The Curse of the Self-Absorbed

The Curse of the Self-Absorbed
Or, Adam & Eve reproduce themselves 6 April

Cain and Abel: the painful results of self-absorption 4:1-7

a. First Story Line, 4:1-2: Eve’s utterance at the birth of Cain: I have birthed a man!
i. She gave birth to two sons.
1. Cain: either SMITH, or POSSESS, OWN

2. Abel: ephemeral, fleeting

4:1 “I have ‘cained’ a man, just like the Lord” OR “with the help of the Lord”

ii. Either the Lord did this, as he promised (3:15).

iii. Or, Eve did this,
1. matching the work of God with Adam,
2. countering her derived nature, as coming forth from the male Adam
iv. Probably, the latter:
1. In v. 25, Eve gives credit to God for bringing forth Seth.
2. Sara likewise attempted to control her world by producing an heir for Abram by her own handmaid, when she failed herself.
3. Here, Eve showed a second time in the story that she was self-conscious and self-centred.

v. Eve’s statement about Seth, v.25: to replace Abel, not Cain!!
1. She had lost both sons, one at the hand of the other, then the murderer was lost to her in his flight.
2. Perhaps Abel was her preferred son.
a. This would fit with the pattern of second-born as the child of blessing.
b. Jacob and Esau.
c. Ephraim and Manasseh

b. Second Story Line, 4:3ff.: The state of Cain’s heart:
i. Offerings were made.
ii. No explicit contrast is explained between the two brother’s offerings, but one was accepted and the other not.
1. One was fruit, the other flesh.
2. Both were labeled ‘offering,’ without distinction.
a. Though we know that brokenness in chapter 3 required not leaves, but flesh.
Sailhamer: that both offerings, in themselves, were acceptable—they are both described as “offerings” (minhah ) and not “sacrifices” (zebah ). The narrative suggests, as well, that they were both “firstfruits” offerings (mibbekoroth v.4); thus as a farmer Cain’s offering of “fruits of the soil” (v.3) was as appropriate for his occupation as Abel’s “firstborn of his flock” (v.4) was for his occupation as a shepherd.

3. Both seemed legitimate offerings.
4. Something was wrong below the surface.
b. Cain’s was rejected, Abel’s accepted.
i. God makes his rejection of one offering as clear as his acceptance of the other.
1. Abel: the fattest, the firstborn
2. Cain: “some of the fruit”
ii. Cain reveals the HIDDEN PROBLEM AND murders Abel.
1. The curse to the serpent and Eve: your offspring will be at war.
2. Here, Eve’s offspring are at war.
iii. God questions Cain, as he did Cain’s father, Adam.
1. Cain abuses language: AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?
2. God reacts with a curse
a. As Adam was rejected from the garden to work the soil outside,
b. Cain will be rejected by the soil he had worked.
c. God was probing Cain’s heart.
i. Not about the offering.
ii. All about the heart.
1. God rejected Cain’s offering.
Sailhamer: 5-7: He was apparently less concerned about Cain’s offering than he was Cain’s response to the Lord’s rejection of his offering. Whatever the cause of God’s rejection of Cain’s offering, the narrative itself focuses our attention to Cain’s response. It is there that the narrative seeks to make its point.
2. Cain reacted to God’s rejection of his offering and reacted as if he preferred Abel and his offering.
a. Anger at God. V.4
b. Anger at Abel. V.8
c. Matt. 7:20—By their fruit you will recognize them.
Sailhamer: By stating the problem in this way, the author surrounds his lesson on “pleasing offerings” with a subtle narrative warning: “by their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt 7:20).
Conclusion
Cain carried the DNA of his parents into life with his brother. His response to God and his murder of a brother demonstrate the radical consequences of selfish self-absorption. We, too, experience soul-deep self-absorption; how can we avoid such an outrageous outcome as this?

Application:
i. We were built to live in an ideal world where all relationships were perfect, because God was in charge.
ii. In Adam and Eve, we have chosen to place ourselves in charge.
iii. This is the curse of self-centredness: psychologically, socially bad, but we are all self-centred.
1. Psychologically: nothing makes you more miserable than self-absorption.
a. Am I succeeding?
b. Am I failing?
c. Am I being rewarded?
d. Am I being treated justly?
e. When it’s all about me, it’s not about much.
2. Socially: nothing is more off-putting than having every conversation fold back into me and my concerns;
a. This is the source of all feuds.
b. This is why we have wars.
3. Physically: nothing is more all consuming than my own physical health; your well-being lives in my shadow.
a. My time becomes all encompassing.
b. My health, my eating, my satiation take first place.

Keller:
Every culture has a legend or story that a king or a prince will come and set things right; kiss us and wake us up from the sleep of death; free us from the prison tower.
Gospel: Jesus is that true King, who came first in weakness to die for us, but who will come back again in strength!
Tolkien: Lord of the Rings,
“The hands of the king are healing hands and thus shall the rightful king be known.”
The royal hands of Jesus will bring healing to all: Everything sad will become untrue; poverty, hunger, disease, death, disfigurement, will all be gone.
This is my real country, this is the land I’ve been looking for all my life.
All religions say that we will be saved out of this material world, or that it is an allusion, or that it will merely end.
The Bible says that this material world will be remade, fully restored.
We will not escape it, but rejoice in its renewal, forgiveness of sin, the renewal of our souls, the end of poverty.