“Am I my brother’s keeper?”–Genesis 4:9
Cain displayed a shameful tone of presumptuous impudence in his insulting reply to the Lord God. If it had not been on record in the page of inspiration, we might almost have doubted whether a man could speak so impudently when actually conscious that God himself was addressing him. Men blaspheme often in a most terrible fashion, but it is usually because they forget God, and ignore his presence; but Cain was conscious that God was speaking to him. He heard him say, “Where is your brother Abel?” and yet he dared, with the coldest impertinence, to reply to God, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” As much as to say— “Do you think that I have to keep watch over him as he watches over his sheep? Am I also a shepherd as he was, and am I to take as much care of him as he did of a crippled lamb?”
The unfriendly impudence of Cain is an indication of the state of his heart which led up to his murdering his brother; and it was also partly a result of his having committed that terrible crime. He would not have accomplished the brutal deed of bloodshed if he had not first cast off the fear of God and been ready to defy his Creator. Having committed murder, the hardening influence of sin upon Cain’s mind must have been intense, and thus he was able to speak to God’s face what he felt within his heart, and to say, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” This goes a long way to explain what has puzzled some persons, namely, the amazing calmness with which great criminals will appear in court.
I remember having heard it said of one who had undoubtedly committed a very violent murder, that he looked like an innocent man. He stood up before his accusers as calmly and quietly, they said, as an innocent man could do. I remember feeling at the time that an innocent man would probably have not been calm. The distress of mind felt by an innocent man for being under such a charge would have prevented his having the coolness which was displayed by the guilty individual. Instead of its being any evidence of innocence that a man wears a shameless front when charged with a great crime, it should by wise men be considered to be evidence against him. The guilty person may seem to be dispassionate and unmoved because he had already been so unfeeling as to dip his hand in blood.
Oh, dear friends, let us avoid sin, if only for the evil effect which it has upon our minds. It is poison to the heart. It cripples the conscience, drugs it, puts it to sleep; it intoxicates the judgment, and puts all the faculties as it were into a state of drunkenness, so that we become capable of a hideous bravery, and a blind impertinence, which makes us mad enough to dare insult God to his face. Save us, O God, from having our hearts hammered to the hardness of steel by sin; and daily keep us by your grace sensible and tender before you, trembling at your word.
Now, let us note here, that while we so heavily condemn Cain we must remember that we are not without guilt ourselves; because, if we look at it without prejudice, every kind of excuse that we make to God is a very serious case of presumption. When we are charged with any form of guilt, if we begin denying it or providing extenuating circumstances, then we are guilty of the sin of Cain as to impudence before God; and when there is any duty to be performed, and we begin to shirk it, or try to make an apology for disobedience, are we not forgetting in whose presence we stand? Does God charge me with what I have committed, and shall I be so wicked as to attempt a denial? Does he command me to perform a duty, and do I begin to hesitate, question, and ask myself, “Shall I or shall I not?” Oh, bold rebellion! The essence of treason lurks in every hesitancy to obey, and dwells in every attempt to extenuate our fault when we have already disobeyed. You may think Cain is a monster, because he should dare to face it out with God; yet God is present everywhere, and every sin is perpetrated while he is watching us. Against him do we sin, and in his presence we do evil; and when we begin to apologize with excuses for doing wrong or hesitate concerning the duty commanded, we are disobeying in the immediate presence of the Lord our God. Since we have, doubtless, been found guilty, let us humbly confess it and ask the Lord to give us great tenderness of conscience that from this day forward we may fear the Lord, and never dare to stand up to question what he has to say.
The very same thing, no doubt, lies at the bottom of objections to Bible truths.
There are some who go to the Scriptures not to take out of it what is there, but seeing what is clearly revealed, they then begin to question and judge and come to conclusions according to their notions of what ought to have been there. Oh, brothers and sisters, who are we that we should speak against God? If he says it, it is true. Believe it. But you say “I can’t understand it?” But, who are you that you should understand everything? Can you hold the sea in the hollow of your hand, or grasp the winds in your fist? O, worm of the dust, the infinite must always be beyond you! There must always be some things about the glorious Lord that are incomprehensible, and it is not for you to doubt because you can’t understand, but rather humbly bow before the awesome presence of he who has made you, and in whose hand your breath is. God save us from the presumption which dares to say with Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?” and from the profane arrogance which replies to the Lord in the spirit of Cain.
Now, let us look at what Cain said. He said to the Lord, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” May the Holy Spirit guide us in considering this question.
I. First it is to be noted that MAN IS NOT HIS BROTHER’S KEEPER IN SOME SENSES.
There is some little truth in what Cain says. Generally some amount of truth clings to every lie; and even in the greatest possible profanity there is, usually, something or other of truth, though it is dangerously twisted and distorted. In this atrocious question of Cain there is some little measure of reason. In some senses no man is his brother’s keeper.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
