Genesis 4:9 Commentary and Bible Study

‘And the Lord said unto Cain,’ verse 9, ‘where is Abel thy brother?’ The Lord is not enquiring so as to find out; he is again challenging the mind of Cain; he speaks to arouse Cain’s conscience and to show him that his act of murder has not gone unobserved from heaven. Yet God does not accuse him directly at first, but speaks as one who is making enquiry; he allows him to offer this evasion and does not immediately force him out into the open with this first question. He comes to Cain as one who is less than omniscient, in order to give him the opportunity to confess his sin.‘Where is Abel thy brother? Cain replies with callous indifference, and says, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?’ It is very likely that since his brother, Abel, was a keeper of sheep and of goats, that even after having murdered him, he makes reference to his brother’s occupation and is full of sarcasm – ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ Such unnatural indifference to his brother’s life. He exaggerates the point to distance himself from his brother. But it is a terrible evasion, and it is such gross insolence towards God. ‘I know not.’ He preferred to be seen as careless of his brother’s welfare, than as his brother’s murderer. Of course, it was a lie, an exaggeration, a twisting of the truth. Did he need to be the keeper of his brother in order to know what had happened to him? Didn’t his conscience remind him of the awful truth of what he had done? Cain speaks to God as if he could successfully deceive him.Of course it was not necessary to remind Cain that Abel was his brother; he knew that. But God puts it this way to emphasise that, of all things, he has caused his own brother to disappear. Brothers look out for each other, brothers bond, brothers have a kind of protective tie, ‘Your brother, where is he? What hast thou done?