Cain’s Lament

A Devotional Series from Genesis

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

4/18 Reading Portions: Leviticus 22; Psalm 28-29; Ecclesiastes 5; 2 Timothy 1

Genesis 4:13-14

Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me today away from the ground, and from Your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

WANDERER

By this time, the population of the earth was considerably denser than many realize. Adam and Eve had been having more children while Cain and Abel were growing up. And their children were marrying and having children, so there were those around who could take vengeance in their own hand—at least in Cain’s mind. As a wanderer or “vagabond” (KJV), Cain was, in the Hebrew, נׇד (nad), which in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance gives the primitive root the same definition as that which is translated fugitive, “to waver,” as mentioned in yesterday’s devotional thought. But the “wavering” of the first, as a fugitive, was a fear and instability within Cain’s mental and emotional character. The “wavering” of the latter, as a wanderer, was how that fear and instability was manifested in his actions and attitudes. It did not mean that he could not put roots down. He eventually settled in the land of Nod (Gen 4:16), the name of which is derived from the same primitive Hebrew root as that which is translated wanderer. Cain’s fear and instability were not merely internal, but they extended to how he reacted, responded, and coped with his environment, which included his perceptions of those things. He saw others as being as evil, wicked, and murderous as himself (whoever finds me will kill me). As he hated God and hated Abel his brother, he was void of love (1 Jn 3:15; 4:7-8), and he could not perceive or comprehend the love, grace, or mercy of God, or that which was in others by God’s grace. Because he was dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1-2), void of the Spirit of God, the things of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23)—were foreign to him. It is written,

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14

We should recognize this to be true of Cain, and every unbeliever since Cain, because he was more concerned with his temporal situation than his eternal soul. Nevertheless, the blessed truth of the gospel and God’s grace in Christ abound through this episode, as we will see in YHVH God’s answer to Cain in tomorrow’s devotional thought. Hallelujah! What a Savior!