Real Restoration: Cain, The Flood, and Babel

Cain

(Gen 4:8-15 NIV) 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

Just as soon as sin entered the world, we see that not only was marriage filled with strife, but so were other relationships. Indeed, as Paul taught us (as covered in the last post), the Curse was much broader than the particular curses found in Genesis 3. The corruption of sin quickly led to the first murder — Cain killed Abel.

And yet God was merciful. Rather than taking Cain’s life, God cursed Cain: “When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” When Cain protested his punishment, God was merciful again, placing a mark of protection on him.

Sin led to grace…..

The Flood

Over time, sin became an even bigger problem — so great that nearly even one was totally corrupt —

(Gen 6:5-8 NIV) 5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

(Gen 6:11-12 NIV) 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

God’s grace did not lead mankind away from sin but resulted in even greater sin. Therefore, God decided to purge the world of evil —

(Gen 6:13 NIV) 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”

The Flood is followed by a strange story —

(Gen 9:20-27 NIV) 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.”

Noah had become drunk and naked and was angry because one of his sons saw his nakedness. There’s a distinct parallel with Genesis 3. You see, even though God purged evil people from the earth, he didn’t purge sin — nor its consequences. Nakedness still brought shame, and even the righteous Noah abused the Creation and so became drunk and angry.

And so the sin problem was not solved — not by undeserved mercy and not by killing evil people.

Babel

Men decided to build a tower —

(Gen 11:4 NIV) 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

God — again spoken of in the plural — responded —

(Gen 11:6-7 NIV) 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

John T. Willis comments in the Sweet commentary on Genesis —

Certainly it is not sinful in and of itself to build a city and a tower. The real sin is the self-centered attitude of the heart which often motivates such activity: “Let us make a name for ourselves.” … Men’s desire to make a name for themselves stands in bold antithesis to God’s promise to make Abram’s name great (12:2).

And so mankind was divided into many nations speaking many different languages —

(Gen 11:9 ESV) Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Unity of all mankind led to arrogant sin — a refusal to rely on God — and so sin led to division of mankind into separate nations.