Cain Loved Satan More Than God

In the first chapter in Genesis after Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, there are two tragic events among their posterity. The first is the well-known story of Cain and Abel: “Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him” (Genesis 4:8). This is a terrible start to the first family on the earth, though the account in the Pearl of Great Price gives us additional detail that helps us better understand the story. First, unlike what is implied in Genesis, Cain was not the first child: before him, “And Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters, and they began to multiply and to replenish the earth.” So the story is perhaps not as terrible as it seems—it wasn’t the very first human born that committed murder, but it seems like that in Genesis because we only know of his and Abel’s births. Second, we learn more about the nature of Cain’s actions and feelings before his terrible deed. We read that “Cain loved Satan more than God,” which was at the root of all of his problems. He made an offering unto the Lord only because Satan inspired him to do so: “Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord.” This was why the Lord could not accept it: Cain did it to satisfy Satan, not the Lord. “Satan knew this, and it pleased him.” After this, Cain rejected the Lord entirely: “And Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Abel, his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord.” At this point, “Adam and his wife mourned before the Lord, because of Cain and his brethren” (Moses 5:2, 18, 21, 26). This was before he slew Abel; he had already chosen a life contrary to what the Lord wanted and his parents mourned because of it. It was then that Satan inspired him to slay his brother, which he did. Thus, the account in the Pearl of Great Price helps us see that there was a chain of events that led up to Cain’s action which all started with his choice to love Satan more than the Lord. Like Abel he had his agency and could have chosen to follow the Lord, but he did not and ultimately he was cursed because of his great sin.

               There is another tragic story in Genesis 4 of which we know significantly less. Cain had a child named Enoch, and from there his posterity grew. His great-great-great grandson was named Lamech, and he similarly followed Satan. He declared to his two wives Adah and Zillah, “Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt” (Genesis 4:23). The Biblical account does not tell us who he killed, but in the book of Moses we find out: “For Lamech having entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, master of that great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan; and Irad, the son of Enoch, having known their secret, began to reveal it unto the sons of Adam; Wherefore Lamech, being angry, slew him, not like unto Cain, his brother Abel, for the sake of getting gain, but he slew him for the oath’s sake.” From this we learn that Lamech slew Irad who was the grandson of Cain and the great-grandfather to Lamech. Lamech quickly got his reward, though: “Lamech had spoken the secret unto his wives, and they rebelled against him, and declared these things abroad, and had not compassion; Wherefore Lamech was despised, and cast out, and came not among the sons of men, lest he should die” (Moses 5:49-50, 53-54). So in the first story we have a man who slew his brother, and in the second we have one who slew his great-grandfather, both tragic tales of the influence of Satan on the earth. But the account in the Pearl of Great Price helps us to see that in opposition to this great wickedness, the Lord made sure that the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to all the posterity of Adam and Eve: “His Only Begotten Son, even him whom he declared should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the world. And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost. And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam, by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth, that it should be in the world, until the end thereof” (Moses 5:57-59). Just as there was in the beginning, there will always be wickedness on the earth until the Savior comes again, but we can cling to the gospel of Jesus Christ which was promised from the beginning to be “in the world, until the end thereof.” And these stories from the days of Adam remind us that we have a choice that we must each make: will we love Satan or the Lord?