Revenge Killing

The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.” Next she bore his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil. In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil, while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.

So the LORD said to Cain: “Why are you so resentful and crestfallen. If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.” When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 

Then the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He answered, “I do not know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?” 

The LORD then said: “What have you done! Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil! Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the LORD: “My punishment is too great to bear. Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at sight.”

“Not so!” the LORD said to him. “If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.”

So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight. Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. “God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel,” she said, “because Cain slew him.” (Genesis 4:1-15, 25)

Jealousy is deadly for it kills our souls, and slowly.  In this Genesis story, Cain killed his brother Abel because he felt he deserved God’s favor, not Abel, the keeper of the flocks.  Even after “talking” to God with God telling Cain to “master his sin,” Cain killed Abel in the field.  When God asked about Abel’s whereabouts, Cain answered with that famous expression: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God then put a mark on Cain to protect him from a revenge-killing. God said, “If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.”

There is much to understand and apply from this story.  First, we must be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.  A day after Valentine’s Day we should still be thinking about love for those who are close to us and our neighbors as well.  We must keep them safe and in our hearts.  

Secondly, for those we dislike or even hate out of envy, those people have the “mark of Cain.”  We must reassess our feelings and motivations because the violence (verbal and physical) we afflict upon them actually is violence against ourselves – perhaps as a sevenfold vengeance.  God forbids revenge killing.  That "killing" takes on many forms.

This Genesis reading likely was written as a way to discourage revenge killing in biblical times.  Kill a member of someone’s family, for example, and that family would strike at the heart of the killer’s family – not just one member, but many.   

Finally, we have Seth, the third child of Adam and Eve.   FYI: A genealogy tracing the descendants of Cain is given in Genesis 4, while the line from Seth down to Noah appears in Genesis 5.  The biblical writer(s) made a fascinating link between Adam and Eve and the flood with Noah being the ark builder.  You never know who will show up in a family tree.   I had a whaler out of New Bedford.   I wonder if he was swallowed by a "big fish."

Deacon David Pierce