Although Adam and Eve – and through them the entire human project – has not gone as planned, God continues to observe and interact with humans, hoping to establish a relationship with them.
Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. When Cain and Abel brought offerings to God, Abel’s was “looked on with favor”. Cain’s was not. Why? Nobody knows. Maybe God was in the mood for lamb rather than wheat. Maybe he preferred the “hunter-gatherer lifestyle” to that of agriculture. The text does not tell us that Abel was in any way superior to Cain other than through the choice of occupation and their offerings to God. Both sought God’s favor, and Cain was severely disappointed when his offering was refused – he was “angry and downcast”. Cain wanted to be good. He wanted to be close to God. He had taken the first step and was refused.
Now a Christian reading of the story would tell us that “God is a mystery” – that his ways cannot be understood by men, and that he must be obeyed blindly, without understanding. This is also God’s own point ... Read More »