Unbrotherly love

Genesis 4: 1-2: "Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, 'With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.' Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil."

Day 2 of the bible journey took us through Genesis 4-7, the stories of Cain and Abel and also Noah. (I'll discuss Noah in another post). Again it's another story I know full well from my childhood only... as an adult I see it a little differently. Cain and Abel were brothers and each had a different field of expertise. Cain was a farmer of sorts, working the soil as his day to day. Abel worked with the sheep and tended to their needs. They each brought an offering to the Lord but the Lord was more pleased with Abel since Abel brought of the fattest from the firstborn of his flock and Cain just gathered some fruit. Cain, in his jealousy, kills his brother. (Sibling rivalry on steroids).

I found an interesting verse in 4:9.  "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I don't know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's keeper?” Like...WOOOO Cain. Slow down. Why so snappy?! Got something to hide? Here we can see Cain deflecting the situation; a defense mechanism man uses to protect himself from his shame. Cain doesn't immediately answer God's question, he instead poses another, almost expecting God to back off the situation simply because Cain decided he wasn't ready to talk. Another interesting point: Although God knew that Cain had murdered Abel, he still asked him "where is your brother?" Why would God ask a question he already knew the answer to? To see what we would say? To see if we would be honest with him and come clean? Cain didn't lie to God about what he had done nor did he try to excuse himself. He only asked God for his mercy since he knew his punishment was great and once it was public knowledge that he had killed his brother, whomever found him would kill him. God granted his request for mercy. He marked Cain so that if anyone should hurt him he would be cursed seven times over. 

The bible proceeds with a chapter of genealogy. But one of Cain's descendants, Lamech, merits a bit of discussion. In 4:23-24 Lamech explains to his wives that he had killed a man for wounding him and continued to say "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” I'm sorry Lamech but who do you think you are? Personally, I don't think God would have honored Lamech's curse to others. 

What do you think?  Do you see yourself deflecting situations in your life in order not to come clean with God or yourself?