Genesis 4:8 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Cain’s anger growing, and then Abel’s murder. We can look at this in two ways, first as Cain’s sin, and then as Abel’s suffering.

As Cain’s sin, it was a very great sin, a deep, blood-red sin. It went against both the light of nature and the law written on human hearts, and even wicked people have been shocked by it. It shows the sad result of sin entering the world and into human hearts. Corrupt human nature is a bitter root, and from it come poisonous fruits. Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit seemed like a small sin, but it opened the door to the greatest evils.

This also shows the long fight between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed. Abel leads the way in the noble army of martyrs (Matthew 23:35), and Cain stands at the front of the shameful army of persecutors (Jude 1:11). Very early, the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, and that pattern continues in greater or lesser ways (Galatians 4:29). It will continue until the war ends in the eternal salvation of all the saints and the eternal ruin of all who hate them.

We also see what comes from envy, hatred, malice, and every lack of love. If these sins are fed and allowed to grow, they may lead a person into the horrible guilt of murder. Angry outbursts are murder in the heart (Matthew 5:21-22). Hatred is even more so, because anyone who hates his brother is already a murderer before God, and if God leaves him to himself, he only needs an opportunity to become a murderer before the world.

Cain’s sin had many serious aggravations. First, he murdered his brother, his own brother, his mother’s son (Psalm 50:20), the one he should have loved and protected. Second, Abel was a good brother, one who had done him no wrong and given him no reason for anger, whether in word or deed. Abel had always shown respect and dutiful love toward him. Third, Cain had already been warned by God about where his anger would lead, yet he went ahead with his brutal plan anyway.

It seems likely that he hid his purpose under a show of friendship. He spoke with Abel freely and calmly, so Abel would not suspect danger or stay away. In this he acted like Joab, who kissed Abner and then killed him, and like Absalom, who feasted his brother Amnon and then killed him. According to the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, Cain said, “Let us go into the field.” If that is so, Abel would not have understood it as a challenge, but as a brotherly invitation to go to work together. The Chaldee paraphrase adds that Cain argued in the field that there would be no final judgment, no future life, and no rewards or punishments beyond this world. Then, when Abel defended the truth, Cain used that as his chance to attack him.

Still, the Bible says the reason he killed Abel was enough to make the murder even worse. He killed him because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous. In this, he showed himself to belong to the evil one (1 John 3:12). He acted like a child of the devil, an enemy of all righteousness, even in his own brother. In that sense, he was being used directly by the destroyer.

Cain also struck against God himself, because the acceptance of Abel was the very thing that made him angry. He hated Abel because God loved him. And the murder was even more cruel because so few people then lived on earth. Human life is precious at any time, but it was especially precious then, when the world was still so empty.

Now consider Abel’s suffering. Death had reigned since Adam sinned, but no one is recorded as being taken by death until now. And the first person to die was a saint, someone accepted and loved by God. This shows that although the promised Seed would destroy the one who had the power of death, believers would still be exposed to death’s blow. The first one to go to the grave also went to heaven. God claimed the first fruits for himself, the first one born into the other world.

This should help lessen our fear of death, because one of God’s chosen people met it very early. That changes what death means. More than that, the first one to die was a martyr, and he died for his faith. Of such a death it is fair to say, more than of soldiers, that it is a bed of honor. Abel’s death carried no curse. It carried a crown. Death is made wonderfully different for those who die in Christ, and even more glorious for those who die for him.

So let us not think it strange when fiery trials come, and let us not shrink back if we are called to resist even to blood. We know there is a crown of life for all who are faithful until death.