The first-born

I’ve been puzzling over the story of Cain and Abel for a few days with this question in mind: Why did God allow Cain to live?

There are plenty of historical instances where God responded to rebellion with death. Why not this time?

Cain was the first-born, the first-ever born and Eve rejoiced that God had given her this son. Did she hope he was the anticipated savior, the seed who would crush evil?

We might credit Cain with offering the first sacrifice, but we see that he did not please God. The rhythm of the written account pulses: we go from Cain to Abel, from Abel to Cain. One farmed the ground; one tended the sheep. Abel’s sacrifice pleased God; Cain’s did not. The heartbeat of the story screeches to a halt when God confronts Cain: don’t let sin overtake you.

We see why Cain’s sacrifice was inadequate: his heart is selfish. In jealousy, he kills Abel. He sneers at God: am I my brother’s keeper?

Where Adam and Eve regretted their sin, Cain does not. He doesn't hesitate to kill as a solution. God banishes him. The farmer is sent away from the land. It is only in that judgment that Cain finally cries out to God for help.

God reveals how he values life. The promise of fruitfulness, given to Adam and Eve, trumped a need for vengeance. God may have also stemmed a bloodbath as other family members rushed to avenge Abel’s murder. He quarantines Cain – even from his own presence. Cain becomes a wanderer, sent far from Eden and away from God.

It’s a picture of hell, that separation. Yet God in his mercy gave Cain time to be restored.

I know many who have let sin overtake them. I know how God treasures life. And I have seen the two intertwine in joyous reconciliation.

The first-born of man failed; sin crushed him. But the first-born of God won; he crushed sin. God’s mercy extended to Cain – and well beyond.

But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

2 Sam 14:14

“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” declares the Sovereign LORD. “Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”

Ezek 18:23