For some time now it has been puzzling to me that at the beginning of both the Old and the New Testament days there is an incident of someone lying to God, yet God's response to each them is very different, and probably the reverse of the way most people would expect.
Let's take a look at the relevant passages first.
1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD." 2 And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."8 And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 And He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 "And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 "When you cultivate the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you; you shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth."
13 And Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to bear! 14 "Behold, Thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Thy face I shall be hidden, and I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds me will kill me." 15 So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should slay him. 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God." 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 And the young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price." 9 Then Peter said to her, "Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well." 10 And she fell immediately at his feet, and breathed her last; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11 And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things.
So, let us summarize the problem. On the one hand you have Cain. He becomes jealous of the Lord's favor on his younger brother, kills his brother and then lies to God about having done it. He is cursed to become a wanderer, but has a special protection upon him so that no one can kill him. On the other hand you have Ananias. Ananias owned some property and sold it and gave part of the proceeds to the church but held some back and lied about how much he got from the sale. He gets struck dead on the spot, as does his wife who makes the same error.
Now, you might consider that the Old Testament depiction of God was much sterner than the New Testament depiction, and so we are commonly told. However, here is a rather striking case of just the opposite. Cain basically gets away with murder while Ananias get killed for being greedy. Since we know that God is indeed Righteousness, it becomes a difficult struggle to understand these two different dealings with people. How is Cain's punishment any real repayment for murder? How is Ananias properly repaid for his rather slight offense?
I have spoken with several people about this and the fellowship is thin. Most seem to think that on the practical side, God pragmatically did not strike Cain down because there just weren't enough people on the earth. On the other hand, it has seemed to some that Ananias did not realize God's real presence in the church and therefore this lesson was simply taught in his case to all the following generations, including ours.
Needless to say, neither of these explanations is very satisfying. If God is God, He's always got options. The question is really why He chose the option He did instead of those which we might come up with. I'd have certainly given Cain the death penalty for murder. I'd have merely chastised Ananias and his wife, or if it was really important to prove the point, I guess they could be shunned by the community they pretended to be one with or perhaps a public denunciation of the practice.
Admittedly, the Lord's ways are far above my ways. That is the starting point here. However, we also have the mind of Christ. I'm just trying to understand how these actions might be understood as Justice.
Last updated: Saturday, March 27, 2004