Cain is going to be sent away from the family farm where he spilled his brother's blood. For the rest of his life he won't be able to succeed at his favorite occupation---farming. This will be a lifelong reminder to him of the consequences of sin.
"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?'" (Genesis 4:9a) Just as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden, the Lord asks a question in order to give Cain an opportunity to confess. Confession is the first step toward repentance. But Cain lies to the Lord instead. "'I don't know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's keeper?'" (Genesis 4:9b) His reply to the Lord comes across as flippant and sarcastic. I can't say whether or not he feels any sorrow for his sin, but we can tell from his answer to the Lord that he fears his sin being found out. The Bible warns: "You may be sure that your sin will find you out." (Numbers 23b) It's so much better if we go straight to the Lord as soon as we realize we've messed up. He knows our sins anyway; we might as well get them out into the open as soon as possible. When we try to hide our sin instead of confessing it, we run the risk of hardening our hearts against the Lord. Then we may find it easier and easier to sin against Him until we get to the point where we don't feel bothered by sin at all. That's not a good place to be. That puts the Lord in the position of having to humble and discipline us in order to get us back on track. I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy being humbled and disciplined by the Lord. He's had to humble and discipline me at times and it hasn't been pleasant for me or for Him. If we confess our mistakes as soon as we realize we've made them, we can avoid a lot of unpleasantness "trips to the woodshed", so to speak. We can avoid causing the Lord to feel fatherly sorrow when He has to discipline us for our own good.
Nothing can be hidden from God. I know sometimes it seems to us that wicked people are getting away with all sorts of crimes and murders. There are thousands of unsolved murders on the books and thousands of unsolved missing persons cases. We wonder when or if justice is coming, but the Bible promises: "There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open." (Luke 8:17) No murder will go unavenged, for the Lord says: "The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will concel its slain no longer." (Isaiah 26:21) There are wicked people who have never had to face punishment in a court of human law, but they will face punishment in God's courtroom for the innocent blood they have shed.
In our passage today, the Lord is going to deal with Cain's sin right here and now. There is no human justice system in place yet, so Cain can't be arrested by police, charged with the crime of murder, and tried in a courtroom before a jury. God Himself---who witnessed the crime---is going to charge, try, and convict Cain. "The Lord said, 'What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops to you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." (Genesis 4:10-12)
When Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden, Adam was told he would have to toil for his food from then on. Adam was able to work the ground, but he had to fight the thorns and weeds to do so. Cain won't be able to work the ground at all. In tomorrow's study we will see that Cain feels his punishment is too much to bear, but in complaining about his punishment Cain seems to be blind to the fact that the Lord could have sentenced him to capital punishment for taking the life of an innocent man. The Lord had the right to say to Cain, "A life for a life! You killed your brother in cold blood, and for this crime you will be sentenced to death." But instead the Lord passed a sentence that is comparable to life without parole. Cain won't be locked up behind bars, but for the rest of his life he won't be free to do what he loves most. Imagine if you couldn't do or have what matters most to you in life. This is quite a severe sentence, but it's still more merciful than what Cain deserved.
The mercy of God is something none of us should ever take for granted, and I hope as time went on Cain didn't take it for granted. God could have killed Cain right then and there. The Messiah isn't going to come from Cain's line, so cutting off Cain's family line will have no impact on the bloodline of the coming Savior and King. But God is so merciful! His mercies are new every morning! Aren't we thankful for that? God could have thrown in the towel on us a long time ago, but He didn't. God could have given up on me during the years when I was living in sin without the light of Christ in my life. But He kept extending mercy to me instead. He kept calling me to repentance. He kept calling me to faith in His Son. In not sentencing Cain to capital punishment, God is giving him a lifetime in which to repent and be made right with Him.
Did Cain ever repent? The Bible doesn't specifically tell us so, but as we study Cain's reaction to his punishment in tomorrow's passage, we will take a look at why some scholars believe he did.
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