“We’ve only traveled a very short distance along Route 66, haven’t we?” King asked rhetorically. “We’ve seen the Creation of everything by God and we saw the Fall of Man. But now we come to another stop along the highway of Route 66. Here we will see the birth of Cain and Abel. We’ll discover that God gives Cain a second chance. Cain then murders Abel, his brother. This leads to the children of Cain and a godless civilization…And then finally, this chapter ends with the birth of Seth.” He paused. “Let me just say this as a way of introduction…In Genesis 3, we have the root of sin and in Genesis 4, the fruit of sin. Well, just how bad is sin? In this chapter, we find that man was not just suffering from ptomaine poisoning because of having eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Chapter 4 reveals how much had really happened to the man. By his disbelief and his disobedience, he had turned away from God and had sinned in such a way that he brought upon himself and his race His judgment, because you and I are given this same kind of nature. We have the same nature that our father had, and Adam has given all of us a pretty bad nature. All this is revealed in the story of the two sons of Adam and Eve. They had more children than this, but we are given the record of only these two at this time.” He pulled his Bible toward him and said, “I shall read Genesis 4:1 - 5. ‘And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.’”

“Nothing good comes from an angry man,” Staci replied knowingly.

King nodded. “That is a sad but true statement, my sister. So we see that Cain is angry. What else is revealed in these verses?”

“I think Adam and Eve didn’t anticipate that the struggle was going to be long,” Fuller began. “When Cain was born, Eve must have said, ‘I have gotten the man from the Lord. God said the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent—and here he is!’ But Cain - as we soon discover - was not the one. He was a murderer. He was no savior at all. It’ll be a long time before the Savior comes. In fact, for a minimum of six thousand years or so, give or take a few years, the struggle has been going on between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.”

Shiva looked into his Bible. “What exactly does this phrase mean here in verse 3...? ‘In process of time…’”

King smiled. “It actually means ‘at the end of days,’ which would mean on the Sabbath day, on the day that God had rested.”

“Cain brought something,” Barrington said. “Doesn’t that suggest the idea of an appointed place?”

“Of course. The brothers are bringing an offering to God to an appointed place of worship. All this would indicate is that they are doing it by revelation. I know that they are, for when we turn to Hebrews 11:4, we read, ‘By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.’ How could Abel offer it by faith? ‘So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 1’”

Lenox nodded thoughtfully. “God had to have given His Word about this. Abel would never have come by faith otherwise. Cain, on the other hand, clearly did not come by faith.”

“But he brought fruit fresh from the ground,” Fronk replied. “There’s nothing wrong with the fruit. I don’t think he brought the leftovers at all. His attitude was not that of giving old clothes to the mission. I think that the fruit he brought would have won the blue ribbon in any county or state fair in the country because he brought the best of his beautiful, delicious fruit, and he brought it as an offering to the Lord.”

King nodded in agreement. “Someone may say, ‘I don’t see anything wrong in the thing Cain did.’ In the eleventh verse of his epistle, speaking of apostates in the last days, Jude says, ‘…They have gone in the way of Cain…’ What is the way of Cain?”

“When Cain brought an offering to God,” Erin responded, “he didn’t come by faith. He came on his own, and the offering he brought denied that human nature is evil.”

“Yes. Basically, God said, ‘Bring that little blood sacrifice which will point to the Redeemer who is coming into the world. Come on that basis, and don’t come by bringing the works of your own hands.’”

“Cain’s offering also denied that man was separated from God,” Fuller added. “He acted like everything was all right. Even today, things are not all right with us. We’re not born children of God. We have to be born again to become children of God. Man is separated from God, and Cain refused to recognize that, just as multitudes today refuse to do so.”

King regarded the study group. “What else do we learn about Cain’s offering?”

“It denied,” Lenox began, “that man cannot offer works to God. That is true, but Cain felt he could.”

Barrington glanced at his notes. “Scripture says, ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. 2’”

“The difference between Cain and Abel was not a character difference at all, but it was in the offerings which they brought. These two guys had the same background, right? So they had the same heredity. They had the same environment. There wasn’t that difference between them. You can’t tell me that Cain got his bad disposition from an alcoholic grandfather on his father’s side…He didn’t have a grandfather. And you can’t say that Abel got his good disposition from a very fine grandmother on his mother’s side. They just didn’t have grandparents. They had the same heredity and the same environment. The difference was in the offerings.”

Fuller nodded his head. “Wow, Michael. I’m impressed. That certainly is something to think about.”

“That offering should be considered carefully,” King agreed, “for it makes a difference in men today. No Christian takes the position that he is better than anyone else. The thing that makes him a Christian is that he recognizes he is a sinner like everyone else and that he needs an offering. He needs a sacrifice, and he needs Someone to take his place and to die for him. Paul says of Christ, ‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood… 3’ Therefore Paul could further write, ‘For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4’” He held up a hand to emphasize a truth. “That is the picture of multitudes of people today. They are attempting through religion, through joining a church and doing something like good works, to make themselves acceptable to God. God’s righteousness can only come to you - because it must be a perfect righteousness - through Christ’s providing it for you. ‘Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 5’”

Shiva raised a fist. “Amen, brother.”

“He was raised for our righteousness,” King continued, encouraged. “He was the One who took our place. II Corinthians 5:21 says, ‘For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’ And Paul says in Philippians 3:8–9, ‘… That I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ…’ The righteousness of Cain was his own righteousness. The righteousness of Abel was faith in a sacrifice that looked forward to Christ’s sacrifice.”

“Well, we’ve seen that Cain and Abel had come together to worship God,” Lenox replied.

Fuller nodded. “These two guys were identical. Some expositors actually believe they were twins.”

King agreed. “Yes, but I believe they were even closer than twins because of the fact they had no blood stream which reached way back on both sides that might cause a difference. They were the sons of Adam and Eve. However, there is a great divergence between Cain and Abel which is not necessarily a character divergence. One was accepted because of the sacrifice which he brought by faith, and the other, Cain, brought his offering without any recognition from God at all.”

“Now, let’s continue by looking into verses 6 and 7 of Genesis 4,” King began. Then, he read the verses out loud. ‘And the LORD 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.’” King regarded the others. “Can someone tell me what God is doing here in these two verses?”

“Well, He certainly is asking a lot of questions to Cain,” Staci replied.

“And why is He doing that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know…Maybe He’s giving Cain a chance to search his heart.”

King smiled. “Ah. Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“You’re saying that God is giving Cain another chance here?” Shiva wanted to know.

King nodded. “Yes. God does give Cain a second chance. But let‘s examine this further.” He paused. “Cain is angry. God obviously sees this and He point-blank asks Cain why. Why is Cain angry?”

Fronk pursed his lips in thought. “Guess we can’t really say that he got up on the wrong side of the bed, can we?”

He shook his head.

“Well, he’s angry enough to kill his brother,” Barrington said. “Behind premeditated murder, there is always anger. Jesus said that if you’re angry with your brother without a cause, then you’re just as guilty of murder. And behind anger is jealousy. Behind jealousy is pride. There is no sense of sin whatsoever in spiritual pride.”

Fuller nodded in agreement. “‘Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 6’”

“Cain’s anger led to murder, but behind that was his jealousy and also his pride.”

Lenox looked at his Bible, tracing his finger along Genesis 4. “Aren’t you getting ahead of the game here, Bear? Cain hasn’t killed his brother yet.”

“I know. But we are talking about why Cain was angry, and his anger leads him down that path where he takes the life of his own brother.”

“That is why God gives him a second chance,” King replied. “God is giving Cain a chance to turn away from that anger. That is how God deals with him. He says to Cain, ‘If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?’ Now it is true that the eldest son always occupied a place of preeminence, and this young man thinks he will now lose that. God tells him there is no reason for him to lose it if he does well. To do well would be to bring that which God had accepted from Abel, a sacrifice and the acknowledgment that he was a sinner. But not Cain…Cain’s just angry. He’s so angry, sin is right at his door. And sin will always lead to death.” He paused for a moment. “There are those who have interpreted the phrase - ‘sin lieth at the door’ - as meaning that a sin offering lies at the door. In other words, there is the little lamb lying at the door. Now it makes sense because that was true, but I do not think it means the sin offering here. Up to this time and beyond this time, in fact, up until Moses, as far as I can tell from the Word of God, there was no sin offering. You find the instructions given for the sin offering in the book of Leviticus. In the first part of that book, five offerings are given, and one is the sin offering. The sin offering did not come into existence until the law was given. That is the thing that Paul is saying in Romans 3:20, ‘…For by the law is the knowledge of sin.’ The offerings that were brought up to that time were burnt offerings. Job in his day, which obviously was before Moses, brought a burnt offering. It was not in any way a sin offering. I think if you will examine the Scriptures, you will find that this is true.”

Staci shook her head. “David, I really didn’t follow what you just said.”

“I’m trying to think it through myself,” Erin admitted.

“I think I get it,” Shiva said. “Moses wrote the Law and he didn’t do that until much later. With Cain and Abel, their offering wasn’t a sin offering, right? It was an offering to God, but the sin offering comes later when Moses arrives on the scene.”

“And what about Job?” Staci wanted to know. “He was around…before Moses?”

“Let me take this,” Fuller began. “We don’t really know exact dates, but I would suggest that Job was written during the patriarchal period. So it is possible that Job knew Jacob. The fact that the Book of Job makes no reference to the Mosaic Law whatsoever, nor to any of the events recorded in the Book of Exodus, would seem to indicate that it was written before Exodus.”

Staci nodded. “Okay. I get it.” She wrote notes into her notebook. “Thank you.”

“Let’s conclude this part of our study by allowing me to say this…” King paused. “It is obvious that Cain did not realize how vulnerable to sin he was. When God said to him that ‘sin lieth at the door,’ I believe He was saying that sin like a wild beast was crouching at the door waiting to pounce on him the moment he stepped out. For that reason Cain needed a sacrifice that would be acceptable to God for sin, a sacrifice that pointed to Christ. ‘Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 7’”

“‘If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door,’” Fuller replied thoughtfully.

“To do well would have been to bring the kind of offering that Abel had brought, a burnt offering. You find that Abraham also offered a burnt offering, for there could be no transgression until the law was given. That is, sin would not become a trespass against law until then. So you find that God actually protected this man Cain. Unfortunately, Cain would have none of it. Cain allowed his anger to run its course as we will see in the next few verses.”

King turned to Lenox. “My brother, why don’t you read the next passage to us?”

Lenox nodded as he pulled his Bible close. Then, he read Genesis 4:8 - 15. “‘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. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; 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. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face 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. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.’”

“This is practically a disrespectful answer God gets from Cain when He asks him where Abel is,” King replied. “He frankly had little regard for either his brother or for his God. He is trying to cover his action, but the Scriptures say, ‘… there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 8’”

Fuller nodded his head. “There’s something to think about if you have any secret sins. You had better deal with them down here because they’re all going to come out in God’s presence someday anyway. He already knows about them. We might just as well tell Him about them.”

“We certainly see this truth here with Cain. He tries to say that he’s not guilty. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ What an impudent answer!”

“Hebrews makes a reference here,” Lenox began as he turned through the pages of his Bible. “I’ve got a footnote on it…It is referring to verse 10. Hebrews 12:24 says, ‘And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.’”

King nodded. “Abel’s blood spoke of a murder having been committed. The blood of Christ, however, speaks of redemption. It speaks of salvation.”

“Amen, brother,” Shiva agreed.

“Now in regards to the curse of Cain…the ground will not yield to him her strength. He will also become a fugitive in the earth. In our day there is a curse upon the earth because of man’s sin, which causes it to lose its fertility. In some of the most lush sections of our earth, multitudes of people are starving. It takes great effort and ingenuity for man to make this earth produce in abundance. Certainly the blood of Abel cries out from the very earth itself…blood that was spilled in murder by a brother. Now Cain receives his punishment, but it is too great for him to bear.”

“Wa wa,” Fronk stated flatly.

“If Cain’s punishment was greater than he could bear,” Erin began, “then why didn’t he just turn to God and confess his sin? Why didn’t he cast himself upon God’s mercy? It was too great for him to bear, but God was providing a Savior for him if he would only turn to Him.”

“Cain hid his face from God,” Fuller pointed out.

“Or at least he thought he did.” Lenox shook his head. “You can’t hide from God. No one can.”

Staci paused. “But God protects Cain, doesn’t He? Isn’t that what happens in verse 15?”

Barrington looked at the verse. “‘And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.’” He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like God actually harbors a murderer. That is strange, isn’t it? And what do you suppose that mark upon him is?”

King shrugged. “I don’t really know what the mark is.”

Fuller paused. “There’s been a lot of speculation on it.”

“Perhaps we’ll come across it at another time. At any rate, yes, God protects Cain. There has been no law given at this time. Cain is a sinner, but he is not a transgressor because there has been no law given about murder. His great sin is that he did not bring the offering that was acceptable to God. His deeds were evil in what he brought to God, and he manifested that evil nature in slaying his brother. Now…let’s take a look at where this eventually leads Cain to.”

“William,” King began as he turned to face Fronk, “you have been uncharacteristically silent for a time. Why don’t you break your silence by reading to us the next passage of scripture. Then, we shall talk about the children of Cain and a Godless Civilization.”

Fronk cleared his throat…a lot. Then, he looked down at his Bible and said in a professorial tone, “I shall read Genesis 4:16 through 24.” He cleared his throat once more. Then, on a more serious level, he read the passage from Genesis 4. “‘And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 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. And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. 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. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.’” With that, Fronk whistled. “Wow! This Lamech must think he is something else!”

“I know a lot of people who dwell in the land of nod,” Barrington replied with a grin. “I’ve seen them when I went to church with my wife.”

Lenox nodded. “Yeah, I’ll just bet you were one of them.”

Staci tried not to smile as she said, “Isn’t betting a sin?”

He grinned at her. “A figure of speech.”

“But really, is there a land of Nod?” Erin inquired.

Fuller shrugged. “As a history buff, I have often wondered just where Nod is located, but there’s only speculation about this today. All we know is that Cain went out and dwelt in that area. Cain got married, had a family and then he began to name things he built by the names of his loved ones.”

“Men have been doing that ever since,” King replied.

Shiva nodded. “Well, sure they have. They love to call streets and cities by their own names or by names of people they love. Even in Christian circles, you’ll find schools named for individuals. We just love to do that, whether Christian or not.”

“But here is where urban life, city life, began. Cain built a city. He called the name of this city after the name of his son, Enoch.”

Lenox sat back in his chair. “I think cities have become one of the biggest problems we have today. We use up so much of this planets resources so fast, it causes our cities to fall and our land becomes a waste land. Yet, people flock into our cities until it is just overflowing.” He paused. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get off subject.”

King nodded. “That’s alright, brother.” He paused. “True as that may be, there is something in this passage of scripture that has had a beginning, so to speak. Does anyone know what that was?”

“Polygamy,” Fuller answered.

King nodded again. “Yes. Here we find the very beginning of polygamy.”

Staci pursed her lips. “Uhm…what exactly is that?”

“That is having more than one wife.”

Fronk snorted. “Now what man in his right mind would go and do something psychotic as marrying more than one wife? He might as well go jump into a lake filled with piranhas!”

Barrington laughed.

Fuller shook his head.

Even King couldn’t help but grin. “Maybe so, my brother. But Lamech had more than one wife. He had two wives. And he does that which is contrary to what God intends. Contrary to what God has for man. You will never find anywhere in the Scriptures that God approves of polygamy. If you read the accounts accurately, you will find that He condemns it. He gives the record of it because He is giving a historical record, and that is the basis on which it is given to us here. Now…let us look at the names of the two wives. Adah and Zillah. Adah means pleasure or adornment.”

Fronk nodded knowingly. “Ah. So she was the first one to make it to the beauty parlor, I guess.”

“Zillah means to hide.”

“Wow! My, my, my! What two girls he had for wives, then. No wonder he had problems.”

Erin shot him a look. “You’re going to have a problem with one in a minute if you don’t settle down.”

Fronk abruptly fell silent.

“Later on, we will discover what has happened,” King continued, nodding his thanks to Erin. “For now, let’s look at the beginning of the Cainitic civilization. What do we discover in verses 20 and 21?”

“We discover that Jabal was the father of those who dwell in tents,” Lenox responded.

Fuller said, “The apostle Paul was a tentmaker.”

“Yes,” King agreed, “but here we find the first housing contractor, so to speak. And here, also, was the first rancher. As we discovered earlier, there are a lot of firsts in the Book of Genesis. In verse 21, we have the first musicians. Now when we hear some of the modern music of today, I’m sure you would agree that it must have begun with Cain’s civilization. And then in verse 22, we also have the first craftsmen. But now…now we come to Lamech who admits that he has killed a man. He says, ‘If Cain got by with it, I can get by with it. After all, Cain did not slay in self-defense, but I have.’ Now we don’t really know whether he did or not. But he does say that he slew in self-defense. We just don’t know whether or not his two wives entered into this, or whether or not he was defending one of them. We’re not told how it happened. However, Lamech feels that he will be avenged seventy and sevenfold. You know, our Lord told Peter that he ought to forgive his enemy that many times.” He paused. “Now, we come to the conclusion of Genesis 4.”

“We come to the end of the chapter,” King pointed out to the group. “Now we will soon be traveling on Route 66 through Adam’s family record, but before we do, we will take just one more stop. The last two verses of Genesis 4 is our last guide post here. Marc, please do the honors if you will.”

“My pleasure.” Shiva read Genesis 4:25 - 26. “‘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. 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 the LORD.’”

King smiled. “What a way to end the chapter. It ends with men calling upon the name of the Lord.”

1 - Romans 10:17
2 - Titus 3:5
3 - Romans 3:25
4 - Romans 10:3
5 - Romans 4:25
6 - James 1:15
7 - I John 3:12
8 - Matthew 10:26