Genesis 4

Abel and Cain grew up in the same family but were very different people. Abel seems to have been faithful at serving the LORD and doing the right things, including proper and pleasing offerings. Cain seems to not have proper regard for the offerings or proper worship of the LORD. What was the problem with Cain's offering? Perhaps he did not offer what was expected. Perhaps it was an issue of the heart- he gave the offering with a wrong heart and attitude toward God. Whatever the reason was- God did not accept Cain's offering like He did for Abel's.

Cain takes a bad situation and makes it worse. He is given the opportunity to get it right- you did wrong, but if you do the right thing, you will be accepted. This was not meant to be a competition. God was not judging the offerings for a prize. God would have accepted both offerings if they were proper. Cain did not do right, and the best choice would be to fix it by doing the right thing now. Instead, Cain takes out the one who did what was right and made him look bad. Cain could not take responsibility for himself, so instead he found a way to blame his brother. This happens still today. There are some who are not living the right way who would try to destroy those who are righteous rather than changing their own life. When we are called out for our sins we should not be looking around at everyone else, but only in the mirror and do the right work of fixing our own problems.

I also wanted to share this video explaining where Cain got his wife. When simply reading the Bible, it looks like Adam and Eve just had 3 sons- Cain, Abel, and later Seth. But only having 3 kids do not seem to fill God's command: be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rather, 3 children are mentioned based on their involvement in the storyline of the Bible- we believe that they had many other children who simply are not named based on Genesis 5:4- "After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters." They also had other sons and daughters before Seth was born.