Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” - Genesis 4:8-12

The deception of Cain is present here. It is fitting that the sole purpose for Cain's rebellion was God's pleasure in Abel. This attitude of turning on God's blessed is eventually spoken of the nation of Israel (Matt 23:35). Yet again the Lord in asking Cain permits him the chance to confess his sins. Cain's refusal to acknowledge God's inquiry is much like Israel's rejection of Christ (John 3:19-20).

The blood of Abel was a curse upon the ground. And the voice of Abel's blood spoke the curse upon the one who killed him. The author of Hebrews would note the difference between this curse and the covenant that Christ's blood speaks (Heb 12:24). Cain's curse furthers the curse of Adam (Gen 3:17-19). Cain's generational sin takes the curse of the fall to another level of harm to mankind who sins in bloodshed. But Christ's blood speaks a better word.

As an eschatological aside, the typology of Cain's murder of the blessed Abel does work to signify the Jewish rejection of the true Israel during the ministry of Christ. The blood of Christ did fall on Israel (Matt 27:25) in judgment to curse the land of Israel (Rev 8:9)

*The Bible Blogging Commentary is a slow and simple treading of the Scriptures. No quotes from other theologians and no explicit Greek/Hebrew lessons.*