Genesis chapter 4

The chapter starts off with Eve becoming pregnant and giving birth to a boy, Abel, and then having another boy later, Cain.   I found it interesting that said with the Lord's help, she had given birth to a man.   So even though they had been banished from the Garden of Eden, they still knew that all they had came form the Lord.  They hadn't forgotten him, or Him. 

The two boys then grew up with Abel becoming  a herdsman, and Cain a farmer.  They then both gave an offering to the Lord:

Genesis 4:3-5

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 favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. (NIV)

Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk. (The Message)

You have to love the way the Message translates this as Cain being in a sulk.  Having boys myself, I can only too well imagine the look on his face, his stance, his attitude.  It doesn't actually say in the bible why Cain's offering was not acceptable to God.  I think, though,  this is a case of Cain's heart not being right with God.  There must have been some serious sibling rivalry going on here (and again, I know what that is like from both my own experiences with my brother (I was convinced when I was really young that he was born on the same day as me but three years later just to spite me!) and from watching my own children) over the years.  I can't see that there would be any reason for God not approving of Cain's offering because it was crops rather than animals (after all, grain offerings are acceptable to God and formed one of the offerings noted in Leviticus 2) but reading these verses through, it looks as if Cain just "brought an offering To God form the produce of his farm" whereas Abel brought an offering from "the first born of his heard".  In other words, Cain brought some of the crop, not necessarily the first fruits, but whatever he had to hand, whereas Abel picked out, chose the best of the first born of his animals.  it’s a relationship thing with Abel wanting to please God and Cain wanting to get his duty over and done with. So to me, it sounds like it was Cain's relationship with God that was wrong, not the offering and the fact that God did no approve of the offering is symbolic of God not approving of the way Cain was living his life.

Amos 5: 21-24 “I hate all your show and pretence— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.  I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.   I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise!    I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living." (NLT)

It’s not something that just happened with Cain, either.  Throughout time, many have been guilty of giving half heartedly to God, of paying lip service to worship on a Sunday morning, their minds busy elsewhere whilst their lips are singing. God doesn't ask for part of us, a snippet on a Sunday morning, a few minutes here and there during the week.  He wants all of us, body, mind and soul:

Mark 12: 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. (NIV)

Maybe Cain had been having a really bad day.  Maybe his crops had failed, he'd run out of seed and fertiliser, maybe he'd just had enough of scrimping and scraping in the ground to make a living, to grow food and provide for his family.  We all have days like that. When whatever we do just takes far longer than we expect, when we hit problem after problem, when everything that could go wrong does, the car breaks down, we're late for a meeting, we forget a deadline, the children are being really obnoxious and disobedient, we are left to do everything ourselves and no one even considers offering to help, etc.  But it is how we deal with days like that which distinguishes us from nonbelievers, or should do.

We need to take everything, no matter how big or small, to God, to turn to Him in prayer when we are having that rubbish day and when things go really well.  God is not just God of our good days, but He is also God in our bad times.  Conversely, it is not just a case of turning to God when things go wrong but of giving Him the praise and glory when things go well. We need to get our hearts right with God, to put Him first in our lives, not second, third, or even further down the list.

Cain didn't do this.  He allowed his mood to colour his reactions, let his temper take over, with the result that he killed his own brother.  A temper is a very powerful thing, and we can do things when in a real temper that we would never dream of doing normally.  When we lose control like that anything can happen.  But if we are walking with God, talk with him daily, spend time in prayer and bible study, then this is less likely to happen, because our thoughts and mind will naturally be set on the things of heaven and not of this world.  If Cain had been closer to God, maybe things would have turned our differently.

Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. (NIV)

So God calls Cain on his attitude:

Genesis 4:8 God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."  (The Message)

Sin was at the back of all of this.  It didn't just affect Adam and Eve, resulting in them being expelled from the Garden of Eden, it affected their children too.  It’s like an infectious disease that no one is immune to.  We are all susceptible to sin, there are temptations for each of us that we would find difficult to overcome.  The thing is to try not to give in to them and to place them all in God's hands, seek His help when it becomes too much, when the thought of that bar of chocolate, that extra glass of wine, seeing that man who makes you feel good, going out with your friends to have a good time, get drunk, maybe get off with some girl,  giving in to your temper, answering back in kin when someone is rude or hurtful, or whatever it is that is going on in your life that you know you shouldn't be doing.

Cain allowed his emotions to get the better of him, and it resulted in his brother's death.  The thing is, he made a choice here, he chose to allow his temper to get the better of him, he did not hold back his anger but let rip with everything he had.  Not only that, this was not done in the heat of the moment either, as time had passed form when the offerings were made.   Cain had had time to think things over, to calm down, work out why his offering had not been acceptable.  So he held on to his anger, he held a grudge against Abel because God had accepted his offering whilst refusing his own.  It really does show why we shouldn't hold grudges, or refuse to forgive people doesn't it?

God sees all this and tells Cain:

Genesis 4:10-12 God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."  (The Message)

As a result of the murder of his brother, which he initially tried to deny when broached by God, Cain would be forced to become a nomad and struggle to get any crop from the land.  Cain complained at this saying the punishment was too harsh…...kind of makes me wonder what sort of punishment he thought would be appropriate for someone who had committed murder, especially as he was .  Anyhow, God puts a mark on Cain so that anyone seeing him, would not kill him and Cain went to live in the Land of Nod, East of Eden.  But the interesting thing here is that in verse 16, we are told that Cain left the presence of God.  So God's presence was there with Adam and Eve and their family even though they were no longer in the Garden.  It wasn't a case of God washing His hands of them, barring the door to them, letting them get on with their lives and refusing to have anything to do with them.  Far from it.  They were living in His presence, so when Cain did what he did, he was effectively removing himself from God's presence, choosing sin over God, choosing satan and he then bore the mark of this as a warning to others.