Jaundice Of The Soul

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)

“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.”  Can we master that demon(s) at our door?  One demon is called “jealousy.”  Cain and Abel are a good example of the consequence of envy.  Cain killed his brother.   Here’s a noteworthy depiction: "The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves. There is no greater glory than love, nor any greater punishment than jealousy. Jealousy... is a mental cancer. Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.”

God asked, “Where is your brother Abel?”  Cain answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Clearly, Cain was not and was forced to become a restless wanderer on the earth.  Moreover, the LORD marked him.  It seems Cain got off easy.

The question remains: Must we be our brother’s keeper?  Must we be our sister’s keeper?   Must we, even when we may envy them? Yes, even when we are resentful and crestfallen.  Otherwise, we suffer jaundice of the soul.

Deacon David Pierce