Genesis 4:8, commentary and pictures

Cain talked with Abel his brother about their sacrifices, and when they were in the field he rose up against him and slew him. It was the first death in the human family, the first shedding of innocent blood and the first murder. He killed him from anger, envy and hatred because his own disobedient offering without blood was rejected while Abel's obedient offering of a lamb pointing to the promised Redeemer was accepted. Under Satan's working his jealousy over Abel's righteousness, which condemned his own evil course, ripened into revenge and violence when Abel would not abandon God's way for his own. Thus the two brothers stand as the first representatives of the two classes of worshipers, the obedient and the disobedient, and the slaying is the beginning of persecution of the righteous for godliness.

Words and Setting

Genesis 4:8 belongs to the account of Cain and Abel, whose characters stood in contrast, for Cain was rebellious and murmured against God while Abel was meek and submitted to God's authority, and both were tested for obedience after being taught God's provision for salvation through sacrificial offerings pointing to the promised Redeemer. Cain talked with Abel his brother about their sacrifices, arguing with him, and then when they were in the field he rose up against him and slew him. The killing followed God's acceptance of Abel's offering with no sign of recognition for Cain's, and God's reasoning with angry Cain over his wrath and fallen countenance rather than giving up His own way and will to conciliate him, becoming the necessary contention between Cain insisting on his own plans and Abel steadfastly carrying out God's directions and refusing to be converted to Cain's way because he could not concede without disobedience to God's special commands. Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel a keeper of sheep, showing that healthful employment of the physical powers continued after Eden. The verse belongs to the whole story told in Genesis 4 of departure from God's plain commands, a departure that filled the world with transgression and sin and led to God's work in destroying the world.

The slaying in the field was the first death in this world, caused by jealousy and hatred. It was the first death in the human family and the first time Adam encountered death among his descendants. It was the first shedding of innocent blood on earth, when righteous Abel was killed by his brother Cain. It was the first murder, beginning the record of righteous people slain for faithfulness to God.

When Cain rose up and slew Abel there was a Witness, the heavenly Watcher who established the system of sacrifices and offerings, who saw the whole transaction. Afterward Cain walked away from the lifeless body left lying on the ground, a deed revealing what man becomes apart from Christ.

Motives for Murder

Cain refused to correct his wrong course after God warned him, talking with Abel while still in opposition to God and putting the blame for his rejected offering on Abel and on God. He would not listen to God's warning, though he was not forced to act unrighteously and could have chosen to do well.

He was angry that his own offering was not accepted because of his disobedience while the offering of Abel his younger brother was accepted. He was angry with Abel for maintaining that God is just, and his anger was directed against both Abel and God. He charged God with partiality while Abel pleaded with him. He spoke many things hot with passion against Abel and against the Lord and nothing against himself while justifying his own course, exceedingly wroth not with himself but with Abel and with the Lord. He refused to see that his own disobedience had made his offering unacceptable, and refused to answer God, turning instead to Abel with words hot with passion because Abel would not sustain him in disregard of God's requirements.

His anger grew from jealousy, envy, hatred, bitterness and malice because Abel was preferred before him. It grew because Abel's works were righteous and his own were evil, and because Abel's blameless life and right-doing condemned his sinful course and cast reproach upon him. Abel meekly pointed out Cain's error and appealed to God's compassion, yet Cain's anger grew until he killed him in the field. Envy is the offspring of pride, and if entertained in the heart it will lead to hatred and eventually to revenge and murder, revealing the murderous nature of hatred and the absence of brotherly love.

Abel pleaded with Cain, repeated God's own command and definite directions about the offerings required, and tried to reason with him in the field. Cain was provoked that his younger brother presumed to teach him, being the elder he thought Abel should follow his example, and he hated Abel because God favored him and showed him favor by holy fire consuming the sacrifice. He preferred his own plan and expected Abel to follow it, insisting his own plans were best and that the Lord would come to his terms. He rejected the offering of a slain lamb because it reminded him of sin and expressed dependence on a power outside himself, feeling as torture to his proud, high spirit the keeping of sin ever before the mind and the confession of entire dependence, and thinking Adam had been treated harshly in being expelled from Eden. God condescended to explain matters to him, but he would not be reconciled to God.

He would not sustain Abel's loyalty and would not join Abel's obedience but insisted on carrying out his own plans in his offering and demanded Abel follow him. Abel steadfastly carried out God's directions, decided to obey God, and refused to be converted to Cain's way, since he could not concede without disobedience to God's special commands. Abel brought his sacrifice in obedience to express direction, presenting the blood of a slain lamb representing the blood of Christ, while Cain reasoned it made no difference whether he presented firstfruits of the ground or offered a lamb and made his offering according to his own human ideas. Because Cain could not triumph over his brother and could not compel Abel to disobey God and leave the way of the Lord for his brother's way, the necessary contention between Cain's way and God's way ended when he rose up in anger in the field and took his life. Abel did not use force to make Cain obey God.

Abel reproved Cain for disregarding God's expressed requirements and gave him a straight, decided warning by repeating God's express direction that every sacrificial offering was to be accompanied by a slain lamb as acknowledgment and confession of sin and as representation of Christ saving the fallen race by becoming Himself the great Sacrifice. Cain's offering was faultless except that he did not follow God's plan by bringing a lamb. Cain thought Abel had done him damage, became very angry because Abel told him God's directions, and rose up against him in the field and slew him. Those reproved for a wrong course that harms God's cause and imperils souls may rise up in indignation against God's messenger and seek to bring the law against him, though in doing so they bring it against Christ who gave the reproof and warning, the act of a heart accustomed to resistance turning to harm the one who reproved him. His avarice and hypocrisy having been reproved by truth he could not controvert, and the noble, spotless character of righteousness standing far higher than his own, he was intent on putting the righteous one out of the way.

He saw his mistake in offering only his own substance without the fitting sacrifice of a lamb, but he determined to vindicate himself and condemn Abel. He had obeyed Satan, who told him he need not follow God's express command to present a slain lamb as an offering, heeding the voice of the great apostate instead of the voice of the true and living God. It was the same deception by which Adam was told he need not obey God and would not die for transgressing the law.

Under Satan's inspiration his wrath rose until he slew his brother, Satan working through him and inspiring the desire to slay him. Evil spirits worked with Cain, energizing him as a child of rebellion and disobedience. Satan, the parent of unbelief, murmuring and rebellion, filled him with doubt and madness against God and against Abel because his offering was refused and Abel's was accepted. In insane madness he killed his innocent brother, hating a purity that reproved his sins and refusing to repent, acknowledge his need of a Redeemer, and renounce his evil ways. His refusal to connect blood with his offering of the fruit of the ground expressed his refusal to show repentance for sin and faith in a coming Saviour, which his proud heart felt as dependence and humiliation, while Abel in solemn faith offered the blood of beasts signifying he was a sinner with sins to put away, penitent, believing in the efficacy of the blood of the future great offering.

Sacrifice and Obedience

God had shown that He would accept His created beings only through implicit obedience to His law, and in the field Abel tried to reason with Cain and laid before him God's definite directions about the offerings to be made to Him, but Cain did not change his attitude and under Satan's inspiration his wrath rose until he slew him. God directed that every sacrificial offering brought to Him was to be accompanied by a slain lamb as the acknowledgment and confession of sin and as a representation of Christ, who was to save the fallen race by becoming Himself the great Sacrifice. Cain's offering was faultless except that he did not follow God's plan by bringing a lamb, and because Abel told him and repeated God's express direction Cain became very angry and killed him.

Cain and Abel were the first representatives of two great classes of worshipers. Abel came as a sinner in solemn faith offering the blood of beasts, signifying that he was a sinner with sins to put away, that he was penitent, and that he believed in the efficacy of the blood of the future great offering, relying on God's unearned love. Cain considered himself righteous and brought only a thank-offering of the fruit of the ground without blood, without confessing sin or recognizing his need of mercy. He refused to connect blood with his offering, refusing to show repentance for sin and faith in a coming Saviour and to acknowledge his need of a Redeemer, which his proud, high spirit felt as dependence and humiliation.

To Cain the blood reminded him of sin and expressed dependence on a power outside himself, and the idea of keeping sin ever before the mind and offering the blood of the slain lamb as a confession of entire dependence upon a Power outside of himself was torture to his high spirit. He thought his father Adam had been treated harshly in being expelled from Eden. Being the eldest he thought Abel as the younger brother should follow his example and that the Lord would come to his terms, for he thought his own plans were best and preferred his own plan while Abel was determined to worship God according to the direction God had given. God gave evidence of acceptance of Abel by holy fire consuming the sacrifice and gave no sign of recognizing Cain's, then condescended to explain matters to him and promised acceptance if he did well while warning that sin lay at the door and must be ruled over, but Cain would not be reconciled to God and hated Abel because God showed him favor.

Cain made his offering according to his own human ideas and human inventions, exalting his own judgment above God, reasoning and arguing that it made no difference whether he presented the firstfruits of the ground or offered a lamb, and God rejected it and will never accept the spurious for the true. Because he could not triumph over his brother he rose up in anger and took his life. His refusal to offer the blood of the Son of God meant he would not acknowledge himself as a sinner lost and undone in need of a Saviour and would not believe in the only-begotten Son of God, acting on the deceiver's counsel to refuse God's command to present a slain lamb. Whoever blinds himself to light, hardens his conscience, and will not acknowledge his lost condition and need of a Saviour does as Cain did, refuses the provision for removal of sin, and his sin remains upon him.

God's law already existed in Abel's day, the same law Satan refused to obey and Adam transgressed, and Abel kept the commandment of the Lord and was murdered because he obeyed it. Recognizing one's sin and need is the first condition of acceptance with God. God had prepared sacrificial offerings whose shed blood typified and symbolized the blood of Christ to be shed for the world, with Christ as the foundation of the whole system in the school of obedience to save sinners by the blood of Jesus Christ. Cain refused the shedding of blood, refusing salvation by Christ, and Abel's death was the consequence and the beginning of the ceremonial system's work as schoolmaster to bring sinful human agents to consider Christ as the foundation of the whole Jewish economy.

The killing exposes the mark of false religion, which opposes the way and will of God and bears the marks of oppression even to the taking of human life, working by disregarding a Thus saith the Lord and working with deceiving power on human minds since the fall of Adam. Abel brought his sacrifice in obedience to the express direction of God while Cain exalted his own judgment above God and determined to bring an offering according to his own ideas, and when God approved Abel and refused Cain's offering, Abel's righteous obedience condemned Cain's sinful course. Cain's substitution is the same as men honoring a day of their own inventing rather than the day God blessed, setting aside the Sabbath command for a spurious day and offering what God never commanded while ignoring what He plainly commanded, and accepting a spurious rest day and exalting Sunday above the Sabbath of the Bible is choosing a religion like that of Cain, dishonoring God by putting human invention in place of God's requirement and becoming angry at God's commandment-keeping people who will not respect it.

Two Classes in Conflict

Cain and Abel stand as the first representatives of the two great classes that would exist from the fall to the second coming and till the close of earth's history, the wicked unbelievers and the righteous believers, the disobedient and the obedient. Abel stands for obedience, for the well-doer who keeps God's holy law and keeps the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, who loved and revered God and was accepted and blessed. Cain stands for refusal to do God's expressed will, for those who follow their own way, disregard God and His commandments, follow a corrupt course, oppress and persecute their fellow men, and follow Satan as accuser of God and of those made perfect through obedience.

The slaying shows that the wicked will envy and hate the righteous because they are better than themselves, because their right-doing condemns the wicked's sinful course and exposes selfishness and corruption. Abel's godly character rebuked Cain's sin, and his righteousness exposed and rebuked Cain's evil. The same hatred of goodness and resistance to the Holy Spirit leads to killing God's people, to rejecting and crucifying Christ whose purity likewise provoked rejection, and to hatred and opposition against faithful disciples who follow sin not.

Abel's death begins the record of righteous people slain for their faithfulness to God, beginning with the first shedding of innocent blood when righteous Abel fell by the hand of Cain. That same history was repeated in every age with increasing guilt, as prophets lifted up their voices against sin, speaking the words God gave them and obeying Him at peril of their lives. From Abel to Christ a terrible punishment was heaped up for rejecters of light and truth, and by rejecting Christ the priests and rulers made themselves responsible for the blood of all the righteous slain from Abel to Christ, filling to overflowing their cup of iniquity soon to be poured upon their heads in retributive justice.

The killing was the first persecution after the fall and the first slaying of one of the Lord's chosen, the beginning of persecution of God's chosen for godliness driven by bitter hostility against unlikeness to the world. It stands at the opening of Scripture history as counterpart to the final persecution in prophecy against those who refuse the mark of the beast, showing that persecution of the righteous both opens and closes the conflict. Its underlying principle and spirit has slain God's chosen ever since, opposing Christ Himself and awaiting all who live godly in Christ Jesus and are imbued with His Spirit; its outward form changes with the times but its underlying spirit remains the same, so that following Christ means expecting self-denial, reproach and persecution rather than earthly glory and a life free from trial. That beginning came from a cold, critical, unforgiving, accusing spirit devoid of love, and from the will to force a brother to comply with his own ideas of what is right when milder means fail, which is the secret of all religious laws ever enacted and all persecution, including what the Jews did in the days of Christ and what the church has done whenever she has lost the grace of Christ and, destitute of the power of love, has reached for the strong arm of the State to enforce her dogmas and execute her decrees, whereas Christ does not drive but draws men unto Him and employs only the constraint of love. Abel was the first martyr, an early example of suffering endured by those true to God.

The conflict developed the two principles of right and wrong and represents the clash of two orders in humanity. Abel was faithful and loyal to God and was preferred by the Lord, while Cain was disloyal and wished his own ideas, methods and plans to have supremacy, claiming that place as the eldest. Abel protested against Cain's principles as disloyal and would not concede to his views, and Cain became very angry because Abel would not concede, and his anger burned so hot that he killed his brother.

Abel did not use force to make Cain obey God, while Cain, inspired by Satan and filled with wrath, used force because he could not compel Abel to disobey God and could not control his conscience. It was the first working of false religion against true religion, in which the disobedient under a false standard use law and compulsion, including compelling worship of a false sabbath, while true worshipers keep God's commandments. Evil spirits energized Cain as a child of rebellion and disobedience, working effectually in him with the same apostate spirit that moves religious persecutors to silence those calling to obedience and to provoke the loyal to become disloyal as Cain tried to provoke Abel. Cain was unrighteous and disobedient to God's holy law, and demoniacal hatred led him to rend and destroy a man formed in the divine similitude because he could not make him disloyal. That killing reveals the spirit of Cain, which is the spirit of persecution, religious bigotry and revenge that would force conscience and destroy life, whose indulgence is the strongest evidence of possessing it, opposite to Christ who came not to destroy men's lives but to save them and is kind even to enemies, who ever showed mercy, never afflicted or tortured rejecters, never compelled service, but seeks to win the soul to surrender and obedience through love and the Holy Spirit's transforming power.

The same apostate spirit that moved Cain moved the priests and rulers against Jesus, working in the children of disobedience to silence those calling to obedience. Cain rose up from furious anger because his avarice and hypocrisy had been reproved and he could not controvert the truth, and because the noble, spotless character of righteousness and goodness stood far higher than his own, so he was intent on putting the righteous one out of the way; the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees repeated Cain's act when Christ laid open their ignorance and rebuked their avarice and hypocrisy with true arguments they could not answer. The same satanic inspiration moved the Jews when, though Pilate found no fault in Christ, they fiercely pressed false charges to have Him put to death, from a murderous determination to destroy life rather than to save it. Abel being dead yet speaks by his righteous sacrifice, but the blood of Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant speaks better things than that of Abel, and those who turn away from Him that speaks from heaven will not escape.

The scene was often repeated when innocent Abel falling before his murderous brother became the picture of Rome's determination to blot the Waldenses from the earth for holding the faith of the ancient church as a constant testimony to Rome's apostasy and for refusing to surrender the Scriptures, sending terrible crusades and inquisitors against God's people in their mountain homes out of bitter hatred, hunting them down and killing them for holding to the faith.

The same spirit that moved Cain to murder his innocent, righteous brother beloved of his father was fastening upon Joseph's brothers, so that they hated Joseph because he was innocent and righteous and beloved of his father while they were wicked and a grief to their father, admiring his purity and goodness yet refusing to leave their wicked course to become virtuous and noble like him, that same spirit kindling toward Joseph when his inspired character and purity exposed their sin. Cain rose up because he hated a purity that reproved his sins and would not renounce his evil ways, hating truth and the precepts of God with a hatred put into his heart by Satan. Satan will imbue human minds with the same hatred when enmity against the law of God becomes intense in prevailing iniquity at the end, producing persecution of God's people.

Curse Grief and Judgment

The murder brought a second heavy curse upon the ground after Adam's transgression, a double curse felt far more heavily than the first. It did not immediately strip the earth of its beauty and abundance. Cain's neglect of the specific requirement to mingle the blood of a slain lamb with his offering was the first step of disobedience in following his own will, ideas and reason, and that step led to his brother's death. Placing one's own judgment against God's warns that self-will blends with Satan's will and leads where was not contemplated.

Abel's death was Adam's first encounter with death in the human family, making the reality of death known to him. It deepened his grief and remorse over his own transgression and the misery it brought upon his descendants. He was left doubly bereaved in Abel's death and Cain's rejection, bowed down with anguish and the keenest remorse for his own sin, grieving also over Cain as the murderer and over the curse pronounced on him. It began his nearly thousand-year beholding of the wide-spreading results of sin.

Adam related the rupture in his family ending in Abel's death to his children and to their children to the ninth generation, together with the perfections of his Eden home and his fall and its dreadful results. He used it to teach the necessity of strictly adhering to God's law, to declare that sin will be punished in whatever form it exists, and to entreat obedience to God who will deal mercifully with those who love and fear Him.

The murder merited the sentence of death, yet a merciful Creator spared the first murderer's life and gave him opportunity for repentance. That sparing demonstrated to the universe what results from permitting sin to go unpunished, giving a lesson in the great controversy illustrating what would happen if the sinner were permitted to live forever carrying out rebellion against God. Cain used that prolonged life only to harden his heart, to rebel against divine authority, and, led on by Satan, to become a tempter and the head of a line of bold, abandoned sinners whose example and demoralizing influence corrupted the earth and filled it with violence until it called for its destruction by the Flood. Fifteen centuries later the crime and pollution flooding the earth was the fruition of Cain's influence and example, for divine forbearance only made the wicked more bold and defiant.

The history of the antediluvians proves that long life is not a blessing to the sinner and that great forbearance does not repress wickedness, for the longer men lived the more corrupt they became. The evils that followed from sparing Cain prove that prompt punishment of transgression is mercy, to prevent greater evils, save the many by punishing the few, and cut sinners short in love before they destroy one another. This makes manifest that the sentence of death pronounced on the fallen race for transgressing God's law is both just and merciful, because the longer men live in sin the more abandoned they become, and the divine sentence cutting short a career of unbridled iniquity and freeing the world from the influence of those hardened in rebellion is a blessing rather than a curse. Sparing Cain thus proves that the rebels at Sinai could not be spared, for unless punishment had been speedily visited the same results would have followed on a larger scale, the earth becoming as corrupt as in the days of Noah, with evils greater than resulted from sparing Cain, requiring judgments upon millions to save the many by punishing the few.

The day Cain lifted his hand against Abel marks the beginning of the world's rejection of every provision heaven has made to restore the moral image of God in man, a rejection continuing among atheists and worldly religionists. It is the beginning of the history of the world under sin and of the unceasing conflict between good and evil. From that death comes the suffering and sorrow, tears and death that became the lot of man, revealing the terrible effects of transgression of God's law. At the grave of Lazarus Jesus saw that whole history from Abel onward and the years to come, with His heart pierced by the pain of the human family of all ages and in all lands and the weight of the grief of ages heavy upon His soul, and longing to relieve all their distress broke up the fountain of His tears.

The murder continued the evil opened in Paradise when Satan deceived Adam and Eve, with a divided family in which Cain chose to serve Satan and Abel chose to serve God. Cain killed his brother because Abel would not follow Cain's example. Through the senses Satan gained control of man's power of action, turning man from reflecting the moral image of his Creator to selfishness bearing Satan's selfish image instead. Sin thus became a universal, dreadful evil extending down through influence to children and through the ages.

Warning and Application

To have the spirit of Cain is to be governed by deadly hatred that can lead to killing a brother, for indulging one known sin deadens the conscience and makes the next temptation easier to yield to until step by step the heart is hardened and sin ripens into crime. That killing reveals the spirit of persecution, religious bigotry and revenge that would force the conscience of others and destroy men's lives, and indulging and manifesting that persecuting spirit is the strongest evidence that a man possesses the spirit of Cain. That spirit is the opposite of the Spirit of Christ, who came not to destroy men's lives but to save them and who is kind even to enemies.

Cherished envy, mistrust and selfishness lead to standing aloof, taking no part and staying away, which shows a person is not right with God. This spirit is dangerous and will ruin the soul unless it is worked away by earnest effort, by putting trust in God, by working away from selfishness with an eye single to the glory of God, and by closely investigating motives and feelings by the Word of God and cleansing the soul temple from envy and mistrust and selfishness. The Cain-spirit of cherished hatred is next of kin to murder and must not be allowed to enter the heart. That spirit is hatred in the heart toward others when the ideas and methods one calls truth are not accepted and appreciated by them, showing itself in angry passion, obstinacy and evil-surmising, and proving that Christ is not dwelling within, since His presence removes hatred and reveals itself in good words, pleasant actions and sweetness of temper.

Cain rose up in envy, jealousy, hate, bitterness and malice and slew Abel because Cain's own works were evil and Abel's were righteous, Abel bringing his sacrifice in obedience to the express direction of God while Cain exalted his own judgment above God and determined to bring an offering according to his own ideas. When God approved Abel and refused Cain's offering, Abel's righteous obedience condemned Cain's sinful course, revealing the spirit of those unreconciled to the law of God toward those who magnify the law as holy, just and good, and those who obey God as Abel did still receive the same treatment from the disobedient. Cain was exceedingly angry when his own way was not regarded with sacredness, an anger repeated by transgressors of the fourth commandment who have made the first day of the week, a common working day with no sanctity, into a spurious sabbath and are exceedingly angry because the whole world does not treat it with the sacredness belonging only to the Sabbath of the Lord. Cain's spirit is not satisfied with personal disobedience but oppresses others who choose to respect the words of Jehovah, now manifested by those who have had light from the living oracles of God yet choose the sayings of men, insult God's law themselves, and enforce observance of a spurious Sabbath day that bears not the signature of God upon Sabbathkeepers.

Cain hated Abel because Cain refused to heed the instruction of God while Abel sought God and followed His will, and that hatred led Cain to kill him. The same cause produces bitterness against God's delegated ministers who bear His message, and rejecting their message is rejecting Christ the Giver of the message. The same resentment warns against holding bitterness toward brethren who know one's wrongdoing and therefore consider one unsafe to be entrusted with the flock of God and credentialed as a safe teacher. Cain slew Abel because Abel was determined to worship God according to the direction God had given while Cain insisted his own plans were best and that the Lord would come to his terms. In his offering Cain did not acknowledge dependence upon Christ, for he thought his father Adam had been treated harshly in being expelled from Eden, and keeping sin ever before the mind and offering the blood of the slain lamb as a confession of entire dependence upon a Power outside himself was torture to his high spirit.

Being the eldest he thought Abel should follow his example, and when Abel's offering was accepted and holy fire consumed the sacrifice Cain's anger became exceedingly great. The Lord condescended to explain matters to him, but he would not be reconciled to God and hated Abel because God showed him favor, until he became so angry that he slew his brother. The same spirit moves those who say in their hearts that the Lord delays His coming to beat their fellow servants. Cain's hatred turning into violence against his brother is applied to family members who resent those who love Jesus and, like Cain, would destroy them. Cain was working contrary to the plainly expressed will of God and refused to acknowledge God's authority, while Abel was obedient, and Cain resorted to violence and slew his brother because Abel was obedient, because Cain's own works were evil and Abel's were righteous.

The same spirit was manifested against Christ Himself and is sure to arise against God's work, so it must be met with full preparation in meekness and submission, permitting injustice if need be rather than retaliating or indulging the spirit of Cain. The slaying records the first persecution after the fall, standing at the beginning of Scripture history as the counterpart to the final persecution in Scripture prophecy against those who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, showing that persecution of the righteous both opens and closes the conflict and that God's people must never indulge the spirit of persecution against those bearing God's message. To be after the order of Cain is to have an unsanctified heart, to serve self instead of serving and glorifying the Lord, to deal with human souls in a way God does not approve, and to act in word and deed without mercy, justice and the love of God. It means placing a wrong mold upon those under one's charge, acting in spirit and temper as a director and judge and lawyer rather than as a father.

Cain's heart rose up in rebellion against God, and he stands as the pattern of the enemies of God, whose wicked course is daily reproved by the righteous conversation and godly lives of those who love, obey and exalt God. The people of Shinar, like Cain, rose up in rebellion against God. The same rebellious feeling arose in people who believed God had sent the Flood to destroy the antediluvian race, repeated by those after the Flood who resented God for destroying that race and cursing the earth the third time by a flood. The same heart rose up in those at Babel who believed a supreme being had destroyed the antediluvian world yet defied Him to secure their own safety, exalt their pride and turn minds away from God into idolatry, as in Cain's resentment over God's judgment which led him to kill Abel.

Cain killing his brother Abel was part of humanity's turning from God into wickedness and violence as people refused to obey God's will, while Abel's obedience was an example others could have followed. Cain stands for refusal to do God's expressed will and to obey His law, and Abel stands for obedience, and had men cooperated with God there would have been no Cain-worshipers and Abel's example of obedience would have been followed by all. Obeying God's law brings safety and salvation, and with help from God and the heavenly universe keeps men in the divine likeness with longevity preserved. Cain rejected God's requirement of a blood sacrifice and hated God's law, like those who call the law a bloody old law dead and buried and feel relieved to stamp it down. He brought a sacrifice without the shedding of blood, was provoked because Abel would not accept his reasoning but obeyed God's injunction and offered the blood of a victim representing Christ as a Lamb without blemish, and could not tolerate him, slaying him because Cain's own works were evil and Abel's were righteous.

Cain as the first murderer, a brother rising up and slaying his brother in the field, shows that to kill in this way makes a man to be looked upon as a murderer, a second Cain, causes his teaching to be rejected and despised, and destroys his power to do good to his fellow men. Cain's murderous guilt was expressed in his face, in contrast with the innocence, serenity and benevolence revealed in Christ's face as the image of God. Christ's accusers ignored this visible sign of His character, and His face was hidden from view during His final suffering.