The Worker (4:2b)
As his sons grew older, Adam put them to work in the fields, and it became evident over the years that each boy had his own interests and skills. Cain became a farmer and Abel became a shepherd; the first of many shepherds found in the Bible, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, Moses, and David.
Adam certainly taught his sons why they worked: It was a part of God’s creation mandate, and they were colaborers with God (1:26-31). Work isn’t a punishment from God because of sin, for Adam had work to do in the garden before he and his wife yielded to Satan’s temptation. The biblical approach to work is that we are privileged to cooperate with God by using His creation gifts for the good of people and the glory of God. (See Col. 3:22-23; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; Eccl. 9:10.)
Work in the will of God isn’t a curse; it’s a blessing. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (Ex. 20:9 nkjv) was as much a part of God’s law for Israel as His command to rest on the Sabbath Day. The Bible has nothing good to say about idleness or about the idle people who expect others to provide for them (2 Thess. 3:6-15). Before He began His public ministry, Jesus labored as a carpenter (Mark 6:3), and when he wasn’t traveling or preaching, the apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker (Acts 18:1-3).
As Christians, we don’t work simply to pay our bills and provide for our needs. We work because it’s God’s ordained way for us to serve Him and others and thereby glorify God in our lives (1 Cor. 10:31). We don’t work just to make a living; we work to make a life, to develop our God-given abilities, and seek to increase the quality and quantity of our labor. Martin Luther told the dairymaids that they could milk cows to the glory of God, and Theodore Roosevelt said that “the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Perhaps the boys asked their father why their work was so difficult, and Adam had to explain that God had cursed the ground because of his own disobedience. “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” was God’s sentence (Gen. 3:17-19 nkjv), and there was no escape. But this question gave Adam the opportunity to remind his sons of God’s promise of a Redeemer and a day when creation would be set free from the bondage of sin (v. 15).