Brothers

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

BROTHERS

Gen 4:8-16

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." 15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

NIV

An interesting narrative of Cain and what happened inside of him. Jealously took hold of him because God looked with favor on his brother Abel’s offering, but not on his. This jealousy drove him to commit murder, which we would believe started with hatred of his brother. How can a man commit this kind of crime if that jealously did not turn to hatred which in turn allowed him to kill his only brother, as far as we know. There should have been a firm and deep bond between the two only brothers alive. We would think both of them had been taught by Adam and Eve to make offerings to the LORD, even though they had been cast out of the garden. Still, brothers should have had a deep bond, but that was broken because of a sinful nature. What made matters worse for Cain, was that he attempted to lie to God. To make that kind of response to the LORD when he was asked, “Where is your brother Abel?” was not only a lie, but it was disrespectful to the LORD. We wonder if Cain would have answered in a different manner, such as, “LORD, I did something very wrong, I killed my brother, I even plotted to do so by inviting him out to one of my fields”, LORD, please forgive me”. We would think the outcome might have been different, but then the course of mankind might also be different, or at least the genealogy, that we are going to see later. Nevertheless, the LORD gave a just judgment on Cain, sending from being a farmer to a wanderer, in fact, a restless wanderer. The Hebrew can also imply a vagrant, a fugitive, or a homeless vagabond. Still, after Cain protests his punishment and is afraid someone will kill him, God puts a mark on him showing the protection of the LORD was upon him. Who were those people Cain was afraid would kill him in the land of Nod, east of Eden? We simply do not know. Who was Cain’s wife, and where did she come from? Was she his sister who went with him? How else did she get there? Answers, we do not know. But what we do notice is that God asked Cain just about the same question he asked Adam and Eve when he asked, “Where are you?”. To Cain, he asked, “Where is your brother?” We know God knew their hearts before asking them, and he knows our hearts, but does he ask us “Where are you?” or “What have you done?” Does God speak into our hearts regarding our jealously, so it does not develop into a hatred, which Jesus told us, is the same a what Cain did, murder his brother. Does having any kind of ill feeling toward a fellow believer equate to murder? Then we wonder how we can remain in the presence of the Lord when we have ill feelings or hurt feelings that form some kind of break in our relationships. Thank the LORD that we have Jesus, however, that does not allow us to commit murder. Let us not be a Cain and allow any of those feelings Cain had toward a brother to take root in our hearts, so we do not need to hear God ask us, “Where are you, or what have you done?” We are all brothers and should live in harmony and peace with each other.