They had two children, Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.
Adam and Eve told their sons about sacrificing a lamb to God as a form of worship. Abel wanted to make it special for God so he sacrificed his best lamb.
Cain, on the other hand, felt that it would be a waste to sacrifice his best possessions so he gave God his extra straw rather than his wheat crop.
Cain watched his brother's lamb being burnt up completely on the altar, compared to his straw which never really caught fire at all. It showed that God is in favor of Abel's sacrifice.
Cain was angry and jealous; so he killed Abel.
And the Lord spoke: "Cain, where is your brother?". Cain answered: "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
The Lord punished Cain for his deeds by putting a curse on him for the rest of his life.
(Genesis 4)
Is not exactly true: There is no hint in the text, that Cain gave rubbish instead of good stuff. This is the hole point of the text: no one can say why HE likes the sacrifice from Abel but ignores the one from Cain!
ReplyDeletei think God ignored Cain's sacrifice because his heart is impure and that he did not give his sacrifice wholeheartedly because God do not really give a thought on how grand nor expensive our sacrifice might be but He looks at our hearts.
ReplyDeletereally cool!
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