CAIN AND ABEL: HIS BROTHER'S KEEPER

HIS BROTHER’S KEEPER

(Genesis 4:1-16)

Adam and Eve had a son;

Cain was their first boy’s name.

They had another called Abel,

And they loved them both the same.

After sin had entered the world,

It was necessary to toil,

So Abel kept the flocks,

And Cain worked the soil.

Both of the boys had learned to tithe,

A portion of their gain.

One day they both gave an offering,

But Satan influenced Cain.

Abel brought the best he had,

From the firstborn of his flock.

Cain brought some of his fruits —

The part he could spare from his stock.

Cain gave his tithe begrudgingly;

Abel gave the best he had.

So his tithe found favor with God,

Which made Cain jealous and mad.

The Lord asked Cain why he was upset,

Though God already knew.

He told Cain that if he’d done right,

His tithe would find favor too.

The Lord continued to lecture Cain.

On how he should have done right.

Cain may have rolled his eyes,

And wished God out of sight.

God said sin would master Cain,

If he didn’t master sin.

And that sin was crouching at the door,

Even then, Cain let sin in.

He asked his younger brother,

To go with him to the field.

Abel gladly went along;

And it was there that he was killed.

The brothers had grown up together;

The family just had each other.

And yet in a jealous rage,

Cain killed his younger brother.

The Lord asked Cain where his brother was;

Cain showed God no respect.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” he smarted;

His own life would soon be wrecked.

The Lord greatly punished Cain;

For Abel’s blood cried out from the field.

Because the ground had swallowed his blood,

Cain’s crops would no longer yield.

Cain would become an outcast.

He thought that was too much to bear.

And yet when it came to his brother,

He didn’t seem to care.

He feared he would one day be killed,

Though that’s what he did to his brother.

He dreaded separation from God,

And, in fact, would not see his mother.

God listened to all of Cain’s fears,

Then on him He put a mark.

The mark was meant to protect him,

Wherever he should embark.

He settled east of Eden,

In a land that he called Nod.

His punishment was merciful,

But the worst was separation from God.

Becky Overturf Wall