“Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.” Genesis 4:17
When we read the story of Cain we have a tendency to feel sorry for him. He made a mistake and receives harsh punishment and then limps off, ostracized from his family, with no hope for the rest of his life. This is Satan’s lie. God knows the heart of Cain. He is in steadfast, willful rebellion to God. We are told he leaves and “departs from the presence of the Lord”. This is a deliberate act. He wants nothing to do with God. As far as Cain is concerned, God is unjust, unworthy to be worshipped. He considers God rigid, unbending and unwilling to even listen to his side of the story. Unless God is willing to do as Cain desires, he wants nothing to do with Him.
Therefore Cain strikes out on his own. He has confidence in himself and believes he can prove God to be a liar by being a success. (This is the same delusion Satan had when he rebelled against God – he actually thought he could prove God was not holy, prove Him to be a liar and thereby remove God from His throne and seat himself there. Now Cain does the same thing.) Cain does all in his power to build an alternative to Eden – a manmade paradise where he will live and be the ruler of his own destiny.
Thus we see how Cain defiantly acts in opposition to God.
First, we are told in verse 16 he heads east. Remember Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden to the east. Now Cain willingly goes even further than his parents. He wants as far away from God as he can get so Cain leaves God’s presence. We see this today. Children born into Christian homes forsake Biblical truth and turn their back on God. Their goal is to get as far away from God as they can. They set out to prove they can be a success on their own apart from the commandments and precepts of a God they do not respect.
Second, God said he would live aimlessly so Cain takes a wife and builds a family. He will show God he can amount to something. Cain feels God rejected him (He did not – God’s grace called to him to repent) and alienated from his parents and family. Therefore he will build his own family.
Third, God said he will not be able to make a living from the ground so Cain builds a city – the first in the Bible. This is Cain’s attempt to build his own Eden. He builds a city named Enoch with his own hands. He does not have to be dependent on God for his success, he will create a place where he can abide and fellowship with others who are like-minded. Instead of dwelling with God, he will dwell in a place he made.
Fourth, Cain purposes in his heart to turn God’s promise that he will wander across the earth into a lie so he builds a place of permanence. He builds a city in Nod that cannot be moved. Interesting the word Nod means wandering. It is a very similar word to “vagabond” which is what God said Cain would become. Here is the truth of God’s statement – wherever Cain went his life will be aimless and wandering. He will be a vagabond for he had forsaken true value. Cain tried to prove God a liar by showing His word is not true. Yet God did not describe what Cain would do but God accurately described what he would be in his soul by rejecting God. He carried aimlessness and wandering with him wherever he went. He even lived in the land of
“wandering”. We see this continue in Cain’s family the downward progression of rebellion to God described in Romans 1:18-32. It started with knowing God then refusing to glorify Him as the ruler and the authority in one’s life.
It is a sad thing to see people turn from God. Adam’s and Eve’s sin against God brought rebellion into the world which was lived out
fully by their oldest son who hated the things of God. (Think of the grief to these parents.) As we read the few verses left in Genesis about Cain, we see that his failure to honor God gets progressively worse in his family. Cain’s great-great-great grandson was Lamech. Scripture tells us of his hatred for God. He took two wives in defiance of God’s example of monogamy. He retaliates for a slight offense by killing a man(just like his father). He boasts of the murder – he did it and he will get away with it. He clearly taunts God. He is the ruler of his life, not an unfair God. Then he boasts of his own ability to take vengeance. God is not the judge, he is. He vows he will be seventy time more violent (wicked) than his father. The taunt is God cannot stop him. In His long-suffering and mercy, God allowed Lamech to live out his full life also. Then he died and met God just as God said. The unbelieving family of Cain still lives in the age we are in – violent, proud, self-centered haters of God.