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Cain and Abel — Genesis 4 1–16 Recap Commentary · A Tithe of Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to A Tithe of Time, recaps through the Bible.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Episode 23, Cain and Abel.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis 4, 1-16.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Reading from the ESV.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: After Adam and Eve leave Eden, Genesis introduces their sons, Cain and Abel.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Cain works the ground, Abel keeps sheep.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: In time, both bring an offering to the Lord.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Cain brings fruit of the ground.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Abel brings the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord has regard for Abel and his offering, but not for Cain and his offering.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: We can see the difference in how the offerings are described.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: What Genesis does not give us is every reason for God's response.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: It does not say that farming was wrong or that Cain's fruit was rotten.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: The story turns our attention to what Cain does next.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Cain becomes very angry, and his face falls.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Before anyone is harmed, God speaks to him.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you do well, will you not be accepted?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then comes the warning.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sin is crouching at the door.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sin is pictured as something ready to seize its opportunity.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: God warns Cain before the violence.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis does not record Cain's reply to that warning.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It says Cain spoke to Abel, but it does not tell us what he said.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: When they are in the field, Cain rises against his brother and kills him.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord asks Cain, Where is Abel your brother?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: The question recalls God calling to Adam in the garden.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cain answers, I do not know.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Am I my brother's keeper?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: His words deny knowledge of the brother he has just killed.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: God's answer is unforgettable.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Abel's death is not passed over.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Cain worked the ground, now that ground has received his brother's blood.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: God tells Cain that when he works it, it will no longer yield its strength to him.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Cain will be a fugitive and a wanderer.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: There is an echo of Eden here, with an important difference.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: After Adam's disobedience, God said, Cursed is the ground because of you.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: To Cain he says, You are cursed from the ground.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: The brother's story shows the harm now reaching from one human being to another, and Cain's work is caught up in the judgment.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Cain says his punishment is greater than he can bear.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: He fears that whoever finds him will kill him.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that raises a question, who is Cain afraid of?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So far, Genesis has named only a few people.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: In the next passage, it will mention Cain's wife in a city.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Later, Genesis says Adam had other sons and daughters, but it does not identify the people Cain feared or tell us exactly when each was born.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis gives us a family story, not a headcount.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: We can notice the question without inventing an answer.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: God replies that anyone who kills Cain will face vengeance.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: He puts a mark on Cain so that whoever finds him will not attack him.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: The passage tells us the mark's purpose, but never describes its appearance.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Cain is not freed from the consequences of killing Abel, yet God acts to protect him from an attack.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Cain goes away from the presence of the Lord and settles in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: His brother is dead, his work has changed, and the story of this family continues beyond the people Genesis has named so far.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: This concludes Cain and Abel, Genesis 4 1 16.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we'll continue with Cain's descendants in Genesis 4 17 24.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tithe your time.