The Wellspring. No.30
“Understanding
is a Wellspring of Life to him that has it.”
(Proverbs. 16:22)
Occasional
papers by Arthur & Rosalind Eedle
Cain and Abel
There is a lesson to be learned from the story
of Cain and Abel that may have been missed by casual reading. In this edition,
we should like to delve into the Hebrew words a little, and extract some
important information.
The Hebrew Interlinear Bible is useful on all
such occasions. The following translation is taken from there, with a few
additional notes as we proceed.
Genesis 4:3-7. "And it was in
the end of days that Cain brought from the fruit of the ground an offering to
Jehovah, and Abel, he brought also, from the firstlings of his flocks, even
from their fat. And Jehovah looked (i.e.had respect
to) to Abel and his offering, and to Cain and his offering He did not look
(i.e. did not have respect.) And Cain glowed greatly, and his face fell. (the "glowing" expresses the force of the Hebrew
word, which is used of the heat of anger.) And Jehovah said to Cain, "Why
have you become so angry, and why has your face
fallen? If you do well, is there not acceptance? But if you do not well, Sin is
crouching at the door, and his desire is towards you, but you must master
him.""
An evangelical misunderstanding is frequently
found in print, to the effect that Cain's offering was rejected because it was
not an animal sacrifice. But this was not so. See Deut.26:2 "You
shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, . . . and shall put it
in a basket, and go to the place the Lord your God shall choose to cause His
name to dwell there." Cain failed in this respect, by collecting
a selection of fruit, but not the best, not the firstfruits.
Abel brought from the firstlings of his flock. The word first is
the important word in this context, and shows that man should always bring the first
and the best as an offering to the Lord, otherwise it is
insulting.
Why did Cain get so angry? Why was he so
downcast and dejected? It was also the Lord's question, but it was not
answered. But in 1 John
John, in the passage quoted above, said that "Cain
was of the wicked one." This has given rise to the careless
exposition that Cain was in some way a product of the Devil, and couldn't help
himself by acting as he did. But this conclusion cannot be sustained. What
happened after the non-acceptance of his offering? The Lord pleaded with him,
saying "If you do well (that is, following the pattern of your
brother) you will be accepted as well." Such words vindicate
Cain's normal humanity as well as manifesting the Lord's care for him,
and how He longed to see both men rejoicing in Him.
But the Lord also had a word of warning for
Cain. "If you do not well, Sin is crouching at the door." This
is the earliest mention of Satan under the title 'Sin'. Before we realised
this, we found back in 1968 that the Lord was addressing us prophetically,
using Sin as a name for the Adversary. How often the enemy crouches at the door
of our hearts, and always with the same aim in view. "His desire is
towards you," the Lord said. "But you must
master him."
It may be helpful to realise that these
self-same words were used of Adam and Eve back in
Going back to Cain, we find the Lord using the
symbol of an animal crouching at the door. The Hebrew word RAVATZ used
here properly signifies "lying down", and is frequently used of just
that. But the context here suggests a readiness to spring and devour, therefore
it is acceptable to translate it "crouching", in the manner found in
Ezek.29:3, "Pharaoh, the great dragon that lies (i.e. lies in wait
for its prey) in the midst of the rivers."
The Lord was encouraging Cain to stop being
angry, downcast, and dejected; to realise that he could quite easily rectify
what was wrong, by going back to his husbandry and selecting the choicest
fruits, and bringing them to the Lord. That was a simple solution, and the Lord
hoped that he would accept the advice.
But Cain had a further problem that wasn't
connected with this solution. As John pointed out, there was a deep-seated
problem with his brother. What was it? It must be remembered that his
parents had raised him to believe he was the Coming Seed, the one who would "bruise
the serpent's head." That was their understanding, and Eve said, "I
have begotten a man, the Lord." Hence, CAIN,
"the acquired one." In her eyes he was someone special. But
when Abel was born, she called him by a name that meant something like
"ephemeral, passing, impermanent." The
effect of this had rubbed off on Cain, who inwardly considered his brother of
lesser importance than himself. Whether it developed into something even more
obnoxious we cannot say, but the attitude was definitely present. When the Lord
had respect to Abel's offering, Cain found it offensive. In his mind he was
thinking, "How can God have respect to anything he does? I am the
one who is to be the great conqueror, the one who will put right what Mum and
Dad did. Isn't that what I've been taught through all my growing years?"
And so he took offence at the Lord for respecting his brother, and it bothered
him repeatedly. He gave no further thought to the advice the Lord gave him
concerning a better selection of fruit, and concentrated his attention
on the assumed injustice. The result was fatal. He had to eliminate his
brother, because he was an offence to him.
This is why John said that "Cain
was of the wicked one." He was not that initially, but when he
killed his brother he had become that. This brings us to the important lesson
that the Lord taught His disciples. It is found in Matthew 18:15-17. "If
your brother trespass against you, go and tell him his fault between the two of
you alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. If he refuses to hear
you, take with you one or two others, so that in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word may be established. If he neglect
to hear them, tell it to the assembly. But if he neglect
to hear the assembly, let him be to you as a heathen man and a tax
gatherer."
This practical advice is very important in the
Christian life. It centres on problems that arise, as always they will, between
brothers in an assembly. Something happens to cause you offence, and the
natural human response is to grumble about it, feel hurt, and perhaps go and
share your hurt with someone else who will commiserate with you. It doesn't
sort anything out, but simply compounds the wrong. We have to learn to behave
spiritually, rather than humanly. First of all a one-to-one confrontation,
saying, "Brother, you have offended me, but I don't want this to develop.
Can we sort it out?" An obdurate brother will be unwilling to do so,
and then the further directions have to come into play. Only in the last
resort, when the man becomes like Cain, and is ready to be totally
hostile, should we part company and leave the outcome in the hands of the Lord.
The principle enunciated here shows that God
never condemns us for making mistakes, but pleads with us to rectify the wrong,
and be restored. On the other hand, we are more prone to cast people off
without a proper consultation or hearing, and it is to our shame, because if the
shoe is on the other foot, we desperately want people to understand us, rather
than cast us off with a wave of the hand.
The whole teaching of John's first letter is
based on this. When he spoke about loving our brothers, he was thinking about
this process. If we fail to do it, then he calls it hatred, and that is a
strong word. But hating our brother must be understood in this context. The man
who shrugs his shoulders and walks away from his brother without striving for reconciliation is in effect hating him, because he is
not affording him the opportunity to put right that which he has done wrong,
and therefore he fails to apply the Lord's example when speaking to Cain,
or the example He gave His disciples.