After the Flood

Genesis 9:1 – 28

   ¹ Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

After the creation till the Flood, God gave us vegetables & fruits as our food. But after the Flood, God gave us all animals as our food in addition to them.

One question I have here is why God gave the fear and dread of human being(s) to all the animals? It sounds they are being punished by fear, slaughter and being eaten.

   ⁴ “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵ And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

   ⁶ “Whoever sheds human blood, 
   by humans shall their blood be shed; 
for in the image of God 
   has God made mankind.

When we eat animals, we should not eat their lifeblood (4).

   ⁷ As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

This command was also spoken by God in Genesis 1:28 after creating human beings.

   ⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

   ¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

   ¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Here, God promised there will be no more global flood on the earth. Without such promise, we could fear the Flood whenever it rains. The rainbow is the sign of the covenant (16).

  ¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Everyone on the earth is a descendent of Noah as well as Adam.

   ²⁰ Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. ²¹ When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 

Here, Noah was called a man of the soil. Noah was a human being and had the earthly body. And he proceeded to plant a vineyard and … became drunk.

I guess he might be sad for dead people in the Flood including his relatives, neighbours and friends. He might drink wine to comfort his sad heart & forget the past.

A man of the soil – this word reminds me of who I am. And this is why I am how I am. And God knows all.

   ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

   ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

   “Cursed be Canaan! 
   The lowest of slaves 
   will he be to his brothers.”

   ²⁶ He also said,

   “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem! 
   May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 
²⁷ May God extend Japheth’s territory; 
   may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, 
   and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

Canaan, the son of Ham was cursed by exposing his father Noah’s shame. He was cursed to be the slave of Shem & Japheth. Some people think the races (white, yellow, black) are originated from these 3 sons of Noah.

We learn the principle that we shouldn’t expose the father’s shame. Especially Noah was the only man chosen by God to build the Ark – the Vessel of Salvation. Should one shameful moment of his life inside of his tent be exposed & criticized? No. Such exposure or criticism is unfair and evil.

   ²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

The Global Flood on the Earth

Genesis 8:1 – 22

Message

   ¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ² Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴ and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

The flood started when Noah was 600-year 2-month 17-day old as shown in Genesis 7:11.

The rain continued for 40 days & nights (Genesis 7:12).  In the end of these 40 days, the surface of the waters was at least 6.8 meters above the tops of the mountains (Genesis 7:20). I think 40 days were short and quick enough so that no one outside the Ark could escape from the Flood. Also I think 40 days were long enough so that no one outside the Ark could survive in the waters. Now God needed to dry the waters for Noah and his companions. How? By the way of ‘wind’! See v1^b. Sometime after the 40-day rain stopped, God sent a wind over the earth to make the waters receded (1^b). But it took for a long time until the land went completely dry: 110 days till the Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat + 7 more months.

The Judgement was sudden and quick. But the effect of the Judgement was removed not instantly but very slowly. The prevention is better than the cure because the recovery may take long time and the scars may remain… Get right with God before He may discipline you!

I want to think of God who sent a wind for Noah and his companions. It was the grace of God. Within the Ark of Noah, they were experiencing God’s grace while outside the Ark of Noah the Flood continued in the extended period of time.

Once started, the Judgement of God was sudden, quick and complete. Where do you want to stay? Now the Ark is open. Jesus welcomes you with open arms. Will you still insist there will be no judgement of God? Will you insist you will be OK outside the Ark during the Judgement?

On the 1^st day of the 10^th month, the tops of the mountains became visible (5).

   ⁶ After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

Verse 6 – 12 is the record on the period of 40 + 7 + 7 days since the 1^st day of the 10^th month.

   ¹³ By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 

The first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year may be 40 + 7 + 7 + 7 days after the 1^st day of the 10^th month, when Noah removed the covering from the Ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

    ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

   ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷ Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

   ¹⁸ So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

The land was completely dry when Noah was 601-year 2-month 27-day old. So it was after 1 year and 10 days after the beginning of the Flood. On this day, God said to Noah to come out of the Ark.

   ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹ The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

   ²² “As long as the earth endures, 
seedtime and harvest, 
cold and heat, 
summer and winter, 
day and night 
will never cease.”

Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings on it (20). Noah expressed his dedication and gratitude to God. Also, we notice that Noah practiced ‘priesthood’ here. And it was far before the Mosaic Law was given.

I want to think of “Never again will I curse the ground” (21).

If we read carefully, what God swore was that “never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” (21^c) In the Flood, God destroyed ALL LIVING CREATURES except those in the Ark. And God will never destroy ALL LIVING CREATURES again as He did in the Flood.

Global warming was and is being caused by our own misuse of the earth, which has brought and would bring many serious problems. I hope it might result in not as serious consequences as the Flood.

God Himself will not make the earth go barren… as long as the earth endures… based on verse 22. It is God’s promise.

Was our sinfulness removed from our heart after the Flood? No. See verse 21^b.

“even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” (21^b)

This promise shown in v21 & 22 was despite of our sinfulness. Based on our sinfulness, we deserve the death by the Judgement of the Flood. Water baptism symbolizes the destruction in the Flood, which we deserve as sinners. When we are baptised, we count ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:2, 11).

Conclusion

Today we learn the justice & power of God through the Judgement of the Flood.

First, know what you deserve.

This global Judgement by the waters teaches us that the Flood is what we deserve as a matter of fact. The reason we can live on the earth now is only due to God’s grace & promise shown in v21 – 22.

We better follow Noah’s faith and obedience than the way of people in Noah’s generation. We better become the disciple of Jesus in this generation.

• Remember the Flood. Remember what you deserve according to God’s justice.
• Repent your sins before God.
• Confess your faith in Jesus.
• Count yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Second, fear God.

This event teaches us the wrath, anger & power of God, who can destroy absolutely ALL if He wants.

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, (Proverbs 9:10^a)

Also, Ecclesiastes 7:1 – 5 says,

¹ A good name is better than fine perfume, 
   and the day of death better than the day of birth. 
² It is better to go to a house of mourning 
   than to go to a house of feasting, 
for death is the destiny of everyone; 
   the living should take this to heart. 
³ Frustration is better than laughter, 
   because a sad face is good for the heart. 
⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, 
   but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. 
⁵ It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person 
   than to listen to the song of fools. 

As the conclusion of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

  ¹³ Now all has been heard; 
   here is the conclusion of the matter: 
Fear God and keep his commandments, 
   for this is the duty of all mankind. 
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, 
   including every hidden thing, 
   whether it is good or evil.

Read the Holy Bible every day.

Pray every day.

Noah’s Ark & The Flood

Genesis 7:1 – 24

   ¹ The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 

Let us think of the Word of God in verse 1: “because I have found you righteous in this generation”

Noah was distinguished from the generation in ‘righteousness’.

We see this world distinguishes people based on ‘achievement’ & ‘performance’ in academia, business or sports and ‘righteousness’ is not counted in highest priority.

They don’t look at ‘morality’ of the person but see his/her ‘wealth’, ‘qualification’, and ‘appearance’.

The top priority of the education should be making a person to live before God.

Proverbs 9:10 says

   ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, 
   and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 

God’s will was clearly taught through the Son of God, Jesus, which is summarized in Matthew 22:37 – 39:

   ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Now we know that

• Noah had the fear of the LORD.
• Noah loved the Lord his God.
• Noah loved his neighbour as himself.

All crimes and sins are due to the lack of the items listed above.

² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

   ⁵ And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

Verse 5 is similar to Genesis 6:22. Here we see that this repetition in the Bible emphasizes Noah’s ‘obedience’.

   ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

As God foretold, the day of the flood finally came on the earth (6). The Noah’s Ark, that is, the result of the obedience, became the vessel of the salvation on the day of the judgement.

   ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

More precise date of the Flood is written in verse 11. The rain continued for 40 days & nights.

   ¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

“as God had commanded Noah” in verse 16 tells me that God’s working power & Noah’s obedience worked together to make the salvation happen. During our obedience, God is with us to empower & help us. When you do God’s will, you are not alone. God is there with you (Matthew 28:20).

   ¹⁷ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

   ²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

The waters rose to more than 6.8 m above the mountain top (20). Every living thing that moved on land perished (21a). The total length of the Flood was 150 days (24).

Yes, people perished by the Flood – the Judgement of God.

Let us read John 3:16:

   ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

Jesus is one and only Son of God, who is our Savour. Without Jesus, Yes, people will perish on the day of Judgement – this Judgement will be by the Fire (2 Peter 3:10, 12).

And the Judgement will not finish only by physical death. The Bible warns the 2^nd death (suffering in the pond of fire) (Revelation 21:8). Moreover, the judgement will be eternal (Matthew 25:46).

²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Jesus is knocking the door of your heart. Open your door and accept Jesus into your life today.

Noah’s faith & obedience

Genesis 6:9 – 22

  ⁹ This is the account of Noah and his family.

   Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Here, let us read carefully on the fact that Noah walked faithfully with God.

How can we walk faithfully with God?

1. Meditate the Bible daily (Psalm 1:2).
2. Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
   Present your requests to God without worry, in everything, by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).
   Seek God’s will. *Refer to the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9 – 13).
   Pray for others (1 Timothy 2:1).
3. Do the will of God (John 9:4). Evangelize others (2 Timothy 4:2, 5). Say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions. Live self-controlled, upright and godly life (Titus 2:12).

In summary, be a disciple of Jesus.

   ¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

God shared His plan of judgement (the Flood) with Noah (13).

Also, God shared His plan of judgement on Sodom & Gomorrah with Abraham (Genesis 18:16 – 33). Why did God share His plan with Abraham? As shown in Isaiah 41:8 and James 2:23, God called Abraham ‘My friend’. God considered him as His friend. Friend does not hide secret from friend.

Jesus said “You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14)

Jesus called His disciples ‘friends’.  He have made everything that He learned from His Father known to them (John 15:15).

   ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. ¹⁶ Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

God gave Noah the details of the Ark that Noah should build, by which his family members and the pairs of chosen animals would be saved.

The Bible reading, prayer life, evangelism and ministry will become like Noah’s Ark of salvation. Our faith may be too small to see when it is first conceived but it will grow to save many people (Luke 13:18 – 19).

  ²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Noah obeyed God’s command to build the Ark.

Let us be reminded of John 15:14. “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

Who is your friend?

The wickedness of the human race in Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1 – 8

    ¹ When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³ Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

Here the sons of God are descendants of Seth, godly people, or believers. The daughters of humans are descendants of Cain, ungodly people, or unbelievers. ‘A hundred and twenty years’ means time remaining till the judgement of the Flood. Also this means that the length of human life was reduced from many hundreds years to 120 years.

Intermarriage between believers and unbelievers brings serious consequences.

2 Corinthians 6:14 – 18 teaches the principle of believer’s marriage.

    ¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

   “I will live with them 
   and walk among them, 
and I will be their God, 
   and they will be my people.”

   ¹⁷ Therefore,

   “Come out from them 
   and be separate, says the Lord. 
Touch no unclean thing, 
   and I will receive you.”

   ¹⁸ And,

   “I will be a Father to you, 
   and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

    ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

The Nephilim were the heroes of old, men of renown. They are people these days like popular musicians, actors, actresses, and athletes.

   ⁵ The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

God saw

• how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,
• every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Therefore

• God regretted that he had made human beings on the earth.
• His heart was deeply troubled.

And God decided to wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground for He regretted that He had made them.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD (8).

Let us study about Noah in verse 9 ~ 22 next week.

Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-26

Recommendation on the methodology to study the Holy Bible

I think it is good practice to deeply think on each verse so that you may derive meanings from it by yourself. If you only listen to what others talk about the verse and don’t have a chance to think deeply on the verse by yourself, how can you confirm what you hear from others is correctly based on the text?

I suggest for you to make efforts to derive some meanings and conclusions by your own reading and careful observation on each verse, which meanings and conclusions you and others can’t deny to be reasonably correct if based on the text.

This will increase your knowledge & faith.

Message

¹ Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

There must be other children of Adam & Eve before Cain was born. Cain was a child born after Adam & Eve were expelled from Eden garden due to their sin. Eve says “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”(1b). This gives us a few thoughts:

• A child is a gift from God. She received the gift and she thanked & praised God.
• Receiving the gift involves pregnancy, formation of a life in the womb, and birth pain. We can’t exclude God in this wonder of reproduction process.
• A new life is a spiritual being as well as a physical being.

And then, Abel was born as a younger brother of Cain.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

The fact that God accepted Abel’s offering but he refused Cain’s gives us a few thoughts:

• Abel’s offering involved shedding blood of lives amongst flocks.
• Cain offered earthly fruits to God. Earthly fruits may require shedding sweats to acquire but did not please God.
• There are requirements in the offering to God. God does not accept any offering that does not fulfil such requirements. Here, let us think about whether God will accept all type of religions that offer their own way of offerings.
• Abel’s offering represents sacrificial offering by the Lamb of God, Jesus

So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

God’s Word shows Cain’s Anger is due to Cain’s own misdeed. Cain himself was the wrong doer but he was angry at both God and Abel. God’s Word shows the characteristics of the sin:

The sin is crouching at the door like the lion crouching just before attacking.

“it desires to have you”: human beings as sinners are in great danger of being in full control of the sin.

“but you must rule over it.”: even so, we have responsibility to control the sin. The restless battle is between human beings and the sin. Jesus crucified the sin on the cross and frees those who are lead by the Holy Spirit instead of their sinful nature (Romans 8:1-4). Accept Jesus and declare your victory in Jesus over the sin today.

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Cain killed his younger brother Abel, who and whose offering pleased the God. Cain committed murder out of his jealousy. The murder practiced by Cain was evil and wicked.

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.”

As the result of the sin of the murder, Cain became ‘a restless wanderer on the earth’. What does it mean?

Before we conclude, note that the murder requires death sentence according to the God’s Law given through Moses (Exodus 21:12-17).

We can conclude that this was a death sentence. He would be killed by whoever might find him.

So, he had to hide. If he might be found, he had to run.

He would suffer the fear of the vengeance or the death wherever he might go and whoever he might meet… One serious sin caused him suffering of the whole life time.

¹³ Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

What Cain says explains it better as shown in v13 – v14. He says:

• The punishment is unbearable.
• He is expelled from the land.
• God withdraws His presence (which includes His goodness, mercy and kindness) from Cain.
• He faces the fear of the vengeance or the death wherever he goes and whoever he meets.

¹⁵ But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

At the appeal of Cain (I have to say he repented), God put a mark on him showing God’s declaration that “anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over”.

¹⁷ Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. ²² Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

Cain was building a city. Amongst the descendants of Cain, Jubal was the father of all who play stringed & piped instruments. And Tubal-Cain was the father of engineering.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
²⁴ If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

Lamech killed a younger man as Cain killed his younger brother. Lamech took advantage of God’s forgiveness on Cain and became bold and justified his murder saying “if Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times”.

He spoke this to his two wives. This makes us to think both murders by Cain and Lamech might be linked to their “women”. These days people often mention the sin of “violence” & “sex” together. Such corruption (sex & violence) was prevailed in Genesis 6, when God decided to judge the world by the flood.

²⁵ Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

Adam & Eve gave birth to Seth in place of Abel, who and whose offering pleased God. Abel means “breath; son; breathing spirit”. Seth means “appointed; granted”. He also gave birth to a son and named him Enosh. It is interesting to know that this name is the same to Cain’s son’s name as shown v17. Enosh means “man, human being”. Seth might be a godly man. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

Seth’s descendant, Noah and his family were saved in the flood but Cain’s descendants were wiped away in the flood (Genesis 6 – 8).