The Way of Cain

S. Lewis Johnson Message of the Week

THE WAY OF CAIN
Dr. S. Lewis Johnson expounds the Scripture passage that details the judgment of Cain and the godless society formed by his offspring.

Scripture Reference: Genesis 4:9-26

Click here to listen: The Way of Cain

Transcript Excerpt:

Will you turn with me now to Genesis Chapter 4 and I want to read for our Scripture reading, Genesis 4:9 through 26.  The context, I hope you remember,is the offering of Cain and Abel and then the murder of Abel by Cain that followed.  In the 9th verse, we read,

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is, Abel, your brother?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?” And he said, ‘What have you done?  The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you.  You shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.’  And Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear.  Behold Thou has driven me this day from the face of the ground and from Thy face I shall be hidden and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me.’  So the Lord said to him, ‘Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.’  And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should slay him.”

That expression appointed a sign for, according to The New American Standard Bible, is a difficult expression.  It might mean set the mark upon him so that there was a physical mark upon Cain that distinguished him as being set apart by God for protection.  It has been suggested that it also might refer to some particular sign that God performed in token of the fact that he was standing behind this word with respect to Cain, something like a miracle, some supernatural type of sign.  It’s difficult to now exactly what is meant by the expression, but at least the general import of it is quite clear.  Verse 16 we read,

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