Truth crushed to the earth is truth still . . .: Murder is a spiritual and a heart problem

I suppose that many of you grew up going to Sunday school and church. Regardless, most of you have heard the story of how Cain became the first murderer by killing his brother, Abel.

Were I to ask you how exactly was Abel murdered, most of you might reply that Cain crushed his head with a stone. That is what is most commonly believed, but that is just one possibility. Interestingly the Scriptures never reveal the means that Cain employed to murder his brother.

You may review the narrative here:

Genesis 4:1-8
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. (2) And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. (3) And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. (4) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (5) But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (6) And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? (7) If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (8) And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

There is much we could learn from this narrative, but I will focus on one detail in this article. God does not have us dwell upon the instrument that Cain used to murder his brother, but rather upon the wickedness of Cain’s own heart and the depravity of fallen mankind. Cain is described as being angry (wroth) and resentful and pouting (countenance fallen). Cain seethes until he finally murders his brother. The instrument is essentially irrelevant and not even mentioned in Scripture.

The Apostle John gives us a bit more insight into Cain’s spiritual condition:

1 John 3:12
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

Cain was in rebellion against God and he hated his brother just because he sought to walk in accordance with God’s revelation. Abel was one of God’s elect and the reprobate and Christ rejecting Cain needed no other reason to hate him.

The point I want you to notice is this: Cain’s real problem was a spiritual problem. It flowed from his own fallen and depraved heart. The real problem was the wickedness of fallen mankind. It was not the instrument or the tool used in the murder.

Some old traditions hold that Abel was slain with the blade of a plow. Other traditions hold that he was slain with a sword, or with the jawbone of animal, or as we have already mentioned with a stone. One tradition that makes a great deal of sense to me is that Cain killed Abel with the very knife that Abel used to slay the animal that he sacrificed to God.

Regardless, it is clear that the problem did not reside in the instrument, but in a wicked heart. The instrument is never mentioned in the Bible.

Thus it remains today. The problem with the mayhem we see in our depraved culture is not firearms. The problem is the wickedness and depravity within mankind.

God alone can cure that and will cure it within the hearts of His elect, even as He did within the heart of Abel.