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The God of the Old Testament – Part 11: Dealing with the World’s First Murderer

By Mark L. Carlton

I misspoke in last week’s message when I said that the flood was the second recorded instance of God’s judgment of sin.  I forgot about his judgment of the first murderer, Cain.  God’s judgment of Cain is  too important to skip over so this message will be taking a look at it, but before we talk about Cain I want to reflect on a few of the things God’s first judgment, and the one we’re about to look at, teach us about God.

Paul points out that we can discern the existence of God through the things he has made.[i]  I have referred to this natural revelation as, “The Silent Sermon,” because on the basis of the 19^th Psalm, “Day to day pours out speech, and night after night pours out knowledge.”[ii]

The Psalmist is telling us that everywhere in the world, really, everywhere in the universe, every moment in time the glory of God is being declared to every rational being through the things that God has made.  Paul adds that the silent sermon reveals the existence of God to everyone.  As a result, every man and woman who has ever lived is responsible for their response to at least one sermon that they cannot not have heard, the silent sermon.  But though the silent sermon does reveal certain things about God, there are other things that we learn about God through the record of his special dealings with the human race.

We learn a great deal about God from the judgment of Adam and Eve.  We see that He is not a God to leave the guilty unpunished, but in the midst of their judgment we can also see his love for the sinful couple through his mercy.   The postponement of physical death for many years is mercy.  The covering of their nakedness with the skins of animals is mercy and also the first indication that sin can only be covered through the shedding of the blood of the innocent; an animal that was not involved in any way in the transgression of Adam and Eve had to die to provide them with the skins that covered their shame.

 The earth was cursed and broken, but not completely.  Man would have to work hard, but the earth would still produce food for him.  One of the great mercies shown to the fallen couple was the posting of cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life, so that they or their descendents would not eat the fruit of the tree and live forever in their sins.  But the greatest mercy of all was the gift of hope, the hope that one day the woman’s seed would crush the serpent’s head.  This is the first prophecy in the Bible of the coming Messiah and his suffering.  The serpent’s head would be crushed, someday, but the heel of the one who crushed it would be bruised.  I have often wondered if those who removed the body of Jesus from the cross remembered these words when they looked at the bruised heals of the Messiah as they prepared His body for burial.

So in Genesis three we begin to learn that that there is a moral order in the universe; and the creator, whose character is reflected in this moral order, is the one who judges and punishes those who violate the moral order.   Being the creator gives Him this right. The potter has right over the clay.[iii]  But we also learn that His judge is tempered with mercy, and from this we infer that He must have love and compassion for us.  Why else would he promise to send the woman’s son to crush the serpent’s head?  And at such cost!  Why else would He offer His amazing grace to save a wretch like me?

 Now we move on.  The sin that was first seen in the couple in the garden has now manifested itself in their first born son.  His brother is lying in the field, his blood soaking into the ground.  Cain thought that no one saw when He rose up against his brother in the field, but God was watching, and his brother’s blood is crying out to God for justice.

From the genealogies we learn that the first murder happened almost 130 years after creation.[iv]  This means that the human race may well have numbered in the thousands when Cain killed Abel.  If this is indeed the case it may be that Cain was a clan or tribal leader.  This helps us to make sense of the text that tells us Cain built a city and named it after his first born son, Enoch.  It seems likely that after his judgment when he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden, he took others with him.  

Now as you read the previous paragraph you may be asking yourself that old question, “Where did Cain get his wife?”  Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam had other sons and daughters in addition to Cain, Abel and Seth.   Cain and these other sons must have taken wives from among their sisters, nieces, cousin, etc.  Some object to this obvious answer by pointing to the Law’s condemnation of incestuous relationships.  To answer this objection I refer the reader to the first message in this series where I discussed the principle of progressive revelation.  But to summarize it briefly; God did not reveal his moral will to the human race all at once.  Rather, he revealed it gradually over time.  And, as Paul explains in Romans 5:13,” sin is not imputed when there is no law.”  But don’t let this idea that early man married their sisters, nieces and cousins bother you.  Even if you are an evolutionist you have to believe the same thing. 

After all, the evolution of a single couple capable of reproducing through random mutation and natural selection would, given the odds against it, be a remarkable thing.   But assuming it happened.  Where did that first couple’s sons get their wives?   I think we reach the same conclusion whether we believe in mitochondrial Eve or the Eve of the Bible.

But let’s get back to the subject of the judgment of God.  I don’t want to get hung up in the details of the sacrifices that were offered or God’s attempt to encourage Cain to do the right thing, or the murder itself.   I want to focus on just two things: (1) God’s statement that, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground”; and (2) Cain’s response to God’s judgment.

The first observation I would like to make is that the blood of the innocent cries out to God for justice.  Thus we learn that the creator of the world is also its judge, the one responsible for seeing to it that the guilty do not go unpunished.    In Genesis four we learn that innocent blood cries out to God for vengeance.  But as we continue reading through the Genesis we will learn that other sins do the same.[v]   An understanding of this principle is indispensible to an understanding of the God of the Old Testament and the defense I am making of Him. 

My defense of the God of the Old Testament rests on this principle; that when the moral order of the universe is violated, whether by Cain or by you or me, a cry for justice rises to the God of the universe.  God is loving and merciful; because of this His judgment is often postponed.  Paul speaks of this and warns us not to misunderstand the patience of God. [vi]  Peter speaks of the same thing.[vii]   But though the wheels of divine justice often grind slow, they grind sure, and as it was revealed to Moses, the goodness of God requires that He not leave the guilty unpunished.[viii]

Notice now Cain’s response to the judgment he received.  I would suggest he received an incredibly light sentence, considering the nature of the crime. He was banished from the land he loved, he was denied access to the presence of God, and sent into the world as a vagabond.   But notice the wickedness of the Cain’s heart.  Instead of responding to the mercy he received with gratitude, Cain responded by complaining that his punishment was “too great to bear.”  His only concern seems to be that someone would hunt him down and do the same thing to him that he had done to his brother.

In Cain’s response I see a picture of the consistent reaction of the human race to the grace that God pours out upon us.  Isn’t it just like us to look at the way God treats this fallen world, which is actually quite gracious considering the nature of our sin, and complain that He is not being fair?    

Could it be that the guilty are not really the best judges of the fairness of their sentence or the conditions on death row?   I think of this whenever I hear Richard Dawkins or one of his parrots hurling accusations against the God of the Bible.  I wonder what makes them imagine that they are morally qualified to judge their judge; and I shudder at the foolishness of a person who would rail against the one who may just end up passing sentence on them. 

“Ah, but I don’t believe in God,” they may protest.   And they may be right.  Perhaps God does not exist.  But just in case they are wrong, does it not make some level of sense to cool the rhetoric?

Finally, I note that as far as we know Cain never responded to the mercy of God.  As far as we know, he never repented.  This too is a picture of the history of our fallen race. Again and again, God has extended His mercy and grace to the worst of sinners, only to have it thrown back in His face. 

These days some are shaking their fists at God as they throw his mercy back in His face, and they call Him all sorts of terrible names.  Based on their reading of the Old Testament they think they have found justification for it.  But when I read the Old Testament I read a different narrative.  I read the story of the unrequited love of God.  I see Him calling out to fallen Adam, “Where are you?”  And I see him giving mercy, again and again and again; but I see the mercy rejected again and again and again too.  Finally, when justice can be postponed no longer I see God do what He refers to as His strange work,[ix] and judging those who in spite of all His efforts, refuse to repent.