Gen. 4:1-26:
“The First Murder / The Line Of The Serpent And The Line Of The Woman”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study
we looked at verses 1-24 of chapter 3.
1.1.1. We saw that chapter 3 has been called the “most
important chapter in the Bible,” and “the seed plot for the entire Bible.”
1.1.2. We saw how that the world today is far from what it
was like during the age of innocence during the garden of Eden. Throughout history men and women have often
been filled with greed, anger, bitterness, strife, hate, and a litany of other
bad character traits. There has been at
least one war raging among tribes and nations in virtually every year of
mankind’s written history. Today, there
are too numerous false religions to name and the worst crimes in mankind’s
history have been committed over religion.
We saw that what went wrong was found right in chapter 3 of Genesis and
the fall into sin of mankind. Being now
a race indwelt with sin and separated from God spiritually, mankind has seen
the effects of many generations of sinful living.
1.1.3. We mentioned that this third chapter of Genesis is no
myth nor allegory. No Biblical character
ever considered this story to be a myth, including Jesus Christ Himself who
referred to Adam and Eve as being literal characters and their fall as a
literal fact of history.
1.2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at chapter 4 of the book of Genesis.
1.2.1. Before we go to that study however, I want to go back
to chapter 3 and complete a theme that was begun there. In chapter 3, we saw that when the Lord
pronounced His judgments and curses upon the man, the serpent, and the woman,
that He spoke of two different seeds. He
stated that the seed of the serpent (those who do not know the Lord and
culminating eventually in the anti-Christ Himself) would strike the heel of the
seed of the woman (referring to Jesus’ Christ’s crucifixion) but that he (the
seed of the woman-Jesus Christ) would crush the head of the serpent. We saw that the rest of history since that
time can be looked at as being the battle between the two seeds. We looked at what incredible evidence there
is for that. Chapter 12 of the book of
Revelation gives prophetic insight and commentary upon this symbol of the woman
and the seed of the woman in chapter 3 of Genesis, and analyzing this chapter
in Revelation we see that the seed of the woman is indeed the Lord Jesus
Christ, but that also Eve, the woman, refers symbolically to Israel with the 12
stars on her head referring to the twelve tribes of Israel (this is what twelve
stars symbolized in Joseph’s dream in Gen. 37:9), and so some have stated
that Eve in the prophetic scheme of things was the first Irsraeli: Revelation 12, “1 A great sign appeared in
heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her
head a crown of twelve stars; 2
and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to
give birth. 3 Then another sign
appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten
horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of
heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who
was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
5 And she gave birth to a
son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron;
and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she
had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one
thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the
dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no
longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent
of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was
thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now
the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of
His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who
accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the
Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their
life even when faced with death. 12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in
them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you,
having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” 13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to
the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to
the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she
was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the
serpent. 15 And the serpent poured
water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her
to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its
mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went
off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God
and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
1.2.1.1.Some commentators have believed that the woman here
actually represents the church, but it is pretty clear that she must be
1.2.1.2.Christ is mentioned in Rev.
19:15-16 as ruling “the nations with a rod of iron.”
1.2.1.3.The child being “caught
up to God and His throne” mentioned in verse 5 refers to Jesus’ ascension
but is the same word that used for the rapture of the church in 1 Thess. 4:17.
1.2.1.4.Note from this chapter in
Revelation that the 1/3rd of all of the stars which the dragon threw
down to the earth are believed to be the angels who joined up with Satan in his
rebellion since angels are sometimes called stars, especially in the book of
Revelation, and the stars beg a symbolic interpretation here. The angels being thrown down to the earth
speaks of their losing access to the throne of God, being cast down to the
earth. The book of Revelation reveals to us that some of those angels were actually bound and are being held in the
Bottomless Pit, and earlier we saw in the book that some are currently bound at the river
1.2.1.5.During the second half of
the 7 year
1.2.2. In our study today, we are going to look at the first
and second murders recorded in history.
The first murder will occur when Cain kills his brother Abel because his
brother’s sacrifice was accepted by the Lord while his is not. Lamech, a descendant of Cain, will commit the
second murder.
1.2.3. This study will cause us to ponder what is really
underneath why men and women hate.
2.
VS 4:1 - “1
Now the man had
relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she
said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”” - Adam and Eve have relations and Eve gives
birth to a son named Cain
2.1.
The Hebrew word ‘Cain’
means “possession.”
2.2.
Notice the attitude
that Eve has towards having this child.
She credits the Lord (“Yahweh”) for giving her this son. This indicates that Eve was no longer
estranged from the Lord. When the Lord
slaughtered the animal and used its skin to cover Adam’s and Eve’s nakedness
and sin, they were being restored to fellowship with the Lord. Though they were still sinners and would
suffer the consequences of their sin, none-the-less they were now restored to
fellowship with the Lord.
2.3.
I wonder if Eve’s
statement also indicates that she and Adam had not been able to have children
prior to this point.
3.
VS 4:2 - “2
Again, she gave birth
to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of
the ground.” - Eve again
gave birth to another son, Abel, and Able was a keeper of flocks but Cain was a
farmer
3.1.
The Hebrew word ‘Abel’
means “breath.”
3.2.
Because of the
language used in these first two verses of chapter 4 some have speculated that
Cain and Abel might have been twins, but there is little support for this
idea.
3.3.
Here we are told
the professions of both Cain and his brother Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a rancher (‘keeper
of flocks’).
3.4.
There was nothing
wrong with Cain’s profession as a farmer, though we will see that his sacrifice
was not accepted by the Lord.
3.5.
We might wonder
why it was that Abel was a ‘keeper of flocks’ ? He could have used them simply as beasts of
burden, but some have speculated that he raised flocks so that he might
sacrifice of his flocks to the Lord.
When we look at this next verse we will see why Abel might have raised
flocks for sacrifice.
4.
VS 4:3-5 - “3
So it came about in the
course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his
offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very
angry and his countenance fell.” - Cain brought
a sacrifice of fruit to the Lord but Able brought of the firstlings of his
flock to the Lord, and Abel’s sacrifice was accepted while Cain’s was rejected
4.1.
In our last
study, I mentioned that the Lord killed an animal and used the skin of that
animal to clothe Adam and Eve who realized that they were naked after their
fall into sin. We saw that this showed
that only a blood sacrifice is effectual to cover a person’s sin. This began what is known as “the scarlet
thread” (the thread of blood) that runs through the entire Bible and is
fulfilled when the blood of Jesus Christ is shed upon the cross as the
propitiation or covering for mankind’s sin (some would argue that it continues
into the Millennial Reign of Christ when mankind offers blood sacrifices in
Jerusalem that backwards to Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary for their meaning and
fulfillment). We looked at the fact that
the scripture tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness of sin (Lev. 17:11, Heb. 9:22).
4.2.
Notice here in
verse 4 that the text says that Abel in his sacrifice, ‘brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.’ What is interesting in this phrase is that
this is exactly what the Levitical requirements for sacrifice consisted of,
giving of the ‘firstlings’ and offering up the ‘fat portions’. This verse seems to indicate that when the
Lord had killed an animal and covered Adam and Eve with its skin that He taught
them what would become the Levitical system of sacrifices, and commanded them
concerning the type of sacrifice that the Lord requires in order to receive the
covering and forgiveness of one’s sins.
4.3.
A second proof
that the Lord instructed Adam and Eve concerning the sacrifice that the Lord
would accept is found in Gen. 7:1-2 where we find that the Lord told Noah to
bring 7 of every clean animal and 2 of every unclean animal. Hundreds of years before the giving of the
law to Moses, how did Noah know what was a clean and an unclean animal? The Lord must have communicated this
information to Adam and Eve and instructed them concerning acceptable
sacrifices to the Lord. The clean
animals were evidently to be used for sacrifice and for eating. Genesis 7:1-2 states: “1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your
household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in
this time. 2 “You shall take with you
of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that
are not clean two, a male and his female.”
4.4.
Hebrews 12:24
seems to also link the offer of a blood sacrifice by Abel as being that which
typified those of the old covenant which pointed to the superior and more
effectual sacrifice of Jesus’ upon Calvary’s cross, “24 and to Jesus, the
mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better
than the blood of Abel.”
4.5.
How do you think
that it was that Abel knew that his sacrifice was accepted and Cain knew that
his was not accepted? I would propose
that it was because the Lord consumed the sacrifice of Abel by fire. This is what the scriptures tell us happened
when several other sacrifices were made and accepted by the Lord, demonstrated
by consumption with fire:
4.5.1. Moses and Aaron:
4.5.1.1.Leviticus 9:24, “24 Then fire came out from
before the Lord and consumed the burnt
offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it,
they shouted and fell on their faces.”
4.5.2. Gideon:
4.5.2.1.Judges 6:21, “21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that
was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang
up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel
of the Lord vanished from his
sight.”
4.5.3. Samson’s parents:
4.5.3.1.Judges 13:20, “20 For it came about when the flame went
up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his
wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.”
4.5.4. Elijah:
4.5.4.1.1 Kings 18:38, “38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt
offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that
was in the trench.”
4.5.5. King David:
4.5.5.1.1 Chronicles 21:26, “26 Then David built an altar
to the Lord there and offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the Lord and He answered him with fire from
heaven on the altar of burnt offering.”
4.5.6. King Solomon:
4.5.6.1.2 Chronicles 7:1, “1 Now when Solomon had
finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering
and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord
filled the house.”
4.6.
This sacrifice of
Cain is the first recorded time in the scriptures that “strange fire” is
offered unto the Lord, that is, a sacrifice or worship that He has not
proscribed is offered. This first time
mention reveals that a person may not come to the Lord in any old fashion and
have any hope of the Lord accepting him.
A man or a woman can only come to the Lord in the way in which He has
laid out. All other sacrifices but those
which the Lord has proscribed involve man trying to be acceptable to the Lord
based upon his own efforts and good deeds, which can never succeed. Only the blood of Christ or the sacrifice of
blood that looks forward to the sacrifice of blood of Christ shall be able to
cover and forgive a person’s sin. The
apostle Peter wrote the following about this in 1 Peter 1:18-21, “18 knowing that you were not
redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of
life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished
and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the
world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised
Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
4.7.
Evidently, prior
to this day both Cain and Abel had regularly offered acceptable sacrifices of
blood before the Lord, blood sacrifices not of their left-overs but of their
firstfruits. However, Cain probably got
tired of having to purchase an animal for sacrifice from his brother each time
he need to perform a sacrifice.
Therefore, in his rebellion and presumption he evidently decided that he
could be acceptable to the Lord based upon his own merits and the sacrifice he
desired to offer.
4.8.
Cain is very
disappointed because his sacrifice has not been accepted, yet his brother’s
sacrifice has been accepted. This
disappointment is mixed with envy and jealousy and eventually turns to anger,
hatred, and murder. These are the seeds
from which murderous thoughts and actions are hatched, and thus we need to be
careful not to allow them into our thoughts and lives.
5.
VS 4:6-8 - “6
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?
And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be
lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its
desire is for you, but you must master it.”” - The Lord tries to encourage Cain telling him
that if he does well his countenance will be lifted, but if he does not do well
that sin is crouching at the door
5.1.
The Lord asks
Cain why he is angry and why his countenance has fallen, however He didn’t do
this because He was requesting information.
The Lord never asks questions because He never needs information for the
scriptures tell us that the Lord cannot learn.
He knows all things. The Lord was
asking Cain these questions so that Cain might begin to think about his life
and motives and try to understand what is motivating him at this point in time.
5.2.
The warning that
the Lord gives Cain here is interesting.
He states that if Cain does not try to do well and please the Lord with
his life that ‘sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you.’ The language brings an image to my mind of a
lion that is prowling and stalking its prey, even waiting at a man’s door so
that when he leaves his house that the lion will pounce upon him and kill him. 1 Peter 5:8 speaks of Satan in this sort of
way as being like a lion prowling around seeking someone to devour, “8 Be of sober spirit, be
on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.”
5.3.
But, the Lord tells Cain that sin is something that must
be “mastered” by those who are
God’s people. We all have desires and
lusts of the flesh, but we who are Christians must learn to ‘master’
those lusts and desires. In 1
Corinthians 9:24-30, Paul wrote about how that we ought to consider ourselves
as running a race for the Lord and realize that in this race we must learn to
discipline and master our body and its lusts so that we are not disqualified
running this race, “24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all
run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may
win. 25 Everyone who competes in
the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to
receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim;
I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so
that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
6.
VS 4:8 - “8
Cain told Abel his
brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up
against Abel his brother and killed him.” - Cain tells
his brother Abel about what the Lord told him, then when they are out in the
field Cain kills his brother Abel
6.1.
It is stunning
that such a tragic event as sibling murder should happen within the very first
two children born to Adam and Eve.
6.2.
Some have
speculated that Cain may have murdered his brother in a pre-meditated manner,
however this may not have been the case.
6.3.
In Hebrews 11:4
we read about Abel and what is said indicates that he evidently was a prophet,
for it states that he ‘still’ speaks, “4 By faith Abel offered to
God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that
he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he
is dead, he still speaks.” It states here
that it was after Cain told his brother about what the Lord had said to him
that Cain killed Abel. Therefore, I
would speculate that after Cain told him this that Abel may have preached to
Cain about doing what was right before the Lord and living your life in such a
way that pleases the Lord. This then may
have triggered Cain’s anger and wrath and led him to kill his brother.
6.4.
1 John 3:11-12
gives us insight into Cain and his motives, “11 For this is the message
which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and
slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were
evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”
7.
VS 4:9-12 - “9
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your
brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10
He said, “What have you
done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11
“Now you are cursed
from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood
from your hand. 12 “When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to
you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”” - The Lord questions Cain about where his
brother is at then tells him that his brother’s blood is crying to Him from the
ground, then the Lord pronounces a curse upon Cain for committing this murder
7.1.
We saw earlier
that God was broken-hearted when Adam and Eve fell into sin, and likewise here
He is broken-hearted that not only righteous Abel has been murdered, but also
that Cain has done such a thing.
7.2.
Being a God who
seeks out those who are lost (as we saw when Adam and Eve sinned), we see here
that the Lord seeks out Cain in hopes of eventually restoring him to Himself.
7.3.
This response of
Cain to the Lord, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is a hard-hearted, arrogant and selfish response, and betrays
the fact that he really doesn’t understand that there is nothing that you can
hide from the Lord. As God’s people we
all ought to see ourselves as looking out for each other, as our brother’s
keeper. I encourage each of you to think
of yourself as being your brother’s keepers.
This type of attitude is essential to the health of the body of
Christ. When you sense someone might be
struggling in some area of his/her life, then talk with them or give them a
call and ask them how they are doing.
7.4.
We see in this
verse that Abel’s blood is speaking prophetically out about the fact that he
was righteous and slain in an unrighteous manner.
7.5.
The Lord tells
Cain that his curse will be the fact that wherever he goes that the ground will
not cooperate (‘yield its strength’) and provide good produce and fruit
for him. Plus, Cain will ‘be a
vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.’
8.
VS 4:13-17 - “13
Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to
bear! 14 “Behold,
You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I
will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and
whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 So the Lord
said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him
sevenfold.” And the Lord appointed
a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him. 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of
the Lord, and settled in the
8.1.
Cain is overwhelmed
by his judgment from the Lord, however he is lucky that the Lord did not at
this point in time implement capital judgment which will be the punishment for
those who commit murder in the law of Moses.
8.2.
The question has
also been asked of why the Lord didn’t implement capital punishment at this
point with Cain? To be honest we are not
sure. However, we can see that it is by
God’s sovereignty and His grace of God that He gave Cain time to repent of his
sin of murder.
8.3.
We are not sure
what the sign of Cain really is. Some
have suggested that it might be some sort of birthmark type of thing on
him. Chuck Missler suggests that it
might be something that the Lord actually gave to Cain.
8.4.
This brings us to
the question of who could Cain have married.
I’d tell you the answer to this if I were Abel!
8.5.
Cain’s marrying
here indicates that Adam and Eve by this point in time had had many
children. After the initial birth of
Cain and Abel, we might assume that they had many children. Each of their children then evidently married
and had many children. This is clear
also when we see here also that Cain builds a city. How could he build a city if it were just
him, he and her? Perhaps within the
first couple hundred of years after the fall of mankind there could have been a
few thousand descendants of Adam and Eve or more. All of these descendants lived several
hundred years and certainly procreated many times over. It is possible that Adam and Eve may have had
as many as 50 children over the course of their life.
8.6.
Cain went out and
‘settled in the land of Nod east of Eden’ and it appears that he tried
to undermine the judgment that the Lord had made against him by settling in the
land of Nod and by building a city which he named after his son, Enoch.
9.
VS 4:18-22 - “18
Now to Enoch was born
Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of
Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name
of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the
father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the
father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to
Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of
Tubal-cain was Naamah.” - The
descendants of Cain through his son Enoch are enumerated
9.1.
We see with
Lamech taking two wives for himself that the descendants of Cain had already
begun to thwart God’s plans for mankind regarding marriage and that morality
had begun to wane.
9.2.
Notice that
sophisticated musical instruments as well as implements of bronze and iron were
created at a very early period in mankind’s history, revealing the native
intelligence that mankind had after initially being created. Cultural and Social Anthropologists today
teach that after mankind evolved from apes that they gradually began to create
these various implements after thousands of years of existence. They would place the Stone Age with its
various eras as beginning perhaps a million years ago, the Bronze Age beginning about 3000BC , and the Iron Age about 1200BC,
however these dates are based upon speculation with no solid scientific
evidence to substantiate them. However,
it appears that instead of mankind slowly gaining in intelligence it appears
instead that mankind created in a young earth (6,000 years old) has actually
decreased in native intelligence rather than increased.
9.3.
Note here that
Enoch, the son of Cain, had children by the name of ‘Mehujael’ and ‘Methushael’ and
that each of them had the Hebrew name of God, “El,” embedded in their
name. This is an indication perhaps that
already Cain had begun to turn back to the Lord in his life.
10.
VS 4:23-24 - “23
Lamech said to his
wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to
my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; 24
If Cain is avenged
sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”” - Lamech tells his wives that he has killed a
man
10.1. These verses show us how that this man Lamech had
committed murder out of vengeance.
10.2. Could it be that when Jesus told Peter that a man
ought to forgive someone seventy times seven that He was thinking of Lamech’s
outrageous perspective of retribution for being wronged of ‘seventy-sevenfold.’
11.
VS 4:25-26 - “25
Adam had relations with
his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she
said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain
killed him.” 26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men
began to call upon the name of the Lord.” - Adam and Eve
have relations and Eve gives birth to Seth, and then to Seth was born Enosh
11.1. Seth was the descendant of Eve from whom Jesus Christ
would come, and he was a righteous man.
11.2. The Hebrew word ‘Seth’ means “compensation.” This makes sense because Eve states here that
she felt that the Lord had appointed another offspring for her to replace her
son Abel.
11.3. Notice here that we are told that it was after the
birth of Seth that men ‘began to call upon the name of the Lord.’ This indicates that Seth was a righteous man
and that his descendants worshipped and served the Lord.
12.
CONCLUSIONS:
12.1. Beware of envy and jealousy, the attitudes from which
murderous thoughts and actions are hatched.
12.2. Be careful to be a person who seeks to do right before
the Lord and please the Lord, for in doing so you shall be blessed. But also beware for if you turn away from the
Lord that sin will be crouching at your door ready to pounce upon you and kill
you.
12.3. Be committed to seeing yourself as your brother’s or
your sister’s keeper.