GENESIS 4

BERSHIS 4

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from Yahweh.

Now, here was a conception in sin, the originator of which was the serpent. When therefore, in the "set time" afterwards, "Eve bare Cain," though procreated by Adam, he was of the serpent, seeing that he suggested the transgression which ended in the conception of Cain. In this way, sin in the flesh being put for the serpent, Cain was of that wicked one, the pre-eminent sinner, and the first-born of the serpent's seed.

Elpis Israel 1.3.

àAdam, the exiled, propagated himself, and filled the earth at last with a race in his own unhappy position. The race continues to this day, amid all the evils that result from man having to take care of himself instead of living under the open guidance and friendship of his Creator.

Seasons 2.44

Cain's wife.

—As bearing on the question of where Cain got his wife from, it may be remarked that Josephus says that Adam had "many other children" besides Cain and Abel, "but Seth in particular." Tradition indeed speaks of the number of Adam's children as "thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters."* In Cain's own line also Josephus says that Lamech had "seventy-seven children." Speaking of Jared, he also refers to "many of his sisters."

The Christadelphian, Sept 1889

*Making Eve the bearer of 56 children! [Gen 3: 16]

2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Yahweh.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Yahweh had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

à"Sin having entered into the world, and, death having passed upon all men" (Rom. v. 12), deliverance from death must be according to the Divine prerogative.

1. Deliverance must come through a descendant of the woman.

2. The deliverer must first suffer death.

3. Just as disbelief and disobedience brought condemnation and death, so also deliverance must be by belief and obedience.

Respecting the first condition we read :

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. IT shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen. iii. 15.)

Interpreting the figures here used, the meaning of the passage is that all descendants of the woman who, like the serpent, lie, dishonour God, and disobey His word will perish. (Are they not called serpents, generation of vipers ? Matt. iii. 7 ; xxiii. 30-33.) And that He

who is to finally destroy the power of sin must be a descendant of the woman.

Respecting the second condition, in the light of Apostolic testimony, the covering "coats of skins'' provided for Adam and Eve and the incident recorded respecting the offerings of Cain and Abel, are significant and instructive. Thus we read that:

In process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Yahweh. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock. And of the fat thereof. And Yahweh had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and unto his offering he had not respect, and Cain was very wrath, and his countenance fell. And Yahweh said unto Cain. Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy countenance fallen ? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee

shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Gen. iv. 3-7. R.v.)

It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. (Heb. x. 4.)

Without shedding of blood is no remission. {Ibid. ix. 22.)

The inevitable inference from these testimonies is that the reason why Abel's offering pleased God was because " the offering of the firstling of his flock and the fat thereof " exhibited faith in the promise of a deliverer from sin, who through death would accomplish that deliverance.

This feature was entirely absent from the offering of Cain, who merely brought the results of his own labours on the field, probably also filled with pride over his own accomplishments.

We can see the embittered controversy which ensued between Cain and Abel (verse 8) resulting in the typical slaughter of the first martyr and the long history of persecuted sons of God by the seed of the serpent from Abel onward to Stephen. (Matt. xxiii. 29-35. Acts vii. 51-53.)

Now just as the offering of Abel exhibited elements pleasing to the Father, so only will He permit the altar fashioned by man in the temple of the age to come to be used after it has been cleansed and sanctified with blood.

The Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy 5.6.7.

The Confirmation of the Abrahamic Covenant [5]

We have said that the sign God gave to Abraham was evidently based upon, or connected with, this ancient custom. Whether the custom was first established by man, and simply laid hold of by God in the case of Abraham and others, in order to accommodate Himself in this, as He has done in some other respects, to the ways of men; or whether the custom of men was derived from the divine mode of dealing with men, cannot perhaps be said with absolute certainty, owing to the great antiquity of the custom and the absence of any accurate record of its origin.

The whole weight of probability, however, is in favour of the latter supposition, and for this reason;—Several of the foregoing details indicate that the custom had a close connection with animal sacrifices. Now we know that the offering up of animal sacrifices by the Jews was the result of divine appointment, and hence it may be inferred, that in the very first instance mentioned in Scripture, viz., that of Abel, they were also appointed by God; and indeed the fact mentioned in the narrative itself, that

"the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect" (Gen. 4:4, 5),

seems to indicate that animal sacrifices, and not the fruits of the ground, had even then been appointed by God. Now if animal sacrifices were in the first instance appointed by God, it is but reasonable, seeing the close connection between them and this custom, to conclude that the latter was also the result of divine appointment.

Sin had made man unworthy of God's favour and of direct approach to Him, and thus on occasions when man approached God, or God condescended to bestow special favour on man by entering into covenant with him, it was necessary that man's sinful condition, his unworthiness to receive the divine blessings, and the fact that by his sin he had merited death, should be recognised by sacrifice.

We find this even in the case of Noah, notwithstanding his moral superiority to the rest of that generation, and his acceptability with God; for after the flood, before God made His covenant with him never again to destroy the earth by a flood,

"Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."—(Gen. 8:20.)

The practice having been established in relation to covenants between God and man, it would naturally be extended to covenants between man and man; and being established in so early a period in the history of mankind, it would be transmitted from generation to generation in various nations, and we can thus understand its prevalence in later times, even amongst those who were not God's people.

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian, Oct 1874

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6 And Yahweh said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

àThere will be failures, but let us not blame anyone for them but ourselves. They are danger signals-flaws that show up in testing. The failures show that we have failed to prepare ourselves-failed to apply our heart aright-failed to draw upon the great reservoir of power and wisdom offered through the Scriptures and the Spirit of God.

Let us humbly recognize our failures, and assume full responsibility for them. Then, and then only, is there any hope of overcoming. In whatever circumstances we are placed, let us remember that God is trying us to prove what is in our hearts.

Temptation can be met as Jesus met it-with a simple, powerful, "It is written." An impregnable armor, if we will make the effort required to put it on. And it is effort-long hours of effort and application as long as life continues.

Paul told Timothy that the Scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation. They were able to provide him with a ready "It is written" to each of the endless problems, trials and temptation that fill the probationary period. But Paul also made it clear that Timothy must

"Meditate upon these things, and give himself wholly to them" (1 Tim. 4:15).

Bro Growcott - BYT 2. 20

The great trouble with the world is SIN. This is at the root of every evil, sorrow, sickness and death. Sin is the opposite of obedience. Obedience is doing God's will. Sin is ignoring or disobeying God's will and doing our own will, the evil will of the flesh. Sin says, "I will do as I please." Obedience and wisdom say, "I will do as God wills."

We find within us the motions of sin, just as the Scriptures say: pride, envy, selfishness, greed, inconsideration, irritability, impatience, anger, cruelty. We see the earth filled with wickedness and violence and oppression and crime. Paul's lament—

"I find a law in my members…a law of sin…when I would do good, evil is present with me" (Rm. 7:21-23).

—is the universal experience of any who have thought on the matter at all. Only the Bible explains these things, and tells us how to recognize them and overcome them, and at last become completely free from them by a glorious physical change.

We freely recognize, if we have any sense at all, that kindness and patience and love and unselfish consideration for others would make a far happier world for all: but we find these obviously good and desirable qualities do not come naturally to us, but the very opposite. They are contrary to nature. The Bible tells us why, and it alone gives the all-sufficient and all-powerful solution.

The Bible is God-manifestation: God manifesting Himself to man, drawing man to Him, teaching man how to approach God, and enjoy God, and become like God, and be forever with God; teaching man how to become in his turn a glorious manifestation of God.

Bro Growcott - BYT 3.26

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9 And Yahweh said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

13 And Cain said unto Yahweh, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face[s] shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

I shall no more be permitted to come before the cherubic faces

13-14 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Gal 6:7).

The plight of the rejected at the judgement seat will be 'greater than [they] can bear.

à...To be exiled with shame into the land of the enemy, and there to be subject to poverty, pain, vagabondism, hunger, pestilence, and death, without hope of deliverance, will doubtless extort from each one the lamentation imputed to Cain,

Herald Feb 1854.

From thy face[s] shall I be hid

àThat the faces were connected with the cherubim seems unquestionable from other passages of Scripture where cherubim are described. The Lord spoke of them to Moses in the mount. Having commanded him to make an ark, or open chest, overlaid with gold, with a crown along its upper margin, he said,

"Thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold. And thou shalt make two cherubim of beaten gold in the two ends of the mercy seat." In another place, this is explained thus -- "Out of the mercy-seat made he the cherubim on the two ends thereof." Then it is continued, "And the cherubim shalt stretch forth wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces one to another, toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee" (Exod. 25:10-21).

It is probable that the reason why Moses gave no description of them in Genesis was because he intended to speak more particularly when he came to record their introduction into the most holy place of the tabernacle.

In the text above recited, they are described as having wings and faces; and being made out of the same piece of gold as the mercy-seat, upon which they looked down, beholding, as it were, the blood sprinkled upon it; it is evident, they were symbols connected with the institution of atonement for sin through the shedding of blood.

But they were still more significative. They were God's throne in Israel. Hence, the psalmist saith,

"The Lord reigneth; He sitteth between the cherubim."

This throne was erected upon mercy; and for this reason it was that the covering of the ark containing the testimony, the manna (Exod. 16:33; John 6:33), and the resurrected rod (Numb. 17:8; Isaiah 11:1), was styled the Mercy seat, or throne, where the Lord covered the sins of the people.

It was also the Oracle, or place from which God communed with Israel through Moses. "There," said the Lord, "will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."

Elpis Israel 1.5.

15 And Yahweh said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And Yahweh set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

àNotwithstanding his crime Cain was permitted to live. But the seed of evil-doers never gets renown. Sooner or later their deeds of villany consign their names to reprobation. God hid His face from Cain, and exiled him from the settlements in Eden. He wandered still further to the East, "and dwelt in the land of Nod." There he founded a city, and called it Enoch. His offspring multiplied, and found out many inventions.

They became wandering tribes, dwelling in tents and tending cattle; others of them, musicians, and artificers in brass and iron. Their women were beautiful, and, as the descendants of Cain, untrained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, were vain in their imaginations, and demoralising in their associations.

Elpis Israel 1.4.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of Yahweh.

àSeth's descendants in the direct line ended in Noah and Japheth at the time of the flood. His posterity, in this and the collateral branches, multiplied considerably, but for a time constituted a separate community from the progeny of Cain. During the lifetime of Enos, son of Seth, "they began to call themselves by the name of the Lord," or "sons of God" (Gen. 4:26; 6:2): while the faithless and corrupt worshippers of the land of Nod, were simply styled "men."

Elpis Israel 1.4.

Call Upon His Name

—His Name Yahweh. What does it mean to "call upon His Name"? How would we specifically define it?

The basic meaning of this word "call" is to call out to someone to get their attention, to address by name, to greet or accost, to make contact with someone. It is derived from the word meaning "to meet, to come together."

If we compare this root meaning with the way it is used in Scripture, we shall get the full picture. These are the 2 steps in studying:

1. Get the real meaning of the word according to the best authorities.

2. Compare the uses of the word throughout Scripture.

The latter is the most important, for how God Himself uses the word is the final determination.

This is why all modern versions are useless for satisfying and profitable study. They are not direct translations but just vague paraphrases according to the ideas of men. We cannot dig into man's conclusion as to the meaning. They might be right, but we have no way of comparing and checking, so they are dangerous.

A word derived from this word "call" means exactly the same in Hebrew as "ecclesia" does in the New Testament—"A group called out to assemble in worship." As, for example, Ex.12:16—"An holy convocation."

...It appears to mean identifying ourselves with God—making ourselves His—separating ourselves unto Him in allegiance and worship. The first use of this phrase is significant—To Seth was born a son…"Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4:26).

This clearly does not mean the first appearance of worship, but it does appear to mean the beginning of SEPARATION in worship—the clear, healthy separation between the sons of men and the sons of God, which was broken down later and led to the worldwide corruption that brought the judgment of the Flood.

Bro Growcott - BYT 3.23