-
†. Gen 4:9 . . Yhvh said to Cain: Where is your brother Abel? And he
said: I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?
The Hebrew word for "keeper" indicates, in this case, a guardian; viz:
responsibility for someone or something put in one's care; for example: Abel
was a keeper of the sheep: a shepherd. (Gen 4:2)
Cain worshipped the True God, same as his brother, and he practiced the
very same rituals; yet responded to his maker's simple question with a lie
and a sarcastic rejoinder. Those who are the Serpent's progeny often act like
that because the Serpent's progeny have a Serpent's tongue.
"You are of your father the Devil, and the desires of your father you want to
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his
own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." (John 8:44-45)
†. Gen 4:10 . .Then He said: What have you done? Hark, your
brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!
The Hebrew word for "cries out" is from tsa'aq (tsaw-ak') and means: to
shriek; which can be defined as a wild, involuntary scream.
Whether or not human blood actually has an audible voice isn't nearly
important as to what it might be saying. And in this case, it certainly
couldn't be good.
In civil law, it's handy to produce the corpus delicti in a homicide case
because it's very useful for proving the reality of a death, and for
establishing the cause, and the time, of its occurrence. It's interesting that
God didn't produce Abel's body for evidence. He could have, but instead
relied upon the voice of his body's blood. So a murder victim's blood can be
introduced as a witness in the courts of Heaven. That is very interesting.
Abel's blood accuses. In contrast, Christ's blood defends (e.g. Rom 5:6-11,
Heb 12:24, and 1Pet 1:18-19). That's a whole lot more to people's
advantage.
†. Gen 4:11 . .Therefore, you shall be more cursed than the ground
which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your
hand.
The original curse upon the soil reduced its agrarian productivity. But the
curse upon Cain brought his agrarian productivity to a complete and
irrevocable end.
†. Gen 4:12 . . If you till the soil, it shall no longer yield its strength
to you. You shall become a ceaseless wanderer on earth.
Ceaseless wandering was an inevitable consequence of the inability to raise
an adequate amount of your own food in that day and age. Nobody was
eating meat yet, so the soil was pretty much it as far as nourishment went.
Cain went on to become a very hungry, very overworked man. Wherever he
tried to farm, the ground would respond in such a way as to act infertile. The
curse was leveled right at his diet and the source of his food. Up till now,
Cain had been a successful, independent farmer. But no amount of
agricultural wisdom would ever restore his independence, nor his once green
thumb no matter how hard he tried to overcome it. Cain had crossed over a
line and there was no going back.
Since Cain could no longer sustain himself by farming, it would be difficult to
settle down and build himself a home; so he was forced to become
migratory and forage for seasonal foods like the uncivilized beast that he
was. It was poetic justice. The punishment sure fit his personality. If he was
going to act like a brute, then he deserved to live like one.
Though the Bible doesn't say; it would seem to me a reasonable assumption
that the curse upon Cain extended to his posterity (cf. Num 14:18). Up
ahead we'll see that they became renowned as a commercial/industrial
society rather than agrarian. As time went by, and the Adams family
multiplied and spread out; Cain's community no doubt traded with them
using income from the sale of manufactured goods to barter for the foods
that they themselves were unable to grow. Dependence upon imported food
may not be ideal; but it's certainly better than going hungry.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
†. Gen 4:9 . . Yhvh said to Cain: Where is your brother Abel? And he
said: I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?
The Hebrew word for "keeper" indicates, in this case, a guardian; viz:
responsibility for someone or something put in one's care; for example: Abel
was a keeper of the sheep: a shepherd. (Gen 4:2)
Cain worshipped the True God, same as his brother, and he practiced the
very same rituals; yet responded to his maker's simple question with a lie
and a sarcastic rejoinder. Those who are the Serpent's progeny often act like
that because the Serpent's progeny have a Serpent's tongue.
"You are of your father the Devil, and the desires of your father you want to
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his
own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." (John 8:44-45)
†. Gen 4:10 . .Then He said: What have you done? Hark, your
brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!
The Hebrew word for "cries out" is from tsa'aq (tsaw-ak') and means: to
shriek; which can be defined as a wild, involuntary scream.
Whether or not human blood actually has an audible voice isn't nearly
important as to what it might be saying. And in this case, it certainly
couldn't be good.
In civil law, it's handy to produce the corpus delicti in a homicide case
because it's very useful for proving the reality of a death, and for
establishing the cause, and the time, of its occurrence. It's interesting that
God didn't produce Abel's body for evidence. He could have, but instead
relied upon the voice of his body's blood. So a murder victim's blood can be
introduced as a witness in the courts of Heaven. That is very interesting.
Abel's blood accuses. In contrast, Christ's blood defends (e.g. Rom 5:6-11,
Heb 12:24, and 1Pet 1:18-19). That's a whole lot more to people's
advantage.
†. Gen 4:11 . .Therefore, you shall be more cursed than the ground
which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your
hand.
The original curse upon the soil reduced its agrarian productivity. But the
curse upon Cain brought his agrarian productivity to a complete and
irrevocable end.
†. Gen 4:12 . . If you till the soil, it shall no longer yield its strength
to you. You shall become a ceaseless wanderer on earth.
Ceaseless wandering was an inevitable consequence of the inability to raise
an adequate amount of your own food in that day and age. Nobody was
eating meat yet, so the soil was pretty much it as far as nourishment went.
Cain went on to become a very hungry, very overworked man. Wherever he
tried to farm, the ground would respond in such a way as to act infertile. The
curse was leveled right at his diet and the source of his food. Up till now,
Cain had been a successful, independent farmer. But no amount of
agricultural wisdom would ever restore his independence, nor his once green
thumb no matter how hard he tried to overcome it. Cain had crossed over a
line and there was no going back.
Since Cain could no longer sustain himself by farming, it would be difficult to
settle down and build himself a home; so he was forced to become
migratory and forage for seasonal foods like the uncivilized beast that he
was. It was poetic justice. The punishment sure fit his personality. If he was
going to act like a brute, then he deserved to live like one.
Though the Bible doesn't say; it would seem to me a reasonable assumption
that the curse upon Cain extended to his posterity (cf. Num 14:18). Up
ahead we'll see that they became renowned as a commercial/industrial
society rather than agrarian. As time went by, and the Adams family
multiplied and spread out; Cain's community no doubt traded with them
using income from the sale of manufactured goods to barter for the foods
that they themselves were unable to grow. Dependence upon imported food
may not be ideal; but it's certainly better than going hungry.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=