Adam and Eve and their sons have left Eden and are trying to make a living. Cain is the elder brother, and Abel is the younger. Cain is a farmer, and Abel is a shepherd. They both make offerings to the Lord out of their fields and flocks. Cain and his offering are not accepted by God, perhaps because Abel’s is of the first lambs of his flock and Cain’s is just “an offering” and is not of the first fruits. Certainly Cain’s character as it reveals itself in the story is dark and vengeful. It starts with anger. The Lord asks him about this anger and tells him there is every opportunity for his future offerings to be accepted. God warns him that if he doesn’t do what is right, sin will crouch at his door like a predator. Sin wants him, and Cain must rule over sin. But Cain ignores God’s advice and instead offers a sinister invitation to his younger brother. “Let’s go out to the field,” he suggests. It is in that field that Cain attacks and kills Abel. When God asks Cain where his brother is, Cain replies, “No idea. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
As the older brother, Cain must have thought his primacy in the family would have meant he would be first with God, no matter how offhand his offering was. His jealousy of Abel led to his anger, which God said was like a wild animal lying in wait for him. God points out a possible and promising future outcome for Cain when his offering could be of his first fruits and sin would be left outside his door. But Cain lets the wild animal of sin into his heart and kills his brother. Then he lies to God about what he did and where Abel is.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” That question lingers in our minds. Cain wanted to sever his family ties and loving duties to his brother. But he was his brother’s keeper, meant to learn from him, to love him, to grow old beside him, to share a table and care for their parents and mutual children together, and to live their lives in the fields and flocks of brotherhood. Then sin came in, and Cain destroyed his future.
Sin crouches at our door, too, and enters our lives when we are angry and jealous and act on violent impulses. Sin tears down our lives when we try to say we have no ties, no love, no responsibility to our families and our friends. We must remember that we are indeed the keeper of our brother and sister.
God tells Cain that though sin that is crouching at the door, it can be kept out, can be mastered, and can be overcome. Thanks be to God that He can help us defeat the predator of sin!