Fathers in the Bible: Cain – A Sweet Father And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of…
Fathers in the Bible: Cain – A Sweet Father
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. – Genesis 4:17
Interestingly, we are starting the fathers in the Bible series with Cain, a bitter and murderous individual who killed his own brother for no good reason and was thus banished by God.
It is important to refresh our minds about the objectives of this particular diet of Daily Dew, it is primarily devoted to highlighting the persons and entities in the Bible by spotlighting their strengths and weaknesses, their virtues and vices, their good and bad sides, so that we can appreciate their humanness and, perhaps, learn from their examples.
By beaming the searchlight on the good and the bad sides of biblical characters, we infer that no one is absolutely perfect, without their fair share of flaws, and that no one is absolutely wicked, without some good attributes to them. Hence, the case of Mr. Cain, who was the first person to build a city and the first father to immortalize his son.
From the reference passage above, even after being punished by God and being condemned to a life of fugitiveness and vagabondage, Cain still did something worthwhile with his life. He built a city. He did not just build this city, which he was not destined to live in for long before being harassed to vacate it (remember he was now a fugitive and a vagabond), he also named the city after his son, Enoch. Now, isn’t that sweet?
Cain obviously still has many critics today who would call for his head for the heinous act of murdering his innocent brother. However, even with the weight of his sin, the guilt and the verdict of God upon his shoulders, he still gave himself no excuse for indolence but went ahead to build a city!
While getting land to build a city in his days must have been easier than today, building a city in his era, using crude tools in the absence of modern tools and equipment we have today, must have been a harder endeavor. This challenge, notwithstanding, Cain was still able to build a city, and he showed his affectionate and sweet side as a father by naming the city after his son, and not after himself.
No matter what we think of him, that surely represents a challenge to any of us who may want to play the judge over him. Perhaps, we may not have enough ground to denigrate this his achievement unless we have a better result to show, pointing at what we have built compared to what he did, even with the limitations he had to contend with.
Men in the Bible: Cain and the First Misery Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! You have banished me from the land…
Men in the Bible: Cain and the First Misery
Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!” – Genesis 4:13-14 (New Living Translation)
We are still studying the man, Cain. Today, we will explore him from another unpleasant angle of being the first man in recorded history to be plagued with misery.
While this may not be such a big deal in itself, since we are all probably familiar with the story, the essence of today’s note is to help us to appreciate some of the consequences that our actions, good or bad, may attract, even when we do not really think about them. This was probably the case with Cain too, as he might not have guessed what the repercussions of killing his brother might be. After all, there was no precedence for him to learn from, which could have helped him reign in his violent impulse.
There is an African saying, “someone who does what no one else has done before will certainly experience an effect no one else has experienced.” This was the case with Cain as he soon found out when God decided to punish him for his offence. If Adam and Eve had seen the worst hand of God as the punishment for their own disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit, Cain had it much worse than his parents with this weighty pronouncement of God:
And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” – Genesis 4:10-12
While Adam had the ground cursed for his sake, in the case of Cain he was outrightly cursed from the earth with the implication that he would be forever unproductive, as the earth would not yield its goods to him. This is a terrible sentence indeed, as it meant that Cain was condemned to a life of unfruitfulness. There is no work, no business, no trade, no endeavor that he would do that would give him a satisfactory yield.
Moreover, Cain was also condemned to a life of fugitive and vagabond. The Oxford Dictionary defines a fugitive as “a person who has escaped from a place or is in hiding, especially to avoid arrest or persecution,” and a vagabond as “a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job.” These are no desirable statuses for anyone. However, they were the lot of Cain as the divine sentence for the heinous crime he committed in taking the life of his innocent brother.
He was condemned to running from place to place with no settled abode to call his own. He would run from humans, animals. elements, and everything else. Even when those were not really chasing him, his guilty consciousness would not allow him to think so, as he would only see threats to his life and safety around everyone and everything he was around. What a miserable way to live indeed.
Sin has consequences that are usually unfavorable.
Men in the Bible: Cain and the First Lie Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s…
Men in the Bible: The First Liar
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” – Genesis 4:9
Cain set another undesirable record by telling the first lie in the annals of history, as recorded in the Holy Bible.
Having lost control of himself, which gave room for all manners of negative emotions, disappointment, bitterness, anger, jealousy and sadness, his resolve became compromised, such that when violence came knocking to be added to the list, he could do nothing to stop it. Thus, resulting in him killing his innocent brother. Having lost it to this point, it was no surprise either that Cain was past recovery and would not stop at anything to save his face.
Therefore, when God asked him about his brother’s whereabouts, he did not think twice before boldly lying, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” With this, he uttered the first lie. With hindsight, one can see how silly this must have sounded even to his own hearing because he was actually talking to the omniscient God.
The interesting thing is that his parents, Adam and Eve, even in their mistake, did not lie to God when He called them out. They only confessed they were in hiding because they were naked and afraid of what God might do to them. But this was not the case with Cain, his lack of self-control had weakened whatever noble resolve he still had left in him, and only the base part was in active play at this point. That was why he had no gumption in committing a murder in the first place, killing his own brother to boot, and then lying about his whereabouts when asked.
This sequence of events happened just like God had warned him when the whole attitude issue started:
God spoke to Cain: “Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it.” – Genesis 4:6-7 (The Message)
By not heeding this golden warning to nip the negativity in the bud, Cain allowed it to fester until he became the willing domain for all kinds of social vices.
Men in the Bible: Cain’s Emotional Flaws That Led to Fratricide
Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. – Genesis 4:8
We are continuing our spotlight on Cain, the first murderer and fratricide in the Bible, by exploring the inner constitution of his mind, which led him to commit murder, something that no one before him had done.
He was an angry man
By allowing negative emotions to fester in his mind and not nipping them when they started, Cain inadvertently allowed his disappointment to boil into anger. By also not exercising control over his anger, it continued to surge to the point of consuming violence that could only be gratified by hurting someone.
It is noteworthy that God warned him about the consequences of allowing his negative emotion to fester.
God spoke to Cain: “Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it.” – Genesis 4:6-7 (The Message)
This shows that God clearly warned Cain about the implications of not putting a grip on his emotions. But he did not heed the warning, either because he did not understand what God was saying, or he was past caring. He allowed the anger to get the better of him until it pushed him to kill his brother.
He was a sad man
Another attribute Cain can be described with was sadness. He was a sad man. He did not handle the rejection he suffered well. He became jealous of his brother whose offering was accepted, and jealousy does not elicit a positive response, it usually leads to sadness and wrong behaviors. That was what we eventually saw from Cain, who made an undesirable name for himself by being the first person to be documented for murder and fratricide.
It all started with a lack of emotional intelligence, exemplified in a lack of self-awareness as to know what was good for God, and this leading to feelings of disappointment, anger and sadness, which, when still left unchecked, drove him to murder.
Men in the Bible: Cain – The Profile of A Fratricide Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that…
Men in the Bible: Cain – The Profile of A Fratricide
Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. – Genesis 4:8
We are still exploring the character of Cain, the son of Adam and Eve. This term, we will be shining the spotlight on him as the first murderer and fratricide in recorded history, as seen in the Holy Bible.
Our meditation will not be on the details of his heinous act per se. Rather, we will try to explore the inner workings of his mind as they culminated into him deciding that taking someone else’s life was the best solution to calm his frayed nerves, something that no other person had done until then.
So, what could have led to Cain succumbing to the emotion that drove him to the edge? Let us examine some of the profiles below:
He was not rigorous
One of our early introductions to the person of Cain was when he was to offer a sacrifice to God. While we do not know the details of the sacrifice he offered, we know that he offered from his livestock, since he was a shepherd. We can also infer from the developments that followed the offering that Cain did not offer the same kind of quality sacrifice that his brother offered to God, and that was why he was rejected.
Now, how he picked which livestock he would offer to God betrayed that he was neither painstaking nor rigorous in his ways, and that would explain why he did not choose the choice ones among his animals as sacrifice to God.
This carefreeness on his part also betrayed a character flaw that later culminated in him committing a fratricide. Because he was not deliberate or painstaking in doing things, he also lacked the moral fortitude to control his emotions and deal with the anger and sorrow that were welling up in his heart.
Another lesson we can learn from God is His disposition to a balancing act. He is not a God of extremes. Even though some who profess to follow Him go to extremes in His name or make extreme claims on His behalf, extreme is not a label that one can pin on God. He balances the acts.
Understanding God: He is Not Moved by Sentiments
Another lesson we can learn from the personality of God is that sentiments do not move Him. Therefore, He cannot be deceived into making a wrong judgment or call, as humans tend to do.
Understanding God: He is A Creator
He is a Creator. This is not to be interpreted loosely, particularly in the light of our contemporary use of the word. God is the ultimate Creator, as He created all things, even the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28).
Understanding God: God of the Beginning
There is no better way to begin this journey of exploring the people and entities in the Bible than to start with God. He is not just the beginning but is the origin of all things.
Women in the Bible: A Paragon of Beauty
What made Sarah’s beauty so compelling that kings and nations took notice? Explore the deeper layers of grace, favour, and mystery surrounding one of Scripture’s most unforgettable women — and discover why her story still provokes wonder today.
Men in the Bible: A Man of Ambition and Adventure
Terah may not have reached Canaan, but his courage to start a life-changing journey laid the foundation for Abraham’s destiny. Discover how ambition and bold steps mark a life of significance.
Men in the Bible: An Impetuous and Impudent Man
A revealing glimpse into a man whose choices exposed deeper issues of character, showing how hastiness and entitlement can quietly shape a destiny, and why his story still speaks to us today.
Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight
Sometimes what looks like a smart choice can hide the seed of a mistake. This reflection from Scripture invites us to think again about how foresight — or the lack of it — shapes a man’s story.
Men in the Bible: The First Man to Tithe
Before laws, temples, or traditions, one man honoured God with his substance. Abraham’s tithe was not commanded, demanded, or enforced. It flowed from reverence.
Fathers in the Bible: A Destiny-Shaping Father
What makes a man a truly aware father? Discover how one man’s prophetic foresight shaped his son’s destiny and changed generations forever.
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