Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a wanderer and fugitive on the earth; and it will come to pass, [that] every one who finds me will slay me.
Cain has just heard his sentence, and now he answers God — but not with a confession. His reply raises the questions that follow: was he grieving over his sin or his sentence, who hid him from God's face, and why does a murderer fear murder?
The Hebrew behind Cain's opening cry can be read either as "my guilt" or "my punishment," and one writer settles the question by the rest of the sentence — the very words about being driven out.
It was not his sin that overwhelmed his conscience. He complained that his punishment was too great to bear. The rest of his words shows this is what he meant. But did he care about the Lord's face at all? He had dared to come to the Lord with the fruit of the ground that was cursed for man's sin — with no victim, no confession of sin and death, and no thought of a Saviour to come.
Cain does speak of unbearable trouble, and it sounds like sorrow. But there is a sorrow squeezed out by consequences, and it is not repentance.
There is a forced mourning when tears are pumped out by God's judgments. Such was Cain's mourning: "My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Genesis 4:13). His punishment troubled him more than his sin. To mourn only from fear of hell is like a thief who weeps over the penalty instead of the crime. The prodigal son says, "I have sinned against heaven and before you." He does not say, "I am almost starved among the husks," but "I have offended my Father."
God's sentence never said Cain would be driven from the ground or hidden from His face. Cain enlarges the verdict, then complains about his own addition.
Cain's answer to God (v. 13-14) showed no repentance; it was a protest. He was not ashamed; he felt sorry for himself. The robber dying on a cross next to the Lord Jesus said the opposite: "we are receiving the due reward of our deeds" (Luke 23:41). How much better it is to submit to God's penalty rather than to resent it, for submission leaves the way open for God to show mercy. But Cain says that God has driven him out from the face of the earth. Those were not God's actual words. He adds that he would be hidden from God's face. Yet it was Cain himself who had chosen this: he had sought to hide his evil works from the Lord.
Two verses later Cain acts this out. One writer marks the difference between being sent away and walking away.
God had not said to him to leave His presence. Cain does and goes out from His presence himself, to dwell where judgment had made him a vagabond, and then comes the world — the world as God sees it in its true place before Him.
Cain repeats the two words God had used of him, and they describe a condition, not just a travel plan.
And Cain departs from God, and proves that he is one. He does not like to be called a vagabond, but that is really what man is by nature. Do you know what vagabond means? It means a man who is always on the move — a man that is never settled — never at rest. The next thing we read of Cain is that he "went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod." Do you know what "Nod" means? It means "wandering."
The last clause is the confession Cain never made out loud. He expects from others what he did to Abel — and he was wrong about what came next.
Bold as he was, his guilty conscience could not keep his fears hidden: "whoever finds me will kill me." But there he was mistaken. The Lord's patience with His enemies is amazing. Men today would feel it and admit it, if they let in enough light to see their own dark hatred of God.
This complaint is the first thing in the Bible that looks like a prayer. What Cain does with the answer is the sting.
The subject of prayer opens in Scripture with the case of Cain. There was in him no dependence on God at all. But when God had pronounced his judgment, he makes an appeal to God, and God takes care that nothing he dreaded should take place. What does Cain do with the gift he gets in answer to his appeal? He settles down quietly to make himself as happy as possible without God's presence on earth.
- Sentence — Writers read Cain's cry as a complaint about his punishment, not his guilt. The rest of the verse shows what really weighed on him.
- Self-pity — Judgment pressed his tears out; his sin never did. The dying robber beside Jesus owned his guilt, and that submission leaves room for mercy.
- Self-exile — God never said Cain would be driven from the ground or hidden from His face. Cain said it himself, then walked out of God's presence.
- Restlessness — A wanderer is always on the move, never settled, never at rest. Cain went to live in a land whose name means wandering.
- Mercy — He feared every man he met would kill him. He was wrong. God's patience answered the very fear he voiced, and Cain used that mercy to make himself comfortable without God.
And Jehovah said to him, Therefore, whoever slayeth Cain, it shall be revenged sevenfold. And Jehovah set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him should smite him.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.