Scripture Notes: The Trouble with Cain (Genesis 4)

Humanity is still very young when Abel and Cain bring their sacrifices to God, but already sin has crept into worship and distorted it. Abel brings the very best of his flock, the firstlings and their fat. He does not hold back. He places the highest before the Highest and at the same time offers himself. But Cain brings some of the fruits of the ground. We are not told what those fruits are, but apparently they are not the best or the highest. Cain is holding back.

Not surprisingly, God accepts Abel’s offering but not Cain’s, and Cain is angry, not with himself for skimping on God’s worship but with God and with his brother. He pouts. He sulks. He complains. God tells him that if he does well, then he will be accepted. In other words, shape up, Cain. But He also warns Cain that sin is lurking at his door, and Cain must master it.

Cain does not. Instead, he opens the door wide and lets sin walk right in. He allows his anger to take hold of him and his envy to flare up. If he cannot have God’s favor, then he does not want anyone else to have it either. So he invites his brother out into the field and strikes him down in cold blood. Here is envy taken to its extreme and in only the second generation of humanity. 

Cain never shows any sign of repentance. He tries to cover up his crime, thinking he can pull a fast one on God. But he ends up in exile, separated from the earth and from his family, sent to wander far from home, marked with a sign of his crime. Indeed, Cain has brought sin to a new level, and his self-centered violence passes to his descendants and spreads to the whole human race.