Digest of Biblical Civil Law

Cain’s question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9) implies nothing about the responsibility of the rich to care for the poor through State welfare. “Keeper” here means a guard, and in this context a shepherd (cf. 1 Sam. 17:20). Abel was a shepherd, not a sheep. Cain asks the question in a vain attempt to justify his supposed lack of knowledge of his brother’s whereabouts. Cain should know where Able was, not because Cain was a guard and Able his ward, but because Cain was Able’s murderer. God ignored Cain’s rhetorical question, pronouncing judgment against him for murdering his brother. This passage teaches that we should not murder our brothers and says nothing about the obligation of the State to transfer wealth.
- Gary North, The Dominion Covenant: Genesis 139-44 (1987) at www.freebooks.com/: html, DjVu.