Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4: 1-16)
Today my pastor discussed this passage. The name of the sermon was, “A Righteous Life.” He focused on the contrasts between Cain’s and Abel’s birth, how they worshiped, the motives of their hearts, and God’s judgment.
Cain was the firstborn of Adam and Eve, and the text seems to indicate he was the favored one. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, he banished them from the Garden of Eden. Cain’s birth can be seen as a symbol of God’s mercy. Abel’s birth was almost an afterthought. The name Abel in Hebrew means breath or vapor, and his life was indeed brief, cut down in its prime.
One day the brothers brought offerings to God. Cain, who tilled the ground, offered “some” of his crop, while Abel, a shepherd, brought the best of the firstborn of his stock. Christians are taught to give sacrificially. Why? Because giving to God what you think you can’t afford demonstrates faith that he will provide. The most powerful recurring theme I picked up on when I finally read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation was that God is extremely pleased with the faithful. Nothing pleases him more than our faith that he is righteous and faithful to us, no matter how dire the circumstances seem or what the world tells us.
God looked favorably on Abel’s offering because he showed faith in and obedience to the Lord. We’re to give God the very best now and trust that he will provide in the future. Read more about what happens when you’re willing to give God your very best.
What were Cain’s motives for offering a lesser sacrifice? Greed, perhaps. He wanted to keep the best for himself. Maybe his faith was weak at this point, and he wasn’t willing to part with the cream of his crop. We do know something about his motives from his reaction to God’s rejection of his offering: anger. Cain could have repented, asked for forgiveness, and promised the best from now on. But he let his sinful anger and disobedience rule him.
God warned Cain, saying, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Picture a crouching animal — a lion — ready to pounce. Its desire is to ravage you. This is where disobedience (and unrighteous anger) leads. Ignoring God’s commands allows sin to overtake us. “But you must master it,” God says.
Contrary to popular opinion, even among Christians, anger is not a sin. Why we’re angry is the key. For example, God’s anger is always righteous, always just. Our anger is usually tainted by sin. We may be angry over some perceived injustice against ourselves instead of righteously angry over injustice against God. We need to discern the reasons for our anger.
Cain allowed the crouching tiger to pounce. In his sinful anger, he kills his own brother. Although God knew what Cain had done, he asked where Abel was, and Cain got “smart.”
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Cain’s answer is pure sarcasm and a play on words (Abel was a “keeper of sheep.”). God sentences him to a life of wandering the earth and also curses the ground. For the rest of his life, Cain was condemned to weak crops and a hard row to hoe, so to speak. He had sown the blood of his brother and reaped a bitter harvest, literally and figuratively.
Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, became a cursed man. Abel, the second son born to lesser fanfare, is the one remembered as favored. God uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong to show that wisdom comes from him.
The passage is filled with wisdom, and I could write about it all day. I’ll briefly blog about one more thing. We tend to think we’re more deserving of this accolade or that praise than someone else. A fellow Christian may be getting the attention we deserve because our writing is better or we’re more articulate or our worship is more fervent or our faith is much stronger. We should strive to be righteous instead of the best or the biggest or the richest. The righteous man — not the most articulate or best or biggest or richest — is the one who pleases God.
Never, never be angry with God about not getting what you think you deserve. You deserve to be punished. You are a sinner, fallen and depraved. Ask God for what you don’t deserve: mercy.
Two thousand years after Christ was killed to cover the sins of those he came to save, his blood still cries out to the Father for mercy. I’ll be eternally grateful that he will never give me what I deserve.
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Blogs you should visit today: Calvinist Gadfly, James White, and Pyromaniacs…
{ 13 comments }
La Shawn:
Thanks for the comments on Cain and Abel.
This reminds me somewhat of a recurrent theme in life – some of the worst atrocities are committed by those close to people – often their own family – because people trust them, and are therefore vulnerable.
Interesting stuff. I also like the fact that God didn’t “smite” the dude into oblivian after he killed his brother. Although his actions did have consequences, God was merciful and marked him so that no one would kill him.
Cool beans.
Are you telling me that the first murderer was a Vegan, and the first murder victim was a meat eater? My goodness, this changes quite a lot. I had always thought that the Vegan / Liberals were the peaceful types and the meat eaters / Conservatives were the violent ones. I guess I am certainly going to have to watch my back when ever I am around those vegetarians.
That is it! I have got a new dating rule. When ever I am dating a woman, and she suggests going to a vegetarian restaurant, I will reply with “WHY, ARE YOU PLANNING ON MURDERING ME!!!!” Hmmmm, actually, I have one planned for tonight. It will be interesting to see how it goes with my new and improved dating rules.
Please don’t think that I am making fun of your post. I enjoyed it quite a bit and found it to be very inspirational. It was only after I finished reading and appreciating it, that the above bit of harmless whimsy sprang to mind.
Very respectfully,
TM
Thanks for the link to BibleGateway.com. Great resource that I had not been aware of.
Nice work; I’ve never really thought of giving in the light of Cain and Abel, but you’re right on. Thanks for the wake-up call.
Am I my brothers keeper is one of the biggest slapback statements I have ever heard quoted from the bible. The passage itself brings up a wide range of discussion.
Ryamond B
http://www.voteswagon.com
That was a great and refreshing post La Shawn. And I, too am eternally grateful that God doesn’t give us what we really deserve!
James 1:20
“for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God”
With all due respect Lashawn, Anger is almost always a sin.
There is such a thing as righteous indignation but it is rare. Very rare.
Usually when I tell Christians that, they respond by saying Christ got angry when he threw the money changers out of the temple. But if you look at the Scripture closely it doesnt say he was angry. Only that he threw the money changers out of the temple.
>>Why? Because giving to God what you think you can’t afford demonstrates faith that he will provide.>>
Maybe…but I think it also goes to “thou shalt not have strange gods before Me”. We always think of “strange gods” as being Baal and the Golden Calf, but really, it’s _anything_ we make more important than God. If you have a spouse/sweetheart who “can’t” come to a special dinner because s/he has to work late, don’t you wonder who comes first? Sometimes it’s just life that gets in the way, but if something else _always_ gets in the way, you have to wonder. Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words. Cain valued something more than God…Able didn’t.
Giving starts with tithing. Those who practice tithing know they cannot afford not to tithe. Those who do not cannot understand how anyone could be so foolish with their money. Do not know how to bridge that understanding (or lack of it). Suggest that giving starts after tithing has already been met.
Tried Calvinist Gadfly. Read about justification. Feel those who believe we are saved by works are both right and wrong. Those who believe we are saved by faith are both right and wrong.
We are told that we must have works. Works are actions that show what we really believe. A real question is if we can truly have faith if we have not works. We are not saved by those works, for we are only saved by faith in Christ. But the way it is posed tells us that we have not faith if we have not works. We are told to put our money where our mouth is. Professing faith is easy, the Lord expects more than that. As usual he gives us the benefit of the doubt.
I am only aware of three places in scripture that mention where Christ cleaned the temple. These seem to indicate two different occasions, one near the beginning of his teaching and the other near the very end. In John 2:13 to 16 at the start of his mission to teach us the good news we read that “when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple,”. If he was in the midst of anger would he have stopped to braid together a “scourge”? He comes across to me as a very careful individual who carefully thought out the ramifications of what he was saying and doing.
When presented with a woman taken in the very act, he stooped down and wrote in the dust. I believe he carefully considered his actions at length before answering those who were trying to trap him.
An instance also sometimes claimed as an act of anger is that of the fig tree that he caused to wither. A close reading does not show any anger then either. He set us an example, and anger does not seem to be a part of that example.
As usual I both enjoyed the presentation of an idea by La Shawn and the comments brought out by those who have commented on it.
Bless you all
A Rabbi Lerner was at my university the other day, talking about faith and politics. He actually mentions this passage in some of his writings.
It’s what you would expect of uber-liberal Christianity: psychiatric, spiritually empty, vague and watered down. But what struck me is that when looking at this verse, he sees the source of mankinds suffering as being God’s sin. You see, we are all misunderstood children, just trying to do our best before God. Cain was no different, and yet that mean ol’ God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, which was a sin for God. So Cain goes and kills his brother . . . what could you expect of him? He was hurting inside, trying to deal with the loneliness and rejection, blah blah blah.
It’s the worst kind of justifying I have ever seen. Making our sins God’s fault. If I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have believed it.
“What were Cain’s motives for offering a lesser sacrifice? Greed, perhaps. He wanted to keep the best for himself.”
Perhaps greed was not the motive Cain had in mind when he presented his offering to God. I suspect only God and Cain know ultimately why his offering was rejected. I often wondered why Cain’s sacrifice was less favorable- certainly it was not because he had so many mouths to feed. If indeed it was the quality of the offering that God needed (and did not receive), I suppose Cain should have given Him the best. Judaic and Islamic interpretations of this story differ from the simplified explanations that I grew up hearing in sunday school. Personally, I’m still unconvinced about the motives for God’s rejection of Cain’s offer, and why it was necessary for Cain to slay his brother.
Thanks for this posting. It really hit home – especially considering how often I call myself ‘getting mad at God’ for not getting what I want. Every now and then it actually occurs to me how big a sinner I have been (am) and I feel truly grateful to God and bless His Name for where He has me right now. But, more often than not, I’m always considering not what I have, but I feel I ought to have. Sad, sad and more sad, but true. Thanks for getting my head back in focus….
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