cain & abel

Two brothers, both alike in dignity,in fair Eden, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Genesis, chapter 4, records the events in the lives of Cain & Abel. These fellers were brothers. It is unclear from the text if they were twins or not, but that’s an irrelevant detail. Cain is the older of the two and his name means “spear”. Abel is the younger but not the youngest brother—a common misconception that we’ll talk about in a moment. His name means “temporary”. I point out the meaning of their names, because they present foreshadowing of things to come.
For a moment, let’s think back to last week’s story of Adam & Eve. God gave Adam two to-do’s. He was to name the animals and tend the garden. You might calls these two things “the family business.” And so, as we see in Scripture, Cain and Abel each took one of those to-dos as their own.
Cain focused on the to-do of tending the garden. He worked the land and produced vegetables; he took up the family business as a farmer. Cain was the first recorded horticulturalist. Abel, on the other hand, focused on the to-do of naming the animals. He worked with livestock and provided meat; he took up the family business as a rancher. Abel was the first recorded stockbreeder.
Before we get to the point in the story that most of you are already familiar with, I want to point out a couple of things that we don’t see in the text. First, we have nothing in the text that indicates that God showed any partiality to one or the other brother based on their chosen career. Farming and ranching are both noble professions because they are a part of the original two to-dos.
Secondly, we need to point out that we have no indication that these brothers, both alike in dignity, had any enmity between them. So, we can assume there to be brotherly loving and not brotherly loathing or else there would be indication, foreshadowing, of the event to come. The farmer and the cowman can be friends.
Cain and Abel both knew that God was providing the bounty of their labors, the recompense of their work, the paycheck. And only 4 chapters into the book, we see people giving from their income to God—an offering. Both brothers brought an offering to God. And while both brothers were doing the same action, they were not approaching it the same way. And we learn that the action of the hands reveals the character of the heart.
Cain, the farmer, offered his vegetables to God. “This tomato is pretty good. I guess this carrot isn’t too bad. Yeah, I think we’ll be passing along all the Brussels sprouts. Rutabagas? Whatever. OK, God, here you go!” Cain’s actions revealed that his heart he viewed himself on the same level as God—if it’s good enough for Cain, it’s good enough God.
But Abel, the rancher, had real meat in his offering. Abel brought the best of the best, the finest of his flocks. It would certainly have benefitted his livestock portfolio to keep the best and reinvest. If you remember 4th grade science class, you’ll know the concepts of the Punnett squares and breeding for improved stock. But Abel chose to sacrifice the best that God had given, and then gave it back to God. His actions revealed that his heart knew it was more important to give to God than to save for yourself.
Which weighs more, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers? Well, they both weigh a pound, but the pound of gold is more valuable because it’s better stuff. I don’t suppose there was a significant difference in the quantity or volume of the brothers’ offerings, but Abel’s offering was more valuable because it was better stuff. Grade A, prime meats—the choicest cuts. God smiled on Abel’s prime rib, but frowned upon Cain’s salad surplus, his leftovers.
Here’s something to note. God frowned upon Cain’s less-than-the-best offering, but He did not punish Cain. Cain’s leftovers did not please God, but neither did they anger God. But we see the actions of his hands revealing the character of his heart, and Cain is angry and scowling. I imagine we’d see him and accuse him of pouting. Maybe he’s grumbling, complaining under his breath. There is jealousy toward his brother and resentment toward his God.
So God asks him, “Why are you angry? Why are you scowling? Don’t you know that it doesn’t take much to please me? All I want is your best. And, if you can’t see that, then I’m afraid that sin is blocking your view of Me. Just do the next right thing and you’ll see that sin has no place in you.”
But, the actions of the hands reveal the character of the heart. Cain invites his brother to go hang out for a while and while they are out, Cain kills his brother. Presumably, he stabs his brother because Cain’s name means “spear”. Abel is lying dead in a pool of his own blood, his life but a temporary existence, as his name would imply.
“Um, Cain, this is God speaking. Where is your brother?” “I dunno. I gotta take care of these turnips; must I take care of him, too?”
Then, there is what you might call a deafening silence. There is a hush that hurts your ears. And from above the noiselessness, God cries out in anguish, “What have you done? Listen! The blood of your brother cries out from the ground. I curse you! The very ground that drank your brother’s blood will no longer yield his vegetation to you. You will forever be discontented and restless.”
And it was more than Cain could bear. Cain feared for his very life—isn’t that ironic for a murderer?
But God reserves vengeance and justice for Himself. And so, He marked Cain so that all people would recognize him and not kill him, for that was God’s appointment to keep.
We don’t know what this mark looked like. We know that man looks at the outward appearance, so the mark had to be cosmetic in some way.
• Some conjecture that this is origin of the black skin tone, though this is easily discounted by the accounts of Noah and the flood.
• Some fantasize that the mark of Cain is his thirst for blood and his fanged teeth—he became a vampire. To this, I say two words, “oh, brother.”
• Some wonder if the mark was a good old-fashioned 666 on his forehead. Eh…
The truth is that we don’t know what the mark looked like nor does it even matter. A bigger problem is an attitude towards offerings that is marked like Cain’s.
For never was a story of offerings more plain than this of Able and his brother Cain
Oops, I almost forgot. At the beginning, I mentioned that Abel was the younger, but not youngest brother. At the very end of Genesis chapter 4, we see that Adam and Eve had another son and name him Seth—a name indicating that he was a “replacement” for Abel.
And, the last sentence of the chapter is the most important of all. “At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”