Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.“
(Genesis 4:3-5)

Time has passed. The brothers were born, grew up, and have taken up professions of their own. We have no idea how much time has passed, but it doesn’t really matter. It couldn’t have been immediately. They were adults or almost so. Not kids. Not teens. Men who had to stand on their own two feet.

This shows that offerings are a natural result of knowing who God is. He doesn’t need anything we have, but we still want to give to Him. The sage Steinsaltz put it very well when he writes: ‘In contrast to various theories claiming otherwise, this episode indicates the fundamental nature of bringing an offering and that this concept was not introduced by foreign cultures. From the very beginnings of humanity, people felt the need to bring gifts to God. Later, these gift offerings would be called burnt offerings, as they were burnt in their entirety in God’s honor. These offerings were not considered a tax; they were not even obligatory. Although the Recipient of the gift has no need for it, the gift offering allows the giver to express his feelings toward Him.’ These were not legal obligations. These were not codified in any way. This was pure offering to God because He WAS God – which shows that God still had a communicative relationship with humanity. He had NOT abandoned them. He had NOT stopped talking to them. They were STILL worshipping Him.

It is not exactly mentioned what it was that they sacrificed. After all, although death was part of life now people weren’t killing animals for meat yet. It wasn’t even a thought. So if Abel was killing some of his flock we can assume it was a whole burnt offering. Or maybe it was fire from heaven coming to consume the offering that he gave which was the proof he was favoured. We just don’t know. Jewish tradition gives that Cain hadn’t given the first or the best of what he had. He gave of his surplus, so it wasn’t a hardship for him. They get this because of how clear the Word is that Abel gave of his best. The thinking is that if Cain had done the same, it would have been mentioned. But until they were commanded to do it, it wasn’t wrong not to give the firstfruits. There may have been nothing PHYSICALLY wrong with Cain’s offering. What has ALWAYS mattered to God is the HEART INTENT of the giver (2 Corinthians 9:6-7). In fact, the Law commanded the first and the best be given so that we could prove to ourselves that we were putting God first. It had to cost us to honour Him (2 Samuel 24:24). It was the HEART of Cain that was the problem. He was not careful in his worship and it showed. That was the salient difference between the two brothers (Hebrews 11:4).

Cain’s pride was stung. His LITTLE brother was doing better than he. More accepted than he. And being a fallen human, it naturally felt like anger when it rose up. He could have chosen not to engage that feeling, but he did. Blame shifted from the condition of his own heart to the ‘public’ shame he felt at not being accepted by God. Or HaChaim writes about Genesis 4:3 ‘ויחר לקין מאד, Cain was very angry. The emotion חרון אף indicates that a person feels superior, whereas the expression נפילת אפים indicates that one feels inferior. Cain felt angry at the superiority achieved by his younger brother. He felt inferior towards his brother thinking that the superior quality of his brother’s offering was the cause that his own offering had not been accepted. He believed that this was the reason he had suffered a loss of image in the eyes of G’d. Alternatively, when Cain saw that G’d did not accept his own offering he felt angry at the Creator’s disdain for His creatures, His not taking any interest in them. This is a very negative character trait. We find an example of such emotions in Isaiah 8,21 where anger is described as leading to blasphemy when someone feels that G’d does not look after him. After Cain found that he had been wrong, that G’d did accept his brother’s offering, his anger against G’d turned to anger against G’d’s favourite, against his brother Abel. The author quotes a saying by our sages that when someone allows his anger to possess him his soul withdraws. He interprets this statement as referring to the divine image, צלם, that is reflected on man’s face. [I have not been able to find such a statement. Ed.] Although Cain’s specific acts of wickedness prior to his murdering his brother have not been spelled out by the Torah it is clear from his subsequent actions that he was evil.’

An interesting tidbit from The Torah: A Woman’s Commentary on Genesis 4:3: ‘In the Torah, the word “sin” only enters with sibling rivalry and the murder that follows (not with Eve and Adam). Murderous conflict among brothers runs throughout Genesis as a theme that finally finds its resolution with the reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 50). Sisterly conflicts result in births (see 30:1–24).’