Genesis 4:2 Commentary and Bible Study

In comparing these two verses, many people in the past have concluded that Eve thought that Cain would be the one through whom the promised seed, the Messiah would come. He would be the Saviour, a special descendant, through whom the ravages of Satan would be dealt with, because her words are very grand – ‘I have gotten a man from the Lord’. Thankfulness, gratitude, wonder, and nothing much seems to be said about child number two, poor Abel: ‘And she again bare his brother Abel.’ Well, we cannot be certain, but it maybe that the narrative intends to convey to us that she saw all hope for herself and for mankind, resting on Cain. And Abel? Well, no doubt she appreciated Abel too, but Cain was the one. That seems very possible, very likely. The name Abel is the Hebrew word for vanity, so to their second son they seem to give a name which records the misery of the human race as a result of their sin.That situation was to be repeated time and again in history. You see it particularly, conspicuously in Isaac who thought Esau was going to be the one, the older twin, but it was Jacob through whom the line of promise would be channelled. Esau would turn out badly, and Jacob, for all his sinful tendencies, would turn out the child of faith, the man of faith. So it was here. It was Cain, who turned out badly, in whom she vested so much hope, and Abel gets a very bare inscription concerning his birth, and yet he turns out to be the faithful one and the righteous one. It is a matter of the election of God. Some people have always thought, and we are going way back, that they must have been twins because their births are put together so closely. But that is not stated, and probably it is less likely. But here are their occupations – ‘Abel was a keeper of sheep.’ The Hebrew actually says something like small cattle. So sheep and goats, maybe both. But our translation limits it to sheep, though not intentionally. ‘But Cain was a tiller of the ground.’ They were both farmers, and between them they looked after agriculture and livestock. There is no criticism implied of either of the brothers in describing their ways of life. Both are tasks that God is pleased for man to be involved in. Both involve honest labour and there is nothing in the account that follows that shows that Cain had chosen a lifestyle contrary to the will of God.