Is it ever possible to get away from God? Could you hide from God? We have to say that it is impossible to remove ourselves from God so that He does not know where we are or what is happening with us. We might walk away from God and shut Him out of our lives but He never walks away from anyone, irrespective whom they are. It is not only to the believer that God says:
Ps 94:11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man.
Ps 139:4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
1Ch 28:9 the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.
You will recall how recently we saw how God interrogated Cain after he killed Abel and we saw how Cain lied to God. How stupid to lie to God! If God, who made Adam and Eve, knew what they did in the Garden, it’s not surprising He knew what Cain did in the fields (out in the country). Please read:
Ge 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
1) Accusation. Verse 10 starts off with a question that does not seek an answer. It is a statement … an accusation. The words … “What have you done?” … actually mean … What a terrible thing you have done. It’s like when the parent descends upon the child playing with matches and the couch is burning and they cry our … “What have you done?” They can see it but the question means … “what a naughty or bad thing you have done. Cain is startled. He is taken off guard. He has no alibi. Just like the child … matches in hand and couch going up in flames. Caught! May I remind you that God is aware of every sin we commit. We might hide it from the spouse, family, employer and friends … by we cannot hide it from God.
2) Attention. The word “listen” is God acknowledging he knows what Cain has done and He wants Cain to know He knows. God captured Cain’s attention.
3) Revelation. Now Cain finds out exactly what God knows … He knows he murdered his brother in a gruesome manner because … Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. The word “blood” is plural meaning that many drops were spilt into the ground. We are not told how Cain murdered Abel but in some way he knew what to do … perhaps from watching how Adam and Abel killed animals for a sacrifice. However it was, Abel was injured fatally and in some way blood ran from his body into the ground. We also find God saying that Abel’s blood cried out to Him from the ground. We read:
Lev 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
Here we find that the life of an animal is in its blood and that animal blood in the Old Testament made atonement when sacrificed for a person’s life. That is, one life was given for another’s life … an animal for a human. My point in raising this is that blood is life and if blood is life, we must not be surprised hearing God say that Abel’s life blood cried out to him in his death! One must not be surprised at how serious God is when He gave the sixth commandment:
Ex 20:13 You shall not murder.
Man who is created in the image and likeness of God is murdered shall naturally draw the wrath God.
4) Punishment. Adam’s sin is upon all human beings. His sin was horrendous yet God did not curse him! Look at Abel’s punishment!
Ge 4:11 “Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
We know the serpent (satan) was cursed:
Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you.”
We know the ground was cursed:
Ge 3:17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you”
And now, for the first time, a human being is cursed for sin … “Now you are under a curse.” Although cursed, it is not a curse unto damnation. Cain is not beyond redemption … but he is severely punished for his sin and God wants us to know that sin will be treated harshly!
(i) He is driven from the ground. The fertile land he and his family cultivated for food was no longer available to him.
(ii) He would need to feed off some sort of vegetables and fruit … yet … When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. He would struggle to cultivate land. He would plant. Yet it would not produce the quality and quantity he knew before.
(iii) Due to this, he would … be a restless wanderer on the earth. He would be a nomad, moving from place to place seeking better land to cultivate food crops.
This picture is typical of the Ovamboland in the old South West Africa. In 1989 it was incorporated into Namibia and divided into four regions, which together is known commonly as Ovamboland. A colleague of ours by the name of Rev. Peter Kalagulu owned large sections of farming land in that region. He would tell us stories of how the Bushmen, who were nomads, would arrive on his land as a huge tribe and set up home. He would visit them and do evangelism and catechism. They lived off his land during their stay. As soon as some were ready for Confirmation, he would arrive only to find they had moved on … only to return many months later. They existed as drifters or wanderers.
The difference with Cain was that he was restless as well. This gives us a picture of him being unhappy. This mean he would never settle down and start a fixed agricultural system to provide food for his people. Another picture would be of a stray cat. Never having a home, always moving around. Cain was a stray and all Adam’s descendants knew this. He was, apart from his own family (wife and children), he was family-less and friendless. No fixed abode … always on the move. But then we need to understand this was part of his curse! No peace, no rest and no happiness. Again … the seriousness of the sin of murder is the reason Cain was cursed.
Our Father, thank You for our salvation. Thank You for renewing our minds. Thank You for giving to us a value system that is fixed in the spirit world of Jesus. Thank You that our identity is found in Jesus and His Cause and Kingdom. Help us precious Lord to love all people knowing we are created in the image and likeness of our God. Amen.