A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
GENESIS 4
Lesson #13
PARALLELS IN RELATIONSHIPS
- Memory verse: Heb 9:22
- The connection between Gen 3 and Gen 4:
- In Genesis 3 we see sin and its consequences in individuals. In Genesis 4 we see sin and its consequences in the family.
- Eve is a type of the church:
- Read Eph 5:22-33
Adam and Eve / Christ and the Church
| Adam and Eve | Christ and the Church |
| It was not good for Adam to be alone.
Gen 2:18 |
Christ desired not to be alone.
Joh 17:24 |
| Eve was created as a result of Adam’s sleep.
Gen 2:21 |
The church was created as a
result of Christ’s death. Eph 5:25 |
| Eve was created from close proximity to Adam’s heart.
Gen 2:21 |
The church was born to be his body out of love from Christ’s broken heart. Eph 5:30
Luk 22:39-44 |
| Man is to leave his old life behind and start a new life with his wife.
Gen 2:24 |
The church is to leave the old sin life behind and start a new life in Christ.
2Cor 5:17 |
| This was to be a permanent relationship.
Gen 2:24 |
This is to be an eternal relationship.
Joh 6:47 |
| Adam and Eve are to be in unity.
Gen 2:24 Eph 5:31 |
Christ and the church are to be in unity.
Eph 5:31 Joh 17:21 |
| Adam and Eve are to be intimate in their relationship.
Gen 2:25 |
Christ and the church are to be intimate in their relationship.
1The 5:17-18 |
| Adam is to be head (authority) over Eve.
Eph 5:23 |
Christ is to be the head (authority) of the church. Eph 5:23 |
| Adam is to help his wife mature and become holy. Eph 5:26-27
Adam took the responsibility for Eve’s sin. |
Christ cleanses and matures the
Church making it holy. Eph 5:26-27 Jesus Christ bore the sins of Christians on the cross. 1Pet 2:24 |
| Adam is to love Eve. Eph 5:25 | Christ loves the church. Eph 5:25 |
| Adam is to provide for Eve’s needs.
Eph 5:29 |
Christ provides for the needs of the church.
Eph 5:29 |
| Adam is to be Eve’s savior and protector.
Eph 5:23 |
Christ is the savior and protector of the church. Eph 5:23 |
| She was called “woman” taken out of man.
Gen 2:23 |
Those in the church are called “Christians”.
Act 11:26 |
| The serpent beguiled her and she did eat.
Gen 3:13 |
Christians wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities. Eph 6:12
Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Rev 12:10 |
| Their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked. They made aprons of fig leaves.
Gen 3:7 |
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags.
Isa 64:6 |
| For Adam and Eve the Lord made coats of skins and clothed them. Gen 3:21 | A great multitude of Christians are before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes. Rev 7:9 |
| Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Gen 3:20 | “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him brings forth much fruit”. Joh 15:5 |
- Read Gen 4:1-16
- Names are very important in the Bible.
- The name “Cain” means = acquisition or brought forth.
- Adam and Eve thought that Cain was the Messiah, the one promised in Gen 3:15 that would redeem them from their sinful condition.
- The King James Version says “I have gotten a man from the Lord.”
- The literal meaning in Hebrew is, “I have gotten the man from the Lord.”
- The name “Abel” means = exaltation or that which ascends
- If Cain had been the promised Messiah, then the family would be exalted.
- Their sinful condition would be removed allowing them to ascend to the throne of God.
- Worship in chapter 4:
- There was a place where God was to be worshipped (3)
- There was a time when God was to be worshipped (3) “at the end of days” = probably means at the end of the week, the Sabbath.
- There was a way in which God was to be worshipped. This is implied in Genesis.
- Read Heb 11:4
- What was wrong with Cain’s offering to the Lord?
- Why does God say He had respect for Abel and not for Cain?
- Cain’s offering was not done in humility:
- Abel’s offering was the best (the fat) from the firstlings of his flock.
- Cain’s offering was some of the fruit. The Bible does not say that he brought the first or the best of the harvest.
- Cain’s offering was the works of his own hands: Cain’s offering ignored the curse of Gen 3:17 where the ground is cursed.
- Cain’s offering was not in God’s way:
- God had set the pattern of animal sacrifice in Gen 2 when he killed the first animals to cover Adam and Eve’s sin. It is implied that they knew this.
- It was not a blood sacrifice according to God’s pattern.
- It was the form of godliness but denied the power of godliness. (2Tim 3:5)
- Cain’s offering was not done in faith.
- Instead it was an offering done in pride.
- Cain was not willing to humble himself and go to his brother to request a lamb for sacrifice.
- Jude 1:11 says that those who come “in the way of Cain” should beware.
- God had set the pattern of animal sacrifice in Gen 2 when he killed the first animals to cover Adam and Eve’s sin. It is implied that they knew this.
- Cain’s offering was not done in humility:
- God’s questions to Cain:
- “Why are you angry?” (6)
- The first appeal to confess sin.
- “Why is your countenance fallen?” (6)
- It is an appeal to look up to God.
- “If you do well, won’t you be accepted?” (7)
- There’s still hope even though you have sinned.
- God gave him an opportunity to bring the proper offering.
- “if you do well” = There are 2 interpretations:
- It literally means, “shalt thou not have the excellency”. In other words, “retain the right of inheritance of the firstborn”.
- If you will bring the proper sacrifice, you will be accepted, because it’s not too late.
- “sin lieth at the door” (7) = There are 2 interpretations:
- The word sin is the same Hebrew word used later in the Bible for sin offering. In other words, God has supplied a lamb, the sin offering, which is crouching at the door ready to be offered.
- If you do not offer the correct sacrifice, sin is crouching at the door like a wild beast ready to devour you.
- Read Jam 1:15.
- “Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him” (7) =
- Sin desires to control you, but you must control or master it.
- Cain’s response:
- Cain kills Abel
- This is Satan’s first attempt to kill the seed of the woman. (1Joh 3:12)
- “where is your brother?” (9)
- This is a second appeal to repentance. He should be feeling remorse for the loss of his brother.
- Cain’s response:
- “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (9)
- These words down through history have been used erroneously as a rationale for not getting involved in problems and difficulties experienced by others.
- Cain’s response is not the Christian response nor what Cod intended. We are to be our brother’s keeper.
- “What have you done?” (10)
- This is God’s third appeal to repentance.
- God wanted Cain to face his own actions and repent.
- “Why are you angry?” (6)
- The consequences of Cain’s sin: The curse on Cain. (Gen 4:11-15)
- You would think Cain would pay for this sin with his own life.
- Instead we see God’s mercy.
- In reality, God did not initiate capital punishment until a later dispensation of time.
- There is a curse on the nature of his way of making a living.
- The land would not produce for him as it did before.
- He would be a fugitive and a wanderer unable to plant and harvest.
- There will be a spiritual separation between he and God (14)
- He would carry a visible mark (perhaps a forehead tattoo).
- We see God’s mercy, as it was to protect Cain from death at the hands of another person.
- Why would there be a 7-fold vengeance on one who took Cain’s life?
- Remember this is the age of conscience.
- Cain was exhibit #1 of the consequences of sin. God did not kill Cain but condemned him to his own guilty conscience.
- The other people on the earth: (15)
- Here are some ways to explain where other people came from:
- -1- 100 years have passed between verse 15 and verse 16, enough time for the multiplication of people.
- -2- Adam and Eve had many, many more children than those mentioned in the Bible.
- Notice there is no mention of any girls born to Adam and Eve and yet there were probably some.
- -3- Or perhaps a combination of #1 and #2 above.
- The land of Nod, east of Eden (16)
- Archaeologists have not been able to locate the land of Nod.
- The name Nod means = “wandering”
- There is no place of peace and rest for the wicked.
- It pictures non-believers wandering in sin, separated from God.
- The warning of Jude 1:10-11:
- Woe to those who deny that the whole human race sinned and fell with Adam.
- In Gen 4:12 we see him settle down trying to forget the curse in violation of God’s command.
- It is interesting that the Apocryphal book of Jubilees has a comment about Cain.
- It tells us that Cain killed Abel with a stone and he, himself, died when his stone house fell in on him and crushed him.
- The Bible does not tell us how Cain died.
- Cain’s wife
- She was undoubtedly his sister.
- There was no prohibition at this time for incest.
- That prohibition came later as the population of the world increased and marriage within the family was unnecessary.
- You would think Cain would pay for this sin with his own life.
- Names are very important in the Bible.
Homework
Genesis 4 – continued
- Application of Gen 4
- Write a paragraph specifically stating how Genesis 4 relates to you and your relationship with God.
- Does it also have a special meaning to you in your relationship with other members of your family? How?
- Further preparation for Gen 4
- Review Gen 4 by reading Gen 4:1-16
- This chapter is filled with types, prefigures, or illustrations of Christ, the church, and the Jews in the New Testament.
- How is Abel a picture of the believer in Jesus Christ?
- How is Cain a picture of the self-righteous person involved in good works?
- How is Abel’s blood a picture of the blood of Christ on the cross?
- How is Cain a picture of the Jews as a nation?
- Review Gen 4 by reading Gen 4:1-16
- Memory work: Learn Old Testament book names, Genesis to 2 Samuel
