The second half of this chapter is foreign to me, but strikes me as interesting. The first half is yet another familiar tale of how far men have fallen in such a short time. As soon as mankind leaves Paradise, the lies we believe get more and more glaring and the results of believing them become ever more vicious.
I've never fully understood exactly what it is about what Abel presents to God that makes Him so happy and what it is about Cain's offering that is less pleasing. The text does say that Abel's offering was one of his best, brand-new lambs, but says nothing about Cain's veggies other than he just brought "some"of the fruit of the soil. It says to me that what we give to God needs to be the best of us...the very first and best of what we produce. When Jesus died on the cross for us, He became the Perfect Sacrifice. He is the best we've got. In order to be God's friend and family member, we needed to give him something in return for the amazing generosity he shows us, and when Jesus died, he was our Lamb, our firstling, and because he was God himself, without blemish. The people who once got upset about the costliness and showiness of Catholic churches and the items we use during Mass need to understand that it is here, in this chapter, that we find out why. God's house and the items we dedicate to his purpose are to be the best we can get. Like Mary of Bethany in the Gospel reading for today, we're called to pour out our alabaster jar of perfume that costs tens of thousands of dollars, the most precious thing we have, at God's feet and weep because it isn't anything like what He is worth.
Next, despite God's warning that Cain can still rise above the urge to sin, Cain ignores Him and out of spite murders his brother. He refuses to see even his natural brother as anything other than a show-off and a goody-two-shoes, rejecting his relationship with other people as well as his relationship with God. He makes this crystal clear by asking God in a huff "Am I my brother's keeper?" Is he my problem? You figure out where he is...I don't know and don't care. I'm not even going to try to hide what I did with a lie about where he went, because I don't owe You an explanation. God then gives him exactly what he claims to want, disconnection from both God and the rest of the human family.
I have a couple ideas on what happens then. First, it seems that Cain really looks into the face of what he just asked for, suddenly understands what disconnection from humanity means. It means that he can be treated with utmost contempt and with selfishness the same way he wants to treat others. Anyone who wants to can kill him out of spite or other selfish motives the way he just did. Then the Lord responds in words of powerful mercy and justice, that no matter what Cain has done, his life and his blood matter to God as much as anyone else's. It is impossible to do what Cain wanted to just before, to back out of God's justice and the human family, and so those around him who sin by mistreating him because of what he did will earn their own just wrath from God. Yet, because Cain did what he did, he has harmed his relationship with God, and has consigned himself to "wandering" status, trying to live life outside of this relationship and having a hard time in life as a result.
Thus, it seems that we as human beings are in a relationship with God and other human beings simply by nature of who we are, the covenant God made with us by creating us in His image and likeness. The murder of Abel and God's response to it indicate that we are not just responsible for our relationship with Him only, that our sin affects the human family too. We can scoff and rage at God for making us this way, responsible for others and in constant connection to them, but it cannot change. God won't let us out of this "natural law", the very basics of what is good and bad in relating to other human beings, just because we ask for it. Given the chance, we wouldn't like it. Instead, God marks us out for Himself to judge with justice and mercy.
Within a few generations, Cain's descendents only continue to sin in worse and worse ways, pointedly choosing to believe the lie that they are in charge of their own behavior and that their family history will never affect them. They don't have to be in a good relationship with God just because they are forced to be under his dominion and judgement, no matter how much He desires them to be. The world's first murderer leads to the world's first polygamist and the world's first serial killer/honor killer/rage-a-holic Lamech (poor, made low). Even the brutish man himself admits freely just how far his family has fallen by the time it gets to him, saying he has been so bad (or excusing himself for his deeds with a "but he started it" argument) that God will have to avenge his killing not seven times (a perfect number, indicating every time) but seventy seven times (a perfect number made even bigger, an infinite number of times...same concept as how often we're supposed to forgive things according to Jesus). A whole lot of people are going to be wanting his blood.
The chapter ends with some hope in the form of Seth, Adam and Eve's "third try's the charm". He is not like his brother, in that he raises his son Enosh to relate to God in a close, friendly way, calling Him by name. Haydock's commentary says that this is a more solemn , liturgy-type thing. It's kind of saying that religious rites that bring us close to God in a planned, ritual way started here. Haydock also notes something quite interesting that I thought of when I read this verse. It didn't just say that good men began calling God by name...bad men did too. The first swears and blasphemies against God's name began here, very very very early. Even from the earliest days, there were people inclined to righteousness and people not so inclined, and everywhere in between. Life under the very first Covenant with God has degenerated as humanity consistently becomes more and more contemptuous of it, and yet, the line of Seth still exists. Goodness and righteousness is still a stream present in the flow of human history.
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