Genesis 4:9-24

Bible Study Lesson for Wednesday, April 15

Usually on Wednesday nights, some in our community get together to share prayer requests, we pray together, and I bring a Bible lesson for them. Last week, we covered Genesis 4:1-8, so I will pick up today where we left off. First I’d like to talk about prayer requests. Online communication being what it is, I would rather not get into specific requests in this space, and will leave that for the more private communications that the church has with each other. But I do want to remember a few general prayer requests: -our government, those making decisions on our behalf -those in the medical community -those in food service, grocery stores, and other essential businesses -teachers and students still figuring out what the closures of schools means for them -prisoners and prison guards -first responders -those whose life and income has been disrupted by the current crisis. I also want to remember all of those suffering from Covid-19 and the communities that it is affecting, including our own. Take a moment to pray for these folks now before we begin. Now I hope you will take a moment to read and reflect on Genesis 4:9-24 before I offer my thoughts. Previously in Genesis -God made the world and everything in it. -God gave humans the task of tilling and keeping the land, and God set humans over all the rest of creation as stewards and caretakers. -Humans Adam and Eve rebelled and were sent out of the garden and away front the Tree of -Life that God had given to them. God also increased the pain of childbirth and the toil of working land for produce. -Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel because he was jealous. Introduction Last week, I talked about some of the interpretations of the Cain and Abel story and I shared my own take. I attempted to humanize Cain, to help us understand why he did what he did. At this point I should say that I will not be getting into questions about where Cain got his wife. The Bible doesn’t address those questions and any answer to them is purely speculative. I will take a more literary approach, reading the passage as a story and looking for themes that repeat. Ideas are often repeated because they are important. Rather than seeking “answers” from Genesis, I am more interested in the questions the story asks about human nature. These stories provide a good opportunity to reflect on who we are and who God is. Last week, we stopped at Genesis 4:8. I deliberately made a break between verse 8 and verse 9 that isn’t there in most of our Bibles. I wanted to mirror the break we have between Adam and Eve’s sin and God’s judgment/curse on them in the previous chapter. So we begin to see a pattern: Gen 3:1-7 Adam and Eve’s Temptation and “The Fall” Gen 3:8-24 God’s Trial and Judgement of Adam and Eve, along with Merciful Providence (God makes clothes) 4:1-8 Cain’s Temptation and Sin 4:9-16 God’s Judgement on Cain, along with Merciful Providence (Protection) 4:17-24 Cain’s descendants 4:25-5:32 Adam’s descendants through Seth There is a parallel structure between the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and Cain’s murder of Abel. Most importantly, both stories end with God providing something to protect the people, whether it is clothing for Adam and Eve or more direct protection for Cain. Genesis 4:9-12 - The Trial of Cain Verse 9- As in 3:9, God begins this trial with a question. It is a question God already knows the answer to: “where?” In chapter 3, God asks Adam “Where are you?” In chapter 4 verse 9, God asks “Where is your brother Abel?” Adam dances around the issue, but Cain outright lies. Cain’s response is the famous, “am I my brother’s keeper?” This response sounds much like a child who knows they have been caught in bad behavior — by responding this way, it becomes clear to us that Cain is in fact responsible for his brother’s wellbeing and he knows it. Additionally, there is an irony in Cain using the word “keeper” or “caretaker,” especially after just killing his brother. As you will recall, before their exile from the Garden, God charged humans to “till and keep” the garden (2:15). After the exile from the Garden, God’s charge shifts to the assignment to “till the ground from which he was taken” (3:23). The word “keep” in 2:15 is the Hebrew word shamar, which is the same root that Cain uses to ask if he’s responsible for his brother. The command to keep or guard is absent from the charge in 3:23, probably because of the emphasis on hard labor in the punishment of Adam. People are not off the hook from needing to protect God’s creation and the pinnacle of that creation is humanity itself. It will become clear in the rest of the story that God takes human life very seriously, and though he had never been told not to kill his brother, Cain should have known better. The point is that we have more responsibility for those we have relationship with than we care to admit. Verse 10- Here we have God’s verdict against Cain. Driving home the point that Cain tried to make, God says “your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” The very ground that Cain (and Abel) were supposed to till and keep soaked up Abel’s blood. A failure to guard life has disastrous consequences for both the perpetrator of violence and the land. Verses 9 and 10 raise the question: for whom are we responsible and how are we failing to responsibly care for them? We all like to draw hard lines around our circle of “responsibility,” ignoring how connected we all are. Later in the Bible, God pronounces judgment on people and cities who fail to care for the poor and the vulnerable. We often try to focus on one or two pet issues, and ignore the rest as though they weren’t important. Verse 11-12- If we continue the legal metaphor I’ve been using of trial, verdict, and sentencing, these two verses encapsulate God’s sentence of Cain. God connects the verdict of guilty and the punishment by saying since Cain has spilled his brother’s blood on the ground, the ground will no longer produce “its strength.” Violence is not just a crime against humans, it is a crime against nature as a whole. Cain’s punishment builds on Adam’s curse from Genesis 3:17. For Adam, work was increased. For Cain, God adds to the increase in work a decrease in yield. This in turn results in Cain adopting a nomadic, wandering lifestyle. For later generations of Israelites hearing this story, the severing of a connection with a home place would have spoken volumes. Adam and Eve have already been cut off from their garden home, but now Cain must spend the rest of his life wandering the world. Particularly for people in Exile, the banishment of Cain would create a strong identification, especially as they tried to make sense of what sin resulted in their banishment. Genesis 4:13-16 - Cain’s Protest, God’s Providence Verse 13-14- Cain protests God’s judgment because he sees it as an enforced vulnerability. The nomadic life was common in the ancient world, and it is still preserved among some people today in places like Mongolia. It is an uncertain life, as nomads are dependent on the hospitality of others to get by. Generally, nomadic people form into wandering tribes, and have to either seek welcome from strangers, steer clear of settlements altogether, or go to war. Since Cain is more or less on his own, he will be especially vulnerable. He worries about his newfound status as a lone wolf, and that anyone he meets along the way will be able to take advantage of him with their superior numbers. We are reminded here that from the beginning people have absolutely depended on each other. We should not miss the irony that the one who protested that he was not responsible for “keeping” or “guarding” his brother is complaining that there is no one left to defend him! As humans, we want others to take on the hard work of being responsible for our needs, but we don’t want have to take care of anyone else. Verse 15-16- God is a lot more gracious than I am. I would respond to Cain’s protest with “yes and it serves you right for killing your brother.” Instead, God uses the opportunity of judgment again to offer protection to the sinner. God puts a mark (a sign or warning) on Cain, to enable him to wander the land free from harm. Genesis 4:17-24 - Cain’s Descendants Here we have the first of many genealogies. These function in Genesis in a couple of different ways. One is to communicate the passage of time. Up until now, we have been moving from one generation to the next. The genealogy here gives us a sense that a bit more time is passing. It is similar to watching a montage in a movie and seeing time pass quickly. A second function of genealogies in Genesis is to give the reader an explanation of where cities and cultures come from. We will see that here. Verses 17-18- This genealogy has a couple of familiar names, but these are different people. Enoch, Cain’s son, is not the famous Enoch, and the Lamech here is not Noah’s father, who we will meet later. Cain the wanderers last act is to build a city and name it after his son. He then drops out of the narrative. The rest of the genealogy serves to bridge Cain with this mysterious character Lamech. Verses 19-22- Before we learn a little bit more about Lamech, it is important to note how Genesis lets us know he will be an important character. From the swift passage of generations from father to son, the genealogy slows down a little bit, first by mentioning Lamech’s wives Adah and Zillah. Then we get his three sons. Jabal introduces the concept of nomadic agriculture, living in tents and having livestock. This is the dominant way of raising large animals, even to the time of the American West. Jubal introduces the world to wind instruments, and his name becomes a synonym for having a good time. Lastly, Tubal-cain is credited with making tools out of bronze and iron. This situates our story historically in the time between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. So we have agriculture (on the open range), culture (music), and the joint product of the two: tools. The relationship of these concepts is a window into world history. Verses 23-24- Rewinding a bit, we now return to Lamech. He decides that since Cain received God’s protection after he murdered Abel, murder must be a good way to gain God’s protection. Lamech becomes the first great example of trying to force God to act according to a formula or recipe. Murder = punishment + protection. Lamech wanted protection from God and figured if it worked for Cain, it was worth a try. On a narrative level, Lamech’s short story gives us what Bible scholars call an inclusio, which is when you begin and end a story in the same way. This emphasizes that everything in between goes together. Even if we don’t have all the details, the way the story is told teaches us that a cycle is repeating itself. People keep sinning, and will continue to sin, and God continues to judge and give grace in every situation. Conclusion This story of the generations from Cain to Lamech shows us that sin has consequences. Humans have always tried to take advantage of the grace of God,. We want to make God’s grace a “law” that binds God to do what we want God to do in every situation. Lamech thought he understood God’s formula: the bigger the sin, the bigger the protection. But that isn’t how God works. God isn’t bound by formulas or laws. Instead, we are in relationship with God and from this comes grace out of love. We were created to glorify God and enjoy God forever. We cannot do this when we try to force God’s hand. Trusting God’s grace is not the same thing as trying to force God to be gracious. We are addicted to control and to certainty, especially when we feel control slipping out of our grasp. But it is in these very times that we have to do the hard work of trusting. Of letting go of the little control we have and trusting God. This is not passive work. It is active, hard, daily, hourly work. It is the work our God, a God of relationship, calls us to. So we trust God, we take responsibility for our own actions, and we take care of our neighbors as best we can. And all the while we trust God to take care of us.