Genesis 4:12, commentary and pictures

God sentenced Cain to this judgment for murdering his brother Abel in the field out of jealousy, after his own fruit offering without a lamb was rejected while Abel's lamb offering pointing to the saving blood of Christ was accepted. The sentence was given only after God gave him time to reflect and confess, which he refused with lying and rebellion, and it cursed him from the blood-stained earth so his tilling would no longer bring its strength and he would live as a fugitive wanderer. In this a second curse was added to the curse already on the earth for Adam's transgression, so a heavy double curse rested upon the ground, at first still rich and beautiful yet showing sure decay. The judgment also showed mercy, for Cain had earned death yet God spared his life to give him time to repent, and his hardening under forbearance stands as proof to the universe that long life only makes the unrepentant more corrupt. Cain's deed began the enmity between Satan's seed and Christ's followers, warning to the close of history that setting human will against God's word opens the mind to the tempter unto persecution and murder.

Sentence Upon Cain

The sentence is God's judgment upon Cain for murdering his brother Abel in the field out of jealousy. Cain had brought a disobedient offering of fruit without a lamb, following his own will instead of God's specific requirement of a lamb for a burnt offering to prefigure the saving blood of the Lamb of God, while Abel's lamb offering was accepted by fire from heaven. That first step in disobedience opened Cain's mind to the tempter until his will blended with Satan's will and led to Abel's death.

The sentence was not pronounced at once, for God first asked where Abel was and what Cain had done, giving him time and opportunity to reflect and confess the enormity of the murder and of the lie told to hide it. Cain refused to confess and repent, lied that he did not know where his brother was, put the blame on Abel and on God and would not correct his wrong course, rejecting correction and his responsibility as elder brother to care for and protect Abel from evil. Because he remained rebellious, judgment was no longer deferred, and the same divine voice before heard in pleading and warning now pronounced judgment, for God knew his sin, every act and even the thoughts of his heart. His anguished response afterward was remorse, not repentance.

The judgment was that Cain was cursed from the earth that had opened her mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand. When he tilled the ground it would not henceforth yield unto him her strength, and he would be a fugitive and a vagabond, a fugitive and wanderer, in the earth. The curse thus touched both his work and his life.

Cain was a tiller of the ground, and tilling the soil was the industry appointed to Adam and Eve immediately after the fall when they were sent out from Eden, as God's appointed means of healthful employment of the physical powers and recovery from loss. After the earth was cursed it brought forth thistles, which increased the work of those who till the soil, yet the ground was still to be tilled. Cain met the added curse with rebellion and murmuring against it. He answered it by withdrawing from his father's household and going out from the presence of the Lord, casting away the promise of restored Eden to seek possessions and enjoyment in the earth under the curse of sin. He founded a city called after his eldest son, thus standing at the head of that great class who worship the god of this world, whose descendants became distinguished in mere earthly and material progress while regardless of God and in opposition to His purposes for man.

Adam knew of this curse upon Cain and looked upon Cain as Abel's murderer. Deprived of his son Abel and filled with bitter remorse for his own transgression that had brought misery upon his posterity, his heart was bowed down with grief.

Curse Upon Earth

The murder brought a second curse upon the earth, added to the first curse that had followed Adam's transgression, so that a heavy double curse rested upon the earth. The curse on the ground, which at first had been felt lightly, now rested on it doubly and with double force. This added curse was pronounced in the sentence that when Cain tilled the ground it would no longer yield its strength to him, and that he would be a fugitive and wanderer in the earth.

It did not at once strip nature of beauty or abundance. Mountains and hills were still lovely with majestic trees, verdure and flowers like a vast garden, and the earth was still rich and beautiful in the gifts of providence. Yet compared with its state before, there was apparent evidence of sure and certain decay, with evident tokens of decay though the face of nature had not yet been greatly changed.

The curse did not come all at once but has grown heavier through history. It increased at the murder of Abel and greatly increased again at the Flood, with the double curse still resting upon the earth in Noah's day. Since the Flood it has rested heavier and heavier upon men and upon beasts as the human family have forgotten God and followed disobedience and transgression of His commandments, while trees and all vegetation also have felt its effects. It is one of the curses that have blighted the earth, contributing to its broken and barren condition.

The sentence shows mercy as well as judgment, for Cain had earned death for murder, yet God spared his life and gave him time and opportunity to repent. By letting him live God set before the universe a demonstration of what permitting sin to go unpunished produces. Forbearance only made the wicked bolder, for Cain refused repentance and only hardened his heart, rebelled against divine authority, followed Satan, tempted others, and fathered a line of bold sinners. His continued life and teaching exerted an influence upon his descendants that corrupted the earth with violence until it ripened fifteen centuries later in worldwide crime and corruption that demanded destruction of the whole world by the Flood. That history of the antediluvians testifies that long life is no blessing to the sinner, that great forbearance alone does not repress wickedness, and that the longer men lived the more corrupt and abandoned they became. It proves the death sentence on the fallen race for breaking God's law is both just and merciful, because cutting short hardened rebellion frees the world from its influence and is a blessing, not a curse. The evils that resulted from sparing Cain were great, but sparing the transgressors at Sinai would have produced evils still greater, proving in mercy to the world that to save the many the persistent few must be punished.

Lesson and Warning

The murder of Abel was the first example of the enmity declared between the serpent and the seed of the woman, between Satan and his subjects and Christ and His followers. Cain and Abel represent the two classes of the wicked and the righteous that will exist through human history until Christ's second coming. The wicked envy and hate the righteous because right conduct condemns sin and exposes their own evil, and through all ages they persecute and kill those who stand in vindication of the righteousness of the law of God.

The sentence stands as a warning to the close of earth's history against placing human judgment against God's word. Cain refused the specific requirement to bring a lamb for a burnt offering to prefigure the shed blood of the Lamb of God who would save a lost world, following his own will and understanding instead. That first step in disobedience opened his mind to the tempter until his own will blended with Satan's will and led to the death of his brother, showing the sure result of such a course. All are therefore warned to obey God's words and to give no place to the devil, lest he rule over them.

Sin brought a curse upon the earth so that the ground does not yield its strength as it should and cannot produce its full strength without God's blessing. Yet the earth still holds hidden blessings for those who work it with courage, will, determination and perseverance. Sin and neglect deepen the harm of the curse, and laziness and refusal to till the soil increase it further.
To be a second Cain is to be looked upon as a murderer whose crime brings reproach. Such a course causes one's teaching to be rejected and despised and destroys one's power to do good to fellow men.