing to look at it this way,
is that here we have
both brothers responding to God’s gifts,
to both responding with thanksgiving,
and yet in their response,
they are treated differently.
And this kind of election is a theme
that’s going to come up as you’ve already stated,
Clint. And I think what’s telling about it is,
it already foreshadows, we already,
just a few verses into chapter four,
we see that relational hierarchy
that we saw happening with Adam and Eve
in the consequences of chapter three,
we now see it being lived out in flesh and blood in their offspring.
So if you had any sort of positive hope
that came from the beginning of this, that hey, look,
a new life is happening,
we’re turning over a new leaf,
we now see that this sinfulness
and this breakdown of relationship
is actually traveling one generation to the next.
It’s embedded in the human experience now,
such that one can’t get away from it.
And that’s really significant,
Clint. We come to understanding in the text like this
that the problem of sin is not by situation,
but it is rather intrinsic to the human experience.
Yeah, and it matters that this is a family story.
Family is often the location of our greatest traits,
our deepest wisdom,
and our deepest wounds.
And so here we begin to see there is,
in the backdrop, there is a sort of competitiveness.
It’s not said in the text that either brother
is trying to outdo one another,
that may or may not be the case,
we have no insight on that.
But there is this moment in which God has regard,
God has favor for one and not the other.
And why?
Those are God’s reasons.
There’s no explanation really given, though.
Again,
we can take some guesses in the story,
but we have to acknowledge that they are guesses.
And while they might be interesting,
we ultimately don’t know.
But Cain here comes in second.
The first brother comes in last.
And his response is fitting in verse five.
So Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.
The word countenance in Hebrew
essentially means his face fell.
It has to do with being disappointed,
being angry.
It’s what you think, it’s a frown,
it’s to be mad.
It’s that kind of sense of,
it affected him, his demeanor changed.
Anger does that, anger works.
And so this is the first moment
where we’ve really seen anger in the story.
And his reaction is not to offer a better sacrifice or to understand,
or he gets angry
and that anger becomes displaced at his brother.
And that’s probably far enough for today,
but it sets the stage for the rest of the story.
Yeah, and that’s maybe a hard turn in the story
for those of us who experience anger more quickly
on that train, right?
Because fundamentally,
this idea that God shows no regard
does not on any level suggest
that God has rejected one brother over another.
I think sometimes we read more into this story
than is actually here, let’s be clear.
God does not regard this sacrifice,
this offering that has been made.
And yet Cain responds to that rejection of the thing
with deep seated personal anger and frustration
that he responds to God as if he had been rejected.
And this is I think a temptation for all humans
to think that fundamentally we are at stake
and not just a God,
like a loving parent looking over
and trying to lead and to teach.
So much time in church history has been spent
trying to answer the question,
why?
Why did God choose this offering over another?
And that gets really,
really sort of deep
into the weeds of people speculating.
But if you’re willing to rise above that
for just a moment to look down at that
with a little bit higher view,
isn’t it interesting how the first generation
that follows, right, the first
generation born and not created, that their conflict breaks down
their relationship between each other and with God.
And it’s not fundamentally an issue
that God has with Cain per se,
but rather with the sacrifice or the offering
or the worship that they’re giving.
They have
made this material thing
of much greater importance than maybe even God had.
We don’t know that,
the text isn’t explicit about that.
So we do have questions.
I think anyone who comes to this text
is gonna wonder why in the world God would,
could you be justified in one over the other?
But it seems like maybe the author’s trying to point us
to a far different reality.
Why does Cain respond in the way that Cain does?
And clearly that’s connected to the story
that precedes this one.
Right, and I think we have a little time here.
So let’s press on
and see God’s response.
So Cain was very angry and the Lord said to Cain,
why are you angry and your countenance has fallen?
If you do well,
will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well,
sin is lurking at the door.
Its desire is for you,
but you must master it.
A really fascinating verse.
Why are you angry?
If you’ve ever dealt with kids,
you have it, right?
A kid gets mad,
flies off and you say,
well, why are you angry?
I asked you to do something.
Whatever it is, that overreaction.
So you have God sort of the calming parent here.
Why are you angry?
If you do well,
will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well,
it doesn’t say you won’t be accepted,
right?
That’s what you might think.
But it says,
then sin is lurking at the door
trying to master you,
trying to own you,
but you must master
it.
So what do we learn in this very short,
but very interesting verse,
right?
The theme of the Old Testament.
You must do well,
or you risk sin mastering you.
This will be,
in summary,
the struggle of every family,
every individual, and of the nations of Israel and Judah
throughout the rest of the text.
So we have here not
only a response to Cain,
we have a framing of the fundamental truth
of the Old Testament.
Do well,
or you risk being mastered by sin.
You wouldn’t necessarily get that reading it,
but I think if we put it in conversation
with the bigger story,
it is clear that this is foreshadowing for us.
Right, and it is an example of a thing
that seems much more simple until you dig under the surface
and you realize how deep it goes,
’cause this idea of doing,
just offer the right sacrifice,
right? Just do the right thing in this instance
is not nearly that simple.
Look at the history of faith that will follow.
The doing is complicated by all of this internal intent of the heart,
and that’s really intensified here
by this language.
Why are you angry?
Why is your countenance fallen?
If you do well,
will you not be accepted?
There’s this idea here that it’s not just
the sacrifice, it says you will not be accepted.
There is this real sense that we,
mindful of our brokenness,
mindful of our own sinful motivation,
that the simple task of just doing the right thing
is far more difficult than just waking up
and doing the right thing that day.
I mean, it reminds me of Paul and his comment about,
I try to do what’s right,
but I can’t, and I’m at war with myself.
We have this very sort of image embedded right here
in Genesis chapter four,
this narrative where we see
Cain struggling with God,
struggling with anger about why he has been treated differently
and why he believes that that’s a sign
that he’s not accepted.
God says, no, simply do this thing,
but of course we know the end of the story.
He’s unable to do that thing.
He’s unable to do it for himself,
and that’s the depth of the human problem at stake here.
Right, and it’s very interesting
that God does not accuse him of sin.
God says that sin is,
and this is a wonderful word,
lurking,
kind of hiding around the corner,
kind of waiting for its opportunity,
and that’s a very earthy,
a kind of negative connotation word.
Well, what have we seen in the story that lurks?
The serpent, right?
The serpent slithers.
The serpent kind of sidles up to Eve
and offers an opportunity to sin.
And so here again,
we have some connections with the story,
and we have a word to all of us.
Sin is lurking at the door.
It desires you, and you must master it,
and unfortunately Abel is going to,
not only not master it,
he’s going to miss it by a million miles,
but we will cover that part of the story tomorrow.
Yeah, the implications of this,
let’s be very clear about this,
the implications of this are not the firstborn
just trying to be a perfectionist.
The implications of this will be history shaping.
It will transform the life of this family
and even God’s relationship with the first generation
of those born after creation, right?
The schism that we are already seeing present
between Cain and God,
and in some ways between Abel and Cain,
this relational schism is going to become final
and permanent in a way that this story is very foreboding.
You can already get the heaviness of this
and we’re not even to the heaviest part yet.
So thanks for being with us, friends.
Appreciate it, everyone.
Have a great day.
We’ll see you tomorrow.