• Gen 4:8 . . Cain talked with Abel his brother; and when they were in the field,
Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him.
The Hebrew word translated "killed" means to smite with deadly intent, i.e. murder.
Although murder is intrinsically a sin, God couldn't indict Cain for it because He
didn't officially prohibit homicide till after the Flood in the ninth chapter of Genesis;
and that was too late for use against Cain.
In other words: God doesn't enforce His laws ex post facto, i.e. they aren't
retroactive.
• Rom 4:15 . . And where there is no law there is no transgression.
• Rom 5:13 . . Before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken
into account when there is no law.
See also Deut 5:2-4 and Gal 3;17
God slammed people for their sins back in Cain's day, but not according to law; and
if not according to law, then on what basis?
According to Rom 2:12-15, God judges people on the basis of law and on the basis
of conscience; viz: although there was no law on the books prohibiting murder back
in Cain's day; his natural moral values told him that it was wrong.
• Gen 3:22 . . And the Lord God said: The man has now become like one of us,
knowing good and evil.
When I look at mass murderers the likes of Russia's Bolsheviks and Joseph Stalin,
China's Mao Tse-tung, Cambodia's Pol Pot, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Uganda's Idi
Amin, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, and North Korea's Kim Jong-Un; I am amazed
at their lack of conscience. It is very difficult for me to plumb the depths of their
degree of psychopathy.
The Bible says that they not only know within their own selves that murder is
wrong, but they also know within their own selves that it deserves retribution.
(Rom 1:32)
UPDATE: 206 days have elapsed since my first comment. If the figures in post No.5
are in the ball park, then something like 12,797,544 new arrivals have checked into
the fiery sector of Hades since Oct 08, 2020.
_
Okay -- now we're talking about the 1st murder -- that of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4: 8 we find the actual act of murder -- to kill him.
The background Of and the consequences -- Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain was the tiller of the ground which is found in vs 2.
vs 3 "In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. vs 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering.
vs 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell."
First crime of passion we find in God's Word.
Those next two verses are interesting vs 6 and 7 " So the Lord said to Cain. "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And it's desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
Vs 8 " Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Able his brother and killed him."
Cain had time to think about his actions Before he carried through with them. And he chose to kill him Anyway. In todays' world -- it's called premeditated murder.
vs 9 God challenges Cain as to the whereabouts of his brother. Cains response " Am I my brother's keeper?"
His punishment from God is Strong / Harsh. Because he buried his brother's body in the ground. Whatever he tries to grow in the future will be full of weeds rather than yield a good crop of food. He will be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth.
vs 13 "And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is great than I can bear!"
vs 14 "...... I shall be hidden from Your face; .... and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me."
vs 15 "And the Lord said to him, "Therefore, who ever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold." And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him."
vs 16 "Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
vs 17 "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son--- Enoch.
Scripture continues on with the geneology Of Enoch.
vs 25 "And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth. "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed."
vs 26 " And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord."
Notice that we now have an Enoch and an Enosh. One is 'ch' and the other "sh".
It isn't until the book of Joshua 20 that we find the cities of refuge being set up for the children of Israel. vs 2 " Speak to the children of Israel, saying; Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses.
vs 3 that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood."
It's a long , drawn-out process. A person can approach -- his case heard by the elders and then they take the person into their city and they become 'one of them' -- a safe shelter until either his case is heard and until the death of the high priest in those days. And Then the person may leave that city of refuge and be okay.
No one from the family can enter to avenge the death.
However, If the person leaves that city of refuge Before 'time' he Can be killed.
Depending on the age of the high priest, the person fleeing there might be there for a Long time or a very short time.
And That is much like our prison system of today. The guilty person stands trial and if found guilty -- he Can receive a varying amount of years in 'prison' And when his time has been served, he/ she is a free person and can rejoin society.
And we Also have the death penalty. Exodus 21:12 "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death." Actually the first mention of the cities of refuge is in Numbers 35:11 "...then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there."
If it is on purpose -- the murderer Shall be put to death vs 19 in Numbers 35 -- in fact the avenger of the death can kill the murderer himself.
A lot of our judicial concepts come from the Old Testament.
This response has gotten lots longer than intended. But it's the Old Testament way and should be extended to Now.
Nowdays -- a person found guilty doesn't usually face the death penalty. It's considered to be 'cruel and unusual punishment' for the killer. And people can spend 20 years in prison waiting for the appeals to be taken care of and Then be on death row for years.
Then again -- depending on the crime - the prisoner is 'put to death' by other inmates. Unofficially, of course. Even men in prison have no use for other men who commit some pretty awful crimes.
