Paul Taylor unpacks what it's all about

Paul Taylor

Wasn't God being a bit mean to refuse Cain's offering, while accepting Abel's? No wonder Cain was a bit miffed with his brother. The unfairness is enough to make anyone consider murder, isn't it?

It took me years to understand what the story in Genesis chapter 4 was all about. Part of the problem was that I had learned the story of Cain and Abel in Sunday School, along with other Bible stories, but had never been shown that there was a connection between them. If we try to read a Bible passage, in isolation from the rest, we will frequently misunderstand what the Bible is on about.

So what was wrong with Cain's offering? It could not have been to do with the actual substance of what was offered. Farming and growing crops is an honourable profession, and there are occasions under the Mosaic law when grain offerings are given. However, grain offerings, under the Law of Moses, are not used to bring about forgiveness.

Notice that Cain was not criticised by God for not doing what was right. God said to Cain "If you do well, will you not be accepted?" What is the difference between "doing well" and "doing right"? It is probably easier to understand, if we work out why Abel's sacrifice was accepted.

In Genesis 3, after they had sinned, Adam and Eve made themselves clothes of fig leaves. They did this to cover their shame. But these clothes were not sufficient to regain fellowship with God. Instead, God gave them clothes of skin. God made the world perfect, with no death. The world's first death was brought about by God, in order to cover Adam and Eve's guilt.

Back in Genesis 4, we read that Abel gave an offering of animals. He carried out a sacrifice. In Hebrews 11:4, we read: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." Abel's offering was such that it could make him righteous. How? His offering involved the shedding of blood. Elsewhere in Hebrews we read, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission". In other words, Abel was a priest, offering blood sacrifices for the remission of sin.

Yet Jesus described Abel as a prophet in Matthew 23:34 & 35. No words of Abel are recorded in scripture. So what was his prophecy? Genesis 4:10: "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground." In Hebrews 11:4, we read: "and through it he being dead still speaks". Abel's prophecy was his death. Abel was the first human being to die. He died before his time, by becoming the first victim of murder. He was both prophet and priest, and the only person to hold both these offices until Jesus. Abel's prophecy was his shed blood, pointing towards the shed blood of Jesus, "the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12:24).

After his rejected offering, God asked Cain, "Why are you angry?" God knew the answer - He was giving Cain the opportunity to repent. Even after he had murdered his brother, God offered Cain a further opportunity to repent. But Cain did not take it. Therefore, he ended up being sent out from the presence of the Lord.

The account of Cain and Abel becomes understandable, with reference to the rest of the Bible. It also helps us to understand more about the work that Jesus did for us on the cross. Yet none of this makes sense if Cain and Abel were not real historical characters, but some sort of mythology. When we see the message of the Bible as a whole, we see that we have to accept all of it as true-or reject it all.