Becoming a “restless wanderer on the earth” was the punishment God inflicted on Cain for hating and murdering his brother (Genesis 4:12). For the rest of his long life Cain would be stumbling around in the dark, never feeling settled. And according to John in 1 John 2:11, “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded him,” so the punishment for hating one’s brother is still the same: stumbling restlessly and blindly around in the dark.
On the outside, however, it looks like the hateful person is doing just fine. Cain for instance, went on to have a wife and kids, and he even built a city, Genesis 4:17. And five generations of Cain’s descendants later, up popped Lamech whose three sons in just one generation changed their world dramatically for the better, each of them pioneering an essential part of life that we appreciate today – the raising of livestock, the creation of music and musical instruments, and the forging of metals for tools (20-22).
But Lamech was also stumbling around in a terrible darkness, because in verse 23 he insists his two wives listen to his tale of killing someone who’d injured him – which in itself was a vicious and over-the-top thing to do – but he went on to say in verse 24, that “If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech should be avenged seventy-seven times.”
Lamech actually believed that he, not the victim, should be avenged. He refers back to God telling Cain he’d avenge Cain seven times over if anyone killed him (4:15). But Lamech told his wives that he deserved being avenged seventy-seven times over. Not only did he have no feeling of remorse or guilt at having murdered a man who’d only injured him, he also felt justified in calling for further violence on top of the murder. Somehow, Lamech had got it in his head that he was the victim who deserved justice and revenge.
No wonder John writes in 1 John 2:9, that “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” He can think he’s doing fine, but if he’s into hating in any way, and justifying it, he’s heading for the same darkness as Cain and Lamech. It’s in the prayer of a concerned brother, however, that God has provided – and promised – to get him back on the path of life again (5:16), and back to the relief of forgiveness – and having “Confidence on the day of judgment” too….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 