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Cain and Abel

T

TheWhiteWizard

One
In the story of Cain and Abel, I am wondering about this part sepcifically:

" The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious and he scowled in anger. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry?" Why that scowl on your face? If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling, but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door." Gn 4: 4-7

What evil has Cain done? What sin has he commited? Why won't the Lord accept his offering? It seems to me the Lord is being picky and showing a bit of favoritism. Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. Why couldn't the Lord accept the offering of Cain's harvest?
 
McBell

McBell

mantra-chanting henotheistic snake handler
Seems to me that it is because of the insincerity of Cains offering.
 
Jayhawker Soule

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
TheWhiteWizard said:
An explanation if you please, and why is it such a lousy translation?
Click to expand...
I don't know why. Maybe the translator(s) were lousy at Biblical Hebrew ...
  1. Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, and she said, "I have acquired a man with the Lord."
  2. And she continued to bear his brother Abel, and Abel was a shepherd of flocks, and Cain was a tiller of the soil.
  3. Now it came to pass at the end of days, that Cain brought of the fruit of the soil an offering to the Lord.
  4. And Abel he too brought of the firstborn of his flocks and of their fattest, and the Lord turned to Abel and to his offering.
  5. But to Cain and to his offering He did not turn, and it annoyed Cain exceedingly, and his countenance fell.
  6. And the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you annoyed, and why has your countenance fallen?
  7. Is it not so that if you improve, it will be forgiven you? If you do not improve, however, at the entrance, sin is lying, and to you is its longing, but you can rule over it."
  8. And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.
Explanation:
The narrative evolved from a pastoralist (bedu) culture and reflects their bias.​
Exegesis:
Cain acted in a perfunctory manner (4:3) while Abel gave his best (4:4).​
 
Lindsey-Loo

Lindsey-Loo

Steel Magnolia
TheWhiteWizard said:
In the story of Cain and Abel, I am wondering about this part sepcifically:

" The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious and he scowled in anger. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry?" Why that scowl on your face? If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling, but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door." Gn 4: 4-7

What evil has Cain done? What sin has he commited? Why won't the Lord accept his offering? It seems to me the Lord is being picky and showing a bit of favoritism. Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. Why couldn't the Lord accept the offering of Cain's harvest?
Click to expand...

The Bible never goes to tell us why Cain's offering was unacceptable to the Lord. Perhaps Cain had not offered the best of his harvest, or perhaps God asked for offerings of animals. We just don't know. This verse simply goes to show us that whole "as long as you are worshipping God with all your heart, it's ok" thing is bogus. You can't just worship God any old way, it has to be His way.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
From what I have read from a previous post on RF (one of Jay's I believe), it was Cain's offering was not of a good quality, and the Biblical translation is poor.
 
Q

Quath

Member
It seems that God likes the smell of burnt meat a lot:

Genesis 8:20-21 -
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
 
Lindsey-Loo

Lindsey-Loo

Steel Magnolia
Quath said:
It seems that God likes the smell of burnt meat a lot:

Genesis 8:20-21 -
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Click to expand...
Yeah, me and Him both. *mouth waters*
 
Darkness

Darkness

Psychoanalyst/Marxist
Quath said:
It seems that God likes the smell of burnt meat a lot:

Genesis 8:20-21 -
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Click to expand...
Not to mention his blood fetish.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
As Jay mentioned, there is a cultural bias that must be taken into consideration here.
 
R

roli

Born Again,Spirit Filled
Darkness said:
Not to mention his blood fetish.
Click to expand...
Your ignorance of what God does and why he does it, is the only thing that your overtone implies.

The story of Cain and Abel cearly portrays,arrogance, pride,jealousy,envy, rebellion,greed,covetousness and the difference between giving God the first of what you have and giving him second best.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
TheWhiteWizard said:
But i do not understand how a cultural bias could apply to the all-powerful God.
Click to expand...

Bedouin pastoralists feel God prefers their culture, and favors them. Farmers feel the same thing about their own lifestyles.
Their writings and theology reflect this bias.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Your ignorance of what God does and why he does it, is the only thing that your overtone implies.
Click to expand...
I use to be like that.
But now, a God that requires blood does not appeal to me.
 
gnostic

gnostic

The Lost One
The question becomes, why would a supreme being requires mortal food offerings?

You would think even the choicest meat of sheep could not possibly fill his divine stomach.

Do a god who claim to be immortal and all-powerful really need sacrifices?
 
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