Brothers

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity."
But it didn't start that way...

Back to the beginning,
east of the garden:
two brothers, two offerings,
one heart hardened.
Abel brought the firstborn, the best of the flock;
Cain brought some produce. God's approval was blocked.

When Cain's face fell down, the Lord came to warn him:
"Sin's crouching at the door like a beast in the corner;
it wants to swallow you, it's hungry to devour,
but you must rule over it and resist its power."

But the bloodlust took him. Lured Abel to the field,
rose up and struck him, and the first blood was spilled.
God said, "Where's Abel?" Cain shrugged at the question:
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
Cold-blooded (cold-blooded!) deflection.
Victim's blood crying out from the ground,
and that beast at the door?
It's still prowlin' around (around, around, around...)

Behold how good,
behold how pleasant,
when brothers dwell as one
in one another's presence;
there the Lord commands the blessing:
the good life forevermore.
But don't forget, my brotha',
sin is crouching at the door...

Ishmael mocking, Esau plotting,
Jacob on the run with a birthright he was robbing;
Joseph's brothers stripped his coat, threw him in the pit,
sold him off for silver. (That's the beast!) That's it.

Then Paul wrote it plain, didn't sugarcoat the danger:
"If you bite and devour, you'll be eaten by each other."
Jude said it too: they go the way of Cain,
like animals, unreasoning, wild and untamed.

And who's the wildest beast in the book of Acts?
Saul of Tarsus, breathing murder on the church's back,
ravaging the church, dragging saints from their homes,
a son of Benjamin, a ravenous wolf to the bone (to the bone...)

And before you say "that's ancient," check your own house:
when your brother takes your stuff and you're running your mouth,
when you're keeping score and you won't let it go,
that's the same beast crouching. (Now you know!) Now you know.

Behold how good,
behold how pleasant,
when brothers dwell as one
in one another's presence;
like oil running down from the head to the hem,
like dew on the mountains of Zion again;
there the Lord commands the blessing:
the good life forevermore.
But don't forget, my brotha',
sin is crouching at the door...

"Am I my brother's keeper?"
Cain asked it like a joke.
Heaven's been waiting for somebody
to answer it right.

But a Brother came down who never struck back;
they bit and devoured, and he took the attack.
His blood's crying out from a better ground:
not "vengeance" but "mercy." (Mercy!) Now hear that sound!

He's the firstborn of many, the eldest Son,
not ashamed to call us brothers, every one.
And the wolf? Got knocked down on the Damascus road;
Jesus said, "Why persecute me?" Now the wolf's in the fold!

Same Saul who was ravaging is writing to say,
"Keep the unity of the Spirit." Guard it every day!
That's the oil from the Head running down to the robe,
the anointing of Christ on his body below!

Like the dew of Hermon coming down from above,
there the Lord commands the blessing of life and of love.
So, am I my brother's keeper? Let me answer for Cain:
yes, I am, 'cause my Brother kept me and took the blame!

Am I my brother's keeper? (YES, I AM!)
Am I my brother's keeper? (YES, I AM!)
Rule over the beast! (YES, I CAN!)
'Cause my Brother kept me! (The Great I Am!)

Behold how good,
behold how pleasant,
when brothers dwell as one
in one another's presence;
like oil running down from the head to the hem,
like dew on the mountains of Zion again;
there the Lord commands the blessing:
the good life forevermore.
And don't forget, my brotha',
there's a Brother at the door!