My Bible Blog: Genesis 4:1-8

Genesis Chp. 4:1-8

Adam “knew” his wife Eve and she gave birth to Cain.  Again she gave birth – to Abel.  Abel kept flocks of sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.  Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.  Abel brought of the “firstlings” of his flock and of their fat portions as an offering to the Lord (fat was a good thing back then).  God didn’t care for Cain’s offering so much.  I always wondered why.  I mean, they both brought offerings.  What was the problem?  Does God not like vegetables? Well, I finally noticed what the problem probably was: According to the bible (KJV) “In process of time it came to pass” that Cain brought his offering, but Abel brought of his “firstlings” (his first – the good stuff).  In process of time…it came to pass – It apparently took Cain a while, so he must not have brought from his first fruits. 

Now we know from instructions to the Israelites later on in the bible, that they were to bring the first of their flock, not the last.  So, maybe Cain didn’t give his first/his best; maybe he didn’t follow the Lord’s instructions.  Unfortunately, the fact that God liked Abel’s offering better angered Cain and he became jealous of his brother, so he killed him.  To me, this is not exactly a good reason to kill your brother.  I mean, I have a LOT better reasons than that to take down my brothers, but somehow I seem to restrain myself :).  I’m guessin’ there’s more to that story, but the bible doesn’t elaborate. 

In verse 6, God asks Cain why he’s so angry.  “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”  And if sin lieth at your door, you become sin’s desire, but you must rule over it, instead of it ruling over you.  It seems that once we open the door to that one little sin (Cain’s lack of a worthy offering), it flings wide open to more sin (Cain’s jealousy), and before we know it we have plunged right in (Abel’s murder). It’s sort of like the phrase “one lie leads to another.”  It’s better to keep that door closed on sin, even though that’s not exactly easy. 

There is a footnote in one of my bibles (NAS) to look over in 1 John 3:12 which clearly states that Cain was of the evil one and he slew his brother because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.  The next verse warns us not to be surprised if the world hates us.  Evil hates righteousness.  That explains a lot, doesn’t it?