[s]atanic Obstacles to Human Ingenuity - Pt IV

This is a five-part series on why God placed a divine mark of protection on Cain after he murdered his brother Abel. The first three articles demonstrated satan’s success in influencing some Churches, and how he has parlayed this success to control certain aspects of our belief. This fourth article will address why God capitulated to Cain’s appeal that his punishment was too severe. And the fifth article will examine a few other Cain-like figures in the Bible and explain why we don’t see them in their true light. As an example, if all you have seen regarding Job is that he patiently endured his satanic affliction, then you have missed the greatest social crusader of all time.

As you read this article, I will be speaking to your spirit, as I’ve attempted to with all the articles at Jacob’s Ladder; however, I will also be appealing to your mind, and in some cases, the death bed of your mind. Why is it important that I speak to your mind? Because the mind is the tool that God created in this human existence that aids us in reaching the highest ideal of the human spirit; which I believe is achievement and the sense of satisfaction that accompanies it.

There is a universal recognition that achievement is central to our existence. This is why when we accomplish something, whether great or small – an award; a promotion; a new job; an invention; a degree; a discovery; or marriage to name few – friends and colleagues usually send congratulations our way. In fact, if Adam and Eve had not achieved that one vital skill to human existence once they were evicted from the Garden of Eden – agriculture, or the ability to grow food with proper nutrition – humanity would have perished in the wilderness.

Humans experience a great sense of satisfaction when they accomplish something. This is why many men, who lack the drive, skill and determination to achieve anything worth publicizing, boast to their friends when they have achieved a sexual conquest: “Yeah dog. I banged that [usually an expletive] last night.” And in fact, sexual conquests for men/women who are so inclined, is an achievement. However, it is a triumph that takes no human skill, which is why sexual predators (and that’s what they are) remain empty inside, because they lack the sense of satisfaction that is affixed to achievement.

Our sense of achievement is like most things in life: The more effort we expend to accomplish something, the greater our sense of satisfaction, which is why boastful, sexual predators lose any sense of accomplishment once they leave a bragging session with their friends. Conversely, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he returned to the United States with a greater determination to not only be an advocate for civil rights, but one for human rights as well. This was his motivation for condemning our public officials for going into Vietnam, which he saw as an unjust war. I believe Dr. King’s opposition to the Vietnam War ultimately led to his assassination. (For more on Dr. King’s assassination, click here for the two part series I did at The People's Pulse.)

Although our achievements are usually cheered on by those closest to us, as well as our distant admirers; this was not always the case for Dr. King, and neither was it the case for Abel after God accepted his offering. The story of Cain and Abel is as old as civilization itself, and it goes on record as the first homicide in human history:

^3.And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. ^4.And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ^5.But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. ^6.And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? ^7.If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. ^8.And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him (Genesis 4:3-8).

Cain’s fruit of the ground offering would have been satisfactory if it was a first-fruit sacrifice. In fact, God gave Cain an opportunity to make a resubmission in order to have an acceptable offering; however, he did not take advantage of God’s Grace (see Genesis 4:5-7 above). God’s rejection of his offering had nothing to do with the type of offering that Cain gave. In fact, a fruit of the ground offering was an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord in the Old Testament:

^1.And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; ^2.That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there…^10.And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God (Deuteronomy 26:1-2, 10).

The seeds of hatred that have germinated into every murder were planted by Cain when he struck down his brother, and out of this act of vengeance evolved one of the most unusual acts of God in the Scripture:

^11.And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; ^12.When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. ^13.And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. ^14.Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. ^15.And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him (Genesis 4:11-15).

Cain laments that his punishment is more than he can handle, and he predicts that social justice will end his life violently. God seems to agree with him, and then He places a divine mark upon him that protects the murderer from justice. Something about human achievement that is not taught by Western theologians emerges from this divine act of Grace. God has done some things throughout the Scripture that stretch the limits of my imagination, like when he charged King Saul to kill every man, woman, child and beast of the Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 15). To shield Cain from ‘an eye-for-an-eye’ justice seems to betray everything that symbolizes divine justice. However, if we examine this situation in its deeper, social context, we discover something glorious about God our Father and indirectly something remarkable about the human species.

The short answer to why God insulated Cain from his own death is that he was protecting human ingenuity during the incipient stages of civilization. However, before we analyze the purpose of this divine mark, let’s first follow Cain and then it will become clear why God insulated him from social justice.

God placed a curse on Cain that the land would not give its strength, and this would force him to frequently relocate his family and all of his farm equipment to more fertile territory and then the cycle would repeat itself: ^16.And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. ^17.And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch (Genesis 4:16-17). It occurred to Cain that his ability to achieve great crop yields would be restricted by the curse, which was only on his profession as a farmer, but if he changed professions, then the curse would not apply, and that is exactly what he did.

If Genesis 4:16 above, we see that Cain went to the land of Nod and knew his wife, and she gave birth to Enoch. Here we see in Genesis 4 after Enoch was born, one of the most extraordinary acts of human ingenuity ever recorded, when Cain, who never took one course on civil or structural engineering; physics; or architecture, accomplished a feat that would be a challenge for the most skilled engineer of our modern time: He built a city.

Within Cain and the rest of the human family (you and I included), lie the genetic ability to spontaneously learn things that we have never been taught. The difference between Cain and the majority of humankind is that he pursued and developed this genetic ability. It was this passion for achievement that God saw in Cain, in spite of his murder, which motivated Him to spare his life from the social verdict that would have surely caused him to reap what he had sown. Furthermore, God also looked down Cain’s lineage and recognized that if he permitted Cain’s life to be snuffed out, it would have barred him and his brilliant offspring from giving mankind the benefit of their achievements and ability:

^20.And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. ^21.And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. ^22.And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah (Genesis 4:20-22).

· Jabal was the fifth grandson of Cain, and he discovered how to domesticate wild animals. We’ve been taught that early civilization was hunter-gatherers for their daily sustenance; however, we see in Genesis 4 that thanks to Jabal, early men raised cattle.

· Jubal was the first to invent and teach music; however, his ability would have never been recognized if it was not for his brother, who discovered that most consumable products cannot be manufactured until the minerals that make them up are mined out of the earth (see below).

· Tubalcain created the process to mine minerals from the earth and then turn them into consumable products. He taught men how to fashion these products, including the classical instruments that Jubal taught people how to use, from minerals that were mined out of the earth. He was the forerunner to our mining industry, the foundation of all productivity in our modern society.

It is the upper limits of human ability that lies within our genetic makeup that satan opposes. [he] has spent thousands of years creating a fertile environment for the rise of his man of sin, and he understands better than most Christians that if anyone discovers who they really are, as humans first and then as Christians, they would have the potential to disrupt all of his years of preparation. Consider for a moment if you or your child could discover how to ‘tame’ the hydrogen atom and make water burn in an internal combustion engine; or better yet, create a totally new type of motor that burns water. One of the great paradoxes of nature is that water puts out a fire, but it conducts electricity, and if someone could manipulate this conductive ability and turn it into fuel, it would alter the balance of power in the earth. Imagine selling an additive to convert tap water into automobile fuel and selling it for $3 for a 20 gallon tank. The implications are mind boggling.

…to be continued