Cain’s sin divides the world (Genesis 4:17-24)

Tragically, Cain’s sin divides the world. The Lord still reigns over the whole earth, but Cain’s mob are separated from those who live in the Lord’s presence.

They construct another culture, based on human achievement:

Genesis 4:17-22 (NIV)
¹⁷ Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
¹⁹ Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. ²² Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

What’s it like in this community that lives apart from God’s presence (verse 16)?

God gives them children so they can survive, but we don’t hear them acknowledging God’s provision (verse 17, contrast verses 1 and 25).
Their cities are dedicated to human honour rather than God’s (verse 17).
Men take more than one woman (verse 19), ignoring what God intended (2:24).
They’re creative with arts and crafts (verses 21-22), but the metallurgy mentioned produces the weapons that define their era (bronze age, iron age).

These early chapters of Genesis reflect the story to come. Even before the flood, humanity was split into two communities: one away from presence of the Lord (4:16); the another in God’s likeness (5:3), walking with God (5:24) looking for the comfort he will bring (5:29). Unfortunately, this distinction breaks down as the whole earth is corrupted by violence (6:11). God will call Abraham to re-establish a nation in God’s presence so the nations can see what they’re missing (12:1-3).

In each Genesis narrative, a key character responds to the story we’ve just heard. First it was Adam, responding to God’s provision of a partner for him (2:23). Now in the seventh generation of Cain’s city, Lamech describes life in the community that relies on human power:

Genesis 4:13-24 (NIV)
²³ Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. ²⁴ If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

Lamech looks and sounds like a Hollywood trailer for his culture. With a girl on each arm, he brags of his superhero strength, his ability to enforce justice, his power to take revenge.

Tragically, this is no Marvel comic. This is the world where God did not execute the murderer. People who live apart from the Lord’s presence take matters into their own hands. Just like Cain, the self is valued while the other is not. “A life for a life” is not enough; Lamech wants seventy-seven lives for a life.

This cycle of revenge makes the world a deadly place. What kind of world is God running? What does the world become when the good guy (Abel) dies while the killer (Cain) lives on to produce offspring?

Lamech’s wisdom seems right to so many: all it takes for evil to take over God’s world is for good people to do nothing. Fighting back is the only way to survive. If it’s “kill or be killed,” Lamech’s wisdom wins. The killers win the world.

What do you think?

As we’re sinking in despair, the narrator tells us what God does. (Hint: it’s not killing.)

Genesis 4:25-26 (NIV)
²⁵ Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

God was not heartlessly saying, “Don’t fret over your dead child; here, have another one.” God was saving the family by giving them another child so they didn’t die out and leave the world to the killers. Where people like Cain and Lamech save themselves by giving death, God saves by giving life.

Giving life is God’s enduring solution: Enosh in another generation after Seth. Like God said, the offspring of the woman defeats the serpent (Genesis 3:15). The voice of a child is the sound that silences the avenger (Psalm 8:2). The birth of a child is God’s strategy to save the world (Isaiah 9:6).

That’s how the family that lives in God’s presence lives on in the world where people fight and kill. But since God denied them the right to kill the killer (Cain), how do they get justice if they don’t follow Lamech’s wisdom?

They make their appeals directly to the heavenly sovereign instead of taking matters in their own hands. That’s the final sentence of Chapter 4:

This was the time when people began to call on the name of the Lord.

They trust in the justice of the heavenly court as they make their appeals.
In a violent world, that’s the crucial contrast between the two communities.

For thought and discussion

How do God’s actions in Genesis 4 fit with your expectations of justice?
Is God responsible for the crimes that occur on his watch? Should God have given Cain the death penalty? Should God have prevented the murder?
What do you expect from God in a world where violence and death are part of life?
What do you make of the contrast between Lamech’s response to violence and the community that remained in the Lord’s presence and called on him for justice?
How do these two chapters (Genesis 3–4) shape your understanding of God’s authority and human nature and responsibility? We’re born into a world that’s devastated by the power of sin, but does that mean we’re born condemned? Is salvation mostly about making a personal decision to receive forgiveness for my personal sins, or is salvation the restoration of God’s authority over the world that will ultimately be achieved in Christ?
What do these chapters teach about suffering? Do I suffer because I deserve it (my own sin)? Or do we suffer because we live in a world where the power of sin impacts us all? Is there hope in our suffering? Or will it always be the way it looks on the news each night?
Listening to Lamech’s boast, do you recognize the ways that human power makes our sufferings worse? Do you see this in movies? In real life?
What about the theme of God as the life-giver? How does this hope help with our present sufferings as we wait on the Lord, trusting him to sort it all out in the end?

How far does the kingdom of God extend? (Genesis 4:16-26)
What kind of world is God running? (Genesis 4:1-15)
Original good (Genesis 1–4)
Retribution versus justice (Mt 5:38-42)

Seeking to understand Jesus in the terms he chose to describe himself: son of man (his identity), and kingdom of God (his mission). Riverview Church, Perth, Western Australia View all posts by Allen Browne