7. What have you done?

Genesis 4:9 And the Lord said unto Cain,

“Where is Abel thy brother?”

And He said, “ I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?”

(In verse10) And he said “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground."

Abel had gone missing and God decided to ask a question He already knew the answer to from Cain. “Where is thy brother Abel?”

God loves to give full opportunity for pondering, and for repentance. But Cain would not. Cain’s reaction to the question: he still had hostility in his voice and was not taking responsibility for his own heart. You could almost hear him yell at God, “I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?”

Cain was feeling very wroth indeed. One could almost imagine Cain thinking, “IF I was my brother’s keeper, I would have made Abel do my bidding!”

They fought in the field about something. What was it? It seemed like Cain wanted Abel to do something and Abel could not bring himself to do it. It could be something as simple as, “say my offering to God was better than yours!” or “Give me a lamb so I can sacrifice it to God.”

Again, we will never know this side of heaven. Whatever Abel answered was the wrong thing in Cain’s mind, and he burst out into a rage and slew his brother. The comparison monster had had a victory and Abel lost. But did Cain win??? Abel had someone to avenge his blood.

God asks, “What hast thou done?” (Deuteronomy 32:35 says: To Me (God) belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste). God had reason to provide a suitable punishment for Cain. So, He did. He did not even wait for an answer from Cain. Cain could never have supplied an answer good enough to appease God’s love for Abel. Yes, God is loving Cain. God loved Cain in that He spoke personally to him, He gave Him ample opportunity to repent, He let Cain go to think about his attitude. When Cain did not repent but stayed in his anger and sinned, by killing Abel, God did not require Cain’s blood for his brother’s blood. But God let Cain go, with consequences. He gave a punishment. Cain felt it was too heavy for him to bare. Cain complained that it was unfair. God made it so Cain would live with the shame and guilt of what he had done for a long time. But the worst part was that Cain left the presence of the Lord. It seems that the Lord knew that Cain had no respect for Him from the beginning.

What kind of person did Cain become? Did he reach maturity and handle his past as a respectable man?

Did Cain think about these questions from God for the rest of his life? Did he live with regrets for his anger upon his innocent younger brother?

How do you think it went for Cain, His wives, and his children from then on? They were isolated from God. What do you think Cain taught his children and children’s children? Do you think there is a possibility that this anger kept going in the line of Cain? (We see that Cain’s descendant, Lamech, in verse 23, had slain someone and was in terror for his life.)

After this we are told how long a life Adam had, and Seth, Adam’s next son, and all the lineage from that point down.

But we do not know how Cain ended up. He stole the headlines of this newspaper early on but his passing was not even on the second or thirtieth page. The only part of his life was recorded here so we could watch Cain make the choice of “not doing well” and sin crouching at the door, and sin’s desire is for Cain. It is not clear if sin rules over Cain or Cain rules over sin. But neither of these answers sounds good to me.

So, are we responsible for our brothers and sisters? Just for blood relatives? Or for whoever is around us? Our neighbors?

Are we responsible for what we have done regarding these people?

God’s love for us shines through in His questions for us in the Bible.

Do you feel that God loved Cain?

Not fearing God has consequences. Not respecting God, brings you to a place of ultimatum. What are you going to do now with sin that is crouching at the door?

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