The Vagabond
“Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” Genesis 4:14
I have often wondered how long it was between the time that God made Adam and Eve and the time when they sinned against Him by eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When God created the two of them, they were created as adults. They had everything that they could possibly need. They lived in a paradise. There was nothing to fear. Nothing bad had ever happened to them until they made the wrong decision to disobey God. I doubt that Satan was patient to wait years before he disguised himself and tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. Perhaps he did wait, but if I had to guess, I would say that he didn’t wait very long at all. Why would he wait? Ever since he was cast out of heaven, he has been striving to take God’s place.
I have also wondered if Adam and Eve had not sinned, would they have had children? We know that Cain and Abel weren’t born until their parents were banned from the garden of Eden. My thought is that they would not have had any children but would have continued to live and walk with God in the cool of the day. Otherwise, somewhere down the line, their children would likely have sinned. This is just speculation on my part, and since God gave man free will, it was inevitable that sin would have appeared eventually.
After Adam and Eve left their paradise home, Eve became pregnant with Cain, and then later Abel. Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a sheepherder. Apparently, their parents had taught them that they were required to offer sacrifices to the LORD. Cain brought something that he had cultivated in his garden while Abel brought the first lamb of his flock. Either Cain didn’t realize that God only accepted a blood offering, because a blood sacrifice is the only way that God can forgive sin, or more likely he knew God’s requirement, but thought his fruit offering would suffice. He could have either bartered, worked for, or asked his brother for a lamb, but that would perhaps have injured his pride. This, too, is speculation, but, as we will see, he was jealous of his brother.
God did not accept Cain’s offering which caused Cain to become angry and depressed. God asked why he was so angry, telling him that if he would only obey and do the right thing, then there wouldn’t be any problem. However, to not obey and think that he can get by on his own terms was a dreadful mistake which would only cause sin to become his master. Cain then went to see Abel to speak with him, but we are not told of their conversation. Later, though, when they were in the field together, Cain killed his brother. Cain was so full of rage and envy that sin did become his master just as God said. God appeared to Cain and asked him the whereabouts of his brother (God knew exactly what had happened). Cain said that he didn’t know, disrespectfully asking, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Besides committing the sin of murder, Cain was also a liar.
God then cursed Cain. His efforts at farming would fail. He would be a fugitive and a vagabond, a drifter for the rest of his life. He cried out that his punishment was more than he could bear. He knew that he would have a bounty on his head, but God assured him that his life would be spared. Cain did leave his home but found a wife (no one knows how that was possible, but all things are possible with God), had a son and grandchildren. However, his life was spent void of the presence of God.
There are many folks today who are like vagabonds. Because they reject the Lord, they aimlessly follow whichever way the wind blows. They may be prosperous, wealthy, famous, or just barely getting by in this world. Their goals are to accumulate more of this world’s goods and enjoy the pleasures of life, just survive, or somewhere in between. They seem to have no time for church or participating in those things which honor and glorify God. They live like they don’t need God and assume that their good works will somehow get them into His heaven when they die. It is sort of funny, not funny ha-ha, but funny strange that folks who have no time for the Lord on earth want to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Go figure. One advantage that these folks do have that Cain did not is that while they are still living on this earth, there is still hope for them that they will come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Thus, if the opportunity comes along, they need to grab it with all the gusto they can and no longer wander through life like a vagabond without a godly purpose and direction.