GENESIS 4
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. 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. 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 for you, and you must rule over it.”– Genesis 4:1-7
GENESIS 4 SIN CROUCHES AT THE DOOR
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When you do not honor the Lord your God with your best offering
You’ll be tempted to restrain your giving; sin is at the door waiting
When you give back to God the best of what he has blessed you with
You are acknowledging him and recognizing his meeting your needs
When you hold back to honor God and keep the best for yourself
You are truly opening that door for the enemy to enter your heart.
The bible didn’t specify the time lapse from the fall of their parents up until Abel and Cain were born. It could have been many days, months or years since they were evicted from the garden, but it wasn’t mentioned in Moses’ account. We clearly witnessed how the original sin of Adam and Eve manifested in their children. It is interesting that one of them was a tiller of the ground (a farmer) and another, a keeper of the sheep (a shepherd). One of the curses of the sins on Adam was that he will till the ground for food which he didn’t have to do before the fall. Adam was given the authority to name all animals and be the caretaker of them. After the fall, he needs to get from these animals their clothing. Before the fall, they didn’t need clothes, they were naked and didn’t have shame to hide their bodies.
So, what was the sin addressed in this story? They still didn’t have the law that required the first fruits to be offered to God at this time. They both had been called to work the ground and the animals for the source of their needs. How come God favored Abel and not Cain even though they both gave God an offering? The difference lies in their heart’s intentions. Abel honored God by giving the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. Cain, on the other hand, just got a fruit from his land which probably wasn’t the first fruit or the best of his harvest. His heart was not honoring God. It was just offering for the sake of it. There was no regard to his Lord. In fact, it sounded like he was dismissing and withholding from God what blessing he was given and keeping the best to himself. Then Cain was mad that his offering wasn’t accepted by God. Then God rebuked him that if he had given his best, it would have been accepted as well. Because of his greedy heart, Cain opened the door for the devil to work further on his heart to be envious of Abel and to kill him later in the story.
REFLECTION
· How was the curse of sin over mankind clearly manifested in this story of Cain and Abel?
