That ground which has received your brother’s blood, that ground which yielded you the crops, will be reluctant to yield its bounty to you from now on. You will never be able to survive as a farmer. You are cursed from the ground. This, by the way, is a direct commentary on the offering of Cain. God would see that he never ever was able again to make another offering of the fruit of the ground. No more hypocritical offerings. The curse is further explained in Verse 12. “When you cultivate the ground,” if you try, “…it will no longer yield its strength to you.” You’re never going to be able to produce anything out of the ground. You’re never going to be able to farm. If you try, you’re going to get absolutely nothing. At the point of your cherished pride, at the point of your cherished profession, you will not succeed.
Now, at this point we need to ask the question: Why didn’t God just kill him? Isn’t God for capital punishment? Isn’t it true that if you take a life you give a life? Isn’t that what it says in Genesis 9:6? Yes, it is. Isn’t it true that even Jesus said to Peter: Put down the sword. If you live by the sword, you die by the sword; which means if you take a life with a sword, then they have a right to take your life. Why doesn’t God just kill Cain? Why doesn’t he just slay him on the spot? Other — doesn’t tell us, but there are several thoughts.
One, grace. And certainly that’s true, isn’t it? God is by nature gracious. And even though God had pronounced a curse on Cain, he was still going to extend some grace to him.
Secondly, government. The right of capital punishment belongs to a duly constituted government and is never, ever to be an act of personal, private vengeance. And God didn’t establish an illustration of personal vengeance here. God could have said: Okay, I’m going to ask your father Adam to kill you. There was no government at this point. God designed capital punishment to be carried out by society, not as a matter of personal vengeance. And I agree with capital punishment. Judicial execution is indeed the usual punishment for murder prescribed by God. But at the time, there were no established courts. To be put to death by the blood avenger as a means of punishment is opposed by the law of God. And when there was no court to sentence him to death, God graciously allowed him to live.
And I think there’s a third reason God allowed him to live. If God killed him, there wouldn’t be any living example of what an unbeliever’s life is like. Might have been the best thing to kill him, rather than have him go on with the horrible life he lived. But if God had killed him, then there wouldn’t be anybody to see what an ungodly life is like. And so I think because there were so few people in the world, God wanted to make it very clear to the rest that were being born after that, the distinction between the life of the righteous and the life of the unrighteous.
Interestingly enough, Cain must have married his sister which was, in the early plan and purpose of God, not the problem that it would be today in the decline of the gene pool and intermarriage and a family. God — married his sister, and out of his loins came the population that follows. Mary — I should say Eve and Adam had other children and they intermarried and they produced children, and more and more children. And the sad reality is by the time you get through that first generation, they’re so bad that God only saves how many from the flood? Eight. So I — that’s the best we can say.
God didn’t kill him because of grace; He didn’t kill him because there hadn’t been government and duly appointed courts established, and God wasn’t going to set an example for personal vengeance; and to let it be seen what life is like for those who reject God. So He says to him in Verse 12: “You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” This is what they call a hindiates, which is just — you’ll be a wandering wandering, a wandering wanderer. You’ll be a roaming roamer is the kind of idea. Not a nomadic shepherd; that’s different. Not a — not somebody who has sort of a mobile tent and moves around. You’ll just be a vagrant. You will be a wanderer. You will never stop anywhere. You will never be able to do anything but wander just to eke out survival. You will be a fugitive, a nuanod, a wandering wanderer, a wandering fugitive. Cain was to be a vagabond; aimless, detached, no roots, roaming the earth, under the sentence of God. And this again is the pattern for the unbeliever, for the lost person. Meandering, purposely — purposelessly, meaninglessly through the world under divine judgment. Nothing they ever touch has any eternal value; nothing they ever touch has any lasting meaning. They cannot draw anything out of life that matters eternally.
There’s more, another thought that comes out of this text, and we’ll hurry to a conclusion.
7. The doomed protest their judgment; the doomed protest their judgment.
They have hopeful beginnings. They offer unacceptable worship. They resent God and God’s people. They reject God’s word. They hide their sin. They are ultimately indicted by God and under judgment. And inevitably, they protest divine judgment. The sinner resents what God says.
I tell you: That’s true today. If — all you have to do is just get up in the church and preach judgment, preach the judgment of God, hell, damnation and all of that, and sinners resent that. Cain did. Said to the Lord in Verse 13: “My punishment is too great to bear!” You’re not fair. This is ridiculous. You got to be kidding. This is more than I should have to bear. That’s all he had to say. He didn’t say oh, God, I’m sorry, forgive me, I can’t bear this curse. He just said you’re not fair. There’s no repentance; there’s no contrition; there’s no desire to overcome sin; there’s no longing for forgiveness. He still loves his sin. He still wants his sin. He will hold on to that sin even if it means he has to live an unfulfilled life of a wanderer under a divine death sentence. This is the sinner’s obstinate rebelliousness. My punishment is too great to bear.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
