Genesis 4:1-26: We are our brother's (and sister's) keeper

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”  It’s a phrase that has become embedded in society as a renouncement of interpersonal responsibility.  At the heart of Cain and Abel’s story is the truth of how our worship informs our ethics.  If we fail in our worship, in our understanding of a transcendent and yet imminent God, then surely we will fail in our ethics, in how we relate to one another as beings that bear the image of that God that we so misunderstand. 

There is a foreshadowing of the trouble between these most famous of brothers in the very names that they are given.  Qana, the root for Cain, means to “acquire, get, or possess.”  Similarly appropriate is the meaning of Abel’s name, “vapor, or breath”; a foreshadowing of his fate at his brother’s hand.  A good, though surprising place to start the story, is worship.  If worship is giving God priority, then one brother fails while the other succeeds.  Abel probably brought the best portion, the fattest portion desired by God.  Meanwhile, Cain brings “some of the fruits”, with no indication that these are the first or the best.  Cain comes before God with the leftovers, while Abel makes sure God gets the “pick of the litter.”  Do you see how this was not just a failure of the moment on Cain’s part?  In order to worship properly, Abel had to allow for God’s priority in his life each day of the week.  He planned, dedicating the best of what he had to God, so that when he comes to the altar, it is the culmination of all the time leading up to that moment spent in worship.  For Cain, on the other hand, worship is an afterthought.  While arriving at the altar should be the culmination of a week spent in worship, instead it is a brief interruption when Cain tries to feign obedience to God.  Bruce K. Waltke would say, “Cain first fails at the altar, and because he fails at the altar, he fails in the field.  Because he fails in his theology, he will fail in his ethics…Cain’s sin is tokenism.  He looks religious, but in his heart he is not totally dependent on God, childlike, or grateful.”

A truth we seldom recognize is that our worship affects the rest of our lives, just as the rest of our lives affect our worship.  When it comes to sin, we either rule, or are ruled over.  God warns Cain that his failure at the altar can be compounded if he does not actively master the sin which seeks to master him.  God speaks emphatically; “you” must master it.  Responsibility is Cain’s and Cain’s alone. 

But Cain isn’t interested in mastering sin.  His interest lies in placing the blame for his own failure at the feet of his brother.  He walks through the field looking for Cain, just as God had walked through the garden looking for Adam and Eve.  And while God brought judgment mingled with grace in his meeting with Adam and Eve, Cain brings unbridled envy and jealousy to his meeting with Abel.  Cain stands face to face with his brother, and just as he had rejected God and His divine counsel, so he now rejects his brother, Abel who is made in God’s image.  We see in Abel’s murder not just the first homicide, but an attempt to eradicate God by erasing God’s image found in others.  Cain doesn’t just murder Abel, he attempts to murder God.  When confronted by God, Cain’s first response is to lie.  How many times do we reject the truth by seeking to deny it?  When that doesn’t work, we then go back and refuse to admit that we are responsible.  If we can’t change the facts, we argue that the facts are relevant.  Why are you asking me, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The result of sin is alienation, not only from God but from each other.  Sin drives a wedge between us, to the extent that we fail to recognize the obligation we all have to “be our brother (or sister’s) keeper.”  This is especially true when our actions negatively impact others.  God seeks to judge our callousness, just as He judged Adam and Eve’s selfishness.  God goes from asking questions to prosecuting Cain, with Abel’s blood as the star witness.  “What have you done?” are chilling words when coming from a parent or a boss, so they must be deathly frightening when voiced by God.  God punishes Cain, the farmer, by turning him into a wanderer; he is rootless with no identity or community.  The punishment is fourfold: there is a meager return from the soil, Cain is hidden from God’s face, he must live as a nomad, and there is a constant danger of being killed.  In a morbidly ironic twist, Cain fears that none will be “his keeper”.  The murderer fears death.

We see in Cain all the things that we hate in our own society: violence, jealousy, and deceit.  We also see in Cain our own possible future, for sin lurks at the door seeking to master us as surely as it sought to master Cain.  It’s comforting to know that even someone like Cain, judged and condemned by God, is also a recipient of God’s grace.  Cain leaves God’s presence, but not His protection.  Walter Brueggemann would observe that, “the killer has no resources of his own but must cast himself upon the mercy of the life-giver…The acknowledgement of guilt and the reality of grace come together in this presentation.” 

There is grace as well for those touched by Cain’s violently sinful act.  While Eve says “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” when Cain is born, she attributes the work to God by when Seth is born saying, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”  Eve sees God as entering the midst of tragedy, all the while shining the light of hope into the darkness.  In turn, Seth himself has a child and names him “Enosh”, meaning “weakness”.  Nahum Sarna would say that, “it is the consciousness of human frailty, symbolized by the name Enosh, that heightens man’s awareness of utter dependence upon God, a situation that intuitively evokes prayer.”  The whole cycle of envy and violence brings much sorrow, but it also brings recognition that man is dependent on God.  Ever since that fateful day in the field, humankind has sought to restore the peace that was shattered when man first shed another man’s blood.  May the coming of our Lord’s kingdom restore not only humanity’s peace with God, but also our peace with one another. 

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the head,

running down on the beard,

on the beard of Aaron,

running down on the collar of his robes!

It is like the dew of Hermon,

which falls on the mountains of Zion!

For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,

life forevermore.”

-          Psalm 133

Genesis 3:8-24: Why confession is good for the soul

They say confession is good for the soul.  However, one of the hardest things to do is confess when we have done something wrong. 

Why is confession so difficult, and yet, so beneficial?  In God’s reaction to Adam and Eve’s sin the necessity, as well as the beauty and honesty of confession are revealed to us.  If God were interested solely in judgment, as many seem to think, then there never would have been a conversation between the first human beings and God.  God could simply have wiped them out.  We see however, a very different response from a God who is so often described as vengeful.  Rather than destroying humanity, God speaks to them.  By opening a dialogue with His wayward creation, God attempts to bring them around to an understanding of the truth.  In His justice God asks questions, even though He already knows the answers.  By asking the question, God gives Adam and Eve the opportunity to confess their sins.  If God were only concerned with punishment, He has what He needs to proceed.  Fortunately, God is not interested in punishment for vengeance sake, but rather is wants to see humanity learn from their mistakes.  So, what lessons are there to learn?

They learned that you cannot run from God.  They had hidden their nakedness from each other, and then they tried to hide it from God.  Despite Adam and Eve’s failed attempt at flight, humanity has continued to believe that we can flee to a place where God’s gaze does not fall.  Adam and Eve are just the first of many who try to escape God’s judgment.  Jonah tried to run from God, and found himself in the belly of a whale.  While our stories are probably not as spectacular, we have all had the same experience.  At some point in our life, we have run and found ourselves in the belly of our own “whale”.  Maybe you ran from an addiction, only to wake up on a bathroom floor, with no recollection of what happened the night before.  Maybe you ran from marital problems, only to find yourself opening the envelope containing divorce papers.  Maybe you ran from work and responsibility, only to discover a life empty of meaning or fulfillment.  We have all run from something, and eventually we will all reach that point when we have to stop running.  Running does not solve our problems; it just creates more of them.  By running, Adam and Eve have taken the joy of communion with God, and transformed it into something to be feared.  By hiding, and then lying, Adam and Eve have been shown to more closely resemble the serpent than God.    “I was afraid” (v. 10), is an answer we will also hear from Abraham (20:11) and Isaac (26:9).  It shows fear, or a lack of trust in God, which can quickly result in sin.  The dominance of the first-person pronoun is telling, “I heard…, I was afraid…, I was naked; I hid…, I ate…, I ate.” Their responses show a self-absorption that is abandoned only when the conversation turns to fixing blame, and accepting responsibility.  Adam blames the woman that God gave him, implicitly attempting to shift responsibility back toward God.  Eve blames the serpent.  Everyone blames someone else, no one learns anything from the experience, and the cycle seems destined to repeat itself. 

Seeing all of this, one begins to wonder.  Why didn’t God just wipe them out?  We know that God does wipe out most of humanity with a flood, but even then He saves a remnant whose only merits seem to be that they are less imperfect than their contemporaries.  Adam and ever learn there will be judgment and consequences.  The process of bearing children becomes a painful one.  The ground that Adam was supposed to rule over, now rules over him, to the extent that it will eventually consume him in death.  The two who once ruled as one, Adam and Eve, now try to rule over each other.  They are even forced to leave their home, Eden.  Around the black clouds of God’s judgment: pain, hard labor, exile, and eventually death, there are silver-linings to be discerned.   The pain of childbirth demonstrates that God has not removed procreation from human possibility.  Progeny is a means of grace.  When writing to Timothy, Paul refers to women saying, “Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” (I Timothy 2:15)  If we correctly interpret the story of humanity’s fall, and discern the grace present in God’s judgment, we see that Paul is highlighting the special role women play as a conduit of that grace.  Even death becomes both a blessing and a curse.  It renders all our physical efforts in vain, but it also provides an escape from futility, and opens the way for salvation that extends beyond the grave.  God cannot allow man to live forever in their fallen state, and for that reason in the words of Bruce K. Waltke, “death is both a judgment, and a release.”  Theologian Walter Brueggemann sums up God’s approach in a way that is concise, and that also looks forward to the story that will continue to unfold: “With the sentence given, God does for the couple what they cannot do for themselves.  They cannot deal with their shame.  But God can, will, and does.”

When we view the story in this light, we see that God is gracious, even in his judgment.  The miracle is not in the fact that they are punished, but that they live.  Paul would sum it up in Romans by saying that by one man came death, but life comes from God.  (Romans 5:12)  God opens the door to humanity’s further existence, and even provides for them.  When we understand how God is acting in the story to bring about redemption we see death itself as an escape, which allows for God’s granting of eternal salvation.  Humanity has learned, even if we sometime forget, that there is wisdom in God’s commandments.  God does not just make rules to be a kill-joy. God’s rule is in our best-interest.  When we are motivated by selfishness and rebel against God’s reign in our life, sin is sure to follow. 

If the story ended there, it would not be a happy one.  Thankfully, God is not finished.  God’s relentless love leads Him to fight to bring humanity back into a relationship with Him.  Just as things went so horribly wrong because of the actions of one man (with a little help from his wife), God will also make things wonderfully right through one man, a man like no other.  I leave you with the words of Paul, written to the church in Rome:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 5:12-21 

Genesis 3:1-7: the danger of talking about God rather than to God

There are moments in time that define our lives.  There are choices we make that determine the struggles, obstacles, and challenges that we will face in the future.  For Adam and Eve the choice was between two trees.  They faced a decision: embrace their own will, or the will of God.  Would they actively rebel, or humbly submit? 

As is often the case, in the instance of Adam and Eve a third party enters the story and seeks to influence their decision.  What happened that would ultimately lead to Adam and Eve choosing rebellion over submission, to choosing their will over the will of God?

To put it simply, Adam and Eve lost perspective.  When our relationship with God shifts from the second-person to third-person perspective, trouble is sure to follow.  The theologian Walter Brueggemann makes the following astute observation: “Notice that the serpent engages in theology, without allowing for God’s presence, he talks about God, but not to or with God.”  Consider a relationship in which you currently find yourself.  Regardless of whether it’s a marriage, a friendship, or a familial relationship, imagine what would happen if you stopped speaking with that person, and only spoke about them.  Even if you were saying only nice things about your spouse, friend, or relative, how long could that relationship endure without the benefit of meaningful dialogue?  When the third party, the serpent, maneuvers his way into Adam and Eve’s thought-process, he subtly re-directs their speech so that it is no longer towards God, but simply about God.  Whereas Adam and Eve had been about using their language to bring order to the earth, the serpent uses language, both his and theirs to sow confusion and disorder.  By allowing their thoughts about God to surpass their dialogue with God, Adam and Eve allowed their perspective to change in a way that proved most damaging. 

This damaging change in perspective led to a disastrously myopic view of God.  The serpent makes a statement about God that is a clear distortion by describing God as stingy and bossy, rather than giving and beneficent.  Old Testament scholar Bruce K. Waltke would put it this way:

“Satan smoothly maneuvers Eve into what may appear as a sincere theological discussion, but he subverts obedience and distorts perspective by emphasizing God’s prohibition, not his provision, reducing God’s command to a question, doubting his sincerity, defaming his motives, and denying the truthfulness of his threat.” 

By distorting what God says, the serpent is able to claim knowledge of God’s thoughts and motives.  The serpent distorts God’s words enough to open up the possibility of circumventing them.  Rather than seeing God’s word as giving safe boundaries, Adam and Eve now see it as building barriers. 

Adam and Eve hear the possibilities spoken of by the serpent, that humanity could climb to a place where they were equal with God.  This seeming possibility causes their reach to exceed their grasp.  Gerhard von Rad describes the possibilities spoken of by the serpent as Adam and Eve understood them:

“The serpent’s insinuation is the possibility of an extension of human existence beyond the limits set for it by God at creation, an increase of life not only in the sense of pure intellectual enrichment but also familiarity with and power over, mysteries that lie beyond man.” 

This is where human ambition is transformed into sin.  Eve, and then Adam, acquiesces because they feel as if they lack something.  This something becomes necessary not because of its inherent necessity, but because of Adam and Eve’s inability to focus on anything but the very thing they do not have.  By this point the story is probably becoming uncomfortably familiar.  We see Adam and Eve creeping closer to the sin that will curse humanity.  We flinch because each one of us can vividly think of the time when we saw our own hand extended toward that thing that we most wanted, but least needed.  We remember how when we finally grasped that long-desired object or relationship, we lost our grip on so many other things that mattered deeply to us.  There is good news in the fact that despite our insistence on reaching out for things other than God, God never ceases to reach out for us.  With sin comes judgment, but even in the moment of judgment we see signs of God’s grace.  If there is shame and guilt in our fall, there is mercy, forgiveness, and love in the way that God picks us up.      

Genesis 2:4-25: formed by God

Immediately after the story of creation comes…another creation story?  Some say that these are two different accounts of creation, because what other reason would there be for the story to repeat itself?

I would argue that rather than simply repeating an account of creation, Genesis is focusing in on a specific part of the story in order to elaborate on some very important truths as evidenced in the change in language.  For example, the narrative begins by speaking of the “earth and heavens” rather than the “heavens and the earth”.  The perspective has changed from cosmic, to very much down to earth.  This shift in perspective, considered together with the sudden addition of “Lord” before God, signals that the story is moving to a relational level.  Each part of creation will no longer exist in isolation, but instead in relationship with one another.  That relationship is demonstrated not only in the fact that humankind was created, but how humankind was created.  “Formed”, the word used for God’s creation of humankind, is more intimate than simply “created”.  It brings to mind a potter sitting at his wheel, carefully and painstakingly fashioning something.  However, this is no mere ornamental, inanimate object, but something that is very much alive.  Humans are said to have the very breath of God in their bodies.   This is likely the reason why they are referred to as living beings, or souls.  Humanity is placed in a garden possessing that which is both good for food, and delightful to the eye.  Work is part of humanity’s lot even before the fall, and was given as a blessing.  The fullness of humanity is described as both male and female.  God’s statement that it was “not good” for man to be alone is set in the emphatic position, so that man’s need for companionship is stressed.  It is for this reason that God creates Eve.  While our culture has conditioned us to see the word “helper” as pejorative, here it is meant to signify woman’s essential contribution.  Without the help of women, humanity’s task could never be complete.  This is confirmed by the Hebrew word for suitable, which actually means “equal and adequate”.  The Bible makes it clear, here and elsewhere, that true marriage is the equality of the husband and the wife, as they work together to fulfill their vocation.  Woman may be taken from man, but that means that she is forever a part of man, their destinies being entwined.  This is certainly the way the Apostle Paul sees it, when he tells the Ephesians that “husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.” (Ephesians 5:28-30)   There is something beautiful, something divine even, when a man and woman decide to invest as much in one another, as they do in themselves.  Bruce K. Waltke would say it this way, “a man and woman are never more like God than on their wedding day when they commit themselves unconditionally to one another.”  It’s not random, that the covenant commitment made in marriage is used to depict God’s relationship with His people on more than one occasion.  It’s the deepest expression of love possible between a man and a woman, and our greatest way of relating to God’s love for us. 

What does this story teach us about humanity?  First of all, it reaffirms what each one of us already knows deep down inside, that we are unique among God’s creation.  God does not just “create” humanity, God “forms” us.  We also learn that we bear the breath of God.  Finally, we learn that we can only find true companionship in other humans. 

We don’t just learn about humanity from this story, we also learn about God.  We are told of a God who takes great care in forming humankind, specifically because of His desire to have a relationship with us.  We are told of a God who gives to man not only the gift of creation, but specifically the gift of the ideal companion to work alongside him. 

Finally, what we learn of humanity and what we learn of God come together to teach us something about marriage.  In the Biblical view of marriage, husband and wife are shown to be equal.  An adaption of Matthew Henry’s words has often been quoted, that woman “is not made out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near to his heart to be beloved.”  Henry’s statement is a reflection of what the Apostle Paul would write to the Ephesians, particularly the Ephesian men:

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” – Ephesians 5:25-27

What a beautiful thing, that God creates us not alone, but to live in communion with one another.  While that communion can come in diverse forms and have many functions, it reaches its zenith when a man and a woman surrender a part of themselves, in order to become one.