CAIN AND ABEL.
Genesis 4:2-15.
The acceptance of Abel’s offering as opposed to Cain’s is often explained in terms of THE NATURE OF THE SACRIFICE.
We are reminded that ‘almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood, there is no remission’ (cf. Hebrews 9:22). Yet the qualifier: ‘almost’ - points to an exception (cf. Leviticus 5:11-13): so Cain might have been pleading the poverty that led to this concession. We must, in any case, question the validity of reading back the minutiae of the law (which had not been written yet) into the life of Cain.
In fact the difference lay not so much in the type of offering as in THE NATURE OF THE MAN.
Abel was a man of FAITH (cf. Hebrews 11:4). Jesus referred to him as ‘RIGHTEOUS Abel’ (cf. Matthew 23:35). Abel had a sacrificial spirit (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:14), and made the ultimate sacrifice by yielding his own life as the first of the martyrs.
Cain’s nature, by contrast, is linked with WICKEDNESS and EVIL (cf. 1 John 3:12). It is also evident that Cain already had the seeds of MURDER within him. God’s judgement against Cain was proved correct by subsequent events.
I am reminded of the ideal attitude which lay behind the offering of the first-fruits during the feast of unleavened bread. A sheaf of barley was ‘waved’ before the LORD in token of the fact that all our offerings come from Him (cf. Leviticus 23:10-12). Cain may not have known these details, but THE LORD KNEW HIS HEART, and rejected his offering.
Perhaps the difference between Cain and those who later made the bloodless offering of Leviticus 2 was that they were already ‘covered’ by the blood. But what is important is the ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE in which the offering was made (cf. Psalm 96:8).
The LORD began to reason with Cain. This seems to echo His approach to Adam after the Fall: “Where are you?” (cf. Genesis 3:9). ‘Why are you so angry and depressed?’ (GENESIS 4:6).
GENESIS 4:7 is hard to translate. Either the LORD was warning Cain that he would fall deeper into sin if his attitude did not change - ‘repent now before sin overcomes you.’ Or He was advising him that there was a ‘sin-offering’ near at hand if he would only avail himself of it!
Whatever this may have meant to Cain, its New Testament application is evident. John wrote to Christian believers: ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins…’ (cf. 1 John 2:1-2).
The tragedy is that, even after the LORD’s warning, Cain still had his heart set against his brother. Cain walked away from the altar, from his conversation with the LORD, and spoke with Abel his brother in the field, and rose up and slew him there (GENESIS 4:8). This was blatant premeditated murder!
Perhaps Cain mistakenly thought that he could escape the watchful eye of the LORD, but it soon became evident that the LORD is in all places, not just at the altar. Asked, “Where is Abel thy brother?” there was a touch of irony in Cain’s impertinent reply, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (GENESIS 4:9). Abel was “a keeper of sheep” (GENESIS 4:2), and was Cain now the “keeper” of the keeper of sheep?
The answer to Cain’s question echoes throughout the Scripture: yes, I am my brother’s keeper. Look (for example) at Jesus’ comment at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:36-37)!
“What hast thou done?” (GENESIS 4:10a) echoes the LORD’s complaint to the woman (cf. Genesis 3:13). The LORD does not ask because He does not know, but rather to draw Cain towards repentance. The LORD had already heard “the voice of thy brother’s blood crying unto me from the ground” (cf. GENESIS 4:10b). The shed blood of Abel cries out for vengeance; but the shed blood of Jesus speaks of forgiveness (cf. Hebrews 12:24).
Adam had already been banished from the Garden (cf. Genesis 3:23), now Cain was banished from “the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand” (GENESIS 4:11). The curse on the ground (cf. Genesis 3:17-19) was reinforced in Cain’s case, that he should be “a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth” (GENESIS 4:12).
The LORD had not immediately visited physical death upon Adam, even though the threat had been clear enough (cf. Genesis 3:3). Adam DID die, spiritually, on the day he ate the forbidden fruit: but, physically, he lived 930 years (cf. Genesis 5:5).
It is interesting to observe that neither did the LORD immediately execute capital punishment upon Cain. Even so, Cain felt that his punishment, such as it was, was “greater than I can bear,” and he worried that men might yet slay him (GENESIS 4:13-14).
But, in His good providence, the LORD determined not only not to kill Cain, but He set a mark of protection upon Cain so that nobody else would kill him (GENESIS 4:15). God is merciful, even to the wicked, ‘not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (cf. 2 Peter 3:9).
