The Punishment of Cain
Read Genesis 4:9–16. Why does God ask the question, “ ‘Where is
Abel your brother?’ ” What is the connection between Cain’s sin
and him becoming “ ‘a fugitive and a vagabond . . . on the earth’ ”
(Gen. 4:12, NKJV)?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
God’s question to Cain echoes His question to Adam in Eden: “ ‘Where
are you?’ ” This echo suggests the link between the sin in Eden and this
sin now: the latter sin (Cain’s) was the result of the former one (Adam’s).
Cain, though, will not acknowledge his sin; he denies it, something
that Adam didn’t do, even though he tried to put the blame elsewhere.
Cain, in contrast, openly defies God, who doesn’t waste any time
confronting Cain with his crime. When God asks the third question,
“ ‘What have you done?’ ” He does not even wait for an answer. He
reminds Cain that He knows everything, for the voice of Abel’s blood
has reached Him from the ground (Gen. 4:10), an image that signifies
that God knows about the murder and will respond to it. Abel is in the
ground, a direct link back to the Fall and to what the Lord has said
would happen to Adam (see Gen. 3:19).
Read Genesis 4:14. What is the significance of Cain’s words that “ ‘I
shall be hidden from Your face’ ” (NKJV)?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
It is because Abel’s blood was poured on the ground that the ground
is now cursed, again (Gen. 4:12). As a result, Cain is then condemned to
become a refugee, far from God. Only when Cain hears God’s sentence
does he acknowledge the significance of God’s presence; for without it,
he fears for his own life. Even after Cain’s cold-blooded murder of his
brother and his defiance in the face of it, the Lord still shows mercy to
him, and even though “Cain went out from the presence of the Lord”
(Gen. 4:16, NKJV), the Lord still provided him with some kind of protec-
tion. Exactly what that “mark” was (Gen. 4:15), we haven’t been told, but
whatever it was, it came only because of God’s grace to him.
“ ‘Hidden from Your face’ ” (Gen. 4:14, NKJV)—what is hidden
from the face of God? What a tragic situation for anyone. What is
the only way that we, as sinners, can avoid that situation?