We are our Brother's Keeper

The Reason why I titled my blog “We are our Brother’s Keeper!”

By Jeremiah D. Ortiguero

Perhaps some of you who read the two articles I published in my blog, you are wondering about the rationale of the title “We are our Brother’s Keeper. 

Cain striking and killing Abel

Of course the phrase was taken from Genesis 4:9. You all know very well the story about Cain and Abel.  Cain had killed his brother Abel because God accepted Abel’s offering, but not his own. When the Lord inquired concerning Abel, Cain’s response was rudely and impudently spoken “Am I my brother’s keeper?” There is, as usual, an atom of truth mingled with the amazing falsehood of this surly response. No man is the absolute keeper of his brother, so as to be responsible for his safety when he is not present. This is what Cain means to insinuate. But every man is his brother’s keeper.  We have a responsibility to watch out and care for one another.

All humans are interrelated with each other for we all originally came from Adam and Eve, the first parents. And more specifically we are the descendants of Noah’s sons--Shem, Ham and Japhet. All peoples on earth, past present and future, are all the offspring’s either of Shem, Ham, and Japhet. Therefore whatever race and nationality a person belongs to he or she is our brother and sisters respectively.

Paul’s said to the men of Athens, Greece as recorded by Luke in Act 17:24:“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth… 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”

The King James Version rendered verse 26 this way: “And hath 

made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face 

of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and 

the bounds of their habitation.” 

Sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, Japhet

Barnes Commentary of the Whole Bible has this to say:  “All the families of mankind are descended from one origin or stock. However different their complexion, features, or language, yet they are derived from a common parent. The word blood is often used to denote “race, stock, kindred.” This passage affirms that all the human family are descended from the same ancestor; and that, consequently, all the variety of complexion, etc., is to be traced to some other cause than that they were originally different races created. The design of the apostle in this affirmation was probably to convince the Greeks that he regarded them all as brethren; that, although he was a Jew, yet he was not enslaved to any narrow notions or prejudices in reference to other people. It follows from the truth here stated that no one nation, and no individual, can claim any pre-eminence over others in virtue of birth or blood. All are in this respect equal; and the whole human family, however they may differ in complexion, customs, and laws, are to be regarded and treated as brethren.”

You can check The Table of Nations (GENEALOGY OF MANKIND) AND THE ORIGIN OF RACES (HISTORY OF MAN) at http://www.soundchristian.com/man/.  Interestingly, we Filipinos are the descendants of Canaan, Ham’s fourth born son. So as “the Mongols, Asians, Orientals, Chinese, Tibetans, Taiwanese, Thais, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Japanese, Eskimos, American Indians, Malaysians, Indonesians, Hawaiians, Maoris, Polynesians, Tahitians, Guamanians, Samoans, Fijians, Tongans, Tokelauans, Tuvaluans, Pacific Islanders and related groups.”

A woman from Hill Tribes of Thailand

Furthermore the research states that “Genesis 10:15-19 identifies a distinctive characteristic of the sons of Canaan:  They liked to spread out.  The Canaanites are specifically mentioned as migrating far and wide, ‘...and afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad’…Looking at history, whichever region is considered, Africa, Europe, Australia, or America, the major migrations have always been from Asia.”

It’s no wonder these Asian people are scattered throughout all corners of the globe--from the North Pole to the South Pole; from the East to the West; from North to the South.  For example here in the United Arab Emirates with its seven emirates there are lots of people who migrated here from the countries comprising the Asia-Pacific region, which are Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Tsunami caused by Japan's earthquake

The Associated Press reported that this year 42 million people are expected to migrate from these countries to different parts of this globe. This mass migration spawned by wide array of factors i.e. poverty, social and civil unrest.  But the major driver why people flee from their home countries is because of environmental and climate changes brought about by natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones and greater monsoon rains. These exacerbate significant temperature increases, rising sea levels, soil degradation, and seasonal flooding.  In 2010, more than 10 million Pakistanis were displaced by monsoon rains and flooding along the Indus River basin, and last year (2011), a typhoon ravage the southern Philippines, displacing more than 300,000 people. 

The Apostle Paul in Colossians 3:11 says “there is not Greek and 

Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,barbarian, Scythian, slave, 

free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

The meaning here is, that all are on a level; that there is no 

distinction of nation in the church; that whatever was the birth, or 

pedigree, or race or nation, or color, or complexion that all are to 

be regarded and treated as brethren.

The bottom line of all that I am saying is all people on earth are our 

brethren.  And that we lay aside all racial discrimination and 

bigotry because we have the same Father who created all (Mal. 

2:10).

In this context I entitled my blog “We are our Brother’s 

Keeper.” As such we have responsibility to watch out for and care 

for one another as people created by God. 

I want to show you from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles affirming this is so; that each one of us is indeed our Brother’s Keeper. 

On the night of the Passover where Jesus and his twelve apostles 

having the last supper, Jesus made his “farewell message” some 

sort like Jose Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” or his farewell message

before he was executed.  Jesus said in John 13:34, 35  “A new 

commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I 

have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all 

people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for 

one another.”

Paul taught the Christians in Rome: “Owe no one anything, except 

to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the 

law.” (Rom 13:8); and the Christians at Thessalonica  “Now

concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to 

you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one 

another.” (1 Thes. 4:9); Peter instructed us in 1 Pet. 1:22  “Having 

purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere 

brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” The 

apostle John stressed “For this is the message that you have heard 

from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (1 John 

3:11) and in 2 John 5 “And now I ask you, dear lady--not as

though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we 

have had from the beginning--that we love one another.”

In fact there are about 66 “one another” passages that stemmed 

from this commandment of “love one another.” 

From this overarching commandment of love we are to demonstrate 

and express love for one another: 

we are  to “welcome one another" (Rom.15:7); 

we are to “edify another” (Rom. 14:19); 

we are to “serve one another” (Gal. 5:13); 

we are to “bear one another's burdens” (Gal. 6:1-2); 

we are to be “forgiving one another” (Eph. 4:32); 

we are to be “submitting to one another” (Eph. 5:21); 

we are to exhort one another” (Heb. 3:12-13); 

we are to “consider one another” (Heb. 10:24-25) 

we are to be “hospitable to one another” (1 Peter 4:8-10).

Therefore, in the light of such “one another” passages, there is no 

doubt that we are to be our Brother’s keeper. There is no question 

that we ought to fulfill and live up to our responsibility to be

our Brother’s keeper.

To conclude, I want to share with you quotations on brotherhood of 

all men.

“We live in a world that has narrowed into a neighborhood before 

it has broadened into a brotherhood.”

Lyndon B. Johnson

(1908-1973, American President (36th)

“Until you have become a brother to everyone, brotherhood will

not come to pass.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821-1881, Russian novelist)

“Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of 

segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to 

lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid 

rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality to 

all of God's children. We must learn to live together as brothers 

or perish together as fools.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

(1929-1968, American Civil Rights leader, Nobel Prize winner, 1964)