“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Right after the very first LIE is told in the Bible by Cain; concerning the murder of his brother Abel; he asks the Lord this question; and it was in response to the LORD asking him a question first, “Where is thy brother Abel?”, because NOT tending to others, was the very reason why his parents were removed from the Garden to begin with. Adam failed to DRESS and KEEP his wife from the Serpent’s cunning, causing her to be the first to be defiled upon the earth and that is why it’s called the FALL OF MAN.

Gen 2:15 The Lord God brought man to dwell within the Garden of Eden to DRESS and KEEP.

Let’s start things off by examining these two words, DRESS and KEEP. These are the words as they are translated by the King James Version but the clearer definitions in Hebrew are as follows:

DRESS, H5647 ‛âbad= to work, to serve, to labor for, to serve another by laboring.

KEEP, H8104 shâmar= to feed, nurture, to protect, to keep watch over, to guard the life of.
The first time the word keep is used in the Bible is in this verse above, Genesis 2:15.

The word ‛âbad shows up for the first time 10 verses earlier in Gen 2:5 when it’s explaining why The Lord had not yet sent rain upon the earth; because there were no men to work the land.

Gen 2:5 All the plants of the land had not yet been raised upon the earth, and every herb of the field had not yet sprung up: because the Lord God had not caused rain upon the earth, for there were no men to work the land.

*This article is going to be about WHY mankind was put in the Garden of Eden to begin with. WHY Cain was not respected by God, and how, when Cain was made to feel inferior by God, to his younger brother Abel, Cain rose up in FORCE to KILL the one respected by God, in order to steal the respect that belonged to his brother. It is because Cain didn’t receive respect from God like his brother Abel, that he decided to TAKE IF BY FORCE through VIOLENCE from among men.

We can see that in Gen 2:15, by very definition is saying that man was placed in the Garden to serve and protect the life created within that Garden enclosure. God created every living thing on the earth and the heavens and THEN created MAN on the 6th day to be the shepherd that would serve and protect ALL life in the Garden the Lord God had created.

The act of serving, working, doing labor, represents the LAW and order of God; His principles and precepts in motion. Remember, for 6 days the Lord worked and on the 7th day He ceased from working.

The act of keeping, nurturing/feeding, protecting or guarding from harm or destruction, represents God’s LOVE.

It takes the nurturing, oversight, and heart investment of something or someone that you love, to bring out the desire to PROTECT IT. Jesus came not only as Our Shepherd, but He simultaneously came as our Sacrificial Lamb, to take away the sins of the world and HE choose to learn obedience through what He suffered, even though He was the Son of God. In Jesus Christ dwells the FULLNESS of the GODHEAD, He embodies both the fullness of God’s Law and the fullness of His Love, THAT is why He is THE GREAT SHEPHERD.

Let’s take a look the next time we see the words work and keep used together is in Gen 3:23-24.

Gen 3:23 The Lord God sent them away from the Garden of Eden to go work the land man was taken from.
Gen 3:24 So, He drove out the man to dwell east of the Garden of Eden, by means of spiritual guards (cherubim); fiery swords that transformed themselves into KEEPERS of the WAY of the tree of LIFE.

The translation in the KJV is very yeasty; above is the original Hebrew without fillers: for example the words “which turned every way” is actually one word, hâphak in Hebrew and it means: to be turned, to change, to transform, to turn oneself, to change oneself, and it is saying that THEY were the fiery swords, not that they HAD fiery swords, and is says they transformed themselves into KEEPERS of the Way to the tree of Life. The word H8104 shâmar is used here and remember, it means; to keep, to tend, to guard. So God rose up men that were willing to transform themselves into Keepers of the Way of Life.

The next time we see of the words in Hebrew for “to work” and “to keep” together in a sentence, is in Gen 4:2 and its describing Cain and Abel and what they became upon the earth.

Gen 4:2 ~Abel became a keeper of the sheep, Cain became a worker of the land.

Then we see it again, just 7 verses later in Gen 4:9 when the Lord is asking Cain “Where is Abel your brother?” and Cain responds to the Lord with “I know not, am I my brother’s keeper?”
So right here, we see Cain responding to the Lord God with a seared conscience about the murder he just committed, with the first a LIE, and then his jealously towards his brother is displayed in his words when he responds with “Am I my brother’s keeper?”.

Cain was the firstborn among the seed of Mankind and he KNEW that Adam his father, had been cursed by God for failing to SERVE and PROTECT his wife from the beguiling of the Serpent and by it his mother was defiled. Yet, Cain chose to serve only the land for what he could attain and achieve from it, and for his OWN WILL and selfish desires he killed Abel to STEAL the respect and honor. What a man seeks to ACHIEVE and ATTAIN apart from God are the false gods that lure men away to do the Serpent’s bidding. I’ll talk more about those later on, but for now, let’s take a look at what the Lord God told Cain right after his sacrifice was not respected and his countenance fell.

Gen 4:7 “If you do good you will be recognized for it, but if you do what is NOT good; sin will lay at the opening of your desire to reign over others.”

What this is saying is: If you do what God considers good, you will be recognized as someone that serves and protects their brothers as a chosen natural born leader, BUT If YOU choose to do what is NOT good, sin will take every opportunity to enter through those desires to be recognized above your brothers, in order to rule them to be respected. It’s like the apostle Peter says, when describing people that justify their wicked leadership:

2 Pet 2:19 They tell themselves it’s for LIBERTY, when they themselves have become the workers of corruption: Whoever has been caused to feel inferior, these ones, likewise must make others feel inferior.

This is what Jesus had to say about these types of people:

Luke 16:15 “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly esteemed among men is detestable in God’s sight”

So far, we can see the plan of God is starting to come a bit more into focus.. We can see that when God didn’t look with respect upon Cain’s sacrifice, it caused Cain to feel inferior to his younger brother Abel. Therefore, Cain desired to TAKE by FORCE the respect of others if he could not achieve or attain it from GOD. As we move on a bit further, we will see that man was created from a land that was NOT the Garden of Eden, because Adam gets banished to go back to work the land from which he came from; when they are ejected from the Garden.

The word the KJV translates in Gen 4:2 as “keeper” speaking about Abel, is actually a word used for the very first time to describe the service of God to mankind upon the earth. It’s a word that describes the action of both serving and protecting the living simultaneously,

Shepherd is H7462 râ‛âh and it means: to tend to, to nurture, to feed, to oversee, to instruct and protect. In English it’s translated as SHEPHERD but the word really describes the action and not the title of the position a person holds among men. A True Shepherd of God must BOTH serve and protect the living.

The next time we see the word “Shepherd” used in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 13, and it shows the contention that will arise between the male Shepherds the Patriarchs would used, hence why they started using their daughters. I’ll touch on that in a bit.~

Gen 13:7 There arose strife between the shepherds of Abram’s livestock and the shepherds of Lot’s livestock that were from among the Canaanites and Perizzites that had dwelt for a time in the land.
Gen 13:8 Abram said to Lot ” There should not be contentions now, between shepherd and shepherd, because we are each other’s brothers.

*Abram is saying “we are called to do the same thing, to serve and protect, we are bothers in spirit as well as brothers by blood, so there should be NO divisions or fights among shepherds.

It’s not by accident, that the very next time the word shepherd is used in the Bible is in Gen 26:20 and it’s talking about shepherds fighting against shepherds again.

Gen 26:20  The shepherds of Gerar strove against Isaac’s shepherds, and the waters there he called the name the well of Esek (strife) ;because of their contentions with him.

Why were there contentions? Well, (pun intended) one wanted to be recognized as greater than the other. This, you will see gets nipped in the bud or rather dealt with at the ROOT, because by Gen 29:9 we see that RACHEL, a WOMAN is put in charge of being the KEEPER of her father’s flocks and Rachel is who is chosen by God to be the wife of Jacob, and assist HER in tending to her father’s flocks by removing the cover to the Well for her, before the other Shepherds from the surrounding tribes arrived and did it for her at their usual appointed time.

Gen 29:9-10  And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she was their keeper. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, to help water the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 

You’ll find that all the matriarchs were the KEEPERS of their father’s flocks, everyone from Zipporah to Deborah the Mother in Zion shepherding/judging on behalf of God during the time of the Judges.

Now, let’s go back to the word used in the bible for “TO SERVE“. We see that by Gen 9:25, there’s a word that’s used to describe those that SERVE ONLY and do not Protect, just like there’s a word for those that Serve and also Protect, it’s the word is SLAVE ‛ebed, G5650.

Gen 9:25 He said, “Cursed is Canaan; a slave of slaves he will be among his brothers.”

Now, to explain why it’s Canaan that’s being cursed and not Ham: Ham committed a sin against his father Noah, so then Noah curses the son of Ham for bringing a shameful report against his own father and bringing shame upon his head, hence the curse causes Canaan now to bring shame upon his father’s head, which is Ham. Understand? I sure hope so. Moving on~

The son of Ham are those that inhabited Egypt, in fact most theologians believe that Ham’s son Mizraim was Egypt’s first recorded Pharoah. Later on in Genesis you will see that the Egyptians consider Shepherds defiling and won’t let them dwell among them, and basically marked off an area for them to dwell apart from them when Joseph brough Jacob and the rest of his family to Egypt during the famine. The Egyptians built their great empire off the backs of the slave of slaves, their brother Canaan’s seed. Egypt was a mighty and thriving empire way before the children of Israel were brought on the scene to be used as their slaves for 400 years.

Okay, now, back to these qualities that are made very clear to us in the Bible, that are what is considered GOOD by God, and is what qualifies one to be recognized as a SHEPHERD by both God and man, and the qualities of one recognized as a SLAVE by God and man.

A Shepherd is someone that feeds, nurtures, protects and guards.

A SLAVE is a person that is forced to serve, in contrast to a SERVANT, someone that chooses to SERVE.

Now, keeping these qualities in mind, let’s take a look at a few pivotal moments in biblical history among our Biblical Patriarchs. I believe it will show us all something very important.

By Genesis Chapter 20 we see Abram in his journey away from Lot and his seed from his two daughters; and him temporarily dwelling in Gerar, a place in the southern part of what is now Modern Palestine. God had already promised to Abram that he would bless him, protect him and multiply his descendants, and yet Abram at this point in the story did not believe or trust God yet with his life and he was willing to sacrifice his own wife to be defiled by strangers, out of the fear for his own life. He told his wife to say she was his sister and not because she was of the same bloodline, NO, but because he feared for his life, that they would want her, and kill him to take her as a wife. Abram told Abimelech the king that his wife was his sister, and the first thing Abimelech did was take her to be his wife. It took GOD warning the king in a dream and preventing him from touching her, that PROTECTED Abram’s wife, and protected the people of Abimelech and Abimelech himself from being killed by God. It wasn’t Abram the patriarch.

Six chapters later in Genesis 26 the son of Abraham, Isaac, repeats the exact same sin that his father did. He, while traveling through the land of Abimelech with his wife Rebekah, he tells his her to say she is his sister, because he fears for his life, that they will see Rebekah, and think she is beautiful and they will kill him to take her as their wife. This time the king does need a dream to warn him, he SEES Isaac messing around in a playful way with his wife and asks him straight out, and Isaac confessed.

Gen 26:10  And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. 
Gen 26:11  And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. 

So, we have Abraham committing the sin of sacrificing those he was charged by God to serve and protect, in order to preserve his OWN life, and then we have his son Isaac, committing the exact same sin 6 chapters later. You know what they say? Third times a charm. Let’s check in on Jacob, the son of Isaac, and see how he measures up in the area of serving and protecting.

Jacob was born already with the favor of God upon his life, for later in book of Malachi we find out that God said “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”. Jacob was favored by God before he was even born and he was favored by his mother Rebekah too, but his father Jacob favored his firstborn Esau, because he was a great hunter it says, and Jacob loved to fill his belly with the MEAT that his son would provide for him, and it says that Jacob was just an ordinary man that dwelled in tents.

Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. 
Gen 25:28  And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. 

Jacob and Esau have been on separate sides of the will of God since the womb of their mother, and then later on, Esau sells his birthright as firstborn to his younger brother Jacob, to also FILL HIS BELLY like his father, Isaac.

Gen 25:29 Jacob boiled some red stew: and Esau came up from being in the field, and he was weary:
Gen 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob “Quickly feed me, I pray, from out of this redness, for I am faint: And it is because of this, that his name is then called Edom.

Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went HIS OWN way: thus Esau looked with contempt upon his birthright. 

Do you see what happened here? Esau needed his younger brother to TEND TO him and FEED HIM, because he had become faint working among the field. He now had to rely on his brother to save his life and revive him, and he was willing to hand over his birthright among men, the firstborn, as a trade, in order for his brother TO FEED him and KEEP HIM from perishing.

Now, Rebekah knowing the favor of God upon Jacob’s life, but also knowing that due to the appetites and desires of her husband, Isaac would bless the WRONG son, the one that God hated and then Esau would be given the respect and honor of his brethren instead of JACOB.

Gen 27:15 Rebekah fetched the coveted garments that were for her eldest son Esau, which were among her house, and she DRESSED Jacob her younger son.

Gen 27:16 She made covers with the skins of young male kids among the she-goats, and placed them upon his hands and the back of his neck.

Did ya see that? She DRESSED Jacob with the coveted garments that were from HER HOUSE, meaning her side of the family, and she clothed and covered and prepared her younger son Jacob with them. Sounds like the move of a True Shepherd of God huh?. This covering of Jacob in the coveted garments from her house, and the additional covering over of his exposed parts, with the skins of young male goats from among the she-goats, is an ACTUAL representation and physical manifestation of WHAT was happening in the SPIRIT with Jacob.

Let me explain: Just like God appointed another SEED for Eve, after Cain killed Abel, and she bore SETH, which means APPOINTED. The same thing is happening here with Rebekah and HER appointed SEED Jacob. God told Rebekah in Genesis 25, that two different manner of people were growing within her, one would be stronger and the older would serve the younger. So she knew that her husband would bless and honor the WRONG SON, due to HIS OWN desires, so she had to fetch from her OWN understanding and belief in what God had told HER, and put her OWN family’s bloodline covering and blessing upon Jacob, because only SHE had heard from God thus far concerning the fate of Her two sons. The fate of the people of Israel, God’s chosen people, was altered by this selfless and very dangerous thing that Rebekah did. She risked her life in deceiving her husband, and convincing her son Jacob to deceive his father, but her heart motives for doing what she did was to be faithful to God, despite her husband’s desires and preferences, and TO KEEP and PROTECT the things that the Lord God had spoken to her personally about her two sons. Take a look, she heard from God about the fate of her sons. So, ask yourself, is Rebekah a bad wife and is Jacob a bad son, for being obedient and faithful to the will of God?

Gen 25:22-24 “And the children struggled together in the midst of her; and she said, what is this, why am I experiencing this? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.” 

Also, I feel it’s important to mention that Jacob didn’t STEAL his brother’s birthright, like his brother Esau slandered him to his father Isaac. God set it up to where Esau would FEEL his lack and want and feel the NEED for his brother Jacob TO TEND to him, and FEED HIM, and so Esau could show just how much his birthright even meant to him, by trading it for a bowl of red stew to fill his belly. The only thing that happened was, God pulled the ol’ switcher-oo on Isaac, and He used his WIFE to help Him do it. Woman was created to be help to mankind and Jacob was wise to listen to the instruction of HIS MOTHER, as Solomon will later attest to in Proverbs.

The same thing happened with Abraham and Sarah, Jacob’s grandparents. Abraham wanted to bless Ishmael with the blessings and honor of the firstborn, but it took Sarah rising up and telling Abraham, ““Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!” Gen 21:10, and God told Abraham this:

Gen 21:12 Do not be displeasing in My sight on account of the child of the bondwoman; Everything that Sarah tells to you, listen to her voice; because it is Isaac’s seed I have called.

Okay, once again, did you see what just happened there? Things start off in our story with man getting in trouble for not protecting his wife and listening to her, when HE was the one that received the command from God before Eve was taken from his side, to NOT CONSUME, and yet when enticed by the ignorance of his wife, that God had NOT spoken to about the matter; he was QUICK to partake and then point the finger at those he was given charge to Serve and Protect. But NOW, we have the Lord God telling Abraham, our patriarch, to listen to everything that Sarah (which means Queen by the way) tells him, because it’s HER specific SEED, Isaac, that God has called to receive His Blessings, not just a son of Isaac, or Ishmael would have been sufficient. So once again we have the Lord God pulling the ol’ switcher-oo on the Shepherds that began to govern and make decisions based on their OWN desires, and NOT GOD’S.

The Lord, in order to humble man, will behead him so to speak, in the area of EGO and PRIDE and will cause man to feel inferior by NOT showing him the respect and honor he has come to desire, and will rise up a WOMAN to Shepherd to flocks of God in order to direct them in the proper spiritual direction and to the safest places to dwell and graze. Deborah the Prophetess and Judge over Israel is a perfect example of this. In Judges 5, God spoke to Barak telling him to “rise up against God’s enemies and He would give them over into his hands” but Barak was unbelieving and fearful, and told the Prophetess Deborah that he would ONLY go, and do what God said, IF SHE WENT WITH HIM. So the Lord said to Barak “Very well, God will give the glory and honor to a WOMAN, in place of you”, and he went, and fought, and conquered they army of his enemy, knowing full well God had said the glory and honor would be given to a WOMAN, and IT WAS. God gave it to Jael, a lowly housewife alone in her tent that was quick to show her kindness to a stranger. He felt so safe in her care, that it lulled the enemy king asleep, she then pierced wicked king through HIS TEMPLE with her TENT PEG. He asked her for water to drink and she offered him milk that she had set aside for butter in a large bowl. Judges 5:25-26.

Judges 5:26 She reached her hand for a tent peg, and in her right hand she held a worker’s hammer, and she struck down Sisera; she crushed his head by wounding it severely when she made a quick pass through his temple.

I just love the wording here, it’s so prophetic. Jael means “female mountain goat” by the way, and remember Rebekah, when covered her son Jacob’s HANDS and the back of his neck with the skins of young goats from the she-goats? Those she-goats are the Lord’s scapegoats, that are released into the wilderness, or the separated, uninhabited places. It is the Lord that KEEPS and Shepherds these she-goats, for they are KEPT separated from the other flocks. and they raise up their sons teaching them HOW to be TRUE SHEPHERDS OF GOD.

It says, “she reached her hand for a tent peg”, a tent peg represents the land where your ancestors have dwelled, your ancestral right to dwell somewhere. Then is says “in her right hand she held the worker’s hammer” she used the hammer of a worker to strike down Sisera. It says “She crushed his head” remember how God told Eve that Her Seed would crush the head of the Seed of the Serpent? Then the verse is wrapped up with “she wounded his head severely when she made a quick pass through his temple”. When the Bible speaks of “heads” it is always talking about the leaders among men, the firstborns, those elevated among their brethren. What Jael did was prophetic, she wounded the head of God’s enemy by taking her ancestral birthright and making a quick pass through the TEMPLE of the King. Get it? I sure hope so.

The man that God to bless with more wisdom that any other man was Solomon, and even HE sought the council of his mother to help guide him. She told him that to much drinking and giving in to the lusts of his flesh would skew his ability to judge righteously before God, and he ignored her council and took numerous pagan wives, and eventually was enticed into their practices of idolatry and then he fell out of favor with the Lord. He was blessed with tremendous wisdom, but ignored the Law of his mother even though the Lord told him to NOT REJECT the Law of His mother or the discipline of his father. Prov 1:8.

Alrighty then, I think it’s time I wrap up this article with a quick synopsis. The first sin of mankind was Adam NOT serving and keeping what was provided to him by the Lord, and by direct COMMAND from the Lord too; it was this sin of Adam that caused his wife to be beguiled by the Serpent and be defiled, and all those that lived among the Garden. God had it all worked out before anything ever went down, that WOMAN would have to a stand in the gap and be a laborer and deliverer of the sons of God upon the Earth from appointed time to appointed time. It’s not by accident that the process a woman goes through to bear SEED upon the earth is called Laboring and Delivering. It’s also not by happenstance that among all the great LEADERS to be honored in Israel before this time; it took a Woman’s touch in Deborah the Judge; the guidance and instruction of a Mother that could HEAR the VOICE OF GOD, coupled with the fortitude and humility of a housewife with the righteous indignation to raise her hand and use the tool of a skilled workman to crush the head of the wicked king Sisera, and make a quick pass through his Temple. I assume a quick pass represents only for a short season or until things are put back in order the WAY the Lord wants it. God chose the sons of Aaron from the Tribe of Levi, to be the Shepherds among the children of Israel, NOT the desired kings of man that sit above their fellow brethren in high and lofty places. Remember, having KINGS was not the will of God, but the will of MAN and God gave man what he desired, but it was the PRIESTS, the sons of Aaron, from the Tribe of Levi that were the ones God used to appoint and KEEP the kings of men from elevating themselves too high or they would be removed, and God would use them to appoint another. I’ll leave you with these final thoughts: God brought Jacob to Rachel’s well, and he helped her WATER her father’s sheep. So he gets a way better score in the area of serving and protecting than the patriarch that came before him. Also, speaking of the New Testament now, BOTH of John the Baptist’s parents were from the tribe of Levi, it says so in the Gospel of Luke. John was God’s chosen witness to crush the head of the king, King Herod, when he called out his hypocrisy in front of the children of Israel, challenging the king’s authority upon the earth. And when Jesus was brought into Herod’s Temple to offer the sacrifices for a newborn son, it was a male prophet, Simeon, that approached first to confirmed that Jesus was the Christ, but then a second witness came forward, a female prophet name Anna, and it says in Luke 2:38 “Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and she spoke about the Child, informing all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

God is moving some things around folks, the furniture is being move around in the Tabernacle and the Kings of the earth are having a quick pass made through their temples. God is bringing HIS ORDER to the Earth, and His Kingdom is COMING and HIS WILL is being done upon the Earth as it is in Heaven. Also, take into consideration that it was to a WOMAN that Jesus first appeared to and gave the commission of “Go and Tell My Brothers”.

Lastly, Jesus told Peter, after asking him 3 separate times if He loved Him, to “Feed my Lambs and Shepherd My Sheep” and THIS was how Jesus told Peter he would SHOW HIM his LOVE FOR HIM.

Thank you for reading folks! God Bless you, Be Free and Set Free in Jesus Name.