Genesis 4: Cain and Abel show us how to love God
We need to be like Adam, not Cain. I know Adam committed the first sin, pretty terrible thing, but Cain was the first sinner. Doesn’t sinning make one a sinner? Well, Adam eventually repented to God, but Cain on the other hand, let sin consume him, making him the first sinner, the first person consumed by sin, and even worse, the first unrepentant sinner.
For a brief summary, Cain and Abel are brothers who were the first sons of Adam and Eve. Their story is in the book of Genesis, chapter 4. Cain, the older son, kills Abel, making Cain the first murderer. Cain then rejects God’s mercy and becomes the first unrepentant sinner. There is a lot to dissect and understand from this seemingly short story of Scripture. This story particularly helps to understand certain aspects of the Flood in Noah’s Ark, which will be discussed in the next post.
We begin Genesis chapter 4 reading:
“Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” (Genesis 4:1-5)
Did God show favoritism towards Abel? No, instead we see a difference between Cain and Abel in their relationship towards God. We see that God was pleased with Abel and his offering but not with Cain and his offering. We see that “in the course of time,” Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground while Abel brought “the firstlings of his flock.” As soon as Abel had an offering, a “firstling of his flock,” he offered it to the Lord. Abel didn’t wait for “the course of time” like Cain and instead offered the fruit of his work immediately to God. Cain eventually offered God some of the fruit of the ground, but only after he had harvested.
Why is God pleased or displeased with offerings? The offerings are an external representation of the internal disposition of the one offering. Abel showed how much he was thankful to God whereas Cain showed that he was wanting in this regard, hence why God “had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” The difference in the offering shows why Cain himself was not regarded like Abel.
“So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:5-7).
Cain is beginning to move towards sin. Feeling the emotion of anger is not a sin, however acting on the emotion and allowing the spirit of anger to drive our actions can lead to sin. This is why God gives Cain a chance to repent by asking why he is angry and why his countenance has fallen. God tells Cain there is a choice to make, to do well and be accepted, or to not do well and find that sin is lurking at the door of his heart. Allowing that sin to enter his heart would allow for it to take hold. This is the opportunity for Cain to master the temptation, or the opportunity for it to master him.
So what did Cain do?
‘Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!”’ (Genesis 4:8-10).
Cain sets a trap for Abel by inviting him to go out to the field, then Cain kills him. Cain premeditated this murder after allowing sin to master him instead of him mastering it. God then questions Cain asking where Abel is. This does not mean God is not omniscient and instead is similar to when God probed Adam about the Fall. God is omniscient and knows everything, God knows exactly what happened to Abel. Cain says he doesn’t know and even asks God if he, Cain, is his brother’s keeper. Being the eldest, he was in fact responsible for his brother, but instead decided to be disrespectful towards God and not answer the question. We see God’s omniscience in His response, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!”. God knew what happened and He offered Cain a chance to repent. Rather than repent, Cain let sin dig deeper into his heart and was disrespectful directly to God.
God tells Cain, “And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him seven times as much.” And the Lord placed a mark on Cain, so that no one finding him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch” (Genesis 4:11-17).
Cain, the one who is a “tiller of the ground” is now cursed from the ground that he watered with the blood of Abel, blood that cries out to God. Cain is told that the ground will no longer yield to him, and he will be a “fugitive and a wander of the earth”. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden and now Cain is banished from Eden itself. Cain responds saying his punishment is too great to bear, he says he is now driven away from the soil and now shall be hidden from the face of God. God is placing him physically where he is spiritually. Cain is so steeped in sin that he refuses to repent. Cain has rejected God twice, and so God will respect Cain’s decision by allowing him to live without God, a punishment greater than he can bear.
God then marks Cain so others will not kill him, an act of mercy on the punishment of Cain to protect him from others (The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 64). Who are the people that Cain fears? After all, everyone came from Adam and Eve, so there shouldn’t be anyone else, right? It seems that Cain fears retribution from his family for murdering Abel (The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 64). We have indications that there were other children. Cain had a wife as noted in Scripture. Rabbinic tradition believes that Cain married a sister (Posner). This means if there were sisters, there were other siblings, meaning there were people to fear retribution from.
The mark of Cain is ultimately a merciful act. This is merciful on Cain because it gives Cain more time to repent rather than someone ending his mortal life early. Despite Cain’s rejection of God’s mercy, God still lovingly extended His mercy to Cain. The mark of Cain is also a merciful act towards anyone who may murder Cain, particularly his own family seeking retribution. It was very bad that Cain murdered his brother and his punishment serves as a warning to others, however God added the mark to warn others that if they kill Cai, they will be punished sevenfold. This is reminiscent of when Jesus warned that when an unclean spirit has gone out, seven more will return if the person does not amend their life (see Matt 12:43-45). The punishment of Cain and his mark are a warning to prevent others from committing the same sin, and if that is not enough of a deterrent, then they will face great consequences.
“[Cain] built a city”…the descendants of Cain became the ancestors of “those who live in tents and have livestock… those who play the lyre and pipe…[those] who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools” (Genesis 4:17, 20-22)
Cain’s descendant “Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (Genesis 4:23-24)
We can see that Cain built a city. Cain’s descendants also founded shepherding, instrumental music, and metal working, however they also engaged in terrible sin such as murder, polygamy, and violence. While scientific developments are not inherently evil, we can see that there is a danger of forgetting about God while distracted with achievements of this world.
Cain’s line is filled with sin. This culminates in Genesis 6:1-2
“When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose.” (Genesis 6:1-2)
There are two ancient interpretations of this. The first is that the sons of God are the descendants of Seth, who was born to Adam and Eve after Cain killed Abel (see Gen 4:25) and that the sons of Seth, who was a man of God, intermarried with the godless line of Cain, introducing themselves and their offspring to the sin of Cain. The other belief is that “sons of God” refers to angels, or in this case fallen angels, called watchers, who took the form of men and had relations with these women. Both views have been held by ancient Jews and Christians (The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 66). We also read
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” (Genesis 6:4)
This is further built on in Numbers 13:31-33 after the Jewish scouts surveyed the promised Land and saw the Nephilim. The scouts said, “we seemed like grasshoppers…to them.” The scouts saw how huge the Nephilim were, big enough to make the scouts feel like grasshoppers. This means the Nephilim were giants, possibly from this breeding with fallen angels and humans, which is its own topic that people can dive into.
Ultimately, we see the impact of generational sin. Cain was given a chance to repent from the very start of this episode, yet he decided to give into temptation and sin against God. This sin resulted in him experiencing the physical reality of his spiritual state. He did not ask for forgiveness once, and instead sank deeper into sin. Cain rejected God resulting in God respecting his decision and Cain was completely absent of God. Cain’s sin infected his entire line to the point of involvement with demons.
We must be conscious of this ourselves. God will not “lead us into temptation” and instead will offer to “deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). We must humbly accept the Lord’s forgiveness so we may welcome Him into our lives instead of rejecting Him. Even if we have rejected God, we can still turn around and ask for forgiveness. God is always ready to receive us into His embrace.
God showed a lot of mercy towards Cain even after he murdered Abel and lied to God; God wants to show you the same love.
References
Posner, Menachem. n.d. “Whom did Cain and Abel marry?” Chabad. Accessed November 13, 2025. https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/960277/jewish/Whom-did-Cain-and-Abel-marry.htm.
2024. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press.
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