Genesis 4

Today’s Passage: Genesis 4

The very first child born in the Bible takes the life of the second. Before it comes to that, God warns Cain that sin is crouching at the door, but Cain will not master it, and soon Abel’s blood is crying out from the ground. From there you follow Cain’s line as it spreads into cities and music, until at last Adam is given another son, and in his day men begin to call on the name of the LORD.

As you read, hold this: Sin does not stay in the garden. It walks out with them.

Genesis 4:1–7 (BSB)

¹ And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said. ² Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil. ³ So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD, ⁴ while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶ “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.”

Eve’s first words as a mother are words of thanks to the LORD. And the very first quarrel over worship in the Bible turns out to be this: whether a man will accept that God has regarded his brother. That same fight is still going on in the house today.

Genesis 4:8–16 (BSB)

⁸ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

“Where is your brother?” is the last chapter’s “Where are you?” asked over again, one generation later. Cain lies about it, and then he reaches for the question people still use when they want to be left alone: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is yes, and the blood in the ground is already talking. You are never free of your brother.

God hears the blood, and the ground that drank in Abel now turns against the man who spilled it. Yet God does not put Cain to death; instead He marks him and sends him away. We are never told what the mark was, only what it was for: protection. So Cain goes east once more, out from the presence of the LORD, and settles in a land called Nod, a name that means wandering. Even the wanderer, you see, is still kept under God’s hand.

Genesis 4:17–26 (BSB)

¹⁷ And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech. ¹⁹ And Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. ²² And Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain, a forger of every implement of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. ²³ Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. ²⁴ If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” ²⁵ And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Cain builds a city and names it after his son, and it is out of this same line that tents and livestock and music and the working of bronze and iron all first come. Those things are not the problem; the problem is that the house they are born into still sings about blood. Lamech takes two wives, and then he sings of taking a man’s life merely for wounding him, stacking his revenge far higher than the mark God set on Cain, until sevenfold has become seventy-sevenfold. Sin (חַטָּאת) chattat, pronounced khat-TAHT. Strong's H2403, sin; a sin offering. In Genesis 4:7, this same word is pictured as a beast crouching in the doorway, waiting, desiring Cain. God does not tell him he is already caught; He says the beast can still be mastered. That is mercy, spoken to a man whose face has already fallen, and it shows us that God still talks to angry people before they go and ruin a life. does not stay small. It learns new songs.

Cain’s anger was never really about the soil; it was about God, who regarded his brother and not him. Rather than lift his face and do what is right, Cain let the anger settle in. Watch your own face, then, when God blesses someone else.

Then you meet Seth. Eve says that God has granted her another seed in place of Abel, and the word from 3:15 is still there in her mouth. Enosh is born to him, and in those days men begin to call on the name of the LORD. So there are two lines now, running side by side: one builds a city and sings about blood, and the other quietly calls on the name. It is not hard to tell which house you would want to belong to.