Cain
 In spite of parents’ efforts and worries, conflicts between children in a family seem inevitable. Sibling relationships allow both competition and cooperation. In most cases, the mixture of loving and fighting eventually creates a strong bond between brothers and sisters. It isn’t unusual, though, to hear parents say, "They fight so much I hope they don’t kill each other before they grow up." In Cain’s case, the troubling potential became a reality. And while we don’t know many details of this first child’s life, his story can still teach us.

Cain got angry. Furious. Both he and his brother Abel had given offerings to God, and his had been rejected. Cain’s reaction gives us a clue that his attitude was probably wrong from the start. Cain had a choice to make. He could correct his attitude about his offering to God, or he could take out his anger on his brother. His decision is a clear reminder of how often we are aware of opposite choices, yet choose the wrong just as Cain did. We may not be choosing to murder, but we are still intentionally choosing what we shouldn’t.

The feelings motivating our behavior can’t always be changed by simple thought-power. But here we can begin to experience God’s willingness to help. Asking for his help to do what is right can prevent us from setting into motion actions that we will later regret.

1- Strengths and accomplishments

- First human child
- First to follow in father’s profession, farming

2- Weaknesses and mistakes

- When disappointed, reacted in anger
- Took the negative option even when a positive possibility was offered
- Was the first murderer

3- Lessons from his life

- Anger is not necessarily a sin, but actions motivated by anger can be sinful. Anger should be the energy behind good action, not evil action
- What we offer to God must be from the heart—the best we are and have
- The consequences of sin may last a lifetime

4- Vital statistics

- Where: Near Eden, which was probably located in present-day Iraq or Iran
- Occupation: Farmer, then wanderer
- Relatives: Parents: Adam and Eve. Brothers: Abel, Seth, and others not mentioned by name

5- Key verse

"You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it" (Genesis 4:7).

Cain’s story is told in Genesis 4:1–17. He is also mentioned in Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12; Jude 1:11.

 

Cain

1. The first son of Adam and Eve. Ignoring the fall, he approached God in his own person, and with the fruit of his own toil from the ground that had been cursed. God could accept neither him nor his offerings: life had been forfeited, and man must approach God through the death and excellency of a victim which God could accept. Cain’s anger was kindled because of the acceptance of Abel and his offering, and he slew his brother, notwithstanding that God had reasoned with him respecting his anger. God cursed him from the earth, and set a mark upon him that no avenger of blood should slay him. Cain went out from the presence of God—significant sentence—and in the land of Nod built a city and named it after his son Enoch. #Gen 4 He is held up in the N. T. as an example of wickedness and self-will. #1Jo 3:12 Jude 11. Cain’s act of worship is a notable type of mere human religion—presuming to approach God as if there had been no fall and no sin.

2. The first-born son of Adam and Eve #Ge 4:1ff. He became a tiller of the ground, as his brother Abel followed the pursuits of pastoral life. He was "a sullen, self-willed, haughty, vindictive man; wanting the religious element in his character, and defiant even in his attitude towards God." It came to pass "in process of time" (marg. "at the end of days"), i.e., probably on the Sabbath, that the two brothers presented their offerings to the Lord. Abel’s offering was of the "firstlings of his flock and of the fat," while Cain’s was "of the fruit of the ground." Abel’s sacrifice was "more excellent" #Heb 11:4 than Cain’s, and was accepted by God. On this account Cain was "very wroth," and cherished feelings of murderous hatred against his brother, and was at length guilty of the desperate outrage of putting him to death #1Jo 3:12 For this crime he was expelled from Eden, and henceforth led the life of an exile, bearing upon him some mark which God had set upon him in answer to his own cry for mercy, so that thereby he might be protected from the wrath of his fellow-men; or it may be that God only gave him some sign to assure him that he would not be slain #Ge 4:15 Doomed to be a wanderer and a fugitive in the earth, he went forth into the "land of Nod," i.e., the land of "exile," which is said to have been in the "east of Eden," and there he built a city, the first we read of, and called it after his son’s name, Enoch. His descendants are enumerated to the sixth generation. They gradually degenerated in their moral and spiritual condition till they became wholly corrupt before God. This corruption prevailed, and at length the Deluge was sent by God to prevent the final triumph of evil.