When they were adults, Cain presented to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground (v. 3), while Abel presented the fat of the firstlings of his flock (v. 4a). God accepted Abel's offering (v. 4b), but He rejected Cain's offering (v. 5a). This rejection appears to be motivated by four factors: 1) Cain did not offering an animal sacrifice; 2) Cain offered the works of his hands; 3) Cain "offered simply ‘some produce of the land,’ Abel offered the choicest animals from his flock, ‘firstling’ and ‘their fat portions’”;[1] and 4) Cain appears to have possessed a certain amount of arrogance as well.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. (Heb. 11:4)
As a result of the rejection of his sacrifice, Cain became very angry and his countenance fell (v. 5b).
The LORD asked Cain why he was angry. "His appeal to reason and His concern for the sinner are as strongly marked as His concern for truth (5a) and justice (10).”[2] Further, He urged Cain to do right (v. 7a) because if he did not, sin would be crouching at the door (v. 7b). One either will open his or her door to sin (v. 7), or to the LORD Jesus Christ (Rev. 3:20).
“As was the case after the first sin (3:9), God came to the sinner, not the sinner to God . . . . The Lord’s approach to Cain is similar to His approach to Jonah when the prophet was angry (Jonah 4:4). What a marvelous exhibition of divine patience and grace!”[3]
No comments:
Post a Comment