All the Bible tells us is that God was unhappy with the offering, but not why. It is unclear why God did not accept Cain’s offering, whether it was because Cain did not freely give, because the offering was an offering of fruits and not meat, or if God simply rejected Cain because he was sinful. It is also important to recognize that just as God showed compassion for Adam and Eve by clothing them before sending them from the Garden of Eden, God showed compassion and love towards Cain by marking him so that no further harm would come to him.
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Doing one small bad thing can often lead to doing even worse things later. It’s easy to imagine that Cain killed Abel a hundred times in his mind before he actually committed the act of murdering his brother.Ĭain sinned and then lied about it – to God! Often one sin leads to another. The story also serves as a warning against harboring ill feelings towards others. Jealousy and bitterness can easily lead to more sinful acts. The story shows us that it is dangerous to carry grudges and harbor bitter feelings against others, as Cain did with Abel. Biblical stories repeat the theme over and over – sin disrupts the relations between God and human beings. If we do something wrong, we must recognize what we did and do the right thing to correct it.
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We all do bad things at times but we must recognize that if we do something bad, we will be held accountable for it. The story of Cain and Abel demonstrates that there is good and bad in the world. And once it was done, he lied and joked about it. Cain didn’t just kill a stranger, he killed his own brother. It was premeditated and was based on envy and jealousy. What the story means to us todayĬain’s murder of Abel was a horrific act. One of Seth’s descendants would be a man named Noah. Eve was happy and felt that the Lord had blessed her with another son to replace Abel. They eventually had a son that they named Seth. Cain eventually settled in a place called Nod and had a son named Enoch.Īdam and Eve’s loss of Abel surely caused them great pain. Despite his evil deed, God still loved Cain so he placed a special mark on Cain so that anyone who saw him would know to not harm him. Cain pleaded to God, explaining to him that others would be angry at him and that they would kill him. He could not stay in one place because his crops would not grow but if he travelled all over the place, he had to fear someone killing him to avenge Abel’s death.įor the second time, rather than correcting the wrong or recognizing that the punishment he was receiving was a result of his own actions, Cain complained to God that the punishment was too severe. God told Cain that from this time forward, Cain’s attempts at farming would fail and Cain would have to wander aimlessly over the Earth looking for a place to plant his crops. Cain said that he did not know and retorted, “Am I supposed to watch him like a baby?” God told Cain, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”, revealing that he knew the truth, that Abel had been murdered. Of course, God knew that Cain had killed Abel. Shortly after, God noticed that Abel was missing and asked Cain where his brother was. While in the field, Cain attacked his brother and killed him. Cain decided to kill Abel.Ĭain asked Abel to go with him into the fields. Cain was envious of Abel yet unwilling to do what was right to get back into God’s good grace. Rather than trying to understand why God refused his offering and follow the advice that God offered him, Cane became angry and jealous of his brother. God told Cain that if he always did the right thing, everything would turn out good for him. When God refused Cain’s offering, he explained to Cain that he must always do what was right, even when doing the right thing was hard to do.
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Abel went out of his way to please God and as such, God was pleased with Abel’s offering. When Cain presented his offering to God, God did not approve of it.Ībel on the other hand, took some of the best animals from his flock and gave them to God as an offering. To Cain, an offering was nothing more than another chore. As an offering, Cain brought fruits and vegetables to give to God. To show their love for God, people in biblical times often presented “offerings” to God in order to demonstrate their willingness to sacrifice. Cain became a farmer while Abel tended to animals such as goats and sheep. As Cain and Abel grew, they each chose occupations to pursue. Later, Eve gave birth to a second son that she named Abel.