What’s up Cain?

One of the strangest things in the Bible. Why did Cain kill Abel?

Cain was the oldest of the two sons and learned to toil the land with his father. Abel comes along and they have to find a job for him to do and the make him the tender of the flocks. Someone had to do it, so why not Abel? Doesn’t seem anything to be jealous about? Cain is working with his dad! That’s pretty special in itself, learning and working with dad.  So we have one child working with dad and the other son working under dad’s watchful eye.

So why was Cain so angry  (Gen 4:5). From the first verses of Chapter 4 we don’t see Adam or Eve noticing Cain as being angry? So what’s up Cain?

In Genesis Chapter 4 Verse 3 “And so it time that Cain brought the fruits of the earth as a sacrifice to The Lord . Then in Verse 4 Abel brings his offering; the first born of his sheep and his fatlings and God looked favorably upon Abel and his gifts. But in in verse 5 , God did not look favorably on Cain’s sacrifices and Cain was exceedingly sorrowful and his countenance fell! The Lord said to Cain, “why are you so sorrowful and why has your countenance fallen? ” If you do well , will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Reading the Septuagint what Cain did was he did not rightly divide the offering. He wasn’t straight with God right from the get go. And God knows everything. So God knew why Cain was angry!

Cain showed no remorse, he was angry, he was jealous, he had deception, he had self pity, evil  desired to have him and he was already plotting to kill his brother Abel.

So in the next verse, Cain says to Abel, God didn’t care for my offering! I can imagine that some conversation between the brothers took place like Abel asking why? What did you present to The Lord ? And if the The Lord could see his countenance was fallen, then I  would imagine that Abel could see that his older brother was not in the best of moods. He probably better than anyone else could see that cain was not right and hasn’t been himself for some time. We all have been around people like this? Some thing is bothering them, “sin” has gotten a hold of them. Next thing you learn is Cain kills Abel? Why?

God knows everything and He asks Cain; “Where is Abel your brother?” Cain said to The Lord , “I don’t know, I an not my brothers keeper” Then God says something that would rattle anyones soul’ “What have you done? The voice of your brothers blood is crying to me from the ground”!

Cain committed the first murder in the Bible, a monstrous act of killing his brother. He becomes a homeless wanderer, a man without a wife, a home, is unreliable, and restless, wandering from place to place.

Solomon would say “Cain’s soul has extirpated from itself, the principle of love virtue, the love of God and has died to the love of virtue.”

Then we have a huge jump with a lot of unknowns. Cain finds a wife and she conceives and gives birth to Enoch! Cain builds a city and names it after his son Enoch. Not knowing the age of Enoch, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

I have read some theologians and they would say it was all about the offering; I would have to disagree. Remember that when Abel presented his offering it still had its fat? The  Law of removing the fat didn’t come along until Lev 4:6-8 and it was in  Ex 24:19; that you shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of The Lord your God.

So Cain was a bad seed from the fall. God knew it from the beginning, tried to change his ways to no avail. The Devil (evil) had gotten a hold of him and he became a wanderer protected by God! God had a plan! That plan included Enoch!

Later my fiends, Peace out