Cain had killed his brother Abel, but he had been given an opportunity to repent. This devotional reading looks at how he was cursed and banished because he did not repent.
Nuggets
- Cain lamented his punishment.
- Cain’s first thought was he was being banished from the land.
- Cain was cut off from God, the worst punishment that there is.
- Sin takes us to the polar opposite than salvation.
- Cain was concerned for his safety.
Abel was murdered by Cain, his brother. This stemmed from Cain’s jealousy that Abel and his sacrifice was accepted by God, but he and his sacrifice wasn’t.
God gave Cain a chance to repent and become obedient to God. Cain wasn’t interested in doing that.
Because of Cain’s turning away from God, he was cursed and banished from God’s presence. Let’s see what happened there.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Creating Everything theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the The Influence of Sin series
Too Hard to Bear
“Cain replied to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great for me to bear!” (Gen. 4: 13 NLT)
Cain lamented his punishment.
Oh, come on. Cain still wasn’t repentant for killing Abel.
Cain was sorry he got caught. He didn’t like his punishment.
Warren saw it a different way. He wrote, “Cain slays himself more than Abel. Sin ravages him more than he can bear.”
Resource
I agree that Cain did this to himself. He made the choice not to follow God and kill his brother.
I agree that sin ravages us to more than we can bear. I disagree that is what Cain was feeling.
I think Cain was still acting like the two-year-old. He was upset he got caught, not that he did the crime. He had too much insolence.
Still, Parker brought up an interesting thought. He wrote, “The punishment which a man inflicts upon himself is infinitely severer than any punishment that can be inflicted upon him.”
Resource
We are very adept at kicking ourselves. We may be kicking ourselves for the wrong reasons, but our offense may deserve that hard of a kick.
However, we may be kicking at life itself because of an imagined infraction. Sadness, though warranted, should not grow to bitterness. But there it is.
We are not good at forgiving ourselves. The cause of that may be our inability to just get over it.
That is one reason we need repentance and God’s forgiveness. It uproots and cuts out our sin.
Banished
“You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer ...’” (Gen. 4: 14 NLT)
Banished Me from the Land
Cain’s first thought was he was being banished from the land.
Cain hadn’t learned his lesson yet. He was still focusing on worldly issues.
If Cain would have been focusing on God, he would have repented. We know he didn’t because he was cursed and banished.
Cursed means that we are unrepentant and not a child of God. If we are a child of God, He never leaves us.
Bonar felt that Cain believed he didn’t deserve his punishment. In Cain’s mind, according to Bonar, God was responsible for it all – the banishment from the Garden, his banishment.
Resource
While Cain was right in the laws broken were God’s laws, he was wrong to think God was the One in fault. Cain made his own choice whether to obey the law or not. He chose not to obey.
Banished Me from Your Presence
Cain was cut off from God, the worst punishment that there is.
From what was Cain being banished when it says he was banished from God’s presence?
True, Adam and Eve lost the face-to-face presence of God when they sinned in the Garden. Cain still had His presence, because Moses wrote that God pulled it. “So Cain left the LORD’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden” (Gen. 4: 16 NLT).
Edwards reminded us that God’s presence was with Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. God still has us in His presence, just not face-to-face.
Resource
Cain was being banished from was God’s Shekinah, His glory.
This has so many thoughts rumbling around in my head. Cain was cursed – Cain did not have the Old Testament Salvation – and he was not given another chance.
1) We can lose our salvation.
2) There is a point where God stops offering us salvation.
Edwards felt that the loss of salvation was shown by the cessation of growth of the tree of life within Cain’s soul. That would bring a feeling of darkness within him.
I just have trouble thinking Cain is so upset about being banished from God’s presence. God has not been Cain’s priority before. Why should He be now.
Yes, God does use situations like this to bring us back to Him. No, it didn’t work this time. Cain was cursed and banished.
I think that Cain was more upset about losing his occupation and home than he was losing God.
Homeless Wanderer
Sin takes us to the polar opposite than salvation.
As we said, Cain was tied to the land. He may not have gone very far away from the Garden of Eden.
Now, Cain was going to be a homeless wanderer. He would not take roots in one certain place. Nothing would be permanent.
Mark on Cain
“... Anyone who finds me will kill me! The Lord replied, ‘No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him” (Gen. 4: 14-15 NLT)
Cain was concerned for his safety.
Why was Cain concerned for his safety? He was afraid his brothers would kill him for killing Abel.
Wait! What???? Brothers??????
Most of us probably remember Seth. “Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth, for she said, ‘God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed’” (Gen. 4: 25 NLT).
But that wasn’t all. “After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters” (Gen. 5: 4 NLT).
What if one or some of them would want to avenge their brother’s death?
We know the sixth commandment. “You must not murder” (Ex. 20: 13 NLT).
God did set up cities of refuge (Num. 35: 15) for those who had murdered someone to flee to, but Cain wouldn’t have been eligible for those. They were for those who had unintentionally killed someone.
Cain was very intentional in killing Abel.
We have no idea what kind of mark God placed on Cain. Gilfillan speculated what it could have been. Though he listed five suggestions, the one that intrigued me was when he wrote, “… or it might simply be the stain of his brother’s blood left by his own fingers, which he had raised up while yet wet and reeking to cover his forehead, rendered miraculously indelible …”
Resource
I can see Cain doing that, thinking, “What have I done?” But that would indicate remorse, and I don’t think Cain had that.
It may have been more of, “How do I cover this up?” The indelible mark would have been a fitting reminder that we cannot hide anything from God.
Dods thought this may be from where the idea came to brand criminals.
Resource
But why would God preserve Cain’s life if he was cursed? Bonar gave us a list.
- God is gracious as He doesn’t want even the wicked to perish (Rom. 5: 8).
- Cain living after the murder was a better testament to God than his execution would have been.
- Cain could have partially repented.
Resource
I don’t know. I don’t see the last one. We are either saved, or we aren’t. We are either His child, or we aren’t.
If God would have accepted Cain’s half-hearted repentance, He would not have cursed and banished him.
Yes, God wants to bless us. But that doesn’t mean happiness and goodies.
Blessedness means we have been perfected. We aren’t perfected unless we have gone through the processes of salvation and sanctification.
Murphy thought God was making a distinction between spiritual and physical death. The punishment of the original sin was both. If He made physical death the punishment for murder, that would mean murder was an unpardonable sin.
Resource
We know it isn’t. God forgave David for ordering the murder of Uriah (II Sam. 11: 14-27).
The most important element of any sin is disobedience to God. The punishment for that sin had already been declared.
Don’t get me wrong. God’s Word shows us times when God did immediately take someone out.
- Lot’s wife (Gen. 19: 26)
- Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families (Num. 16: 27-32)
- Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10: 1)
- Nabal (I Sam. 25: 38)
- Uzzah (II Sam. 6: 6-7)
- Ananias and Sapphira (Ac. 5: 1-11)
Thing is, none of those were murderers. They all either refused to do a direct order from God, actively rebelled against God, disrespect for one of His chosen ones, or lying about a vow to Him.
Besides, God did later state the punishment for death. “If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image” (Gen. 9: 6 NLT).
Kalisch thought the exception here was because the avenger would be another brother. How would one brother avenge the death of a brother by killing another brother?
Resource
I can see that. God is always thinking of us. Adam and Eve’s dysfunctional family really wouldn’t have a chance.
Whatever the physical mark, Cain would have to live a long life with the mental mark on his conscience.
Making the Connections #1
Zondervan Academic talked about Old Testament salvation. He wrote, “Grace is that aspect of divine action by which God blesses his rebellious creatures, whether through preservation (common grace) or salvation (special grace).”
Resource
Let’s look at the covenant with Abraham. “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you’” (Gen. 12: 1-3 NLT emphasis added).
See how many times God said that He would preserve and provide for Abraham and his descendants? (By the way, that is still in effect today.)
Yes, Jesus hadn’t come to make the sacrifice so His blood would cover our sins permanently. So, no this isn’t salvation as we now about it.
But this is God’s grace providing salvation to those who lived before it was time for Jesus to come.
Think about it this way. A major element of salvation is our identify of being God’s children. A major element in the Old Testament was their identity as God’s people. Same difference to me.
Making the Connections #2
If Cain got it wrong, who got it right? David did in Psalms 51.
- “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night” (Ps. 51: 1-3 NLT).
- “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me” (Ps. 51: 10 NLT).
- “Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51: 11 NLT).
- “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you” (Ps. 51: 12 NLT).
- “Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness” (Ps. 51: 14 NLT).
- “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (Ps. 51: 16-17 NLT).
If Cain would have done this, he wouldn’t have been banished to Nod.
How Do We Apply This?
Repent.
Father God. You knew we would disobey You and sin. Yet, You designed the Plan of Salvation so that we may be restored. Forgive us when we repent and turn from our sins. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.