The Way of Cain

Genesis 4:8-13
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" And he replied, "I don't know! Am I my brother's guardian?" 10 But the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."

(from The NET Bible®, Copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C., Dallas, Texas, www.bible.org. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)

In the New Testament there is a reference to the way of Cain. Instead of submitting to the Lord’s warning, he continued down the path of revenge and self will. That path only ends with loss and death.

His rebellion against the Lord is further revealed in his answer of “Am I my brother’s guardian?” There was no brotherly affection and love in his heart. There was only enough hate and anger that led him to spill his brother’s blood. His heart was not with God.

Cain was a tiller of the soil and lived by his connection with the ground. Sadly, he was not so connected with God. That was the problem. Rather than the usual seed for planting, the ground received his brother’s blood by Cain’s hand. Cain lived apart from God in his heart. God separated him from his land and livelihood. No more would Cain be able to take pride in his work and the sense of self-sufficiency that often comes from it. He is banished to a life of homeless wandering. A life without God, pulled up by the root for a life blown like a leaf in the wind.

On that day two lives were lost, but in different ways. Abel no longer walked on this earth, but he walks with God. Cain’s loss was two-fold: eternal life with God and life he could have known on earth. That is the way of Cain.