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You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast, where we unpack the meaning of books, passages and themes from Scripture. Join us each week as Dr David Klingler walks us through God's Word and teaches the Bible. Each episode has a study guide available in the show notes. This is Teach Me the Bible podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to Teach Me the Bible podcast. I'm Alex Wolfe here with Dr David Klingler and we are in Genesis. So if you've been with us the last few weeks, we've already covered a lot of ground in just these first three chapters. We've been introduced to many of the characters in the story the good guy, the bad guy, the problem in the story and even a little bit of the solution. We've kind of talked about that a little bit. We're going to pick up in chapter four today and just continue right on through out of chapter three.
Speaker 3:So, doc, if you want to carry us away, this is such an important section and really we could do this all the way through the Bible but we would never get done. I mean the grammatical construction, the syntax, the word choice. It's also important. So we'll try to explain it as we go. We're going to cover the first 15 verses of chapter four and that'll probably be all the time we'll have for today. But chapter four follows chapter three and that sounds obvious. But you want to keep in mind all that we talked about in chapter three because it just all fits right close together. And so in four one it's translated now the man, now Adam. It's the word for Adam. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived. That's the same word that was back in 316. I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception, sorrow, you shall bring forth sons, yet your desires shall be for your man, and so your sorrow and your conception. That word, their conception, she conceived and she brought forth or gave birth, is how they translated to King. So all of the wording from 316 is showing up that we talked about last time and she said I have acquired, they translated I have begotten a man, child with the help of the Lord.
Speaker 3:Well, let's slow down a little bit here. That's a strange translation. Yeah, anytime you probably notice that if you're looking at a Bible, that you remember from looking at your Bible that you've got this italics Before italics shows up in your Bible. Usually that's how the translators or the editors do it. It denotes something that is in the translation but it's not in the text, it's not in the original text and so the help of is not in the Hebrew. They're trying to make sense of this phrase. There's three verses that have historically given translators all kinds of problems 316, 414, and 417. And those three go together because the language of those three verses go so much together. Whatever you're doing with 316, you got to carry into 4147. And so in Hebrew scholarship they say 417 is just one of the verses that you just can't even begin to make sense of.
Speaker 3:But if you just translate it literally, she says I have acquired an ish. That's the same word back in 316. I will give you, multiply your sorrow and your conception. In sorrow you will bring forth sons. Yet your desire will be for your ish, for your man. And here it is. She says I've acquired a man, the Lord. There's what we call a direct object marker there, which can be with the word with, but probably not because of this construction. And so the question is what's she saying? Here I have acquired a man, the Lord. What's the relationship between the man and the Lord? Is she naming him the Lord? That's a possibility In the next verse. This marker, direct object marker, denotes names and objects. Verse 2, it says and she brought forth again his brother Abel, at Abel, at his brother at Abel, that direct object marker at denoting both of those, and Abel was a shepherd of sheep. And so all the way through these next verses you get all this naming going on, and so it could be that she is naming this one the Lord.
Speaker 2:Now, why would that be? What do you think's going on there?
Speaker 3:Well, I tend to think that's what's going on. I'm not gonna die for that one. But at the end of the next chapter, when we get into chapter five, we get this phrase, this calling I'm sorry, at the end of chapter four we get this Seth. At the end of this section, the end of this, and we're gonna cut it into two sections. But at the end of chapter four, into Seth, and we'll talk about this when we get there next time.
Speaker 3:But the name Seth comes actually from Genesis 3.15. I will appoint enmity between you and the woman, your seat, her seat, and so that word appoint is Seth, I, and to Seth, that's going to be his name. He's named that because he's a replacement for Abel that came killed, and to him also was born a son and he called his name Enish. And then it translates, they translate, and then men begin to call upon the name of the Lord there's another italics issue, yeah, there's another italics issue Could be and he began to call upon the Lord, or the name of the Lord began to be called upon.
Speaker 3:Now, as this language progresses in the story of the Bible, we're gonna pick this up with Paul. We're gonna pick it up all the way through the Old Testament story, all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So is she naming this one the Lord or is she anticipating? Is she saying this is the one the Lord has promised? In other words, is she naming him the Lord or is she saying this is the man, the one that the Lord has promised? And so something like that seems to be what's going on, and I'd like to do a little more work in there and try to figure that out, but it's taken 20 years to get to Genesis 3.16, 4.1, and 4.7.
Speaker 2:What I was thinking about, what we talked about last week with that Genesis 3.16, that rule, or that Micheal, the be like one. We talked about the be like lights, the, you know, with the sun and the moon, and now we got this one that's gonna come and be like, and so. So that's where kind of my thought process was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, he's liked the Lord, but he's, you know, as the story progresses, seeing, here's the thing that happens in story all the time is the author, the narrator, the producer, the director, whoever they know where the story's headed before the reader or the audience does Right, that's good point. And so you know this is gonna flesh out as the story progresses. But anyway, so she in 3.16, as we said she's, her desire is for her each, the one that's going to come forth from her. The hope is not an Adam who's with her, but her hope is one that will come forth from her. And here she thinks she's had the one, and of course the story thinks, you know, is evaluating whether or not she's had the one as well. And she brought forth again his brother, abel, and Abel was a shepherd of sheep and of course this whole shepherd theme is going to flow all the way through the story.
Speaker 3:You have to ask why is Abel raising sheep? There's a contrast with the next phrase. But Cain was a servant of the ground and if you go back to the end of chapter three, adam was banished from the garden. The Lord sent Adam out from the garden to serve the ground from which he was taken and that served the ground. That's in chapter three, verse 23,. To serve the ground or to cultivate the ground. Well, here they're translating, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. It's the same word, same construction. He was serving the ground, he was cultivating the ground. If they would translate it the same way, or hear a tiller of the ground, I don't know how they get tiller from that but you know he's a servant of the ground.
Speaker 3:Cain is actually doing what Abel was banished from the garden or Adam was banished from the garden to do, but Abel's raising sheep. And there's a clear contrast between these two. Abel is shepherding sheep, but Cain was a servant of the ground. And so you have to ask a couple of questions why is able raising sheep and what's Cain supposed to be doing? What's the anticipation for Cain to be doing? First three says, and it came about at the end of days. They translated the course of time in the New American Standard, but at the end of days, in other words, the story is waiting to see if the woman's statement about Cain is in fact the case. Is he the one who will remove the sorrow? Is he the one who will fix the curse?
Speaker 2:That's a really neat feature of storytelling. You know, I was thinking about this, that some I've often taught this in groups in one of the pushbacks you get is are you saying that Eve thought that Cain was the promised one? And it's like, yeah, but he wasn't. That's the point. But the story's kind of anticipating that he might be, and you're evaluating these characters as you go, and so I think that's really neat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's the plot. Everything in the story is relating to the plot and the problem and the anticipated solution. And so all the and you're gonna see this in chapter five with Lamac Lamac is gonna have a son and name him Rass, saying this is the one who removed the curse and, you know, remove the sorrow. And so the whole story is anticipating this one who just never seems to come.
Speaker 2:They're actively looking for him with each new son that comes on the scene.
Speaker 3:So there's only one hope in this story, and it's the one that was promised by the Lord, and Cain thinks that she's had it. And notice that, abel. The spotlight's not on Abel, and what we're gonna see and learn in this scene is that the promised one's gonna be a firstborn. And so it happened at the end of days that Cain brought from the fruit of the ground a menkah to the Lord, an offering to the Lord, and so you know, an appeasement offering. And so it becomes clear that Cain's not the one at this point. If he were the one, the offering would have been himself, not something from the fruit of the ground. There's also a contrast that's happening between chapter three and chapter four, that Adam and Eve try to solve their problem with leaves, of leave covering, and here we're gonna see that Abel's going to bring sheep, and so a sacrifice from the sheep, and so you have the covering of skins contrasted with the covering of leaves here, the fruit of the ground contrasted with the animal sacrifice, and so it's the same yeah, that's helpful, the same thing that's going on. And so it came about at the end of days that Cain brought from the fruit of the ground an appeasement offering to the Lord. So Abel this is a disjunctive clause. It says if Abel was waiting to see if Cain was the one, and now he knows he's not. And so Abel also, for his part, brought from the firstborns of his flock and from their fat portions.
Speaker 3:Now, here on in the story, firstborn and fat portion is gonna be a placeholder for the coming Christ, and you're gonna see this happen all the way through the story. You're looking for a firstborn. So when Samuel, for example, goes to Jesse's house and looking for a king in the Messianic line, in the line of Judah, he's gonna obviously start with the firstborn and go down from the firstborn, and David's of course, the youngest, not the oldest. And so the story is looking for a firstborn In fact, we're gonna learn it's the only begotten son and also the fat portions. And so, built into the law, there's this thing that is set apart. The fat portions of the sacrifice were set apart as holy unto the Lord, and all of that is a placeholder looking for Christ. And so the story is building.
Speaker 3:Now we don't you don't know that yet, but we just wanna alert you that this is where this is headed. As we said a few minutes ago, the storyteller knows where the story's headed, the listener doesn't, and we've chopped this thing up and we're gonna be doing this for years. That's right. And in this Old Testament, going through the Old Testament, and so we wanna alert you right up front. This is where this is headed, and so pay attention to this. Storytellers tell you all of the relevant details that you need to know to interpret the story as you're going on. And so when we talk about key verses I hate that terminology because there are no key verses they're all important. If it wasn't important that, the author wouldn't have said it.
Speaker 2:There are some verses that kind of captured the whole point a little better than others, but anyway, Well, I think, even when so along the lines of what you're saying, a lot of times we get into the law portions of the Pentateuch, the first five books, and we get bogged down on all these details. But it makes it so much more interesting, colorful, when you realize, as some of we've talked about in the past, that what's in the law it comes from what came earlier in the story.
Speaker 2:Right, these details like the fat portions and all these things is building in and the law is the language you used in the past is codifying these little details. And so it makes it so much more interesting to understand the story beforehand and then, why then it's codified?
Speaker 3:Yeah, why is it gonna be part of the law? Because what these patriarchs, these early believers do by faith Israel, was to follow that example in the law. It's written into the law. So there's so much here and so we're moving pretty slowly here through this passage, but it's so important that we do it at this point because, so much gets explained from this.
Speaker 3:And so Abel brought for his part from the firstborns of his flock and from their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and for his offering he had no regard. And so Cain became angry and his face fell Na'fal is the word here. His face fell. We're gonna see this in chapter six. The fallen ones, the na'falim from Na'fal Eem is plural the fallen ones were on the face and on the earth in those days and also afterwards. And so I think that that's what's going on in chapter six is we're picking up on this language of. His face has fallen, and the fallen ones, the ones who've rejected the revelation, so to speak. And so the Lord said to Cain this is in four, six why are you angry and why has your face fallen? The fallen, if you do tov in this story, the Lord is the sole determiner of good and evil. If you do good or if you do well they translate it it's the word tov. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. If you do what's good in the eyes of the Lord, will you not be? Sa'ait is the word here. We think it comes from Na'sa, the word to lift up. So it's the opposite of fallen your face has fallen. If you do tov, will you not be restored, lifted up, will you not? This word shows up again in chapter 49, verse three, and it's a good example. It gives us a pretty good indication of how this word is functioning here In chapter 49, it's referring to Reuben. Reuben, you are my firstborn. There's that word again the firstborn, my might, in the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. You were preeminent in dignity, that word there that you're translating for dignity. What Reuben did is he slept with his father's concubine and so he lost his firstborn status. And you're gonna see this all the way through the story. And that's what Cain's doing here. Because of his sin, he's lost his firstborn status. But if you do tov, if you do what's good in the eyes of the Lord, will you not be your firstborn status be restored? Will your dignity, your position, be lifted up? But if you do not do tov and of course he's not he's not gonna do good.
Speaker 3:Sin is a crouching one at your door, they translated. Its desire is for you. Now, you can't translate it that way, because sin is a Feminine singular noun and we're getting it pretty good into the weeds here, but but I think we need to do it to explain it. Sin is a feminine singular noun and there's a what we call a phenomenal suffix. There's a pronoun that they're translating its desire is for you. It is masculine singular, so a masculine singular cannot refer to a feminine singular. It would be very rare. And so instead that the masculine thing in this verse is the crouching one.
Speaker 3:Sin is a crouching one At your door, his desire is for you, the, the serpent's desire. There's actually all kinds of interesting stuff and we go into background material and, and you know, serpent crouching at the gate of the you know of a door. It's really interesting. But but sin is a crouching one at your door, his desire is for you. So or then you will rule with him.
Speaker 3:And here is the rub in the story God created man to be like him, to be like God and to Rule over the birds, the other fish, to see the beast, the field, or among the birds, the other fish, to see the beast in the field, to be like God.
Speaker 3:The problem here is the enticement is for King to be like the crouching one and to Rule on his behalf. Yeah, and this is going to happen all the way through the story. The nations are going to come from this line. Yeah, and the nations are going to rule on behalf of Satan. The kings of the earth are going to rule on behalf of Satan. When Christ appears and he's tempted by by Satan, the serpent, the kingdoms of the earth are offered to him. I can give you the kingdom because I rule it. Yeah, I'm the ruler on the, the ruler of the Prince of the year, and so you know he's. He has commandeered, so to speak, a Pirating term there. He has commandeered the rule on the earth. The woman's desire is for the promised one to come and restore the rule of God, and Satan's desire is to deceive the woman's children and have them rule on his yes, sir, yeah, and so that's exactly what's going on here. And so Cain is presented with a choice, and he makes his choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, by the way, that that last part of that verse in four seven matches Hebrew grammatical constructions of three sixteen. Exactly, it's work, yeah. And so whatever you're doing with three sixteen, you've got to do with got to be consistent here, and actually for 20 years.
Speaker 3:The end of this verse is what caused me problems with you know, how does that translate? How do you translate that? But? But the answer is, you just translate it normally and leave alone, and so it's like me 20 years to figure that out, that out.
Speaker 2:It shouldn't have taken, you know you know you're on the right track. I think when, when the detail that we're looking at plays out in the story. That's what you just referenced over and over this serpent trying to take this rule is going on till the end Even of the New Testament, right? So we're watching this play out, and so that's how you, that's how you really know You're on the right track, yeah, yeah in chapter six, chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter nine, chapter 10.
Speaker 3:It just, it just keeps piling up. Right, he's piling up, yeah, and so? So Cain, you spoke to Abel and his brother and and it came about when they went into the field that Cain rose up and killed Abel, his brother. Now Abel has done tov, he's brought a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord. He's followed the Lord's example in chapter three by bringing not fruit of the ground but animal sacrifice. And you know, of course, in chapter three, as we mentioned, this is the first Substitutionary covering substitutionary toman. So Cain is rejected, that Abel has followed, that Abel is the believer, cain is the rejecter who's aligned himself with Satan.
Speaker 3:And now you're watching Genesis 3, 15 play out. I will put enmity between you and the woman in your seat and her seed, and and between believers and unbelievers and the enmity that is in between them and God's wrath. It's going to come upon the, the unbeliever who rejects. It's all right here in in chapter, in chapter, chapter four. That's cool. So when we get to a verse like John 3, 16, for God's to love the world, this is his creation, his rule, birds, the air, fish to see, beasts of the field, man, image bearer doing much right in his eyes. All of that is piling up in this story so that that verse has all kinds of of huge long-term significance.
Speaker 3:So and so Cain kills his Brother Abel. And the Lord said to Cain, where is your brother? And he said I do not know in my, my brother's keeper. The great irony here is, if he was actually the promised one, he would be his brother's keeper. But he's not. And and he said, the Lord said what it have you done? The voice of your brother is crying out to me from the ground, from the it's the same, it's, it's the same word there from the Atama. So, so Abel's blood is going back to the, to the ground on Jusley. And now you are cursed from the ground. So up until this point, no person has been cursed. The ground was cursed, yeah, but now he is cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's hand.
Speaker 3:When you serve the ground, they translate it cultivate. Same thing that Adam was kicked out of the garden. Do same thing he was doing before. Now, when you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you, but you will be a vagrant and a wonderer and the word there for vagrant and wonder. Wonder is node. We're gonna translate that here in just a second.
Speaker 3:And Cain said my punishment is too great to bear. Behold, I have been driven from the face of the ground and from your face. I will be hidden and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. And the Lord said whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So it's not the human's job to take the vengeance and do his own hands. It's reserved for the Lord. And so whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken upon him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. This is the word for sign, is the same word for mark, a sign. You're gonna see the mark of the beast at the end of the story, right? That's going to kind of set out the two teams, the two sides and they'll sort of serve the same purpose.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in a way and I think about passages like Jesus talking to his disciples and he's explaining the wheat and the tears, and the disciples say, well, should we go in there and get the tears out of there? And he says no, no, there's a time coming when the wheat and the tears will be separated, when those who have the mark of God will be separated from those who have the mark of the beast. The word there sign, you know, in Deuteronomy, chapter six, here it was, for the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You love the Lord. You got with all your heart and these words which I command you, they shall be in your heart, you shall speak of them and they shall be a sign on your forehead and on your. So it's the same language. I never connected those two things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's the same language that there's going to be a mark I don't know that it's a physical mark, but an identity mark that's going to set these two teams, these two sides, apart. Wow, and so Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, out from the face of the Lord, and settled in the land of node that's the word for wandering Settled in the land of wandering, east of Eden. And so east is another thing that's going to be picked up, that going east is never going to be a good thing. So, anyway, so there's a lot that's going on here in chapter four, versus one through 15, one through 16. And so we've probably got plenty of, we've taken plenty of time for this session, but when we pick it back up next time, we'll talk about chapter four and there's gonna be a genealogy in the rest of chapter four and into chapter five, and there's, and we're gonna see this contrast between the two sides, between the side of the woman and the side of the serpent, and that's gonna flush out next time.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, very good. Well, thank you for walking us through those details, and there's a lot of details here.
Speaker 3:A lot of details there.
Speaker 2:So we understand that we're kind of in the weeds a lot, but this is really important stuff. Like we've been pointing out, all of this stuff snowballs and it makes a lot of sense out of the whole story and so it's important to flush these things out to get the translations right so that we can interpret it correctly. So thank you for joining us for that, and we're gonna continue to get into these details as we go through the rest of chapter four and to chapter five. These all become so, so important. This entire book, as we said in the beginning, is so important to setting up the story. So hang in there with us and we'll see you next week to finish out chapter four and chapter five.
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