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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
Why did God reject Cain’s offering?
Jude 11, Genesis 4
Thumbnail: The Way of Cain
Introduction
Welcome back, it’s good to be back. I needed a short break, and it was good to have a break, but it’s also good to be back.
The opening chapters of Genesis contain the first baseball game: In the big inning, Eve stole first, Adam stole second. Cain struck out Abel. Enoch was walked. The Giants and the Angels were rained out.
Now, as I hear that joke, it makes me realize: there’s a lot of oddities and weird stuff in the opening chapters of the Bible. And we’re going to be honing in on one of those weird stories today.
Genesis 4 tells the story of the first murder: when Cain killed Abel, because Cain was jealous of Abel, because God like Abel’s offerings, but not Cain’s. And it says,
Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.
Now, here’s the million dollar question: WHY. Why did God accept Abel’s offerings but not Cain’s? I mean, both of them are giving something to God. Throughout the Bible, people are willing to give offerings of both animals and fruits and crops. So why is Cain’s offer being shut down in these early chapters of Genesis?
The text doesn’t outright tell us, and I find this to be weird, and I’d like to figure out why this is in the Bible.
So turn to Genesis 4, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Jude 11 & Genesis 4
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about Cain and why his offering was not accepted while Abel’s was.
The reason we’re coming to this story at the beginning of the Bible is because of the little book we’ve been studying at the end of the Bible. In the short one-chapter book of Jude, we’ve covered the first 10 verses. It’s taken us about three months. Today, we’re starting into verse 11. I say we’re starting into it because this verse packs quite a wollop. There’s a lot to unpack in this one little verse. In describing apostates, or people who depart from Christianity after once believing it,
Jude 11 says this:
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.
It brings up three different people- three historical events from the Old Testament- to describe the patterns and behavior of apostasy: Cain, Balaam and Koran. We’ll have individual episodes on each of those people, starting with Cain today.
It said that apostates walk in the way of Cain. You may be familiar with Cain, but what was the “way” of Cain? Let’s dig into his story a little bit and see if we can figure that out. My personal belief is that this connects with why Cain’s offering was rejected by God.
So if you have gone to Genesis 4, let’s start at the beginning and read the whole story.
Genesis 4:1-2
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
In other words, Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer. Abel raised sheep, while Cain raised crops. Abel took care of the herd, while Cain gathered fruits and vegetables.
And these two men would bring an offering of the fruits of their labors to God as something like a tithe. A way of honoring God. For Abel, this would mean bringing a member of his flock. For Cain, it meant literally fruit.
Genesis 4:3-5
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
And this is what we’re going to dig into today, so we’ll come back to this verse.
But Cain is angry, and on top of that, sad. He doesn’t seem to understand why his offering isn’t as worthy to the Lord as Abel’s. And we see a bit of a heart problem here.
God gives Cain a way forward, but instead of taking it, Cain chooses to grow in jealousy and resentment toward Abel and God.
Genesis 4:6-7
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
I feel like Cain is probably getting frustrated here, because he’s trying to please God and it’s not working. What is going on? Is God being fair? Isn’t Cain trying to worship God, doesn’t God appreciate Cain’s offering? Cain’s jealousy gets the best of him.
Verse 8
8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand…"
I always want to slug Cain when I read this. He just refuses to take responsibility for what he did. So Cain gets punished by God and is now an outcast in his day. I have no idea how many people were on the earth at the time that this story happened. Not many. But Cain was going to walk the earth for hundreds of more years, and hundreds more people would be on the earth by the time he died, yet he would suffer as an outcast through all of it.
Why Abel’s offering was accepted
Now let’s discuss what it was that made Abel’s offering accepted while Cain’s wasn’t. I believe there are two aspects of this, and there is the offering itself, but more importantly, it’s the heart attitude behind the offering. There is a difference in the two offerings, and it’s a key difference, but I believe the key thing is the heart offering behind them. So we’ll start with the heart attitude.
we get a clue in Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Abel’s offering was in faith and Cain’s was not. There is something different about how Abel is trying to relate to God through his offering than how Cain was. Abel is relating to God from an attitude of faith, and this is described in contrast to Cain.
Now, what was Cain’s motivation? Well, I don’t think Cain lacked a belief in God. It seems clear that God was interacting with Cain before and after all this. So Cain didn’t lack faith in God’s reality. So He must have lacked faith in something about God’s character or His promises. We have to speculate here, but I believe Cain’s attitude was saying, “God, you must bless me, you must accept me, because of this sacrifice.” In other words, Cain didn’t offer up his sacrifice from a position of humility and gratitude toward God. Cain offered up his sacrifice from a place of pride, that he was vindicating himself, a form of self-justification.
I say this because these brothers represent two ways that all of mankind relate to God. Why do we do what we do for God? Is it out of thankfulness? Is it out of humility? Or do we do it because we’re trying to force God to accept us, to force God to forgive our sins, to force God to bless us, to show ourselves better than the guy next to us.
Two people might walk down an aisle at a church and give an offering in a tithe bucket. But they might have entirely different attitudes about it. One may say, “God, I’m doing this because I love you and I’m grateful for your blessing on my life.” The other may say, “Man, God must really be glad I’m a tither, I give so much more than the other people in this church.” Or they might say, “God, I’m doing this because I know you’ll take me to heaven someday for giving you all this money so faithfully.” See, those are very different motivations.
And so I believe that these two men represent a dichotomy that is present throughout the Bible: two ways that people try to relate to God. Two different motivations people have for their offerings and good works. To do things for God out of thankfulness, or to do things for God out of an attitude of self-justification. Do you have gratitude, or attitude?
And I see this dichotomy represented in the gifts that these men give. Let’s revisit that.
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock
So Cain brought fruit and Abel brought a lamb.
What does fruit represent throughout the Bible? Especially think: New Testament. What does fruit often represent when Jesus or Paul speak about fruit? Fruit represent our works. Something we produce. “A good tree bears good fruit,” and so forth. Fruit is representative of our works.
But the New Testament also says that our works are not what justifies us before God. You cannot do enough good to earn your way to heaven. Our good works are important. You should bear good fruit in your life. But never deceive yourself into thinking that God loves you more because of anything good you have done or accomplished. Never believe that you have earned your seat in heaven, or that you are more important than anyone else, because of something good you’ve done. God despises that attitude. And it makes our relationship with God become something transactional. “God, I did this for you, so now you can do something for me.”
And that how Cain approached God. With fruit. “Here’s my fruit, God. Now what can you do for me?” Because that’s what fruit symbolizes in the Bible.
Whereas that’s not Abel’s attitude at all. Abel doesn’t approach God carrying his fruit. Abel approaches God on the basis of the blood of a lamb. And what does that symbolize in the New Testament?
Jesus was the lamb of God whose sacrifice makes it possible for us to even approach God in the first place. And when we put our faith in Jesus, the lamb of God, as the basis of our relationship with God, then we aren’t trust in our fruit to save us. We aren’t demanding God bless us because of our fruit because we know that we can only approach a holy God in the first place because of the lamb.
And so that’s what I think the takeaway is in the story of Cain and Abel. These are two men who related to God in different ways, symbolized by their offerings. The point here- and I hope you follow this- the point is not that Cain should have went out and got a lamb. Cain was a farmer, it was technically OK for him to give an offering of the field. It wasn’t something magical about Abel’s lambs. It was the heart attitude behind the giver. That was what made the difference.
There are all kinds of listeners right now with all kinds of jobs. Some of you may be in secular work, some of you may work in ministry, some of you may be stay-at-home moms, some of you may be retired. The point is not that any one work is better than any other work. It doesn’t matter how much money you put in the offering plate when it’s passed in front of you. The point is the heart behind the offering. Why are you doing what you do for God. Maybe you volunteer 20 hours a week for God, maybe some of you serve at your church for one hour a month. The point is not who does more; the point is your attitude behind it. I would rather see someone serve the one hour with gratitude than 20 hours with attitude. And God would as well.
And if you haven’t always had the right attitude when you did things for God, here’s the good news: you can change your attitude anytime you want.
If you do well, will you not be accepted?
I’ll come back in a moment with some mailbag comments, and closing thoughts on the Way of Cain.
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Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll go right into the next person talked about in Jude 11: Balaam. Might have to spend a few episodes on him.
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What weird stuff in the Bible do you want to know more about? weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
I’ll also mention that I was just recently featured on a friend’s podcast: STGO. Right now he’s airing a series of interviews I did with him about the book of Ezekiel. Check it out!
Conan: “Satan Means Lawyer”
That’s a little offensive to Satan, man. Comparing him to a lawyer like that. I’m sure he doesn’t appreciate being compared to a lawyer right there and I hope you didn’t hurt his feelings.
More seriously: the word “Satan” means adversary, which is probably a spiritual role that’s similar to that of a prosecuting attorney. There’s a small difference, which I don’t consider significant but some do, in the Hebrew in Greek. Whereas in the Greek New Testament, “Satan” is used as a proper name, in the Old Testament, “satan” is more of a descriptive term for anyone who is an adversary. So some say that the person who destroys Job’s life in the opening chapters of Job is not the devil, but an angel just called “the adversary” who has the job of prosecuting attorney. The same with the prosecuting attorney in Zechariah 3. I disagree with that view. In the New Testament, Satan is referred to as the accuser of the brethren. So I believe that the beings in Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3 are just acting consistently with that description and they are also called “Satan,” so I believe that they are THE Satan.
Closing Thoughts
So in talking about apostates, Jude says this
Again, in verse 11
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.
So what is the way of Cain. For one thing, I think his way was trying to relate to God through His fruit. And that is a losing proposition. When you try to relate to God through your fruit, it will always lead to discouragement. Maybe you had a good day, or a good week, or a good month, but you could always blow it the next month. You will always disappoint yourself when you try to make your own moral performance the basis of your relationship with God. As Paul said in
I Corinthians 4:3
I do not even judge myself.
So when you live in this state of trying to earn God’s approval by being good enough, you will fail, you will get discouraged- or worse, you will become prideful and think you’re better than others- and all of this leads to jealousy of the righteous. That’s why the religious people of the Gospels hated Jesus.
Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” John 15:18
Paul said, “…all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” II Timothy 3:12
Those are some of my favorite verses in the Bible because it shows me that it’s not our fault when we speak the truth and it makes people mad. In fact, if we’re doing Christianity right, we should expect people to get mad at us!
That’s why the Jews used to stone the prophets.
That’s why the Sanhedrin killed Jesus.
That’s why Cain killed Abel.
Their attitude created within them a murderous heart.
And that’s the path of anyone who follows the way of Cain.
So if you think being hated by the world is weird, I hope you’re a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.