Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #8 of Genesis, chapter 4 and we are going to read Genesis 4:8:

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

I will stop reading there. As we read this, we realize that Cain’s talk with his brother Abel must have been much more than a simple talk. Brothers talk between themselves all the time. Since we read that Cain talked with Abel his brother and then it says in the last part of the verse that Cain rose up against his brother and slew him, we can gather that Cain’s discussion with Abel was more of an argument – he was angry at his brother.

When we look at the Hebrew words God uses here, we see that the word “talk” is typically translated as the word “say” or “said.” It is the same word used in Genesis 4, verse 6:

And JEHOVAH said unto Cain…

It is the typical word translated as “said,” but it does not make sense to say, “And Cain said with Abel” and, therefore, the translators translated it as “talked.”

The word translated as “with” is a word that has a variety of uses and it normally indicates a motion toward something. It is also occasionally translated as “against,” so this verse would better be translated as, “And Cain said against Abel his brother.” Or, to help our ears to hear it a little easier, maybe it would be better translated as “spoke against” and that would indicate some kind of aggression toward his brother. Cain spoke against Abel and that fits with what happened later when they were in the field and Cain rose up against his brother and slew him.

It also tells us in Genesis 4:8:

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass…

Back in verse 3 we saw that it was not “And in the process of time,” but it should have said, “And at the end of days,” so Cain speaking against Abel his brother is coming to pass at the end of days, spiritually. God is again letting it be known that these two brothers will have disagreement and one will be angry and slay the other at the end of days. We are told in the next phrase that it happened when they were “in the field” and this reminds us of the parable the Lord Jesus told us in the Gospel of Matthew. It says in Matthew 13:24-30:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

This is the parable of the wheat and the tares that we are very familiar with by now. We know that in this parable God is teaching about the church age. Within the churches and congregations of the world there would be both the saved and the unsaved. The wheat sown was the good seed sown by the Son of man and they represent the saved. There are also the tares that an enemy sowed among the wheat and that enemy is Satan, just as we read of Cain in 1John 3, verse 12 who was “of that wicked one.” The tares were of Satan, the wicked one, because they were a result of his efforts in sowing the tares among the wheat. In explaining the parable, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 13:37-38:

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Again, remember what it said in 1John 3:12 about Cain. He was of that “wicked one.”

Then it goes on to say in Matthew 13:39-42:

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The wheat and the tares were to grow together until the end of the age. The harvest time is the end of the age and then God would separate them. He would make a distinction between them. We talked about this before in regard to Cain and Abel, but as a result of letting it be known to both Cain and Abel that he had respect unto one and his sacrifice but not to the other and his sacrifice, God made a separation between them; God let it be known which one was “wheat” and which one was a “tare.” As a result, Cain was furious and full of wrath and he rose up against his brother while they were in the field and we can see how that relates to Matthew 13 where the “field” is defined as the world. Both are in the churches and the churches are located in the world where the wheat and the tares grow together. It was in that location that Cain finally rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Again, what was the question asked in 1John 3, verse 12? It said in 1John 3:12:

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him?

The answer of God is also indicated in 1John 3:12:

… Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

Cain realized that his works were not acceptable to God, but Abel’s works were acceptable because Abel’s work was not his own but it was the work and faith of the Lord Jesus Christ that justified him. Cain had trusted in his own efforts and that is always an evil work if someone thinks they can get right with God based on their own merit and effort in response to keeping the Law of God. It is an evil work and it will never justify anyone. No man is justified by the Law in the sight of God.

Disappointed and angry, Cain rose up and killed his brother. God tells us about the death of Abel in a couple of places. One place is in Matthew, chapter 23 and it is a little unusual because of how God words it and how He charges certain ones with the guilt of Abel’s blood. It says in Matthew 23:29-36:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

We wonder why He accuses the scribes and Pharisees of guilt for “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” We know that Cain was killed by Abel back near the beginning of creation in 11,013BC and we know that Cain and Abel were men (rather than boys) and they may have been in their 20s or 30s, but it is still early on in the history of the world. Then there was the first murder, as Cain rose up in anger and slew his brother Abel. Cain did it. Cain was responsible and he was the guilty one and, yet, here God is answering the scribes and Pharisees and laying the death of Abel at their feet, as well as the death of Zacharias. It is as though God is accusing them of murder from the first murder to the last murder. In the English language it really comes across that way because the name Abel starts with the letter “A,” the first letter of our alphabet and the name Zacharias begins with the letter “Z,” the last letter of our alphabet. Of course, in the original Hebrew or Greek, it is not the last letter, so it was not meant to be “A to Z,” but it was meant to be an all-encompassing statement from Abel, the first murder, to Zacharias.

There is an answer for why Jesus accused them of the blood of the prophets and the answer is back in Matthew 23:33, where Christ called them, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.” It is this “generation” that is being addressed in verse 36: “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” Jesus is addressing the scribes and Pharisees, but they represent “this generation” and it is the “generation of evil” or the generation of the wicked one. Just as there is the generation of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is also the generation of the evil one and the latter represents all the unsaved people of the earth. Their generation began with the fall into sin back in the Garden of Eden and it will continue to the end of the world. The end of world occurs after 13,000 years of earth’s history, according to the Bible. The Bible emphasizes the number “13” in relationship to the end of the world.

Here, in regard to Abel we understand that he was the first of the righteous children of God to be slain. We read about Zacharias in 2Chronicles 24:15:

But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.

We have learned that Jehoiada’s death age is significant because the number “130” is “10 x 13” and it points to the completeness of whatever is in view and, in this case, the number “13” is directing us to the time of the end of the world and, specifically, the end of the church age. We will read that King Joash was a young boy when Jehoiada took him under his wings and lifted him up to reign and Joash did good all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada, therefore, was a picture of the Holy Spirit that enabled the churches and congregations (as represented by Joash) to do well all the days the Holy Spirit was with them. But when Jehoiada the priest died, it was like when the Holy Spirit left the churches and that occurred in 1988, the 13,000th year of earth’s history and that is why Jehoiada’s death age is so important.

Then it goes on to say in 2Chronicles 24:17-18:

Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of JEHOVAH God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

What happened after exactly 13,000 years in the year 1988? Judgment began at the house of God. The wrath of God came upon “Jerusalem” or “Judah.” It goes on to say in 2Chronicles 24:19-20:

Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto JEHOVAH; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest…

He is called the son of Jehoiada because he was a descendent of Jehoiada. It could be that Jehoiada was his grandfather or great grandfather. It goes on to say in 2Chronicles 24:20-22:

… which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of JEHOVAH, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of JEHOVAH. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, JEHOVAH look upon it, and require it.

When Zacharias died his blood was shed and at that point he had called upon his God and asked that He “look upon it, and require it.”

We read something interesting concerning the blood of Abel in Hebrews 12:24:

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

This means that Abel’s blood is “speaking.” The Lord said in Genesis 4:10:

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Abel’s blood was shed when he was killed and it went into the ground. Knowing everything about the entire incident, God “personalizes” the blood as if the blood had a life of its own and the blood is speaking – it is the voice of Abel’s blood. Hebrews 12, verse 24 said Jesus’ blood and the new covenant spoke “better things than that of Abel,” but it still indicates that Abel’s blood was speaking. Zacharias was also speaking at the point of his death as he said, “JEHOVAH look upon it, and require it.”

In the Psalms in a Song of Asaph, it says in Psalm 79:1-3:

God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

Then it says in Psalm 79:10:

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

This is the cry of the saints of God and it is the cry we read about in Revelation 6:9-10:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

They are asking how long before God avenge their blood and it would be from Abel to Zacharias, all 13,000 years of earth’s history. The end began in 1988 as the Great Tribulation began and the end of the world began. It is a stage in earth’s history, but 1988 began the process of the end of the world as God began to avenge the blood of Abel all the way through to Zacharias, beginning at the house of God. Yes, Jerusalem has been tremendously guilty in spilling the blood of God’s people. Old Testament Israel was often involved in slaying the prophets and the New Testament churches drove out the true believers and they slew God’s people, spiritually. Also, all through church history many were killed and burned at the stake for the sake of the Gospel. But if we go all the way back to Abel, it is the kingdom of Satan (Babylon) that is always involved in the slaying of God’s people and the Lord pointed this out in regard to Babylon in Revelation 18:24: