God's displeasure with Cain?

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
In Genesis Chapter 4 is the story of Cain and Abel.

In verse 7 God clearly says that Cain is not accepted because he does not "do well" and that "sin is at the door".

This is important - it is not Cain's wroth or his disappointment that his offering was rejected that is the sin - but the sin itself is not named.

Equally as important is that this all happens before Cain murders Abel.

Abel is a shepherd, he keeps the sheep free from dangers like predators - for example - wolves. Abel is a good shepherd, and Yeshua calls him "righteous" (Matthew 23:35)

This all happens many generations before the flood, and as such, God has not given men permission to eat animals.

The text does not say Abel actually sacrificed any of the flock, just that he kept them (protected them) and offered God the firstlings and the fat thereof. There is no explicit sacrifice in the Genesis text, nor any of the Old Testament that I am aware of referencing this particular event.



So, what is Cain's sin?

Secondary Question for Pauline Christians - is Yeshua telling lies when he calls Abel righteous? Because according to your teacher (former murderer turned saint according to himself), no one is. :)
 

psalms 91

Well-known member
Moderator
Valued Contributor
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
15,205
Age
75
Location
Pa
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Charismatic
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Married
Does it not point to the offering itself in the fact that God rejected it? So was the sin that he did not obey God as to what to offer
 

Imalive

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Messages
2,315
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Christian
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Single
Paul just quotes some O.T. text there which everyone plucks out of context.

God clothed Adam and Eve, so I think He or an angel killed an animal. So Adam taught his sons about that, blood offering, but Cain didn't need a blood offering for his sins he thought. He gave an offer from his own works and it wasn't tithes and had no blood, so that wasn't good. God just didn't accept his own good works offer and then warned him, but he got jealous and hateful and did not listen to God.
 

Lamb

God's Lil Lamb
Community Team
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
31,566
Age
57
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Lutheran
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Married
Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
Yes
Here is part of the text:

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.

Notice how Abel brought the fat portions from some of the firstborn but Cain only brought "some of the fruits of the soil". I think this is important when looking at the text to see how little consideration Cain went into choosing his offering to the Lord.
 

MoreCoffee

Well-known member
Valued Contributor
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
19,115
Location
Western Australia
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Catholic
Political Affiliation
Moderate
Marital Status
Single
Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
Yes
Here is part of the text:

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.

Notice how Abel brought the fat portions from some of the firstborn but Cain only brought "some of the fruits of the soil". I think this is important when looking at the text to see how little consideration Cain went into choosing his offering to the Lord.

I do not think it was the amount of care used in choosing the offerings but I do think that the type of offering mattered. Able offered the life of an animal in place of his own and Cain didn't offer any life just vegetables.
 

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
Does it not point to the offering itself in the fact that God rejected it? So was the sin that he did not obey God as to what to offer

The text states that God rejected both Cain and his offering and respected Abel and his offering. So it is not just the offering.

What is Cain's sin? The text does not say. However - he murdered the shepherd Abel. Good Shepherds don't kill their sheep, they lay down their life for them.
 

Lamb

God's Lil Lamb
Community Team
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
31,566
Age
57
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Lutheran
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Married
Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
Yes
I do not think it was the amount of care used in choosing the offerings but I do think that the type of offering mattered. Able offered the life of an animal in place of his own and Cain didn't offer any life just vegetables.

Doesn't that show he didn't really care?
 

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
I do not think it was the amount of care used in choosing the offerings but I do think that the type of offering mattered. Able offered the life of an animal in place of his own and Cain didn't offer any life just vegetables.

The text does not state that Abel killed an animal. The word Sacrifice is not used (and I checked - the Hebrew word Sacrifice is NOT used in the story).

Abel is a good shepherd. Good shepherds protect sheep.

What is Cain's sin?
 

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
It shows something - probably disobedience.

If Abel is disobedient, then Yeshua boo booed when He called him righteous.

Abel is a good shepherd. Good Shepherds protect their flock from predators. The offering (Hebrew: Gift, מִנְחָה Strongs H4503) means primarily "gift" - it can be used *with reference* to a sacrifice - but itself does not mean sacrifice . The text does not state that Abel killed any of the flock he tended. The word for sacrifice is זֶבַח Strongs H2077 - a completely different word.
 

MoreCoffee

Well-known member
Valued Contributor
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
19,115
Location
Western Australia
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Catholic
Political Affiliation
Moderate
Marital Status
Single
Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
Yes
If Abel is disobedient, then Yeshua boo booed when He called him righteous.

Cain. Not Able.

Abel is a good shepherd. Good Shepherds protect their flock from predators. The offering (Hebrew: Gift, מִנְחָה Strongs H4503) means primarily "gift" - it can be used *with reference* to a sacrifice - but itself does not mean sacrifice . The text does not state that Abel killed any of the flock he tended. The word for sacrifice is זֶבַח Strongs H2077 - a completely different word.
 

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
Word of note:

Saul/Paul (suspected writer of Hebrews NT book) does call it a sacrifice: Hebrews 11:4

To my knowledge, he is the first one to do so in reference to this particular story. There is (again, to my understanding - correct me if I'm wrong) not 1 single reference to Abel's offering as a "sacrifice" anywhere in the Old Testament -by which is meant in terms of slaying an animal. Not 1. Until Saul/Paul calls it such.

Abel's flocks were happy and fat. He probably got a lot of wool out of them.
 

Imalive

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Messages
2,315
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Christian
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Single
Word of note:

Saul/Paul (suspected writer of Hebrews NT book) does call it a sacrifice: Hebrews 11:4

To my knowledge, he is the first one to do so in reference to this particular story. There is (again, to my understanding - correct me if I'm wrong) not 1 single reference to Abel's offering as a "sacrifice" anywhere in the Old Testament -by which is meant in terms of slaying an animal. Not 1. Until Saul/Paul calls it such.

Abel's flocks were happy and fat. He probably got a lot of wool out of them.

He's only the first one who says that in the Bible.

http://www.noahidenations.com/index...a-sacrifice-if-killing-animals-was-prohibited

I always just assumed they ate meat since the fall, cause animals started to eat each other too and only herbs was before the fall. Noah sounds more like: this is good meat, that not. Not: you may start eating meat and offer.
 

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
He's only the first one who says that in the Bible.

http://www.noahidenations.com/index...a-sacrifice-if-killing-animals-was-prohibited

I always just assumed they ate meat since the fall, cause animals started to eat each other too and only herbs was before the fall. Noah sounds more like: this is good meat, that not. Not: you may start eating meat and offer.

Who ate animal flesh and who didn't is a matter of conjecture. However, what isn't up for debate in this issue is God's permission to do so - which is not given until after the flood. So neither Cain nor Abel had permission to kill and eat animals. Nor did any of the wicked God wiped out with the flood, but of course any one of these could have disobeyed. Abel is called Righteous by Yeshua, so he obeyed God and did not. It is also not stated in the text that he killed any of his flock, only that he offered the firstlings as gifts. What does that mean? To my understanding it means that he was an active participant in making that possible, by being a true shepherd that protected the flock from predators.

No one has yet provided concrete evidence of what Cain's sin actually is (before the murder of Abel). Offering merely the fruit of the ground may have not been acceptable to God, but it is hardly sin. It is God that makes that fruit of the ground grow in the first place, so it may be regarded as a "no or little effort gift" - but offering back to God what He gives you is not sin. It had to be something else.
 

Lamb

God's Lil Lamb
Community Team
Administrator
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
31,566
Age
57
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Lutheran
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Married
Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
Yes
I do not think it was the amount of care used in choosing the offerings but I do think that the type of offering mattered. Able offered the life of an animal in place of his own and Cain didn't offer any life just vegetables.

Cain was a farmer. He didn't offer his first fruits to God. Just "some" of his fruits. Abel, on the other hand, offered fat portions from some of his first born. Abel had a higher regard in his offering to the Lord than Cain who was probably just meeting an obligation to only offer "some" of his fruits.
 

MoreCoffee

Well-known member
Valued Contributor
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
19,115
Location
Western Australia
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Catholic
Political Affiliation
Moderate
Marital Status
Single
Acceptance of the Trinity & Nicene Creed
Yes
Cain was a farmer. He didn't offer his first fruits to God. Just "some" of his fruits. Abel, on the other hand, offered fat portions from some of his first born. Abel had a higher regard in his offering to the Lord than Cain who was probably just meeting an obligation to only offer "some" of his fruits.

Genesis 4:3-4 Then it happened, after many days, that Cain offered gifts to the Lord, from the fruits of the earth. (4) Abel likewise offered from the firstborn of his flock, and from their fat. And the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his gifts.

I suppose that what you say is possible. Does God explain it that way when he speak to Cain?
 

popsthebuilder

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
1,850
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Paul just quotes some O.T. text there which everyone plucks out of context.

God clothed Adam and Eve, so I think He or an angel killed an animal. So Adam taught his sons about that, blood offering, but Cain didn't need a blood offering for his sins he thought. He gave an offer from his own works and it wasn't tithes and had no blood, so that wasn't good. God just didn't accept his own good works offer and then warned him, but he got jealous and hateful and did not listen to God.
What?
 

Cassia

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2016
Messages
1,735
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Christian
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
before masonry was born

Hebrews 9:22 Abel's gift being accepted showed the qualification to being righteous. The worth of Christ's offering of Himself is seen solely in God's acceptance.

Sin is waiting at the door but sin must be overcome. Humans (nonbrides) place their desires in sin. When Cain was rejected because God didn't accept his offering (who are we to question God?) then ... the earth no longer gave freely of it's bounty.

Being accepted of God is only thru the accepted offering of Christ, the lamb who saved the world, saved because God has accepted our offering thru Jesus Christ.

ETA wrong reference ;)


4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
 
Last edited:

Imalive

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Messages
2,315
Gender
Female
Religious Affiliation
Christian
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Single

Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

So an animal must have been killed when they sinned.

And to give an offering of the fat of the sheep I'm afraid he didn't just suck some fat out and let em live.

Leviticus 17:11New King James Version (NKJV)

11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
 

Stravinsk

Composer and Artist on Flat Earth
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
4,485
Gender
Male
Religious Affiliation
Deist
Political Affiliation
Conservative
Marital Status
Widow/Widower
Hebrews 9:22 Abel's gift being accepted showed the qualification to being righteous. The worth of Christ's offering of Himself is seen solely in God's acceptance.

Sin is waiting at the door but sin must be overcome. Humans (nonbrides) place their desires in sin. When Cain was rejected because God didn't accept his offering (who are we to question God?) then ... the earth no longer gave freely of it's bounty.

Being accepted of God is only thru the accepted offering of Christ, the lamb who saved the world, saved because God has accepted our offering thru Jesus Christ.

ETA wrong reference ;)


4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Abel didn't offer a sacrifice - he offered the firstlings -there is no mention of killing in the text. Only the offering of a gift. The word "sacrifice" is NOT included. Abel did NOT slay any of his flock.


Abel is the Shepherd of the flock - he is a good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep

Abel, not Cain - is declared Righteous by Yeshua.

What is Cain's sin?

Whatever Cain's sin is - it led him to murder Abel. Why would Cain murder Abel?

Abel stood in the way of Cain's evil desire to eat the flesh of animals contrary to God's command.

Saul/Paul - your favorite murdering Pharisee - approves. The Jews approve also, but you aren't likely to know this. Saul/Paul is one of their number - from the ravenous tribe of Benjamin - the tribe of the ravenous wolf according to Genesis 49:27.
 
Top Bottom