Genesis 4: 8 - 15

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[d] 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^[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,^[f] east of Eden.

 Cain brings a gift to God, God prefers the gift that Abel brought him and Cain gets mad. So, what does Cain do, he invites his brother to go into the field and kills him. Cain was jealous of Abel. Cain was jealous of God loving Abel more; but, God did not love Abel more, he loves us all the same, he just appreciates it more when we do good for good's sake.

God asks Cain where his brother is and Cain does even more than lie, he says that he does not know where Abel is and then challenges God, he asks God if he is responsible for the well being of his brother. A rather arrogant statement to make to the Lord. Cain had a guilty conscience, he knew good from evil, we all do. He did like many do, when questioned and they know they are in the wrong, they question the questioner. They attempt to change the subject. We attempt to deceive.

Here is an alternative view and just as rarely stated. What if Cain thought Abel was trying to kiss up to God and slew him for that reason? Pretty far out there, I mean what if Cain thought he was being a "good guy", what if he believed his own lies. Nope, I don't think we can find that in the bible, certainly not if we read the rest of the story.

Adam and Eve played dumb when God asked them how they knew they were naked and them they tried to blame others. Cain flat out lies and then tries to turn the table on God. Once again we are shown that these people did not really understand who and what God was, they did not understand that he knew what had happened.

God's "punishment" for Cain was that the land would no longer be fruitful for him. Instead he was told that he would be sent out to wander the earth. Cain's response was that his punishment was more than he could stand; yet, people today would have punished Cain by putting him in jail for life or taking his life. Cain complains that once driven from the place he is at that God will no longer see him. He also worries that others who find him will kill him. To understand this one needs to go back and read what I wrote about Chapter 1 of Genesis.

God tells Cain that he will put a mark on Cain so that nobody who finds him will kill him. There has been a lot of speculation about this mark, there are those who claim that the mark was being made "black"; but, this is about as dumb as can be. Firstly, the mark was for his protection and I would pretty much say that African's were not protected by being dark skinned. Secondly, we have no reason to believe this mark was on anyone other than Cain or that it was on anyone who came with Noah and survived the floods. We read about marks in the bible in a couple of places so lets consider where it comes up.

In the bible we are told not to mark our bodies or to accept the mark of the beast in the end times. In regards to the mark of the beast we are told it was to be on the hand or forehead, when God seals people (which is a form of marking often) the seal is on the forehead. My best guess is that the mark of Cain was placed on his forehead so that people would see it and know he was not to be killed. Truth is, we have no idea of what the mark was that Cain was given and it doesn't matter because he has been dead a long time.

When we read the story of Cain and Abel we have to wonder why it was included. It is the first murder; but, there are plenty more to read about. What we witness is jealousy, we can begin to understand why God didn't stay with people more. If you have ever been around someone who is very powerful (money, fame, influence) you will find that people will try to please them so that they can become one of their friends and possibly get some of the benefits that surround them.

God's purpose for us was not for us to become slaves or beggers, it was for us to grow up, learn the lessons of life and learn that we all matter. We matter even if there was no God; but, fortunately there is and he understands us pretty well.