Title: The Story of Cain and Abel
(Genesis 4:9-16)
The story of Cain and Abel conveys important messages through Cain's relationship with God even after Abel's death. As a sequel to the thesis titled "The Story of Cain and Abel I (Genesis 4:1-8)" published in the 5th Old Testament Discourse (1998), we will examine the text of Genesis 4:9-16. Of course, the text will be analyzed in terms of the content and relationship of verses 1-8, but at the same time, the independent contents of verses 9-16 will be dealt with in depth.
By killing Abel, Cain added one more charge of murder to the dishonorable situation of an unacceptable sacrifice to God. Cain, not realizing that it was not the sacrifice he offered, but that he was not acceptable to God, committed a depraved crime that even killed his younger brother.
In verse 9, God gave Cain an opportunity to confess his sins with his own mouth, but Cain flatly refused to do so and was lying. He tells God that he does not know where Abel is. Rather, he says, "Am I my brother's keeper?" to the extent that it can be seen as an angry situation. In this situation, he is trying to deceive his sin, but Cain's great misunderstanding is hidden in this. That is, God is the Creator of all things in the universe, and moreover, He is the Creator of human beings, so it is a question of how you can be ignorant and think that lies will work. It is very clear that God asks something, not because he does not know the answer. So, why does God ask? That is, we already know what is being confessed with our mouths, but by having us confess it with our mouths, we want to give you an opportunity to make our own personal responsibility or evaluation for our actions or words. Otherwise, God would never have to ask any questions to us humans.