Genesis 4:8-10 Part One. The First Murder???

And Cain talked with his brother Abel. And it happened when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the ground.

Two interesting concepts are found within these verses. One, the concept of murder and two, there's more than meets the eye than our myopic view of G-ds creation.

There are a lot of teachers that teach that this was the first murder. There are an equal amount that teach that Adam and Eve entering into the curse was the first murder. My question...which one is it? Are they both murder? Before I answer that, let me ask another question.

Situation #1. You inadvertently poison person number one. It takes person number one ten years to die. However, by poisoning person number one, you inadvertently cause person number ones offspring to die prematurely. Are you guilty of murder?

Situation #2. You deliberately shoot person number two and person number two dies instantly. Are you guilty of murder?

This is important. We need to know how G-d looks at these two type of situations. Believe it or not, your salvation depends on it. Were they both murder? In G-ds eyes, no. In situation number one, it is involuntary manslaughter. You didn't know the full ramifications of your actions. However, in situation number two, it is premeditated murder.

Was this the first murder? Yes. What difference does it make? Well...that requires a look into the law concerning the cities of refuge and the avenger of blood which will be in the next blog entry. Again...Believe it or not, your salavation depends on it.