Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-16 (NRSV)

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

The question that has always haunted me - even perhaps more than why did Cain kill Abel - is this:

Why did God prefer Abel and his offering?

Or maybe it is this: DID God prefer Abel and his offering?  I know the text says God had regard for Abel's and not for Cain's.  But there seems to be a big gaping hole here about why.

I've heard it said that God preferred Abel's because it was a blood offering.  You get into that whole sacrifice thing there.  Maybe. But that doesn't really fit with the God that I see over and over in scripture.

It's clear something is missing here.  Perhaps it has to do with Abel's generosity versus Cain's - it was the firstlings of the flock Abel brought: the desirable, fatty, portion.  Abel brought his best.

Cain brought fruit of the ground.  My hunch tells me there is something to that.

But whatever it is, in the end, despite being haunted by the question, I don't really any longer think this is a story so much about actual preference as a story about God knowing hearts.  God knowing where Abel's offering came from.  God knowing where Cain's came from.

God knowing that since that fall, that the human heart was vulnerable to selfishness and jealousy.

That as long as there were humans, there would be oppression and death and anger and hatred.  In this story after all we have the genesis of a darkness in humans that would lead to God's wanting to completely start over with the flood.

And all of that lurked in Cain's heart.

And he isn't alone.

Yet even here - even in the Old Testament that many bemoan is full of stories of an angry, wrathful God - God's grace completes the story. Cain is not killed for his transgressions.  God protects him.

But the movement of death has begun.  It's a dance that will continue through the Hebrew scriptures and into today.

You are the Lord of Life!  God, help me to live under your light shining in the darkness.  Heal me from the temptations of anger and vengeance and jealousy, knowing that they lead to death.  Lead me instead to generosity, grace, and compassion, knowing that that is where life is found.  Amen.