ABEL WAS CAIN’S BROTHER

Cain said to his brother, “Let us go into the open country.” While they were there, Cain attacked his brother Abel and murdered him. - Gen. 4:8

An aged business man here in Denton was telling me recently of the difficulties he has had through the years with his brothers. He loaned money to one brother who not only refused to pay the debt, but would pass him on the street without even speaking. He recalls from horse and buggy days how this brother would pass him on the road in his wagon without even offering him a ride. He did not seem to be especially bitter as he recalled those brotherly relationships, but was rather philosophical. He seemed to be saying that it is just that way with brothers.. “They won’t pay a brother what they owe,” he said matter-of-factly, “they think you owe it to them for some reason.”

There are many instances of people who have the same parents who seldom, if ever, see each other, and there is no indication that they have any desire at all to be with one another. Many brothers hate each other, nourishing resentments that have festered through the years, causing untold agony to parents and in-laws alike. Many a family reunion is a veritable powder keg that is likely to explode into unmitigated fury, if indeed the brothers who are at cross purposes have managed to be together at all “to please the folks.” Only the brevity of such occasions makes them possible.

Coming from a family of seven sons and one daughter I should be something of an authority on such matters, but I must say that my own relationship with my brothers and sister have been far above average. There have been some difficulties along the way, to be sure, and as we grow older it seems that we see each other less, but for the most part the relationships have been gratifying. As for the two boys in my own family, made brothers by adoption, I can only say that I keep hoping they will grow to love each other as brothers should. As of now there is no lost affection between them, and there are occasions when I fear the crime of Cain will be repeated in my own family. And yet there are times when they are right down decent to each other. But I grow a bit uneasy when one or the other, like Cain, invites his brother to play with him in open country!

What is there about our family life that causes such a lack of fraternity between siblings? Perhaps it is the close proximity that sets the stage for all that goes wrong. Friends had best see each other only occasionally and then only under favorable circumstances. I’ve always heard that “No house is big enough for two families,” and it must have been something like this that the wise man had in mind when he advised “Be sparing in your visits to your neighbor’s house, if he sees too much of you, he will dislike you” (Pro. 25: 17).

So maybe brothers have a hard time of it because they see too much of each other, and they consequently learn too much about each other. Familiarity may not always breed contempt, but often it does, especially when folk have to compete for both, the necessities and the luxuries of life. It is easy for any of us to be petty in our selfishness and jealousy, sinners that we are, especially in those family situations where we are likely to be ourselves. God pity those who have to live with us all time!

Yet there is something in us all that insists that brothers shouldn’t behave like that! We assume that there is a fraternal law that not only forbids “the way of Cain,” but that demands that brothers show special deference toward each other. The famous picture coming out of Boy’s Town, depicting a boy carrying another boy and the caption reading “He ain’t heavy, Father, he’s my brother,” tugs at the heart of us all. We conclude that if such a spirit cannot prevail between all men, certainly it should between brothers. That men should not quarrel because they are brothers is persuasive logic that goes all the way back to Abraham, who said to Lot: “Let there be no quarreling between us, for we are brothers.”

The fact remains, however, that the first man in history ever to have a brother killed that brother. It was surely a joyous day for Eve when God blessed her with a son. The first mother ever could thankfully say, “With the help of the Lord I have brought a man into being.” But it was that very baby, her own son, who was to teach her what murder is, and his victim was also to be the fruit of her womb. Pity poor Eve, she bears two sons that grow up to become the first murderer and murderer’s victim. For one’s son to become a killer is tragic enough, but for one’s son to destroy his own brother is an unbearable double tragedy.

We might understand homicide better (not to speak of fratricide) if we knew what motivated this first of all murders, and along with it we might better understand our inability to behave as brothers in trying circumstances. Jude 11 speaks of those who had “gone the way of Cain” in such a way as to suggest that Cain’s basic sin was irreverence. He is placed in the class with men who defile the body, flout authority, and insult celestial beings. This is a gross lack of respect for things that are holy. Cain had no regard for his brother because he had no respect for himself or for God. He rebelled against authority, being self-willed.

1 John 3: 11-12 places Cain, who is called “a child of the evil one,” over against those who love one another. This makes “the way of Cain” the way of hate. He murdered because he hated. Why he hated his brother we cannot know for sure, and he himself probably did not know, but there are some indicators in the narrative.

Cain had a serious problem, and that problem was Cain more than it was Abel. He allowed selfish pride to destroy him, even though God warned him of such possible destruction. Once it was clear to Cain that his brother’s sacrifices were more pleasing to God than his own, his heart was set on evil toward his brother. When God saw Cain’s anger he cautioned him: “If you do well, you are accepted; if not, sin is a demon crouching at the door. It shall be eager for you, and you will be mastered by it.” Is it not remarkable that Satan could gain such control of the first man born into this world as to cause him to slay his own brother? We are foolish if we suppose Satan is any less concerned in destroying the fraternal bonds in our own lives. Not only are we not immune to the weaknesses that plagued Cain, but we may be equally as vulnerable as he to the sins that destroy brotherhood.

Despite God’s warning Cain proceeded “with malice aforethought,” to use legal terminology, to murder Abel. It was deliberative and calculating, designed to take advantage of his brother’s trust and good nature. “Let us go into the open country,” he says hypocritically. It was an invitation for sport and frolic, or simply for the sake of togetherness, as is the case with loving brothers. But murder was in Cain’s heart. His weapon of whatever nature was made ready well in advance, perhaps hidden along the way. Like the brute beasts that Jude speaks of when he thinks of Cain, he set a trap for his own brother and murdered him brutally as one animal would another.

There is something of “the way of Cain” in us today when we seek to lure a brother into an embarrassing position or seek to expose him by placing the worst interpretation on what he does. “Come, brother, let’s go out into the field together” does not have to end in actual murder in order to be as sinful as Cain. Some choose to use the column of a paper, others a tape recorder, while others seek incriminating evidence in private correspondence. Some will use stooges to gather the desired information. Many a missionary has been cut off from support back home, left to starve in the field so far as they cared, because a modern Cain quietly invited him for a stroll in the field.

There are different ways to commit fratricide. Some, like Cain, do it with a sword or a club, which may be less painful. The more cruel do it with a stare or sweet-spirited rejection in the name of orthodoxy. They are willing to deny a brother the precious fruits of fellowship, without which life becomes a burden, by insisting that others, in order to be loyal, must no longer have any association with him nor encourage or support him in any way. Even the shepherds of a flock will sometime isolate a sheep with such brutal rejection as to make Cain’s dastardly deed look like a schoolboy’s prank.

Cain’s problem may have been that he, being the proud guy that he was, could not stand the unassuming goodness of Abel. John gives a rather simple answer as to why Cain killed Abel: “Because his own actions were wrong, and his brother’s were right.” Many a man has been killed for no greater crime than being right - right in motive and intent and heart, that is. John probably does not mean that Abel was legally right in that he had the right sacrifice, at the right place, and at the right time. But rather that his heart was right in offering the sacrifice.

Heb. 11:4 supports this: “By faith Abel offered a sacrifice greater than Cain’s, and through faith his goodness was attested, for his offerings had God’s approval; and through faith he continued to speak after his death.” Abel was good, that was his problem. He had no business being good. It got him murdered by his brother who could not stand goodness.

It is a sad commentary on the church of today that the more one becomes like Jesus the more perilous his standing in his congregation. Sectarianism cannot stand one who is not sectarian. Those who are petty and doctrinaire cannot bear the simple goodness of an Abel. He must be kindly invited into the open field and somehow destroyed — in the name of truth of course.

Poor Cain, one cannot but pity him as he became a vagabond upon the earth. He feared for his life, but God had no intention of anyone killing him, for he was doomed to live with himself his remaining days, an appropriate punishment for one so full of himself. God placed some kind of a mark on him so that no one would bother him.

Cain was a religious man, we are to remember, for he learned to sacrifice to God at the family altar. But he became so proud that his sacrifices, whether the fruit of the land that he tilled or animals of the field, were will worship rather than in reverence to God. This pride led him to anger toward his brother who was not proud, and the anger led to murder.

Poor man, shut up in a world all to himself, with no one like Abel around. No goodness. No trust. He lived on with murder on his hands and in his heart. “My punishment is greater than I can bear, “was his woeful cry. But it is hardly the cry of penitence. He was only sorry for himself. Still he had no feeling for his brother.

What tragedy it is when a man is willing to sacrifice the loveliness of fraternity for selfish pride. He might act like a brother should toward another if it were not for his standing with those “who are reputed to be somewhat.” He must think of his job and the meetings that might be canceled. He might not get to speak at the lectureships. Circumstances are such that if a man chooses to be a brother to all God’s children, and to treat them as such, he will find himself out in the field, surrounded by the powers that be.

It is all part of the tragic drama of being a sweet and loving brother to all God’s faithful. To be accepted by some one is compelled to hate others. To fraternize with all who love Jesus is to be rejected by others who love the party. Ah, but how beautiful brotherhood becomes to those who ignore party lines and accept all those who accept Jesus as Lord of their lives.

It is inevitable that such ones will be beckoned into the open field to be destroyed. One has no choice but to go and pay the price of being a free man. But believe me, he will, like good old Abel, continue to speak through such faith. — the Editor