Why did Cain and Abel bring an offering?

[freezerman2000]

Seems unlikely. Such a grounding is better suited for Genesis 2-3 or the advent of Abraham in chapter 12 (and it can be argued that sacrifice is found in both cases). Since both Cain and Abel died they have no progeny to follow in their footsteps.

Cain did have progeny...Enoch...Gen.5:17

 

[ittarter]

Perhaps you mean that the location of the sacrifices is unlikely, and not that the story is mythic is unlikely, but I'm not clear on how offspring would factor into the purpose of including the sacrifices here, instead of later in the narrative. The narrative, at this point, is still very childlike, because it is a founding myth, and I think the author was very likely unconscious of why he included the sacrifices.

Conscious or not, because of the points I addressed it is not as effective a "grounding" of this primal cultic practice as Gen. 12:6-9 and possibly 3:21. I grant that it may be a tertiary function but certainly not primary.

And yes, to be clear, I agree with you and the vast majority of biblical scholarship that the Cain and Abel text is a myth.

 

[ittarter]

Cain did have progeny...Enoch...Gen.5:17

I misspoke. I should have said that Cain did not have a righteous progeny, and therefore there no one is reading the text who wants to follow in Cain's footsteps by offering grain in ritual sacrifice. Seth is born, the youngest, and himself gives birth to the righteous line -- but he offers no sacrifice of his own.

 

[eyeoftzion]

It was the day of First Fruits, the minor festival during the Week of Unlevened Bread.