Why Did God Reject Cain’s Offering?

The opening chapters of Genesis contain the first baseball game: In the big inning, Eve stole first, Adam stole second. Cain struck out Abel. Enoch was walked. The Giants and the Angels were rained out.

Now, as I hear that joke, it makes me realize: there’s a lot of oddities and weird stuff in the opening chapters of the Bible. And we’re going to be honing in on one of those weird stories today.

Genesis 4 tells the story of the first murder: when Cain killed Abel, because Cain was jealous of Abel, because God like Abel’s offerings, but not Cain’s. And it says,

Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. 

Now, here’s the million dollar question: WHY. Why did God accept Abel’s offerings but not Cain’s? I mean, both of them are giving something to God. Throughout the Bible, people are willing to give offerings of both animals and fruits and crops. So why is Cain’s offer being shut down in these early chapters of Genesis?

The text doesn’t outright tell us, and I find this to be weird, and I’d like to figure out why this is in the Bible.

So turn to Genesis 4, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Jude 11 & Genesis 4

7:00 - Why Abel’s Offering Was Accepted

16:15 - Mailbag: “Satan Means Lawyer”

20:00 - Closing Thoughts

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Hosted by Luke Taylor