To sum up what was said in part 2 of this series:
- In Luke 11:49-51, Jesus counted him among the martyred prophets of God.
- Like the saints under the altar in Revelation 6:9-11, Abel was slain "because of the word of God, and because of the testimony" he maintained.
- As Hebrews 11:4 says, “his blood still speaks.”
Abel’s legacy is ongoing. His example speaks to us, and his blood continues to cry out to God from the ground because his death is unavenged. He has been waiting the longest of anyone for his death to be accounted for or “required” (Genesis 9:5-6). His blood still pollutes the ground on which it fell (Numbers 35:33).
But why? Why didn’t God punish Cain more completely?
In Genesis 9:5-6 God gave brothers the responsibility of avenging a murdered person’s life. Perhaps Abel’s murder was left unavenged because he had no other brothers at the time of his death. At least, there is no record of one until Seth was born in Abel’s place (Genesis 4:25). If Seth were to avenge Abel, he’d have to first grow to manhood, but then he would have been prevented from doing so by God's merciful edict (Gen. 4:15).
Cain was not given the death penalty because the law for that had not yet been established, as it would be in Gen. 9:5-6 and Exodus 21:12-13. But, as a result of him not receiving that punishment, we are allowed to see the result in Cain's direct family line.
Cain's Legacy (Genesis 4:15-24)
Rather than dying for his sin, Cain had to live with it. Having killed his own brother-companion he was doomed to walk the earth in isolation. His mark both protected him from vengeance and warned others to stay away from him.
Cain was, however, allowed to marry and procreate. He had a son named Enoch who was not, like him, cursed to wander the earth but was able to settle in one place and establish a city in his own name. Meanwhile, Cain had to keep moving.
The next notable descendant in Cain’s genealogy, four generations later, was Lamech, who had two wives and three remarkable children: Jabal, who chose his Uncle Abel’s line of work; Jubal, who became the father of musicians everywhere; and Tubal-cain, a forger of iron and bronze tools. Presumably Tubal-cain also was able to stay long in one place while he developed his craft.
Unlike his children, Lamech is not known for a legacy of building and creating, but only for destroying the lives of other people. Like his ancestor Cain, he left no mark other than wanton violence, about which he would boast:
I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me; if Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.
A man and/or a boy had struck and wounded Lamech. No less angry than Cain had been with Abel, Lamech lashed out with lethal force. Was this a one-time event, or a pattern of life? Why did he expect to be avenged 77-fold, and what does that even mean?
Were Lamech’s deeds the natural progression of Cain’s violent act? If so, why had it skipped several generations? How had a violent man’s own children become productive citizens?
Lamech seems to have been fascinated with Cain’s legacy. Amazed and impressed that Cain had gotten away with fratricide, he wrongly concluded he could do as much or more with impunity.
Rather than hiding in shame, Lamech felt proud of his egregious behavior. He chose to immortalize it in poetry, and perhaps set his words to music accompanied by Jubal’s instruments. Was he seeking to justify himself in the eyes of his wives? Did he expect them to admire and applaud? Was he flouting what was then conventional behavior? Because of his song, his actions became part of the culture.
Lamech wrongly believed he had inherited Cain’s mark and God's protection, but the mark was not on the same order as the image of God that he and the rest of Cain's offspring bore. We conclude that Cain, Lamech, and all his line bore God's image because of the language of their origins:
► 4:1 - “Now the man [Adam] had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.”
► 4:17 - “Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch.”
► 4:25 - “Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth.”
Similarly, God is said to be involved in bringing new life into the world, whether the person will be faithful or faithless:
► 4:1 - Of Cain’s birth Eve said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”
► 4:25 - Of Seth’s birth she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
As Adam and Eve’s sin did not negate or alter the image of God they bore and passed along, neither did Cain’s act of murder affect it. For more on this important question, see "God’s Image and Likeness," parts one, two, & three.
A violent man may have a righteous son, and a righteous man may have a violent son. Ezekiel 18 teaches the principle that God holds the one who sins guilty, not his father or son. Unless a person repents, "his blood will be on his own head."
Conclusion
The legacy of Cain is also referenced in the New Testament, in Jude 11 and 1 John 3:11-15:
For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Experience shows that violence does breed vengeance in the form of even greater violence. When vengeance is undefined and unlimited, as it was at this early date in human history, violence escalates. It would not be until after the flood that God would establish proper vengeance as taking one life for the life lost. Later Old Testament law would insist that if an eye was injured, only an eye should be taken in retribution, and so on (Leviticus 24:17-22).
Because Lamech’s warped sense of justice prevailed, by the time of the flood the earth was full of violence (Genesis 6:11). Men were not stopping at “an eye for an eye” or the killer's life for the life of the murdered, but were going on violent rampages. They didn’t bother to investigate crimes or prove guilt in court. If perpetrators were thought to belong to a certain family or clan, then an entire tribe was considered fair game for vengeance. Without regulation, violence ran amok.
We don't know why didn’t God deter future violence by taking Cain's life immediately following Abel's murder, but we do learn from the pre-flood record how horrible unchecked violence can be. Because God established the rule about accounting for a brother’s murder, violence is now regulated. When brothers are obedient, a dead man’s blood will not go on crying from the ground.
Next: Earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6)
_____________________________________
Image credit: “The Death of Abel” by Gustave Doré in The Holy Bible with Illustrations (victorianweb.org)
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting my blog and going to the trouble of commenting. Once your comment is approved, you should receive notification of its publication.